Page 12 of The Stone Curse
Curi’s voice drifted into the hallway. “Plates are in the next one along. No. Not that one. The other one.”
Who was he talking to? We were all here.
At the door now, Orix stepped aside to let me go first.
I pushed it open a fraction to peer in.
“We need more onion in the salad,” Palia said, her back to me as she arranged stuff on the table.
“No more onions or I’ll be farting all night,” Ginia replied from the other side of the room.
Palia’s back straightened. “Passing wind.” I imagined the prim look on her face.
“What?” Ginia said.
“You’ll bepassing wind.”
“I know, that’s what I said!”
“You said fart,” Touron pointed out from a spot behind the door I couldn’t see.
“Touron, please!” Palia turned, hands on hips. Her gaze snagged on me standing in the partially open doorway. “Cam’s here!”
I stepped into the room. “You guys came for dinner?”
Touron cleared his throat and rounded the kitchen island to stand beside Curi. “It’s a little more than that.”
“We’re moving in,” Ginia said with a grin.
“Roomies once more,” Palia added.
“We cleared out a couple of rooms on the third floor,” Orix said. “They were just filled with furniture and odds and ends.”
“I’ve taken Selas’s room on the same floor with you and Shar,” Curi said.
“I’m on the fifth with Orix,” Touron said.
Prasan’s old room.
They were here. They were staying, and I hadn’t realized until this moment how much I needed this. Needed them.
I looked to Orix, heart in my mouth. His face blurred, and I blinked to clear it.
“I got authorization off Carter,” he said. “I told her they were part of the team even if they weren’t elite.”
I pressed my hand to my mouth to staunch a sob as my lips curved in the first real smile in days. “I love you guys. I love you so much.”
The area behind the island bloomed with shadow, and Derek materialized, carrying a basket. He froze for a moment, taking us all in, then held up the basket. “I bring eggs.”
For a little while,it felt like the old days, like everything was normal. Touron and Curi had cooked up a feast of wild rice, flavorful chicken, salad, and potatoes. There was even dessert in the form of a delicious cheesecake, courtesy of Palia, and the eggs were put aside for breakfast.
For a little while, I convinced myself to forget about the loss, but conversation soon steered itself to business.
“When’s Willowman back?” Curi asked Orix.
“I’m picking him up from Outpost Ten tomorrow,” Orix said. “He’ll have strengthened the wards by then.”
Usually Orix or Serath would have stayed with Willowman, taken him and brought him back, but with a shortage of elite, that wasn’t feasible. So it was a drop off and pick up situation now.
