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The door flew open, and Ransom strode through it holding a tray covered in food. “Toast. Butter. Tea. Eggs, because you haven’t had protein in a bit.”
I sat up, stretching. “Thank you. Long night. So glad that it’s over. So I wasn’t crazy? The man was real?”
“Very real. Gunnar found footprints but no other traces. They’re good, whoever they are, at hiding themselves, but he will be found. I assure you of that.” Ransom set the tray down over my lap and then grinned. “People have been dropping off things downstairs for you, Raven. I’m not sure what to do with all of it. I didn’t want to come traipsing in here while you weren’t feeling well with a bunch of stuff, but now that you’re up, I’ll bring it.”
He ran a hand through his hair, like he wanted it out of his eyes.
“I could cut that for you? Your hair, if it’s bothering you. That is something I actually know how to do,” I explained, pointing at his head.
He grinned, which made Ransom look a lot younger than normal. “I’d love that. Thanks.”
“Please help him.” Mace said dramatically. “The last time he did it himself, it looked like he currently served in a war he was barely surviving.” Mace threw a pillow at him, and Ransom grinned, unrepentant.
“I’ll go get the stuff,” he said as he turned to leave. I stopped him by reaching out to grab his arm. Under my hands, his muscles were huge. I could never forget how big these guys were. It was easy to disregard, because of how gently they treated me, but I remembered what hands like theirs were capable of doing. I shuddered, thinking of the pain.
Focusing on the conversation at hand, I asked, “What stuff? What are people dropping off, and maybe more importantly, why?”
Ransom widened his eyes. “Oh, sorry. Thought you knew why. You saved that little girl and then you almost died with our weird weather. I think they just want to do things for you. Some of it is a little off. I mean, as Super Soldiers, we don’t know exactly how to give that sort of gift. I wouldn’t, anyway.”
Mace laughed, throwing his head into the pillow before he groaned. “You’d probably bring the girl a bomb. A small one, a bomb for ladies, one she could carry in her back pocket and throw if she needed.”
“Don’t act like you’re so much better. ” Ransom rolled his eyes. “You’d brew her poison.”
He shook his head, which looked funny with his nose in the pillow. “I would make her a pie and it wouldn’t be poisoned.”
I took a bite of my toast. It really was just what my poor stomach wanted after being so terribly abused the night before. I ate slowly—less was going to be more, that was for sure. “So, I have weapons downstairs? I…I wouldn’t have the slightest idea how to use them.”
“Some people seem to have brought you things like pillows and decorations. There’s a lot of general stuff, and if you don’t want the weapons, I’ll store them for you someplace else. Behind the bar, maybe? You can get to them there, if you want.”
His words reminded me of what I’d forgotten—all of the noise downstairs the night before. I hardly noticed it, because I was so out of it, but they must have had customers while I was upstairs getting sick. Someone had sat with me, despite that, though.
“Last night is a blur. How many people were down there? I mean…you’re all enhanc…Super Soldiers.” I corrected myself. “That couldn’t have been nice to listen to, so I’m sorry.”
Mace lifted his head. “Are you actually apologizing for nearly poisoning yourself while you tried to save me?” He put his hand on my leg. “Knock that off. If they didn’t like it, they could leave. Besides, most of us have gotten pretty good at ignoring whatever we don’t want to see.”
“Did you sit with me?” I asked Ransom. I was pretty sure it had been him. “Sorry if I was…really out of it.”
He shrugged, his gaze seeming to be on Mace’s hand on my leg. “I was glad to be there for you.” A second later, he came over and sat down on the bed, scooting over to lie down on my other side. “Maybe we can wait to bring up the stuff? Mace can help me in a few minutes, when he’s feeling better. Or he can go get it himself, since I’m pretty sure he feels better already.”
There were definitely undercurrents in the conversation, but I couldn’t follow any of them, and I wasn’t sure I’d want to anyway. Not when my toast and eggs were so delicious. I tucked into the meal with gusto. In between bites, I asked, “Do you think the man on the hill had something to do with the lightning?”
Mace glared at Ransom. “Aren’t you due for the US machine? Isn’t today your day?”
“I traded with Brenson from down the street. Isn’t today your day, too?” He lifted his eyebrows. “Since you’re so worried about my calendar.”
With a smirk, Mace leaned on his elbow. “Obviously I’m in no condition for it. Raven, to answer your question, I’m sure there’s lots of tech we don’t know anything about. Our old bosses were always inventing things; however, this would be the first time we encountered something with the ability to control weather. If it isn’t some new, unknown tech, then how could someone control the lightning? That’s impossible. So, it’s either something we need to find about or a very strange coincidence that a man poisoned a child then you saw a stranger while you were trapped in a cave, afraid. I don’t know which, as yet.”
Ransom yawned. “I’m actually tired.”
I finished my breakfast, then Mace picked up the tray one-handed to set it on the floor on his side of the bed. He put his head back where it was, next to mine. “Tired, too. But you see, I’ve actually been through an ordeal while you’re just lazy.”
“Okay, I feel like I’m missing something here.” I looked back and forth between them. “Or are you both just being mean?”
Ransom shut his eyes and snuggled down next to me. “We’re just poking at each other. He’s my brother, and I’d die for him. He knows that, but I’ve got to give him a hard time, too. It’s just the way things work.”
That made no sense to me, but I supposed I didn’t have to fully understand the intricacies of their relationship. I’d have years to process and dissect their behaviors and the strange things I saw while on their planet later, so perhaps it didn’t matter if I lived in the moment. The room became quiet, other than the rhythmic sound of their breaths. They’d both fallen asleep, or at least they lay relaxed next to me with their eyes closed. I wondered what triggered their fussing at each other.
Should I move? Should I extract myself from their embrace to leave them, so I could move around? Would that wake them?
