She tilted her head to the side. “But you speak English so well.”
“We spoke all languages at least a little before coming here. Over thousands of years of watching, human languages were picked up and spread amongst our kind. We weren’t proficient in them before, but we’ve learned a lot more since arriving here.”
“I never would have imagined demons to be so… ah… cultured,” she finished.
“There is much you wouldn’t expect of us.” I couldn’t stop my finger from tracing over her scar. “How did you get this?”
“Stupidity,” she replied with a smile. “I accidentally hooked myself on one of my first fishing trips. Thankfully, a neighbor helped me to get it out and made sure I caught fish instead of myself the next time.”
“And you fished often?”
“Almost every day. It was how I fed my family.” Sadness filled her eyes as they fell away from mine and onto the book beside her bed. “You read?”
“I’ve taught myself over the years.”
“What are you reading?”
“Of Mice and Men. Have you read it?”
“No. I enjoy reading, but I had little time for it at home. I taught Gage when he was old enough to learn. I hope he teaches Bailey one day…”
Her voice trailed off, and tears shimmered in her eyes as she remained focused on the book. More than her pain, I hated her sorrow. Her physical pain would fade soon enough; this heartache never would.
“Are they your brothers?” I asked.
“They are. Gage is fourteen and Bailey is only two and a half. I miss them so much.”
I didn’t know how I would do it, but somehow I would find a way for her to see them again.
“I borrowed the book from Mac, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you read it while you’re in here,” I said.
“But you’re reading it.”
“I can wait to finish it.”
“I’d like that.” Lifting it from the table beside her, I held it out to her. She went to take it from me but winced when the movement pulled at the needle in her hand. “Maybe when I’m out of here.”
“How about I read it to you?” I suggested.
“Aren’t you needed somewhere else?”
“They can wait.”
When she smiled at me, I knew I would have read her a hundred books to see her smile again. “Thank you,” she said.
I stretched my legs before me and opened the book to the beginning.
CHAPTER 18
River
I was released from the infirmary two days later. By then, Kobal had finished readingOf Mice and Mento me as well asAll Quiet on the Western Front. Today he’d intended to start a book calledIt. He swore it would make demons look a lot friendlier by the time we got to the end, but I was cleared to leave before he could start reading it.
He’d told me he could be brutal and cruel, and he was a demon, so he would have to be, wouldn’t he? But no matter what he said, I couldn’t bring myself to actually believe it.
He’d been nothing but kind to me. Even when he was knocking me into the dirt, he’d never set out to intentionally hurt me. He’d spent hours reading to me in that deep, melodic voice of his. Hours in which I’d been enthralled by listening to him and watching him as he’d read the heartbreaking tales. He’d barely left my side fortwodays. I would often wake to find him watching me from the chair, or once sleeping himself.
How could he possibly be as bad as he said he was when he’d never purposely done anything wrong to me? Was I really feeling all warm and fuzzy and trying to say ademonwas good?
