Page 59 of Taken for Granite
juniper
Chicago couldn’t come soon enough. Eight hours on the road—not including pit stops—and she was exhausted. She found a modest-looking motel on the outskirts of the city and booked a room with two beds. She might want two rooms in the future, but Tas needed to do his stone sleep thing, she needed to sleep, and she didn’t want a wall separating her from Chloe if something happened. Tomorrow they might be champing at the bit for some space, especially after spending a day cooped up in a car.
A quick shower washed the road away and she fell into the bed after giving Chloe money to order pizza.
The glorious aroma of cheese and pepperoni roused her. With her eyes gritty and tired, she debated just skipping dinner and sleeping, but her stomach would not let her fall back to sleep.
She finally lifted her head from the pillow, only to find Tas crouched in front of the television with Chloe standing nearby. The vibrant colors glowed brightly in the dim room.
“This is television? But you made it sound complex and highly detailed.” He frowned and poked at the screen, the plasma rippling in a shimmer of colors. “This is two-dimensional.”
“Don’t poke it. And thestoriesare complex.”
“There is no headset? Or full virtual immersion? You cannot interact with the actors or impact the story in any way?”
“Nope.”
He huffed. “I am disappointed. I had hoped to find something similar to the immersive games I used to play with my siblings.”
“Do you want to watch something or do you want to criticize the technology?” Chloe used the remote to flick through the channels.
The bed dipped as Tas sat on the edge. “That sounded interesting.”
“It’s in Spanish.”
“I speak Spanish, as well as French, Italian, Norwegian, Russian, Turkish, Arabic, and Mandarin. Probably a few more, I forget. And English, obviously,” he added.
“Well, I only speak English.”
“I’ll translate.”
Juniper couldn’t fight her smile as she sat up, pleased to have Chloe and Tas get along. Sort of. She wanted the two most important people in her world to like each other.
She was such a softie when it came to Tas even though she knew she should be keeping her distance. Emotionally, at least.
“Hey,” she said, stretching with a yawn.
“Eat,” he said, handing her a slice of pizza on a paper plate.
“Why aren’t you asleep?” she asked around a mouthful of hot cheesy goodness.
“I wanted to wait for you to wake first,” he said, his voice rough with exhaustion. While the wounds on his arms had faded to a dull pink, he still had chunks taken out of him. Tas might not want to admit it, but he was dragging.
“You should have woken me,” she said.
“You needed your sleep more.”
Seriously, how could she not get all gooey and mushy about this guy? She didn’t know how she’d be able to say goodbye.
20
Juniper
“Next time, no teenagers on our camping trip,” Juniper said, dropping to her sleeping bag. She sat near the fire, enjoying the warmth.
“Like you enjoy camping so much,” Chloe muttered, currently huddled under a hoodie, a knit hat, gloves, and wrapped in a blanket.
“It’s a nice night.” The day had been unseasonably warm and she took advantage of a campground near the Canadian border crossing. After two days of driving, Juniper was glad to the fresh air and the silence. Nighttime temperatures would dip down, but it wasn’t dangerously cold.
