Dwellers appeared around us then, each holding a plate of food. Somehow, even though it wasn’t quite dinner time yet, they were feeding us … well, the Abcurses anyway. I saw more than one set of confused eyes and dropped jaws. No one quite knew what to make of me sitting right in the centre of a pile of sols.
“Stop.” Rome’s deep voice thundered around the room. “You didn’t serve Willa, she’ll have the same, and some fresh water.”
Some of the confusion turned to anger, and I could see that more than one dweller wanted to question Rome, but they knew better. They knew their place, and they probably didn’t want to get crushed. I was the only one stupid enough to end up in a situation like this, one which could tear apart the very fabric of the world we lived in. Elowin hadn’t been wrong … this could change everything.Damn Rau. Was this exactly what he was hoping for when he bound me to the boys? He was the god of chaos after all, and this was bound to get chaotic.
As we ate, I was trying my best to breathe and somehow still stuff as much of the delicious food into my mouth as I could. Top of my list for hating sols was that they got all the best food. Freshest produce, meat from fine cuts, even regular berries and sweet ice. I glared at Coen— who was on my right side—and hooked my arm around my small cup of pink ice as a barrier.
“What?” he asked, lifting one eyebrow with a sardonic stare. “Do you really think I’m going to steal your dessert?”
My eyes flicked between all of them briefly, and I tucked the small dish even closer to my chest. “I won’t let you have it, this is my crushed ice. I will end anyone who touches it.”
There was a gasp from behind me, and I spun with ice in hand to find Emmy standing there. Her normally golden features were pale and she looked tired and a touch thinner than the last time I had seen her.
“Willa …” it was a whisper of my name, but it still drew the attention of the sols who were around us. Dinner time was starting now, so the room was slowly filling. “Willa!” she screeched this time, and now every single face was turned in our direction.
My best friend glanced around, her eyes darting frantically. She knew she shouldn’t draw attention to us like this, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself from reaching out and latching on to my arm.Here we go again.I was hauled out of the room by her super muscles, and as soon as we were outside and the doors closed again, she let me have it.
“I have been going out of my mind with worry. Two full sun-cycles, Will!TWO! You just vanished. I thought you were dead, that the Abcurses took off with you and dumped your body in the forest. How could you do this to me? I thought we were best friends. I thought we werefamily.”
I was trying to listen to her while also hoping an explanation would come to me. One which would make sense to her. I needed to comfort her because it was killing me to see her so distraught, but I could scarcely concentrate around the pain in my chest. It was okay, not at dying level yet, but it was making it hard to focus.
“Emmy,” I finally started, cutting her off mid-rant. “I’m so sorry for disappearing on you, and trust me, it was not my decision. I would never have left without telling you first, if I’d had a choice. Something happened with the Abcurses … well, we ended up a long way from the centre ring and had to walk back. It …”
What else could I tell her? I had no idea who was listening, and there was no safe place to talk about the gods and what had happened in Topia.
She opened and closed her mouth, looking like she was gulping for air, but maybe she was trying to speak and couldn’t get around her shock. I waited patiently, my hand now on my chest as I rubbed it in slow circles. It didn’t ease the pain.
If anything, the pain was getting worse.
Crap.The Abcurses had finished their meal and were leaving the dining area. Which meant that they were probably going to their rooms. It looked like we were about to test out the distance I could handle.
My head spun as the sharp stabbing sensation in my chest increased. It was almost like my heart was being pulled through my ribs, shredding it in the process.
“Willa, are you even listening to me?” Emmy must have started talking again, but I missed what she said. Her eyes were narrowed on me now, the colour darkening. “Are you okay, Will? You don’t look good.”
I crouched forward and narrowly missed vomiting on her shoes. All of my delicious dinner was exiting my body and that was about the worst thing to have happened to me this week. Including being hit with a god-bolt.
“Willa! What can I do? We need to get you to a healer.”
I shook my head, stumbling away from her, my hands raised, like I could keep her back. I didn’t want her making a grab for me. She’d use her super-muscles to drag me off to the nearest healer, and unless it was in the direction of the Abcurses, there was a good chance that it would actually kill me.
“I … I’m sorry, Emmy,” I choked out through the pain, stumbling back into the dining room.
They were moving fast. I could feel them now, drawing further and further away. I spun on my feet, narrowly missing a passing dweller, and sprinted through the dining hall toward the back doors. People jumped out of my way, but the furniture wasn’t so intuitive. I smacked hard into the side of a table, which sent me spinning in the opposite direction. I went over a chair, and then my face was slamming into the ground. Dark spots flashed over my eyes, the pain seizing up my body into small convulsions. I could hear Emmy screaming my name. She was getting closer.
I forced my head to clear, forced my body to stop shaking as I drew myself to my feet, and then I was struggling toward the door again. There was a cut on my leg, blood dripping down my calf. It reminded me that I wasn’t wearing pants, only Rome’s shirt, which admittedly looked like a dress, but still …
“Will.” It was only a statement. Not a question. An acknowledgement. I needed help, and my best friend was going to give it to me.
She linked her arm through mine and I leaned a good deal of my weight on her, raising a shaky finger to point toward the back door. She started to drag me that way, her head tucked down and her stride purposeful, as though she would be able to trick the surrounding sols and dwellers into thinking that there was nothing out-of-the-ordinary going on. It almost seemed to work, too. Some of them turned away from us, going back to their meals.
We cleared the dining room and I pointed again, showing Emmy the way to the Abcurses dorm rooms. It was much faster with her than it was to walk on my own. I gained strength with each step, which meant that we were moving in the right direction, if nothing else. When we were in the hall outside their rooms, I tugged on Emmy’s arm, and we stopped moving. I drew her to one of the supply closets, able to walk on my own now, and gently pushed her inside. We sent two of the cleaning carts into the hallway to make room and then closed the door, sitting against it in the darkness.
“Will …” she started again.
“I’m okay.” I sighed, dragging my hands over my face. “I need a bath, and something to wash out my mouth, but I’m okay.”
“You can tell me what’s going on, or I can sing Leader Graham’s stupid Settlement Anthem until your ears bleed. Your choice.”
