The Hijinks War

39. A Royal Idiot

In the dark, trees all around me, the scope of our camp was overwhelming. Well disguised platforms formed bridges from one tree to the next, connecting a series of small blinds hidden by branches in which everyone was sleeping. 

I looked at the fire I sat in front of―a stealthy little thing that emitted no smoke that I never would have imagined was possible. If it weren't for the Hewlett twins' weird obsession with survivalist Bear Grylls, we never would have known how to make them. By digging pits for the fires and feeding them slowly with only small twigs, we avoided announcing where we were with plumes of smoke. 

The weight of the day settled on me, as I dropped a twig or two into a couple of the fires and then sat again. We weren't close to done yet, and we still had to implement the second part of our plan, but we'd accomplished so much and worked so hard. It was tough. It was hard on every single one of us, and despite this, we pushed ourselves to do more than even we thought ourselves capable of.

We were doing this! But my pride dwindled when I remembered we were doing this with one less person than I intended.

With a sigh, I pulled Eddie's letter from the inner pocket of my jacket. I stared at it for some time and resisted the terrible urge to throw it into the fire in anger. One, I'd regret it instantly, I knew that much and, two, it would make smoke. Instead I tossed in another twig and carefully refolded it as a plan formed in my mind. It was dark, it was almost eleven, everyone was asleep, and my pack was laying in the dirt beside me. I wondered if I could get there and back by morning; I still had my maps folded into the font pocket

"Feeling better?"

I jumped with a start and looked up at Kellen. We'd avoided each other after my meltdown and the stupid hijINKs update that had people watching us closely.

"Yeah." I hoped I didn't look like I'd been caught red handed. Which I might have been if he'd come down after I got up to leave.

"You sure?" He indicated the note I was stuffing back into my pocket.

"Yeah. I don't know what happened earlier..."

"It's called crying, Cole." He sat beside me, a small teasing smirk on his face. "Have you never done it before?"

With a sardonic chuckle, I decided to play along, even if it was for just a moment. "I think once when I was five."

"So you couldn't sleep, hmm?" He nudged my shoulder.

I didn't really need to answer. After our ordeal the day before, Kellen and I seemed to have developed some kind of innate ability to know what the other was thinking. Like Jess and I, or he and Jackson did; somehow Kellen and I had become kind of like friends that didn't need to talk. I found it wholly strange.

"You don't need to worry, Babe," he whispered, leaning across me to grab some twigs. I watched as he fed the fire slowly, careful not to give it too much so as to cause smoke. I was thankful he hadn't said that awkwardly weird endearment where others could hear him.

"But I do worry, Kels. For us and for him." I got up to feed a couple of the other fires and joined him back on the stump.

"He'll be fine. He's doing what he can to try and get us out of here, Cole. And when he does, I'll stop calling you Hero, like you want me to."

It seemed so like him to try and cheer me up while simultaneously discussing something that had the potential to make me cry. I didn't have the heart to tell him that Hero wasn't the name I wanted him to stop anymore.

We sat in comfortable silence till the next fire-tender showed up to take over, and then we made our way into the trees armed with a bag of heated rocks each. We climbed the rope ladder that had been left hanging down for us, struggling with the load of our bags. Carefully, we balanced across the planks made from doors from the old Waterbridge mansion, dropping off rocks at blinds we passed to provide some needed warmth.