Page 32 of Amaros

Chapter Seventeen

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SLEEPING ON THE HARDstone floor was as uncomfortable as Zoe had expected.Her sleeping bag hadn’t done much to cushion her.“We should have slept in the tank,” she grumbled.

“No kidding,” Grace agreed, stretching inside her sleeping bag.“The seats in the pickup are a lot more comfortable than sleeping on the floor.”She poked her head out and winced.“Brr, it’s cold here,” she complained.

“I forgot to shut the window and door,” Zoe said in a pathetic attempt at a joke.

The teen snickered as she unzipped her sleeping bag.They’d both gone to bed fully clothed, so at least they had some protection from the cold.“I’ll need thicker tights,” Grace said, shivering as wind gusted through the window.

“Why don’t you wear jeans?”Zoe asked.

“They’re always too long,” she said.“Besides, I like tights.”

She could buy jeans for petite women, or roll them up, but it was obvious she liked her own quirky style.“You’ll have to wear something a lot warmer once it starts to snow,” Zoe warned her.

“I know.I grabbed thermal gear from the sports store,” Grace replied.

Zoe couldn’t sense Amaros in the building, but she knew he was somewhere close by.They ate a quick breakfast and went in search of him.The strange link she felt with the knight led them through the trees deeper into the mountains.They’d only walked a short distance before the trees ended.

“What a view,” Grace said in awe as they gazed at a large lake.Taller mountains surrounded the valley Amaros had found.He was hunkered next to the water.

“Is it clean?”Zoe asked when Amaros turned his head.

“I believe so,” he replied.“One of you will have to test it.”

“Can’t your kind eat or drink at all?”Grace asked.

“We can, but it all tastes bland to us,” he replied.

“I’ll taste it,” Zoe volunteered.Kneeling beside the warrior, she scooped up a handful of lake water and drank it down.“It tastes pure,” she said in relief.

“We’d better wait a few minutes to make sure you don’t get stomach cramps and other intestinal problems,” Grace figured.

“I can see fish swimming around in it, so I doubt there’s anything deadly in the water,” Amaros said.

His eyesight was even keener than theirs if he could spot the fish swimming beneath the water.The valley was sheltered from the harsh wind.Zoe could hear animals roaming around in the forest that surrounded the lake.“We could live here indefinitely, if we plant vegetables and maybe some fruit,” she mused.“There should be deer and other animals we can hunt for food.”

“We should have grabbed bows and arrows from the sports store,” Grace said.“Guns will chase them away.”

Amaros wiped his hand on his jeans, standing up as Zoe rose to her feet.“We can return to the store and retrieve everything else we need,” he said.

“I feel fine, so the water must be safe,” Zoe figured.

Grace tried it herself and wiped her chin dry with her sleeve.“It tastes better than tap water,” she said in approval.

“How far is New York from here?”Amaros asked, leading the way back to their base.