“But right now, let’s calm everybody down.” Jeb turned around, gun held low across his body, and suddenly it was as if he were guarding Kyle and the little face behind him. He glared at the mob. “Kyle’s got a guest, and you’re scarin’ the snot out of her, people. I think you can all dig up some better manners than that. Now, all of you clear out and get to work on something useful. My cantaloupes are dying. Somebody do something about that, hear?”
He waited until the muttering crowd slowly dispersed. Now that I could see their faces, I could tell that they were already getting over it, most of them, anyway. This wasn’t so bad, not after what they’d been fearing the last few days. Yes, Kyle was a self-absorbed idiot, their faces seemed to say, but at least he was back, no harm done. No evacuation, no danger of the Seekers. No more than usual, anyway. He’d brought another worm back, but then, weren’t the caves full of them these days?
It just wasn’t as shocking as it used to be.
Many went back toward their interrupted lunch, others returned to the irrigation barrel, others to their rooms. Soon only Jared, Ian, and Jamie were left beside me. Jeb looked at these three with a cross expression; his mouth opened, but before he could order them away again, Ian took my hand, and then Jamie grabbed the other. I felt another hand on my wrist, just above Jamie’s. Jared.
Jeb rolled his eyes at the way they’d tethered themselves to me to avoid expulsion, and then turned his back on us.
“Thanks, Jeb,” Kyle said.
“Shut the hell up, Kyle. Just keep your fat mouth shut. I’m dead serious about shooting you, you worthless maggot.”
There was a weak whimper from behind Kyle.
“Okay, Jeb. But could you save the death threats till we’re alone? She’s terrified enough. You remember how that kind of stuff freaks Wanda out.” Kyle smiled at me—I felt shock cross my face in reaction—and then he turned to the girl hiding behind him with the gentlest expression I’d ever seen on his face. “See, Sunny? This is Wanda, the one I told you about. She’ll help us—she won’t let anyone hurt you, just like me.”
The girl—or was she a woman? She was tiny, but there was a subtle curviness to her shape that suggested more maturity than her size—stared at me, her eyes huge with fright. Kyle put his arms around her waist, and she let him pull her into his side. She clung there, as if he were an anchor, her pillar of safety.
“Kyle’s right.” Never thought I’d say that. “I won’t let anyone hurt you. Your name is Sunny?” I asked softly.
The woman’s eyes flashed up to Kyle’s face.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to be afraid of Wanda. She’s just like you.” He turned to me. “Her real name is longer—something about ice.”
“Sunlight Passing Through the Ice,” she whispered to me.
I saw Jeb’s eyes brighten with his unquenchable curiosity.
“She doesn’t mind being called just Sunny, though. She said it was fine,” Kyle assured me.
Sunny nodded. Her eyes flickered from my face to Kyle’s and back again. The other men were totally silent and totally motionless. The little circle of calm soothed her a bit, I could see. She must have been able to feel the change in the atmosphere. There was no hostility toward her, none at all.
“I was a Bear, too, Sunny,” I told her, trying to make her feel just a little more comfortable. “They called me Lives in the Stars, then. Wanderer, here.”
“Lives in the Stars,” she whispered, her eyes somehow, impossibly, getting wider. “Rides the Beast.”
I suppressed a groan. “You lived in the second crystal city, I guess.”
“Yes. I heard the story so many times…”
“Did you like being a Bear, Sunny?” I asked quickly. I didn’t really want to get into my history right now. “Were you happy there?”
Her face crumpled at my questions; her eyes locked onto Kyle’s face and filled with tears.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized at once, looking to Kyle, too, for an explanation.
He patted her arm. “Don’t be afraid. You won’t be hurt. I promised.”
I could barely hear her answering whisper. “But I like it here. I want to stay.”
Her words brought a thick lump to my throat.
“I know, Sunny. I know.” Kyle put his hand on the back of her head and, in a gesture so tender it made my eyes smart, held her face against his chest.
Jeb cleared his throat, and Sunny started and cringed. It was easy to imagine the frayed state her nerves must be in. Souls were not designed to handle violence and terror.