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They turned to Maddox, who shrugged. “I bunked with the pirates. They snored a lot and talked in their sleep.”
Moon grinned, a shadow of longing that indicated he missed those guys. When the boy settled into soft snores, Maddox turned around, presenting them with his back. She peered at it, willing him to turn and look at her. When he didn’t, Ruby stifled a sound of frustration and fell into sleep.
The next day, they did as they had planned without discussing it again, taking their time to mingle with the humans and supervising Moon in between. To her disbelief, Maddox avoided her, too, which galled.
“Is Broom’s Isle as crazy as our savior told us about?” one of the women she had befriended asked her while she was hanging out with them, her gaze endlessly searching for the half-vampire.
“What did your savior say about Broom’s Isle?”
“That it’s a place of politics and power. That you guys are hired to do other creatures’ bidding and have many connections around the Otherworld.”
“Thereareones for hire on the regular. But we all can offer our services for the right price, as long as it doesn’t interfere with our collective safety and we give our home a portion of our rewards.”
She finally spotted Maddox with Moon, surrounded by teenage boys who hung on to Moon’s every word. When a few kids joined, Moon lit up and grew even more dramatic in whatever story he was telling them.
“Is our new savior the most powerful creature to exist among you?”
She glanced at the woman, debating how to answer. “He is powerful. I can’t say that power is definitive, because it changes for everyone at different points. I was powerful once. But my magic left me.”
“You were unblessed,” the woman said knowingly. “It’s a curse.”
She frowned, not liking the word. But she didn’t contradict the woman, staying silent as they changed the topic and talked about the creatures outside the barrier.
“They are relentless in their interest to enter our territory, but they have never been successful. They grow in numbers so that even the tree creatures avoid them.”
“Are there any other creatures than those two?”
“There are plenty. We are blessed to be kept away from them. We are even more blessed to have a new savior and Kin always by our side. Kin tries hard to lead as his father did, and is searching for a way for us and the creatures to live in harmony.”
She thought of how they had ganged up on Brian and would have torn him to pieces like that tree creature if he hadn’t opened the portal in time. Again, she chose to keep this to herself for the charade, wanting them to succeed more than anything.
At night, Maddox was the first to enter her treehouse again, and she grabbed the opportunity.
“Mad…”
“I’m sorry you had to witness what happened last night. I promise it won’t happen again.”
Moon entered before she could reply, but Maddox’s unreadable expression told her what she needed to know: that he had a moment of weakness and almost made a mistake, and he wasn’t happy about it. Disappointment bubbled up, but she gulped it down.
“Can I sleep at the side this time?” Moon asked. “
“Sure,” Maddox said.
They lay in a row, with Maddox and Moon switching positions. This time, she turned away from the half-vampire, latching on to a flower bud in front of her. She shivered when it darkened, then bloomed until the petals spread out beautifully.
A blanket was thrown over her, with Maddox’s voice near her ear. “Cold?”
She shivered once more, this time from his closeness. But he was careful not to touch her.
“I’m fine. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” he murmured.
They mingled again on the second day, then were allowed more freedom to roam around on the third. By the fourth, she grew antsy, not wanting to spend another night so close to Maddox’s hard body and wake up with him gone. He seemed to share the feeling but for different reasons.
“Kin asked me again when Brian will return. I think it’s time to make our move.”
They agreed on a meetup spot, where she waited in a bundle of nerves until the two eventually arrived. Wordlessly, the three hurried out of the humans’ living space, trailing after the map in their heads. They paused when they passed an empty cave that seemed to lead to somewhere.
