Free Return to Celio by Sasha Cain Page B

my knee and chuckled. He sat down next to me and crossed his legs. “Why in the world are you sorry?”
    “For being such a wimp. I’m usually thicker-skinned than this.”
    “Maggie, you have nothing to apologize for. We’ve been walking all day with the exception of when you were kidnapped by a nutcase mutant. Realistically, you could’ve been killed on several occasions, all in one day. I think you’ve showed incredible courage and strength.”
    “Thanks. I only wish I wasn’t so emotional. I feel like such a girl.”
    Darrios laughed. “Well, that would make sense, considering.”
    I laughed too, then.
    “C’mon, I found some dried meat and a pretty decent variety of canned vegetables. Allow me to prepare you a feast.”
    I rubbed my hands together. “Oh boy, I can hardly wait.”
    Darrios stood up, extending his hand to me. I took it and he pulled me up. We returned to the kitchen. I watched as he put together our dinner. I never would have believed dried meat and mystery veggies could taste so good.
    By the time we’d finished eating I could barely keep my eyes open. Exhaustion had crept up on me and tackled me. I didn’t remember ever being that tired. My eyelids fluttered.
    “Maggie, why don’t you go and lie down? I’ll clean up,” Darrios offered.
    I forced my eyes open. “No, no. You fixed dinner. I’ll clean up.”
    I stood and gathered our plates. I placed them in the sink and rinsed them off. Darrios came up behind me, grabbing a towel. He began drying the dishes after I washed them. I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye thinking what an incredibly handsome man he’d be if he’d just shave and do something with his hair.
    Despite all the craziness of the day, I found myself enjoying those few moments standing there in the kitchen doing dishes with Darrios.
    We finished up and turned in for the night. I climbed into the bed and pulled the covers over me. I wanted to ask Darrios if he’d keep me warm again, but I didn’t have the nerve. Luckily, he did.
    “I’m not getting frisky or anything, but I think we’ll both be warmer if we sleep close.”
    I nodded. “Okay.”
    He climbed into bed and pulled me to him in the spoons position. I closed my eyes feeling warm and safe and protected.
    ****
    We left for the entrance to Inland early the next morning, making it back without any problems or drama, thankfully. Just before arriving at our destination, a thought occurred to me. “Darrios, after that...thing, Podredo, took me, how did you find me?”
    “The plickens helped me. They know everything that happens around here. You just don’t see them very often because they keep themselves scarce for safety reasons.”
    “What’s a plicken?”
    “They’re smaller creatures; they look kind of like a cross between a rabbit and a monkey, but closer in size to a monkey. They are the eyes and ears around here. I knew they would have seen what happened to you. As soon as I noticed the entrance door open, I knew something was wrong. I yelled for you, but got no answer. I found Burgess and he told me you never came through, so I went looking for a couple of plickens.”
    “They...told you?”
    “They can’t really talk, but they can communicate, mostly with gestures. It took a few minutes, but it wasn’t hard to figure out what happened. They led me to the house where that animal was keeping you.”
    “ Why did you find me? Why take the trouble?”
    Darrios stopped. He looked at me thoughtfully, but hesitated before answering. “I didn’t want you to die, Maggie. I couldn’t stand the thought.”
    Blushing, I broke eye contact, relieved to see the entrance to Inland. We reached the door like before, except, luckily, this time without the viocomen. Darrios called to Burgess and he opened the door.
    Darrios helped me in, hopped through, pulled the door shut, and latched it. “Now, where is that tor—oh, here it is,” he said to himself, running his hands up and down the wall.
    He