The (Not So) Perfect Princess

I'm almost caught....again

Eily turned around, her expression a mix of anger and hurt. “I said, come on.”

“Eily…” Q stood up. “I think we should listen to her. I mean, even if Scout could walk, he would be really slow. And you said yourself you wanted to be in Abarad as soon as possible.”

“Q, shut it!” she hissed, glancing at me.

Q threw his hands in the air. “Do you really think keeping it a secret matters now? We won’t even be able to get to Abarad if Scout is stuck here with an infected leg.”

“Scout won’t have an infected if we carry him,” Eily snapped back. “I’ll carry him the whole way if you’re not willing too. Besides, if we stay here for who knows how many days waiting for his leg to heal, it’ll take us three times as long as it should.”

“No. It’ll take us longer to get there if we drag Scout along before he’s well.”

Eily looked like she was about to say something, but instead she made a disgusted noise and brushed past Q. She plopped down next to her bag, which was lying on the ground, and began absentmindedly digging through it.

Q rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and exhaled. When he put his hands down, I could clearly see the dark circles under his eyes. Q was exhausted. Anyone could see that.

“So how long will it take Scout’s leg to heal?” Q asked, bringing me back to reality.

“Well,” I answered. “The actual cut will take a while to close up, but he should be able to walk on both his legs in three to five days.” At least, that’s what my Survival lessons said. I looked down at Scout, who had been quiet for the last ten or so minutes. He was still lying there, but his eyes were closed, and his face had a serene look to it.

“Is he sleeping?” I whispered. Q only shrugged. I actually wasn’t that surprised. It was around 3:45 in the morning. The sun wasn’t even starting to come up yet. Thunder boomed faintly, and I realized that the rain had stopped. The thunderstorm had finally blown itself out. I yawned so wide I heard my jaw pop.

“We need to get to sleep.” I said. Q nodded in agreement.

“I think Scout should take the bed, because of obvious reasons.” I said quietly as I grabbed a couple pillows off my bed. I had plenty enough to go around. I handed one pillow to Q, and tried to give one to Eily, but she was still in a huff, so I set it next to her.

“Help me get him on the bed?” Q asked, and I nodded. I put my arms underneath Scout’s, and Q grabbed his ankles, careful to avoid his stitches. We shuffled around the end of the bed and over to the side easily—Scout weighed probably ninety pounds. We set him down gently, and I grabbed an extra towel and wrapped it around Scout’s leg, which still had dried blood on it (and I didn’t really want that on my bed).

Q ran his hand over the soft sheets on my bed and said, “Wow. This is nothing like my old bed.” He looked mystified.