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from him again.
    There was quiet as I watched the firelight
dance on the cave wall in front of me.
    Then he called, “Cora.”
    “What?” I snapped.
    “You’re welcome for dinner and saving your
arse from the vickrants.”
    Vickrants?
    What the hell were those?
    Probably they were those things.
    Shit. He had gone out in a thunderstorm to
get dinner and he had battled, rather mightily and with great skill
and energy, that thing that had me, saving me from
disappearing like poor Rosa.
    Shit!
    I gritted my teeth. Then I sucked in breath
through my nostrils.
    Then I whispered, “Thank you, Noctorno, for
dinner and saving me from the vickrants.”
    I didn’t want to say it but that didn’t mean
it didn’t have to be said.
    “Bloody hell,” he whispered back, his voice
low and heavy with surprise.
    Whatever.
    I closed my eyes knowing I’d never get to
sleep but hoping I did and when I woke up I would be at home.
     
     

Chapter Five
    Terms
     
    They had me.
    The black, scaly claws were on me, grasping
at me, their talons tearing at my nightgown while the thin, veined
wings flapped sickeningly. It was pulling me away, pulling me over
the balustrade behind Cora and I could hear her shrill, terrified
screams mingled with my own.
    I jolted awake and bolted out from under the
hides. Darting blindly, I ran into the cold, hard stone wall.
    “Cora.” I heard.
    “Oh my God,” I whispered, pressing myself to
the hard stone.
    I wasn’t home. Why couldn’t I have woken up
at home?
    I closed my eyes and felt the tears slide
down my cheeks.
    “Cora.” I heard again and a warm hand was on
the small of my back.
    “They almost got me,” I whispered.
    “Cora.”
    “They got Rosa.”
    “Come back to bed.”
    “They took her.”
    “Cora, come back to bed.”
    “They flew away with her and then, poof, she was gone.”
    “You’re trembling. Come back to bed.”
    “Just like that,” I whispered, my nails
clawing at the stone. “She was gone.”
    “Cora –”
    Noctorno stopped speaking when my breath
hitched loudly with a sob.
    “Bloody hell,” he muttered then he picked me
up, I slid my arms around his shoulders and shoved my face in his
neck as he carried me back to the hides.
    “I wanna go home,” I snuffled into his
neck.
    “You can’t,” he told me as he went down to a
knee and placed me on the hides but I didn’t let go of his neck, in
fact, I clutched him tighter.
    “I don’t like it here,” I told him, my voice
held tremors, the tears kept falling.
    “Orlando will be working to –”
    I cut him off by wailing, “I ate
Thumper!”
    Then I shoved my face further into his neck
and arched into his body.
    “Thumper?”
    I yanked my face out of his neck and stared
at him. “A furry bunny! I ate bunny! Bunnies are cute! You don’t eat them!” I cried then pushed my face into his neck,
tightened my arms around his shoulders and pressed my body to the
solid heat of his.
    “Bloody hell,” he muttered, his arms sliding
around me as he settled on his side in the hides, his body facing
mine, mine pressed tight to his, his arms staying around me.
    “I wanna go home.”
    “Let Orlando do his work.”
    “I don’t like it here,” I repeated.
    “Cora, calm yourself,” he ordered on a
squeeze of his arms.
    This was good advice and I tried. I took
heavy, broken breaths and closed my eyes tight. It took awhile and,
along with the tears, it exhausted me so when my sobbing subsided,
I was tuckered out.
    But I didn’t let him go. He was real. He was
warm. He was strong. He saved me from that thing. He fed me.
He took me someplace safe, dry and warm (ish). He was a jerk, he
hated me but he was taking care of me. In this strange land, if I
didn’t have him, I would be royally screwed (more than I already
was, that was).
    “Thank you for taking care of me,” I
whispered, pushing closer to his body.
    That body got tight.
    “But I don’t want to eat bunny anymore.” I
was still whispering.
    “Fine, Cora,