Page 61 of Bones
“Yeah, earlier,” Trey answered. “Why?”
My eyes narrowed. “Was I sayin’ shit?”
Guilt flashed across his face, his eyes widening. “No.”
It was so obviously a lie I almost laughed, but the fact he lied made it pretty clear I’d said something I wouldn’t be happy about. I glared at him, torn between wanting to demand he tell me and wanting to pretend it never happened.
“Come on,” he said, getting to his feet and holding his hands out. “I bet you’ll feel better if you get some fresh air.”
I knew he wanted to distract me, but being distracted sounded kind of nice. I gave him my hands, letting him pull me up. I didn’t miss the delighted surprise that flashed across his face, but then the room spun as I stood, I gripped his hands tighter instead of letting go.
“Dizzy?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Let me know when it passes,” he said, holding my hands and waiting.
“I’m ok,” I said after the room seemed to settle.
He released my hands, but only to tuck my arm in his. I stiffened, which made him pause, but I didn’t pull away. After a few seconds, he started walking slowly, reaching out to open the clinic door, and I walked with him.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“’Bout time for the dinner bell now.”
I frowned as we stepped outside and sure enough, the setting sun lit up the sky with a deep orange color. I'd been out for about twelve hours. If Trey was right and this happened every time I used up all my power, I'd have to be careful.
The air still smelled like smoke and burnt wood. “The fire out?”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “Lost about half the homes in the slums though.”
“What’ll happen to those people who lost their homes?” I asked, feeling uneasy.
“Same thing that happens any time there’s some sort of natural disaster,” Trey said and his voice had a dark edge to it. “Madame won’t do shit and the rest of us will scrounge up materials and help ’em rebuild.”
So many questions spun through my mind. I wanted to ask him how he could stand to work for Madame, how he justified the things she did, and why he stayed here at the Vault.
Instead, I kept my mouth shut.
Even if I didn’t get an up close and personal look at what Madame did to people in that awful dungeon room, I’d heard enough small pieces of conversation to know unrest simmered here. I had plenty of experience with unrest, and if I wanted to survive, I needed to just keep my head down and stay the fuck out of it.
Survive,Wolf agreed, startling me. He’d been quiet lately.
“How many people died?” I asked.
"Seven." Trey's free hand came up to rest over the top of my hand on his arm and squeezed. "Would have probably been triple that if you hadn't been here."
Guilt mixed with something soft and warm in my chest.
“Butwe aren’t talkin’ about the fire anymore. We’re gonna do somethin’ else.”
“What?” I asked warily.
“You’ll see,” he said with a grin.
We were headed for the barn, I realized. A prickle of fear ran through me. I knew better than to blindly follow a man somewhere isolated. Trey let go of my arm to pull the big doors open and then tugged me through. Even with Wolf snarling warnings in my head, my feet followed him inside, but my body had tensed so much that when Trey turned toward me, I flinched. He paused, studying my face in confusion.
“You ok?” he asked.
