Well XXXXXXXXX! Oliver thought. The sound of it in his mind like crackling flames. XXXXXXXXX! But he said nothing. He stood there in the forest next to her as they hid in the shadows and watched the way the magic vines wrapped and unwrapped themselves.
They were stealing time. He was stealing time for Ingrid.
Instead he said, "What are you thinking about?"
Because it was clear she was making some kind of association in her mind or creating a new world or a better future or a plot to dunk him in the river...
She blinked thrown by the volume of his words like they'd reached her on a different audio wave than everything else did. "I'm thinking," she said, "about how small the two of us are. I'm wondering if it would be possible to slip past those vines. I'm pondering what Mom and Dad could have been yelling about. And I've decided to join the resistance."
"The resistance?" The words tasted like honey wrapped in silk, impossibly sticky and smooth. His eyes traveled down to her toes then back up again. Ingrid was not what he would call good resistance material...
"Yes." She had never sounded more sure of anything. "In three days, I will be sixteen," she reminded him, "and then I can officially be a resistance member."
Her voice had dropped to a whisper as though the vines could hear her and would spread her secret.
"What about your asthma*?" Oliver asked. Please don't do it, he thought. Ingrid, you can't do it. If you go, why should I stay?
"They don't have to know." She was being stubborn. She was hardly ever stubborn.
"Ingrid..." How could he convince her? How could he keep her safe and sound?
"Don't tell me I can't, Oliver." Her jaw was set, and he could feel the defensiveness blocking out her fear. And suddenly, he saw it, the moment she decided to be reckless.
He opened his mouth to tell her not to do it, but she was already running toward the vines. Of course, he followed.
Notes: *asthma, I don't think they term it this. That's very much our word...
This is before her parents' death. Ingrid's allowed to be reckless without worrying about the consequences for Liam....
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