Beyond The Walls (NOW ON AMAZON!!!)

A Game

For most of the day, the weather flitted from miserable, grey, and drizzly to buckets of water pouring from the sky, but everyone's spirits were high. Hope could do that. A new future was unfolding. A future beyond Compound walls and Wildling rules and the cruelty of the jungle. They basked in the prospect of seeing the world while floating over vast oceans, living in a nomadic city. Among the humans, the Progenies were the only ones who had visited the beach, and Yuvan and Drew regaled the others with tales of water as far as the eye could see and stories of monstrous creatures who called it home and could swallow ships whole but apparently chose not to because they were benevolent monsters.

It wasn't just hope bolstering Hadley's mood though.

Hiking through the rain was a slog for everyone, but especially for Hadley, because her shin bone was still knitting itself back together. She hung back, taking up the rear with Ruq while listening to the Progenies' lively retellings alongside the vampire, sharing the moment of laughter and levity with the vampire. It was so easy between them now. Before then, every interaction with the vampire had seemed too intense or too incomplete or padded by too many life-or-death events. This was the first time she was at complete ease in the vampire's company.

Before long, Jamila joined them at the back of the group and Hadley knew she'd never been as happy and more content as she was right then in the company of these two women she absolutely adored.

"Is that all true, Ruq?" Jamila asked, referring to the Progeny stories. She looked a little queasy at all the talk about ocean beasts that could swallow ships.

Ruq laughed. "The parts about giant sea monsters that swallow ocean bound vessels are a little exaggerated."

Jamila fell back at ease and chuckled.

"You've probably been everywhere," Hadley said. Sharing a mindscape, Hadley had noticed the heavy weight of time in Ruqwik's emotions. Sometimes it scared her. Most times, it fascinated her. "We could probably ask you anything and you'd know the answer."

Ruq chuckled. "I probably would."

"Is that a challenge?" Jamila said.

Hadley knew that voice.

Jamila was flirting.

"I think it is a challenge, Jay," Hadley said, following Jamila's cue. "I say we quiz her."

Hadley stopped walking, looked up into the trees, closed her eyes and let the drizzling rain pour down her face.

"Are you okay?" Ruq asked, suddenly concerned.

"How's your leg?" that was Jamila's concerned voice.

Hadley smiled, her head still tilted up and her eyes still closed. She was perfectly fine. Her leg had just completed its healing and the release from pain was glorious. But she'd stopped walking, not just so she could take off the makeshift splint, but because she wanted to put a little space between them and the others to create a little cocoon for themselves – just the three of them in their own little world. This was the best she'd ever felt, and she wanted it to last forever – or at least for the longest time she could buy with a little delay.

"Here's the game," Hadley finally said, looking back down and wiping the water off her face. She looked first at Jamila and then at Ruq. "Each of us asks as many questions as we can, and every question has to be answered by the other two. No exceptions."

Ruq grinned, showering their mindscape with rainbow confetti and sparks.

"I'm in." Jamila said, hitching her backpack on her shoulders, her smile wide.

"I'm game." Ruq said.

"I'll start." Hadley said with a cheeky grin. "Fast and hard or slow and gentle?"