Page 28 of Bones
“Electricity turns on after dark. Can I come in?” he asked.
I debated telling him no, but I feared he’d just come in anyway. So I shrugged. He seemed to take that as a yes, and climbed up, holding two packs of something wrapped in tin foil.
“C’mon.” He smiled as he crossed the small loft to sink onto the floor next to my mattress. “They had fresh butter today. You don’t wanna miss that!”
A wave of nausea hit me at the mere mention of food. “I’m really not hungry.”
He set the packets down, unwrapping them both and ignoring me. It looked like a thick slice of bread with some cooked meat and, as promised, butter.
“See I know you’re lying ’cause you haven’t had anything to eat since yesterday.” He nudged one of the packets closer to me. “An’ you’re practically skin and—” He paused, his eyes flashing to my face in sudden realization. “—bones.”
I glared at him, daring him to ask. He pressed his lips together, but the corners twitched up.
“Just a few bites,” he wheedled, “c’mon, Bones.”
“If I eat a few bites will you leave?” I snapped.
He grinned at that. “Yep.”
I grabbed the bread and took a bite. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had butter, and the rich flavor that melted on my tongue tasted like heaven. I forced myself to take another bite before I lost my nerve. As I swallowed, Trey grinned at me like I’d just made his day.
“Good job!” he cheered.
I threw the rest of the bread at him. He caught it and took a big bite, still grinning.
“Now go away,” I growled at him.
He shook his head, laughter dancing in those warm eyes. “I didn’t saywhenI’d leave.”
I glared at him.
“Don’t tell me you’d rather sit up here by yourself.” Trey grinned. “You’d miss my sparkling personality.”
“Like I’d miss a hole in the head,” I shot back at him.
He laughed and took another bite of my bread, apparently not at all bothered by me.
“You should try the deer steaks,” he said between bites. “They’re not bad.”
“What happened to the last healer?” I asked instead.
Trey sobered. “Madame executed him after Viper, her partner, died.”
I wasn’t exactly surprised. “How’d Viper die?”
“He got real sick with a fever. Lotta people died.”
It sounded like the same sickness that killed off so many of the Reapers a few months before everything went to shit. Juck had boasted about being untouchable, and only I knew he’d fallen ill, and I’d healed him. I’d spent many nights sobbing in the crude medical tent over sick folks gasping for air and begging their forgiveness after they breathed their last breath. Vulture had acted sorry for me, but I knew he’d just been calculating how to use me and the Reapers’ deaths to fuel his takeover.
“She thinks Viper was poisoned. That…” He hesitated. “That man, Hojo? Madame got it in her head he was the one who carried it out.”
I could practically hear my heart thudding heavily in my chest, shame twisting my lungs into knots.
“We’ve been without a healer since then,” Trey continued. “Nobody wanted to volunteer after that.”
I stared at a spot on the wall. I didn’t blame ’em. I wasn’t sure what was worse. Not having healing powers or having them and not being allowed to use them. Either way, you had to watch a lot of people die, and that stuck with you.
Trey’s arm moved toward me, and I flinched out of habit. He jerked his hand back.
