“Pretty much…”
Raef looks at me, then back to the forest, then back to me. “You see how dark it gets in there, right? You hear those noises?”
“Yes,” I say. I shift my gaze to Daegan, hoping for… something. Some sort of hope.
He studies me for a moment in silence, his arms crossed. “Is it worth the risk?”
I nod. “Yes.”
Something shifts in his gaze as he studies me a moment longer. Then, finally, he nods. “Okay.”
He turns and walks straight into the forest, not looking back to see if either of us follow. I look at Raef in surprise, but he doesn’t seem to match it. With a sly look on his face, he gestures for me to go, then he takes up the rear. I have to jog to catch up to Daegan.
We walk for a while in silence. The forest has gone completely quiet around us, and it doesn’t feel right to fill it with our chatter.
Daegan’s head slowly shifts back and forth nonstop, and I get the sense that he does things like this often. Goes into dangerous places, faces unknown threats, has possibly even been in real battles. It’s something in the way he carries himself.
Adrian acts tough, but I don’t know if he’s seen a true fight a day in his life.
I reach for a fire orb, but Daegan senses it and looks back at me with a quick shake of his head. Noted. We don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves, I suppose.
That’s just as well, it’s not as dark as it should be because of what’s all around us. The trees are all onyx in color, but around their bases are many different colored luminescent plants. Some green, some blue, some deep red. Their glow is mesmerizing, and it offers enough light to see our path ahead. I can’t rip my eyes away from the beauty of it all. I look behind me and I can tell Raef is thinking the same. I guess he can’t take the silence anymore, because he finally pierces it.
“Can I pick a few and bring them home?”
“No,” Daegan and I say at once. He glances back at me with a blank look.
“We know nothing about these plants. They could be highly poisonous,” I scold him in a whisper.
“You haven’t read about them in one of the many dusty books your nose is always in?”
I shoot him a glare. “My nose is not always in books,” I retort in a harsh whisper.
“It is. It’s that or that Greenwood simpleton.”
My mouth hangs open, but I don’t look back at him as I don’t have a response yet. Daegan remains steady ahead of us. I’m not sure he’s really paying attention to any of our bickering.
“You’ve only known me for a fortnight,” I finally whisper harshly once more. “You know nothing.”
“Oh, I know things. Is he truly as dull as he seems? Or is that just around us?”
“Not as dull as Daegan.” My eyes widen as I realize the words I just uttered without even thinking.
Luckily, Daegan continues to lead the way, and Raef chuckles behind me. “You hear that, Day?”
“Yep,” Daegan replies without turning around. My stomach flips.
Great.
“Day?” I ask in a teasing manner.
He finally glances back for a brief moment, looking grumpier than ever. “Don’t start calling me that.”
I look back with my eyebrows raised, meeting Raef’s gaze, and he’s holding in a laugh. He shrugs his shoulders, and we continue forward.
I stare at the back of Daegan’s head as he walks, his hair in waves that touch the middle of his neck, wondering why he’s so grumpy all the time. Obviously, he hates all elves and still doesn’t trust me, but I thought maybe we were finally starting to crack the surface for some silly reason. I suppose I was wrong. Or maybe he really is just like this all the time.
I like a challenge, though. I decide to poke at him a little more. Out of bravery or stupidity, I do not know.
