Chapter 8
Stella
“This is so fucking strange,” Boden muttered, giving voice to my own feelings about the situation.
He was standing at the windows, watching night fall on Tremblay Lake.
Above us, we could hear the footsteps of the others, settling into the rooms that had long ago been ours.
Leandro had brought down extra blankets and pillows, and he’d left them on the couch so Boden and I could sleep out in the living room.
“It was nice of them to offer for us to stay for the night,” I said, trying to look on the bright side of things.
“No, I know it is,” he agreed. “It’s not them that’s making it strange.” He let out a rough breath and ran his hand through his short hair before turning to look back at me. “How are you doing?”
“Fine, I guess.” I shrugged and turned my attention to making a bed on the couch.
“Excited to sleep inside. I’m not looking forward to making the long trek back without any news on Remy, but I’ll see Fae soon, so that helps.
I don’t know how I feel about being back here or meeting Ryder or even what to think of the others… ”
I trailed off. Honestly, I was feeling everything – from relief and dread to happiness and despair – but when it was added up all together, it all felt like exhaustion and confusion.
“I think I’ll feel better after I eat and sleep, and then I’ll feel even better when we’re on the way back to the boat again,” I said, and I hoped it was true.
With my bed complete, I sat down and grabbed my backpack. Once I had my venison jerky and water canteen, I settled back onto the couch and tried to relax.
Quietly, in case anyone might be listening, I asked, “What do you make of them?”
“They seem decent enough,” he replied at length. “But it’s hard trusting anyone.”
He rolled out his bedroll on the floor near the couch, and he used the extra blankets and pillows to fluff it up. Once he finished, he lay back down, folding his arms under his head as he stared up at the cathedral ceilings above us.
“So Remy’s obviously not here,” I said, as the silence settled in. “Where’d she go?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted with a heavy sigh. “We’ll have to go back to the Barbarabelle and regroup. Maybe look at some maps.”
“Do you think Lazlo knows?” I asked. “I mean, since he gave her the mule.”
“He claims he doesn’t,” Boden replied, his voice hard and low.
Lazlo and Remy were old friends, from before Boden and I even met her. He, his wife Nova, and their daughter had moved back to the ruins of Emberwood and were spearheading the movement behind building up New Emberwood. Before Remy left, she had gone to him, and he’d given her a mule.
This had led to tension between Boden and Lazlo after the fact. Lazlo was the only person that Remy had told she was leaving, and he hadn’t tried to stop her.
“Maybe I’ll have a talk with him again when we get back,” Boden said at length.
“Good idea,” I said, suppressing a yawn.
The safety and the comfort of the Lakehouse was too much, and I fell asleep the moment I lay back on the couch. My dreams were filled with gossamer memories of Max, brightly colored but ephemeral if I tried to hang on.
Abruptly, they were interrupted by Boden stating, “Who’s there?”
I sat up, disoriented in a dark living room that felt so familiar and so foreign. Boden was on the floor beside me on high alert, and I could make out the silhouette of someone tall and lanky standing near my feet.
“Sorry, it’s only me, Cole!” the silhouette answered nervously. There was a clatter of something on the end table, and a moment later, a small lantern began to glow, illuminating the living room.
“Do you need something?” Boden asked, and he had only relaxed a little since Cole had announced himself.
For his part, Cole was alone, unarmed, and looked especially sinewy in an oversized t-shirt and flannel pajama pants.
“Can I ask you guys a question?” he asked.
“Um, sure, go ahead,” Boden replied uncertainly.
“Are there doctors or medicine or whatever where you come from?” Cole inquired. “I mean, you said there were all kinds of people on the boat and you’ve got friends who are rebuilding New Emberwood. So is there anyone there that helps sick people?”
“Yeah, there’s a few people with different skillsets,” I said. “On the boat, Mika Dumont is a nurse, Joseph Worrell was a farm veterinarian but he treats people now too, and Edie is a midwife.”
“Oh, cool,” Cole said, but he looked more confused and uncertain. “Wh-what is a midwife?”
“Someone who helps women have babies,” I simplified.
“Oh.” A smile quirked nervously on his lips. “I don’t think that I need that one.”
“But you think you need a doctor or medicine?” Boden clarified.
“Yeah, yeah.” He nodded. “I haven’t been feeling right for a while. I’m tired and weak a lot, and I can’t seem to gain weight no matter what I do. I eat as much as I can, as much as we can spare, but as you can see…” He motioned to himself with his bony arms. “…it isn’t sticking to me.
“And, honestly, we’ve been trying everything we can think of,” he went on. “Bianka gave me herbal remedies, and Murphy gave me these antibiotics and old Benadryl she found when she raided an abandoned school.”
“Other than some First Aid, I don’t have any medical training, and neither of us have any meds with us,” Boden explained.
“No, no, I know that,” Cole said, then quickly amended, “I mean, I guess, I assumed. I wanted to know if, uh, if I could go with you. To your boat.”
“Well, we’re planning to leave in the morning,” Boden replied carefully.
“Yeah, I know.” Cole nodded agreeably. “And I know I said I’m tired a lot, but I can walk. I can push through it for a while. I won’t slow you down, and I’m not too much trouble.”
I looked to Boden, waiting for him to respond. Taking on another stranger was always unpredictable, but the people in this house had shown us hospitality. We didn’t have a good reason to say no, especially to a teenager who did seem to be struggling.
“Yeah, of course,” Boden said finally. “As long as you’re ready to go tomorrow, you can head out with us.”