Page 47 of The Mentor
“Nothing you have to worry about, dear.” I sighed. “Sometimes I just do things without thinking them through because I get caught up in the moment.”
“If you did something wrong you can always apologize,” Mila said with the wisdom of a ten-year-old.
“I know.” I yawned again. “But right now, we really need to sleep.”
“I love you,” Mila whispered and it made everything melt inside of me.
“I love you too,” I said softly.
While the girl quickly fell asleep, all sorts of thoughts were roaming around my head. In the Motherlands, I had never been this close to any of my students. Sure, Raven had a special place in my heart, but I didn’t live with any of my students and there were certainly no words of love between us. But here, I was both their teacher and a substitute mother.
It was hard for them to be away from home, and it was really a small thing for me to share my bed with a child that needed a kiss on the cheek and a pair of warm arms to hold them.
The truth was that I treasured these nights as much as they did.
The next morning, Archer led us on a three-mile run through the forest.
“Just run ahead, I’ll catch up to you,” Magni called out to us when we left but fifteen minutes later I still hadn’t seen him.
I was panting and hating that my lungs felt two sizes too small and that all the children send me looks of pity when they passed me.
“Are you okay?” Shelly asked. “You sound like you’ve got some kind of respiratory disease.”
I stopped running, bent over, placing my hands on my knees, and sucked in big gulps of air. “I’m fine,” I croaked out.
“You don’t look fine, let me get Archer for you.”
I protested, but Shelly was already sprinting ahead.
It was kind of embarrassing that I was in such bad shape but I had suffered from asthma when I was a child and I told myself that my lungs hadn’t fully recovered yet.
After assuring myself that I wasn’t going to pass out, I rose up to my full height and started walking.
I couldn’t see any of the children any longer, and I figured that most of them were probably already halfway back to the school by now.
It was the sounds coming from behind me that freaked me out. A loud roar was followed by another one, and the only thing I could think of was two bears in a territorial fight.
There was no way I could outrun a bear with my lungs still cramping but since I couldn’t actually see the bears, I figured I had time to hide.
Pivoting around, I search for a tree with branches low enough for me to climb it.There!
I spotted a large pine tree and forced my tired body to run for my life.
Another roar made me hurry up the tree, clasping at branches, ignoring the scratches I got on my hands and arms, and praying that Archer had been right when he said that the bears here didn’t eat people.
With a death grip around the tree trunk, I held on, my eyes searching for any sign of the bears.
What if they went after the children? My already hammering heart skipped a beat and with adrenaline as my fuel I moved myself into a position where I could access my wristband and call for help.
The band projected Archer’s face above my wrist and I knew he could see me too.
“Are you okay? Shelly said that you needed help.”
“Shhh…” With a finger to my lips I hushed him. “Quiet,” I whispered. “I’m in a tree, hiding from some bears.”
“You’re joking!” He sounded ominous.
I shook my head, my eyes still fearfully roaming the area.
