Field of Daisies

Chapter 22

The eyes from earlier follow Theo and me, but mostly me, as we rejoin them in The Den.

            "Welcome back! Enjoy the food?" the woman who found me earlier asks in a husky tone. I take a good look at who I now know as Ophelia.

            I only nod, with a smile that doesn't reach my eyes.

            Theo formally introduces us. "This is Ophelia, Emma. She kind of runs the place."

            "Kind of?" a big man with a wild red beard asks with a hard laugh. "She's the big man in charge around here. Do not cross her unless you want to sleep out with the bears and eat cold mush," he finishes with a gummy smile. I want to believe that is easier than telling a good ghost story.

            "And that is Rick," Theo points out.

            I feel my spine stiffen and a cheery grin plaster my face as I smile and wave to everyone before being led to an open spot on the curved bench by the sizeable round table, which I assume is for larger meetings. There are now nine of us seated together.

            "Welcome to the round table. After a short ceremony you too will be able to call yourself a knight," a thin boy with only half a right arm and who can't be more than twenty says to me, looking very serious. I assume he's joking. I'm probably ninety-five percent sure of it.

            Ophelia rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. "Keep your mouth shut, Axel. No need in scarin' her. She didn't leave her Field like most of you. She escaped it." Ophelia adds extra emphasis to the word "escape", making me uncomfortable. She's not wrong, but what is she implying in saying that this is unlike most of them here? Am I the only Steward?

            I look around, finally taking in the number of people looking at me, which must be more than my first appearance in The Den. They all look tired and hardened by whatever brought them here, and ready to hear my version of it. I want to squirm under the stares of the other eight people around the table, including Theo, who is next to me, Axel, Rick, and Ophelia. The other strangers include a woman with what looks like an acid burn creeping up her left side and neck, an older man with graying hair and a drooping right side, a man who must be in his thirties with white hair and strikingly sky blue eyes, and a girl around my age with a soft smile and long braids.

            "I suppose I should welcome you, but Theodore probably did a good enough job," Ophelia starts. "Let's just get to what we all want to know, why are you here? In your own words, go ahead and tell us all your story."

            Ophelia doesn't dawdle. Nice word choice, Emma. Theo must have told Ophelia, who informed everyone else about me. "I was a Steward. After I got sick, I stopped taking the pill that make me think... less. My miss— my boss realized I wasn't taking it after a slip up, so I ran. Theo found me after I tripped off the sidewalk while running away. Someone called Amil at The Dossier recognized my necklace," I reach up to where my necklace used to live, momentarily shocked at its absence. Oh right, it's on my ankle. I take it off, holding it up for everyone to see. "Amil gave me a riddle of directions for where to go..." I trail off not knowing how much more to say. I take the pause to replace my necklace on my ankle.

            "What was your name?" The girl with the braids asks me, looking down at the table as she speaks. "Mine was Willow."

            A thousand thoughts and questions fill my head, but I don't even know where to being. How did she figure it out? How did she escape? Are there others here too? What does she know?

            I snap out of it, closing my eyes and shaking my head gently once. I look at her as I answer, "Daisy. My Steward name was Daisy."

            She gives a knowing nod, but never looks up. Without the pills I've felt more bold, more confident, generally speaking. Maybe it had the opposite effect on her.