Page 42 of Choosing Jenny
Surge sighed. “Well, this is a good start. Any chance you know where we could find Vulaven Eggs?”
“Well, yeah…” Gram grimaced. “But you don’t want to go there.”
“It doesn’t matter what I want, Gram,” Surge said. “I have to do this.”
“Then you have to go to their island. It’s pretty far, and I don’t recommend it,” Gram said, his tone filled with warning. “The Vulaven are not kind to Ladrians. Or jem’hora. Or drecks—”
“You have the coordinates?” I asked, knowing it didn’t matter what we would face, since it was what Surge needed.
“No, but I know how to get there.”
CHAPTER 13
Jenny
“Did you get any sleep at all?” I asked Mal as we walked to breakfast.
“An hour or two. Maybe.” He glanced at me. “You?”
“Not much,” I admitted, and sighed wearily. “I kept waking up, expecting the two of you. I had an early morning tea with Sarah, before I came back to bed.”
“Have you seen Tiger this morning?” Mal asked.
I shook my head. “Maybe he walked to the city?”
“Perhaps.”
We were quiet for a few moments before I said, “I’m worried about him.”
“I tried his gauntlet driver, but he’s ignoring the messages.”
“He’ll come around eventually.” Because at some point, I wasn’t going to give him a choice.
We finished the walk to the garden room. The sitting furniture had been replaced by a long dining table with enough seating for everyone. Sarah, Jac, Deacon, Wave, Ode, Discord and Longshot were around the table.
Sarah smiled as we strolled in. “Glad you could join us.”
Mal pulled my chair out for me, and we sat and greeted everyone. A servant delivered plates of steaming food to us both, and like most meal times, I didn’t ask what the strange Ladrian cuisine was, I just ate it. Everything I’d had since coming to Halla had been delicious, and breakfast was no different.
“Have you seen Tiger?” I asked the group in general.
Sarah answered. “Yes, he decided to accompany Surge, Sam and Omen in retrieving the Halla Pearls.”
I dropped my eating utensil. “You just let him go without telling me?”
Sarah raised a brow. “I didn’t think he needed your permission to go places and do things, Jen.”
Everyone was staring at me, and I felt my face heat. “I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant…he didn’t even say goodbye. That’s all.”
“He’ll probably be back soon, Jenny,” Jac said. “He’s got a good head on his shoulders. You don’t need to worry about him.”
“Besides,” Deacon added. “He’s on your state-of-the-art ship. I doubt she will allow anything bad to happen to him.”
They weren’t wrong. They were trying to calm me down, because yes, Iwasoverreacting. I knew that. I didn’t need the gentle reminders.
“I’m a little on edge this morning,” I muttered. “I didn’t get much sleep.”
“If you’re here another night, I can create a sleeping draught for you,” Ode, a doctor, offered. “If you would like one.”
