She kept the fruit but handed the roots back. Perry returned to the fire, too stunned to be offended. No one handed food back.
“The fire won’t burn into these trees,” he said when she didn’t join him. She was inspecting each piece of fruit before she ate it. “It won’t burn like that night. ”
“I just don’t like it,” she said.
“You’ll change your mind when the cold sets in. ”
Perry ate his own meager dinner. He wished he’d taken time to hunt. Probably wouldn’t have worked even if he had. Her constant blather had scared off game. Nearly scared him off too. He’d need to find food tomorrow. They’d eaten almost everything he’d brought from the cave.
“The boy who was taken,” she said. “Is he your son?”
“How old do you think I am, Dweller?”
“I’m a little shaky on the fossil record, but I’d say fifty to sixty thousand years. ”
“Eighteen. And no. He’s not my son. ”
“I’m seventeen. ” She cleared her throat. “You don’t look eighteen,” she said after a few moments. “I mean, you do and you don’t. ”
Perry figured she was waiting for him to ask why. He didn’t care.
“I’m feeling fine, by the way. I have a headache that won’t go away and my feet hurt like mad. But I think I’ll live to see another day. I can’t be sure, though. The stories say diseases can creep up quietly. ”
Perry bit down into his teeth, thinking of Talon and Mila. Was he supposed to feel sorry for her because she might fall ill? He couldn’t imagine a life without disease or illness. He took the two blankets from his bag. Sleep would bring morning and morning would bring him closer to reaching Marron.
“Why do you avoid looking at me?” she asked. “Because I’m a Dweller? Are we ugly to Outsiders?”
“Which question do you want me to answer first?”
“It doesn’t matter. You won’t answer anyway. You don’t answer questions. ”
“You don’t stop asking them. ”
“See what I mean? You avoid answering and you avoid looking. You’re an avoider. ”
Perry flung the blanket at her. She hadn’t been ready. It hit her on the face. “You’re not. ”
She snatched it away, shooting him a fierce look. Perry could see her perfectly, though she sat beyond the circle of firelight.
In the cover of darkness, he let the corner of his mouth lift.
Hours later he woke to the sound of singing. Quiet words, sung in a language he didn’t know, but that seemed familiar. He’d never heard a voice like that. So clear and rich. He thought he might still be dreaming until he saw the girl. She’d moved closer to the fire. To him. She hugged her legs as she rocked back and forth. He caught the salty tang of tears in the air, and a cold slash of fear.
“Aria,” Perry said. He surprised himself by using her name. He decided it suited her. There was a curious sound about it. Like her very name was a question. “What is it?”
“I saw Soren. The one from the fire that night. ”
Perry jumped to his feet and searched into the fog. He’d never liked fog. It robbed him of one of his Senses, but he still had the other, his strongest. He breathed in deeply, careful to keep his movements subtle. Her fear wove with the woodsmoke, but there were no other Dweller scents.
“You dreamed it. There’s no one here except us. ”
“We don’t dream,” she said.
Perry frowned but decided not to mull over the strangeness of that now. “There’s no trace of him here. ”
“I saw him,” she said. “It felt real. It felt just like being with him in a Realm. ” She brushed the blanket over her wet cheeks. “I couldn’t get away from him again. ”
Now he didn’t know what to do. If she were his sister or Brooke, he would have held her. He thought about telling her he’d keep her safe, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. He would protect her. But only as long as it took to get Talon back.