Page 57 of Outcast Fae
His pointed ears swiveled back, but he didn’t look at me.
“If you were in my place, you would have done the same. You would have wanted to know.”
He leaped over a fallen tree trunk as if it were a twig. Wings whirring behind me, I leaped too and, despite the ache in my back, I fluttered ahead, landing in Vaughn’s path.
“I have to know what’s going on. I have to know if my friends are here.”
He pushed air through his snout, shook his head, and walked around me, still bent on ignoring me. I sighed in frustration and hurried to keep up. If he didn’t want to talk, he would have to listen.
“When they snatched me to bring me here, they also snatched my friends,” I began. “They are nothing more than orphan children. Their parents died when that human warlock—Ponomarenko, I’m sure you’ve heard of him—destroyed our realm. There are six of them. Arryn, Linas, Miriyana, Bor, Hani, and Wren. The oldest is thirteen.”
Vaughn let out a growl and a huff and dashed ahead. Clearly, he didn’t want to listen, either. Well, I didn’t care. He was going to hear what I had to say, even if I had to ride him like a wild bull as he ran through the jungle.
I took to the air and flew above him. Hovering like a pesky mosquito, I buzzed in his ear. “I am all those children have got.”
He glanced up, his green eyes as vivid and recognizable as ever. He seemed annoyed but resigned to put up with me.
“I was taking care of them,” I continued, “making sure they ate and slept and worked to get better. A couple of them were injured as we escaped Faerie. In the time I was with them, they became my family. Vaughn, I have to know if they’re here and what is happening to them. Please, you have to talk to me. I beg you.”
If my little speech had any effect, I saw no signs of it on his wolf face. He simply continued on at the same determined pace. Frustrated, I landed on my feet, folded my wings behind me, and trailed behind. He pushed forward and disappeared through a thick patch of trees.Fine. I let him get ahead. I knew my way back from here.
Head hanging down, I kicked at the ground as I went, the weight of a terrible day resting heavily on my shoulders. I’d gotten no real answers, and I was no closer to leaving this godsforsaken island or finding out if the children were here.
Bushes rustled ahead of me. I froze and glanced up. Vaughn walked out of the brush, back in his human shape and fully dressed. He must have hidden the clothes there before he left. I expected to see anger on his face, but he just looked as tired as I felt.
Without a word, we turned toward the beach and walked side-by-side. I’d told him all I needed to say. I’d explain my reasons. I’d even begged. Short of torturing him, I didn’t see what else I could do to get him to talk.
As the fire at our camp, glowing orange in the gathering darkness, came into view through the thick foliage, Vaughn stopped and faced me. “That was a stupid thing you did. You shouldn’t have followed me.”
“I would do it again.”
He sighed and ran a hand through his light brown hair. “You are making things harder for me.”
“Only because you won’t trust me.”
He narrowed his eyes as if he wished to see through me, into my heart, to decide whether I was trustworthy or not.
“You owe me,” I said. “I saved your life.” I didn’t mention that he’d also saved mine.
“I didn’t ask you to take care of me.”
“That’s stupid. That’s not how it works,” I said. “Dying people are normally too busy dying to ask for anything.”
He laughed. It was a tired laugh, but he was somewhat amused by what I’d said. “Fair enough.”
“So you’ll tell me what’s happening beyond that dome.”
“I don’t know what’s happening.”
“Don’t lie to me,” I snapped.
“I’m not lying. Look,” he ran a hand through his curls in frustration, “I’ll tell you what I know, but you must promise to keep quiet and not do anything stupid again. If you do, you might never leave this island, and I don’t want that for you. Also, you can’t tell the others. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
He glanced around and, spotting a fallen log, indicated we should sit. I backed into the log and sat slowly, afraid of making any sudden movements that might scare away Vaughn’s decision to finally talk.
He sat next to me, placing his large hands on bent knees. “This island and the whole New Starts Rehabilitation business is just a façade, a sham. There is something else going on here. Something dark. Only people like Elon ever make it off of the island alive. His family is paying good money to teach him a lesson,set him on the right path.” He flexed his fingers in the air. “He’ll be here until he whines and promises to be a good boy, then he’ll be gone. The likes of us? Not so much. We’re here for different reasons.”
