Page 24 of Blood Red Woes

AKA he’s not really my type.

What is my type? I’ll get back to you on that.

“All right,” Prim says as she places her small hands on her hips and puffs out her chest. “Are you ready?”

I nod, and Frederick tells me, “Good luck, Rey. Do everything you can to return safely.” Safely and with his dad’s stuff in tow. My bag is full of food now, but once it’s empty and I’m forced to—gag me—scrounge the rivers for food, I’ll have room to stuff plenty of research into it.

“Come on!” Prim bounces as she leads me away, away from Frederick and his shack of a home, away from the streets of Laconia. She brings me to the pond that gets all the runoff from the upper districts. It sits a good ways away from Frederick’s shack, and it’s early enough that no one’s out.

I bet there’s no fish in this pond. I bet this is where they wash their clothes and stuff.

She guides me around the pond, to the other side. We have to step on half-submerged rocks to get to the other side. Prim hums as she leads me, holding her hands behind her back, pep in her step. She’s probably excited for Frederick to buy her whatever she wants from the markets today.

The pond hits the outer wall that surrounds all of Laconia city. A metal grate is fixed in the stone to let the excess water out. Right now it only trickles out. After a hard storm, I bet it gushes. On the left side, where the metal meets the stone, it looks as though the water wore it away a bit. Enough that I can push my bag through and then shimmy through myself.

I step around Prim and bend to look out the grate, at the greenery beyond. From this angle, it looks like if I follow the creek, it’s not as cliffy as the way I took into the city.

I slide the bag off my shoulder and push it through. It lands on dry pebbles on the other side. Before I squeeze my whole self through, I glance at Prim and say, “Hey, kid. Thanks again for getting me out of jail.”

“I already told you,” she says. “It was Frederick.”

“It was his idea, sure, but you’re the one that got me out. You’re just as important as he is.” And she is. She is important. She probably doesn’t hear it enough.

Prim beams, the smile she gives toothy. “I hope you find whatever he wants you to find.”

“Thanks.” And then I shimmy my body out. I don’t land as gracefully as I hope—and I narrowly avoid landing on my bag and squishing all the contents inside—but I manage to avoid it. Once I right myself, I give Prim a wave through the grate and head off.

I’m not worried about anyone from the city seeing me and trying to follow. If they saw me wandering away, they’d assume I’m as good as dead. What does it matter, anyway? I was locked up, in limbo as I waited for their council or conclave or whatever to figure out what to do with me.

Going on a journey to look for some research is better than being locked up forever because they think I’m some kind of demon.

“Well,” Rune mutters, “I suppose we’re off, then.”

“We’re off,” I repeat.

And we are.

I follow the creek down the hillside until it eventually joins with a larger river. I’m hopeful, which is more than I can say for myself before. I have a goal, a purpose, and I have a way to get there. One thing at a time, and soon enough I’ll be home. I’ll get home, fix all of my problems, and life will get better.

Because it has to.

I’m following the southern river as it runs through the plains and gentle hills surrounding the southern edge of the city when Rune asks, “Do you think you can trust him?” It comes so out of the blue that I don’t realize he’s talking about Frederick right away.

“Who?” I pause as I think back. “You mean Frederick? I didn’t get a bad vibe off him.”

He scoffs. “A vibe? Do I even want to know what that is?”

I roll my eyes. “It’s just a feeling. A vibe. You know. I don’t think Frederick is a bad guy. He seemed a little awkward, yeah, but I think we can trust him.”

“Forgive me for trying to stay alert. No one in Laconia seemed to care, and suddenly Frederick appears out of nowhere to save the day. If this research is that important to him, why doesn’t he brave the wilds himself?”

“Because if he gets caught in a storm, he’ll die,” I say. The shadowstorms-slash-scourge are the crux of the issue here. It’s why everyone is stuck inside the main city.“And he said he tried before, multiple times, and the guards always found him and dragged him back.”

“Don’t you wonder just why it is no shadowstorm has appeared over the city?” Rune sounds thoughtful, but also full of distrust. “Surely the city must have some protection that the rest of the kingdom doesn’t. If Frederick is so smart, why hasn’t he figured that out?”

Whatever sort of grudge Rune feels over Frederick, I don’t, so I just shrug. “His dad was the research guru, and he took it that with him when he left. Honestly, it sounds like you don’t like him and you’re trying to find excuses why.” I cock my head as I walk along—not that Rune can see me doing it, but whatever. “Is there any specific reason you don’t like Frederick?”

Rune is silent, but I bet he’s fuming.

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