I showered this morning without any trouble for the first time. It hurt like hell, but I relished the pain. I haven’t stopped looking at the stitches. Seeing Elodie’s handiwork on my body. A scar that’ll be neat, thanks to her. A scar that I’ll wear for the rest of my life, the thin white line an eternal reminder that Elodie fixed me. The thought churns in my stomach. A thought that shouldn’t even exist. I shouldn’t have been stabbed. And the possible reasons why it happened have been the most sickening thoughts of all.
The other boys participating started showing up around noon, Maggie putting out a fantastic feast for us to dig into.
Elodie’s nowhere to be seen, hiding away in my room. She didn’t come down for breakfast, nor lunch. When I asked Alf why he hadn’t fed her, he’d shrugged with a face full of guilt. Either he’s about to lose his self-control and doesn’t trust himself, or they’ve fallen out. Neither would be good. But the girl needs to eat, so I bring a full plate up to her.
Her little head pokes over the side of the bed. I really wish she’d sleep in the fucking bed.
“I brought you food,” I mumble, placing it on the mattress beside her.
She eyes the plate of meat and veg suspiciously. “Why?”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. I can have patience for one day. Just today, and then she’s mine forever, and this bullshit can stop. “Because you need your strength for tonight.”
She chews the inside of her bottom lip.
I take a deep breath in. “Look, this day is important to us, to me. I’d like you to take it seriously. If you think you have a chance of running away from me on an empty stomach, then you’re more stupid than I thought. You’ll pass out. You’ll run out of steam in ten minutes. I haven’t deprived myself of any and every little luxury for forty days just to beat you in the blink of an eye. I have a lot of shit to burn off tonight.”
She watches my mouth move as I speak, this blank look on her face that makes me want to throttle her.
I summon the calmness of Alfie and nudge the plate closer to her. “Please?”
She takes the plate and brings it onto her lap.
I wait for her to raise a piece of bacon to her mouth before getting up.
“What, exactly, is going to happen tonight?” She doesn’t look up from her food.
I roll a shoulder. “Just think of it as an adult game of hide and seek. Don’t let me find you.”
“How long for, though? What are my rules?”
I sigh, drop back down on the bed. “It goes until midnight, when Summer Solstice is officially over. So about two hours. Your rules are: don’t let me catch you and don’t leave the perimeter of the woods. You could technically reach the end of the woods if you ran in a straight line for those two hours, but it’s unlikely. Our land is enormous. I don’t think you’ll come close to an edge, but in all honesty, I don’t really want you to. You’re protected here.”
She frowns, turns to me. “And you’re sure none of the other guys will come near me?”
“Not if they enjoy having their body parts intact.”
She slightly grimaces. “What happens with your dogs? Do they help?”
I shake my head. “Too dark. Too dangerous for them.”
She nods slowly. “So… what happens to the people? The ones you hunt?”
I shrug. “They’re bad people. Rats who’ve wronged us or the world. They deserve to die.”
Her eyebrows shoot up and she blows a low whistle.
“That shocks you?”
Elodie shakes her head. “Not shocks, just… I don’t know. I never get used to the immorality in this world.”
Clearly not been desensitised to it like the rest of us. Should be admirable, but I just see it as weakness.
I push up from the bed again. “Well, yeah, that’s how it’s going to be. There’ll be loads of people in the woods tonight, but you only need to worry about me. It’s just you and me, Princess.” She watches me back away with a look of trepidation on her face. I find myself smirking. “Just think about how much you want that plane ticket. If I don’t see you trying hard enough, you’ll make me think you want to stay with me.” I throw her a wink, and she grimaces.
“As if,” she scoffs.
I watch as she eats tentatively. I’d love to know what’s going on in that head of hers.
