‘Is it strange that this smell feels like home?’ Ruben says, inhaling a lungful of the undeniably putrid air.
‘Extremely,’ Benny says, but I get it. Somehow, there is something comforting about it all. In the slums, you know where you stand.
As I throw Ruben a smile, a child runs beside us.
‘I know you. You’re the gifted!’ he shouts, his mouth hanging open as he stares at me.
‘Shh! It’s late,’ I chastise him. The last thing I want is a crowd. Not when we’ve got this far unnoticed. ‘You should be in bed.’
He has to be able to hear me, but he doesn’t listen. Instead, he yells, ‘It’s Lady Rose! The gifted! She’s come back!’
A corkscrew of nerves twists within me as the first few figures appear around us, attracted by the noise, only to add to it.
‘It’s the gifted!’
‘She came back!’ People start to pour out of their makeshift houses and lean-tos, gathering around us.
‘Are we about to get robbed?’ Caz mutters behind me.
‘I’m looking, don’t worry,’ Benny replies, scanning the area. His ability to see things is normally enough to spot anyone who’s out to harm us before they can actually do so, but before long we’re surrounded.
‘One of us!’ someone shouts.
‘One of us!’ the cheer comes again.
‘She’ll always be one of us, right, Rose?’
The warm use of my name catches me by surprise, but when I twist my head around and see the figure standing there, I understand. Corem, my old neighbour, is looking up at me, pride beaming from his face.
‘Always one of us,’ he says quietly, as if it’s just the two of us.
Tears fill my eyes as the chant starts up again. Any apprehension I had is long gone. These people aren’t going to hurt us. Even if our horses are laden with more wealth than they’ll see in a lifetime.
The thought causes another to stir within me.
‘I’m going to do something stupid,’ I warn the others.
Benny sighs. ‘Aren’t you always?’
Next to me, Ruben grins. ‘Let me guess, we’re not gonna be quite as well fed as we thought on this trip?’
I reach back and loosen the bag filled with my share of the food Summer made up.
‘You’ve got one too, right?’ I say to Caz, while beckoning Corem over.
As the bag slides out of the saddle straps, Corem reaches my side.
‘Share it out,’ I tell him as he grabs the bottom. ‘That one too,’ I add with a gesture to Caz’s bag.
Corem nods, his eyes shining. ‘I will, Lady Rose.’
The use of my title causes my heart to twinge. ‘It’s Rose, Corem. Just Rose.’
‘No, it isn’t,’ he says gently. He opens the pack and starts passing the rationsout.
‘There’s more here,’ Ruben says as he slings his pack down and hands it to Corem as well.
Benny sighs loudly. ‘You guys are absolutely idiotic,’ he says, but he’s undoing the straps to his own saddlebag as he speaks.
