Page 97 of Dark Destiny: A New Thread in the Tapestry

Tomek glanced at his legs again, and given his expression, he didn't think his estimate had been wrong.

"Come." He took Yaaf's hand again. "I'll show you everything."

He marched them through the first house, which he'd declared was Yaaf's.

"This is the refrigerator." He opened the door to show Yaaf what was inside. "It's full of food that all the mothers cooked for you. When you are hungry, you just take one of those boxes and put it in that box." He pointed. "It's called a microwave, and it makes food warm."

"Good to know," Yaaf said. "Do you know how to use it?"

Tomek gave him a look that communicated how stupid he thought the question was.

"I can't reach it, and Nana says that I'm not allowed to climb on a chair. She says that the microwave is dangerous and that I'm not old enough to use it."

Then he showed them the first bedroom. "The big beds that were here were taken away, and the small beds were brought in." Tomek continued to the bathroom. "I hung the towels myself."

"You did a very good job," Yaaf said. "They are very straight."

Tomek grinned. "I had to go back and fix them. I wanted them to look nice."

In the background, Yaaf could hear the thoughts of the collective as they moved through the two houses.

The door to the house has a lock from the inside, Voset said.

The beds are narrow like in the cells, but there are windows everywhere, Tersan added.

Sullha looked up at him. "I hope you'll be okay with the sleeping arrangements. I mean splitting the eight of you between two houses."

The collective had been prepared for this, but now that it was a reality, it seemed more difficult than they had expected.

They didn't like any distance between them, but they would have to adapt.

We tried distance before, and it degraded our connection, Ravsoh said. But that was much farther apart. This is only thirty feet apart.

Thirty feet with a wall in it, Voset said.

Ingrid had suggested that they start with two houses and see how they handled that. If they could adjust to being separated with only two of them in each room, they could then try four houses so each of them would have a room.

If we can stand it, Camdor sent.

"We'll all stay in one house until it's time to go to sleep," Yaaf said out loud. "We stay together while we are awake. It's going to be fine."

He wasn't sure whether he was saying that to reassure them or himself.

Bardov stood by the living-room window, gazing at the lush greenery along the path, and Yaaf didn't need the link to read his thoughts.

A prettier cage is still a cage, Bardov sent into the collective. We still can't walk out of here because the drugs that keep us sane are here, and no one else has them. Our walls are built from chemicals, not blocks. My mother is on the island we've left behind, helping a woman who wants to feed a child to a dead god. I get a refrigerator filled with home-cooked meals prepared by other mothers.

Asira crossed the room and stood next to Bardov, looking out the window. "You don't look happy. Don't you like the house?"

"The house is fine," he said.

"So what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm hungry."

"That's an easy problem to fix." She took his hand and pulled him toward the kitchen. "Let's see what's in that fridge."

Camdor watched his sister lead Bardov away, and Yaaf felt his conflict. He was glad his sister and Bardov were getting closer, but worried about his sister because Bardov was the most volatile of them. There was also the issue of the rest of them bearing witness to everything, and if things heated up between the two, Camdor didn't want to be part of it.