Page 11 of Outcast Fae
My thoughts were interrupted by Meadow Song’s voice again. “Wally, the sooner you accept your situation, the sooner you all can make a plan of how you are going to proceed. Your campmates need you.”
I frowned. I didn’t need Wally. I didn’t need any of them. Growing up in Faery, we’d learned early how to survive in the wild. As the queen’s niece, I’d been trained in combat, survival, and orienteering since I was old enough to fly. There was always the threat I’d be kidnapped by the Unseelie or stolen by a lesser court for ransom, so they’d prepared me well. I remembered the words of Burgeron, the Seelie court’s trainer, his gruff hands sliding over mine as he adjusted my grip on a knife.
“Get distracted and get killed, little imp. Now come at me again. And this time, don’t hold back.”
Get distracted and get killed. That applied here as well. None of these humans were my priority, even Daniella. My goal was to get back to the children. To get free.
Elon sidled over to Daniella and me, seeming to realize that Wally and Vaughn were going to take a bit of time to calm down. His cool demeanor seemed to have faded a bit as the reality of what was going to happen had sunk in. He looked soft: weak muscles, uncalloused hands, a baby face that was marred by his smug smile.
“What do you want? You wanna hang out with the girls since we are the only ones who haven’t gone batshit crazy, hmm?” Daniella asked, a nasty tone in her voice though she still hid behind me a bit.
Elon smirked. “I want what you want, to get through this thing. I’m here for four weeks and then I’m done. My parents promised. So, I just need to survive for that long. Simple. Easy. Then I can go back to school and back to my life.” He shrugged, but his brown eyes betrayed his fear. “I drive a Range Rover, you know.”
Daniella ignored his last comment focusing on what he’d said earlier. “Four weeks? Is that how long we’re all here?”
“Depends,” he said. “What did you do to land you here? Prostitution?” He smirked.
“No!” Her lips pressed together as if she was remembering something unpleasant. “I… I took something.”
“Like what?” he asked, a glimmer twinkling in his eye as his lip curled up. He loved gossip, that was clear. He was a slimy serpent, one bent on slithering his way into everyone’s business, and I didn’t like it one bit.
If it were me, I wouldn’t have answered his question, but Daniella seemed compelled. Maybe she was determined to prove she hadn’t done anything worse. Maybe she wanted to prove she was tougher than she seemed.
Her eyes darted around a bit before settling on Elon’s face. “I stole an artifact. An ancient and powerful one. From a High Council member.”
“Damn!” Elon said, putting his fist to his mouth in a pantomime of shock. “Shit,flim. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“Don’t call me that,” she shot back, turning away from him. “And I do have it in me. I’m notflimsy, broken, a runt or anything else you want to call me, so back off.”
Elon looked as if he might try to smooth things over, but, at that moment, Vaughn and Wally stalked over. Wally’s eyes were wild, but Vaughn’s seemed more calculating. Of the two, he was the one I needed to watch.
“We need food,” Wally said, flexing his now tattoo-free arms. He seemed all right despite the shock he’d received, even if his red hair was standing straighter than before. “I’m getting hungry.”
“Leave it to a dude to think with his stomach,” Daniella said.
Wally shot her a fierce glare. “We should all be thinking with our stomachs since we don’t have any damn food.”
Vaughn cut in, pointing past the open field toward the thickest part of the jungle. “We should head that way, scout out animals to hunt.”
I shook my head. “We don’t have anything to hunt with. Besides, the coast is that way. I can smell it. We know there will be fish, crabs, birds. Lots of possible food sources. We do not know what is deep in the jungle.”
Vaughn’s narrowed glare shot to me, his nostrils flaring. “And what do you know about it, fae bitch?”
There was that word again. Bitch. He wanted to hurt me with it, but he had no idea what I’d already gone through. One human male couldn’t break me down with some stupid word.
“I don’t care what you do, Vaughn,” I said, my wings fluttering at my back. “But I’m headingthatway. Toward the coast. Maybe catch a passing ship and get away from you.”
Vaughn seethed, but the others seemed to tune in when I saidpassing ship.
“Do you think there could be ships?” Daniella asked as if forgetting Vaughn’s outburst. She grabbed my hand. The first time since arriving anyone had touched me.
I shrugged and gently pulled my hand back. “Maybe.”
Or maybe we weren’t fully surrounded by water like Silver Bear had said, and I could fly off and be rid of all of them.
“Then we go that way,” Elon said, pointing in the direction I’d indicated. “King crab is my favorite meal. Add a little butter.Mwah.” He put his fingers to his lips and pulled them away with a smacking sound as if he’d just tasted something delicious.
I rolled my eyes. Butter. Gods, these kids were soft like butter. I wasn't even sure they'd make it to the coast without calling for their moms.
