"Can do," Kanik agreed. "Don't want her getting too hot and sunburned again, right?"
"Right."
There was something off with their tone, but I didn't care. I'd been given permission to not only sit outside early - on my own! - but also to read. Before I'd come here, this would've been a dream come true. Now, it was starting to be "normal."
Not that it was normal to me. At least not yet. I shared a house with three men who never touched me. I could read as much as I wanted, in any subject I could understand. I was allowed to speak, ask questions, and even give my opinion, and while I wasn't always right, I wasn't shamed for any of it.
Day after day, things were good here. I kept waiting for the kindness to end and the men to show their true feelings, but they didn't. That had me thinking about the possibilities of my new life every night before I fell asleep.
In this place, living with the Dragons, women were treated so nicely. It was safe. Things were plentiful. But if it turned out to be the Devil trying to trick me, I'd already learned a bit about the Reapers. They grew plants. That had been mine and Callah's dream. A little farm where no men would find us. But if Reaper men were kind, then maybe we could just change it up a bit? Meri wouldn't mind since she only liked the part about us being happy together.
Yet I hoped this place was real. So, claiming my chair, I opened the book about Peter with the intention of finally finishing it. The boy had been on a wild adventure, and being forced to slow down and focus on each and every word had kept the book from ending too soon.
But my eyes kept jumping up, waiting for that flash of teal across the street. I couldn't imagine what toy Tamin would have today, and it seemed like he had many to choose from. As a girl, I'd only had my doll - until it fell apart.
It didn't take long to realize I wasn't actually getting any reading done. Closing the book, I gave up. My mind was more on Tamin, the world around me, and all the new things than the foreign words I had to work to digest. But when I glanced towards Tamin's home again, my eyes flicked across the flowers at the edge of the road.
They were yellow and orange.
I'd promised Callah I'd send something yellow back. Neither of us had said it, but we'd both meant it would be a sign I was still alive. And I was! I was also thriving.
Cradling my book to my chest, I walked across the grass towards the long box with the flowers in it. My bandaged feet prevented anything from poking into them, and my soles were almost healed anyway. But when I reached the container, I didn't dare touch the flowers.
I just looked, trying to remember if any of them had been listed in the book about Idaho. Could they be poisonous? Meant to keep insects or predators away? If so, touching them would probably make me very sick, but I liked them. They reminded me of Rymar's brilliantly-colored skin.
"Hey!"
The sound of a man's voice made me turn, but not in the way I expected. It hadn't come from up the street or the house. No, this was from the road - and outside the walls. Facing the forest, my eyes landed on a man weighed down with dead animals. Like most people here, he had a tail, and his skin was blonde or straw-colored with pale cream markings across it.
"Hello," I called in my best Vestrian, which probably wasn't very good.
He roared back a few words and began walking faster - towards me - but his tone made me want to shrink in on myself. His muscles bunched up, his eyes locked on me, and a scowl took over his face. I knew that look.
The best I could do was shake my head and step back into the yard, because he was talking too fast for me to understand his Vestrian. Lifting my book, I tried to explain I was only just learning his language, hoping to apologize, but he didn't give me a chance.
Dropping his dead animals in the road without slowing, the man lunged. His feet left the packed dirt of the street, stepping into the grass so he could reach me. His hands closed around my throat. Anger took over his face, and I couldn't even scream! Instead, I used the book like a club, but it wasn't made for that. One slap sent it spinning right out of my hands.
Then he shoved. "Fucking Moles!"
I fell back onto my rump, and a yelp finally escaped my throat. If anything, that seemed to incite the beast more, because he grabbed a handful of my carefully put-up bun and used it to drag me, heading back the way he'd come. Grabbing at his wrist with both of my hands, I somehow managed to keep my hair attached to my head, but I didn't know what was going on.
"Stop!" I begged in his language, my words getting louder as the panic set in. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do whatever made you mad. Please let go. Let go! No, no, no, that hurts!"
The man slung me to the ground and snarled something else too fast for me to understand. Desperate, I began to crawl, heading back for my book to save it. Once I had that, I could run, but what if I wasn't supposed to have it? What if it was why he was so angry? But I couldn't deny I had it. I couldn't hide it now. The best I could do was run.
Instead, the man kicked me in the ribs just hard enough to knock me over. The air rushed from my lungs, so I curled into a ball, protecting my head with my arms. I waited for another kick, knowing exactly how men punished women who disobeyed.
It never came.
I saw a flash of dark brown and purple, but tears were filling my eyes and my hands were trembling. Trying to force a breath past the fear in my throat, I started crawling for my book again, and this time I made it. Once I had that, I looked back to see Kanik throw the man onto the ground.
"Get your fucking hands off her!" Kanik roared.
"I will kill the damned Mole!" the other man screamed.
Then another voice spoke up. "Ayla!" This one was childish and high-pitched.
"No, no, no," I breathed, having naturally reverted back to English.
But the boy rushed to plant himself before me. With his tail up and his arms out, he was clearly doing his best to guard me.
And he wasn't the only one. Kanik was grappling with the man. Their tails slapped at each other, and hard. I could hear the smacks of flesh. Someone else was screaming. The door banged. I couldn't keep up with it all, but I knew one thing. I would not let a child get hurt because of me.
"No, Tamin," I said in Vestrian, grabbing his tail to get his attention.
I didn't make it in front of him before Zasen rushed across the grass to join Kanik. A moment later, a human woman ran at me. Her words were high, frantic, and panicked, but her eyes were on Tamin. In her arms was a bundle of cloth, and she was gripping it as tightly as I was with my book.
"Ayla, inside!" Zasen snapped in English.
"Don't let the boy get hurt!" I begged in the same language.
"His mother's coming." Zasen's words were a growl of anger, and when he glanced back at me, those orange eyes of his were fuming. "Get. Inside."
"Yes, sir," I mumbled, feeling my eyes start to sting even as I stood up.
Tamin tried to grab my hand, but the human woman yanked him away, speaking so fast I would never be able to make her words out. Kanik was still holding the Dragon who'd attacked me. Zasen was standing over him, ready to jump in, and I was alone.
Step by aching step, I made my way back to the door of the house. Inside, the air was cool, and it was much less bright. It was also quiet.
