Page 46 of Suncatcher

Driz approached the narrow bend of the stream, where the terrain pinched it and made it run deeper. She’d never hunted with an audience before, but she was indeed hungry, and a part of her she didn’t quite understand wanted Pearl to see her. To prove she was capable?

Driz focused on the darker shapes as she stepped into the soothing current. Crouching, she let her hands sink into the water, all the way to the bottom. She calmed her heart, steadied her breath, and ever so slowly, started to move. She inched downstream, trailing and bumping her hands. Just another pair of stones caught in the current. The fish hovered, unsuspecting as she drew closer and her open palms settled beneath two of them.

They didn’t have time to move from her strike. She stood, shattering the calm surface of the water, a wriggling fish in each of her fists.

She turned proudly to Pearl, who was sprawled back on the rock, watching.

Driz held out one of the thrashing fish. “Are you sure you do not want one?”

“I’m sure.”

Driz brought it to her mouth and bit off the head and top of the spine. The body continued to twitch.

“Scales and all, huh?” Pearl asked, an odd expression on her face.

Driz paused. “Do you not eat the scales?”

“Or the bones when they’re that big. And I prefer things cooked, not wriggling.”

“Oh.” Driz looked around. “I would cook this one for you, but I do not know how to make fire. Or how to cook.”

“It’s fine. Really. I’m not a fan of mudscupper, at any temperature.”

Driz licked her lips, catching a few sharp scales clinging there, suddenly self-conscious. She should have waited to eat until later, but if she didn’t finish now, the fish might go to waste.

She faced the water so Pearl couldn’t see and shoved the rest of the first, followed by the second, into her mouth, devouring them as fast as she could. The gritty, silty flesh and crunchy bones scraping against her teeth echoed around them. Driz had always enjoyed the flavor, but Pearl clearly didn’t. Driz would remember that for the future.

She turned back, wiping her hands on the front of her trouser legs, and then she brushed the fabric again, trying to dislodge the scales and bits of slime and blood now sticking to her thighs.

Pearl’s soft chuckle made her freeze.

“What?” Driz asked.

“Nothing, you’re just…Never mind.”

“I do mind.”

But Pearl didn’t answer, just shook her head as she stood. She patted her front, withdrawing a slender cigarette and box of matches. Driz watched in fascination as Pearl struck a match and light flared.

Pearl inhaled and released, smoke pouring from her nose and mouth. It wafted into Driz’s own nose and eyes.

Pearl must have noticed Driz staring. “Wanna try?” She extended the smoldering cigarette.

Driz accepted it, the tube of paper delicate between the pads of her fingers. She brought the end to her mouth as Pearl had, and tentatively breathed in. It tickled her throat and lungs and stung her eyes. She coughed, retreating a step, out from the cloud and back into fresh air.

She didn’t think she liked it, but she did enjoy watching Pearl do it.

The gold in Pearl’s mouth glinted as she took the cigarette back and wrapped her lips around where Driz’s had just been.

Driz liked that a lot.

“So this is what you do in your spare time?” Pearl asked, waving her hand and disturbing the ring of smoke that hung around her. “Add to your collection?”

“When I can.”

“Do all gargoyles have collections?”

Driz shook her head. “I do not think so. My mother did not, and said I was strange for it.”