Nirrin (Forestfolk, Book 3)

Chapter 2

The following morning, I awoke to a tumult that differed from the usual clamor of bored children in the large cabin that housed the orphans.

"I saw it!" said one girl. "It had huge fangs!"

Fangs? Did a wild boar come barreling through Foresthome?

"You didn't see anything," another girl replied. "You had the pillow over your head."

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"It was scaly," Benzi joined in, his voice modulated to sound like a ghost story.

I sat up and found the two girls staring at him, wide-eyed as they huddled in a corner.

"Big and scaly," Benzi went on.

I jumped out of bed. "Did a snake come in here?" My eyes darted around, looking for the creature.

"No, it was like a man," he said, his brown eyes sparking with excitement. "Only not a man."

My brow scrunched. "You're not making any sense."

"Galen and some others caught this weird guy sneaking around. I saw them taking him away."

"Taking him away where?" This was odd. First, because no one ever got "taken away" around here, and second, there was no place to lock someone up, even if they wanted to. This just wasn't that kind of place.

Benzi shrugged. "They went that way." He pointed toward a path near our cabin.

The only things down that way were more cabins, but I wasn't at liberty to investigate just yet. I would have to wait until after breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast . . . "All right, you little piglets, get dressed!"

The kids who were still in bed tumbled out and joined the others, who scrambled to change into their day clothes.

"You've gotten quite good at that." Bren nodded to the children. "You don't even need me anymore."

"Hush. I'll always need you, Bren." I nudged her shoulder. "How else will I stay out of trouble?"

She raised an eyebrow. "When do you stay out of trouble?"

I laughed. "Hey, I'll have you know, I helped Wender collect honey the other day."

"Only because you got caught stealing some of his honey the previous day."

"I wasn't stealing! I'm not a thief. I was just . . . helping him distribute it."

Bren shook her head while repressing a smile. "Go on. It looks like the kids are ready. I'm going to visit Siena. My back has been killing me." She rubbed her lower spine with both hands. "I'll meet you there."

My expression softened, and I gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. "Take as much time as you need."

I frowned a little as I watched her shuffle out the door. Bren was reliable. Always here when I needed her. What would happen to this place if one day she wasn't? What would happen to me? Would my freedom evaporate?

I pushed the concerning thought away. "Come on, kids, let's go."

They thundered out the door, and I followed behind them, trying not to imagine doing this same exact thing every single morning. For the rest of my life.

I balked at the idea, and latched on to the first distraction I saw. "Hi, Jeribo!" I waved at the fisherman as he rolled up a net. "I can come by later and help with that, if you like!"

"Good morning, Nirrin." He gave me a cautious smile. "I think, after the last time, maybe working with ropes is not for you."

I rolled my eyes. "That was an accident. How was I supposed to know the fire was so close to the nets?" He opened his mouth to speak, but I didn't let him. "Besides, I can't let Sember be the only one burning things around here, right?"

He laughed politely and shook his head. I rejoined the children just in time to keep Benzi from wandering off to the lake again.

I found Sember and Jastin at the commons, halfway through their morning meal. I felt a twinge of guilt for interrupting their conversation, but I joined them anyway. "Hi, guys!"

They both smiled at me, and Jastin—ever the gentleman—motioned for me to sit across from them. I missed the days—years ago—when it was just me, Sember, and Siena at breakfast. We were the oddballs at the time, and I savored being a part of their discussions about Gifted things. It made me feel like I was part of something special. Just us against the world who didn't understand us.

Then Siena paired up with Remi, which was okay. She totally deserved someone to dote on her, because she was the most selfless person I'd ever met. She was bound to drift away from us anyway, having reached adulthood long before us. How old was she now, twenty-five?

Then Sember found Jastin, and I was left with no one in particular.

I plastered a conspiratorial smile on my face as I slid onto the bench. "Do you guys know anything about a snake man being captured last night?"

They shared a glance that told me they knew something.

"What?" I leaned closer. "Was it really a snake man?"

"Well," Sember began, "we don't know what he is."

My eyes grew big. "And? Why did they capture him? When do we ever do that to visitors? It's not just because he's funny-looking, right? Because there was that one guy with the pink eyes and funny clothes, but he was free to come and go."

Sember shook her head. "Galen woke up and sensed something off. Something dangerous. He roused a bunch of people to look for it, and we found that guy skulking around one of the cabins."

My mouth dropped open. "You got to be part of the search party?"

"We both did."

"No fair! I could've helped!" The thought that something so exciting had happened right under my nose irritated me. No one had thought I might want to be part of it.

Sember, used to my outbursts, only rolled her eyes. "Only the well-armed were alerted."

"I can see why they wanted you, Sember, but Jastin too? No offense, but what are you going to do, hurl snowballs at him?"

Unruffled, he leaned forward and grasped both my wrists in his frigid hands. The temperature of his palms plummeted, and when he pulled his hands away, my wrists were encased in a thick band of ice.

I stared at my ice-bound hands and knocked it against the wooden table. Completely solid. "Okay, I see your point." When neither of them made a move to release me, I shoved the block of ice across the table. "Do you mind?"

With a grin, Sember wrapped her hands around the ice until it melted into a puddle by their trays.

"Brat," I said, before stealing a corn cake off her tray and rising to check on the children.

It seemed so strange for the Forestfolk to keep a prisoner, much less an odd-looking one. Who could he possibly be, and what kind of danger did Galen sense from him anyway? Curiosity burned at my brain until it was all I could think about.

Tonight.

Tonight, I would find out . . . something. At least see what this strange fellow looked like. It wasn't every day a mystery came slithering into Foresthome. Maybe I could get some useful information out of him. That would make Galen think twice about leaving me out next time.

Whether he liked it or not, I was going to be part of this.

Uh oh, Nirrin is on the case! Wonder what she's going to discover... some votes maybe?? ;)