Staying anywhere near the meadow would've given us away far too easily, so the four of us found a heavily wooded area to rest for the night before continuing our journey. It occurred to me as we were travelling to our shelter for the night that we never discussed where we were going in our eagerness to escape, so for now we were essentially just trying to avoid guards from the castle and humans that would rat us out at all costs. I wondered where we could even go, but I didn't have much tie to think about it. Menas had suggested one of us stay awake to patrol in shifts while the others slept and due to the way I reacted due to my vision, everyone insisted I be one of the firsts to sleep. I didn't have the energy to argue with them, so I agreed and as soon as we arrived at our camp I found somewhere to sleep.
Without adequate bedding, it was difficult to find comfort, but sleep eventually came. And here I was thinking nothing could get worse than the mattresses we were supplied in the dungeons, if they could even be called that. They resembled blankets more than they did mattresses. This was no time to be picky though, and I was determined to use what I could to the best of my ability so I found a piece of flat land and laid down. With the cool evening breeze, my jumpsuit didn't do much to keep me warm and in all honesty, the cold kept me awake more than the stiffness of the ground did. I just hoped things would get better for us.
On that final thought, I drifted off into a lousy sleep.
❦❦❦
When I was shook awake it felt like no time had gone by at all, but the position of the moon in the sky told me that it had been a few hours since I fell asleep. I looked up to see that the hand gently shaking me was Blasius, who must have chosen to do the night watch.
"Is it my turn?" I whispered. He nodded as to not wake the other two and stood up, walking to a tree and sitting against it.
The night had turned even cooler and the grass on which I was laying was slightly damp, I was surprised it didn't soak through my clothing. I took my time waking up but made sure I was alert and cautious when it came to any noise I heard. For the most part, all I heard was the rustling of the tree tops in the light breeze and chirping from crickets who sounded too close for comfort. I tried not to think too hard on the fact that the ground I just slept on was home to many bugs and the chances that one that been on me in my sleep was ... terrifying, but extremely likely.
Silva and Menas looked peaceful, both laying on the ground side by side. With all that Menas had been through recently, it was nice to see him so calm and unbothered by the world. I still wondered what had happened to him when they took him from the cell and I didn't know if he would ever tell us. As much as I wanted to know, I would never push him into revealing what he was clearly adamant on not talking about. Whatever it was the king had ordered the guards to do, I knew it wasn't good and I didn't want that for the rest of us.
When I returned my gaze to Blasius, still leaning against the tree, his eyes were open and staring my way. He smiled tiredly when I met his eye then looked down, showing no attempt to sleep.
For a while it just stays like that, nothing but the sound of the quiet night in my ear. It was soothing, coaxing me to sleep. I wouldn't, but it was tempting. At least if I did I knew that Blasius would watch out for us. He did look far too tired for his own good, though. I should tell him to get some rest.
Seemingly knowing that he's on my mind, when I look around again he catches my attention by patting the spot on the grass next to him. I shoot him a questioning look but he doesn't answer, just nods his head to the empty stop beside him. Seeing as there's really nothing else to do, I stand up and make my way over to the tree trunk, avoiding the sleeping Menas and Silva.
"Hi," I smiled.
"Hi," he echoed, "I keep thinking about earlier and I wanted to ask you a question. When you came to from your vision, you called for a 'Rose.' What was that about?"
I took my time explaining that I had met the unknown woman named Rose in my previous vision and how she had been the one to lead me to believe the hole in the ceiling of the bathroom was a tunnel outside. I didn't go into detail about the confusing conversation I had with her seeing as I still had no idea what some of it meant, but I explained the gist of it. Then I went on to tell him about the most recent vision I had and how the eyes of the deceased wolf beside me when I had 'died' suspiciously had very similar features to the Rose in the first vision. He listened intently, nodding along to some parts.
"My mother went by the name Rose. Her name was Rosalind, but I think you know that."
It seemed like so long ago, but I did remember. The first week Blasius had arrived in the cells I had two visions while looking at him, both of some person screaming the names of a Rosalind and a Clovis. He had said Clovis had been his father and I never really thought about it enough to piece together that the other name was that of his mother.
'You may not know me but I hear about you all the time,' the words of Rose echoed, bouncing around both of my ears. What did that mean? Did Blasius talk to his mother about me, did he think about me? Of course he could never actually talk to her about me, but it wasn't weird for people to converse with their loved ones in their head. Had he? Did she know me? With the monochromatic reflection of the moonlight shining down on us I was sure he couldn't see the redness of my cheeks, but the heat rising to my face was clear as day.
Now that I thought about it, the two did look strikingly similar and it was no wonder that her looks were puzzling to me. His hair was not quite as bouncy, but the waves were there in a deep shade of brown, just like his eyes. He was a carbon copy of his mother in masculine form.
I wondered why of all people it was Blasius's mom that appeared in one of my visions. But in some way I felt like I already knew the answer, I just didn't want to say it out loud.
"The field we were in was close to where our pack resided. The King's guards wiped out over half of our pack—my parents included in that," he explained.
My stomach dropped. Blasius wasn't much older than me—no more than 20, and that would be a difficult thing to deal with. I couldn't imagine losing both of my parents at such a young age. I just hoped the surviving members of his pack made for a good support system for him, not that it would ever be like the same thing.
"I'm so sorry, Blaze." It wasn't much, but I didn't know what else to say to express my condolences.
"That reminds me, I'm sorry too."
"For what?"
"For kissing you like that." He then added, "not that I regret it, but I could tell you were taken aback, and I was thinking it might've been better to save it for a time we both wanted it."
"I-I don't regret it, either."
It was then he smiled, and although I had seen little grins throughout our time together, this was the biggest, toothiest smile I had seen from him yet. It was so addicting, I couldn't help but give him one in return.