The Perfect Outcast

by Melissa O. Hansen

  After several minutes, they reached the top of an incline, and Alina heard rushing water in the ravine below. She raced down the slope toward the sound.

  Large rocks broke the surface of the shallow river, clear enough to see the stony bottom. “Come, Rex!” she called.

  Rex shrieked behind her and a cascade of pebbles tumbled down the slope. “HELP!”

  Alina dashed up to where he and Jade lay motionless on the hill.

  “If I move, I’ll fall,” Rex whimpered, barely moving his mouth. Alina suppressed a laugh.

  “It’s okay. I got you.” She picked up Jade and put her on her back, then reached out to Rex. He lifted his hand, then screamed as the pebbles slipped from under him and he tumbled down to the riverbank.

  He lay on his back and pointed up at Alina. “Don’t ever run off like that again!”

  “Sorry,” she called. He wobbled as he stood and brushed the dirt from his clothes.

  “Jade, we have some water for you,” Alina said as she reached the bank. “We don’t have anything to scoop it with. We’ll have to help her,” she told Rex.

  Rex helped Jade lie down near the stream and then flopped onto his belly and brought his cupped hands to her mouth.

  Alina walked along the bank, eyeing a clump of prickly bushes with flecks of red inside the leaves. She thrust her hands into the center and felt around, then pulled out a handful of berries. She tasted one and made a face.

  She brought them to Rex. “I found these. Do you want to try them?”

  Although he’d complained of his starving belly only minutes before, Rex backed away from her outstretched palm. “Are they safe?”

  Alina shrugged. “How should I know? Anything here can kill you, I suppose. But who knows how long it will take us to find Stormport? Do you want to be hungry the whole way?”

  “I’ll have some,” said Jade, holding out her hand. Alina gave her a few berries.

  “Jade, no!” Rex shrieked. He flinched as the berries ruptured under her teeth, then grabbed her arm. “Do you feel sick? Is your stomach going to explode? Your eyes are closed! Are you dying?”

  “Rex, I’m supposed to keep my eyes closed, remember?”

  Alina stifled a giggle. Jade couldn’t contain herself, and soon the two of them roared with laughter. Jade wiped a tear from her cheek. Rex glared and frowned.

  “I’m fine, Rex. They aren’t bad. Why don’t you try some?” Jade suggested.

  He took a berry from Alina, studied it for a moment, then popped it in his mouth. He spat the pulp out a few seconds later, his tongue hanging over his lips.

  “That’s the worst thing I’ve ever put in my mouth! How can you eat those?”

  “Yes, they’re nothing like Prian fruit,” said Alina. “I suppose we’ll have to get used to lots of changes here.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Rex grumbled. “You don’t have to eat them if you don’t want to.”

  “True, but I think since you have to eat them, you’ll come to like them,” Alina replied. She looked around. “We should follow the stream so we have water, and it will probably lead us to Stormport.”

  “Good idea, Alina,” said Jade. “I feel better now I’ve had some water. Are there any more berries?”

  “There’s plenty along the river,” Alina answered. “Another reason to stay near it. However, we may run into more creatures.” She dropped her voice as she addressed Rex. “Can you lead Jade? I still want to be a shield in case something happens.”

  Rex chuckled. “I’m sure Sampson hadn’t planned on this.”

  “Does this mean I’m no longer a threat? Did we solve his biggest problem?” Alina asked.

  Rex frowned. “We’ll talk later, when Jade isn’t around.”

  “You mean when Sampson isn’t around.” Alina pinched her lips together. “I hate the control he has over her.”

  “Maybe something can be done about that here.”

  They continued along the path, Rex leading Jade as she walked with her eyes closed. Alina offered to carry her, since they’d seen no creatures, when a splash of water and a rustle in the bushes stopped them in their tracks.

  Alina took out the quills from her pocket. She didn’t know how she’d use them, but they were better than nothing.

  After a long silence, she heard a hard gulp, and the sputter of coughing. I’ve done that before. Water down the wrong part of the throat. Do animals cough?

  “Who’s there?” she called out.

  Another long pause followed, then something rose from the bushes. Rex gasped.

  “Stan?” Rex narrowed his eyes. “Is that you?”

  The pale, skinny man looked frightened. He gave a small nod.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Stan coughed again. “S-Sampson sent me here when he found out I h-helped you,” he stammered.

  Rex started toward him. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine,” he snapped. “I just have the jitters. I’ve seen some crazy things already. When I heard you approaching, I thought it was more wild creatures.”

  “Well,” Rex chuckled, “we are pretty wild, traveling through the woods like this. But I’m sure we’re safer in a group, so why don’t you join us?”

  “Rex,” Alina interrupted. “Can I talk to you for a minute? In private?”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Okay.”

  Rex followed her to a nearby tree, where she turned to him and dropped her voice. “I haven’t told you what happened after we separated at Gordian. Sampson was waiting for me in the control room. He said he had spies, implying whoever helped you find me in Gordian was actually working for him. Would that be Stan?”

  Rex frowned. “Yes. He gave me the directions and codes to the control room.”

  “Then we can’t trust him. What do you think he’s doing here? Did he upset Sampson, or is there another reason?”

  Rex’s nostrils flared. He puffed up his chest and marched back to Stan.

  “Tell me the truth, Stan,” he demanded. “Are you working for Sampson?”

  Stan’s eyes widened. “No! No,” he repeated. “I mean, it’s not what you think.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve, uh, been playing both sides to help the resistance—”

  Rex interrupted Stan by slamming his fist into his jaw. As they both bellowed in pain, Alina couldn’t tell if the punch hurt Stan or Rex more.

  “Stop, Rex,” said Jade, her eyes closed. “Let him explain.”

  “He almost ruined everything!” Rex hollered, massaging his knuckles. “Alina was captured, we were imprisoned, and Zaiden left behind—”

  “And we’re here!” Jade cut in. “We made it! Alina might be here by herself if Sampson hadn’t caught her. I think the scheme worked better than we’d hoped. You know the odds we had against us. If he’s not a traitor” —she nodded in Stan’s direction— “then we should thank him.”

  Alina turned toward Stan. “We’re interested in hearing your explanation.”

  A stream of blood trickled from Stan’s mouth as he spoke. “I’m a loyal member of the resistance, I swear it.” He looked at Rex. “Do you know what Sampson did to Mira? All these years I thought she’d been sent to Carthem—he had her in his dungeons!” His voice trembled. “I’ve been spying on him for years now in hopes of finding her. I misled you because he was watching me as I wrote the instructions. I didn’t want to blow my cover.”

  “What—so it doesn’t matter who gets locked up in Gordian as long as your cover is safe?” Rex snapped.

  “I’m sorry! I didn’t know what to do. I hoped things would turn out okay, and they did—like Jade said! How did you escape, anyway?”

  “Alina is brilliant,” Jade said, grinning.

  “Sampson was waiting in the control room when I arrived. He said you were spying for him,” Alina said, ignoring his question.

  “That’s what he thought. Besides, why else would I be here?”

  “Good question,” said Rex. “Why did Sampson send you here?”
r />   “He found out I led you to Alina’s room in the laboratories, though I don’t know how. He was so angry, he cut me with the dagger almost the moment he saw me.” Stan squirmed under Rex’s eye. “Come on! I led you to Alina, didn’t I? Can I still tag along with you?” He glanced at Alina and Jade.

  Rex glared at him. “Fine, but don’t expect any of us to talk to you.”

  “Fair enough,” he said.

  “Let him carry Jade for awhile,” said Alina.

  “No way,” Rex scoffed. “He’ll plunge some secret knife into her the minute our backs are turned. He was probably sent here to finish us off.”

  Stan marched over to Jade and lifted her onto his back, then glowered at Rex. “If I kill her, you can kill me. You know I don’t stand a chance against you and an immortal.”

  Rex stole a glance at Alina. “Uh—what are you talking about?”

  “Come on, Rex,” Stan said, wiping his brow. “I’ve lived with immortals for two hundred years, and you think I wouldn’t recognize one? Look at her, she’s gorgeous!”

  Alina blushed to the roots of her hair, which embarrassed her further. Immortals were extra attractive when they blushed.

  “I suppose if you won’t risk your cover in Pria, you won’t risk your life in Carthem,” Rex said bitterly. He turned to Alina and muttered under his breath, “But I still don’t trust him.”

  “We’ll keep an eye on him,” Alina whispered. Stan marched ahead of them with Jade on his back. He seemed well recovered from the edginess he had when they first found him. Alina frowned.

  They traveled into the evening, and when the sky grew too dark for them to follow the river, Rex and Alina decided to rest for the night and continue the search for Stormport in the morning.

  “It’s fortunate we haven’t met any Prian creatures,” Alina said.

  “Yes, but also peculiar,” Rex pointed out.

  “It’s also a good thing I don’t sleep. I can keep watch.”

  Rex nodded, then sighed.

  “What’s worrying you?”

  “Oh, nothing. I just wish there was something to eat besides berries.”

  Jade felt her way to the ground, eyes still closed. In all of their travels, she hadn’t peeked once.

  “Are you hungry?” Alina asked her.

  “I’ll have a few more berries, if there are some.”

  “Please, take them all,” Rex said as he sprawled out on the ground and rested his head on a log. He closed his eyes, and before long, began to squirm. “How am I ever going to fall asleep here?”

  Alina smiled. “Not like sleeping on the night of Genesis, is it?”

  He rolled to his side. “What I’d give for a pillow.”

  Stan lay down on the dirt, rested his head on his arm, and didn’t move again. After a few minutes, a harsh noise vibrated through his nose at regular intervals.

  Rex sat up in horror. “What’s that?”

  “Mortals breathe like that when they sleep sometimes,” Jade answered. “I heard Alina do it from time to time.”

  Alina grimaced. “I sounded like that?”

  “Heavens, no. You were soft and dainty. Stan sounds—”

  “Foul,” Rex answered. He rolled over and moaned. “I’ll never sleep tonight.”

  “How about you, Jade?” Alina asked.

  “I’m fine,” she said, and yawned. “This spot of dirt is softer than it looks.” But she writhed for a few minutes before settling down.

  “You’re always so positive, Jade.”

  “That’s not a bad thing, is it?”

  “No,” Rex spoke up. “In fact, it might save us.”

  An hour later, after Jade had fallen asleep, Alina listened to Rex wiggling on the ground and thought it safe to ask him a question.

  “Rex?”

  He grunted as he shifted. “Yeah?”

  “What did Sampson mean back in the dungeon, about my father being dead? What was he talking about?”

  Rex stopped moving and went quiet for a moment.

  “Do you know what a father is?” he asked.

  “I’ve only heard Sampson referred to as Father. That’s why I’m confused.”

  Rex pulled himself to a sitting position against the log. “Remember Alina, you were born, not manufactured in the Gordian laboratories. You had a real mother and father, something no one in Pria can claim, except Sampson himself.” He paused, and a broad smile stretched across his face. “It’s called a family.”

  “A family?”

  Rex went on, as if he didn’t hear her. “Camden told me about families at times, when it didn’t pain him to talk about them. He wondered why Sampson didn’t banish him from Pria sooner, considering the threat he was.”

  “Why was he a threat?”

  “He knew the truth about life in Carthem, before Pria.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve been taught Carthem is an awful place. But this world has many beautiful things that can’t be experienced in Pria. Camden had a wife and family when he lived here.” He paused. “Do you know what a wife is?”

  “No.”

  “Of course not, because you’ve never heard of marriage. Here in Carthem, when a man and a woman love each other, they get married. I suppose it’s similar to how women and men live together in Pria, except, as Camden explained, marriage requires commitment—solemn vows of loyalty. The two are bound together until one of them dies, or at least they’re supposed to be. One of Sampson’s arguments in favor of dissolving the family unit was it created so much heartache. People couldn’t stay true to each other—they were too selfish. He claimed it was better not to make the vows in the first place so they couldn’t be broken.”

  Rex smiled again. “But Camden’s marriage was a happy one. He got emotional when he spoke of his wife, so he didn’t share much. I always wanted to hear more, though. I could tell his relationship with her was different.”

  “From what?”

  “Well, from those in Pria. People there can’t think beyond themselves. They go from lover to lover without moving past the physical aspect of love. Sure, that part is fun, but passion can’t sustain itself forever—believe me, I’ve tried. Camden never had a relationship in all his years in Pria. How could he, when he knew what real love was like?” Rex shook his head. “I’m afraid I couldn’t settle for a shallow relationship either. Not that I didn’t try.”

  Alina asked, “Is it true Sampson killed my father?”

  Rex paused. “I don’t know. But—” he took a deep breath, “most likely.”

  “And my mother?”

  In the darkness, Rex crossed his arms and rubbed them. “She didn’t make it.”

  Rex finally drifted to sleep, and though Alina could see well in the dark, nothing could stave off the boredom. She kept her eyes peeled for any movement around them, but the night was still. How strange that the trip had been uneventful. Maybe Sampson didn’t have as much power here as he claimed. The thought lifted her spirits.

  Stan’s snoring halted, and he shifted on the ground. Alina glanced in his direction and saw him sitting up.

  “Alina, are you there?” he whispered harshly.

  “Yes, I’m here.”

  “Oh, wow, I can’t see a thing—can you see me?”

  “Yes. My eyes are pretty good in the dark.”

  “In that case, I think I’ll go behind a tree to do my business. Can you direct me?”

  “Come on, Stan,” she rolled her eyes. “I won’t watch you.”

  “No, no, I’m new at this, and it makes me self-conscious. I need to know no one can see me.”

  She sighed. “Fine. Stand up and move to your left. Start walking straight. Good. Now stop. Reach out to your right and you’ll feel a tree.”

  He found the trunk. “Thanks,” he said, and disappeared behind the tree. After a moment, Alina heard the sound of urine hitting the ground.

  She expected he’d need help walking back, and as she waited, she ran her hands through her hair.
The fine strands slid through her fingers like silk. No matter what Rex said, she looked different. Her legs were trimmer, especially around her thighs. Her face felt smooth, without blemishes, and her teeth straight and even. She chewed on her bottom lip, wishing she had a mirror.

  After several minutes with no sound from Stan, she looked at his tree. What was he doing?

  “Stan, are you okay?”

  Silence.

  “Stan?” she called louder. When he didn’t answer, she stood up, feeling nervous. She’d heard nothing, not even a rustle since the urine stopped. She crept toward the tree.

  “Stan, you still there?”

  She stepped over a rock and peeked around his tree. No one was there.

  “Stan!” she called out. She scanned the area, then looked at the ground. She saw a wet spot in the dirt, the only indication he’d been there at all.

  Alina hurried back to the others, trembling. What happened to him? She thought of waking Rex but decided not to. It had taken him so long to fall asleep, and besides, what could they do? They couldn’t search in the dark, and she wouldn’t leave them alone. They’d have to wait until morning.

  She searched the woods for any sign of movement. Something dangerous could be lurking nearby, ready to take those she most loved. She might not be able to protect them.

  She looked at the dark sky, littered with stars. Come quickly, morning.

  She didn’t have to wait long. Within an hour the sky brightened, and Alina relaxed her shoulders. They’d encountered no serious dangers so far. Perhaps Sampson thought she was mortal and wanted her kept from harm. She clung to the thought.

  Rex and Jade moaned and stirred in their sleep as if realizing their discomfort. Alina studied them as the light touched their faces. They looked so different from their immortal selves. Jade’s hair twisted in tangles around her face, and her features seemed slightly unbalanced. Rex’s face had turned cherry red from the sun. Freckles dotted his arms and hands.

  Rex opened his eyes and grimaced as he sat up. “Wow, that sleep did nothing for me. I feel worse than before. Every part of my body hurts.”