Dragon's Hope by Emily Martha Sorensen

Author:Emily Martha Sorensen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emily Martha Sorensen
Published: 2018-02-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7: Haggard

After thirty-six hours, they had fallen into an exhausting rhythm. Every twenty minutes, Virgil woke up wanting to eat. He nibbled a few bites, complained again about how it wasn’t the food he wanted, and then curled his tail around himself to go back to sleep.

The men left after just a few hours, Mr. Teedle promising to return in the morning. It was only after they’d left that Rose realized she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. She nibbled a few scorched bites of the chicken, too dry and charred to offer to the infant, and offered some to Henry, too. They munched quietly until Virgil woke up again.

There seemed to be no question about going to their new apartment tonight. Trying to contact their families wasn’t mentioned, either. All that mattered right now was feeding Virgil.

As night drew near, Rose yawned. She usually kept herself on a strict schedule, and her body was informing her that it was bedtime. The day had been emotionally wearying, which didn’t help matters. She still felt inadequate, though Virgil’s complaints had grown less vehement, and he seemed reasonably healthy.

Henry noticed her yawn. “I’ll feed him for the next four hours. I’m used to staying up late to finish homework at the last minute. You go get some sleep.”

Rose nodded, grateful. She picked up the carpet bag and moved to the furthest corner from the egg, where Virgil’s telepathic cries would not awaken her. She settled down on the hard floor, using the bulging carpet bag as a pillow and the dress’s train as a makeshift blanket across her feet.

All too soon, Henry awakened her.

“It’s your turn,” he said. His eyes were bloodshot, and he rubbed his neck as if it was sore.

Rose nodded, reluctantly, and stood up. She walked over to the side of the room with the egg, and found that there was no more food prepared. She sighed and started shredding chicken into the smallest pieces she could manage.

Glancing back, she saw that Henry was using the carpet bag and the dress much as she had. She tried not to be annoyed by his use of the wedding dress. It was one thing when she did it, but . . .

There are more important things to worry about right now, Rose told herself firmly.

The next few hours were agonizing. It was all she could do to stay awake while feeding Virgil. She started to doze in small spurts in between his awakenings. After four hours, she stumbled over to wake Henry, but he kept on sleeping soundly. In furious misery, she stormed back to her duty.

After seven full hours, Henry finally yawned and sat up. He glanced at his watch blearily. “You should’ve woken me up three hours ago,” he mumbled.

“I tried,” Rose snapped. “You kept sleeping.”

“Oh. I’m a sound sleeper. Sorry. I’ve missed some morning classes that way. Just pour cold water over me or something.”

“Don’t tell me that,” Rose said irritably. “I actually will.”

“Feel free,” Henry shrugged. “My father used to do that to wake me up for school.

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