A soft paw nudged her chin, encouraging her to look up.
“Don’t blame yourself for that,” he said, his eyes blinking away tears. “I am fairly sure it was my own anger that caused the petal to fall.”
“But your anger was entirely justified,” Isa responded. “How would that have caused a petal to fall?”
Aden shrugged. “It’s a Majis curse. It thrives on chaos.” He pulled himself to his feet and went to retrieve his leather sack. “It is time for me to go. I have tarried too long.”
Chapter 22
Aden swung his pack over his shoulder. As the weight settled onto his back, he felt oddly lighter.
He was glad he had told Isa the truth about what had happened concerning the rose that morning. While he had grown more accustomed to his beastly body, he resented even more the idea that someone might view him as nothing more than an animal.
He turned to her to say his final goodbye, but they were both distracted by footsteps running down the hall.
“They made it!” Luca yelled before he was even in view. “Macklin and Cam made it to the village! They’re on the other side of the canyon.”
“Come on!” Isa said, her voice filled with joy and relief. “Let’s go!”
Aden followed them down the hill outside the mansion, slowing his pace to match theirs.
Sure enough, on the other side of the canyon, a group of people waved at them.
“Hello! Hello!” Isa called over to them.
He flinched as her sudden yell pierced his ears.
“Hello!” one of them called back. Aden thought it might be the cook, Cam, who had left with Macklin. “How are you holding up over there?”
“What?” Isa yelled back, cupping her hands around her mouth. “We can’t hear you!” She turned to Luca and Blanca, who had followed them from the house. “Could you hear that?”
“He asked how you are holding up,” Aden said.
“Good!” Isa yelled back over the canyon, waving her hands above her head in excitement. “Can you hear us?”
“Yes!” came the faint response from across the canyon.
Isa turned to Aden to see what the answer had been.
Aden nodded. “They can hear us.”
“It must be the wind,” Luca observed. “It’s carrying our voices over to them, but dispersing their voices before they can reach us.”
“Except for Aden,” Isa corrected him. “The sound can reach Aden’s ears.” She turned to Aden. “Ask them when they will start building.”
Aden shook his head. His voice might be loud, but it was deep. The rumbling of the river below would completely wash over it. “You do the asking; your voice will carry better in the wind.” He did not mention that the thought of communicating with other humans terrified him.
“When will you start building the bridge?” Isa yelled.
“Soon!” the man responded. “Mr. Surrell continued back to Allys to alert your parents. We’ll start with the supplies we have available, but he will be back with better resources!”
Aden relayed the information back to the group.
“Do you need us to send someone back the long way with food?” the man yelled across at them. Aden felt further justified in his guess that the man was Cam. Trust a cook to think of food.
Aden forwarded Cam’s question to Luca, who looked at Blanca. They shook their heads simultaneously.
“I think we are doing just fine,” Blanca said.
