I’d lost everything and gained a friend.
A soft knock at my door sounded then.
Not up to dealing with anything more from Kehlor, I shot up and bellowed, “GO AWAY!”
The knocking immediately ceased.
Forcing myself to get up, I tended to the fire, washed, dressed in that hideous nightgown from Dorothy, and climbed right back into bed.
Huddling under the covers, I stared at my Polaroid.
Kicking myself for not taking Dace up on her offer, I had to concede being alone was probably the very last thing I needed.
Chapter 12
Staring at the last of the damaged huts, I sighed defeatedly.
“This one looks even worse than the last one,” Dace muttered.
It was pretty awful.
“That looks beast made,” Dace observed.
It looked like some beast had punched a hole through the wall. “Probably,” I muttered as I scrubbed my hands down my face.
“What’s our timeline?” Dace asked.
“ASAP,” I frustratedly admitted.
Dropping my hands to find Dace watching me curiously, I confessed, “Kehlor was waiting for me when I got back last night. He seemed to think I was having some kind of something with Vurhg, and when that proved false,” my hand lifted to tap my nose to mean he scented the truth on me, “he started in about us hanging out.” Blowing out a short breath, I laughed. “They sure don’t waste any time spreading gossip around here, do they?”
“Idle hands are the devil’s plaything,” Dace murmured with a commiserating look.
“One of your Gramps’ phrases?” I guessed. We’d spent the better part of the morning talking about our families,childhoods, it helped a little when Dace listened to me talk about the crazy that is my family and quietly commented, “They sound like they really loved you.” My heart hurt for her when she added, “It’s more than I could say for the majority of mine…”
Eyeing the ruins they tried to call a hut, I muttered, “How much do you know about the portal?”
“Not much.” Dace’s face scrunched up in thought. “The portal is really wonky. It’s not just when it opens, it’s what year will it be when it does.”
The leftover soup I’d eaten for breakfast threatened to come up as my stomach began to churn. What year would it be when and if it opened again? How much time would have passed?
“If you don’t mind the extra furballs, I wouldn’t mind the company.” Dace gave me a nudge to make sure I was here in the present. “Move in with me.”
My head snapped up at Dace’s offer. “You sure?”
Dace nodded, blue eyes lighting up. “It’ll be like a sorority, though I don’t really know what that’s like because I never went to college, but still.”
“An extended sleepover,” I quipped.
“Never had one of those either,” Dace admitted.
“Unless you count supervised campouts under the stars, me neither.”
Dace let out a little smile at my admission.
Neither of us were very popular in school. The similarities between us were not all that surprising.
“If I ask and promise to be careful, I bet Joanie might let me borrow her tablet. It’s full of movies.”
