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CHAPTER TWENTY sacrificial lamb
——— VERONA! ( PHOENIX, ARIZONA, MID MARCH )
THE HEAT WAS GOING to scorch Verona to death before Clarisse did, she was sure of it. Even in March, the heat of the Arizona dessert was blistering from the moment Verona stepped foot into the state, up until the very moment she was currently in as she stood on Clarisse La Rue's living room, overlooking a sleeping Chris Rodriguez. He looked completely worn out with a bandage over his head and eyes distraught even when they were closed in his sleep, whispering things over and over in his mind. His olive skin was tinted with sweat from the Arizona heat even in his sleep, and he shared the same pointed elf like ears as Connor and Travis, though his eyes once primed with mischief now seemed only haunted and lost.
"Are you sure I can't get you anything else, Verona?" Clarisse is mother, was surprisingly, not as scary as her. She was a tall woman with dark hair and stern eyes that seemed to soften in the presence of her daughter, but nonetheless very, very kind and patient. Verona learned that she had been in the Navy during her early twenties, which is how she had met Ares. After she had left the Navy, she had gotten her nursing degree and had been working at a local hospital in Phoenix ever since — it was how she'd known how to treat and help Chris for the last month and a half he'd been in Arizona at the La Rue house.
Verona smiled at her lightly, trying to ease her tension. She looked worried for Chris — it was clear to Verona that if her daughter thought someone was important, then so would she. Verona could feel the ends of her hair curling against her back in the heat but she didn't have a hair tie at the current moment. "No thank you, Miss La Rue. The lemonade was more than enough."
"It's ready," Clarisse burst through the door all of a sudden. Unlike Verona, she seemed to be more dressed for the weather and her short hair was actually tied up, and not sticking to her face out of sweat. She glanced at Verona, laughing teasingly despite the situation, and tossed her a hair tie. She nodded thankfully, tying up her hair — with Silena and Elska's help, the three girls had dyed it something off a mix between blonde and brown this past week before she left for Phoenix, and it now fell just below her collarbones in small waves rather than her normal length. Verona thought she liked it much better than before.
Thanking Clarisse is mother, who promised her daughter quickly that she'd watch over Chris while the two were gone, they hopped into her mother's car together, Clarisse cranking up the air conditioning as they pulled out of the driveway. "So how big is this thing anyways?"
"Big," Her answer was short momentarily as she focused on the road. "It's enough to blow up the entire camp, if you have the right sort of ammo."
