Page 8 of Rebel Fae
“Of course, I subdued him,” she said. “Mind control might be difficult on fae, but I haven’t met anyone able to resist my mentalist powers.” She smiled, her lips a slash of black lipstick, and asked in a louder voice, “I’m eager to use my skills to make you worthy members of society. Anyone else want to cause trouble?”
Chapter Four
I staredat the blind mentalist as my heart began to race and sweat broke out across my body. The Bane, the awful warlock who’d destroyed Faerie, had been a mentalist. He’d used his mentalism powers to take control of some of the world’s most powerful leaders and sow chaos and dissent in the wizarding world. He’d secretly set himself up to be the most powerful wizard in the world and used that power to destroy my homeland.
Looking at this woman with the same powers made me feel sick to my stomach.
With the swirl of emotions threatening to overwhelm me, I walked over to the food table, lifted the first item I could find—a sticky sweet roll drizzled in frosting—and stuffed it into my mouth. Eating would give me something to do, something to help me appear normal as I tried to calm down.
“Emoj wo esh tsofe ara?” a soft male voice said as a figure stepped toward me.
I recognized the standard Faerie greeting right away: “What will your certain fate be?” a phrase fae used the way humans used “How are you?” Still, the true meaning was not lost on me.
My fate? It felt doomed.
I swallowed the lump of dough in my mouth and turned to face the Khurynian male. Craning my neck, I ran my eyes over his frame all the way up to his face, calculating what his expression might mean. He seemed curious about me, but not hostile. If anything, his expression was friendly.
“Hello,” I said, picking English instead of a faerie tongue to avoid being singled out or accused of planning something.
“I’m Baeleath,” he said, his tone still quiet as if he didn’t want the others to hear. “You’re Seelie Fae, right?”
I nodded, still unsure of his intentions. Just because we were both fae did not mean we would be allies. If history served, we should be bigger enemies than the humans and vampires. And yet, he didn’t seem like the grim creature fae lore said all Khurynians were.
“How did you end up here?” I asked, scanning my eyes left and right. Vaughn stood off to the side, but judging by the tilt of his head, I could tell he was listening intently to our conversation. He’d hated it when Sinasre and I spoke, so I was sure he felt the same about Baeleath.
“They captured me outside of Boston. I’d been traveling for a while and my glamour weakened without my knowledge. Soon I was being detained for no reason I could discern and then, eventually, brought here.” Baeleath’s features tightened as his eyes cut to Vaughn for an instant.
“So you didn’t do anything, either,” I whispered. “That’s pretty much their M.O.”
“M.O.?” Baeleath asked. His enormous hand centered over a bread roll on the table before palming it and slipping it into a pocket in his tattered cloak.
“Never mind. Listen,” I pulled him close. “Be careful, okay? I hear things here are not always what they seem.”
His eyes narrowed as he took in my words. “I will be careful, Seelie Fae. And I always assume things are not what they seem, especially in this realm.”
His eyes lingered on me as he said the last words, and I wondered what he was implying, that he couldn’t trust me? And what about me? Could I trusthim? I’d made that mistake with Vaughn and paid dearly for it.
“It’s time to go,” Vaughn said, interrupting our conversation. I had a feeling he was doing it on purpose. “Finish what you’re eating and move to the outfitting area in the next room.”
He stepped into the center of the room, assuming an intimidating pose. The two younger humans, Ronnie and Becca, minded right away, dropping their plates into a bin and hurrying through the open door on the far side of the room. The two vampires and Baeleath, however, stared back at Vaughn as if in challenge. Sensing this was an important power struggle, Vaughn let his hand stray to his knife. For his part, Dr. Watts seemed to be intent on watching what happened, while Crescent faced them, looking very much as if she knew exactly what was happening. Could sheseesomehow? And why did they just stand there doing nothing?
I didn’t have that luxury. This moment was exactly why I was here.
“Come on, guys,” I said to the other New Starts recruits. “Let’s go see what kind of gear we get.”
I turned toward the open door, praying to the gods that they would follow, and we could get through one day without bloodshed.
Heavy footsteps behind me let me know at least of them had followed me. I glanced back to see Baeleath walking in my wake, Antonio right behind him. Regina hung back, looking like she would put up another fight, but with a glance at Crescent, the vampire followed behind us, too.
I heaved a heavy sigh of relief as I walked into the next room.
They never asked us to enter this part of the intake center before, but I wasn’t surprised since, so far, everything about this experience was different from the previous one. This room was wide and tall and filled with tall shelves that almost touched the ceiling. Many large tubs occupied the shelves, all with labels listing things like socks, hats, MREs, backpacks, and first aid kits.
I stared in awe at all the useful items listed. Last time, they didn’t give us anything similar when they threw us out into the wilderness.
“Step over here,” Vaughn said, standing with his hands behind his back. “You’ll each get a pack. Please put it on and get ready to head out.”
We formed a line as Dr. Watts and Vaughn grabbed pre-loaded packs with our names on them and passed them out. Mine and Baeleath’s were, thoughtfully, packs we could strap to our waists. Holding mine aloft, I discovered it was heavy, and I wondered what was inside its many pockets, but since Vaughn was in such a hurry, I didn’t dare look.
