"No, I haven't been given any other rewards . I spent the last one I got to find out where Eleanor is so we can rescue her . " Jack said, before adding "And trust me, n.o.body wants me to stop being burned by you three more than me . "

Rose looked puzzled, staring off into the middle distance in thought for a moment before she asked "Are you still able to touch me now?"

"I honestly don't know . I'm almost afraid to try . " Jack said .

"Well, if you don't, you'll never know . " Rose said . "Hold out your hand . "

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www . webnovel . com for visiting .

Advertis.e.m.e.nt

"Okay . . . Jack said, hesitating .

He reached his hand out gingerly and held it out, palm up in front of him . Rose lifted one of her hands off her lap, and gently ran her fingertip across the inside of his palm . Jack instinctively flinched and pulled away, shaking his hand several times . She was painfully hot to the touch again, and the inside of his hand stung for a few seconds afterward .

"No good, huh?" Rose said, looking at him apologetically .

"Fraid not . " Jack said, grimacing .

"Sorry about that . " She said, and then added "I wonder what could have made it possible before . . . . Do you think it had something to do with me crying or something?"

Jack thought about that for a moment .

"I honestly don't know . Do you normally feel cold when you're sad or something?" He asked .

"I guess? I've never really noticed one way or the other . " She said, shrugging .

"Well, that'll have to be our working theory for now, because whatever it was, it's gone now, and I'm not looking to make you cry again just to see if I can touch you . It'll be my luck you'll be upset AND still burn me . " Jack said playfully .

"Maybe . " Rose said, lifting her head and making eye contact with him through her eyelashes . Her yellow irises seemed to almost glow in the warm, flickering lamplight, and she smiled a small, crooked smile . "Maybe one day we'll figure out how to make it happen again . "

Her look took on an almost suggestive quality as she said this, causing Jack's heartrate to speed up again . He wasn't sure if she meant what he felt she was implying, but either way, he felt his face redden, and after a moment of her statement hanging in the air between them, Jack cleared his throat awkwardly, and changed the subject .

"So, we have about 3 days travel to get to the cave where Ellie is . It's somewhere through a forest, over a river, and up the side of a mountain . I don't know where that is in relation to anything else in this world, but that's where we're going . " He said .

"3 days . . . . through a forest . . . side of a mountain . . . . " Rose muttered to herself as she reached for her pack . Rummaging through it for a moment, she pulled out a rolled piece of parchment, and unrolled it out in front of her .

Looking across, Jack could see that is was a map of some kind . It was weather-stained brown, and looked handmade, which it probably was . After a moment staring at the map, Rose pointed at a spot on it .

"That's probably where she is, if you're right . " She said .

Her finger hovered above a single free-standing mountain sandwiched among a group of hills not terribly far northeast from the town they were located in on the map . Drawing a straight line with his eyes, Jack could see that, based on the drawing in front of him, they'd encounter all of the landmarks he'd described . From the looks of things, this would be the only mountain they could reach within three days travel that would have them cross everything Frumpkin had shown him .

"Yeah, that'd have to be it . " Jack said, nodding . He looked up at Rose and smiled . "Good work!"

Rose smiled back . "Thanks," she said, before rolling up the map again and sticking it in her pack .

"Now, I think it's time for some sleep . We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow . " Jack said .

And with that, he blew out the lantern, plunging the two of them into the darkness of a long night's sleep .