Chapter 10: Fever

I lost the next two hours in pieces.

There was a cold cloth on my forehead, and then a warm one.

There was a glass of water at my mouth, and a voice saying "small sips" in a tone that did not allow arguments.

At some point Junie was in the doorway in her pajamas, white-faced.

Elias said, "Go back to bed, she's going to be fine," in a voice that did not sound fine at all.

I think she went.

Around three, the walls stopped moving.

I opened my eyes and found Elias sitting on the floor beside the bed with his back against the mattress.

His shirt was open at the collar and wet down the front.

He had a basin in his lap and a cloth in his hand, and he was looking at the fire.

"You're awake," he said, without turning.

"I think so."

"Good. That's three times you've told me I had a very kind face. I'd like it noted that I never believed you."

"I said that?"

"You also asked if the lake was behind the wall."

My throat hurt.

"Is it?"

"Yes."

"Good." I shut my eyes. "I like the lake."

He laughed once, very softly, and put the cloth back on my head.

I lay there and listened to the fire.

My skin was not so hot now.

It felt tight and strange.

"Elias."

"Mm."

"I need to tell you something about the tea."

He went still.

"Tell me."

"My mother died when I was four, and my dad took over everything.

When I was twelve, I went to the Spring Run with the other kids, and I hid from them in a tree."

"And?"

"They found me in a minute. They said I smelled like weather."

He did not say anything.

"A wolf from another pack stopped under the tree and breathed in, and he went quiet.

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