Page 39 of Rebel Fae
I was about to ask where the campers were when Bael lumbered out of the cave. Noticing us, he came to an abrupt stop, tensing, but as he recognized us, he relaxed, his expression flooding with relief.
“Tally.” He lowered his head in greeting. “And Vaughn. You look… well. I’m glad.”
“Thank you, Baeleath,” Vaughn said, sounding surprised.
“Are the others in the cave?” I asked. “Why didn’t you go back to the huts?”
Beal nodded as he checked on the rabbits and turned them over so they would cook on the other side.
“They’re scared,” he said. “Didn’t come out of the cave all day, especially Regina. She’s weaker, couldn’t take the sun anymore. Honestly, they couldn’t have managed the hike, and the forest was quiet. I’ve kept watch.”
He threw a sideways glance at Crescent, then pinched a piece of meat off one rabbit and popped it in his mouth. It seemed he had figured out how things worked around here. The beast hadn’t come because the powers that be had held it back somehow.
“Ronnie is very sad,” Bael went on. “Nothing like the little boy from the first day, and Becca… she’s making me lose my mind.”
I blinked at this and figured Becca probably hadn’t stopped complaining all day. She was good at that. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Please, do.” He nodded in my direction, tilting his horns downward as a sign of respect.
Attracted by the conversation, Becca, herself, came out of the cave. Her eyes lit up, and she called over her shoulder back into the cave. “Tally and Vaughn are back!”
Without waiting for the others, she ran in our direction, stopped a mere foot away from me, and grabbed my hands in hers.
“Thank God! It’s been horrible without you. Everyone is being so mean, and I’m afraid Regina will attack us again. She went deep into the cave and hasn’t come out. And Bael is an ogre.”
Bael grumbled without taking his eyes from the roasting rabbits.
“A saint is more like it,” Vaughn mumbled out of the corner of his mouth, which earned him a glare from Becca.
Ronnie walked out of the cave next, gingerly holding his bandaged hands in front of him. His expression didn’t suggest he was glad to see us. He looked indifferent. He sat on a rock in front of the fire and rested his wrist on bent knees.
“Someone, go get Regina,” Crescent ordered. “We have to talk about the next stage of your quest.”
“Next stage?!” Becca repeated in a shrill voice. “Can’t you see we’re in no shape for a quest. Lady, what is wrong with you? You must have gotten knocked in the head, and that’s why you have that blindfold on.”
Crescent’s mouth curled up, and her jaw tightened. The hand that gripped the cane went white around the knuckles.
“Uh, I’ll go get Regina,” Vaughn announced. “Tally and Becca, why don’t you sit around the fire so we can learn what is required of us next?”
“Good idea,” I said, wrapping an arm around Becca’s back while Vaughn ran to the cave’s entrance and disappeared. I wondered for a moment if he would need a light, then decided that his werewolf senses would probably guide him straight to Regina.
We sat by the fire. There were other rocks arranged in a perfect distance. Bael was presumably responsible for this bit of comfort as well as the roasting rabbits. He was used to living in nature and knew that everything required to survive was here if one simply looked.
After several long moments, Vaughn came back with Regina. She hissed at the sight of the fire and threw an arm over her eyes, probably thinking it was daytime. He held her as she struggled and attempted to run back into the cave.
“It’s just a fire, Regina. It’s nighttime,” he said.
She peered at the pit from above her arm and calmed down by degrees.
“I saved you a fresh rabbit.” Bael leaned toward a nearby tree and came up with a live rabbit. He held out the scared rodent by its ears as it kicked and bucked and presented it to Regina with a smile.
“Oh, please no!” Becca exclaimed in horror. “That’s cruel.”
“And killing it to roast it is not?” Ronnie pointed out with a sneer.
Regina approached Bael and took the rabbit.
Becca hid her face. “I can’t watch.”
