Marguerite stayed up the rest of the night. As she watched the sun rise beyond the distant mountain someone came up behind her. Startled, she spun to see Rev. Jones.
"Margie, your up early," he commented.
"Why are you here," she hissed, ignoring his attempt at teasing.
"Is that any way to talk to your dear uncle?" he asked.
"You are not my uncle. Now answer the question," she demanded quietly, so as not to wake the rest of the tree house.
"I came here to get you my dear. I was worried," he cooed, reaching to move a tendril of hair.
She swiped his hand away from her face. "Bull shi…" she was half surprised when the back of his hand connected with her cheek.
He then grabbed her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye. "Watch your mouth, you forget who your dealing with. You wouldn't want something bad to happen to one of your little friends, now would you?"
"Something already has, and your crazy if you think I'm going anywhere with you."
"You don't have a choice. You belong to me, and tomorrow we leave."
Just then Veronica stepped into the room putting her knives in their sheathes. "What's going on?!" she demanded.
"Miss Krux tripped and hit her cheek on a chair. I was just examining it for her." Jones shot Marguerite a dangerous glare.
Veronica looked to Marguerite for conformation. She turned to Veronica and nodded, a nasty bruise already forming on her face.
"You got that when you tripped!?" she said unbelievingly.
"Yes!" Marguerite retorted defensively, but not convincingly. Veronica was not inclined to believe her, but chose not to press the issue. Veronica knew there was something about the Reverend Jones that she didn't like, but she would have to wait until she had Marguerite alone to find out the truth. She went to the meat storage box Challenger had made to keep all the meats cold and got out a raptor steak.
"Here, put this on your cheek, it should keep it from swelling."
"Thanks."
"No problem, are you feeling better?" Veronica asked as she went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. While she and Ned were out together they had found a wild turkey nest.
"Yes, much, thank you. I don't know what was wrong with me," Marguerite answered, starring hard at Jones.
"That's good, because we have lots to do today. The raining season is coming and Challenger hasn't perfected his hydropower thingy, the perimeter fence needs maintenance, and there is a squirrel or something that keeps chewing a whole in the elevator's hydraulic system that has to be flushed out. We'll divide up the chores during breakfast."
Challenger and Roxton entered from the lower level of the tree house, Roxton listening to one of Challenger's new ideas, smiling attentively before interrupting, "Something smells good, I guess Marguerite isn't cooking." Before he knew what hit him, Marguerite pitched her raw raptor steak at Roxton. "Whoa, watch out for flying meat," he teased. As he looked up he was shocked by the ugly purple blemish that marred her jaw line. "What happened?"
"It's nothing, I just tripped."
"How did you manage that?"
"It was dark when I was walking through here, and I bumped into a chair and fell. That's all."
The explanation didn't quite satisfy him, but he picked up the meat and placed it back against her face. "You need to be more careful."
Ned was the last one up, and immediately commented on Marguerite's face as well, but by that time she was tired of explaining and simply shot him a glare. "Touchy, touchy," he whispered under his breath.
While everyone was seating themselves at the table Roxton slipped into the kitchen to talk to Veronica. "I don't believe her," he stated quietly.
"I'm glad I'm not the only one. Jones was the only up with her when I came in, though. I have a feeling there is much more to their relationship than either of them are letting on."
"I know I'll never get anything out of Marguerite unless she wants to tell me, but do you think you could talk to her?" Roxton pleaded.
"I'm going to try, but I'll have to get her as far away from Jones as possible."
"Do whatever you have to do, Veronica. I have a bad feeling."
Both sat down at the table to eat breakfast and Veronica noticed how silent Marguerite was until Rev. Jones asked "Margie, would you be so kind as to accompany me to my camp and retrieve the rest of my belongings. We didn't get the opportunity to last night because night was falling so quickly."
"Actually, I need Marguerite to come to the Zanga village today. I'm sure Malone can help you," Veronica interjected, fully aware of the strange looks she was receiving from Challenger and Malone, but she also noticed the relief and gratitude on Marguerite's face. Fortunately, everyone was too busy looking at her to see Marguerite's expression.
"Oh, well, I'm sure Mr. Malone would be more than sufficient in assisting me," Jones answered, caught off guard. "Thank you."
