Page 69 of Rarely Pure and Never Simple
He turned his head to look her in the eye. "Look, I know what people say about me. But I do not eat babies for breakfast. Nor do I brush my teeth with cactus spines. And I only have wolf packs at my beck and call on rare occasions."
She laughed, thank God, but she was obviously a brave girl, not intimidated for long.
"You were going to tell me what you decided to do instead of attacking the lab," Damien said as he patted Blaze's chest.
Dryad nodded. "We went after their supply lines instead of trying to get the prisoners out, and I wished we could have. Some of the older ones had been there a long time, I think. Anyway, we started making sure new prisoners never got there."
"You knew how they operated. The routes they took."
"Not all the time, but enough. So we hit them before they got too far. Took the kids away. And kids started running away from school because of the rumors, too. We go out and find them. Bring them in. The lu xing help. They'll keep someone safe until I can get to them, or they let me know where to find someone who needs help."
"And Shade's all right with this influx? Am I right that you've brought in seventeen besides yourself?"
She gave him a curious look. "Your gift isreallyspecific. Yes. Eighteen of us are here from school. Shade considers them refugees. They're all welcome here."
His thinking face on, Damien stared down at his hand on Blaze's chest. "I'm glad we found you. All your coming and going nearly made me lose my mind."
"All widdershins," Blaze murmured.
"Good one." Damien glanced up. "Thank you for coming to talk to me. You're incredibly brave to do what you did."
She shrugged. "It was the right thing to do. Even when you're scared out of your mind, you still have to try to do the right thing, don't you?"
"Yes." There was an odd quaver in Damien's voice, and Blaze wondered what internal earthquake caused it. "Yes, you do."
Dryad left them with promises to come back to plan a return to the compound and to check whether they could visit Shudder. When she had left, Blaze reached up and pulled Damien down beside him, resettling his blankets over both of them.
"You need to rest, too, genius. Looking out for everyone else, you're gonna make yourself sick."
"I'm fine," Damien protested, but he snuggled close and buried his face against Blaze's neck.
Yeah. Fine. Something's hurting you so bad you can't even tell me.
Shudder'ssick room was farther up the hill at the healer's house. Bright and airy, with a lovely view of the lake, it was the perfect spot to convalesce. He lay half-reclined on a pile of fat pillows, presumably naked under the crisp, white sheets. Someone had taken painstaking care of cleaning him up. Even his broken nails had been trimmed and scrubbed, and while he was still pale and obviously tired, he no longer looked near death.
"Hey, you two. Beautiful place you found us. I won't ever complain again that you never take me anywhere nice." Shudder cocked an eyebrow at Blaze. "Why are you wearing blankets?"
Blaze edited the first five caustic things he wanted to say. "They took my damn clothes, nitwit."
"I'm glad you're doing better." Damien settled in the chair by the bed, leaving Blaze to take the foot of the bed itself.
"Their healer's much nicer than Hippo. She said there was brain swelling, but she took care of it. I never felt a thing." Shudder smiled at Damien. "So all of your mysteries are cleared up? You know where all the kids are?"
"Most of them. There are four I can't account for." Damien told him everything they had learned, and Blaze was struck, once again, by how easy it was for him to talk to Shuds. The resentment tried to rear up, but it was so damn hard to be mad at Shudder when he still looked so bad. "We'll regroup and see if Dryad can help us with a better plan of attack on the lab compound."
"You reporting the valley to Dr. Parma tonight?" Blaze asked carefully. Damien had an odd look in his eyes, one he couldn't read.
"No."
"No, not tonight?"
"Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not ten years from now. I'm telling no one."
Shudder took in a hard breath, one hand gesticulating like a wounded wild bird. "We have to tell the media about all of this. People have to know what the government is driving children to do. Running for their lives. Children acting as secret conductors on some new underground railroad for other children. It's criminal what's happened!"
"No. Shudder… no." Damien's voice took on that layer of ice Blaze had come to associate with Damien the Immovable. "Everything isn't about your crusade. These kids have found some peace. Leave themalone."
Shudder blinked at him and sputtered.
