Page 49 of Ruthless Fae
I took a deep breath before answering. “I think the Habermanns wanted to keep Karen a secret. That dome is their best defense against the Dean and the whole magical community. Knowing it’s Karen who controls it gives us a big advantage.”
“Then we go and we… and we kill her.” Ronnie’s innocent face balled up with so much anger and frustration it hurt my heart.
Vaughn and I exchanged a look before I answered him. “We can’t kill her. We’re not strong enough. We already tried and failed.”
But Ronnie shook his head. “If we all went… I could help. I could try to fight her.”
Vaughn gave him a soft smile. “Kid, that’s really brave of you, but I think our best bet is to try to get this information off the island. If we go against Karen now, she’ll kill us all. She has an army. We’re only alive because she’s busy at the moment, and we don’t pose a threat. But if we could get free… When I was a guard, I had access to their boat dock. I think, if we were careful, I could get us a ship. I hadn’t mentioned it before because the dock is well guarded, and stealing a boat and getting away would be a dangerous mission, but a mutant army tops that.”
Everyone went silent as we exchanged glances. With the dean on our side these past few days, we hadn’t considered an escape and had set our hearts on destroying the Habermanns. However, breaking out had been my sole focus when I’d first been captured, though that goal shifted when I learned that people I cared about were on the island. Then my efforts focused on rescuing the children and my family.
Both of those goals had been accomplished now, so why did leaving feel so awful?
Ronnie felt it too. His eyes wavered with unshed tears. He looked like he might protest again, but Becca put a hand on his wrist. “We could go home, Ron. You could see your parents. Take a shower. Eat real Oreos.”
But the boy drew his hand away. “We can’t just leave.”
“Yes, we can,” Becca insisted. “We’ve done enough. We’ve suffered enough. I, for one, don’t want to die without ever driving a car or going on a real date.” Tears sprung from her eyes as she dropped her head to her knees and began sobbing. I’d expected her usual drama, but this seemed genuine. She was really and truly scared to die.
We all were. And it was true. As soon as Karen got her army back under control, they’d come here and squash us like bugs. Of that, I had no doubt.
But could we leave? Every ounce of my being wanted to fly out and fight Karen again, but I could hardly sit up without pain. Wouldn’t another attempt be suicide?
Vaughn reached out and took my hand gently. “Tally, I know you want to stop them, but I think this is the best way. We could get reinforcements, then come back. We wouldn’t be giving up.”
I blinked up at him, meeting his gaze. “Could you really get us out of here?”
Vaughn’s expression sharpened with the intensity I was used to seeing when he intended to do something brave and reckless. “I’ll sure as hell try.”
When I glanced around at the group, they were nodding, even Sinasre and Bael. They’d nearly lost themselves forever and were not keen on doing it again. And Kiana, Queen of the Seelie Fae, could still help her displaced people throughout the world. Of course, Ronnie and Becca should be taken to safety. They were far too young to die for this cause.
And I couldn’t bear the thought of losing Vaugh again.
“Okay,” I said. “How do we do this?”
Vaughn’s face broke into a tentative smile. “Don’t worry. We’ve survived plane crashes and giant squids. How hard can a few guards be?”
* * *
Later,after night fell, we hunkered in the moonlight, peering out at the dock. The water shimmered, each peak lit and sparkling before plunging out of sight. The breeze stirred and, with it, the sound of voices. Guards’ voices.
Near the long dock, a guard shack hunkered on the shore, one of the only things lit up on this part of the island. Two uniformed guards sat inside the small station. I could see their heads bobbing as they passed the time with whatever bored guards did on a quiet night. Were they chatting? Reading books? Playing cards like I’d seem some of the humans do during my incarceration?
Either way, their night was about to get a lot less boring.
“What’s the plan?” Sinasre asked Vaughn.
Vaughn had grown very serious as we neared the dock and the guard shack, eyes darting around, posture tense. It was no less tense now.
“We need the boat keys. They’ll be inside the guard station on a hook.”
“But obviously they’re not going to just hand them over,” Becca said. She’d stopped crying and gone back to her bratty self once she got her head around our plan to escape.
“I could magic the keys out,” Ronnie offered. “A summoning spell?”
“No spells,” Vaughn said. “They have alarms for that kind of thing. Motion lights, too.”
I held up my hand to get their attention. “If one of you creates a diversion, I can sneak in and get the keys.”
