The bond we share

10. Lost and found(Aiden)

"This is not going to be easy. How are we going to find what we need, search for Nathaniel and my mother, and stay awake?"

"We can sleep but it will have to be in shifts." Mac says.

"We can't leave Luc out here unguarded and we need to watch each other's backs." I run my hands through my hair in frustration as I pace. "Coming out here was a mistake."

"You must have had a good reason to come out here for that moss if you left the kingdom now." Mac scolds.

"In my opinion not a good enough reason now."

"What is going on Aiden?" Mac crosses his arms, giving me that stern look that means he is not letting this go.

I sigh. I unbutton my shirt and Mac's eyebrows raise. I am waiting for him to make a smart-ass comment, but it never comes. My shirt falls, showing the burn that has moved up my shoulder and down my arm. "This is why I need the moss. When I went to get the prillum with Bree in the capium fields, I fell against a capium crystal and this happened. It was much smaller at the time, but it is growing and not going away, so this moss is my best chance at this moment in time."

Mac has no reaction. He just stares off into the trees silently.

"Do you think I made the wrong choice too?"

"Yes, I do!" he snaps at me.

I drop my head. I was afraid this would be the case, but I was still unprepared for it to still sting as much as it does.

"You didn't make the wrong choice to come, you made the wrong choice to keep this from us." Mac says a little more softly. He still isn't looking at me.

"Aiden, whether you like it or not we have all chosen to stay with you. You are a great and fair ruler and an even better friend. Each and every one of us has seen things you don't ever want to know about. We have been outcasts in our own homes. Johnathan and Aria took us in and have been a wonderful family to us, but with you and Bree, we found a real place we are all happy to call home, and your people love you just as much. We have the right to know about this kind of thing." he scolds.

"Mac I really didn't mean to upset anyone, really I didn't." I say, trying to defend my actions, but I stop myself. "You are right. Before all of you, I did not really have friends, and my family has never been the same since Bree disappeared the first time. I'm so used to my problems being my own it didn't occur to me that I would hurt my friends in doing so." I say, running my hands through my shaggy black hair.

Mac smiles. "Aiden you're a great guy. Tell us more and we can be better too, trust us as we trust you." He holds out his hand to me and we shake hands, making an unsaid vow to be more open from now on.

The light has come up and Mac and I have taken turns watching over each other so we can get a little sleep. As Mac said, these little silver bugs tried creeping in while we slept, but thankfully, we both made it through the night. Luc and the andocrits have still not woken.

"It looks like your creepy-crawly theory might be accurate for the situation at hand." I say, trying to wake Anzibar again. I rest my forehead against his massive leathery head when he does not move.

"The last thing I wanted was to be right. I can tell you that." Mac says, checking on Luc.

Slowly, I stroll over to the metal carriage and examine it again. "Mac there is something about this thing that really has me thinking, I feel like Bree would know what this is."

"You think Bree is connected to this thing?"

"Yes, I know it sounds strange but I really do."

I bend over and climb into the carriage and start looking around the space inside. I find strange parchment in a secret panel in the front of the carriage. It is some sort of strange, coded message. I do not see much else. I push and twist things that move, but nothing happens. I pull some strange levers that make Mac squeal when the seat collapses. I roar in laughter at his terrified face. Still trying to gain my composure, I continue to push and pull things until I pull two levers, I find on the floor near my feet that make a strange sound at the back and side.