“No,” I managed to croak out after I took a small drink, “they are not.”
“Good thing to remember next time you go bingeing.”
The thought of even seeing another carrot made my stomach twist.
“Was there alcohol in the carrot juice?”
“No, but it had other stuff in it,” Aahz said, “Stuff I’m guessing make the people of those towns good eating for the vampires.”
My stomach twisted.
“And maybe help keep them under control,” Tanda said, looking at me. “Think you can come to the table and try to eat a little something?”
“I can try,” I said, “but no promises.”
“Good enough. You need to eat.”
“How long was I sleeping?” I asked as I stood and shuffled my way to the table.
I dropped into a chair and then tried to remain still while the world spun for a moment.
“About twelve hours,” Aahz said. “We were just getting ready to head back to Kowtow when you started to wake up.”
“Without me?” I asked, staring into the eyes of my mentor.
He smiled at what must have been my shocked expression.
“Just to explore and get a little closer to Donner while the vampires were back being cows. We would have left you shielded and been back in a few hours.”
“You still want to see if you can get to the treasure?” I asked, not believing that Aahz would even want to go back to the place again, let alone try to get a golden-milk-giving cow that turned into a vampire.
“Sure,” he said. “We’re too close to turn back now.”
“And just what are you going to do when you find this golden cow?”
“I asked him the same thing,” Tanda said.
“I’ll figure that out when we find it,” Aahz said.