“Cole?” she whispered, putting a hand on his head. His body moved reflexively closer to her, but he didn’t look up. “Listen, I’m not trying to hurt you. I would never do anything to hurt you.” slowly lifted his head up to her, and she could see the exhaustion in his eyes.
“It’s just that you can’t take care of me all the time. You aren’t going to be around every minute of my life to protect me. I mean, you will have to go to the bathroom sometime, right?” She sat down beside him and guided his head into her lap, thinking he would resist, but he didn’t. Lifting his legs, he stretched out across the stone couch. “You need to get some rest unless you plan on learning how to protect me while sleep walking.”
“I’m fine. I don’t need to sleep,” he said through a yawn, reminding her of a child who didn’t want to take a nap.
Suppressing her laughter, she ran her fingers soothingly through his dark curls. His hair was softer than feathers. After a few minutes of combing through it, her eyelids were heavy with sleep. She kept herself awake by creating a list of things she needed to collect when she went out, which would be in a few minutes. She thought the best time to venture out was when Cole was fast asleep and therefore not going to worry.
She couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. He looked more peaceful than she’d ever seen him. His beautiful face, smoothed of all lines of worry, made him look like he didn’t have a problem in the world. With him so close to her, it was easy to forget that they had problems. Thinking back to what they’d just miraculously made it out of, she realized how many problems they had.
After what happened with Carter, she’d told herself it was an isolated incident. She thought that Frey and Carter were uniquely cruel and hateful people. She didn’t believe every Guard member could be like them, even after learning about how a Guard member is made. But she’d been wrong. The thirty or so people who had just tried to murder them had made it clear.
All of them are like Frey and Carter. Evil.
Remembering Cole had once trained with the Guard, she paused, but he’d done something about it. He’d left the Guard and was now haunted by terrifying memories that he could never talk about. Why hadn’t the Ancients just taken the memories away from him? Would that have been too kind a thing to do? Did they just enjoy the fear and pain it brought him?
Amanda shook her head, trying to rid herself of the angry thoughts rolling through her mind. She needed to go find food and water. It had been too long since they’d had anything to eat or drink. The back of her throat was itching with the need of fluids. It was a feeling she hadn’t had since returning to the Hovel, but a sensation her body was still used to. It was hard for her to get up even after she was positive Cole was asleep. His head felt so comfortable in her lap, and she didn’t know when it would rest there again. She stayed, allowing herself just a few selfish moments, before gently getting up and making her way out of their safe haven.
16
Amanda was surprised to find it was still daylight, which was both good because it would be easier to find what she was looking for, and bad because not as much time had passed as she’d thought. She tried to ignore the bad because she didn’t have the choice to turn back as her burning throat was a constant reminder of how badly they needed supplies. If she felt this terrible, how was Madgie feeling after losing all of that blood? A calming blanket of energy encompassed her, and she spun around.
Her wolf stood a few paces behind her, wagging his tail slowly. She smiled at how much he looked like a puppy in a pet store window, the pleading take-me-with-you in his eyes.
“Sorry, buddy,” she said, scratching behind his ears. “You know you need to stay with them. I’ll be fine.”
His ears dropped and his tail stopped wagging, but he headed back. It broke her heart to see him sad, but Cole and
Madgie needed watching over… even if they couldn’t actually see the being watching over them.
Pushing aside the vegetation, she stepped back into the Asian forest and strained her ears, hoping to hear running water. She could just make out the babble of a brook. Water was the most important thing for Madgie now. Amanda gathered food as she walked, scooping up different sized mushrooms, which were easy to find. She didn’t need to worry about what was and wasn’t poisonous, and not because she memorized any nature study guides. Much like how she could see the light or darkness in people, she just knew what she could and couldn’t eat.
On the rather long journey to the water source, she found quite a few goodies. There were some more of the wild rose bushes Cole had so expertly recreated, and she picked a few of the flowers to make a tea for Madgie. Bamboo groves shot up everywhere, so she pulled up some of the younger shoots. Trees with grey bark held loads of pods resembling green beans, and a few berry bushes were ready for picking. By the time she reached the stream, all of her pockets and her make-shift satchel were full of food.
The stream was rather small, but it was fast moving and fairly clean of contaminants. She’d have to pull a few minerals and bacteria out of the water before drinking it, but it was better than she’d hoped for. She knelt down on the moist bank, enjoying the refreshing cool air that seemed to linger around fresh water. Her left hand fumbled at her side, searching for Madgie’s leather canteen. Her hand moved around more urgently, checking her right side and then searching her back.
It was gone. She must have dropped it. That was the only thing they had to carry water in. How could she lose it? Her mind raced, trying to place when she’d dropped it, but she couldn’t remember something that she’d never noticed. She looked around and saw a plant with long skinny leaves and thought of Cole.
Maybe she could weave them into a basket. She moved toward the bush.
Leaving the poor plant almost naked, she sat on the bank, attempting to weave the leaves into something useful. Her fingers wouldn’t move like his had with a sort of skilled delicateness, and after five minutes, half of the leaves were crumbled beyond use, and her cramping hands had red slices all over them. And people whine about paper cuts! She cursed, rubbing her hands and glaring at the uncooperative leaves.
A quiet laughter reached her ears, and she spun around quickly. Standing behind her was a tall boy with golden blond hair and an impish smile. He didn’t look like he meant her any harm, and he wasn’t wearing the uniform of the Guard, but it didn’t matter. She could sense the dark absence in him. He was a member of the Guard. She jumped quickly to her feet.
“Here, this might be of use to you. I don’t think that’s working out,” he said, offering her the missing canteen.
Her feet told her to flee, but she didn’t know where to run to. She couldn’t go back to the cave. She would lead them right to Cole and Madgie.
“You’re not too good at making decisions, are you?” the blond boy asked rather sarcastically. He wore a bright charming smile that she wanted to slap off his face. “I can see the wheels in your head turning. Run or talk? Let me help you come to a decision. I’ll catch you if you run.” She was about to object when he lifted his hand. “And I think we need to talk.”
“You’re a member of the Guard. You and your buddies almost murdered my friend a few hours ago! What could I possibly want to discuss with you?” she shouted, surprising herself.
Amanda had always had a temper, but he ruffled her feathers quicker than anyone she’d ever met. Even after she yelled at him, he still looked annoyingly cocky.