The Exiles (Book 1 of the Exiles Series)

Twenty-Four

When we returned home nobody said a word to me. Most of the people were celebrating outside, doing victory dances and discussing the recent events with their friends. Only Sasha and Sammy noticed that I had returned. They gave me helpless looks as I passed with Nicole.

Inside the base was full of people. Some of them were injured and getting help from their friends. Someone had dumped out the chest and separated the strips of leather and some of the healing paste from the rest of Nicole's stuff, which lay in a heap all over the floor. Nicole didn't seem too upset. She cleared a space for me on the floor and told me to sit there while she grabbed some things to bandage my arm. It hurt like crazy, but not as bad as I would've thought.

Nicole returned a moment later with some leather, healing paste, and a plank of thin wood to make a splint, of sorts. She bent my arm straight on the wood and wrapped the leather around my arm from the elbow to the end of my hand. Once my arm was repaired, Nicole spread some paste on the cuts on my face and arms until she was satisfied.

Sleep was starting to overtake me. My brain was screaming for slumber by the time Nicole was finished. After Nicole had used the paste on herself, she shooed the other people who had been in the room outside so I could get some sleep. Drowsily, I crept over to a bed and claimed it as my own. I pulled the covers up to my chin, and laid on my back. Finally, sleep came. Warm, worry-free bliss.

I didn't wake until late the next day. Sammy and Sasha had gone home the previous evening, so Nicole and I were the only ones in the house. She was gone. Probably out hunting, I assured myself. I chuckled quietly to just myself. This was how this whole thing had started. Nicole had been out hunting when I had snuck out and met Magnus. It was a little ironic.

I crept to the door and looked outside. Gray clouds hung in the sky. The air smelled of rain and earth. Spring. It occurred to me that it had been spring when Magnus and I had met. It had been almost a year ago. So much had happened since then. I almost expected him to come walking up to the canyon again, cloaked in shadow, and start the cycle all over again. I didn't know if I wanted to go through with this again, if such a thing could happen.

Nicole returned home in the afternoon. She had been out hunting, but she had returned with nothing but her bow. "Good morning," she greeted me as she walked inside. "You must be starving." My stomach grumbled and my mouth began to water.

"Do you have something to eat?" I asked. Nicole rolled her eyes. "Of course," she said, as if it were obvious. She set her bow by the door and hurried to the chest.

"I always keep an extra supply on hand," she explained. "Just in case." She dug through the chest until she found some food. It was some fruit, bruised and overripe, but I was so famished I didn't mind in the least. I gobbled it up in seconds. Nicole ate at a more normal pace, taking her time to savor each bite. It bugged me how she was acting like everything was normal. She was probably doing it for my benefit, but I wanted to talk about the battle, strangely. It almost made me feel better to hear someone else's thoughts. And I still had questions that hadn't been answered. Besides, I was bored out of my mind.

"Nicole," I began, after both of us had finished our brunch, "How did you find me last night?"

Nic looked confused. "What do you mean?" she inquired.

"I mean, when you and I were split up," I explained. When she still looked confused, I added, "When Sammy called for you on the grass whistle." I could tell by the look on Nic's face that it had clicked.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story," Nicole told me. I shrugged. "I've got time," I told her.

"I'm sure you know that Sammy got away," Nicole said. "Obviously, my group at the Center didn't find Magnus or any of his men, so we knew that Magnus was at his house. So, my group and I ran for the house to help you out.

"We found the rest of your group outside with some of Magnus's soldiers. They weren't fighting. That's when I noticed flames shooting out of the trapdoor. I asked someone what had happened, and they said that they were beating the crap out of Magnus's army when someone accidently shot a lantern and made it burst. It started Magnus's house on fire. We're very lucky that no one was hurt, from our army or his.

"That's when I heard you blow the whistle," Nicole continued. "I took everyone with me to try and find you. That's when I noticed that Sammy was missing. I kind of put two and two together. Somehow, we stumbled upon Sammy running, and she told us what had happened.

"Eventually, Sammy led us to you, and that's when we found you and Magnus," Nicole finished.

"Wow," I breathed. "That is...long. I still can't believe that you actually found me." Nic nodded.

"Personally, I think it was pure luck," she said modestly. "There was no way I could have found you on my own. Sammy--she's a hero." Sammy was the most loyal person I knew. I knew that she would have done anything to help. Anything. I hoped that she would be going on the ship with us. I couldn't stand to be separated from her. I realized that she was one of my best friends.

"Nicole, did you see Magnus when you were out hunting?" I couldn't have stopped the words from coming. Nic slowly shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, Talia," she said. "I didn't." Just then the sky opened and it began to rain.

. . .

The Center was reopened two days after the battle. Nicole went there a few days later, as did I. A small part of me hoped that Magnus would be there, though logic told me he wouldn't.

Just like I thought, Magnus wasn't there. Sammy and Sasha were there. I talked to Sammy a little bit, but spent most of the time huddled in a corner, feeling withdrawn and out of place. Concerned onlookers tried to talk to me, but I wasn't in the mood.

After we had been at the Center for long enough, Nicole and I took off. We spent several days at home again, I resting in bed and Nicole hunting and gathering when the weather was nice. I spent all day thinking and hoping, holding my breath to see if Magnus would show up, going through my day to day tasks to try and distract myself. But I saw no sign of him. Day after day passed this way, until one day came.

I awoke that morning, just like normal. Nicole was gone, hunting. I dressed in the dawn and waited for her for maybe an hour or two.

Suddenly, I heard a crashing outside. I leapt from bed, startled, and poked my head outside. I saw Nicole tripping through the trees, whooping with excitement. A wide grin lit up her face. She had smiled very little for days. Just seeing her so excited was contagious. I gave her a sheepish grin back.

"What happened to you?" I shouted as she ran within earshot. She pointed behind her.

"Islanders...lake..." she huffed. "We gotta pack." I gazed questioningly at her as she zoomed past me and into the house.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I exclaimed, chasing after her. "What the heck does that mean?" A thought came, followed by a prick of excitement. Nicole looked up, still smiling wide.

"Talia, it's here," she told me. "The boat's here. We're going home."