Salmon and the Hazel (The Rowan Harbor Cycle Book 9) by Sam Burns

Author:Sam Burns [Burns, Sam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-03T16:00:00+00:00

The walk probably wasn’t shorter than it had been the first time, but since they knew more about where they were going and how long it would take, it seemed less interminable.

Still, they didn’t talk much, leaned on each other often, and Jesse had to stop himself from turning around and going back multiple times in the first hour. It had been so nice. And everyone had been kind and interested in what he had to say without laughing at him.

On the other hand, part of him liked when his friends laughed at him. It was never amusement at his expense; they weren’t like that. He sometimes acted ridiculous to get laughs. It was fun.

Focusing on that reminded him of what he was doing. Why he was going away from the nice warm palace with the kind people and the amazing food. Besides, they had brought some food with them, even if it was surely frozen by now. It would thaw in Summer, and they would eat it then.

He hoped there was bread.

On the other hand, he would never admit that was one of the things that pushed him forward. Contrary to everyone’s jokes about him, he did not make everything about food. Just the things that made his stomach grumble.

Somehow, the transition into Summer was as surprising as the one to Winter had been. One moment the path before him was all endless snowdrifts as far as the eye could see, and the next he was almost face planting into a tree. He pulled up short at the last second and dodged it.

“Oh thank goodness,” Sean groaned, his head thrown back in apparent ecstasy at the lack of cold.

“Mmmhmm,” Jesse hummed in agreement. His voice was still croaky from the storytelling the night before, and now, hours of disuse. Plus he was plain old exhausted.

They spent a few minutes stripping off coats and extra layers, Jesse changing into a T-shirt with short sleeves, and then tucking everything back into their bags. Sean slipped the fairy dust in his pocket once again, Jesse noticed. They weren’t going to be caught unaware for a second time.

Then they sat down and opened the basket of food. Part of Jesse expected it to have magically rotted when they crossed the border, or that it would be so frozen that it would be inedible for hours yet, but instead, when he opened the basket, the smell and warmth of freshly baked bread wafted out. It looked as though it had just been packed, without a single sign that it had gone through hours of marching through a snowy wasteland.

It was like the meal from the previous afternoon: bread, butter, ham, cheese, and this time a tiny pot of what turned out to be strawberry jam. It was, once again, one of the best meals of Jesse’s life. Something about eating after a major workout—like, say, miles of walking without rest—made food taste better.

Plus, he supposed there was magic involved. It did make a little corner of his soul wonder why they had left again.

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