The Exiles (Book 1 of the Exiles Series)

Ten

I let myself out the door to face Nicole. She was leaning against the rock wall with her arms crossed against her chest. The look on her face told me she was concerned about me.

"Hi," she greeted me. "How are you?" She spoke slowly, as if speaking to a toddler.

"I'm good," I told her. "How was the journey here?" She shrugged. "It was okay," she told me. "I cut around the forest so I could avoid the Crawlies. How did you sleep?" Nic put so much emphasis on the word "sleep" I thought she knew of Magnus's little visit. But it appeared to be purely coincidental.

I tried to wing it and act calm. "Great," I told her. "The bed was comfy." In truth, it felt like I was lying on bricks. But I wouldn't admit that. Admitting one thing only led to revealing more.

"Are you ready to get to work?" Nicole asked me. I dragged my feet across the dry dirt, feeling the sandy soil creep between my toes. "Yes, I guess," I told her. I stifled back a yawn. It was then that I started to feel extremely tired. My all-nighter was starting to take its toll.

"Let's get started," Nic agreed. She hurried past me into my house. I ducked through the doorway and unearthed the hatchet from beneath my bed. I didn't have a real storage place yet. Nic had brought her knife and was already surveying the back wall of the dugout.

"Okay, how do you want this?" she asked. I shrugged. "Nic knows best," I teased. "I could use some storage, though." She nodded in agreement. "A girl does need a place to keep her wardrobe. Here, we can cut out a little closet here--" she traced out a doorway with the blade of the knife, making shallow marks in the wall-- "and then we can make a chest or something to put in there. I have some wood and reed ties that we can use for it. Okay?" I nodded, satisfied.

"I don't really know what to do," I admitted. Nic didn't seem super surprised. "That's okay," she assured me. "I can help." She retraced the door frame and started to cut a pattern, using short, precise motions along the outside of the doorway.

"Here, just swing the axe in this area." She pointed vaguely in the center of the marked area. Nicole ducked out of the way.

I gripped the hilt and swung. The familiar ache crept up my arms and settled in my spine as I hit the stone again and again, shattering it into pieces. Once one area crumbled away, I moved on to another. Eventually, after a few hours of toil, the doorway broke, and my closet was nearly finished. My neck was damp with sweat. Nic stood back and observed, watching me break open the stone and correcting my mistakes.

After I was done, I collapsed on my bed, and was greeted with a bit of flat, tasteless bread and a sour crab apple. I devoured both items, my breakfast, and then resumed working.

The house grew stuffy and warm as the sun climbed in the sky. Nic threw open the door to let cool air inside, but it did little to smother the heat.

The humidity climbed until I could hardly breathe. I couldn't tell whether it was sweat or humidity or both that made my hatchet's hilt feel sticky. My hands slipped and slid across the moist wood as I hit, harder and harder, my body screaming at me to stop.

Nicole started to work beside me, as well. She was wearing leggings and a ripped, dirty shirt that looked to have once been a dress. Not a bead of sweat trickled down her forehead. I wondered how she wasn't suffocating. The humidity seemed to create a thick cloud that followed us at all times and showed no mercy. Not a corner of my house was safe from its fury. I swung and swung at the gray rock for hours without stopping, Nicole fixing my mistakes with subtle swipes of her knife.

Eventually, the heat was just too much to bear. Nic and I both silently set down our tools and knelt on the ground, panting. I imagined my face was purple and my hair looked like a rat's nest. I doubt I smelled good, either. I realized I hadn't bathed since I had came to this place. With a shudder, I realized I didn't know when the last time was that I had had a shower. I vaguely remembered what it felt like, warm water crashing against my body. Suddenly, I yearned for one.