Royal Blood

Chapter Twenty Five

We reach the tent to find Katrina and Liliana still sitting where they were this morning. I introduce the two of them to Max and explain that he will be staying here for the night but then he and Jasper will be assigned their own tent. The three of us also introduce ourselves to Liliana because I realise that we never had the chance to this morning.

Katrina puts me in charge of making dinner for the five of us while she had to go to her assigned job for a couple of hours. This also meant that we were babysitting her daughter. Luckily she is quite well behaved and all she does is stare at me while I attempt to cook some meat on the bonfire.

The other people in the campsite make cooking look easy as they all sit there, meat over the fire while chatting to each other. I thought I would be able to do this but I guess not as I burn the fourth piece of meat that I was given.

"You've never done this before, have you?" Jasper asks me. I shake my head at him, feeling clueless about how to cook.

"I've always had people to do it for me. Dinner has always been presented on a table." I tell him, keeping my voice law just in case Liliana is trying to listen.

"Let me do it, you look after the kid." He says.

I get up from where I am sat, a space which Max soon fills in, and walk towards the little girl. She looks up at me, her big, blue eyes staring up at me in wonder.

"My momma doesn't know why you are here. Why are you here?" she asks, putting emphasis on the 'you'.

I look at her, unsure of what I should say. I've heard that children ask more questions than adults and she certainly looks like a curious child.

"The simple story is that we were looking for a place to stay." I eventually say to her, which is not a lie, she just does not know the whole truth.

Liliana shrugs her tiny shoulders at me and then asks me if I want to play with her. She shows me some of her toys that she had brought here from her old home and we begin playing. Funnily enough, she ends up playing a runaway princess who somehow by the end of this game, ends up being eaten by a dragon. I really hope that is not my fate.

By the time the game has finished, Katrina has arrived back at the tent. Jasper plates up the food that he has cooked, resulting in Katrina raising her eyes at him. She apparently was not expecting that. No one talks during dinner, for us it is nice to eat some healthier food, rather than just what we have sneaked out of hotels. Once all the food has be eaten, we decide to settle down and go to bed as we all have to be up early in the morning. I will be starting my 'job' while Jasper and Max have to find out where their new tent is.

The next morning, I get up and get changed into some clean clothes that Katrina had laid out for me. I rumble around for the trousers that I wore yesterday and pull out the slip of paper which has my job assignment written on it. I groan when I read it, 'child minding' is what it says. Why, just why? It also tells me that I have to go to row one hundred and thirteen, which is where they apparently keep all the children. Well at least that is not too far.

"Callie, take Liliana with you... please." Katrina asks me just before I am about to leave to start.

"Sure," I say, taking the small girls hand. "Err... do you want to meet back here just before sundown?" I ask Jasper and Max who both agree.

Liliana and I make our way towards row one hundred and thirteen. By the time we get to where we should be, there are already about ten kids waiting. There are also a few other women loitering around the area, my guess is that they also work here. At least I will not have to struggle with a group of children all by myself.