The New Rangers

Chapter Eight

Deva woke slowly the following morning and immediately felt as if something was wrong. Opening her eyes, she leveled her body up on her elbows to see what exactly was giving her that not-quite-right feeling. Her eyes rounded out in surprise at the sight before her.

Mitchell was cuddled up to her, his head resting on her hip, and his arm was wrapped around her upper thighs, hugging them. She looked around quickly to make certain no one else was up to witness this.

"Mitchell, wake up!" she growled at him as quietly as she could.

He muttered in his sleep, tightening his grip on her legs. She yanked her pillow from where it lay on the floor and whacked him over the head with it, no longer caring if she woke everyone up.

"Wake up, Mitchell! I am not your personal pillow you idiot!"

He sat up abruptly, blinking rapidly, and looking around. "Huh, what happened?"

"You were using me a pillow again!" she shouted.

"I was?"

She stood and hit him with the pillow again. "Yes, you were!" She took a step and realized there was no place in the small room for her to go.With a growl of frustration, she put herself in the furthest corner from him that she could. What made her angry was that she might have, perhaps just a tiny bit, liked having him all snuggled against her. Only, there was no way she would ever admit that to anyone.

Halt sat up, shoving the blanket aside until he was free and swung his legs to the floor. "I swear the lot of you could wake the dead."

Holly scowled in his direction. "Logan and I are quiet."

"For the moment you are. I'm quite certain given a few minutes that will change drastically."

"Wow thanks, Dad."

"You're welcome. Everyone get yourselves up and ready. I'll fetch Will and we'll discuss what it is we want you to do today."

Deva frowned as Halt slipped from the room. "I thought we already discussed that last night?"

Holly rose and began folding her blanket. Logan followed suit. They tidied things up while waiting for the two senior Rangers.

The Rangers returned. "All right, today, as we discussed last night, we want you to try and talk to the younger people in the village. Find out any information you can from them. Kids hear things," Halt said.

"Right, we got it, talk to the urchins," Holly said with a grin.

Halt arched a brow at her. "Not exactly how it was put but I suppose so."

Will shook his head. "Adults tend to talk without considering the fact that their children are nearby, within hearing. They don't censor what they speak about."

"So, the little urchins might know something?" Holly asked with a wide grin.

"Is that your favorite new word?" Deva asked.

"Maybe."

"That's enough," Halt told them. "Now go on."

Logan frowned at them. "What are the two of you going to do while we're prodding the kids for information?"

"Since the four of you took it upon yourselves to annoy the new baron last evening, we are going to hang around near the castle and see exactly how angry he is this morning."

"For the record that wasn't my idea." The second the words left Logan's mouth, Holly elbowed him in the side. He yelped and rubbed at his sore side. Halt only shook his head, turning away with no comment.