Everyone else is here. Jordan, Graham, Reese, Logan, and even Willow, but no Jaxon. I stand and carefully go to the zipper of the tent and unzip it as quietly as possible. I step out into the cold air and shiver a little. I feel goosebumps creep up my arms and legs. I'm only wearing a tank top and some comfortable pants. I hear someone talking, It sounds like a man. Jaxon! I think.
I go towards the voice, ducking behind trees. I can't make out what the voice is saying because it's so muffled but I know it's Jaxon's. It has to be. Finally, I find Jaxon. I nearly trip on a root and I barely stop myself from falling, I'm so surprised. I grab a tree next to me.
I'm ducking behind a tree watching Jaxon talk. Talk to Cora. "It's only a small favor." She says. He looks frustrated. "It's not! Not only could I endanger myself, no one will trust me and it'll ruin any chance we ever had."
Cora looks unimpressed. "That's the point."
A minion comes out of the shadows behind Cora and I try to go after him by instinct. I try to protect Jaxon. But I'm stopped. A hand grabs me and another grabs my mouth so I don't yelp. It's Graham. He signals for me to follow him back. I don't want to leave Jaxon but honestly I don't seem to have much of a choice right now. Cora will know I'm here soon if she doesn't already and it doesn't look like Jaxon is coming.
We sneak back to camp. "We need to go in the tent!" He whispers. "We can talk there."
I nod, still too scared or shocked to talk. We hastily go back to the tent and zip the flap closed as fast as possible. He already knows from my face my feelings are a mixture of confusion, hurt, and fear. He can read me better than anyone- even my own mother. Graham's is only concerned. "He's on her team." I whisper. "No. That can't be it. I know Jaxon and he wouldn't do that to us." I don't know if I'm trying to convince myself or him.
"You saw him! He's with her. We need to hide the seeds, she wants them!"
I begin feeling around the dark tent for my bag. There's no harm in hiding them- just in case. "I'll start growing a couple tomorrow. We need them anyways." I say. Graham nods but grabs my hand. "You can talk to me, you know. We can even talk to him. If that's what you need."
He won't meet my eyes. He lets go of my hand. "I think maybe- I think it's best we wait." I say. "Then what do you want to do about him for now? We don't have many options here."
"For now- we hide the bag then we'll figure it out." I say. "Okay. I think I know a spot" He responds.
We grab the bag and hide it under the start of the floor of the house and I decide to plant a seed. I plant it right in front of the house by the doorway and soon, Jaxon comes inside the tent. We pretend to be asleep. Jaxon moves the blankets like he's looking for something then he sits down and stares down at his hands folded in his lap again.
Soon, I drift asleep and I wake up when it's barely turning into day. Jaxon is laying down facing the wall of the tent so I can't tell if he's asleep or not. Graham is not in his spot. I get up and head outside and I see Graham standing watching the general and his men get their day started with some exercise. they yell in unison, "One! Two! Three! Four..." while doing jumping jacks.
I walk out to Graham. He's far enough Jaxon shouldn't hear us as long as we're quiet and if he's still awake. "Morning," I say. Graham looks at me. "Good morning. How'd you sleep?"
"Not great. You?"
"I didn't." he says. Soon, the tent unzips again and I'm worried it's Jaxon but Jordan comes out. "Hey." he says, coming towards us. "Hey." I respond.
"So, what was that about last night?"
I stiffen. "W-what?" I say, looking back at the men warming up to avoid his eyes. "You guys got up, left, came back, hid your bag, and didn't sleep. Something happened. Not to mention Jaxon-"
"Shhh! They'll hear us!" I say. Jordan looks puzzled. "The men?" he asks. "No!" I say. I point at the tent. "Him. You can't talk so loud."
"You've gotta give me more than that, right now there's-" he counts on his hands. "Three 'hims' in there."
"Not really. You don't need to know anything." I say. "Look there aren't enough of us here for you be keep'n things hidden. Especially if it's important- and it seems like it is."
"Jaxon." I admit, finally facing him. "Last night he was talking to Cora and she wants the plants, we'll all die if he takes them."
"Oh." he says. His expression is unreadable but it looks like he's in deep thought. I shouldn't have told him that, should I? I remember the tantrums he used to have, even if he hasn't in a while, he still might- "What are you thinking, Jordan?"
He doesn't say anything Graham grabs his arm. "Jordan!"
"Look, we can't just let him walk around here, he's not on our side." He pulls his arm hard out of Graham's grip. "We don't know that, and I won't let you hurt him until we do!" I say. "I don't care what you think, I've taken you several times and I can easily do it again if it'll save all our asses!"
I feel a sense of dread when he mentions it, even though we were all already thinking about it.
"Look, I get you want to help, but we need to wait and play this safe. Cora will probably come with an army if you hurt him anyways. I'm not sure how long that other village lasted, but I doubt it's still there."
"Other village?" Graham asks curiously. "There's one more village left now, there was three and Cora's having a hard time with this one. According to Cora, she's coming after us when the other village fails."
"Why would she come with an army? Why is he really that valuable? She seems like she'd treat her soldiers, whether they're mindless or not, like trash."
"Well, you haven't lived out here very long." I say, not wanting to tell him the truth. "Oberon, we both know she wouldn't give a fuck if any of her soldiers died unless she had a personal connection or if they were really valuable but she could use anyone else as her spy. We have two young, scared, boys living with us. She doesn't even need him. How long was he living here before you?"
Is he right? Does she really still care about Jaxon? She seemed pretty done with him. "Well, I don't know her but they don't have a personal connection." I say. I try to sound and look more confident than I am. "Are you sure, Oberon? Maybe he's in love with her too. Maybe you don't know him as well as you think."
That thought makes me want to puke. Cora's his Mother, but I suppose Jordan doesn't know that. She looks young enough to be his lover I suppose. "I promise you, that is definitely not it." I say.
"Well how would you know that? Maybe they-"
"That's not it! Trust me, they'd never fall in love like that- wait- I meant- they would never-"
He cuts me off. "'Like that?' what do you mean 'like that'?"
"I um- meant- they'd never love each other. They're enemies." I say. "No you didn't! You meant what you said. What are you keeping from me?!"
He looks between Graham and me and we're both silent. "Fine. I'll just go ask him."
Graham grabs his shoulder. Jordan turns quickly and kicks him in the stomach, hard. "Don't touch me!" Jordan turns back around and starts towards the tent.
Graham loses his balance and almost falls over but comes up and shoves Jordan who nearly falls but he turns to throw another punch. They've hardly started but I know it'll get out of hand fast. "You guys!" I yell. "Stop! We don't need to be killing each other for Cora!"
They continue to stare at each other like they're about to kill each other. They probably are. But it looks like they've come to their senses a little. "Look, for now, we keep an eye on him and if he does anything else than we'll act upon it but we should be sure he's with her. He hasn't done anything yet."
"That we know of! Besides, by the time he does something we won't be able to act upon it." Jordan says. Jordan might be right and I know it's probably stupid to not do anything about Jaxon but he's family. I can't just let Jordan kill him. Or maybe he's just beat him to try to teach him a lesson like he did to me so many times before.
"Maybe we should work on the house." Graham suggests, still eyeing Jordan. I nod. "That sounds like a good idea."
We all walk to the half-built house and we're surprised to see Jaxon working on the third wall of the first room. "Oh! Hey guys where were you?"
"Just checking up on the general." Jordan says. I glare at him for lying but then again, what else is he supposed to tell Jaxon? We were deciding whether to kill you or not?
"You need help?" I ask, hesitantly. He smiles. "Thought you'd never ask. I'd certainly appreciate it."
He seems so much like Jaxon, it's hard to believe there's even a chance he's helping Cora. Last night he seems so uneasy, so scared so- sad...
"Where are the boys?" Jordan asks, suspiciously. "As far as I know, still sleeping."
"As far as you know? I'll go check on them." Jordan mumbles then eyes Jaxon and slips out of the house and into the tent.
"What's up with him?" Jaxon asks. "Nothing. He's fine." I say, sharply. "Oberon, are you okay?"
"Fine." I take a deep breath to calm myself. " I meant- he's just- acting like Jordan." I say, beginning on the next wall and turning away from Jaxon.