The Scavengers

  Chapter 21

  A girl with wavy blonde hair and kind smile arrived in the bath room shortly after Vera got bored with asking me questions I didn't have the answers to and wandered away.

  “My name is Miriam,” the blonde said. She was holding a tray of food-type items. Thick, crusty bread, a sliced up tomato and cheese. She set it down on the side of the bath. “I thought you might be hungry.”

  I looked down at the food and gagged slightly. I looked away. “I'm sorry. I haven't been able to eat since-.”

  “You have to eat.” She slid the plate back to the edge of the thick rock ledge that surrounded the hot spring. She gestured for me to move to the very edge of the pool. I hesitated until I realized she was holding a hairbrush and a bottle which most likely contained some kind of shampoo.

  “A Flesh Broker has my parents,” I said. “I haven't been able to look at food since I found out.”

  She poked the plate at me again. “It's vegetarian. I promise. Only one tomato was harmed in the preparation of this snack.”

  I almost smiled. “I know. I just-.”

  “Try. Please?” Miriam smiled prettily at me. She had a gentle beauty to her. I suspected she wasn't much older than I was, but her brown eyes were wise and kind as she held out a piece of bread to me.

  “Okay.” I took it because I felt bad for disappointing her. It was dry and felt like a ball of lead in my mouth, but I managed to get it down. The next slice, layered with a piece of cheese and one of the tomato slices, wasn't nearly as difficult.

  Miriam began stroking the brush through my tangled, snarled curls. “Vera tells me you're the girl that Seth sees in his dreams.”

  “If Seth dreams about me, he hasn't told me the details,” I admitted. I was trying not to think about the dream conversation I'd had with Julie. “Not that I'd expect him to share those kind of private thoughts with me. We aren't close.”

  “You told Vera he saved your life when he didn't have to,” Miriam said as she raked the brush rather forcefully through the knots in my hair.

  “He did.”

  “Then you mean something to him. He wouldn't risk his life for someone who didn't matter.”

  I closed my eyes and ignored her implications. Within seconds, I was sound asleep.