" One sin doesn't make you a sinner. It makes you human,"
Anything above the order of hundreds gains you the coveted status of being a sinner.
I don't know how many days have passed. I have stopped counting after the fifth sunrise.
Surviving on soup hasn't been great, I'll have to admit that much. Every day I made progress. Even though it was at a painfully slow pace.
I have finally managed to get out of bed and walk five steps today. I stopped at that because I was afraid my bones would turn into dust.
Small victories, still count in my book. So, I put that down as another win.
One more day in bed and I would have become one with it.
The stranger had revealed his name in the morning. Graham.
Speaking it's still a challenge, even though my throat feels better, it is still an effort to string out more than a few sentences at a time.
In bits and pieces, I had revealed to Graham how I ended up inside a cave in a mountain, in the middle of nowhere with him and Shay.
He seemed lost at first, and a little disbelieving, when I told him about Micah and the others that held me captive.
" Honestly," Graham inhales and exhales as if to calm himself. Even though he didn't seem all that troubled to me," I thought that Mason had lost his goddamn mind, when he told me that I had to sit here and wait for you," Perhaps, Graham and Shay were the last resort. I was at odds with everything. Piecing together the reasons why Mason chose to do things this way would be difficult without his input on the matter. Then again he was a victim of Micah just as much as I was.
I didn't want to take anything that Micah had said to me at face value, because he could have lied.
" Does anyone else know that you're here?' I decided to ask after a few moments of silence.
Graham shook his head, " He told me to say to everyone that I'm going to visit family. I have none for the record. I grew up in an orphanage. My mother gave me up right after she gave birth to me," He taps his fingers on his knees, anxiously. So, Mason was the only one who knew where Graham was. If Mason had died, then were screwed.
" Where is here?" I push on. If Mason had brought him here then there must be a way down. We couldn't stay up in the mountains. We were running out of food and water.
" Baltran range. It's a chain of mountains in the most northern part of the country. Secluded, cut off from the rest of the world during the winter months. And we are in the middle of the damn winter. If we would venture outside we would die within a day, " He lets out a hefty sigh and looks at Shay who had only managed to unfurl and now lay eagle spread on the floor.
He was our only hope to leave the mountain range before winter would subside. We wouldn't survive until spring.
" How does Shay's powers work?" We needed a way out. For all we knew Mason was dead. My heart squeezed at that thought, so I relinquished it. He couldn't have died.
Graham took a deep breath and trilled his lips, " It's ..., " He chewed on his lips for a few seconds," I actually don't know. I only know that whenever he walks into a room a fire appears and if you are away from him and call his name, he comes and takes you with him to his point of origin," That wasn't a lot but still was something.
" We need to leave soon. Before we run out of food. We cannot wait for...spring," I stopped speaking, a little out of breath.
" You need more time, Lily" He pats my hand and gives a worried look, " You won't make it down the mountain like this," I nod in agreement. I could get us both killed. I didn't want to be responsible for his demise.
There were too many unknowns. I didn't know for how long I had been gone but according to Graham's calculations, it had been a little over six months. But then again, he said that he might've skipped marking a few days here and there. So there was a chance that he was off the mark by a week, perhaps two.
It didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was our survival, otherwise we would die on a mountain, and the world would be none the wiser.
We both heaved a long drawn-out sigh at the same time. We were spending every waking moment in each other's company. The options were limited, to say the least. Our companionship was brought on by circumstances not by choice. And I was grateful for it, for his friendship and kindness.
I didn't know how he and Mason knew each other but Graham seemed loyal and had a lot of faith in Mason.
Tell me who your friends are. So I can tell you who you are.
For the first time since I laid my eyes on him, Shay raised his head and opened his eyes to look at me. Even in the dim light of the cave, his electric blue eyes captivated my attention. He had pointy long ears with little tuffs of blue fur at the ends which seemed to glow in the same shade of electric blue.
Thin long snout, with a brown-red nose and the rest of his fur, a velvety coat of silvery grey with accents of blue.
" Magnificent isn't he?" Graham whispered, and I barely managed a nod. I couldn't stop staring at Shay.
He languidly blinked a few times, yawned, and I'm pretty sure I saw a flash of blue light coming from his throat. And just like that he resumed his sleeping routine, turning his head towards the fire.
" He is usually a lot more fun when his ass is not freezing," Graham attempted to lighten the mood, but I kept my eyes on Shay
" How did you-,"
" Find Shay," Graham took the words out of my mouth. I was probably taking too long to phrase the question.