CRAVE (8 page)

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“He’s mostly himself.”

“Mostly?”

“He remembers the Rautt, but doesn’t remember any of us. Or himself.”

Charming’s shoulders sagged like he’d just taken another blow. He scrubbed a hand down his face as he took that in. “Okay,” he said finally with weary resignation, as if handing him one fucked-up scenario after another was the new norm, “so what’s next?”

“He asked for cinnamon rolls. Serene is making them. Free is helping. Somebody from Carnal’s crew has gone to get Dr. Reising. That’s it.”

Charming stared at her for a minute and then gave a dark chuckle. “He doesn’t remember himself or any of us, but he remembers cinnamon rolls.” He shook his head. “Fucking Crave.”

“Charming…” Dandy began, but he cut her off.

“What are you doing out here?”

“Trying to stay out of the line of fire because I’m afraid of answering one of his questions wrong. Or omitting the very thing that would bring him all the way back.”

Charming looked around. “Wow.”

“Yes. Wow.”

“You don’t deserve this, Dandy. You want me to kick his ass?”

She started giggling in spite of herself. Charming had a way of lightening up any situation no matter how dire or dreadful.

“At least he’s got it covered with pants,” she said between.

“How will I recognize him?”

That made her laugh a little harder and it was welcome relief. Free and Serene gave them stern looks that said there was nothing to laugh about, but didn’t reprimand them verbally. Serene held a covered basket that was releasing the dueling, but equally delicious, aromas of freshly cooked bacon and cinnamon rolls. Dandy and Charming hoped they’d brought enough for everyone.

Charming opened the door for his parents then he and Dandelion followed them inside.

When Serene started toward where Crave stood at the bars, Free pulled her back silently. She looked at her mate with a mixture of surprise and censure. He tightened his mouth and shook his head slightly in response before opening the basket and offering Crave a fistful of bacon wrapped in a linen cloth. Crave reached through the bars and took it. That was followed by a cloth holding cinnamon rolls and a thermos-type drink holder they’d traded for in Farsuitwail.

Crave shoved bacon into his mouth and took a bite of cinnamon roll before he’d swallowed all the bacon. He opened the thermos and took a drink.

“Milk,” he said. “I like milk.”

“I know,” Serene said softly. “How are you feeling?”

He stopped eating momentarily, seeming to think about that. “Good.” He resumed eating.

Free offered cinnamon rolls to Charming and Dandy. They took one each gratefully and sat down with backs against the wall. It was an odd family breakfast, together with no sound but the quiet crackles of the fire. Each, in his or her own way, was happy to have Crave acting sane whether he remembered them or not. Each, in his or her own way, was afraid to say or do something that might interfere with Crave’s progress, but Free thought that perhaps normal conversation might be the best thing while they waited for Dr. Reising. Especially if it didn’t relate to Crave or his memory.

He turned to Charming. “We’d like to hear how plans for the move are progressing.”

Charming swallowed and sat up a little straighter. “Red is doing a commendable job of managing the building. The humans seem to be taking the idea of sharing space well. At least the ones we interact with. I think they’ve come to understand that we’re not the enemy and that they have us to thank for turning the page on a new chapter. They’re looking forward to restoring the technological stuff, starting to make the repairs. Have to hand it to them. They’re industrious. I don’t really understand what they tell me about power and gadgets, but they get this far away look in their eyes when they talk about it. Like having that stuff is better than Summerland. That’s why it’s so important for us to have educated people. Like Rosie said.”

Charming, having been born at Newland and never having seen such things as power-generated lighting, air-conditioning, recorded music, washing machines, and all the other things that had made modern life comparably easy, had no notion of why older humans were giddy about the prospect of restoration. Serene and Free only knew technology from the standpoint of how it could be used to control and ‘discipline’ captives.

In fact, all Exiled who were old enough to remember captivity regarded a new technological age with suspicion and rededicated themselves to keeping a close eye on how humans chose to use the power they worshipped. That was one of the items on the shortlist of imperative reasons to integrate Farsuitwail.

“Is anyone causing trouble?” Free asked.

“Strangely enough, no.”

“Not even Thorn?”

Charming smiled. “He grumbles a lot, but he hasn’t gotten in the way.”

“I guess that’s the best we can expect.”

“He helped a lot building this…” Before he reached the end of the sentence, Charming realized he’d relaxed into sharing news with his family. His eyes shifted to Crave to see if there’d been a negative reaction.

Crave regarded Charming with head cocked to the side. “This prison? Is that what you were going to say? Somebody named Thorn helped shut me in here?”

Free stepped in front of Crave and held his gaze. “Do you recognize any of us?”

Crave looked from Free to Serene to Charming to Dandy and back to Free before shaking his head. “No.” He looked at Serene. “But thank you for the bacon and the cinnamon rolls. And the milk. It was good.”

“Of course,” she said. “There’s more.” She picked up the basket. “Do you want another?”

She held out a roll. He took it and said, “Thank you.”

Dandelion secretly wondered why he remembered such things as good manners, and that he liked bacon, cinnamon rolls, and milk, but didn’t remember her. Or his parents or brother. She hoped Dr. Reising would say something like, “Oh. This is the norm in cases such as this. First cinnamon rolls. Then relationships. Nothing to worry about. Any minute the whole of history will come flooding back into his consciousness.”

Wind blew through the small building and fanned the fire when the door opened. Cage entered, nodding to Free and Serene, with Dr. Reising behind him. She looked over the people standing around then moved closer to Crave.

“Hello, Crave,” she said.

“Hello,” he answered. “You the doc?”

She smiled. “That’s me. We need to have a conversation before I can make you a free man. Is that okay with you?”

He shrugged. “I got a choice?”

“Not if you want out of there.”

“Then there’s your answer.”

She looked around. “Would a chair be too much trouble?”

Free looked at Charming, who said, “No. We can find a chair.”

“For him, too.” She nodded toward Crave.

Everyone looked surprised. “We’d have to open the door to get a chair inside,” Charming said.

She looked at Crave. “Will you agree to stay inside for the duration of my interview if I can get you a chair and make you comfortable?”

Crave didn’t answer immediately. He stared at Dr. Reising for a full thirty seconds, perhaps trying to judge her trustworthiness as she judged his. Reaching some conclusion or other, he said, “Yes.”

Free nodded at Charming, who made it clear by facial expression and body language that he didn’t think that was a great idea. That was the extent to which he would lodge an objection. His father was still the Extant. And there was a reason why he’d been respected and unchallenged as leader of the Exiled all of Charming’s life.

Cage left with Charming.

Dr. Reising turned to Free, Serene, and Dandelion. “You can stay until they return with chairs, but then you’ll need to leave while I talk privately with Crave.”

Free cleared his throat. “All right. I’ll build up the fire so it will be warm in here. Getting colder by the minute.”

He proceeded to bank three new logs on the coals, one that was hard wood, one that was soft wood but green, and one dry enough to catch fairly quickly.

While he was doing that, Serene asked Dr. Reising if she’d like a tea. Dr. Reising looked at Crave. “No. Nothing for me. Thank you.”

Cage and Charming returned with two chairs from the Commons, one with worn upholstery that could barely fit through the door of the building and one of the table chairs that could barely fit through the cell door.

Carnal’s crew had been waiting outside. Since they’d taken on responsibility for Crave’s care, they had the keys to the cell. Having been apprised of the doctor’s decision, the entire crew stepped in and stood inside the door to insure that Crave abided by the agreement he’d made to voluntarily remain incarcerated for the duration of the interview. The little hallway was suddenly crowded with family and friends of the family.

Dandy watched Crave looking at each and every face as if searching for someone recognizable and it fired her empathy anew when she realized what a nightmare it would be to wake up and know no one.

Yellow eased past the spectators, pulling the keys from his pocket. “Hey there, big guy,” he said to Crave. “Glad to see you looking more like yourself. How about you take three steps back and let your little brother furnish your house?”

When Yellow said ‘little brother’, Crave’s eyes jerked to Charming. He quickly gave Charming a once-over, then took three steps back as requested and stood motionless as the cell door was opened. He watched as Charming entered, set the chair down, and backed out. When the iron door clanked closed, the onlookers breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Dr. Reising raised a hand toward the exit. “If you don’t mind?”

It was a polite way of asking everyone to get out and let her do her job. They filed out, but didn’t leave. Even though the wind had become biting with cold and stung their skin, each one was prepared to stand in place until the doc rendered the verdict about where Crave would be sleeping that night.

No one spoke. They didn’t even glance at each other. They simply waited. Stoically.

Inside Dr. Reising pushed the upholstered chair to the exact angle and position she wanted and then sat.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Put your chair wherever you want, Crave. But there’s no point in having to yell at each other to be heard. Come closer.”

He hadn’t moved from the position he’d taken up when Yellow had asked him to step back. On hearing the doctor’s suggestion, he glanced at the chair. He picked it up and moved it closer to where she was sitting so that it would be easy to imagine having a normal conversation. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was human, and that he was in jail, and that he had no fucking idea who he was.

He sat. Then lowered his chin and waited.

“What’s the first thing you remember?”

“I woke up this morning. I was naked. I was in here.” He looked around to indicate the cell. “And there was a female asleep over there.” He nodded to where Dandy’s pallet had been on the floor.

“What did you think when you saw her?”

He held Dr. Reising’s gaze. “That she was cute sleeping like that. And that I didn’t want her to see me without my clothes.”

“What else?”

“I wondered what I’d done to end up in here. We don’t have places like this in Newland.”

“So you knew you were in Newland?”

He hesitated. “Isn’t that where I am?” She nodded. “When I stood up and looked out the window, I knew for sure. I recognize the view.”

“Has anyone told you why you’re separated from others?”

“The female said I was rescued and I’m… ah, not myself. Those were her words. Not myself.”

“Do you remember what happened before you were rescued?” His face grew hard. She saw his jaw clench and unclench a couple of times before he jerked a single nod. “Before that?”

He shook his head no.

“So you remember being held captive by the Rautt, but you don’t remember details of your life before that.” It wasn’t a question so much as a summation of what had been established.

He nodded.