Jack squeezed my hand tightly, “I don’t even know if my father is still alive.” He admitted.
My heart panged painfully. How awful it would be not knowing.
“I’m sorry. Have you ever thought about … going to look for him?” I asked.
“A lot.” Jack replied, “But … I guess I’m scared to leave and to go alone.”
I nodded. It was quite frightening to leave everything you knew behind. It was different though. I was running away from my family. Running anywhere. But Jack was alone and wanted to search for his family. It must hurt not knowing whether his father was alive or dead. I was a coward in comparison.
“Promise me you will try, one day.” I whispered, “You’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t.”
Jack nodded, “I know.”
“Do you have any idea where he could have gone?”
Jack laughed humourlessly, “I’ve wondered that for the past eight years, Avalon. If I knew where he was for certain, I’d go there in a heartbeat.”
“Of course.” I felt foolish.
“Anyway,” Jack sighed, “Enough about me. How are you feeling?”
“Fine, well rested.” I admitted. I was not tired anymore, just cold.
“Camryn and I were talking about having another go at a flying lesson tonight if you were awake and up to it.”
“Sounds good.” I said with as much enthusiasm as possible, “Didn’t you say you had an idea that might help Hawthorne?”
“Indeed I did say that.” He chuckled, “C’mon.” Jack got up from the bed and strode towards the door.
“All right, give me a second.” I pulled the sheets back from myself and swung my legs from the bed. My back was rather sore from where I had fallen onto the hard stone stairs in Noah’s secret room. I didn’t want to think about that night. I winced in pain and Jack strode back over to me.
“Where does it hurt?” He asked instantly.
I smiled, “It’s nothing really, I’m sure.” I rubbed my back.
Jack sighed, “Show me.”
Grumbling I fumbled with my clothes, when I realised, “Wait … I wasn’t wearing this earlier. Jack did you-” My face burned scarlet in my embarrassment.
Jack seemed embarrassed too, “Well your uniform was ruined so I had to give it to Camryn to sew some buttons back on.” He mumbled, “I had to change you into something.”
I winced and looked down at my night garments, “Thanks … I think.”
Jack laughed, “Nothing I haven’t seen before.”
“That’s quite enough, thank you.”
Laughing, Jack examined my lower spine, “That’s quite a bruise you’ve got there.” He poked it and I winced as a searing, burning pain shot through me.
“Ow. Just heal it, would you?” I snapped.
“I did.” Jack raised an eyebrow at me, “Did that burn?”
“Yes.” I sulked, “It hurt.”
“Humph.” Jack thought for a moment before shaking his head dismissively, “Anyway, you’re all better now. Get changed into something warm while I wait outside.”
I straightened up and found my spine didn’t hurt any more. Rugging up in several of my clothes quickly I then headed out to the stables with Jack. I shivered violently as the cold breeze whipped around me. I didn’t like this one bit.
As I walked into the stables, I gasped. It was a mess. Hawthorne’s stall door had been wrenched completely from its hinges and shattered into many pieces that were strewn across the floor.
“Did you do that?” I shot at Hawthorne, who was waiting by the door for us.
He bowed his head like a little puppy caught doing something naughty. I smiled despite myself and petted him anyway. Could I blame him? He’d done it in his haste to get to me.
“We’ll clean this up together.” I told him.
“You bet you will.” Came Camryn’s voice. A moment later she had stepped into the open from the store-room at the back of the stables where the reigns and other gear was kept safe under lock and bolt. She didn’t look the least bit amused that the stall gate had been destroyed.
The next ten minutes were spent lumping various pieces of wood into a pile in the middle of the floor that were retrieved from all corners of the room. Once we were sure that the area was indeed clean we headed outside into the freezing night to have another try at flying.
“Let’s get started, I guess.” I said rubbing my hands together, my teeth chattering. How did anyone ever get used to this cold?
“I had a thought.” Camryn began.
“Really, just the one?” Jack interrupted, his voice dripping with false amazement.
Camryn glared at him, but continued, “Well, it concerns what Jack said last week, about the whole ‘debt’ nonsense.”
“You said that was rubbish though.” I pointed out.
“Well, yes, but I thought that it would be broken now, seeing as, well, you know.” She shrugged.
I knew exactly what she meant. She thought, because Hawthorne had saved me from Noah, that his debt had been repaid. I still didn’t believe this nonsense though.
“Yeah!” Jack said eagerly, “That’s brilliant!”