Page 70 of Caelum

“Yes. But now, he probably won’t harvest them for a few more years.”

“Why?”

I half-smiled at her. “Reasons.”

One of those being that we wouldn’t be going anywhere until she was old enough to graduate too. One of Dre’s major reasons for disliking her—she just didn’t know that yet.

She huffed.

“Remind me to show you on YouTube how they make tequila,” I said, changing the subject. “Technically, it can only be called that if it’s made in this little area in Mexico. That’s where Dre is from. Jalisco.”

She repeated it, using the same intonation I did on the ‘J.’

“He wants to go back there when he graduates,” I told her.

“He does?” She winced. “I never want to go back.”

“You don’t?”

“My family would never accept me, anyway. When someone leaves, they’re cut from the Order like they died.”

I wasn’t surprised to hear that, but it didn’t make it any less sad. “Do you wish you could see them?”

“No. At least, not at the moment. Maybe when I’m older.”

“Did many people leave?”

“A few over the years. Leave is the wrong word, though. I should have said escaped.”

That made sense. “I’m glad you’re free, Eve.”

Her smile made me feel ten feet tall. “Me too, Eren.” She tilted her head to the side. “Why does Dre want to go back to Mexico? I wouldn’t have said he was homesick. Unless that’s why he’s mean all the time.”

I snorted. “It’s one of the reasons, but he’s not homesick. He’s angry.”

“You didn’t have to tell me that.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s angry all the time.”

“You know what acoyoteis?”

“No. Unless you mean the animal.”

“I don’t.” My lips pursed. “His parents wanted to live in the US, so they paid acoyoteto help them cross the border. They left him with his grandmother and promised to send for him when they could. For a long time, he thought they’d abandoned him, but once, when his grandmother got drunk, she told him that they’d been killed by thecoyote. There’d been some kind of problem with a cartel—they’re like a group of bad people who are responsible for a lot of crimes in that area—and Dre’s parents ended up dying.”

“He wants revenge?” she guessed, and I nodded.

“Yes. Badly. So badly sometimes I think that’s what makes him so bitter.”

“He’s patient,” she murmured, her eyes taking in the small garden that had taken years of backbreaking dedication to tend to. “I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”

“It’s not a bad thing when it’s aimed at doing some good,” I said quietly.

“Why are you telling me this, Eren?” she asked softly, her gaze cutting to me.

“Because you’re seeing one side of Dre and not the other. I know you don’t like him?—”

“A mutual feeling, Eren.”

I nodded. “Yes, but there’s another side to him.”

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