Page 22 of Outcast Fae
But Vaughn ignored him and walked away, turning his back on us.
“If we can’t escape, how the hell do we get out of here?When?!” Wally called out after him.
Elon shook his head as Vaughn disappeared behind the trees. “That guy is… I don’t know… there’s something not right about him. One thing he’s right about, no one has ever escaped this Supernatural prison. The only way out of here is to complete their ‘program.’” He held both index fingers up and flexed them in some odd gesture that seemed to emphasize the last word.
I hated to admit it, but I had a feeling Elon was right. It seemed my only hope out of here, of finding the children, was to get to the end of this… wherever that might be.
Chapter Nine
Finding food was not difficult.What turned out to be hard was getting the males to stop glaring at me all morning.
After they’d blamed me for the earthquake that ate our food, the three of them huddled up, turning their backs on me and murmuring while I cooked the eggs I’d found.
My wings now worked. The spell that had rendered them useless was gone. It didn’t take me long to fly around the branches and find several birds' nests with eggs to make our breakfast. Tucking them in the overlarge pockets on my beige shirt, I’d flown them back to our campsite, feeling relieved. At least I could provide food. I hated having to follow Vaughn’s orders, but itwasmy fault our supplies had been lost.
Daniella had rebuilt the fire out of a few embers left from the last one. We made quick work of the eggs, grilling them with their shells on. It was a normal breakfast in Alanthyl, but the males turned up their noses.
"What is this?" Elon said curling up his lip.
I raised an eyebrow. "An... egg. There's enough for two per person."
"What kind of egg?" Wally asked, inspecting a small blue one dubiously. "I didn't see any chickens around here."
I gestured to the canopy above our heads, too tired and annoyed to speak further. If they were too dumb to figure out where eggs came from, maybe they didn’t deserve to survive. I cracked my first egg and scooped the semi-hard, white membrane out with my fingers.
Watching me, Daniella did the same.
Vaughn seemed irritated as always but ate two eggs without stopping to take a breath in between. His eyes roved around ravenously, but he didn't reach for anyone else's portion. You had to give him that. With his size and muscular stature, he could likely take whatever he wanted from all of us, yet he didn’t. Instead, he stood up, grabbing for his spear.
“Time to go,” he said.
“Actually,” said Meadow Song’s voice. “It’s time for group counseling.”
A few feet away from where we were sitting, smoke began to pour out of the ground. Soon, it formed into the shape of three figures: Karen, Meadow Song, and Silver Bear. Their bodies turned solid as they walked toward us. Whatever magic transport spell they used, it allowed them to be here in the flesh.
My body tensed. Just seeing them, our captors and the orchestrators of both Daniella and Wally’s near-death experiences, made my blood boil. How dare they show their faces here? My hands formed into fists. Around me, the others followed suit. Wally began to vibrate and sparks traced along Elon’s fingers. Vaughn held his spear while Daniella inched her way behind me.
“Now, now,” Meadow Song said. “Let’s all just calm down.”
“Yeah,” Karen said, hefting up a very large gun. “Or I got a few tranqs in here with your names on ‘em. Strong enough to take down that lake squid so it’ll make quick work of the likes of you.”
My eyes darted from her gun to Meadow Song and back to the other campmates. With their guns, magic, and a huge bear on their side, we were no match for them. They had shown us this ten times over. I needed to keep a clear head if I was going to complete their program and get out.
Intentionally relaxing my fists, I smoothed them down my shapeless pants. “We’re calming down, right guys? We’ll do your group counseling if you promise not to try to kill us again.”
“Try to kill you?” Meadow Song tilted her head. “What are you talking about?”
“The giant squid?” Vaughn said, incredulous. “The earth nearly swallowing us whole?”
Meadow Song shrugged and came closer. When she got near, she began walking in a circle and waving her hand back and forth. Where her fingers lingered, mushrooms grew. Soon, there were seven large enough for us to sit on. She gestured to them. Cautiously, we each took one as Meadow Song, Silver Bear, and Karen looked on. Apparently, they weren’t the group counseling type.
“Wonderful,” Meadow Song said. “Thank you for gathering with us. Now, let’s set our intentions for this meeting. This is meant to be a productive session where we discuss our feelings, allowing everyone to be heard and felt.” She pressed her hands over her heart. “It’s very important that we respect each other, that we are non-judgmental and that we allow people to speak. We’ll be using a talking stick.”
“Oh, my God,” Wally moaned, rocking back on his mushroom. “You have got to be kidding me with this hippy-dippy bullshit.”
Even though he was in human form, Silver Bear growled, letting Wally know he was out of line.
Meadow Song waited and then continued as if nothing had happened. “Here’s the talking stick.” She wove her hands again and a two-foot-long stick with bird feathers on one end appeared. She held it gingerly in her lap, the same sticky, sweet smile on her face. “Who wants to go first?”
