Page 14 of The Infinite Glade
Isaac glanced at the others, about to speak on behalf of everyone and accept the invitation to dinner when Ximena responded, “No, we’re fine. We’d better get going.”
“No, please . . . I’m Cian,” the taller man said as he untied his scarf. Once he loosened the red material, he instantly looked friendlier without that awful thing around his neck. It reminded Isaac of how Ms. Cowan had tied her scarf to hide her symptoms before they got to the Villa. Thankfully, this guy didn’t have a rash. “And this is my brother, Erros.”
Isaac started to introduce himself. “Well, I’m?—”
“We’re leaving,” Ximena said forcefully, her eyes just as scared as they’d looked five minutes ago, even though the men had put down their weapons.
“Give me a minute . . .” Isaac said to the one named Cian. He walked over to Ximena, whose trust issues were perfectly understandable, what with Professor Morgan and the others at the Villa. But not everyone they met would end up trapping them in a glass pod. “Ximena, let’s get something to eat. They put down their weapons, right?” He whispered, motioning to the duo. “Give them a chance, they could help us . . . and I know you’ve got to be starving.”
“You’re really serious . . . ?” Ximena threw her backpack over her shoulder and gave Isaac the sense that the question she’d asked wasn’t about staying or leaving but about believing her premonition. “You’ll be buried in the ground.” For Isaac, the wordburiedheld more guilt than it should have. He couldn’t help but think of the burial of Ximena’s mom and the others on their island. Maybe one day he’d be able to tell her about it and take her there to her mother’s final resting place. It overlooked the ocean and was as peaceful a spot on the island to visit as any.
Isaac kept at it. “I know you’re hungry, and all I have are flour cakes in my bag. Let’s just join them to eat and then you can decide if you’re still going north, okay?”
She shook her head stubbornly. Isaac looked back at Old Man Frypan and the others.
“Come on, Isaac,” Jackie said.
Isaac tried to think of the right argument, something he may have used with Sadina in the past. “Maybe your second-sight, your premonition was about?—”
“Don’t,” Ximena interrupted him. “Don’ttell me how my second-sight works. If you don’t believe me, fine. But don’t tell me how to interpretmyown inner-knowing. And just so you know, it’s even stronger now than earlier.” She whispered the cryptic warning again to Isaac, “Don’t let the truth stay buried.Strangers will put us in the ground.”
He didn’t know how else to tell Ximena that she was wrong. “I know you have a bad feeling. But I have a good feeling.” She rolled her eyes at that. “Okay, maybe a good feeling doesn’t cancel out a bad feeling, but maybe you’re feelingbadbecause it felt . . .loud. . .” She had said it was getting louder the closer they got to the fire. “What if it’s a warning that something good is about to happen? Maybe these two men can help usfindthe truth?” He reached for her backpack. “Please, at least just stay to eat one bite? One?” He once again turned around to Jackie and Old Man Frypan for support.
“The boy’s right, we could use a good meal.” Frypan was practically all the way over by Cian and Erros’ fire already.
Isaac tilted his head to Jackie, urging her to speak up, too. The fish on the fire smelled like one of their feasts back home. “Yeah . . .” she added half-heartedly. “Be pretty dumb to head out now, in the dark, alone . . .”
Ximena looked over at the men, crossbows at their side, waiting to welcome them.
The shorter one named Erros spoke up. “We’re not bad guys, just afraid of the Hollowings is all. If you’re friends of Kletter, you’re friends of ours.”
“What’re Hollowings?” Jackie asked.
Cian and Erros looked at each other and shook their heads. “It is . . . unfortunately, exactly as it sounds . . .” Cian said.
Erros explained a little. “Heathens that go around carving up bodies and leaving them lie ’round just for the fun of it. To learn the anatomy of the human body, maybe? Who the hell knows.”
“When societies crumble, they break all the way down to the most simple of curiosities. Morbid curiosities.” Ximena moved closer to the bushes as she spoke, away from Cian and Erros.
“Ximena . . .” Isaac waited until her eyes finally met his. “Stay. Please. We won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
She paused, holding her eyes steady on Isaac’s plea.Please, Isaac said in his mind. She shook her head as she walked toward the smoke of Cian and Erros’ fire. “Just for a few minutes. Then I’m gone.”
“Atta girl.” Old Man Frypan gave Ximena a solid arm around her shoulders like only Old Man Frypan could. Relief rushed over Isaac, mainly to have something to eat other than those awful Villa cakes. He walked to the fire that smelled like all the best things of home.
“I’m Isaac, this is Jackie, Ximena, and Frypan.” He was so hungry he’d swallow fish bones whole, but he knew he couldn’t eat the flour cakes in his bag. At least he could share them with their new companions. He unpacked two wrapped flour cakes and handed one over to Cian and one to Erros. “They aren’t much, but you can maybe soften them with water.” Ximena sat down next to Isaac. Jackie sat on the other side of him.
“Oh, we know these well.” Erros knocked his knuckles against the flour cake. They were solid. Too solid. “From the Villa?”
Cian shook his head. “They can splice DNA but they can’t make a single bread loaf that doesn’t taste like sand.”
Isaac felt Ximena tense up. He wouldn’t be able to forget the sandy texture of Villa bread anytime soon . . . buthow did the two men in front of him know about flour cakes from the Villa?
“Don’t worry, we’ve got plenty to eat,” Erros said as he tossed the flour cake into the fire. A cloud of flames puffed just once before growing higher.
Ximena set her backpack on her lap, her arms wrapped around it.Damn. Isaac had temporarily forgotten the stolen loot. “Are you . . . um . . .” He thought about how to best pose his question while exchanging looks with Ximena. “How do you two know the Villa?”
Cian handed Jackie a whole fish on a small palm leaf. “You know one Villa, you know them all.” Then he shrugged as if that were enough of an explanation.
