Page 31 of Rebel Fae
“When will the cave open?” Becca whined, looking at me. She bounced on her toes and rubbed her arms as if she were cold, though it was still muggy under the canopy.
“Ask Ronnie,” I said, turning to him. “When will the cave open? Please say soon.”
He screwed up his face as if all of our fates were on his shoulders. Sweat glistened on his smooth upper lip and his curls were damp. “Magic isn’t a science. When I used the location spell, I only got a sense that it was going to open at dark. I don’t know exactly when.”
My unease was building. “What if you’re wrong?”
Ronnie shrugged, his shirt scrunching up and down. “Then, I’m sorry?”
“Wonderful,” Regina said. “Can’t wait to be eaten alive out here. The bugs have done their best, but the beast can finish us, I guess.” She threw up her hands. She was still looking pale and weak, not a good sign for us as her two attempts to find food on our way here had failed. I worried she’d go crazy and attack us like last time.
Add that to the growing list of awful things that might happen in the next five minutes: wild werewolves, cave monsters, rabid squirrels. It could be anything.
Vaughn paced back and forth in front of the stone slab, his irritation mounting with every passing minute. “We shouldn’t be out here. We need to get inside.”
Dropping his backpack, he leaned against the slab and pushed it, but he was wasting his time. The thing was gigantic. Winded, he whirled and pointed at Ronnie.
“Do something. Open it up.”
Ronnie shrunk down and held up his hands. “I don’t know an ‘Open Up’ spell.”
Vaughn let out a frustrated growl and continued to pace, his eyes roving around the trees.
Bael seemed to be the only calm one. He stood with his back to a thin trunk, his wings on either side. With his eyes closed, he looked peaceful, aloof, not part of our panicked group. I wondered how he stayed so calm.
As I was staring, his eyes fluttered open and locked into mine. Remembering his words back at the camp, I dropped my gaze. He’d seen me in the water with Vaughn. He suspected I hadn’t headed his warning.
The mortification flew out of my mind when a twig broke somewhere behind us.
Vaughn straightened. Regina’s head darted toward the sound. Even Bael took a step forward, angling his head to listen. Only Becca and Ronnie, with their inferior hearing, didn’t seem alarmed.
Another twig cracked. Something heavy was stirring in the jungle. It had grown too dark to see what, but I had a feeling I knew what was coming.
My body tensed. Vaughn was fully alert, his hands fisted. Regina squared off beside him, her eyes searching the dark. When Bael joined, they made an impressive line, but would it be enough? I would much rather the safety of the magicked hut than trying to find out the answer to this question.
“Ronnie, Becca, get behind me,” I said, wishing suddenly for a weapon. Why hadn’t I thought of that sooner? I should have made a spear, but I’d been too busymaking outwith Vaughn. I didn’t know why humans called it that, but it sounded derogatory enough—just what I deserved.
“What?” Becca said, her eyes scanning the dark. “What is it?”
Ronnie glanced at my face and knew. “The cave should open up any minute,” he said, wringing his hands. He faced it and spoke as if his words might make it obey. “Come on. Come on. Open.”
Trees crashed to our right. We barely had time to react before Bael cried out and toppled over.
“Bael!” I shouted, lurching forward, but it had grown so dark I couldn’t see where he went. Something large went crashing by next to me, and I suspected Vaughn had shifted into his werewolf form, but, without light, I couldn’t tell who was who or exactly where my friends were.
We’d be fighting blind. Not good for us.
“Light. We need light,” I said in a panic.
Suddenly, light blazed behind me. When I got over being blinded, I realized Ronnie held a ball of white light in his hand, one of his magic spells. Using the illumination, I glanced around and did not like what I saw.
Vaughn was nowhere to be seen. Regina, either. Bael had gotten free and stood a few feet off, staring at a splatter of blood on a nearby rock.
Blood? Whose?!
Panic blared inside me as I searched through the trees for Vaughn, but the shadows played tricks on my eyes. Branches and leaves blended together in a smear of gray while the darkness beyond seemed even more impenetrable.
“Where are they?” I shouted, starting forward and then turning back. The leaves were trampled down in so many places, but I couldn’t tell in what direction they’d gone.
