Natalie walked over to Ronin and all the Leafmen, smiling like nothing was going down. She couldn't have them know now, they shouldn't. Not until tomorrow. She walked over to M.K. and smiled.
"What's wrong?" M.K. asked, making Natalie jump.
"What do you mean?" Natalie asked, looking at her.
M.K. smirked. "I know you, Natalie, and you're nervous," she said. "What's wrong?"
Natalie looked behind her at the Leafmen. "Can we talk somewhere less populated?" she asked, nodding at them.
M.K. saw Ronin and smiled. "Sure," she said. They walked to their room. "What'd he ask you?" she asked when they closed the door.
Natalie looked at her. "Nothing, it's not about him. Well, it is, but not that. I can't tell you, Rose said I couldn't tell anyone until tomorrow at one thirty, and only Ronin and the Queen."
"Okay. Wait, you talked with Rosemary? Again? Nat…"
Natalie looked at her. "It's not like I could have avoided it. It's- nothing."
"Okay. What are you going to-"
"Nothing, okay? Just leave me alone!" Natalie ran to her bed and slammed on her pillow.
Mandrake smiled at Rosemary, seeing her try to control her powers. She kept throwing things around when she couldn't figure it out. He chuckled slightly to himself, looking at her glare at him. He shrugged and stood up, getting ready to fly. She ran over to him and looked him.
"You leaving?" she asked, taking her breaths lightly.
He nodded. "I'll be back, Rose. Just have to check up on something." He put his hand on her shoulder.
While he was walking, Rosemary skipped to catch up. "Can I come with?" she asked, looking up at him. "It's boring here, no offence."
He looked at her and smiled. "None taken. Well, okay. Let's go." She smiled and walked with him to the crow.
They boarded on it, making it squawk a little in protest. Mandrake got it started and they flew. Rosemary didn't know, nor care, where they were going. She was happy to leave the cave for a while. Looking down, she saw some bugs walking around. She looked up at Mandrake, who was concentrating on getting the bird to cooperate. She pet the bird's head, and it stopped fidgeting. Mandrake looked at her and she smiled lightly.
"Sometimes they just need to be loved," she said, looking at him.
He nodded and smiled back. They turned left and flew for a couple minutes. Rosemary decided to rest her head for a minute until they got there. Mandrake flew next to a flower and killed it landing. A car rushed by, nearly blowing Rosemary off the bird. She woke to Mandrake holding her wrist, making sure she didn't get lost. She saw where they were. A highway. She smiled. She knew this highway. She climbed on the bird again and wrapped her arms around Mandrake's mid-body.
"So, where are we going?" she asked, looking at him hold the bird. Another car rushed by.
"Well, I wanted to explore your world, Rose. Learn about your friends, family, Joshua…"
"No," she said abruptly. "I mean, no you shouldn't. Joshua wouldn't be able to actually meet you, so it would be a wasted effort."
He smirked and held her closer as another car passed by. "You can learn a lot about a person before even talking to them if you observe them closely enough," he explained. "Such as, the first person who passed us by was self conscious, very confused, frightened, and tense."
"A new driver," she put together. "O-okay, yeah. I mean, as long as we know where they live…"
"They?" he asked, then remembered about his girlfriend. "Ah, yes, they. They wouldn't have moved without you, would they've?"
"Yes," Rosemary said, looking at him.
Mandrake looked at the front of the bird again. "Well, I know you know something about them to help us find them," he said, smirking. "Their car."
"No, Mandrake," she said in fear. "I've seen what happens to bugs that go in peoples' cars. They die, Mandrake."
He looked at her with adventurous eyes. "I bet you know how to get out of those sticky situations, don't you, Rose?"
She blushed a little. "Yeah, I do."
He smirked. "Then let's go," he said, having the crow land on the mirror. The window was opened with a pit-bull puppy sticking its head out of the window. They walked into the car and sat in the dashboard. They looked at each other, then at the dog.
"I love puppies," Rosemary said, smiling. "When I was younger I always wanted a puppy, but my parents were allergic and Joshua never liked me enough to get me one."
Mandrake looked at her. "Maybe you'll get one now, since you're old enough."
She smiled. "Yeah, I guess so," she said, laughing slightly. "Did you want any animal when you were a young… Um…"
"Larva?" he said, answering the unasked question.
She chuckled. "I guess. So, did you want a pet when you were a… Larva?"
He shook his head. "Nope, all I needed was the knowledge that separated my family from the rest of the Boggans." He looked at her. "I sometimes hear children go through the forest and complain about something they call school. What is that?" His eyes were curious.
She rubbed her head. "Something most… Stompers don't appreciate in America. Some people tell the children people in other countries would kill for a chance to go to school."
Mandrake leaned back, his arm in a ninety-degree angle. "And what do the children do after their told that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Rosemary laughed. "They protect their skin and still hate it."
"What happens at this 'school' people seem to despise?" he asked, leaning toward her slowly.
Rosemary looked at him and smiled. She wrapped her arms around her legs and laid down, looking at the ceiling. "You learn about some stuff that are supposed to help you in life. So far, nothing I learned there helps me here." She chuckled. "Except science."
He looked at her form. "Is that how stompers usually think?" he asked, mimicking the movement.
She looked at him and chuckled. "No, it's just my butt was starting to hurt so I had to adjust." She pivoted her body so her body was pointed to him. "So, Boggans don't have school?"
He shook his head. "No, they're not… let's say 'smart enough'. We tried, but they didn't seem like they were paying attention."
"Neither do any of the hu-Stompers," she said, shaking her head when she adjusted her word.
He chuckled. "I could tell," he said, winking at him. "Also, we had a communication problem." She looked at him strangely. "My family couldn't understand any of what they were saying, so we didn't know if they were saying the correct answer or not."
Rosemary chuckled. Mandrake stood up and helped her up. "Come on, let's get going."
The ground started to bounce, making them both fall again, Mandrake under Rosemary. The doors started opening slowly, and two people, a woman and a man, got in and closed the doors, making the two bounce bigger. The woman screamed.
"Honey," she said, her voice dragged out an slow, but a few octaves higher than normal. "There's a bug in the car."
Mandrake scowled. "I am anything but a bug, I am a highly intelligent Boggan, you Stompers!" he shouted, making Rosemary cover her ears. He looked down at her and wrapped his arms around her.
"Just kill it," the man, who will be referred to as Honey, said. "You're too jumpy, Jen."
Jen looked at him. "Well, you know what?" she asked. "Why don't you kill them?"
Honey glanced over and started the car. "I'm driving, and the music is too loud," he said, rolling his eyes and turning up the radio.
Jen glared at him. "You are such an idiot!" she shouted.
"I can't hear you!" Honey shouted back.
Mandrake looked at Rosemary. "Are you okay?" he asked, his hands covering his ears.
Rosemary had her hands doing the same. "Yeah, I am," she said, smiling. She looked at the doors, the windows were up. "We're trapped." Tears came from her eyes. "It's, like, seventy-degrees."
Mandrake looked at her, confused at the horror in her eyes. "What?" he yelled.
"The air conditioner," she said, she wiped a tear from her eye, slapping her hand back at the ear to save her hearing.
He looked at her. "The what?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Let's get in the back," she said, grabbing a torn piece of paper off the dashboard. She waved him over and he followed, trying to figure out what she was doing. "Wrap your arms around me," she basically shrieked. He did so and she jumped, getting caught in the cool wind current. They were shot to the back seats and landed on the back of the seats. They slowly dropped to the bottom and sat down. The music was quieter and it wasn't as bad.
But there was still the dog.
Natalie looked at M.K. "I'm sorry," she said, making her friend jump.
"Sorry for what?" she asked, wiping sleep out of her eyes.
She sighed. "For snapping at you. Look, if I can get you approved in this plan, then I'll tell you, but for now it's need-to-know, and quite frankly, you don't need to know."
M.K. sighed. "Okay, that makes sense." She looked out. "I wonder what Rosemary's doing."
Natalie looked at her. "Probably helping." M.K. looked at her. "Need-to-know."
M.K. sighed. The door knocked. "Come in," they said at the same time.
Ronin and Nob came in and sat down. "How are you, girls?" Nob asked, looking mainly at M.K.
"We're fine," M.K. said.
Natalie nodded. "Yeah, fine," she repeated.
Ronin looked at Nob, and he nodded, standing. "Come on, M.K., let's go get some shooting in," he said, making a gun in his hands.
"Will you shoot straight this time?" she asked, getting up.
Nob shrugged. "Only time will tell," he said, winking and running out. M.K. grabbed her pistol and followed.
Ronin sat next to Natalie. "You okay?" he asked.
She laughed half-heartedly. "What do you mean? I'm fine," she said, pretending to not have a care in the word.
He looked at her, eyes looking in hers, as if it was boring through her and could see she was lying. She shuffled nervously and started avoiding his eyes. He put his hand under her chin and made her look at him. It wasn't rough, but it was enough to have her head face him.
"Natalie," he said, a mixture of authority and concern in his voice. "You really stink at lying." His eyes were all business.
Natalie sighed. "It's something that you'll find out about later," she said, eyes avoiding his gaze.
He looked at her carefully. "Okay, is it going to affect the survalence tonight, 'cause you can skip today."
"No," Natalie said, smiling up at him. "No, I'll be good. It's just confusing, that's all."
He sighed and shook his head. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure," she said, standing up. "Let's go."
Ronin chuckled. "It's not even lunch time," he said, grabbing her hand lightly. "We have time."
She sat down and they started talking to each other about random things.