Page 66 of Outcast Fae
I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to keep the dark thoughts at bay. “The children, the ones I told you about, they’ve been through so much already. Most saw their entire families poisoned to death in front of them. Their homes eaten up. Their land just… gone.” A lump formed in my throat. “They don’t deserve any more hardship.”
“The girl I told you about,” Vaughn said. “My cousin. She is more like a sister to me. Those bastards have her. Every minute she’s in their clutches makes me want to rip the sky down from the heavens. It makes me want to tear the world apart, you know?”
“I know,” I said quietly.
He glanced at me. “We have more in common than I thought, fae.”
When he saidfaethis time, it sounded less like a curse and more like a term of endearment. Heat traveled up my chest and burned in my cheeks. Thank the gods it was dark so he couldn’t see the effect he had on me.
Vaughn was still dangerous and volatile. I couldn’t afford to fall for him.
Yet, one glance at the smooth curve of his shoulder or a flash from his intense gaze and I was undone. How could this be? He was a human. A mean one.
He seemed to sense the tension between us, too. The corner of his mouth curved up the slightest bit. His steps veered closer until we were nearly touching as we moved down the beach. For a moment, I thought he might take my hand in his, and I wondered how I might react, but then a call came from down the beach.
“Tally! Vaughn!”
A figure came running up. I could tell from the gait that it was Sinasre. Thank the gods he was unharmed.
“You’re okay,” Sinasre said as he skidded to a stop on the sand. “I thought maybe…”
“We’re okay,” Vaughn assured him as if saying it might make it so. “They said we can go to our meal at the dome tomorrow. We’re supposed to rest tonight.”
Sinasre’s cat-like features tightened. “Rest? How are we supposed to do that when another of our group is dead? The others are beside themselves.”
I chewed my lip, knowing it would be a rough night. My thoughts traveled to Daniella who seemed fond of Chan in the short time she’d known him. And Patricia, Gina, and Henry had been with him for over two weeks.
As we walked into our camp, the wailing seemed to come from everywhere. Gina leaned into Henry, sobbing. Patricia paced while crying and shouting things into the sky. My eyes traveled past the campfire to the small shape curled up in the shadows.
Daniella.
I approached her cautiously, but, even with my careful steps, she lurched up when I got near. Tears streaked her face which was red and blotchy, letting me know she’d been crying for a while. I had no words of comfort left, so, instead, I folded myself down beside her. We held onto each other until sleep claimed us both.
* * *
In the morning,the situation didn’t seem any better. With the gray light of dawn, two of us were still dead, and no one seemed any closer to getting off this godsforsaken island. The only good news was someone had remembered to feed us. We’d awoken to a pile of supplies and bottled water sitting beside our still-smoking campfire. Sinasre set to work building up the fire while Patricia dug through the food.
“Canned meat, cheese, a few oranges, some of those MREs, and a pineapple.” She held the spiky fruit up. “There’s a lot here.”
“Maybe they’re trying to make up for killing Chan,” Gina spat. She was still curled toward Henry, and he had his arm around her shoulders protectively.
“This doesn’t make up for killing Chan,” Patricia shot back. “We don’t take bribes from murderers.”
Gina shrunk down. She’d been much more timid since Wally’s death, and I worried that Chan’s demise might send her into a catatonic state. At least she had Henry.
My eyes kept trailing toward Vaughn.
He’d been quiet this morning while helping to tend the fire and sort the supplies. He seemed to notice my gaze and met it, giving me a nod. What did the nod mean, I wondered. Today, we were to travel into the dome for our special reward. Should we at least talk about our plan before we were whisked away from the others?
But how could we talk without Meadow Song and Silver Bear possibly overhearing us? It seemed that sometimes conversations were monitored, and sometimes they were ignored, but I couldn’t chance them overhearing this one.
Then, I remembered Gina’s cloaking spell.
I shuffled over to her, careful not to draw too much attention. For some reason, I had the feeling we were being closely scrutinized today.
“Gina.” I touched her shoulder.
Henry gave me a dirty look, but I ignored him.
