Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75650 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75650 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Yeah,” Jo-see says, and there’s a wistful note in her voice. “We’ve been talking about that. There’s a couple of critters that no one’s ever seen drawn on another wall. Big, round, roly-poly things with long noses. Which kind of made us speculate if we’re in the middle of an ice age here. Maybe these people lived here in warmer times and left when it got too cold.”
“But where did they go?”
She shrugs. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
None of this conversation makes sense to me. Ice has always been here. “There is no place anyone can go that does not have ice,” I point out.
“I believe you,” Stay-see says. She turns to Jo-see and clasps her hands. “All right. Show me the toilet.”
Stay-see seems very pleased with the howse. She exclaims happily over the toy-let, the small area in the back with the lip of stone she says will be perfect for a kit-chen, and does not seem to mind that there is no top to her cave yet. Hemalo comes by to speak to us, and we discuss the number of hides needed and the bones that must be used to support the dwelling’s lid.
Then, suddenly, it seems as if the entire tribe stops by to say hello. People stream in, hugging Stay-see and myself, and my mother takes little Pacy, declaring that we need time to unpack and relax and she will take care of him. Kemli does not realize that I will not be staying with Stay-see.
Even though things are no longer uneasy between us, my mate still has not asked me to come and live with her. She has not invited me to her bed. She has not accepted me as her mate once more. Until that time, I must wait patiently, and if it means living with the unmated hunters until then, so be it.
But I will make sure my mate has everything she needs to be comfortable. I will not neglect her again.
11
STACY
The wind howls high above the canyon. One of the strange things about living here at Croatoan is that the wind whistles and hums all day long. It’s an endless white noise and takes some getting used to after the quiet of the cave. I like it, though. It drowns out the small noises of living in a tribe.
Like the sex. Jesus, Maddie and Hassen are loud. I can hear them in my house, over and over again. Several times a night. Every night. On days like that, I hope for high wind because our little huts are awfully close together, and hearing that sort of thing makes me feel awkward…and lonely.
I miss Pashov. I miss him so much.
For the last few days, he’s been staying with the hunters at night. He shows up every morning for breakfast, and I feed him and pamper him, and we talk, and it’s wonderful. It’s almost like we’re mates again. He talks to me about his day, plays with Pacy, then kisses me senseless until he has to go out hunting. He returns at night, and we share a dinner together, more kisses and cuddles…
And then he leaves to go stay with the other hunters.
I won’t lie, it’s really messing with my mind. I don’t know what to do. Should I complain? Is there something else going on that he doesn’t want me to know about? Is it his nightmares? I worry about him. I worry about him and I miss him fiercely when he’s gone. Even though I like the hut I’m now in, it doesn’t quite feel like home when he’s not here.
Other than that, though, Croatoan is really dang nice. Despite the abandoned city’s initial creepiness, I’m getting used to the place. I like the stone walls because they keep the heat in. I like the teepee top of the house because it lets the smoke out. I love the little kitchen area that makes it easier to prepare food. There’s no dishwasher or fridge, of course, but there’s a long stone counter and a basin I can use as a sink, and those are awesome. Most of all, I love my toilet and the cushion-less stool that Pashov rigged over it so I don’t have to squat. It’s the small things that make a house a home, and I never thought I’d be so dang happy over a toilet, but I am.
It’s a little odd being in a stand-alone house after living in a central cave system with the others for so long, but the lodge roof is coming along nicely, and we’ve taken to gathering there during the daytime. There’s a pump near the pool that’s been repaired thanks to Harlow’s ingenuity, and now we can pump fresh, warm water instead of melting snow. The pool itself feels warmer than the old one in our cave, but it also seems to be fed by a current of some kind, which makes it easy to do laundry at one end of the pool and not muddy the waters for the bathers at the other end. There’s room enough for a fire and gatherings, and Pacy’s had several play-dates with Nora’s twins and Ariana’s fussy little Analay. Even Asha’s been showing up to hang out and play with the babies, and I don’t mind her babysitting because it lets me do a bit of housework without having to watch Pacy constantly.