Druidess Found (Druidess Trilogy Book 1) by Machelle Hanleigh (interesting novels to read txt) 📕

finally one of Shimani's concoctions didn't taste so bad. It almost reminded her of iced tea on Earth. She felt her stomach begin to calm. She was amazed at how fast his concoctions worked.

"We can talk after you eat."

"I'm not hungry." She said.

He gave her a mischievous smile. "Are you sure about that?"

She opened her mouth to reiterate her denial, but then closed it as a wave of ravenous hunger seized her, and her stomach rumbled with the emptiness she felt. She narrowed her eyes again on Shimani. "Exactly how many symptoms are you keeping from me?" She asked.

"That was the last one," he said around a mouth full of food.

"Why did I have those symptoms?" She didn't look at Shimani. She kept her eyes on the plate in front of her.

He paused between bites. "Eat."

She lifted her eyes to his.

He held her gaze for a moment, "I will answer your questions after you eat."

"Fine," she said.

They ate in silence. She glanced at Shimani from time to time, but his gaze seldom met hers and he seemed so far away in thought. Finally, she focused on quieting the hunger inside her as she emptied the contents of her plate and took a second helping of pahini. She satisfied the hunger, but pahini was her favorite and she couldn't resist another helping. After she finished, she sat and waited for Shimani to speak. The silence lengthened between them, and she grew more and more uncomfortable. They completed their meal, and she waited for answers.

He did not speak or give any indication that he was ready to answer her questions. She turned her attention to the pool, and the open ledge that it over looked. Her eyes kept drifting thoughtfully back to Shimani. There was something different, older about him than she previously noticed. He wasn't her easy-going, fun-loving friend anymore.

Finally, he handed her a square parchment paper. "Have you," he paused for a moment as if thinking about what he wanted to ask, "seen that before?"

She took the parchment. She was positive that was not exactly the question he originally was going to ask. She let it drop. "I have not seen paper of any type in the Kahoali village."

"No, you have not."

She eyed him suspiciously but held back further comment. She glanced down at the parchment square. Her hands began to shake, and she swallowed the lump suddenly in her throat. Her eyes once again met his. "Is that what you really want to know, Shimani?"

He shook his head. "No." He looked out over the pool and again he seemed far away.

She waited.

He turned back to her and took a deep breath before continuing. "I want to know if you have drawn that symbol at any time in the past."

She reached under her sweater and pulled out the thin journal she slipped into the waist of her jeans. She didn't know why she had done that when she dressed. She just had a feeling she should take it with her. She handed him the journal.

He frowned as he took the thin book. He opened it and thumbed through the pages and then handed it back to her. "I see." He stepped away from the table and stopped at the edge of the pool.

She sat at the table and waited. She opened her journal and compared what she doodled in it to the square parchment he handed her. There was no mistake the symbol was an exact match to her crude sketches. She glanced up when Shimani cursed. He still stood by the pool. "What's wrong?" She called to him.

"I wish I had guidance in this." He said more to himself than to her, although he spoke loud enough that she heard him. He turned back to her.

She watched him walk back and sit again in the cushion he vacated. "I don't understand." She handed the square parchment back to him. "What is that?"

"Before I answer that question, I need to talk to you about your night terrors." Shimani touched her hands.

She pulled her trembling hands back and placed them in her lap. "No." She shook her head for emphasis. The last thing she wanted was to talk about her dreams; not to Moto and certainly not to Shimani.

"I'm not asking, Kaily, and I'm not going to be as nice about it as Moto was." There was warning in Shimani's voice; a warning that she would never have expected to be there, not with Shimani.

Her eyes met his. "Nice? You think Moto was nice about it?" She frowned. Was he nice about it? She couldn't remember. He asked her often to talk about them, but had he actually forced her to?

"I have to understand the source of those night terrors, before I can decide what the best course of action to take here is." His tone softened, but she heard resolve in it.

She swallowed the lump that seemed to be permanently lodged in her throat these days. "I," she shook her head, "I don't want to talk about them. I can't talk about them." Her eyes met his and tears surfaced in her eyes. "Please, Shimani, understand, I can't, won't talk about them."

He gave her a sad smile. "It's the only way. As long as you avoid talking about them, they have power over you. Let's start with the night terror that you woke from today." He came around the table and crouched in front of her. He took her hands in his and refused to relinquish them when she tried to pull them out of his. "I'm right here with you, Kaily. Please, it's important."

She glanced at the pool and the tears fell from her eyes. "In the dreams, night terrors," she corrected, "I'm like I am now,"

He let go of one of her hands.

She wiped at the tears. He loosened his grip. She left her other hand in his for strength. She swallowed the lump still in her throat. It didn't go away. "In the," she wiped again at