Page 51 of Caelum

“I think so. It’s been a long time since I read any Bible,” Nestor replied.

“If a slut is someone who…” I licked my lips. “…interacts with a lot of men, then yes.”

Stefan blinked at me then looked over his shoulder to cast a glance at Samuel. What he saw, I wasn’t sure, but he seemed to tense up. I knew him well enough to know that if he was angry then he’d gladly stir up another fight. That was all the boys did. Fight and eat.

“Why would he say that?” Eren asked, but he wasn’t posing the question to me.

That didn’t stop me from answering though.

“How would I know?”

Stefan shook his head. “Sluts are a human concept, Eve.”

I blinked at him. “Excuse me?”

“It’s an insult to a human female, but not to us.”

“You mean you call girls here sluts?” Outrage filled me, making me struggle against Nestor’s hold again when he grabbed me and stopped me from punching Stefan once more.

“No!” Nestor barked. “We don’t fucking call them that. We don’t call them anything.”

“Oh.” That took the fight from me. “Well, what’s your point then?”

“My point is that if a woman chooses to share herself with a man, thatisn’t considered a bad thing, but Samuel wanted you to think that it was.” Stefan rubbed his chin. “Why would he do that?”

“Why do those braindead fuckwits do anything?” Eren grumbled.

“There’s a method to their madness. You know that as well as I do. They wanted us to head to Aboh without Dre. That’s why they beat the shit out of him. If Reed purposely channeled his Hell Hound into the fight, it explains why Dre’s concussion was so bad.”

I could sense that had all made sense to the others, but I was confused. “Where’s Aboh?”

“Nigeria,” Eren muttered, his tone absentminded like he was thinking of something else while he answered me.

I thought about the maps I’d been glancing over, trying to see the world for what it was and not what the New Order had told me.

Nigeria was in Africa, and its capital was…I thought back to the atlas, skimmed over to the page on Africa, and studied the map of the country in my mind’s eye.

Abuja.

Yes. That was the capital.

“Why would you go to Nigeria?” I drawled. “It’s not like it’s next door.”

None of them replied, but I knew they were communicating silently. I felt Nestor’s tension at my back, saw it in Stefan’s frame, and didn’t need to see it in Eren’s to sense that there was something they were hiding from me.

Hurt welled inside me, and I gritted out, “Nestor, let me go. I won’t attack anyone.”

“You sure?” There was some of that amusement again. This time in Nestor’s voice.

Since when had I become their go-to joke machine?

Growling under my breath, I tried to channel the voice I’d used when dealing with Father Bryan. “I’m certain.” It must have worked because he let me go, but all three boys looked at me warily.

“What happens in Nigeria?” I insisted the second I was free and able to look at them all.

“It’s the nearest nation to this island. It’s where we get some time away from Caelum.”

“Like a vacation,” Eren supplied, but I didn’t trust his explanation.

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