Page 27 of Outcast Fae

Daniella wrinkled her nose. “I noticed that, too.”

“It fucking stinks,” Wally said, shaking his head, making his limp red hair swing from side to side.

“What about Vaughn? What do we do?” Daniella asked, wringing her hands in worry, something she seemed to do a lot.

Elon huffed. “He’s on his own. I’m not going after that thing.”

“You shouldn’t have gone after it in the first place,” I pointed out.

Wally scratched his chin, grimacing. “Yeah, that was a pretty idiot move. I don’t even know why I did that.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

“Maybe to establish your role as top dog,” Daniella said, philosophically. “I think you feel challenged by Vaughn. Typical men,” she murmured.

“What do you know,flim?” Wally walked away and pretended to examine the ground for more prints.

Elon shrugged one shoulder. “I was… just curious. I mean if… we’re sharing the island with monsters and stuff, we should know what we’re up against.”

I didn’t believe for a second that he’d actually rationalize this before taking off after Vaughn and Wally, but I couldn’t deny that if we were going to be here for a while, we needed to be familiar with our new home and its inhabitants. But maybe not in such a dangerous way.

Wally turned to face us. “Yeah, we should know what we’re up against. That was exactly my thought,” he continued, growing bolder. “We should go help Vaughn.”

“No, that’s a bad idea,” I said. “I agree that we should get to know the island, but first, we should make camp somewhere safe. A place that we can protect from… any sort of attack. After that, we could explore, find out which areas are safe. That smell,” I waved a hand around, “could be urine.”

“Gross!” Daniella wrinkled her nose.

I went on. “It could be an animal marking its territory and we’re being stupid standing right here.”

Wally stared at me with an expression of surprise, as if he hadn’t been expecting anything logical to come out of my mouth. Elon had an eyebrow raised, betraying the fact that he was impressed with my assessment as well, though he didn’t say a word about it.

Daniella glanced from one to the other. “She’s right, guys, don’t you think? We should do as she says.”

“But what about Vaughn?” Wally glanced over his shoulder toward the broken branches through which Vaughn had apparently disappeared.

“From the looks of it,” I said. “He can take care of himself, so I wouldn’t worry about him.”

Maybe the beast, or monster, or whatever, would devour him, and we wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore. If he beat up fae women half his size, it was just what he deserved.

With the males dragging their feet and casting glances over their shoulders, we left the clearing, walking back the way we had come.

Daniella picked up a long, fallen branch and used it as a walking stick. “What would be a good place to make camp?”

“Somewhere high. The trees are good,” I said, without thinking.

My home in Alanthyl had been up in the canopy of the most beautiful forest. Every morning, I woke up to bird songs and the whisper of leaves. Then I would fly down to the ground, spreading my wings, never afraid to have them on display, their beautiful colors and patterns just as natural as anything else.

“That’s stupid,” Elon put in. “It’s not like we can build treehouses up there.”

I snapped out of my momentary daydream. “No, you’re right. I was just… brainstorming.”

“There were a few hills to the left of where we camped last night,” Daniella offered shyly.

Elon laughed with derision. “To the left? The left of what? You?”

Embarrassed, Daniella lowered her head.

Wally glanced up and yelled at the treetops. “A compass would come in handy.”