Page 61 of Outcast Fae
And passed through without an issue.
Work together, Meadow Song had said. Partners. She wanted us to go through with a partner.
Sinasre grabbed Chan and pulled him through, leaving Patricia who howled something about being left behind. As I was watching, someone’s hand grabbed mine. I thought it would be Daniella, but it was far too large. When I looked up, Vaughn was tugging me toward the wavering blue ribbon.
Me? He wanted me?
Elon looked disappointed. Daniella just looked stunned.
Before I could protest or even question what in the hell he was doing, Vaughn pulled us through the start barrier and into the game.
“We need to be quick, Tally,” Vaughn said, glancing at the raised platforms ahead of us. “Sinasre is already halfway through.”
I wondered why he cared, but I had a feeling he couldn’t stand the thought of Sinasre beating him at anything even if the prize was fake.
Scanning ahead, I saw he was right. Sinasre and Chan were already five platforms across the raised group of ten. They used long boards to walk across. Sinasre was lithe and, judging by the way Chan was balancing on the thin boards, he seemed to have skill in acrobatics. Either way, they were moving from platform to platform without difficulty. I took one look at Vaughn’s bulk and knew we had a problem.
Yet, I had wings. This would be so simple for me. That was why he picked me. Not because he’d begun to trust me or even like me. It was because I could help him win. I bit my lip and thought about telling him to shove it up his backside.
Still, we both wanted to get inside the dome, though for different reasons. So I needed to work alongside Vaughn whether I liked it or not.
Could we win? Henry and Gina were having a terrible time getting up onto the first post, so they were no threat. And I didn’t have much hope for Elon and Daniella. He was yelling at her, and she was glaring at him like she wanted to set him on fire with her eyes. Still wary of Vaughn, I decided to go along.
I grabbed a board and flew it up to the top of the first platform. “Hurry. Climb up.”
Climbing was no problem for Vaughn. In no time, he had scaled the wooden ladder on the side of the platform. However, his girth took up the whole top area and then some. If I hadn’t been able to fly, there was no way the two of us would have fit together.
Just another reason he picked me. I scowled and dropped the board down, affixing it between the two raised platforms. The sooner we were done with this the better.
We moved fast. I carried the board to the next platform and handed one end to Vaughn. Once we secured it on each end, he walked carefully across. He was more balanced than I would have thought, moving across the four-inch-wide piece of wood like a circus performer. When he was safely on the next platform, we repeated the whole process again, and soon caught up and passed Sinasre and Chan.
“No fair,” Chan shouted into the sky. “She can fly.”
Meadow Song’s voice answered back. “No one said you couldn’t use your powers.”
I smiled. I might be able to win this whole thing yet. So much for being a worthless fae.
We reached the last platform and Vaughn clambered down as I landed. A bell dinged and Vaughn gave a whoop, throwing a fist in the air. Ahead of us was another obstacle, but I couldn’t discern its nature since it was low to the ground. No flying necessary. Vaughn turned toward it as if ready to sprint ahead.
It was exactly what I’d thought. I’d gotten him over the obstacle he’d needed me for, and now he was done with me. Fine. I turned back to help Daniella and Elon who were still struggling to get the boards from the second platform to the third. Vaughn could likely win the rest from here without my help. He’d only see me as a worthless fae to slow him down.
But when I turned to head back, an invisible cord tightened around my middle squeezing my air out. Only by returning to Vaughn’s side did the pressure slacken.
Feeling it too, he looked up at me, one corner of his mouth curling up as if he delighted in this turn of events.
“Well, fae, like it or not, it looks like you’re stuck with me.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
I didn’t wantto go with Vaughn, but it seemed I didn’t have a choice. The magic wouldn’t let us separate no matter what we tried. He was my partner now whether I liked it or not. Turning to him, I followed as he rushed toward the next obstacle.
When we got there, we found a huge, perfectly-square pit, surrounded by torches that glowed against the darkening sky. It was about twenty feet deep with a bottom that crackled with a latticework of blue electricity. There was a hum in the air that left no doubt as to the current’s power. If we fell in, we would fry like fish in a skillet.
A small wooden crate hung high above the pit, held up by a nautical rope as thick as one of Vaughn’s arms. The rope seemed to go around some invisible pulley, then came down in a diagonal line toward a corner of the pit where it was firmly nailed to the ground by a huge metal stake.
Vaughn tried to walk around the pit, but the path was barred by another invisible force field that threw him back like at the beginning of the course.
“No surprise there,” he said. “What do you think that does?” He pointed at the dangling crate.
