The Forbidden Compass Trilogy: Book One- Caged
Chapter 18

Irelle

Irelle wakes up to the sun shining in her eyes. She looks around and sees Krade’s figure, sitting against the back of a tree at the edge of camp, barely visible. She gets up, carefully moving Mahna’s wings. She stomps towards him and hits him upside the head. He rubs his head, turning to look at her. “Ow! What was that for?”

She sits down next to him. “For not waking me. You stayed up most of the night.”

He chuckles a little. “You were sleeping, and I wasn’t tired.”

She punches him in the arm. “Of course I was sleeping!” She huffs with indignation.

He rubs his arm, smiling. “Stop hitting me! I’ll remember to wake you next time.”

She pulls her knees to her chest, still angry. “There won’t be a next time if Fenn keeps snoring.” He laughs. She glares at him, but he’s still smiling.

“I promise I’ll wake you next time!” He throws up his hands in mock surrender. “But you don’t need to drag poor, loud Fenn into this!”

She tries to hold back her laughter but it bubbles over. She snorts and covers her mouth, feeling her cheeks flush.

He smiles gently at her. “I like your laugh.”

She lowers her hand. “You do?” She hates the squeak of vulnerability in her voice. I sound like a child!

“I do. You should smile more.” He says again.

Her smile disappears. “So you’ve told me. But as I said before, I don’t have much to smile about.”

He thinks for a moment, brow furrowed, then says. “Maybe that’s what makes it so special. It’s rare, like a rainbow or, I don’t know, an unicorn.”

“I’m pretty sure unicorns don’t exist.”

“Maybe they do. Maybe we’ll replace one someday. If we survive this.”

“Rainbows and unicorns.” She says, thinking.

“Yep, fish girl, you’re all rainbows and unicorns.”

She hits his arm, softer than she usually does. “Hey! No need to bring name-calling into this, hothead!”

He grins. “I thought we agreed you were going to stop hitting me. And that’s all you’ve got, sharkface?”

“No promises, smokebreath!”

“Nice come back, seaweed breath!”

“So very original, Sir Reptile!”

“I don’t know much about the sea, sea urchin!”

“Good thing you don’t, lizard boy!”

They continue exchanging insults until they can’t speak through their laughter. Irelle is certain she hasn’t smiled this much for years. A throat clears behind them. They twist around, where Fenn is leaning casually against another tree, holding a stick.

“Am I interrupting anything?” He asks with a teasing glint in his eyes. He twirls the stick around his finger.

Irelle stands up, not understanding the heat in her cheeks. “No. How long have you been spying?”

He smirks. “Long enough to know you aren’t as prickly as you appear.” He turns to leave, but turns back, remembering something. “I’m supposed to tell you breakfast is ready, but I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone.” He turns and leaves, still twirling his stick and whistling audaciously, before Irelle can punch him in the face. She begins to storm back to camp.

“Irelle?” She turns back to look at Krade, who is standing behind her, the autumn morning light doing something to his eyes.

“What?” She tries to keep her irritation in check.

Then he asks the question that she’s been too scared to ask. “How are we going to do this? How are we going to beat him?”

She answers honestly, hating the quiver of vulnerability in her voice. “I have no idea.”

She turns away then, standing there as he walks past her. She stands there for a minute, watching the sun dapple the autumn leaves, fear gripping her throat. Because in those few moments laughing with Krade, she hadn’t seen Omega, the boy who burned her arm, or the dragon, the monster that ruined her life. She should hate him, just for being a dragon, even if he’s only half that. She’s a mer, he’s a dragon, sworn enemies. But in that one moment she’d realized his eyes don’t scare her anymore. She didn’t even seem to see his wings. All she saw was Krade, the boy who somehow could get past all of the barriers that had protected her for so long and could make her laugh. And that terrifies her because that could get him killed.