Flock

Chapter 30

I sliced until all the onions were gone. My eyes felt as if they were going to leak straight out of my head by the time I returned to the room. My eyes ached from the onions and my fingers felt a little raw from peeling. It wasn't nearly so bad as it had been when I started in the mines.

I came home crying. I didn't do it often, so Bogan immediately looked concerned. He walked over to me, kneeled down and asked me what was wrong. I held my hands out to him, palms up.

He sucked in a harsh breath and removed his button-down shirt. My hands were blistered, bleeding, and covered with dirt. My nails were cracked and my knuckles were scraped. He wrapped his shirt around my hands and pulled me in to a hug. Tears dripped down my face as I sobbed into Bogan's shoulder.

Clark was there, too. Standing off in the corner, arms crossed, glaring at the pair of us.

"You did this." Clark's voice was harsh and accusing. Bogan didn't answer her, he just held me a little closer and rubbed my back.

"I don't want to go back," I sobbed. "Please don't send me back there."

But Bogan still kept his silence. He just held on to me while I cried until Clark came and peeled me away from him.

"Let's wash your hands," she said. Her voice was softer now, and she led me toward the bathroom and sat me on the toilet. She filled a large bowl with water and snagged a rag from the closet before she sat in front of me on a small stool and tilted my chin up so I was staring at her face and not the floor.

"You have to go back, Ollie. That's our job." She dabbed my face with the wet cloth before she dipped my hands into the water. They stung horribly, and I moved to take them out but Clark held them there.

The dirt and blood swirled around my hands and eventually the sting went away. Clark wiped them softly with the cloth and then dried them gently. We didn't speak. She bandaged them and left me sitting on the toilet while she cleaned up. Bogan came inside and sat on the stool.

"Ollie," he began, wiping my face of the last of the tears. "You need to do me a favor."

I blinked at him. "You need to wear gloves. Every day, Ollie. Every day you are in the mines, you need to wear the gloves. Do you understand?"

It was the first time he had really held me; or comforted me in that way. I listened, of course. I thought that using the gloves he handed me the next morning would make the hurt less. It didn't, not really. But I still wore them. I closed my eyes, slipping quickly into sleep.

He must have known, I thought to myself. They both must have known there was something off about me. They would have seen my blood.

Days were beginning to blur—and my hands were getting rougher by the day. They were almost as calloused as when I worked the mines. It was odd. I hadn't noticed my hands softening after I left Javink—hadn't really noticed my whole-self softening. I kept my ears peeled in the kitchens for any chatter, but I had heard nothing. At the end of my shift I'd play cards with Vas or help Dikan crush his poisons, my fingers were much quicker than my counterpart. And when Evound managed to show up I'd pepper him with questions until he told me to shut up. Which was usually right after he slammed the door closed and glared at me.

I think Merda began to like me. I could tell she didn't want to for whatever reason, but she did. She was hard on me, but provided praise when I did well and I had even managed to get her lip to quiver in an almost smile a time or two. I called that a success.

Alice still didn't speak. Even when I said her name directly, she refused to lift her eyes, not since my first day had she uttered a single word.

Today, when I arrived for duty, Merda shuffled me from the kitchen. "There's a feast tonight," she said, her eyes wild. "Very last minute. We need to move wood and ingredients in from the store house. You're a strong girl—I need you to help Lugh carry everything and keep the pots hot while we cook."

"Who's coming?" I asked. She swatted at me with the notorious spoon.

"Daft girl, who knows and who cares. All we concern ourselves with is how much food to make, now go!"

Based on how much food we were lugging up from the basement it was a large party of visitors.

After the fifth trip, Lugh had dipped away to enjoy a snack and the ladies in the kitchen were busy, cooking their little hearts out. I slipped away to find Vas or Dikan. As luck would have it, they were missing from their quarters, but Evound was not.

"Who's coming?" I asked. He looked up at me through the mirror he was sitting at. He had a long silver blade in his hand and appeared to be shaving. I cocked my head to the side. I had never seen a Kryjia with facial hair before.

"Coming?" he asked, returning to his ministrations.

"Merda's losing her mind in the kitchen. Apparently, some important guest is coming this evening. Based on the food, I'd say a bunch of them."

Evound dropped his blade and immediately stood. "Did she say who?"

"No, she just tried to whack me with her spoon."

"Thank you, Ollie." He wiped his face with a cloth and immediately left the room without another word. I stepped into the hall, intent on following him, but I must have reacted too slowly, because when I looked in either direction, Evound was nowhere to be seen.