Page 75 of Cherish

“Yeah, they usually come in the middle of the night and steal dirt from the crops. But these people tonight were really brazen. The nerve of them, coming right up to Maroly’s garden like that.” Arnst shakes his head. “I don’t know what the world is coming to.”

“Is that common here?” Jaxon asks as we tromp back to the dining room. “Stealing dirt?”

“Not normally, no. But some people are of the belief that our dirt is special,” Maroly tells him.

“Isyour dirt special?” Heather asks.

Arnst and Maroly exchange a long look before Arnst finally answers, “Not in the slightest.”

I want to question him—want to question both of them about this new and strange development—but before I can, Maroly says, “Let’s not let this derail us. Before that unpleasant incident, we were talking about how to get the group of you in to see the Shadow Queen.”

She whispers “Shadow Queen” like it’s a dirty word.

“Yes, let’s get back to that,” Arnst agrees.

I still find something very strange about the fact that people have apparently decided that stealing dirt from a working vegetable farm is something they should be doing. But since Maroly and Arnst obviously don’t want to talk about it anymore, I choose to help them change the subject. It’s easier now that I know we aren’t going to have to deal with hunters right this second.

“Does she come out for any sort of events or celebrations?” I ask.

“I don’t think so. She’s been quite scarce since her encounter with Hudson…” Maroly trails off as she turns to give Hudson a strange look. “Although I do believe just knowing you’re back might bring her out all on its own.”

“I agree. We need to figure out how to get her to notice us,” Heather comments. “I’m pretty sure if she knows Hudson is out there waiting for her, she’ll pay attention.”

“If we breathe, I’m pretty sure she’ll pay attention,” I tell her. “The last time she saw us, Hudson threw her headfirst over a wall in front of a whole lot of her subjects.”

“Seriously? Throwing her over a wall is the best you had?” Jaxon shakes his head as if he’s ashamed of his brother.

“If you think you could do better, you’re welcome to take your own shot when we find her,” Hudson shoots back. “Maybe there’ll be a window you can toss her out of. That’s practically the same thing, right?”

“Can we please get back on track?” I ask to stop the brotherly sniping. “The whole point of this is getting ourselves in front of the Shadow Queen to make a deal. And while I think Hudson can attract her attention fairly easily, she doesn’t strike me as the act-first-think-later kind of person. She came after us when we first got to Noromar, but when we evaded her, it took her years to try again—and only when she viewed us as a threat to her plans. We don’t have that kind of time to waste.”

“So, we need to make sure wereallyget her attention,” Heather says.

“How about we leave it at this,” I suggest as Maroly gets up to clear the dishes. “We’ll spend the night here, and tomorrow, when we leave, we’ll head to Adarie to see Nyaz. If he knows where she is, we’ll make our way there and take drastic action, if necessary, to be brought to her attention.”

“Sounds like the best plan we’ve had so far,” Eden comments as she stretches her arm out so it lays against the back of Heather’s chair.

Heather’s eyes go wide and she kind of freezes, like she’s not sure what’s going on. But she doesn’t pull away. In fact, she leans in her chair just enough that her back brushes against Eden’s arm.

“Sounds a little boring to me,” Macy grumbles. “But responsible, so sure. Count me in.”

The others agree, too, and then everyone spends the next several minutes clearing the table and helping Maroly and Arnst clean up from dinner.

“Why don’t you head to bed?” I say to the others. “Hudson and I will finish up in here.”

“We can help—” Eden breaks off abruptly when I tilt my head as unobtrusively as possible toward Hudson, who keeps glancing at Tiola’s backpack with sad eyes. “You know what, I am really tired.”

“Me too!” adds Flint, who caught on instantly to what I was trying to say. He gives a huge, exaggerated yawn. “I could fall asleep right here.”

Jaxon snorts. “Like that’s anything new.” But he starts following Flint to the door. “Thank you so much for dinner, Maroly and Arnst. We really appreciate it.”

“You didn’t eat anything,” Maroly tells him with an amused shake of her head.

He nods as if to saytouché. Then holds the door open for her so she can show them to the bunkhouse.

It isn’t long before Maroly returns and Hudson and I are left alone with Tiola and her family. As we finish drying and putting away the dishes, I thank them both again. “You’ve been so kind to us, and we really are so grateful.”

“No need to thank us,” Arnst says with a smile. “I’d like to think someone would do the same for Tiola if she needed it. Besides, after everything Hudson sacrificed to save so many of us, this is absolutely the least we can do.”

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