“I’m fine on my own,” I snap, quietly, so as not to wake Owen. “I have stuff I need to do, and I only have time for it at night.”
“Let one of us come with you, then,” he says.
“No. I’m fine doing it alone.”
“You’re obviously not,” he growls.
“You don’t know me as well as you think you do,” I say angrily.
“And whose fault is that?” he retorts.
I don’t answer. I gently open the tent and place Owen inside it, laying him down on a sleeping bag and tucking the myriad of blankets inside around him. When I emerge from the tent, Bennett still looks angry.
He has a point. I’ve been pushing them all away. He, at least, has tried to make up for things. He, at least, has apologized. Properly. I sigh.
“Look—I’m not going to stop sneaking out at night, okay? I want to practice tracking, and I want to keep going down to the library. If you want, next time I sneak out, you can come with.”
He raises his eyebrows, but the anger seems to melt off him. “All right.”
“On one condition,” I add, and he looks wary. “You don’t tell the others.”
“What?”
“I don’t want them knowing I’m sneaking out, and I don’t want them tagging along.” I shove my hands into my coat pockets. “So you can come with me and—I don’t know, be my bodyguard or whatever—but you can’t tell anyone else.”
Bennett frowns. “I don’t like keeping secrets.”
I shrug. “Your choice. You either keep the secret and come with me, or I keep doing this shit on my own and avoid you at all costs. I’m great at avoiding people.”
He sighs deeply. “Yeah, I know that.” He looks down at Cleaver, who’s sniffing around his knees, and reaches down to scratch him for a bit. “Fine,” he agrees. “I don’t like secrets, but fine. If it means keeping you safe, it’s a deal.”
I smile. “Cool. I’m heading back now; you guys want anything? Breakfast?”
“Nah, we’ll get it when we come back. I like to let Owen sleep in.” He nods at the tent.
I whistle for Cleaver and walk off, but not before Bennett grabs my hand and squeezes it. I smile. Maybe it’ll be nice to have him around.
Monday morning dawns with a bright sunny sky, waking me from the nightmare I’ve been having. I jerk awake, sweating, and rub my eyes, trying to wake up.
“You okay?” Erin asks with concern as I sit up. “You were talking in your sleep.”
“Just a bad dream.”
“You’ve been having a lot of those lately.” She packs her PW clothes into a bag. “You sure everything’s all right?” She pauses and casts me a significant look. “Maybe your conscience is catching up to you?”
I ignore her. “I’m gonna run down to the dining hall and get some food for Cleaver.”
Cleaver’s ears perk up at the mention of his name.
“I’ll probably be gone when you get back,” Erin tells me. “I want to get to creature studies early. I have some questions for the professor.”
“See you in class, then,” I say as I throw on a hoodie. I’ll have time to grab some food for me and Cleaver, come back, and change into proper clothes before it’s time to go to class.
When I open the door, I see Bennett and Owen standing in the hallway, leaning on the wall across from my dorm room. I step out and snap the door shut behind me.
“What are you two doing here?”
They both straighten as I emerge from my room. Owen puffs his chest out. He looks better than when I saw him in the tent in the woods. His face has more color, and he looks more rested. He’s even wearing nicer clothes, the sort that he wore before he was bitten.