Page 44 of Hunted

Tallin’s eyes were grave. “I… can’t say,” he said.

Valerian came into view by the door to the bedroom we were in. He folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe. “Is there a way of knowing?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I said, looking around the room as if I was going to find the answer in this bedroom. “I need to contact them. I have to know if they’re safe.”

“I know you want to,” Tallin said, “But we have no way of doing that. We need to trust that… it didn’t hurt them.”

“How can we know that?”

“I’m afraid we won’t know.”

“I can’t just sit on my hands and do nothing. If they’ve been hurt… I’m never going to forgive myself.”

Valerian took a deep breath, pushed himself off the door, and approached. “She told you to leave,” he said. “We saw how strong a defense they were able to put up against that creature. We have to trust that they survived… all of them.”

“He’s right,” Tallin said. “I think the best thing we can do right now is to settle, perhaps learn more about this little cottage we have been sent to. For all we know, your grandmothers will follow us shortly.”

I shook my head. “This place doesn’t look big enough for all of us. There’s only one bedroom, and only one bed. I don’t think it’s meant for extended stays.”

Valerian walked over to the window and scanned the snowy outside. “It also doesn’t look like we are in the city anymore.”

“I’m not sure where we are,” I said, “But we’re not in Arcadia. We’re still on Earth.”

Tallin bounded toward the bedroom door. “I am going to see what I can find, here. I suggest we look for food, water, anything useful.”

I nodded. “I’ll head downstairs shortly…”

Tallin then disappeared down the hall, going back the way we had come. Valerian took another deep breath in through the nose, then exhaled his warm breath on the window. “This place reminds me of the house I grew up in,” he said.

“Really?”

“It was smaller… but it had a similar scent. I didn’t think there was a place on Earth that could remind me of home.”

“Me either. I can’t smell the city, the smoke. All I can smell are the trees, the snow, and the stone.”

“Your grandmothers prepared this place for us… they must have.”

I folded my arms under my chest and looked out the window. “Helen didn’t want me to leave.”

“No, but she is clearly a woman who enjoys having carefully laid out plans, even if she hopes not to have to use them.”

“That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t worry.”

I felt Valerian rest a hand on my shoulder. “I know,” he said. “They’re okay, Amara. I know they are.”

I looked over at his hand, then up at him. There was something in his eyes, something in the way he looked at me, that made me both fearful of him, and drew me closer to him. Maybe the fear was what pulled me in, because it wasn’t that I was afraid of him. Valerian had proven himself, now, to be someone I could trust.

Someone I could depend on.

Thatwas what scared me.

Hours passed. The three of us had scoured the cottage, taking stock of the provisions available to us. There was food in an ice box, the pantry was fully stocked, and while the pipes in the kitchen were frozen solid, a little touch of what magic Valerian had left in him allowed us to get the water flowing again. Finishing with a couple of logs thrown into the fireplace, the cottage started to warm up.

And we waited.

And waited.

The more I waited, the more I worried. What was taking them so long? Were they still fighting the creature? Had it gotten to them? Had they escaped? Maybe that was it. Maybe they had gotten out using another portal, and they were regrouping as well.