My heart stopped beating so fast, but I insisted that Atlas sit on the opposite side of the fire. He had almost killed me and I wasn't about to let him do it again.
"Y-your eyes rolled back in your head, and you fell over." I stuttered. "I thought you might be hurt. I tried to help you up, but you started mumbling things I couldn't understand."
He looked across the fire at me, and I was afraid. I saw the fire reflect in his eyes, but it was a warm look and it seemed to calm me down. He seemed to be disappointed.
"I'm so sorry, I felt anger. Anger like I've never felt before." He sighed. "Is there anything I can do to help you forgive me?"
I tried my best at a soft smile.
"You are fine. Just don't do it again." But deep down, I knew that it would take so much more than that to earn my trust.
He gave me a sad smile.
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Atlas. I wondered if he could read my thoughts. He seemed to know what I was feeling. No one ever did. I wondered if he remembers me, or if he forgot me that day in the throne room when his dad told him that I was just lost, and I had found my mother, and was safe at home.
I used to wonder, how Maxim would have killed me, if they had cought me. If Atlas hadn't found me first.
I wonder now how he would kill me if he found out that I was the only one who could hurt him.
____________________________________
When we woke I woke up, I was alone. Everyone else was asleep. The world was almost completely silent, and I began packing my things. I didn't know what to do with them. The others. I couldn't take them with me, it would be too dangerous for them, but I couldn't leave them behind, I was the only one who could keep them safe. I rebuild the fire, and began to work on breakfast. We had eaten most of the food for dinner last night, but we had a few tortillas.
Winn dragged himself out of the tent I have made for the boys, and began to help me cook.
We had warm tortillas and some jayberries, ready to eat when the others were up. We huddled around the fire, because even though it was early summer, the mornings were wet with dew, and cold with nightfrost. The sun was just rising over the trees, when we began walking.
We had seventy one miles left, and it would take us weeks to get there, because we couldn't let anyone know where we were.
As we walked, they began talking about little things that I never thought about. Like what it was like to live on an island, and how many shoes Elodea had.
No one wanted to talk about the long journey ahead or the destination at the end.
I felt something wrong as soon as he stepped. My hair stood on end, and then everything went dark.
