Theo found another of Egret’s sketches in the dirt. Puzzled, she looked at it from all directions, circling it, trying to figure out what it was. It was a strange figure, resembling no animal or plant she’d ever seen.
Finally, Theo turned her head at just the right angle to see that it was a human. Why did it take me so long to recognize it? she wondered. The drawing had two arms, two legs, a body and a head- yet it was hardly identifiable. Egret just needs more practice, she decided, completely ignoring the fact that Egret’s drawing was far better than anything she could ever have done.
Theo turned her attention back to Xander, not far off. She had had to entertain him for the whole rest of the day, not sure of what ever happened to Jacinth.
With the darkening sky of the evening, the deep red dragon came at last.
“Sorry,” Jacinth apologized, dragging her feet as she walked. “Poor hunting today. All I got was a squirrel.”
“That’s alright,” Theo replied. “Xander wasn’t much of a hassle. But, I’ve been noticing that…as it gets later in the day, he starts acting…strange.” Theo eyed Xander where he was curled up in a blanket given to him by Damon. His expression was fixed in a sort of vexed stare, yet his eyes focused in on nothing in particular. It almost looked as though he were in a trance.
“Strange?” Jacinth inquired.
“Yeah, I mean-” Theo stopped. Xander had gotten up from the ground and was now approaching them.
“I can’t get something off my mind,” he confessed in hushed tones.
“What is it?” Theo asked.
Xander took a moment, deep in thought.
“My- my father,” he began hesitantly. “He gets violent when he’s drunk, and…I mean, I was always pretty good at avoiding him. But my little sister…” Xander stared at the ground.
“What about your mother?” Theo asked, quietly.
“My mother,” he spat, “is senseless! She won’t hear a word against my father!” Theo thought he spoke maturely for his age as he stood with fists clenched, shaking in anger.
“So…” Jacinth spoke up, not completely understanding the situation. “What do you want us to do?”
Xander’s face crumpled, tears beginning to stream from his eyes. He glared even harder at the ground. “I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I just can’t stop worrying for my sister.”
Xander looked up, his brown eyes willing them to believe. “She needs me,” he said.
Theo shifted uncomfortably. What can we really do? It’s still important that he stays with us. Even if he was loyal and didn’t say anything about us on his own accord, the guards that made him come into our territory in the first place could probably find him again. The guards, or his parents…someone could force him to speak up.
Looking to Jacinth, Theo saw that she didn’t seem to know what to do either.
The sun was completely down now, leaving Theo’s night vision to take over.
“I can’t just abandon her!” She was startled as Xander started yelling. “She’d be better off even here, just so long as she’s with me! Please!”
“Hey, hey alright!” Jacinth tried to calm him down, alarmed. Theo stared at her.
“We’re taking in his little sister, now?” Theo asked, stunned.
Jacinth met her eyes helplessly. “Wouldn’t it be wrong not to?” she asked. “It’s torturous, keeping him here, making him worry like this.”
Theo couldn’t be sure, until she recalled the drowned hatchling she had fished out of the creek.
No one was there to help it, she remembered. But maybe this is a new chance to protect the youth that needs us.