I dug into the pack, pulled the cloak hood low so my hands were under it, and reached for the inventory as I had practiced, a small mental click, like remembering a familiar password, and palmed a packet of bread and a wedge of cheese under the cloak before bringing them out as if they had been in my bag the whole time.
Zero watched me do it with the expression of a woman who had just clocked the whole maneuver and was choosing not to comment, which was, frankly, the way she watched me do most things.
I held the food out to Ruby.
"Eat it slowly and in small bites. It's good food, real food, but your stomach is going to be small. Don't push."
She didn't take it.
She stared at the bread. She stared at the cheese. Then she looked up at me, and her face changed for the first time, and what changed it wasn't gratitude, it was terror. "...What do I have to do?"
"Eat," I replied.
She shook her head and asked, "For the food. What do I have to do for the food?"
