I was able to sleep for a good few hours now that most of my comforts were back in my possession. It also helped that I had an actual bed to sleep on. It’s been about an hour since I woke up and since I didn’t want to be anywhere near Moon or her friends, I stayed put, lounging on the couch while reading and planning my next move.

A knock on the door before it opens made me glance up from the page I was on. The girl walks over to me, plonking herself down on the sofa beside mine and stares at the maps I had left strewn all over the coffee table.

I leave my book open on my chest and watch her. What now?

“These maps are impressive,” she finally chirps, moving her head in another direction to see the maps another way, her shocking silver-white hair flopping from her shoulder, over her face as she did, covering up her ghostly pale face and almost jet black eyes. “Shadow would be impressed.”

“Can I help you?” To the door, maybe? I watch her as she moves the map around.

“I’ll take a raincheck for your help for now.” Her onyx black eyes look up into my face and I notice the freckles dusting her nose, “I’m Echo. Second in charge…well mostly,” she grins relaxed as she leans back on the sofa.

Another weird name. “Where do you lot pick your names?”

She smiles broadly, “Looking for one?”

“Not particularly.” That’s the end of that discussion by the sounds of it. “What do you want from me, Echo?”

“Just curiosity and an update. Moon has told me that Liam seems to be ok for now but she would like your opinion.”

I sigh, placing the book on the table before standing, “It’s too early for an ‘opinion’.”

“You are honest, I’ll give you that. You could have lied, saying he would recover without you and be out of here. Instead, you’re tightening the collar around your neck.”

“How poetic,” I mutter while walking out of the room, heading for the stairs. Is it just me or are there a lot of girls in ‘Dark Sol’? I frown thinking about it as I head down the stairs. Another note to put down about the area, maybe? I can’t be sure how many are in this group or if it really is full of girls...

“Always thinking, always planning every step ahead,” Echo cheerily bounces behind me. “You may be the most interesting addition yet!”

I stop in my tracks several steps below her and look up at her, “I am not an ‘addition’ to anything.”

She smiles back in innocent silence.

I realise that she was probably toying with me and continued down until I find myself entering the familiar hallway and eventually into the large reception room where Liam was still housed on the day bed. More pillows and blankets surrounded and drowned him since the last time I was here. He looked exhausted even in sleep but at least he was sleeping peacefully.

Checking and redressing the wound while he slept, I saw that he was at least stable for now but I didn’t put him in the ‘will pull through’ basket just yet.

“Where’s Moon?” I look up at Echo who was instead looking out over the flooded pond.

“How’s Liam?” She asks, her voice distant.

I let out a breath, “He’s fine. For now. But no promises.”

“I like him,” Echo grinned as she turned to face the hallway where Moon stood, watching me intensely.

“…What now?’ I growl at them both.

“Nothing. Echo just wanted to see you for herself.” Moon said without a hint of remorse for my irritation.

“Uh huh.”

“You should be out and about, Moon. I have it covered,” Echo continues her smiles. “I brought down the doctor. Pretty easy to get him moving, actually.”

“I’m not a doctor,” I shoot back under my breath.

“I just got back, actually,” Moon shifts over and sits on the bed beside Liam, looking over him with an unreadable expression. “I’ll need you to go out again to the forest, Echo. Something isn’t really sitting right with me with the small group out there.”

“You think they’re dangerous?”

Moon shakes her head, “I don’t think so. They’re keeping to themselves out there but Jaguar has spotted that they have a few small children with them and since Pyros is still prowling around…”

“Ah…” Echo’s eyes shine bright as if she caught on, “Right. I’ll ask Shadow for his help then. Are you sure you don’t want us to approach them?”

“…You can if you really want to. But make sure that it’s safe.”

“They might have some interesting information with them or even food that they might want to trade.”

“As long as you’re sure, Echo.” Moon nods once, almost hesitant.

Echo has Moon’s full trust to do as she likes, it seems. Or rather, Moon is unsure to tell Echo ‘no’ when Echo pipes up a suggestion. This interaction is solidifying my theory that Moon’s position as the ‘leader’ is a little more precarious than what one would think. It just might be that Moon acquired the role rather than be the original creator of Dark Sol. But it seems she didn’t inherit the role forcefully. No one, so far that I could see, was tense with the fact that she leads them. Rather, they accommodate her unease with being in the role. So she’s leader reluctantly…

Echo sees me watching their interactions and keeps that grin on her face. “Consider it done. Just give Shadow a few more hours of sleep.”

Moon nods again, “Take your time.”

“We could even bring the doctor along,” Echo comes up beside me, nudging my shoulder.

“I’m not a doctor,” I grumble. Again.

Moon looks up at me, “…Not while something could happen with Liam…”

Echo shrugs, “That’s too bad. I could use the company of someone who could keep toe-to-toe with Horror.”

“And who would say I wouldn’t come back,” I mutter.

“Ah? Nah, you’d come back,” Echo sounded so sure of herself. “A cuddly stray kitty always comes back if there’s food.”

I twitch at ‘kitty’. “I doubt it. I have places to be.” Anywhere but here.

Echo leans up into my face, “Never say ‘never’. You know we’d never kick you out. Moon fought to keep you out of Bass’s clutches.”

Can someone put her on a leash? I step back from her, “That might be true but I never said I wanted to join or needed the help.”

“What’s wrong with a home base?”

“What?”

“You only have your bag to carry things around. Whereas if you stay with us, you have a bed and a place to store things you could never lug around in that measly backpack. Plus, you’d have our fine company!”

I was almost entertaining the idea of hording all the books in my travels. “As tempting as that is, I’m not great with the idea of being in a pack.”

Echo smiles wider, “It’s just a thought. We would benefit from someone with your skills and you could use a place to call home.”

“I think you might find that having a ‘home’ might be an uncomfortable concept for this stray cat to comprehend at the moment, Echo.” As if appearing out of thin air, Meifeng’s silvery voice cuts in from behind us and again almost made me jump. “There’s no need to push, it will only make him pull away.”

“I’m not some sort of small woodland creature that needs to be coerced into a cage for you two to gawk at and pet,” I feel like I’m being crowded in by some very weird girls on all sides.

“Leave him alone, you two.” Moon chirps up. “He made us a deal.” She then looks directly to me, “You’ve done more than most ever could. …You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to but please at least until it looks like Liam will pull through.”

I blink as I notice the pair step back from me, “That’s what I promised. Has he regained consciousness since yesterday?”

“A little but he was too weak for anything and just drifted back off to sleep.”

I nod, “The most we can do is to get him eating and drinking, slowly. With that I can start mixing in some supplements to help get the blood count rising again.”

Over the next few days I went into a quiet routine of checking on Liam’s condition or chilling in the room that they’ve let me crash in. Poppy seemed to be assigned to keep an eye on me as she was always giving me my meals before running off or watching me intently form around a corner and hides when I look up in her direction. I also started wondering around, looking at the layout of their resort. I even found a gift shop which had its small selection of books still floating around and proceeded to horde them in my room.

As I was carrying an armful back, I noticed my little shadow had grabbed some from my next stack that I was going to come back and collect and proceeded to silently carry them with me. I didn’t say anything to her until we got to the room where she carefully put them on the desk.

I said a quick thank you to which she nods shyly and ran out of the room. I was busy looking through the titles, seeing that they were some cook books, holidaying guides with some more detailed maps and a few light novels that I could sift through in about a day. I suddenly see her again with another armful of books, putting them down before grabbing a book on top of the pile and sat down on the ground trying her best to read through them.

I kept the smile to myself as she continued to frown at some of the big words that were confusing her but didn’t once ask me for any help. I sat next to her and looked over her shoulder as I began reading a light novel that was a cliché romcom that didn’t have much of an imaginative storyline but it was something that took my mind off of my surroundings.

She eventually pouts in frustration before shoving her book in my face, tapping a word in frustration.

I look at it and slowly pronounce it, “’Superstition’. It’s a widely known irrational belief. Like doing things that are thought to bring luck. Like breaking a mirror brings bad luck or finding a four-leaf clover brings good luck. Things like that.”

She opens her eyes wide before going back to attempting to read more. I was stopped like this every now and then by her and it felt as though I was slowly gaining a friend.

But I knew I was filling in time, wasting my days waiting for signs that Liam won’t need my attention anymore. But also, just slightly, my curiosity was maybe wanting to know what Echo might have found from the new forest group.