Page 51 of Outcast Fae
No one answered.
Slowly, Henry unbuttoned his shirt and laid it on Wally’s face, covering the hardened grimace. The young warlock made a strange sign, touching his fingers to his forehead, chest, and both shoulders then lowered his head respectfully.
“They killed him,” Gina wailed, finally accepting what had happened. She began sobbing loudly as Henry pulled her close and smoothed her orange hair.
Steps shuffled up behind me. I glanced back at Vaughn. He was covering himself with one hand. He stared at Wally without expression. I wasn’t sure if he was hiding his emotions or if, all along, he’d suspected something like this might happen.
“What do you know, Vaughn?” I demanded, squaring my shoulders in his direction. My sadness shifted to anger. “You can’t keep it to yourself, not after this.” I pointed at Wally’s body.
“Be quiet, Tally,” he ordered.
“Quiet?! I can’t be quiet. Something is going on here that concerns us all. He’s dead.”
“Be quiet, I said.” He growled, baring teeth that, for an instant, turned pointed and long.
I opened my mouth to argue back, but a popping sound brought me short. A few paces away, three people appeared, including Alonzo and Karen. The other one was an older male I’d never seen before. They were dressed in similar clothes to ours, except theirs were built from a material with a camouflage pattern in different shades of dark green.
The older male stood in the middle. He was broad-shouldered, and his thin lips were pressed into a harsh line while a muscle jumped on his wide jaw. Small blue eyes stared out of a sun-beaten face.
Behind him, Alonzo and Karen stood at attention, weapons held in front of them. I shuddered at the sight of their long rifles, reminded that humans did not prefer a fair fight. If someone had a knife, their opponent would pull out a sword. If someone had a sword, they would reach for a gun. If a gun, a rifle. If a rifle, a bomb. Humans even had weapons that could wipe them out completely. Who did that?
But if they had magic, why did they need these weapons, unless what Gina said was true—Magic was strange here.
“You have blatantly broken the rules that were clearly explained to you in the beginning,” the man with the small blue eyes said. “You are trespassing, and for that, there are consequences.” He glanced at Wally’s fallen shape as if to indicate his death had been the consequence of our disobedience.
I shuddered inside. Wehadbeen warned not to come here, and yet…
“I think we should teach each of them a…personallesson, Captain Harring,” Karen said, licking her lips and smiling. Next to her, Alonzo stared at the ground, appearing embarrassed.
Gina and Henry huddled together and stepped backward. They glanced at Sinasre, panic etched on their little faces. My heart squeezed as I thought of Arryn and Miriyana. They always huddled together when they felt threatened.
Captain Harring seemed to consider Karen’s suggestion. He had the same sadistic glint in his eyes as she did. I had no doubt they would enjoy teaching us apersonal lesson.
“I agree with you,” he said, his words measured and slow as if he were not in a hurry and were enjoying planting the seeds of fear in our hearts.
“Do you get your kicks from scaring kids?” Vaughn asked.
Karen’s eyes traveled the length of Vaughn’s naked body, pausing with particular care over the hand covering his maleness. “Pretty boisterous for a naked guy, even if he’s a werewolf and not an item warlock as he would have us believe.” She pushed his lie at him. Now everyone knew what he was. “Ashamed of being aLesser?” she gloated.
Lesser.
It was a term that “Supers” used to describe anyone who was not a witch or a warlock. In the eyes of humans, we were all Supernaturals, but within our ranks, there were divisions and those who would discriminate against anyone who was different. As a royal, I had never experienced such treatment, and my time here had taught me important lessons about worth and respect.
No one had any right to look down on anybody else, no matter their reasons.
Captain Harring took a step forward, his interest set on Vaughn. He stared for a long moment, then cocked his head and smiled as if he were imagining ways in which to teach Vaughn a lesson.
“Let’s take them with us.” Captain Harring turned to Karen. “Teleport them.”
“My pleasure,” Karen said, moving her hands quickly in a spell.
“No!” Henry whimpered, letting go of Gina to frantically weave his own counter spell.
Vaughn and Sinasre crouched. Electricity sparked between Elon’s fingers. My wings whirred as I clenched my teeth. We would not let them take us without a fight.
Smoke rose from the ground between our group and Captain Harring’s. Meadow Song and Silver Bear materialized in the middle.
“This is not necessary,” Meadow Song said in her understanding, syrupy tone. “The kids just made a mistake, and they have paid dearly for it.” Her eyes darted to Wally’s body for an instant. She swallowed thickly and sniffled. “The New Starts kids are ours. You know what Adaline said about that. At the moment, our priority is to see to Wally and let his friends mourn him.” She nodded her head graciously in our direction.
