AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There is nothing dark and twisted in you, only in what has been done to you. Trust me, I’m dark and twisted. We can recognize our own.”
I rolled my eyes at him, which made him grin. “Yes, you’re so dark and twisted as you snuggle with me, all tangled up like we’ve known each other for years. Both of us are totally not the type to do this.” Other than my brother, I never hugged anyone on purpose before. Not even Amias. “Yet here we are, as though we’ve done this a million times.”
He leaned his head closer, rubbing the slope of his nose against mine. “Mmm, it does feel kind of normal, but also just extremely nice. Do people live like this? Do they just get to hold each other whenever they want? They just get to be this way?”
I nodded. “I think they must, in other places. Where things just went better, you know?” Someplace else. I had to believe that. “Gunnar, will you teach me to read right now? Or start to?”
He lifted his head, his gaze momentarily confused. “Mace might be better for that. He’s sort of a natural teacher. I don’t know that I am.”
I took his hands in mine and squeezed. “Well, Gunnar, I’m desperate to learn to read. I always have been, but no one has ever taught me. I feel like there’s a world I’m missing. We’re here waiting, anyway. It might be a good chance to take my mind off that.” As if on cue, the thunder boomed again, and the night lit up. “I won’t force you, not if you don’t want to, but…”
He waved his hand. “Sure. I’ll do it. I mean I have no idea whatsoever how but we’ll muddle through. By the way, that conversation we had earlier? What we talked about? I’m pretty sure that no one was listening. Everyone was a little busy.”
I smiled at him. “I guess that’s good, unless I have to figure out how to have that conversation in near privacy with three other people now?”
He shook his head. “We’ll work it out. All right, well, let’s see if we can make some headway. If this goes badly, then that’s on me, not you.”
Gunnar grabbed a piece of paper and started to show me some letters. We started with vowels, and while I wished I could say I grasped the concepts instantly, I suspected there was a reason most people learned when they were young. I stumbled more than I would have liked, and after an hour I was done with it.
Still, he remained patient without being patronizing. At some point, I forgot to listen to every strike of noise and to twitch at every flash of light outside, as if they meant a battle approached.
After a bit, Gunnar stopped, rose and reheated my food. I found the meal delicious, despite being reheated, and I dug into the chicken-like substance they roasted with gusto.
I lifted my fork toward Gunnar. “Want some? I can share?”
For a second, I thought he’d refuse, but then he opened his mouth and took the chicken right off my fork. We watched each other chew and swallow, an unfamiliar intimacy drawing us both closer somehow. I shivered again, but I didn’t want the moment to end. I held up my fork with chicken again, offering it while leaning a bit closer to him. “More?”
“I should absolutely not eat your food, especially since I’m not particularly hungry.” He leaned closer, too, his breath stirring my hair. “But I like this.”
I squirmed in my seat, enjoying the way the low rumble of his voice stroked across my nerves like a touch. “I like it, too.”
When he would have taken another bite, he stopped and lifted his eyebrows. His expression told me something was wrong before his words. “Someone is hurt. Not one of us, but someone from one of the other groups. They’re bringing him here, because they hope you can help him.”
My appetite fled. “Sure. I can try.”
He nodded once then leaned over to take my plate. “This fucker. I can’t understand why he’s so good.”
I took his arm. “Trade with someone. You want to be out there. Or just trust me to stay inside on my own. I swear, I have no strange desire to get fried by this guy. I’ll stay inside. Ask Crew, then go. I’m sure they can use you.”
He shook his head. “I’m right where I need to be, and absolutely where I want to be.”
I tilted my head. “Or maybe you’d like to be in two places at once?”
“Why does it feel like we already know each other, when we’ve really only recently met?” He asked the obvious question, and I caught my breath, surprised he said the words aloud. I didn’t deny his question, as it explained how I felt about him. And not just about him, but with all of them. Was it because I knew Amias for so long? Did being close to him explain why I immediately felt connected to them?
Or maybe it was the opposite? Maybe they trusted me because Amias trusted me.
Did it really matter why?
The door burst open, slamming into the wall, and Wolf entered with a gust of rainy wind. He carried two men with him, one across each arm.
“I thought it was one,” Gunnar shouted. “You said one, not two.”
Wolf shook his head. “It’s rough out there. It was one; now it’s two. Out of them, I think Grey is worse off than Panther.”
He set both men down on the floor, and I rushed over to assess their situations. They looked like Mace when he got hit by the lightning, with their singed skin and smoking clothing.
I looked up at Gunnar. “I wasn’t able to help Mace. I fed him contaminated water. He got better because you guys are amazing, but not because I did anything to help him.”
