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She was always shaking, probably because she was accustomed to a much milder climate. But when she looked up to meet my eyes, I knew this time she wasn’t shaking merely because of the cold.
Her eyes were red. For a second, I thought she was about to cry, but no tears came out of her coal-dark eyes.
“Yes,” she said, coughing to clear her throat. She averted her gaze. “I’m always cold.”
“You can have my coat,” I said. I started to take it out. “We can’t light a fire, so...”
“I think I found a way,” Casja interrupted me. When I turned to her, I realized she hadn’t been listening to the rest of us for a while now.
“You did?” I asked.
“Yes,” Casja replied. “But it will be difficult. And I might kill you.”
“Whatever it is, try it on me first,” Cari said, turning away without taking the coat I was offering. “At least, everyone will have something to be happy about even if you fail.”
Chapter 15: Jasmine
Iwalked toward the fire pit which some of the monster folk had gathered around and did my best not to react to the excitement flooding out of them.
They saw me one by one, but their reaction was contagious. Some shifted in their seats, some smiled and a woman got up as though she was about to curtsy. I really hoped she would not.
“Good evening,” I said to them before attempting to pass by them without further conversation.
“Good evening, savior,” the woman who had gotten up said, the freckles on her cheeks moving as she gave me a wide smile. As soon as our eyes met, I knew her name was Aigneis. “We were just talking about you.”
I opened my mouth to warn her about calling me ‘savior’ but before I could, Nessa spoke.
“We will be staying here for a bit longer, right?” she asked. “I was just telling everyone that we should start thinking about building some permanent structures.”
“We cannot stay here,” Alys said, her tone making it obvious that she had made this point to Nessa earlier and was now only repeating it for my benefit. “We have to keep moving around.”
“Let Jasmine tell us what she thinks,” Nora warned them both. “She might have a place for us to go.”
A new land... I could hear that thought echo in the minds of the monsters around us. They wanted me to find them that place, they expected me to lead them.
Brigid couldn’t grasp why I was so hesitant to accept that responsibility, but Dearen seemed to empathize. Still, neither of them knew how I was supposed to find this land, let alone how I would protect them all until we reached that supposedly safe place.
Alys nodded eagerly and they all looked at me with wide, expectant eyes.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I guess moving around would be the smart thing to do.”
