Page 90 of Lore of the Wilds

“All right. All right. I won’t.” Lore put her hands up before her, relenting.

Gryph was not one to be swayed once he set his mind to something.

“Look. I know the castle like the back of my hand. If I can have a piece of parchment and some charcoal, I can draw up a map,” Asher said.

“I have a stash in the kitchen,” Lore said, standing up.

“Good, love. Grab the supplies and let’s get to work,” Gryph said, his voice a rumble.

Lore hurried to where she and Finndryl kept their study supplies. She flicked through weeks of their work. Translations, alphabets, a doodle that Finndryl had sketched while Lore had been working on a particularly difficult passage. It was a simple sketch of their mugs where they had sat on the table, steam drifting up, swirling, artfully done. She remembered that evening, it seemed to take forever for their tea to cool enough for them to drink. Lore grabbed the paper and folded it up, slipping it into her pocket. If asked she couldn’t say why she wanted to take this memory with her, just that she wasn’t quite ready to let it go.

“The charcoal is up here, I moved it the other day,” Finndryl remarked from behind her.

Lore jumped, spinning around. Had he seen her fold that drawing up and slip it into her pocket? “What?” she asked.

“I put the charcoal on the top shelf here. I figured you wouldn’t be able to reach it.”

“No, I can’t reach up there.” Lore’s cheeks were burning. Finndryl hadn’t seen her; if he had, he would be teasing her aboutit right now. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Finndryl wasn’t even looking at her.

“If you move, I can get it down for you.”

“Of course. Why did you place it up there anyway?” she asked as she stepped to the side. Finndryl took her place in front of the shelf and reached with ease—his arms were incredibly long.

Finndryl shrugged. “I needed the table.”

Lore frowned. That wasn’t really an answer. “But you know I can’t reach up there, and we use this charcoal nearly every—”

“You can’t have thought we would continue our research with him back, did you?”

“Well, I don’t see how—”

“Just drop it. Here.” He shoved the charcoal at her, his eyes cold.

This wasn’t right. Lore wanted to take him by the shoulders and shake him. “It doesn’t have to be like this—”

“He’s waiting.”

Lore reached out, placing her hand on Finn’s arm. “Wait, Finn, I—”

Finn jerked his arm away from her. “Just go.”

Lore stepped backward in shock. He’d reacted like she’d stabbed his arm or something, and not just laid her hand upon it. She drew her lips into a thin line as she roughly scooped up the papers on the table, no longer caring if they got wrinkled. “Fine. Have it your way.”

She returned to the table and handed Asher the papers and charcoal.

***

The group worked through the night, fine-tuning their strategy and preparing for the journey ahead. They knew it wouldn’t beeasy, but they were determined to rescue the people who needed their help.

As the sun rose, they were exhausted but satisfied. They had done as much as they could in the time allotted to prepare for the mission.

Gryph stood from the table and stretched. “Okay, let’s get some rest while we can. You younglings have a long journey ahead of you.”

The group dispersed. Asher and Lore stayed back to clean up the diagrams and maps. They stashed them next to the supplies Grey and Isla had packed for them.

“Asher, you’ve had a long journey. I can wash these cups if you want to head upstairs and get some rest. I’m too restless to sleep right now.” Lore gathered the mugs and carried them to the kitchens.

“Let me get that.” Asher ran in front of her and opened the door.

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