Hemlock belted out, “Whewy! Did you guys see that?! I concede, my cold, green and serious friend.” Emerald let go of her and Hemlock fell forward. When the crowd started to get rowdy, circling around Emerald, Hemlock lifted her arms as she bellowed, “Anyone touches her and they die!” The entire room paused and went quiet after that.
“Hem, are you sure?” The psycho little woman asked. Hemlock laughed and nodded as she flicked her hand at her to get on with it. The little psycho turned to the crowd, “Alright! You heard the lady! Get the fuck out! Everyone fucking out!” Everyone hurried out faster than they came in, all scared of the little firecracker, and I didn’t blame them.
Hemlock started to get up off the ground. “Man, oh man! Now I fucking feel alive! Don’t you?” Hemlock turned towards Emerald, stepping back into her space as she asked. I watched Emerald eye her warily.
“You are adequate. Talkative.” Emerald looked at Hemlock’s wide, excited eyes that were in her face as she backed up a step to get some room. “You have some decent moves.”
Hemlock squealed and clapped her hands before she circled Emerald with a big hug. I almost busted up laughing when I saw Emerald tense up, looking at the three of us with wide eyes, begging us for help.
“Oh my gods, oh my gods! I finally have a girly friend!” Hemlock said as she let go of Emerald and jumped up and down.
The tiny psycho woman, I think her name was Kisha, smacked her hands to her hips as she said, “I’m taking offense at that!”
Hemlock rolled her eyes to face Kisha. “You know what I mean! A girl that is not part of my crew or has their own agenda against me or wants to tell me what to do. You know… one I could talk about boy stuff.”
Zayden let his laughter fly as he slapped his knee. “Wait?! You’re saying you wantEmeraldto be the girl you talk to about your love life?!”
I expected Emerald to glare at Zayden, but instead she was looking at Hemlock like she finally went too far off the deep end.
Hemlock rushed up to Zayden, getting right in his face as she said in an obsessive voice, “Yes, pretty one. That is exactly what I want. It’s hard to find another badass woman who could murder men with a flick of her finger then turn around and gab to about boy problems and issues.” She turned to Emerald, clasped her hands together and sighed. “And now I have one.”
She walked back up to Emerald. “Now that we are besties, you don’t want me to call you something boring like ‘Emerald’?” She made a face and stuck out her tongue like it was gross. What the fuck? I liked her name!
Emerald said nothing, still staring in the same spot she was when Hemlock announced to the room they were now besties. Hemlock shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t think so. Don’t worry, bestie, I’ll find the best one before our journey is over. I will try some out, but just let me know if you find one you either can’t live without or hate with the fury of the sun.” She nodded to Emerald like they were having a conversation, but Emerald had yet to say anything.
“Hem, we need to wrap up this love fest. I’m starting to feel sick just watching you.” Kisha’s face pulled tight in disgust as she rolled her eyes.
“I think it’s cute, Kis.” The large dark-skinned man said as he walked up to her, scooped her up into his arms and depositing her on his shoulders like this was a normal thing for them.
She petted his head lovingly, “Yes, well, your soft heart would think so, but mine just wants to see them fight again. Maybe they can start slicing into each other, make it a little bloody before they stop?” She licked her lips as she looked back at the two of them like she was playing that fantasy in her head. I was going to need to keep an eye on that one.
“Kis is right. Let’s go to the war room for dinner.” Hemlock scooped her arm into Emerald’s that laid limp at her side, again looking at us with panic in her eyes, but Zayden flicked his hand at her in a shooing motion.
“Play nice with the leader now that you two aren’t killing each other. We need her for the librarian.” Zayden whispered as Rykon and I shrugged, agreeing with him for once. We did need her.
Hemlock tugged on Emerald’s arm, and we followed them to the original room we met them in. I had a feeling the surprises were not about to stop here.
We got into the war room and a simple meal of bread and stew was waiting for us. The smell was so divine that all of our stomachs, except for Emerald’s, rumbled.
“Oh, fucking thank the gods, proper food!” Zayden cried, as he almost ran to a seat. Hemlock’s crew all smirked at him.
Hemlock guided Emerald to the seat next to hers. The bowman slid into Hemlock’s other side. I was wondering whose seat she took until I heard a loud scraping of a chair being yanked out by the girl with the forever sour face. Well, we’re making friends and enemies all over the place.
Rykon, Zayden and I sat across from Hemlock and Emerald, the only seats left, but I hated being that far away from her. She was always so reckless that I felt like I couldn’t be there fast enough if she needed me.Why would she need you when she has two other men to take care of her?The voice in my head was trying to poison my thoughts, but I didn’t have time for that when we had such a delicate truce with this group.
When Emerald eyed our soup and shook her head, telling us to wait, Zayden almost cried. She was the first one to taste her soup. When she didn’t detect any poison, she nodded to us to continue and we dug in.
“Did you think we would poison you?” Hemlock gasped, while the others in her crew had a thoughtful look.
“You never know,” was all Emerald said as she took a piece of bread and chewed it slowly.
“I just told you we’re now besties. That means we arenot allowedto kill each other. It’s in the handbook.” Hemlock instructed like Emerald needed a lesson on friendship stat.
Emerald flicked her eyes to Hemlock, trying to gauge if she was serious.
“Don’t worry, I got your back. When I was a kid, I listened to stories about how loyal girlfriends are supposed to be. I can teach you.” She wiggled her head back and forth as she scooped up some stew and ate it.
“We should probably get on with figuring out the plan to go into the cannibal lands.” The bowman said as he finished his stew and pushed his bowl forward. Damn. He was fast.
