Page 30 of Outcast Fae
We didn’t have snakes on Faerie, but we had other poisonous creatures, toads, and lesser goblins. There were poultices I could make to draw the infection out if only I could find the right ingredients, but it would mean foraging out in the jungle and putting myself at risk to be attacked and killed.
For Vaughn. Vaughn who almost beat a fae woman to death.
I leaned back against the rock. “There’s not much we can do,” I said, averting my eyes to the cave’s entrance. “We’ll see how he is in the morning.”
Daniella made a noise in the back of her throat and wrung her hands, but she didn’t question me.
Wally jumped down from the boulder and stalked our way. “What about food? Can you get us more eggs?”
“It’s getting dark, and I won’t have anything to see by. Besides, we should be more worried about water.”
Wally frowned, rubbing his stomach beneath the baggy prison garb. “We need water and food. And I think you can get it, you just don’t want to.” His eyes narrowed to two angry slits.
Now, he was going to have a problem with me? After I practically saved his life? UngratefulBlaigeard. Just when I got one of them on my side, another decides to start in on me.
“I’m thirsty. Hungry, too,” I replied. “And, in case you haven’t noticed, you have legs and arms. Go get food yourself. Go catch a squid for us. You know where those live, right?”
Wally stretched to his full height, puffing out his chest and flexing his arms. As I watched, his body began to vibrate.
Was he going to attack me with his Quake powers? I had no idea what that would do to my body, but I wasn’t about to wait around to find out. My wings whirred, lifting me up off the ground. I darted around him, out of the cave, and into the night.
So much for working as a group. A team attitude wouldn’t do me much good if Wally vibrated me to pieces. Would they punish me for flying away? We’d have to see. I was about to head toward the tree line when I saw Elon running up, items in his hands.
What had he found?
My curiosity getting the best of me, I flew down to him.
“Tally, look!” He held up a plastic jug of water and some silver packages, five to be exact. Glancing from them to me, he beamed like a kid. “I found these down the hill.”
“What are they?”
“MREs!”
When I gave him a confused look, he explained. “Meals ready to eat. Food.”
“Food,” I repeated my stomach grumbling. “You should take them in to the others. Things are getting testy in there.”
“Wally?” Elon asked.
I nodded.
He pushed the packages in my hands. “Here. Say you found them. He’ll back off. He’s just hungry. Everyone feels better after they’ve eaten.”
I tilted my head. What was he playing at? “Don’t you want to be the hero?”
“I’ve never been the hero,” he said, a bit sadly. “No reason to start now.”
Taking the jug, I gave him a smile. “We can say we found it together.”
He nodded and the warmest moment we’d had since meeting passed between us. Maybe Elon wasn’t so bad, after all. Maybe he was just scared and out of his element. Maybe with Vaughn out of commission, he needed a new alpha.
Side by side, we walked back to the cave.
Food and water greatly improved our situation, at least for the time being, but something was bothering me. There’d been no message from Meadow Song like before. And if this was a reward, why would it show up just as Wally was about to explode? We’d been engaging in behavior that they’d punished us for before and yet, here was a reward? It didn’t make sense. It was almost as if they weren’t watching. Like they were preoccupied. But preoccupied with what?
“Food,” Elon said, holding up his silver packets. “And water.” He gestured to me.
I held the jug to my chest, eyeing Wally. He was back on his boulder, sulking, but he perked up at the mention of food. His eyes roved over to me, but there was no further threat of violence. Instead, he hopped off, took a silver packet from Elon, and retreated to his rock in the dark back corner.
