The Warehouse pt3

 

I groaned as I opened my eyes. Someone had put a pillow under my head and covered me with a blanket. I was still on the catwalk. There was a lot of movement and excitement around. I blinked several times, trying to shake off the fog that settled over me. I used too much magic. I would be feeling it for days.

“Morning, sunshine,” James said as he ambled up to me. “We’ve got something for you.”

I glared at him. I hated it when he called me sunshine. That’s why he did it. I grumbled as I climbed to my feet. All my joints were stiff. I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck.

“Why do you have to be so cheerful when I wake up?” I asked him.

“Because I am the light of your life,” he said, looping his arm through mine. “The kids have something for you.”

I slid my eyes to him, but he didn’t say anything else. He led me around to the stairs. He was humming. I hadn’t heard him hum in a while. It made my heart skip a beat. He was happy. Genuinely happy. I squeezed his arm as we stepped off the last step.

He took me over to a closed door. This room had been falling apart, but now it looked as if the wall and door had been patched up. He gestured for me to open it.

I bit my lip as I reached for the handle. As soon as I could see inside, I sucked in a breath and felt tears welling in my eyes. They had done so much more than patch things up. A bed big enough for James and I was in the corner. It looked like they had tried to scrub all the walls inside clean. Some of the art the younger kids liked to make was hanging around the room. A small dresser was on one side with a coffee maker on top of it. I didn’t know where they could’ve found one. They were too expensive.

“I can’t…” I started, trying to force the tears back. “I can’t take this. I need all of you to get settled.”

“You can,” Amy said. “You do everything for us. You set the plan, provide protection, get us medicine, and food, and whatever we need.”

“It’s your turn to have something just for the two of you,” Grace said. “We needed this space, and you got it and helped us defend it.”

“I put you all in danger,” I said softly.

“You saved us,” Allen said.

I didn’t have any words. I didn’t know what to say to any of them. All the work they had put into this. Finding an actual bed alone would have been a struggle. They had done all of this for James and I.

“Thank you,” I managed to breathe.

I couldn’t keep the tears from flowing. James pulled me into a hug. I heard the other kids behind us. I stepped back from James and turned to all of them. They were beaming at me; a few had tears in their eyes, too. They all put their hands over their hearts and bowed. My body shook as the tears fell.

“Get some rest,” Amy said. “We are going to work out how to use the rest of the space.”

They all filed out and left James and me in the room together. Amy gave me a nod and pulled the door closed. I stepped into James again, and he held me tight.

“I led them into so much danger coming here,” I whispered against his shoulder.

“It was needed,” he answered.

“I should have found somewhere else. I saw the bandages some of them had.”

“If I thought you were being reckless, I wouldn’t have let it happen,” he said. “It was dangerous, and I was worried about it, but I knew we didn’t have many options.”

I pulled back from him again and looked around the room. The pictures the young ones had drawn for us. It melted my heart. They really were my kids. I would do anything to protect them.