by Alexia Purdy
I reached out to snatch the folder and study her headshot. “She looks like a little rat bred with a midget,” I snickered.
Ridley sighed. “She’s twenty years old, if you can believe that. Strategy. Think outside the box, Jay. Oh, and don’t ever call her a rat or a midget. She’ll dismember you faster than a meat grinder.”
I huffed, moved her file to the go pile, and then grabbed the next one from the stack in front of Ridley. “What about this one? The guy looks as young as her.” I glanced up at Ridley, and the crimson color flushing her face told me I was pushing her buttons. I set the file back down and bit my lip.
She rolled her eyes. “Hanley. His second cousin was taken three years ago, and his brother disappeared while on a mission against a werewolf pack last winter. He’s a great foot soldier and a hell of a sniper.”
“Oh yeah, he’s the one who joined because his brother worked here, and right after that, his brother died,” Craig said.
“Yeah, that’s him. His brother is only presumed dead, though. We never found a body.”
“Who was his brother? Do we know him?”
“Probably. Hayden was on a mission when he was attacked by a shifter pack. Hanley had just joined the Agency, but he could never find out what happened to his brother. I personally think his brother’s dead, but Hanley believes he was compromised by the shifter wolf. Hayden knew the rules. If he was bitten or scratched by a wolf, he wouldn’t be allowed back at the Agency. He’s a lost cause.” Ridley passed the folder over to Craig, who flipped through it with little interest.
“Does Hanley know that?”
“Yes. Whether dead or alive, he’s well aware his brother is gone for good.”
“So now we get him as a replacement for Hayden?” I shook my head, but the shaking made my migraine flare up. I reached up and pressed my fingers against my temples.
“You could say that. The important thing is he follows orders, and that’s essential on any mission. I want people like that, not foolish vigilantes. People die when orders are ignored.”
Craig moved the headshot to the go pile and stared at the last file on the pile of operatives who’d had family taken by faeries, a guy named Tinker. Another man. Craig would be fine with him. Call him old fashioned, but he was the chivalrous kind of guy who hated having Amy along on missions as it was. Having females on the team concerned him due to the sheer fact they were targeted for kidnapping a lot more than males were. In any society, that’s the way it went, equality be damned. Even having Ridley along concerned him, but as hardheaded as she was, he wouldn’t say a thing to her. It wasn’t worth the wrath that would ensue.
“Who’s this Tinker guy?” Craig asked, obviously interested by what he was reading.
“Tinker is your age, Craig. Maybe slightly older. He is our official gadgets guy. He does more weapons manufacturing than anyone I’ve ever known. You know, specializing in the supernatural weaponry. He’s the guy to go to when you need iron spades, exploding poisons, flying silver aerosols. You name it. He’ll work on any kind of anti-magical ballistics. He’s part druid but has no penchant for magic. Kind of a dud on that, but hyper-intelligent. He grew up human, so he acts pretty normal. He could have dormant magic, but he doesn’t believe so.”
“Sounds awesome.” I yawned, earning a pointed look from Ridley. “What? I haven’t slept in three days. Well, I have, but it’s been really crappy.”
From the look on her face and Craig’s matching bloodshot eyes, she looked as done as we were with evaluating new team members. Craig dumped Tinker’s file onto the GO pile.
“Okay,” Ridley said. “The team is assembled. Now I’ll finish coming up with a rescue plan. We can meet the team later today.”
Craig and I glanced at each other, wondering what we were going to do. We just wanted to kill some faeries, but it’d be better to have some sort of plan if we were going to enter the forest and actually save Amy.
“Sounds good. Whatever you’ve got, it’ll be worth a try,” I said.
Ridley smiled, her thin lips stretching across her face. I could already see the gears working in her head. She loved having control; she was good at it. This was just another day at the office for her, and I was glad I wasn’t the one planning the attack this time around. Exhaustion pulled hard at me, and no amount of coffee would help.
“All right, then. Let’s do this.”
Chapter Six
* * *
Amy
River water wasn’t so bad after a couple days of sitting in your own filth. After my “bath,” I was oiled up with fragrant scents which were subtle and luxuriously moisturizing, but I wasn’t going to love anything yet. I guessed that’s how they did things there. It was odd being stripped down naked in front of everybody, shoved into a river, scrubbed to the bone, and lathered with oils. It was as though I wasn’t allowed to do anything on my own yet. I felt like I was a pig being prepared for the slaughter.
“Why do I have to be prepped to see the king? He already saw me when he changed me into this faery thing.”
I wished I hadn’t asked. After the woman touched my head with the jewel, I could understand everyone, and they made sure to bark even more commands at me. How had that stone worked? I’d asked, but no one would tell me. Frustrated, I stopped asking questions for which there apparently were no answers.
The woman was named Nioka, and she was like a medicine woman of the clan. She smiled a lot as though it was her job. She patiently waited on me, offering me food and drink which I threw down my throat as though I hadn’t eaten in weeks. I liked her. I was surprised to find out that she was one of the kidnapped humans who’d been assimilated years ago. I thought no one could remember being human, let alone that they’d been kidnapped. She remembered but acted as though it was no big deal.
No big deal my ass.
“The king evaluates all the new females to see if he’d like to make them part of his harem,” she offered while handing me yet another leaf full of nuts and berries along with some roasted figs. I was starving, but the crusty bugs they’d offered as part of the meal were less than appealing, and the other stuff they’d given me had not filled me up.
This hippie lifestyle left me hungry. I was used to more robust, meaty stuff.
“You eat this stuff every day?” I asked, wrinkling my nose. The nuts weren’t salted, and the figs were not as sweet as I’d thought they’d be. My stomach rolled as she once again offered a plate of roasted bugs. I wasn’t sure I could eat any of it now that I saw all those legs sticking out. Grasshoppers, snails, everything you could imagine you’d find under a fallen log, was wrapped in a leaf, cooked over a campfire and served hot. I’d never wanted a hamburger or steak more than I did at that moment.
“You don’t have anything else to eat, do you?” I asked, trying to hold down the gush of bile crawling up my esophagus and burning the back of my throat. Grubs, earthworms, maggots… glorious they were, yes, but not for me. I wasn’t used to this culture. I was a spoiled American girl who liked normal food. I wanted real food. Heck, even greasy fast food would have been fine. Nioka smiled and handed me a different leaf. This one didn’t look roasted or boiled, and I took it. I unfolded the flaps of the leaf and was relieved to discover that it wasn’t full of bugs. This one only had dehydrated fruits, dried meat strips, and more unsalted nuts. Thankful, I threw them down my throat faster than I should have, barely chewing.
“Thank you. That was much better.”
Nioka nodded and proceeded to eat her own food—bugs, nuts, dried fruit, and all—while I tried not to watch her inhale her meal as though it was sweet gourmet. My stomach lurched again.
“When am I supposed to see the king?” I asked. The last time I’d seen him was when he’d assimilated me and turned me into this very odd-looking thing. I had a few choice words for him. I didn’t want to be part of his stupid harem. I hoped he would understand and let me go. I had to get out of there and find my family, wherever and whoever they may be.
&
nbsp; “He doesn’t let anyone go,” Nioka said, somehow reading my thoughts. “Even if you’re not chosen for his harem, you will never leave. You are part of the hive now and will work, eat, live, and have children here with the clan for the rest of your life.”
I almost choked on the bits of food still stuck in the back of my mouth. I began coughing, and she handed me a carved wooden cup filled with water. I quickly downed it, hoping to God I wouldn’t die by choking on some dried faery fruit.
Once I cleared my throat, I glared at her and chuckled to myself. “You’re insane. There’s no way in hell I will stay here for the rest of my life. I don’t belong here. I have family out there waiting for me.”
Nioka threw me a sad look, but it was more sympathetic than anything else. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know it’s hard to take in and understand, but there really is no way out of here. You are his forever. Once the king touches you and your skin turns to fae hide, you belong to the faerie clan. There’s no way to leave. I know, I’ve tried. No one ever leaves.”
I sat in silence and watched her as she continued to eat. I wanted to ask her more questions, but I wasn’t sure if she was in the mood to chat. I risked it anyway.
“Nioka?”
“Yes?”
“How long have you been here?”
“I lost count after five years. We become immortal once we’re part of the hive. There is no escape; they will always find you. Once you are transitioned, you’re forever connected to the clan, and it is easy for them to find you.”
I held my hands out in front of me and stared at the odd coloring, hating it with every morsel of my being. What color had my skin been before? I couldn’t remember. I dropped my hands and looked up at Nioka then peered around to see if anyone was near enough to hear us. They weren’t.
“Nioka? Maybe we can do this together. Get out of here, I mean. You can help me, and I can help you.”
Nioka frowned and reached over to softly pat my hand, like she was comforting a child. “Young one, I can never leave here. This is my home. I am fully transitioned and completely connected to this clan. If I left, I would die. There’s no way around it. You have two weeks to get out of here, and it’s already been a few days. If you don’t leave before the two weeks are up, you’ll be trapped. If you can leave before that and sever the connection, you’ll be free. But I warn you, it’s never been done. You should stay. The king is kind, and we are happy.”
I shook my head. “No. I have to get out of here. I can do it, I know I can… I can….” A flash of my past hit me as I stopped speaking, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring it back. The flash had filled me with heartache and longing as tears blossomed in my eyes. It had been an image of two young men—my brothers, I presumed. I could barely hold on to even that, though, and the details of their faces had already vanished.
“I can’t remember. Shoot.” I pressed my lips together, angry that my memory was failing me so quickly.
“Don’t worry. As time goes on, the memories of your past life will fade away completely, and you will only know the happiness of this life.”
She patted the back of my hand once more. Her long hair, filled with soft green vines and leaves, brushed my arm as she got to her feet. She took the leaves we’d eaten out of and dumped them in a pit in the ground. Maybe to be recycled. I didn’t care. I had to get out of there. I had to. She disappeared, but before I could think to see where she had gone, she returned and placed a small sack in my lap. It had a strap that I could use to tie it around my waist. I opened it and looked in to find a couple of the leaf packets.
“For later. Maybe a new journey.” She winked and waved her hands for me to hurry. “Now you will go see the king. Wait here.”
She got up and left, and this time I watched her walk away, wondering why she would help me when they were a hive mind. Maybe the king didn’t meddle with them that much. What was to become of me now? The king’s servants would come fetch me soon enough to present me to the king. I didn’t want to be there, but I would have to go to keep up all pretenses. Nioka had the right idea. Stockpile for now, for who knew how far I’d have to travel to return home? In the meantime, I had to keep that small spark of hope burning inside me.
I sighed, feeling worn out from the day’s events. I hoped the king wouldn’t choose me for his harem. That was the last thing I’d want to be a part of, but what happened to the girls who were not chosen? Were they discarded or viewed as trash? Would they put me to work in the salt mines, so to speak? I shuddered as my imagination ran wild, not wanting to face anything anymore. Where was that tough warrior girl I had once been? Just when I needed her, she was locked somewhere in the back of my mind.
Nioka didn’t return, but a group of soldiers arrived soon after and pulled me to my feet to escort me to the king. I hoped this would go smoothly, or I would be in deeper trouble than I’d ever been in my whole life. Or so I thought.
Chapter Seven
* * *
Craig
“This way!” Jay growled. “We already went down that trail. We’re just going in circles.” His patience was nonexistent after hours of following dead-end trails.
“We’re not going in circles,” I said, “it only looks like it. The vegetation is old, more undisturbed out here, so it looks the same for miles. Trust me, we’re going the right way. Right, Becca?”
“Yep.” The tiny girl-woman didn’t bother looking my way but nodded as she mumbled, chewing her gum as loudly as possible. The girl was more like a feral cat than a person. It unnerved both me and my brother.
“Just like the last two miles we backtracked? I feel really confident about all this,” Jay snickered, eyeballing Becca with a narrow look.
“Dick. You try navigating a forest without instruments. The place is a magnetic black hole.” Becca chomped more loudly, rolling her eyes at my brother before glaring at me. “Control your brother, or he’ll find my compass jammed down his pretty throat.”
“Geezus. She’s more animal than human. Why’d we choose her again, Ridley?” Jay called out to our leader, who was busy trying to make her radar work. Tinker had already told her it was useless, but she refused to give up on the instrument.
“You guys are pushing my limits, and I swear to god I’m about to turn this procession around if you don’t shut it already.” Ridley ignored the bickering for the most part, but the forest was hot and humid, and none of us had any bearings. We were effectively walking blind out there. Becca’s tracking was probably saving us from getting hopelessly lost, but I kept my thoughts to myself.
She was a fragile, tiny little thing compared to the rest of us; her frame was skeletal. The girl could have used several meals with protein shakes. Maybe if she did put on some weight, she’d be pretty and Jay wouldn’t be so appalled by the sight of her, but I doubted the kid could keep any weight on if she wanted to.
“You’re kidding, right?” Hanley, the usually quiet broody type, was not amused with all the arguing going on. I just knew nobody wanted Ridley at the end of her rope. Having Jay already losing his grip on the situation was more than enough to sour the mood. The only person unfazed by the atmosphere was Norstrom, who was keeping to himself behind Ridley and diligently scanning the woods. At least one of us was on task. I could barely concentrate, and I was heading up the rear. I was almost hoping for a surprise attack to get us refocused. Everyone in the group had a relative abducted by faeries and were least likely to be abducted by the fae. Regardless, we lacked chemistry and kept bumping heads on all fronts.
It made me miss Amy even more.
“Guys, settle down. I’m getting a reading.” Ridley waved her arm in the air, bringing us to a halt. The weak beep from her tablet made us all sigh. It could be a deer. One little blip on the monitor meant nothing. If we were getting close, an entire settlement would show up on it and send the thing going nuts. Norstrom was sliding his finger across his tablet too, which piqued my inte
rest. I hoped he’d found something. I didn’t think I could stand another false alarm. We all inched closer to him and watched the lit-up screen that showed our position and about a twenty-mile radius around us.
Right then, the thing went crazy. Something was approaching. Something big and much too quick to be a deer.
“Here we go,” Norstrom said.
“Finally. I was dying of boredom.” Becca smacked her gum once more, and the sound echoed through the now-silent trees surrounding us. I doubted we could ever keep her quiet. I shuddered to think of her previous mission partners.
“We need to split up. Now. It’ll be here in three minutes,” Ridley said, motioning half of us to go one way and the other half the other way. I frowned. I didn’t like this one bit. Separating wasn’t in the plan. What was Ridley thinking?
Jay, Tinker, and Becca broke off into their own group and moved toward the left. Finding some larger trees and overgrown shrubbery, they all inched down, disappearing into the underbrush. Ridley, Hanley, Norstrom and I hunkered down the same way across from them. I listened for any rustling in the bushes and forest mulch. It was impossible to be a quiet walker in this forest. I hoped sitting still would give us the advantage.
Not a moment later, a large wolf came into view. It had yet to spot us, but I was willing to bet it had smelled our scent from miles away. Hopefully none of us were upwind, but the wolf was close enough where that might not matter. We did have quite a cache of weapons on us. No one could say we weren’t prepared. Carrying the stuff around wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.
As the wolf approached, I pressed my body even closer to the tree trunk next to me and glanced over to the other three. Jay’s group was well hidden too, but if the wolf wasn’t alone, I doubted any amount of hiding would do us any good. Closing my eyes, I said a silent prayer hoping the wolf would move on. As though on cue, it paused and looked over its shoulder as though it had caught wind of something behind it. It sensed that something was off, but it looked like the winds were in our favor. The air barely moved, and the intense forest smells were stronger than ever. Maybe they’d mask our presence. I held my breath, just in case.
