She shrugged. “I like being outside and away from the camp. It’s nice to see new things.”
“I think every Advenian can agree with you there,” Dovelyn admitted, speaking for the first time. When everyone turned to look at her, she added, “Why else do you think my father wishes to expand? Why he seeks to rule over the humans? He wantsyour world. He’s grown bored of being the king of only an island.”
We were all quiet after that.
Eventually, everyone drifted off into sleep, taking shifts on lookout.
It was my turn to keep watch, and I wished I was back in Florida. I swore to myself I’d never complain about humidity or heat ever again. My teeth were chattering so loud I couldn’t even hear if anyone was approaching our makeshift camp. We were high up on the mountain range and the night didn’t do us any favors as the temperatures continued to drop. There was nothing to block out the wind. Dovelyn had a shield over us, but at some point, she let it drop as she fell asleep. Selfishly, I wanted to wake her up and have her create one from partition, but I couldn’t ask her to permanently give up a piece of her reserve just so I could be warm.
The only thing we had on us were the bedrolls we carried in our packs, and despite them being extremely thick, it felt like paper. The wind was still cutting through it.
I whipped my head to the right as a twig snapped. Tezya crouched down and kneeled beside me. I could see his breath leave his mouth, mixing with mine. He didn’t say anything as he held his hand up. The next second, a tight ball of flames floated above his fingers, and my face flooded with warmth.
“I thought you said it was too risky to have a fire,” I attempted to whisper, but my teeth were still chattering. “That it would draw too much attention.”
“I know, but I think the cold is more likely to kill you than a Luxian soldier at this point.”
“Plus, no one can get any sleep,” Kallon groaned from a few spaces away. “Your teeth sound like thunder.”
“It sounds like a whole freaking drumline in a marching band,” Savannah added. I didn’t know what a drumline ormarching band was, but I assumed by Kallon’s laughter, it wasn’t good.
“Just until you warm up,” Tezya said softly, ignoring their comments, but we stayed like that my entire watch.
“How didyou and your family come into all of this?” I asked Savannah the next morning.
Once she saw me plait my hair into the twin braids I used to wear all the time, she asked me to do the same to hers. She threw a short purple plait over her shoulder. “It’s entirely too early in the morning for that question, especially when there isn’t any coffee.”
“Oh.”
I guess I didn’t hide my disappointment because she turned to look at me and answered, “We were born into it. Somewhere down the line, centuries ago, when Advenians first tried to live among humans, one of my ancestors befriended someone from your kind. We were always a refuge for Advenians who didn’t believe in the ranking system. Our camp was established around the time rank zeroes started. It wasn’t pretty in the beginning, or so I’d been told. My father said they didn’t always exist, that only ranks one through five were on Allium. So naturally when zeroes came about, they started killing them, claiming they were mixed with human blood.” She scoffed at her own words, before continuing, “At some point it turned from refuge to rebellion, but it was small. It wasn’t until Tezya came that Brighta started to grow. He expanded it, made it more. He brought thousands of Advenians into the camp, whereas before it took centuries to get a quarter of the numbers. It’s mostly what it is today because of him.”
I nodded but realized she probably couldn’t see it over the thick hood I had pulled over my head.
“Since we’re asking personal questions, what’s the deal with you and Tezya? And for that matter, you and Mr. Grumpy Gills?” She gestured to Sie ahead of us.
“It’s a long story.”
“Good thing we have alongtime.”
I did not want to explain my past with Sie and Tezya when they were both within earshot of hearing it. She seemed to grasp my hesitancy. “Another time then. We’ll have a girls’ night when we get back and you can tell me all about it.”
“A girls’ night?” Kallon squealed as she came up behind us. “We should dye Scottie’s hair. What color should we do? Pink? Or blue to match her eyes?”
“I’m okay, thanks.”
“Suit yourself.” Kallon shrugged. “Once we get back, I’m going to go red.”
The two of them discussed hair colors and whatever the difference was between balayage and ombre for a while. I found myself falling out of step with them without meaning to.
“Why are you avoiding me?” Sie’s voice came up behind me. I hadn’t realized he’d fallen back too.
“I’m not avoiding you,” I said too quickly. I was definitely avoiding him. Both him and Tezya, for that matter.
“Yes, you are, Scotlind. I want to talk about things.”
“The last time we ‘talked’ about things, your father had me in shackles and chained me in the dungeons the next day.” I turned to look at him. “You could have talked to me during any of the weeks I was there.”
He flinched. “I was trying to protect you. They wanted me to kill you.”
