Genetics

Chapter 6

I watched Grace unwrap my bandages and check on my ribs. My fever had broken the morning after I had been put on bedrest orders and confined to this temporary home. It had been three weeks so far and I was itching to get out of bed. Artemis brought Autumn over as often as Zackery allowed and I had a great time playing chess with Caleb. I was getting better, I hoped, unless he was purposely making the games of chess longer.

Grace placed the last of the used bandages aside before checking on the broken ribs. It was just her and me in this room much like last time. I took a deep breath, feeling no pain at all. Grace nodded as if she was satisfied and stood straight.

"You can fix your shirt. Your ribs have healed properly and that fever you had three weeks ago has passed. You have a clean bill of health, so you are free to walk around, fight, or do whatever you wish. Just try not to get injured again and make me come back to handle your wounds and broken bones." Grace spoke as she closed her bag.

As soon as I had fixed my shirt, the door opened. Mark walked in and I realized he was at the door eavesdropping. I sighed and swung my legs over the edge of the bed.

"How long have you been eavesdropping on the situation of my broken ribs?" I asked Mark.

"Not long." Mark said as he scratched the back of his neck.

As I moved to stand Caleb came into the room. He looked at me with a panicked look at Mark. Mark patted his arm and Caleb sighed, relaxing immediately. I stretched my back and looked over at them.

"If we hurry, we could get some food at the meal hall." I said with a smile.

Grace shook her head as she left while Caleb smiled, and Mark chuckled. I motioned for them to leave, and they left, closing the door behind them. With them out of the room and the door closed, I made my way to the closet and opened it.

Thankfully we were given extra clothes to wear. Lira knew my style of clothes and made sure that I had that exact style. I changed out of the sweatpants and into a pair of blue jeans. I grabbed a long sleeved shirt, putting it on. After I was finished changing, I looked outside to see how packed the center of Haven was.

Not a lot of people were out and the kids that were out there were trying to make use of the melting snow before the sun cleared the mountain peaks to the east. It was early still, not quite early enough for a lot of people to be bustling about the city. I sighed and looked out across to the peaks the sun was going to appear from. Tomorrow, with any luck, we'll be on our way to the Lion-human's home or our home. I did need to stop by Zackery's and tell him that a few of his werewolves had harmed Caleb still. He hasn't tried to come up here even though I had been requesting his presence since that day.

I sighed and headed out of my room. The center of the house had a small basket for dirty dishes if dishes were brought back to the houses. There was a dip in the center of the room where sand was placed around it. The sand provided a safe place for a pit to sit that wouldn't risk the fire in the pit catching any fabric or materials that could burn. The fire pit in the center of the house provided warmth for the house and kept the center of the house at a tolerable level.

Today the fire wasn't burning in the pit. The house itself still held the warmth from last night's fire. Caleb was busy putting his jacket on and Mark was busy getting his boots on. For some reason, today felt like it would be a warmer day than it had been in the previous months. I walked over to Caleb and stopped him from putting his jacket on.

"I don't think we'll need our jackets today. It feels warmer out today. We can bring our jackets, but I doubt we'll need them." I said before I looked towards Mark. "Since we'll be leaving Haven soon, I do want to stop in the markets to see if I can find a few things for the trip and a journal in case I ever lose more days in my life. I want to be able to look back inside it and try to remember everything that happened during those days so I'm less likely to sit there pondering what time I lost and end up losing more time by doing so."