Page 53 of Crucible
What’s sad is that I’m not that far off the mark.
Khalil leads me into the kitchen to one of the furnaces they have all around the house. The flat top tells me this one doubles as a stove, and suddenly, it feels as if I’ve been transported to the nineteenth century. I stare blankly as he points out the small woodpile of logs, twigs, bark, and sticks in a basket next to it. He then goes through the motions of showing me how to light the fire and feed it.
He does a much better job at it than Tyler, who remembered very little from his Boy Scout days.
Either Khalil doesn’t notice I’ve tuned him out or doesn’t care as he leads me to the pantry next. It’s mostly dry foods and nonperishables like beans, nuts, and grains.
Not a bag of chips in sight.
Khalil wasn’t lying when he said they stored enough food for the winter. Spring is only weeks away, and yet it looks like they have enough to survivetwowinters hunkered down. I’d be impressed if I wasn’t panicking at the thought of being stuck up here that long. Hadn’t they said the winter season lasts longer up here? I was sure they’d have to go into town sooner or later, but it was clear I was wro—
“Aurelia!”
“Aah!” I startle when Khalil barks my name, and I realize I was rooted to the spot while he had already moved on. His ungodly gorgeous face is twisted with irritation on the other side of the island as he waits for me to join him. “Sorry. Gosh. Next time, try whistling or patting your leg,” I suggest as I walk over to stand at his side like a good little pet.
Khalil doesn’t even try to deny that it’s exactly what I am.
AURELIA
After showing me where everything is in the kitchen, Khalil gives me a tour of the rest of the cabin. I learned that it’s mainly powered by solar, with wind as backup, although they don’t seem to have much need for electricity.
There’s not a single TV, phone, radio, or computer anywhere.
The most modern appliance they have is the coffee machine.
They have books, though.
Lots and lots of books.
There’s at least one on every subject. I even find a fewwell-wornromances hidden among survivalist manuals, cookbooks, and murder mysteries like they’re ashamed of it.
I smirk at the idea of me finding their porn stash as I follow him into the living room.
Khalil absently points out the unused loft above the living room. The tip of the A-frame window serves as the back wall of the loft and overlooks the vast wilds for miles and miles. The only way up is to climb the smaller bookshelf built into the wall near it.
It’s not a bad corner to stick a new pet in—it even has a view—but Khalil doesn’t let me go up when I ask if I can see it.
Instead, he takes me out onto the cabin’s upper deck overlooking the cliff. It looks newer and less weathered than the one Thorin imprisoned me on. I asked Khalil about it, and hetold me they added it last summer. It was a project born out of boredom.
“So, you guys built this cabin yourselves?” I ask before I realize he’s taking me back down to the basement.
I’m slower to follow this time, and he snaps at me again.
Luckily, we don’t linger in the den.
He leads me through another door I hadn’t noticed when I broke in and flicks on the light before taking me down another set of stairs. Immediately, I notice it’s much cooler down here. I follow Khalil down the dark tunnel, and he turns on another light at the end.
There are shelves, but unlike the pantry, they’re mostly empty. There are a few jars with pickled carrots, peppers, beets, and squash and a basket of potatoes on the ground in the corner.
“At first, we only built one room,” Khalil says out of nowhere, and I frown in confusion until I remember my unanswered question. “For years, we had no more than five hundred square feet to share between the three of us. Five, if you count Zeke and Bane.”
“Who are Zeke and Bane?”
Khalil ignores me and picks up a whole carrot from the bunch, inspects it, and then sets it back down on one of the racks. “Getting materials up here without drawing too much attention was a real pain in the ass. The three of us used to sleep on cots, shit in a hole, and fumble around in the dark, trying not to invade each other’s space too much. It took two years before we realized that no one was looking for us or cared that we were up here, so we got comfortable. Expanded over the years. Modernized as much as we could. Made a life.”
“If you can call this living,” I mutter under my breath.
Khalil hears me anyway.
