Chapter Two #4
Which made Kael wonder about Poppy and the leaders of this village. It was smaller than he’d expected, hardly a town at all, if the council had somehow managed to find the place. How? How had they known who to contact? How had they convinced anyone to let them in?
Kael glanced at Ridge, who was nodding at something Poppy was saying. He probably didn’t have any more information. The only one who did was Gregory, but he wasn’t here to answer Kael’s questions. Maybe Poppy could, though.
“Dinner will be ready in half an hour,” she said, still smiling. “In the meantime, what do you want to drink?”
“Water is fine for me,” Kael quickly said. “If it’s okay with you, I have a few questions.”
“I’ll answer if I can.”
“I was given an outline of the mission and some documents, so I know who we’re here to meet and what we’re supposed to do, but I admit I’m curious about how the council managed to reach out to your village.
It seems as isolated and protected as the town where I was born, and as far as I know, no one ever reached out to our leaders. ”
Poppy cocked her head as she watched Kael. “Are you sure about that?”
Kael hadn’t been about to answer that. He supposed he couldn’t be, but still. “As far as I know, we never had anyone reach out.”
“Maybe you did. You do know there’s a demon council member, right?”
Kael hadn’t known that. He didn’t know a lot of things since he’d left Starhaven only a few months ago. “I didn’t.” It would’ve been nice to know before getting here. He would’ve liked to talk to this demon council member, even though he probably would’ve been intimidated.
“I don’t know the details,” Poppy explained.
“But from what I do know, the demon council member has been trying to get demons to open up. He hasn’t gotten many results, clearly.
A lot of demon towns want to stay isolated, which is fine until there’s a problem.
Besides, our leaders can’t make that kind of decision on their own.
There are plenty of demons who want nothing to do with the human world, just like there are plenty who are eager to find out more.
You grew up in a demon town. You know what it’s like to only know the human world through movies and TV.
You know how complicated it can be to get things like cell phones.
That’s why you’re here—wanting to talk to demons about opening up. ”
“I did discover a world I didn’t expect when I left Starhaven,” Kael confirmed. “It was similar to the movies, yet at the same time, completely different. I do think it would benefit everyone for demons to open up, although I understand why they’d be hesitant.”
“That’s why you’re here,” Poppy said with a nod. “You’re not political. That’s why demons will trust you more than they trust the council member.”
A timer dinged, and she turned to focus on dinner.
Kael had no idea what to say, so he kept his mouth shut and listened to Poppy chatter about their plans and the town.
It seemed like she wanted him and Ridge to experience all of it, but Kael wasn’t sure that was what he wanted anymore.
He’d been eager to come, but now he was mostly confused.
The chatter helped him relax, though, at least until she declared she was going to bed and that they were welcome to use the kitchen and the living room as much as they wanted. Kael was tired, but he knew what would happen once he went to bed, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to face it.
Still, he didn’t feel he had a choice when Ridge turned to him and asked, “Are you ready to go to sleep, or would you rather wait?”
Kael got to his feet. Delaying the inevitable wouldn’t help. If anything, it would make things harder, and that wasn’t something he could deal with right now. He already had enough to focus on.
Tomorrow, he’d need to meet the town leaders.
They were responsible for his presence there, although he was sure that Poppy had pushed hard to have them here.
He’d have to convince these people that they should give the human world a chance, just as he had, even if under different circumstances.
He’d have to convince them that not all humans were dangerous and that opening up would benefit them as much as it would benefit the human world.
He wasn’t sure he could do that.
“I’ll take the floor,” Ridge murmured, leaning closer even though Poppy had already left. “If you want, you can go ahead and get into bed. I’ll wait until you’re settled.”
Kael wanted to say it wasn’t necessary, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure that it wasn’t.
He felt awkward and tense, and he didn’t know how to get over it.
He didn’t know what was happening between him and Ridge, and he was too afraid to ask.
He wanted to know the answer, but at the same time, he didn’t.
He was a walking contradiction, and he was annoying himself.
Maybe once this mess was over, he and Ridge should talk. In the meantime, Kael was here for a reason, and that was what he needed to focus on.