Super Secret | Half Hero Book 2 [ON HOLD]

Chapter 27: Spam Surprise

"Basem!" Nawell chided from the door. "Come inside and stop showing off."

"She just jealous because it isn't as easy to lift her," Basem whispered as he lowered me to the ground.

"Oh, hush," she snorted.

Nawell swatted her brother playfully while I chuckled to cover the painful tug in my heart. I missed my family. Uncertainty and apprehension had punctured a hole in my chest that was widening with every reminder of what I'd lost.

Inside, Nawell added our crocks of snow to the stove while Basem and I changed into dry clothes for lunch. She'd set out a pair of sweat pants and a long-sleeved fleecy top on the bunk I'd been using to sleep, which made me smile. 

Nawell was a caregiver, a mother hen, just like my mom. I grabbed my outfit and hustled over to the rustic water closet off of the living room to change.

I caught sight of myself in the rust-speckled shaving mirror hanging on the back of the bathroom's door and nearly cried out in shock. My eyes were hollowed-out shadows almost as black as Cyrus' and my cheekbones were jutting out of my skin like two austere mountain ranges severing the north and south sides of my head.

Basically, I looked like the picture parents and teachers use to scare kids into making better life choices.

"What exactly is Spam?" I asked, wrinkling my nose as we took our seats for lunch.

"It's like Scions," Mac supplied, heaping a pile of steamed rice with large pink chunks of something that didn't look like it was found in nature on my plate. "No one really knows how it works, but it's magical. Try some."

I picked up a plastic spork to prod at one of the gelatinous chunks of mystery meat. "Mine's not ripe yet," I complained at the rosy mash of flesh.

"Just eat it, prissy pants," Mac ordered through his distended cheeks. "It's not like we've got a lot of choices."

I stuck a lump of rice and meat into my mouth to chew slowly. It wasn't half bad (if you like eating salt right out of the shaker). If there was any flavor other than sodium, my palate wasn't discerning enough to find it. Then again, it wasn't raw lizard tail (a rare desert delicacy I'd endured while on the run last year.)

"Are we going to try again this afternoon?" I asked the group around my mouthful.

"Maybe you should take some time to rest," Nawell suggested gently, sharing a look of concern with her brother.

"But you said-" I tried to argue.

"We don't actually know if what we're doing is working, Ella," Mac interrupted me. "I'm afraid we're depleting your already drained resources. Nawell is right, you need time to recover."

"Time?!" I cried, tossing my spork at my plate in disgust. "I'm trying to get my powers back to save my family, not have a spa-week in the Appalachians! We don't have time!"

"You're right," Mac nodded seriously. "We don't have time, or answers, or a full team, or your powers, or a plan. There's a lot of things we don't have right now, and your shitty attitude isn't helping with any of it."

The energy in my cells began to hum a low frequency that got my blood pumping. 

I wanted to hop up and toss my plate of food at Mac's head. Blistering tears pricked my lashes while I desperately tried to hold back the string of nonsensical insults I was about to unleash.

"We are going to help your family as soon as we figure out what's going on with C.E.," Mac continued, talking in an overly rational tone that boiled my brain. "You need to-"