Keeper of the Lost Cities: War

Chapter Fourteen

So Jensi was rendered incapacitated- and Tam and Keefe were labeled missing the minute Daenerys came back empty handed from the shadow realm.

Or said she did.

Stina didn't trust the new shade more than she could throw her- granted- Stina didn't trust anyone aside from maybe Maruca and that was only sometimes.

After Fitz's betrayal- Stina found it easier to deal with people if she automatically assumed that anyone could be a traitor.

Or at least a fake.

Because even if someone was proved innocent- Stina didn't trust the Neverseen enough to not do some sort of swapping- especially with the numbers of elixirs that could alter appearances on top of any special ability that could be used to copy another's appearance.

In her opinion- everyone was apart of the Neverseen- just to keep herself from overlooking anything.
While that tended to put a stickler in some things- like friendships- nobody really had time to waste on pretending to be friends. And in reality- Stina had never really been friends with anyone that was still alive.

Or she hadn't been friends with that many people to begin with. Which was how she preferred to live.
People were a waste of time- unless it was to drive them crazy- or annoy them- which is how Stina generally acted.

Sometimes she would start to wonder what it would be like to have just one close friend- but then she'd remind herself with the ongoing war- it would not be a good idea to start forming attachments to anyone.

Just do the job- do it effectively and efficiently- and then one day maybe she can afford the luxury of caring.

Maruca might be fun to tease and goof off with at times- but Stina just did that to keep her mood up on the battlefield- and to get flustered reactions out of the girl- not that they were actually friends.

Well maybe Maruca considered her and Stina to be friends- but Stina merely considered Maruca to be an acquaintance or ally.

The only person she had ever relied on was Tam- and that was solely based on how cautious that boy was- not trusting anyone much like Stina- though now he's gone missing, leaving an incompetent hooligan in his place.

It was the fact that Stina trusted nobody which landed her the role of watching the shade Daenerys.
Sophie had even pulled her out of the front lines to be the shade's personal watchdog.

Even though it seems as though Tam trusted her enough to put the Lost Citie's defenses in her palms- the readiness obviously didn't stretch so far to include any of the other elves accepting her.

Now, Daenerys sat with her legs folded and her palms on her knees, as though she were meditating, underneath a half dead tree overlooking the remains of Everglen.

"Why exactly are we here?" Stina groaned, making it her job to complain about everything Daenerys did.

"We're here because I sensed something now hush." Daenerys snapped back, making it clear that she disliked Stina as much as Stina disliked her.

Stina plopped down on the grass, sighing loudly as she started to rebraid her hair.

She had only looked away for five seconds- but when she happened to glance back, Daenerys was gone.

"Hey!" Stina jumped back to her feet furiously, muttering threats of what she would do to this girl if she ran off on purpose, especially if it was to meet up with a Neverseen member.

How far exactly could a blind girl get in five seconds though- unless she shadow travelled. That thought only infuriated Stina more- there was no way she could track a shadow travel- or know where she went if Daenerys did in fact shadow travel away.