“You’re trying to trick me.” My voice shook as I glanced around us. It was so tempting, so very tempting, to run.
He shook his head, holding up his arms. There was no wicked gleam in his eyes or any sign of malice. Madness maybe, but we were all mad, right? I stepped backward, eyeing for him to lunge out and snap my arm up with his hands.
“There are no tricks here. Just magic.” The look he gave me was filled with hurt, but he made no attempt to stop me. What could it possibly mean for him if I escaped? I doubted he’d be punished beyond harsh words from his brother, but the doubt made me hesitate even so.
I almost laughed, but instead I turned and began to book it, running out into the woods, letting the saplings whip against my limbs as I rushed past them. Wild flowers and roses scratched my arms while small branches sliced into my thighs and calves as I ran, but I wouldn’t stop. I’d never stop, I told myself. Let them try to capture me again; it’d be worth even a second of freedom. I’d taken Atieran’s challenge, and I’d pay for it if I was caught. That faery clan could go to hell. I’d beat this so-called connection of theirs. We did it all the time back home. All I’d need was a few days in the iron room in the dungeons of the Wicked Grove S.R.A. Nothing to it. At this point, I’d do anything if I could just return home.
Home.
My name is Amy. I choked as my head cleared. The farther away I got from the faery clan’s territory, the more the magic fogging up my mind weakened. Would the rest of it return once I left that horrid place? Would the memories be gone forever? The chance to reclaim my mind and soul was there if I could just run faster and break free. I could do this, I knew I could.
Run, little one. I hope you are the one who makes it. Good luck.
Atieran’s thoughts slammed into me, and the pain they ignited had me grabbing at my skull as I ran, tears blurring my vision. As his voice subsided, another replaced it with even more reverberance than his.
You’ll never get out of here. Ever.
The king’s voice pierced into my already-pained head like a stabbing migraine, but worse. I clasped at the sides of my head, wondering if it would burst if I let go. My eyes continued to tear up while my nose stung as the pain stunned my thoughts, and I lost my bearings. Confusion flooded back in, and I was lost. Lost in a stupid forest with no way to tell where I was going.
Stumbling over a fallen log partially buried in the rotting foliage, my body went flying out of control, and I hit the ground hard, sliding over sharp splinters, leaves, and broken branches. They cut into my side until my head tapped the ground, right where a large stone was embedded, its smooth, bald head just peeking out. My vision burst into sparks as a loud resonating crack sounded off in my head. Stars filled my eyes just before everything went utterly blank.
Sleep, Amy. That was an excellent try. Maybe next time.
Chapter Nine
* * *
Craig
That had been a close call. Too close.
The dire wolves had left us all shaken up, and we remained so even as we worked our evening chores in near silence.
Jay and I stoked the fire as Hanley skinned several rabbits he and Ridley had caught for dinner. It was quite a sight to see the Agency soldiers camping out as though it was the most natural thing to do in the middle of a magically infested forest. It wasn’t that they weren’t used to doing it, it was just not something we did too often.
We were getting too soft, I speculated. Spending too much time in the Agency and the city boundaries had made us ease up on our instincts. The forest was a dangerous place at night, and far more for agents with little experience with the darkness. Pushing against faery borders was the most dangerous position we could be in. Any minute the heathens could come trampling into our encampment and easily kill us all. It was fortunate we had Tinker and his gadgets galore; the place was as secure as Fort Knox for now. He’d laid booby traps and other snares of all kinds, many of them unknown to the rest of us. We all knew the safe routes in and out of camp and how to unarm several them that sat as gatekeepers. At least if all the explosions went off, there wouldn’t be much of the enemy left. There’d be pieces of faery all over the place if they got close enough. The perimeter was secure, but everyone had their doubts when it came to the supernaturals of the forest.
In Wicked Grove, magic ran wild.
“Do you think she’s scared?” I asked Jay as I turned the spit skewering some of the rabbits over the fire, listening to it sizzle while my stomach begged for some.
Jay shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ve unassimilated only a couple of people before, and it wasn’t from this clan. They all said they were super confused because they couldn’t remember who they were as humans. It took months for them to recall much of their lives. Amy’s different, though; so is this clan. We could be dealing with a whole new set of rules.”
I nodded. “She’ll be confused all right. Even now, I’m betting she’s fighting it. It must feel weird being out there, knowing you don’t belong yet being told you’ll never leave. I bet that’s what they’re saying to her. Damn bastards.” I yanked the cooked meat off the spit and checked to see if it was done. It was. I divvyed it up for the gang; I liked keeping busy when my thoughts began to run away with the worse possible scenarios.
A snap of a twig in the not too far off distance caught our attention, and we both froze. Listening for more, we jumped to our feet, staring off into the distant darkness of the woods. Fresh pine and damp ozone surrounded us as the croaks and calls of the animals continued but more softly than before.
My skin crawled, and I shivered in the cool night air. There was something out there, watching us in the pitch black wild, waiting and taking note of each and every one of us. I closed my eyes, letting my telepathic feelers out and hoping to ding on something. Whatever was waiting out there was far enough away that I couldn’t sense them. They were adept at blocking and shielding spells, leaving me with just my precognitive abilities to use. Now, nothing was coming to me, and I glanced at the others while they waited and motioned toward Tinker, who had caught a blip on his scanner and was now doing a more thorough search.
“Whatever it was set off the sensors, but it’s gone now.” He smacked his lips, focusing on the roasting rabbits. “They’re gone now. Let’s eat. There ain’t no way in hell any of them are going to get past my sensors tonight. They’d have to be flying in from above like aliens to avoid setting off the pseudo-mines I planted. Even faeries got limitations, especially when you spray the perimeter with iron extract.”
He spit a gob of sputum out onto the leaves by his feet as he motioned for me to hand him a bit of meat. I began tugging at the carcass. I handed him a plate piled high with meat and baked beans. He stuffed it down without regard to how hot it was. I frowned but continued prepping more plates.
“That stuff really makes them sick, doesn’t it?” Jay reached down to grab one of the steel plates and handed it off to Becca.
“It makes them sicker than sick,” Tinker responded, mouth full of meat. “It’s like inhaling chlorine gas if they get too close. I bet they’ll be wishing they didn’t come creepin’ around ’ere tonight. It takes days for the iron to dissipate, so this place is going to be base camp for a while, even on the return trip. You get in trouble, you need to get back here. Just mind the mines. I guarantee it’ll keep them pests away for at least three days.”
“That’s a relief.” I bit down on some meat before pouring some beans onto my plate from the can dangling off one side of the spit.
“Dinner ready?” Ridley gave me a friendly bump with her elbow as she joined the group around the fire. “What’s everyone looking all spooked for?”
“There was a blip on the radar a minute ago. Tinker says it’s gone now.”
“Well, that’ll get your chonies in a twist. Any sign of anything else?”
Right as she spoke, an arrow whistled past her cheek, grazing Tinker’s jacket.
“Da hell?” he cursed, food flying from his
mouth as he flung his body to the ground with the rest of us, saving his plate of food as he placed it on the ground next to the scanner he’d also been holding on to. Crouching, he pulled the sensors up onto the screen again. “They aren’t close enough to capture on screen. The darn fae are shooting primitives at us!”
“Sometimes tech is garbage.” Ridley grabbed her semi-automatic gun. It was filled with bullets that had an iron-rich paste painted onto them. She shot off a single round in the direction of the arrow. “Anyone got eyes on the faeries? Tinker, where’s a safe route through your labyrinth in that direction?”
That was a good question.
“It’s down that way, along those pine trees. There are six in a row, and that’s the path through. Just stick within four feet of each pine! Wear these. I marked them but you can only see the paint with these lenses.”
Ridley nodded, donning the goggles Tinker had handed her, and snuck off down behind the tree trunks to get closer to the shooter. Each one of us gathered around Tinker as he distributed more goggles. Another arrow sailed into the camp and stuck into the remains of the rabbit suspended over the fire.
We jumped behind the trees nearest to us, keeping the shooter on the opposite side of the trunks. We were essentially blind if they didn’t come any closer. Dying by arrow was the last thing I wanted to do.
“Somebody got eyes on them?” Jay snapped.
“Working on it, maestro!” Hanley scanned the area surrounding the encampment with his night vision, avoiding the areas of fire. “Don’t see them. I think they left or… eyes open guys; they’re on the move.”
A pop sounded off in the distance, followed by a short yelp and a thud.
“Got ’im!” Ridley’s voice bounced off the trees from the direction she’d gone, and the group sighed in relief simultaneously. Returning to the camp, she tossed a necklace matching the ones the faeries wore around their necks into the fire.
“His glamour charm was being a pickle, but I got him. He was clumsy and standing in full view when I got to him. He wasn’t really trying to hide, thinking his glamour kept him hidden. Stupid fae. The iron outlines him when he gets too close, eating at his magic.”
Everyone eyed the necklace as a glittering wisp of smoke evaporated from it as the gem inside imploded with a miniscule pop! How could they know how to avoid the sensors? They’d known we’d use something with iron, but man, these guys were crafty.
“Wait, how did you know his necklace gave him some sort of invisibility?” Becca asked.
Ridley popped out the used magazine of her gun and snapped in another before answering.
“Let’s just say I know a lot about the fae. Not my first rodeo, even though these ones are different. They aren’t as unpredictable as you think. I just haven’t gone against a clan of this magnitude in years. The triplets, Jay, Amy, and Craig, have been handling the infestations around Wicked Grove since I was put in charge. These ones are just a bit more… evolved.”
“Don’t like field work, Commander?” Becca dug into her plate of meat and chewed loudly; the recent attack hadn’t unnerved her any. It was obvious from her gum chewing she didn’t have any kind of table manners and didn’t give a lick of a care who knew it.
“I don’t mind field work, Becca. I’m just no spring chicken anymore. These treks wreak havoc on my joints.” She rubbed her elbow where she’d scraped it on one of the tree trunks.
“So, I’m a spring chicken?” Becca rolled her eyes. “I feel more like roast beef, chopped up and damn bloody half the time I’m out here. Everyone’s bigger than me, but I cut them down. Doesn’t mean my body don’t hurt like the dickens when I get home.” She talked while chewing, and everyone avoided looking at her while she spoke. It was downright horrendous.
Ridley had no reservations about staring at Becca when she ate. She just nodded, feigning kinship with the girl. No one got along with Becca, but no one was there to be BFFs either, so it was pretty much moot.
“Anything else on the sensors?” Ridley tapped Tinker on the shoulder, and the tech master gave her a shake of his head. “Good. I’ll be in my tent if you all need me. Jay and Craig, you have the first shift tonight.”
She spun on her heels and dove into one of the dark green tents which were nearly invisible in the darkness. They were especially made to withstand arrows and cyclones and were safer than sitting around a fire like we had been, with bullseyes on our backs. It was starting to feel that way.
“Goodnight!” I muttered. The others mumbled the same under their breaths as they continued doing whatever it was they were doing before the attack.
I didn’t think any of us would be getting much sleep.
Chapter Ten
* * *
Amy
I woke up in a pit. Really? A pit? Of all the places the king could’ve stashed me, I’d been thrown into a hole in the ground. There was no running water, bed, or shower. Perfect for a royal bride to be, not that I cared. I wasn’t keen on the outdoors, but it didn’t bother me.
My head ached something fierce, and I could barely recall falling before the world went black and my chance for escape had been yanked away so hard it felt like a limb had been ripped off. I attempted to sit up, but the world tilted while my stomach rolled even though I hadn’t eaten for who knew how long. I paused, letting the world swing about until it stilled and my stomach settled. I again moved to sit up but slower this time, pausing every few seconds until I could tolerate being upright. Progress, definitely.
I peered around my surroundings, noting the roots sticking out the sides of the walls and the stones which roughly lined it to keep it from collapsing in upon itself. Up above, the night sky shined like diamonds spread across black velvet. The trees reached out into the sky, blocking out part of it as they swayed gently in the slight breeze.
“Hello?” I called out into the darkness, my throat raw from thirst. I reached out to touch my eyebrow where a dull throb continued and found it crusty and caked with something. Blood flaked off as my fingers assessed the gash which was healing beneath the mess. The dried blood remained dark red. A small part of me rejoiced that it wasn’t yet blue like that of the faeries.
Up above me, a small glow began to grow before a face came into view next to the light of the lamp. I stared up at it until it came into focus and Atieran’s features became clear.
“What are you doing here?” I moaned, not bothering to stand up. My legs were still jelly, and I didn’t dare trust them without falling over from my head injury.
Atieran didn’t say anything right away, but he dropped the lantern into the hole near me. It remained lit. Then he tossed a skin full of water—I assumed—and it landed next to me with a thud. He brought out another lantern and held it out so I could see his face again. He threw me a little nod, urging me to grab the items he’d dropped into the hole before dangling one more bag and adding it to the pile.
“Drink. Eat. I didn’t know what you would like, but one of my servant ladies told me you’d want this stuff, just no bugs.”
Oh, thank goodness. Relieved their version of a protein diet wasn’t heading my way, I was glad he knew I couldn’t stomach the bugs, because I didn’t feel like puking my empty guts out at that moment anyway. I reached out, grabbed the skin, popped the cork off, and downed mouthfuls of water until I was sputtering and making a mess of it.
“Watch it. You don’t want to kill yourself down there. It’d be hard to explain death by drowning when you’re in a hole.”
I cleared my throat and glared up at Atieran. “A lot of help you are up there. Why am I down here? Any way you can, you know, give a girl a hand out of here?”
Atieran grinned and shook his head. He disappeared for a moment, but I could see his arms folded behind his head as he laid down on the ground next to the hole. Glad to see he was comfortable. Wouldn’t want the prince of the faeries getting all bothered over me, you know?
“Sorry. I would if I could. There would be a severe punishment if I tried t
o help you now. Most faeries who end up in a hole like this are in deep trouble already.”
I shook my head, leaning back against the crumbling dirt wall as I reached for the second sack Atieran had tossed me. Untying it, I unfolded the leather and found dried fruit and meat of some sort mixed with some nuts. Grateful, I peered back up to thank Atieran only to find him gone.
“Wait!” I heard rustling up above, but Atieran didn’t show his face again. An eternal moment later, his head stuck back out over the hole, peering down at me, his long leafy hair dangling over his face a bit as he strained.
“Yes? You summoned me?”
“Please, don’t go. Where the hell am I? It’s dark, and I don’t even know what part of the forest we’re in. There are other things out here, aren’t there?”
Atieran shrugged, turning around to stare up at the stars. His head remained partially hanging over the edge of the hole.
“There are lots of things out here.” His voice sounded a little farther away now that he wasn’t facing me, but I could still hear it. He sounded sad, his voice full of longing. “Even humans are out here tonight.”
My ears perked up at this, and I struggled to get to my feet, still feeling off balance, so I grabbed hold of the thick roots sticking out the side of the wall.
“Humans? Are they looking for me?”
“Who knows? Most likely. They could be looking for any one of the humans we kidnapped recently. There have been other raids.”
I frowned. It was commonplace for them to kidnap people, obviously. I hated hearing him say that. Did he not care that these people they took had families, lovers, maybe children? We had lives before getting kidnapped by the faeries. His nonchalance angered me.
“You act like it’s nothing, like we’ve lost nothing by being imprisoned here.”