Page 75 of Her Wicker Guardian

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.”

That answer seems to disturb them. The tall boy looks at Rachel. “You don’t know?”

Rachel folds her arms. “No.”

“Like, at all?”

“No.”

He looks at me again. “So you just woke up?”

“I didn’t sleep first.”

Rachel turns her face away. I hear the laugh anyway.

The girl covers her mouth. “Sorry. That was actually funny.”

I had not meant it to be, although I like that it was.

The red-shirted boy studies me with an expression I recognize from Tom when he examines a tool he has not used before. Curious, but not afraid.

“Can you feel stuff?”

“Yes.”

His interest sharpens. “Like what?”

Before I answer, Rachel straightens slightly. It is a small change, but I notice.

“That’s enough medical interrogation,” she says.

He blinks. “I wasn’t trying to be a dick.”

“I know. But he doesn’t owe you an anatomy lesson because you’re curious.”

He looks at me, embarrassed now, and Blair’s words come back to me. You decide whether to answer.

I run my thumb across the willow of my opposite wrist. “I feel pressure. Pulling. Heat. Cold.”

He nods, accepting the answer without pushing for more.

After that, the questions become easier. Somewhere in the middle of them, I learn their names. The girl is Tessa. The tall boy is Eli. Red shirt is Connor. Long hair is Owen. Names help. A group becomes easier when each person stops being only a face.

I do not know movies until Connor explains that they are pictures that move and tell stories.

“I want to see one.”

Connor brightens. “You should watch The Iron Giant.”

Tessa looks at him. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. It’s about this huge metal guy who shows up where he’s not supposed to exist, and everybody loses their minds.”

Tessa looks at me, then back at Connor. “Okay. That’s actually perfect.”