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“Like what?”
“So…blegh.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“So uptight and mean.”
He cocks a brow. “You haven’t seen my mean.”
“So, you’re just a dick because you like being one?”
“What did you want earlier, when you were looking for me?” he asks, rapidly changing the subject.
“Nothing. I just thought you’d left me stranded here.”
He snaps his gaze on me and frowns. “Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug hard, even though I know the reason. If he’d left me here, I wouldn’t have known how to get back to Blackwater. I wouldn’t have been able to get to my world.
“I wasn’t abandoning you, if that’s what you’re thinking. I went back to Beatrix’s to see if I could find the book,” he says. “The one with the chant in it. I lost the paper she gave me during the explosion.”
“Oh.” I pause. “Did you find it?”
“No.” He frowns. “Beatrix hasn’t returned, and I couldn’t use her transmitter because she wasn’t there to allow me access to it. Mine was in my car, but the car wasn’t there when I went by.”
“So…no one knows where we are? Do they not have transmitters here?”
“No. That’s the thing about Whisper Grove. All their communication is done either verbally or by written letter.”
“This world is so backwards compared to mine. I mean, the medicine is clearly ahead of ours, but not having phones or ways to communicate right away? That’s different.”
“I don’t think our technology is like yours, and that’s probably for good reason. If technology was too advanced here, it’d be genocide. We’d all be dead by now. The Council agreed a long time ago that to maintain power and limit chaos, there must be restrictions. Direct communication and too much technology is one of them, I suppose.”
“Why is everyone trying to kill each other here anyway? It’s so violent. Doesn’t make any sense.”
“It’s not violenthere,” he says, his head shaking as he takes a hard pull from his bloom. “Not in Whisper Grove.”
“What’s so special about Whisper Grove?”
Caz looks from the window to me, then back out the window again. “Whisper Grove is a piece of land wedged between all four major territories: Vanora, Ripple Hill, Luxor, and Blackwater. It’s the only land that happens to be free of command, and by not having someone in command, the people thrive here. They take care of one another, treat each other as equals.”
“That’s how it should be everywhere, right?”
“You’d think.” Caz’s shoulders tense. “Whisper Grove was created by a tribe of men and women who left all other territories in search of a place more peaceful. Somewhere quieter. Safer. A place where children could run free without the risk of a bullet piercing through their skulls.” He closes his eyes a moment before peeling them open again. “The people here are good people until you cross them. Their weapons are most threatening, and they don’t trade with other territories. It’s how they maintain their power. There’s also something here in Whisper Grove that instantly scans your intentions as you cross their borders. It’s assumed that a former Mythic who promised to always protect the original tribe put it in place. The Councildon’t share how it’s done, nor have they revealed which Mythic designed it, but you can’t see this weapon, or feel it scanning you. If your goal is to come into Whisper Grove and start a row with someone, well…it detects that. And when it does, it blasts you to bits.”
“Wait.” I hold up a hand. “So, if you were coming to this place trying to hurt someone withmein your arms, it would’ve blown us up?”
“Correct.”
“Oh my God. I knew it was a bad idea having you carry me.”
He fixes his eyes on me. “You had no problem with the barman carrying you.”
“His name’s Alexi,” I retort. “And no, I didn’t have a problem with him carrying me because, unlike you, he was nice.”
Another eyeroll as he digs into his pocket, pulling out a pill bottle. He opens the lid and dumps a red pill into his palm.
I study him, watching as he tosses the pill in his mouth and gulps it down. “There’s nothing wrong with taking care of someone or being taken care of, you know.”
