Chapter Six
The mess hall was crowded as I had feared it would be but after a second assessment I relaxed in the knowledge that the huddles of people enjoying their morning gossip were faces that I already knew. James waved at Jared and Melanie, the only two in the group facing our way.
The chairs they occupied around a crude stone table were mismatched, a collection from years of raiding I guessed. To our right, large, flat slabs of dark rock topped a mass of stone that jutted out from the wall and it was from this counter of sorts that the mouth watering aroma of warm bread drifted towards us. James sniffed the air; a long, lusty inhale and sighed.
"Come on," he whispered and led me to the counter. He took two plates from a small stack, a random selection like the chairs, and placed a roll on each then paused, his expression confused.
He looked at me and his lip twitched. "Sorry, I could have sworn I smelt –"
"Eggs," a voice finished for him, slopping two large spoonfuls of watery scrambled eggs onto each plate. "Sorry, I thought everyone was done by now."
I raised my head to meet her eyes. I smiled shyly, happy to see another face I recognised.
"Thank you, Elle." And I meant it. My stomach howled impatiently again.
I began to smile at her but stopped short when she looked confused and blew out a quiet 'oh.' James chuckled beside me.
"Lily, this is Lucy Howe. Lucy, our new guest, Lily."
Twins. Lucy's eyes, dark, almond shaped eyes, mirrored exactly those of her sister. Her waves were shorter, I noticed now, lying just shy of her shoulders. They were less glossy also, more tousled than her double's lustrous curls.
As James collected cutlery for the two of us, Jared's voice interrupted our hasty introduction.
"And here we all thought you'd gotten lost." His exclamation drew the attention of the rest of the group. Some smiled, some appeared indifferent, glancing my way before returning to their conversations and others, such as Jeb, fixed us with a poker face that unnerved me.
Jared grabbed another roll and held his plate out towards Lucy. She raised an eyebrow.
"Please?"
Lucy rolled her eyes before spooning more eggs onto his plate. I assumed this was a second helping.
James nodded his familiar nod towards the table. I hesitated. There were so many people. He ignored me and sat down, pulling a chair across from another table for me and eyed my plate pointedly until I sat. Jared and Lucy, who now had her own plate, sat down across from us and Melanie shuffled in her chair to be closer to Jared. It seemed an unconscious action but significant enough to me. I'd suspected their attachment from the way Ian had mentioned her in the car, to their closeness upon mine and Melanie's first meeting. Now, the glint in her eye as she glanced over at him told me it was a long enduring infatuation.
James handed me a knife and fork before diving enthusiastically into his own breakfast. He turned periodically to Wanda but what they were discussing I didn't know. As I tentatively began to eat I could feel Jeb's eyes on me.
"We've got a long day ahead of us, Lily. Hows about you tell us your story, to keep us going like, and we might just tell you a few of ours."
Jeb looked around at the table's occupants before settling his gaze on me. Silence had fallen the second he'd said my name.
"See I'm real curious about how you ended up racing around abandoned parts of town with your head sliced open," he finished, pointing a wrinkled finger at my head.
I felt James stiffen beside me. He'd been avoiding these questions.
"I fell," I muttered lamely, putting down my knife and fork.
He made a 'humph' sound in the back of his throat. "Yeah, I've hear that a few times."
His distrust was evident; I'd almost forgotten it was there. I could see it again now though, in Jared's eyes, and in Jeb's. There were other faces though, all with interested eyes and keen faces. Jamie was absent but Melanie was leaning forwards beside Jared. Wanda, Ian, Lucy, Elle and even James were relaxed back in their chairs, waiting for a story.
"I fainted; hit my head on my Comforter's desk. She likes antiques, really old human stuff. She has this awful solid oak desk with corners like razors."
"Why would you need a Comforter," Wanda piped up. "You're not a Soul."
I thought about that. Sings of Sunrise was a good Comforter, if not a little eccentric for a Soul. She lived through the colonisation so I had always supposed her Host must have been a little unconventional too and it had rubbed off on her. She was one of the Souls who truly took to heart the perfection of this world, not the change of it. She said that we should preserve what was good about humanity. Maybe that was why she dealt with the humans. Despite what she had been attempting to convince me to do she had been a kind Soul.
My thoughts turned bitter though as my mother's voice entered my head. She'd been sat in a high backed, leather chair, no doubt salvaged from the invasion also, when she'd said the words that made my head spin and the world fall away into darkness. Her mouth had quirked as she'd cast her gaze on me.
'It's taking too long, Sings of Sunrise. The insertion will take place tomorrow. We'll return to you when my daughter is in need of your counsel; the counsel for which your profession was created. Thank you for your help.'
"Lily." James shook my shoulder tentatively.
Their eyes were boring into me from every angle.
"Not yet," I ground out sourly.
Wanda looked surprised. The men looked worried. Lucy and Elle however still appeared engrossed and untroubled by my remark.
Simmering with suppressed anger I continued, no longer afraid what secrets I would reveal or whether they would allow me to stay. I didn't care if I did stay; there was nobody who would miss me. Not anymore.
"I refused the insertion. It's supposed to be a choice but I don't think anyone's ever really said no. Not for as long as I did anyway. My Comforter, she was just fanatical about humans, which is why she used to get lumbered with the resistant ones like me. My mother must not have thought she was doing her job very well because she was going to take me to the Healing Centre the day after I passed out, well, today now."
I frowned. I'd almost forgotten it would have been today. Probably this very second if it was late morning as James had suggested. An involuntary shudder rolled over me. My abduction felt like a distant memory already in comparison to the human's kindness since I had awoken this morning yet it was still just one event. One day, one scenario, one cautious man with black curling hair that made the difference between human and Host.
I looked up to see Jeb's blank face hadn't changed. Melanie was nodding in agreement with my words; I assumed the first part to be exact whilst Wanda seemed undecided as to whether she felt curious or the same way as Melanie. James stared at me with wide eyes.
"Why?" Wanda asked. I could hear in her tone that she already knew but sought to confirmations for her own theory.
"I was too proud. More insulted really. They're my parents. They said they loved me but they were willing to just throw me away and replace me with somebody else. I wasn't going to just let them get rid of me so they could have a child that was easier; a Soul who doesn't get angry and does what they're told."
James' fingers brushed my elbow. He was studying me intently now and I wondered if he had ever been silent for so long.
Ian and Wanda were no longer paying attention to me but watching James with compassionate eyes and something else. Love? Pride?
Suddenly I felt stupid for not recognising him earlier. The golden hair, tanned skin, deep sapphire eyes, straight nose, all reflections of Ian. A father and son. Ian's arm around Wanda's waist left me under no illusions as to his mother.
It was on that vein of thought that noticed how Melanie shared the same high cheekbones as both Elle and Lucy. Lucy had now pushed her plate away from her, long finished and cuddled into Jared's side.
Children. Three human children right here in this room. The Soul's thought they would die out on their own but I could see it right here in front of me that that could never happen whilst there were still men and women, human couples who loved each other. Wanda was an exception though and I now understood the transfixed expression that was James's face, his fascinated stare from the night before. He was like me, or at least half like me.
I smiled. I couldn't help but smile. This wasn't just a scattered group hiding underground. This was a community, a growing resistance.
"And yet she's smiling," Elle whispered to Lucy who giggled, stifling it quickly however when Jared eyed her sternly.
"I'm just..." I trailed off. "Overwhelmed that all of his exists beneath their feet." My gaze flitted from Melanie and Jared to Elle and Lucy. "It's just, you're breeding down here. They all think you'll just become extinct but..."
I shook my head in amazement.
Jared laughed and looked at Melanie teasingly. "Didn't want any of the little things and then ended up with two of them."
Elle scowled and Lucy pushed him gently. They both smiled at each other though. Melanie winked at her daughters theatrically.
"Well as much as I'd like to sit here all day there's work to be done," Jeb announced. "Now get to."
The scraping of chairs was deafening for a moment. Wanda waved goodbye and Melanie smiled, slinging her arm around Wanda's shoulders, tugging her away. Jeb climbed slowly to his feet, rolled his shoulders and exited after them with a dip of his invisible hat.
Only Elle and Lucy remained. James gathered the plates from the table, stacked them on a pile of equally dirty dishes and handed them towards Lucy but she shook her head.
"Sorry dude but we're irrigating today. I'll send Freedom to help you out if you want?" She called back as she and Elle headed towards the exit, turning around in unison to wait for his answer before they left.
"No, Lily here can earn her keep," he teased and they left. "You wouldn't happy to fancy a bath, would you?"
I nodded. "Yes."
"Wouldn't want you telling all of your Soul friends that we didn't look after you."
I flinched a bit at that and he apologised quickly.
"I won't be telling them anything," I murmured.
In the bathing room James set the plates down on a flat rock and pointed over to the first cave as he had earlier.
"You remember what I said? That first cave is your luxury tub, complete with Jacuzzi." He smirked sarcastically. "Like I said, it's dark so watch your step."
He seemed to consider something for a moment, looking me up and down.
"Hello," he called into the darkness.
He waited. There was no reply. He nodded to himself, satisfied.
"Look, nobody knows you're in here so I'm goin' to go run and get you some clothes and such, if that's okay with you. I'll be quick; you won't even notice I'm gone."
I hesitated. The cave was pitch black and the water rushing past it looked treacherous.
I sighed. "Okay, but quickly please."
He left with another nod and a trademark smile.
I wasn't sure what to do. Would there be a place to undress in dark? Or would it be best to just strip down here and hope nobody came in? I could always just get in with my clothes on, they probably needed washing too. I decided on the latter and tiptoed my way into the shadows. I briefly panicked that it might all have been a rouse, a trick to have me dragged down and drowned in the swirling water. I cast that thought aside and stepped into the steaming pool. It was hot. Not scorching as I imagined the thin foaming spring to be but scorching enough to soak into my bones and convince me that the water was melting the dust and sweat from my skin. I tugged off my jeans that weighed me down and clutched at the walls to steady myself. My vest clung to my body and I slipped that off too.
I wasn't sure if James would think to bring me new underwear but it was too late to dry the ones I was wearing so I kept those on, throwing the rest of my clothes on the floor by the mouth of the cave.
My body felt clean but my face and hair still felt sticky with oil and grease. I sucked in a deep breath and submerged myself in the blissful heat, hiding in the murky depths. I knew there was nothing to hide from though and that comforted me. There was nobody waiting to suffocate me in racing currents, or smash my head against the solid walls. There was only love. Love, friendship and a group of real human beings living together in a harmony that I never could have imagined from what I had always been told. If these people – Wanda, Ian, Melanie, Jeb, Jamie, Jared, Elle, Lucy, James – if these were the savages that threatened the Souls so greatly then my entire life had been a lie.
If this was what savages looked like then I emerged from the water a savage too.