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When it was time to leave, I warmed up in the cabin under Vorx and Turik’s close supervision. All my clothes stayed on this time, which I appreciated since I was still a little conflicted about being the center of their game.
We arrived at Tolerance just before dark and parted ways with the rest of the group after promising to go out again in the morning. Even though Turik was eager to get me home for his attempt to warm my frozen legs, I insisted on going to Ryan’s for an update on the new safe zone.
Richard answered the door and ushered us inside.
“Good to see you again, Shelby. Turik. Vorx. What brings you by?”
“I wanted to check in to see if there’s been any news from Ryan.”
“He just got back from Mya’s and is in his war room. Come on.”
“War room?” I asked as I followed him.
“That’s what it looks like with all his maps and drawings.” Richard chuckled. “The kid loves a good plan.”
“My planning skills are from you,” Ryan called as we approached. He looked up at me with an excited grin. “I heard that you took a group out to scout fishing holes. Any luck?”
“Yep. I have two lakes marked. They’re a decent size, so farming some fish to restock a pond closer shouldn’t hurt anything. Did you find any people when you went back?” I asked, getting to the point.
Ryan shook his head. “We looked in all the houses—top to bottom. I called out with my usual speech about food, safety, and stuff, but there was nothing. We did find the house the hellhound had been in.” He frowned slightly. “It looked like the majority of the infected had been on the main floor, and the hound had been in the basement with a smaller group of infected. Based on the evidence—blood and tracks—it looks like some of the infected had fled out the basement window and run away from the house instead of joining the attack. Not a fan of the idea that a few of them had fled like that. Their growing intelligence is making it harder to plan how to handle things.”
“Son, no matter how much you plan, you can’t control everything,” Richard said. “Trying to will drive you nuts.”
“Right,” Ryan said. “So I’m focusing on what I can control. Eden’s subdivision is as perfect as she said. There are about fifty houses clustered around a pond big enough to support more fish. There’s a fair number of trees planted along the streets, but fields border the subdivision. It’s far enough from the highway not to be seen. All the homes are on their own septic and wells. A few have solar and woodstoves. I have some fey out dismantling solar systems we’ve marked. I have scouts looking for more. The main group is moving cars from the highway to the new place. They’re familiar with how to build the wall, but because it’s farther away from us, they’ll make it thicker and taller. Just in case.”
“Are they going to include some field space inside the walls?” I asked. “It would give room for protected planting or building more homes.”
He pulled out a sketch of the area and the placement of the wall he told them to build. He had included enough field space on all sides to provide a buffer between homes and walls. The open ground could easily be used for growing crops.
“Mom mentioned doing a cut out in the wall and expanding it for an orchard and bees, but I’m worried about putting too much in one place. We have the humans in Tenacity, most of the livestock in Tolerance, and vegetables in this new place.”
“You’re right. It wouldn’t hurt to look for another place. If you truly want to integrate humans and fey, the best way to do it is with this co-op living. It would force trade and mingling. Plus, there are a lot of people cramped into homes over in Tenacity who might be ready to consider a different lifestyle.”
Ryan leaned back in his chair, his gaze holding mine.
“Is it weird, platonically living with two fey?”
I struggled not to flush and nodded.
“It’s a little weird. Especially the platonic part. But I think it’s working well.”
“It’s working very well,” Turik said. “Shelby already feels safer with us. Soon she will be ready to—”
“Stop,” Ryan said, holding up his hand.
“Yeah, you’ve hit the weird part,” I said.
Turik’s hand settled on my shoulder, and I struggled to maintain eye contact with Ryan as he gave me a wry look.
“We’ll need to make sure all parties clearly understand the intent behind the co-ed housing. That it’s not meant for a quick hookup but building better relations and maybe even some friendships.”
“Yeah, that might be a good idea,” I said weakly.
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
“Areyou sure you’re warm enough?” Turik asked yet again.
“Look at my face. It’s still on fire. Trust me. I am plenty warm. Just what exactly were you going to say to Ryan? ‘Soon Shelby will be ready to have my babies?’ You can’t go around telling people stuff like that. It makes them uncomfortable. Embarrasses them. And embarrassed people will want to avoid you. Do you want people avoiding you?”
