Serpent's Den

Chosen

Ben's POV:

Why am I so worried about her? I asked myself. She's going to be fine. Seeing that she was already bleeding through her bandage made me scared for Emma. I sat down again and looked at her cup of water. Her blood was smeared faintly on the glass where she had held it.

"Damn. And here I thought today was going to be a normal day," Nem commented, shaking his head.

"You're telling me," I replied drily. Thinking back to what Lolaksi said about her grandson, I got a feeling that we were just scratching the surface of what this group was doing. Something told me that they weren't just abducting people.

Shoshon's friend said that Emma was 'worth a pretty penny'. Does that mean that the Roses are selling who they abduct? Who do they sell to? What happens to them then? Why does the buyer need them? Are they being sold as slaves? Either way I look at it, this group seems to only be a pawn in someone else's game.

"Hello? Earth to Ben! Do you copy?" Jack snapped me out of my thoughts. I had my hands drawn close to my chin, curled around each other. While I was zoned out, I had been staring at one spot on the table between me and Nem. "What happened, man? You don't usually zone out that easily."

"It's the girl for sure," Nem teased, winking at me."Your damsel in distress."

"Her name's Emma," I corrected curtly. Irritation washed over me at their teasing.

They just laughed. "Yup! Our boy's got a crush!" Jack chuckled.

"I'm just worried about her, ok?" I shot back. "She was almost taken by this group who's done this before. And Emma's not a damsel in distress, Nem; you're wrong. She's shaken up by this whole thing and if she comes back soon, you won't be helping.

"I can't blame her for being scared; I am too. But I need to stay with her to keep her safe. If the Roses attack when she's alone again, I'm scared that they'll actually get her. Who knows what they'll do to her then. She was lucky that I was nearby today. Very lucky. But I will not push that and test shark-infested waters." I shuddered at my own words. Every fear circled my mind again like a hyena pack returning to its fallen prey.

Thankfully, Nem and Jack both fell silent, mulling over what I had said. They seemed to be taking it seriously now, which I was grateful for. I took a deep breath right as the waiter returned with our food.

"Should we wait for Emma before we start eating?" Jack asked.

"I should think so," Nem responded. "She should be back any minute. I wonder how badly her hands got scratched up."

I shifted in my seat. "It didn't look too bad, but she was bleeding a lot. That squirrel scratched the strangest pattern into her palms. It looked almost deliberate. Like it knew what it was doing."

Nem opened his mouth to say something, but got cut off before he could get a single word out. "Well dearies, I have a feeling that you have quite the adventure ahead of you." Lolaksi had just come back with Emma in tow right behind her. Emma's hands were wrapped in new bandages and she looked distressed.

Getting up to let my new friend sit down, Lolaksi continued. "It looks like Ms. Emma was marked by that squirrel. I'll have to contact someone to know just how big this is, but you happened to stumble into something much more dangerous than you realize." Her face was deathly serious as she spoke.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, his eyes wide. "Are we part of this now? Are we targets?"

Lolaksi shook her head as she sat at her table. "I don't know; it's a good possibility. What I do know is that Ms. Emma was chosen for something. The squirrel chose her and marked her." She pointed at Emma's hands. "Again, I'll have to talk with someone about this, but I highly doubt that I'm wrong about this."