The Wishing Tree - Book Two [Completed]

The Slow Leak - Part 18

Across the firelight I watch Clara and Mason talking closely. He is nodding and then looking over at me, which isn't exactly comforting. Riven and Rocco have flanked me on either side and are chatting across me, almost like they're all conspiring for me to know nothing. The revelation that Grayson is somehow involved doesn't appear be a shock to Mason at all. He looked me dead in the eyes and said, "I never lied to you. You never asked what happened to him."

Fed up, I call across the fire, "So, how is it you two know each other?"

Mason sends Clara a warning glance that I don't understand. Straight-faced she continues stripping and weaving the flowers and I think that neither of them is going to answer. Finally, Clara says, "We've spent a few lifetimes getting to know each other." She holds up what she's made so far and despite her promise in the field, she hasn't bothered to show me any weaving. She circles around the fire and motions for me to stand up. I rise and she holds up her pale pink creation to my hips. She takes a step back and surveys me and then goes back over to sit beside Mason without another word. She continues her weaving in silence.

Rocco nudges me with his shoulder. I look at him, feeling sullen and angry, but I'm not sure why. Sometimes it feels like those two emotions are my only comfort since I woke up. I raise my eyebrows at Rocco.

"The tree dwellers are good people. You have nothing to worry about." There is kindness in his eyes.

A pang of longing so intense that it brings tears to my eyes sends me to my feet and backing away from the fire. Suddenly, I miss Ryan so much it's like a physical pain. Mason looks up, watching me retreat and he stands to follow me. I shake my head a little and turn from him.

"Hannah." There is a warning in his voice. "You can't; it's too dangerous. One of us has to go with you."

I look at him over my shoulder, tired of his half-truths. Even now, looking at me across the fire, he's closed off to me. I look down at Rocco.

"Walk with me?"

He stands without saying a word and wanders off into the darkness beside me. We walk for a while before he says, "Do you want to talk?"

"I miss Ryan." I burst out, overflowing with the desire to talk about it. "I miss feeling like – like a member of a team and not a job. I don't know how else to describe it. Sometimes, I feel like I'm on the cusp of getting Mason to give in a little and then, something happens, like being in a coma for a few months, and he's back to virtually ignoring me. Then, out of nowhere, I find out that Grayson is here, somehow intact and he's looking for me. It's just all too much."

Rocco is silent for a few moments and I think my outburst has unnerved him. At last he says, "He's been struggling the last few months when we didn't know if you'd wake up. He wasn't sleeping well, not eating enough."

"Well, if I died, he doesn't get whatever his end of the deal might be."

Rocco frowns. "I think there's more to it." He stops walking and I slow my pace and then stop a little way off from him.

"What?"

He looks pensive and uncertain. "I shouldn't say. You should talk to Mason. He worries about you; it's why he didn't tell you about Grayson. He wanted to be sure you could handle that information." He starts walking again, his pace steady but slow. We're walking in a large loop around the fire, close enough that other animals should be scared off, but not so close that the others can hear. Eventually, Rocco speaks again, "Why don't you want to see Ryan? Mason says he can do it; he can arrange it. I think he means that."

I look up at the dark sky; I miss stars. There is a moon, but it's as though it's being filtered through mud, the brightness is missing.

"I've been in a coma for months. The last time I saw Ryan was in a crowded night club in a dream and we couldn't talk. I don't know what's worse; the idea of seeing him, but not being with him or not seeing him at all, maybe never again."