Page 90 of Outcast Fae
“Tell me,” Alexander said, pressing the needle a bit harder. The tip punctured Wren’s skin and silent tears slid down her cheeks as she looked at me.
“Tally, what’s happening?” she whispered in her tiny voice.
I looked into her face and saw Daniella. My friend was gone. I couldn’t save her, but I could save Wren.
Taking a deep breath, I said, “Sinasre, I’m so sorry.”
He could barely lift his head. “Tally, no…”
“I’m not sure about this, but I think Kiana is in Turkey, hiding at the Supernatural Academy there.”
At my words, Sinasre cringed, giving us confirmation that my suspicions were right.
Alexander smiled. “Thank you, Tally. I appreciate your cooperation.” To the guards, he said, “Put the females in the cell with the others. Leave the male here. I’m not done with him.”
My head sagged as the guard took me by the arm and led Wren and me out of the room.
I gave my cousin a final glance. I’d betrayed him and his family, but it wasn’t the first time they had called me a traitor. My status with my aunt had fallen into disrepute when I aligned myself with witches last year. But I’d had my reasons for my betrayal. Kiana had been hiding safely while the rest of us suffered, and she was doing it again. It was her turn to face whatever was coming. Wren would not be another victim of my aunt’s disregard for us.
Still, it felt like an awful, gut-wrenching choice, and we were no closer to freedom than before.
What did any of this matter? We’d likely all die here.
But, at least we’d be together. At least I’d saved Wren all that pain.
We walked down dim hallways with low ceilings, then rode up in an elevator. I wondered where Vaughn was. Were they gathering his genetic material like they’d done with me? Were they hurting him? Was Horace still alive and could get him out of here? I wished, for his sake, that he might find the cousin he mentioned. Maybe they could be free even if we weren’t.
Still, a selfish part of me wanted him here to fight alongside me. To help me get through what came next.
We exited the elevator, and at the end of another dim hallway, a door slid open, and we were taken into what looked like a jail. Many barred cells ran in rows, stuffed with faces that turned as we entered. A horrible smell assaulted my senses.
“Tally!” A fae ran to the bars, gripping them as he peered at me.
“Bor!”
My heart soared as more faces flocked to the bars. Along with Bor and Wren, Arryn, Miriyana, Linas, and Hani were here too, all of the children I had feared were taken. When they opened the cell door and put us in, we gathered in a group hug. It felt so good to hold them in my arms, to kiss the tops of their tousled heads and smell their scent. I spent a long time holding each one. They spent a long time telling me what had transpired while I was battling monsters on the island.
While I was abducted by Karen and Lorenzo, another truck had arrived to take them as well. They knew, once I was out of the house, the children would be no threat. From there, the kids were transported and processed much like I was. The rest of the days had been spent in this cell with the occasional order to comply with those strange tests.
The jail felt like a cattle barn with many cages that held specific groups of people. From what I could tell, we were in the cell reserved for only fae, while across from us there was a cell of large, nearly naked males that might be werewolves. Beside them were pale individuals that appeared to be vampires. Beyond that, I couldn’t discern what the last cell held, but I had a feeling it would be another group exploited for their unique qualities.
I knew humans did experiments on animals. Now, it seemed, we were those animals.
Yet, when I examined the children, no one had been seriously harmed, thank the gods.
At least, not yet.
I wondered if Vaughn’s cousin was here or if she was somewhere else. I didn’t see anyone who looked like Vaughn, but then who knew what she looked like. Was she a shifter like him or something else? I cursed myself for not asking more questions when I had the chance.
When I gave up studying faces, I glanced around our cell. It had a bare floor with a concrete wall behind us and bars on three sides. Each had a hard metal bench, a metal toilet and sink, and little else. Was this where they were sleeping? Living? It was less humane than the stables in Alanthyl.
The children had complained about the toilet situation and having to relieve themselves out in the open. Though they had taken to standing up and blocking each other while they took turns using the facilities. Sadly, some of the other groups weren’t so civilized, which explained the fetid smell that hung in the air like death. The stench of unwashed bodies wasn’t making things any better either. I wondered how long some of these individuals had been here.
“What happens now?” Hani asked. Hani was not a winged fae, but still thin and petite just like her mother. I’d known the family as a member of the Seelie Court before everything fell apart. Hani was a scrapper like her mother, too, with sharp canine teeth and claws that made her seem both feline and wily at the same time.
I swallowed hard. How could I tell them that I had no plan for what happened now? We were at the whim of Alexander and Adaline Habermann, and that did not seem to bode well for any of us.
If they captured Kiana, would they let us go? It was a selfish thought, but one I held onto as a last shred of hope.
