Page 17 of Enchantment of Silver and Sea
A scream was just rising in my throat when I lifted the lantern I had borrowed from Brielle. I gaped at what it illuminated.
It was Nya. Sitting at my desk. An ankle crossed over a knee.
“Finally!” She threw her head back, braids swishing. She was dressed the same as last time—tank top, tan cargo shorts, and ankle-high boots. The only difference was that her shirt was a faded tangerine instead of green. It was a color that would have looked atrocious on me, but it complemented her dark skin.
The wall to my left was partially obscuring my view of the room. I held my breath as I hurried to the edge of the kitchen.
There he was.
Sprawled across my comforter, arms crossed behind his head, was Kieran. He was dressed the same as last time, except he thankfully had the decency to take off his shoes before climbing on my bed. Due to his height, his black-socked feet nearly hung off the bottom. Plastered across his face, exactly as I remembered it, was that smug smile.
“Welcome home,” he said cheerily.
I grinned in spite of myself, glancing between the two of them. “You’re back! How did everything go with the marsh wolves?”
They exchanged a look.
“Don’t tell me you’re actually happy to see us,” Nya said slowly, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward.
“I don’t know if ‘happy’ is the word,” I said. Although it was, strangely. They didn’t need to know that. “But I’ve been wondering how things turned out for you.”
I walked around Nya and began lighting candles. When I was finished, I realized she and Kieran were both staring at me incredulously. Kieran, no longer the picture of relaxation, was sitting up in the middle of the bed.
I almost asked the two of them how they had fared in the rain earlier, which had continued on and off throughout the day. But considering I had spent the day warm and dry in the safety of the Library, something felt wrong about that. I swallowed the question.
Then I remembered what was tucked into my bag. I couldn’t pull it out fast enough.
“Here,” I said, thrusting the plastic containers into Nya’s hands. “I’m sure you’re hungry.”
I cringed inwardly at my word choice. Of course they were hungry. They lived Outside.
I went to the cabinet where I kept my small stack of plates and pulled out one for each of them. I also grabbed silverware from the drawer and two cloth napkins that I was certain I had never used.
When I returned to where Nya was sitting, she was still staring blankly at the containers. I took them back from her and set them on the desk, pulling the lids off all three. A container for the chicken, a container for the roasted broccoli, and a container of oatmeal cookies. Brielle had loaded me up with leftovers, and I’d never been so thankful for her concern about my eating habits.
I divided everything until two heaping plates sat in front of me. Then I once again shoved the plate of food, silverware, and a napkin into Nya’s hands. Then I turned to Kieran, arms extended.
He stared at the plate. After a long moment, he reached out and took it from me.
Nya spoke first.
“We’re not hungry,” she said. It was clear from her tone that her words were both a statement, and a command directed at Kieran.
Kieran snorted. “Like she believes that.”
“Fine. How about ‘We’re not up for being poisoned today?’”
I glanced between the two of them, horrified. “You think I would try to poison you?”
“We’re from the spooky, evilOutside,” Nya said slowly, as if I was missing something important. “We broke into your home. Again. We’re about to insist that you help us. Again. Under threat of…death, I guess.”
“You were doing good there until the end,” Kieran said with a sympathetic shake of his head.
For the first time since I walked in the door, I allowed myself to really look at his eyes again. They were the same—gray right now, but with that glint of silver where the light hit them—and yet somehow more breathtaking than I remembered.
“I didn’t know you two were in my apartment,” I pointed out, trying to stay focused. “When would I have had time to poison this food?”
“I don’t know,” Nya admitted. “But maybe—Seriously, Kieran?!”
