The Innocent

Follow the Leader

"Get up." James kicked Melanie gently.

Melanie looked up at him blinking a few times, "How long did I sleep."

James looked up; the sun was almost directly above them, "A while. I wasn't going to wake you, but you didn't wake up by yourself."

"Sorry. I tend to sleep until I'm not tired anymore."

James grunted in reply, throwing her a lump of bread.

"What's this?"

"You sound disgusted." James talked as he tidied up what few things he had brought with him, "It's breakfast."

"If you had let me get my bag, there might have been something half reasonable for breakfast."

"You could run back now if you like, though I suspect you don't even know which way you came from."

"Good point."

"Oh? So you agree do you?"

"Shut up." Melanie pulled herself to her feet, wobbling around as her legs woke up.

James threw her a bag, Melanie opened her mouth but James put up a hand, forestalling her, "If you're coming with me, you have to pull your own weight."

"Joy." Melanie muttered under her breath. The pack was bigger than the one she had packed for herself back at Auntie's but she suspected what was in it was designed for a longer period of time in the forest. She heard a clunk of metal on metal. It was a wonder it wasn't heavier.

"Ready to go?" James turned around as he said this, swinging an even larger pack onto his back, "The day won't wait."

Melanie nodded her head, pulling her pack onto her back, as soon as she was set James turned and walked off into the trees. Checking the sun Melanie thought that it might be north but it was hard to tell at midday.

Jon heard movement in the clearing. Quietly he came close enough to here the conversation.

"Ready to go? The day won't wait." Jon could here the man, sounding surprisingly like his father.

Was it possible that Melanie was right? But then how could she know, he had never talked about his father, and he knew that they had no pictures. Perhaps whoever the man was looked a bit like him.

"Coming?" the man called again Melanie must have dawdled in the clearing.

Jon heard her answering call, "Yeah, just a minute."

He heard Melanie stumble. Waiting a few moments until he was sure they had left the clearing Jon followed. On the ground he spotted a scuffed arrow in the dirt. He almost laughed aloud, remembering the need for secrecy just in time. Melanie had left an arrow showing where they had gone. He hadn't told her how good he was at finding people. So she had tried to make it easier for him, although what she was doing might just give the game away.

"Oh, Mel." Jon muttered to himself.

Looking the way the arrow pointed Jon could see Melanie's footprints in the forest floor, obvious in the dirt. The man's footprints were harder to find, almost as if he floated.

"So much like my father." Jon whispered.

"So..." Melanie began searching for something to break the silence, "How long have you been hanging around in the forest for?"

"A wee while."

"And how long does that equate to?"

James glanced up and Melanie's breath caught. Every time James looked at her searchingly she felt like Jon was there beside him doing the same thing. "Are you always so nosey?"