Page 113 of Bones
Griz sighed. “Wrecked.”
“Honestly what the fuck else?—”
“I know,” Griz interrupted. “Don’t wake her up.”
“I’ve half a mind to wake her up andmakeher explain,” Raven muttered.
“Raven,” Griz said, his voice a warning.
“I’m not gonna,” Raven snapped, “but I want to.”
They were quiet for a while and I used the little energy I had left to keep the tears rolling down my face as silent as possible.
“Did she tell himwhy?”Raven asked.
“She said it hurts her, but Trey said she looked terrified.”
“That doesn’t make any fuckin’ sense,” Raven grumbled.
“I dunno.” Griz sighed. “Just, let’s focus on gettin’ her back on her feet, ok?”
“Ten fuckin’ lashes,” Raven muttered, “on the one person she won’t heal. What a fuckin’ dumbass.”
“I just hope they don’t get infected.” Griz sounded worried.
“That’s how Mac’s dad died, isn’t it?” Raven’s voice soundedsoft.
“Yeah.”
“Fuck.”
In the silence that followed, I tried to force my miserable self to stay awake in case they said anything else, but exhaustion pulled me under again.
* * *
“Trey’s been teaching the kids how to fight,” Raven said.
I glanced up from where I sat in the exam chair, sewing a tear in one of my shirts. It’d been just over a week since I got whipped and I still couldn’t stand for long.
Raven looked amused at the look on my face. “He’s not training them to fight in the Pit, just how to defend themselves.”
A little bit of the tension left my shoulders.
“Bones, am I doin’ this right?” Sky worried.
I looked over at where she watched golden oil drip through a cloth into a small glass jar. I had her straining my Calendula flower oil infusion to make an ointment for dry skin. The cold winter wind left people’s skin cracked this time of year, and I’d found a recipe for the salve in the old healer’s notebook.
“Pick up the cloth and squeeze the flowers real hard to get all the oil out,” I instructed and watched as she did what I said. “Now do a couple more jars.”
"You know that weed patch right beside the clinic?" Raven asked, continuing when I hummed an affirming noise. "Trey said it used to be an herb garden for the clinic. He's gonna try to fix it up for you this spring so you can grow your own herbs and shit."
I kept my eyes on my sewing, hating the warmth that spread through me at the idea of having my own little garden. I had to remind myself that didn’t matter, I wasn’t gonna be here that long.
“Trey said it’ll be a good project for him and Jax,” Raven continued.
I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes at her. She talked about Treyall the time.It wasn’t subtle, but then nothing about Raven was subtle. Trey came by every few days, and I ignored him. The hurt and sorrow in his eyes cut me straight to the bone, but I forced myself to endure it. I had to stop before I got him killed.
I didn’t stop constantly replaying the beautiful things he’d said to me though, even though they hurt as bad as my back.
