Hollow Veins

Chapter Fifteen; Realizations

In the morning light, Ari watched Jasper out of the corner of her eye. He was hiding something. Something he was apparently sensitive about. She wondered exactly what he was planning. No way any city would let them in without an exchange of some sort. Was Jasper planning some sort of betrayal? It would fit with what Alice had told them. The thing was that Jasper didn't seem the coward or abandonment type. More self sacrificial, she though. Not desirable qualities in a leader, if he had a plan and then got killed they'd be lost. Ari glanced at Aaron, still sitting away from them. Idiot, he deserved the smack down. No matter how bad the person is, if what they say is genuine, you don't nitpick. It was a no-brainer.

Ari herself was sitting apart from the rest. Alice, Ren and Prince were laughing, while Jaden rolled his eyes and shook his head. Ari stretched her fingers. This "partnership" was necessary but unwanted. Ari preferred being alone. She'd had too much experience with people. Her parents had been lying idiots. They needn't have bothered lying to her. Ari had been hurt by them enough to not care. Now she knew why they'd seem relieved to leave. It wasn't just the prospect of being safe but also the freedom from the child they'd never wanted. A weird gravely noise met her eyes. Scrunch scrunch scrunch. She turned her head. Prince was slow scooting towards her on the crumbling dirt. "What are you doing?" He looked at her for a minute them said, "Be my pillow." "Wha-" He flopped his head on Ari's shoulder. She gave a high pitched scream and leaped to her feet. Prince threw his head back and laughed. His curly hair jerking. Ren and Alice burst out laughing, Jaden smirked, and even Aaron gave a small laugh. Jasper looked over and smiled. Ari laughed a little herself. Maybe they weren't so bad after all.