The Prior

POV: Elliot Foster

“Max is being extraordinarily lovey-dovey of you today,” I say to Cassidy.

“I know? What’s his deal?” she says to me with a smile. “You’re getting better at this, you know,” she says after a moment.

“Gossiping?” I question. She nods. I notice her tiredness; dark circles, poor posture. We all are tired. Maybe not sleep-driven tiredness, but emotionally, physically, mentally tired. My body is sore from walking, fighting, and moving. I’m drained emotionally from the death, the gore. And I’m mentally tired of never getting a break. This never ends. Ever. I can only imagine the others are feeling the same way. Cassidy’s a diplomat, there’s no way that her body is used to this. Belle’s just a kid. She doesn’t need to see all this horror. Max has seen a million crime scenes, I’m sure, but he’s never had to go through all of this. After a few more moments of silence, Cassidy speaks up.

“These shoes are killing me,” she says to no one in particular. I look down at her pointy-toed, heeled shoes. They look uncomfortable.

“Just take them off. We don’t mind,” Max says.

She looks at him and takes off a shoe, “Smart. You’re smart.”

“Want me to carry you? You shouldn’t walk on the ground barefoot. Who knows what you’ll step in,” I ask after she takes off both shoes. The path is a mix of gravel, dirt, and stones.

“It’s not that far,” she says.

“Exactly, get on my back - you don’t weigh much,” I say. Her exhaustion wins the fight with her mind. She jumps onto my back and wraps her arms around my neck.

She whispers in my ear, “I can feel Max’s jealousy from here.” The warmth of her arms around my body becomes my only thought. I attempt to remind myself that these feelings are unprofessional. But, god, is she beautiful. We make it to the fort. Cassidy hops down and walks next to me.

“So, what’s the plan? We just ask for hospitality?” I ask the group.

“I don’t know why not,” Cassidy says.

We walk up to the fort’s doors. A guard asks us a question. It’s in Spanish. Cassidy turns to all of us, “Who speaks Spanish?”

“I mean, I took it in high school? I can try,” I whisper. She sighs.

“I’m Mexican. Hold up,” Belle says, migrating to the front of the group. A rush of relief runs through my body.

“Hola. Estamos de paso. ¿Serías capaz de ofrecer hospitalidad?”

He answers: “Sí”

We go into the fort. Another man converses with Cassidy, in English, before he takes us to two rooms. He points to Belle and Max and they follow him into a room. Cassidy and I end up in a different one.

“Oh, by the way, he thinks we’re married,” Cassidy says, giggling a little. I instinctively make a face. She sees it.

“He was hitting on me, so I told him I was married. And then, he said ‘which one’ and I was not about to choose Max. The man would’ve thought that was my ultimate declaration of love,” she explains. She’s cute when she’s flustered. The ‘oops’ face she made after was adorable. If I didn’t fear her finding out the truth so much, maybe I would just kiss her. But, I can’t possibly let her know. When they trained me, they prepared me for this. No falling in love. Plus, I already have enough on my hands with her questions. Letting myself fall out of a professional relationship with her would be the first step to a major fuck-up.

“Nah, it’s cool. I’m just giving you a hard time. Max would’ve taken it too far and kissed you or something,” I say, feeling a little backwards after I just imagined kissing her. She nods and smiles a little before walking towards the open window. She sticks her head out the window and laughs a little. I walk up behind her and look out the window. It’s got quite the view.

“How old are you?” she asks after a moment.

“Twenty three. Why?” I say.

“Just wondering. I was thinking about your niece and I didn’t...” she trails off.

“On the topic of random questions, Cass, why...” I start.

“Why’d you call me ‘Cass?’” she interrupts and turns to face me.

“Is that not your name?” My heart sinks for a second… have I been calling her the wrong name this whole time? Does she hate me now?

“I mean, it’s my name, but you always call me Cassidy. It’s like your thing,” she says, twisting a piece of her hair.

“Right. I said that earlier and Max got all pissy about me saying Cassidy so I thought I should respect what you wanted to be called,” I blabber.

“Why the hell would you listen to Max? It really doesn’t matter,” she snickers. She’s got an eyebrow cocked and a slight grin on her face. My heart feels fluttery. I get to call her Cassidy. Just me.

“So what exactly are we doing here, do you remember?” she turns away from the window, but still leans against it. The wind blows her hair. I’m close enough to her that I can feel her breath after she sighs.

“I think we have to save that indigenous guy, right?” I say.

“Yeah. A Seminole,” she remembers, “Do they speak English?”

“I don’t know. If not, I’m Native and speak Choctaw, I think it’s similar. I’m pretty sure the Seminoles speak a Muskogean language, which is the same family as Choctaw,” I say.

“Really? That’s super cool! Did you grow up on a reservation?” she asks, flashing her bright, white teeth in a smile.

“No, no. My mom did and then she moved out when she married my dad. I grew up in Louisiana not too far from it though. My grandparents still live there.” her eyes glimmer in the bright moonlight.

“Is your dad Native too?”

“Nah, he’s actually Moldovan. Bet you’ve never heard of Moldova,” I answer. Her face looks shocked. She laughs a little.

“Ты говоришь по-русский?” she asks, wondering if I spoke Russian.

“Да!” I affirmed.

“Я русская!” she says, telling me that she’s Russian, “Well, my mom is from Russia and my dad is British. But, nevertheless, I speak Russian and obviously know where Moldova is!”

“Dude, that’s so cool...” I start before there’s a knock on the door. Cassidy glances up, breaking the eye contact that we held.

I move to the door and find Belle and Max stand awkwardly in the hallway.

“We need a plan,” Belle says.

“Hey, guys. Come in,” Cassidy says, now appearing behind me. They walk into the room. One of them reeks of armpit. I mean I know they haven’t invented deodorant yet, but Christ.

“You guys are sharing a bed?” Max asks the moment that he walks into the room.

“I mean, I think that they think we’re married so yes. Do you guys have separate beds?” Cassidy says.

“Yes, but no. They think I’m a slave so I basically have a dog bed. But there’s a couch so I’ll just sleep on that,” Belle says, a state of dissatisfaction on her face.

“You guys have a couch too. Ours is pretty comfortable, one of you could totally sleep there!” Max suggests, in a breath of relief.

“Что мне сказать?” Cassidy asks what she should say. I contemplate for a second. Before I reply, I glance at Belle and Max’s bewildered faces.

“Не знаю. Просто скажи ему, что мы взрослые и можем спать в одной постели!” I suggest. This feels like a good secret we have.

“I mean, we are adults. We can handle sharing a bed. It’s fine,” Cassidy says. Max is clearly perturbed.

“What language was that?” Belle asks.

“Russian,” Cassidy and I say in unison.

“Anyway, what’s the plan?” Max asks, seemingly frustrated about getting side tracked from the plan. Cassidy shrugs and Belle sighs.

“We shouldn’t leave the fort until the morning, but I say we wake up and go try to find this guy. I mean, all we have is a picture,” Belle says. Cassidy nods in agreement.

“Sounds like a plan.”