Lake Of Sins: Escape

Chapter 5

TRINITY GROANED AND PULLED the blanket over her head. Whatever Mom was cooking smelled delicious, but she didn't want to move. It was warm and comfortable under the soft fur. Fur? She didn't own any fur. She yanked the blanket down. She wasn't home and she wasn't safe.

"Sleep well?" asked Gaar.

She sat up and nodded, her eyes drawn to Mirra who lay in the corner, gnawing on something gross. She wasn't sure what it was but it had been alive until recently by the blood on the Tracker's face and paws. She quickly turned away. Gaar stirred something in a pot over the fire. Her stomach rumbled.

He handed her a bottle of water and a plate filled with fruits and nuts.

"Thank you." She set the water to the side and the plate on her lap, but her eyes kept drifting back to the pot over the fire. "What are you cooking? It smells really good."

"It's not for you," he said.

Well, that's rude. She stared at the plate, overflowing with food. She should be grateful. It was more than she'd get in an entire day at home.

He sighed. "You wouldn't like it. Producers don't eat meat."

She didn't know what meat was, but she was willing to try anything that smelled that good. She glanced up at him. "I might."

He shrugged. "You are half House Servant." He took his knife and speared a small chunk of something brown out of the pot. He placed it in a bowl and sliced it in half. He handed her the bowl.

The inside of the lump was pink. She sniffed it, wrinkling her nose. It didn't smell as good up close. "What is it?"

"Rabbit. Mirra caught several this morning."

Now, that she knew what it was she could make out a few ears still attached to hunks of fur near the Tracker. She focused on the bowl, nudging the meat with her finger. It was kind of springy. "Guards eat meat, don't they?" The Producers set traps to keep the rabbits out of their fields and traded the carcasses to the Guards. Her mom used to make her do it, until she'd figured out that if she sprayed her plants with a tonic made from hot peppers, it kept the rabbits out of her fields better than the traps.

"Yes. Everyone does except Producers and Grunts." He watched her closely.

She handed him the bowl. She liked rabbits. She'd even raised a few orphans. She wasn't going to eat one. "You're right. I don't think I'd like it."

His lips twitched as he took the bowl. He grabbed the morsels and tossed them in his mouth. When he was done chewing, he said, "Mirra and I had a long talk while you slept."

Her face heated with embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I'm usually up very early." She never slept late. She was a hard worker and that meant an early riser. "What time is it?" The inside of the tree allowed no sunlight.

He ignored her question. "Mirra wants to keep you."

"I'm not..."

He held up his hand. "I don't. Mirra has a tendency to wander off."

Mirra tipped her ear toward him and a low growl rumbled through her chest.

"Which means that I'll be the one stuck taking care of you, and I don't want the job."

She stiffened. "I can take care of myself." If he didn't want her around, that was fine. She didn't want to be here.

He grunted. "Years ago, maybe, but not now. There are things out here, unnatural things."