The Court of Outcasts

by Allison Rose

  She took several deep breaths as she attempted to sort out her thoughts. Eventually, she landed on one conclusion. I need to find what he planted in my mind. It felt a lot like playing his game, but she could see no other alternative.

  How do I even do that? She worried her lip between her teeth. It’s been there since Bliss and I haven’t noticed it.

  She thought of Briar then, wishing with all her heart that he was here with her. What would he have me do?

  The memories of Bliss came back to her. The way Briar grew angry when she suggested he leave her to find a way out. How he stuck by her when he could have walked away.

  Nola closed her eyes. She took a breath in and then let it out. I want to see what Fable did. No, I need to see what Fable did.

  She did her best to open herself up mentally. She thought of Fable, though it was unpleasant. She thought of Briar again, of Kelty and Rowan, of the woods and the pleasant memories she had made there.

  There was nothing strange or out of the ordinary about her thoughts. Trying not to grow frustrated, she forged on.

  I need to find this. They may be in danger.

  As Nola’s thoughts turned to worry, a memory came to the fore. It felt strange, unfamiliar. She was almost startled into opening her eyes, but caught herself.

  The memory showed two faeries. One, of green skin, was a delicate creature, a soft shade of green with wings of silver. Not bright like Kelty’s, but a darker, intense, almost gray color. Her hair was a rich auburn color. She had one of her hands clasped with another faerie’s. Nola recognized this one as the one she saw in the wood communicating with a bird. Lark.

  An energy spread from the green faerie into Lark. It broke through a darkness that seemed to surround the faerie and traveled down into the ground where it united with the energy there. The dull glowing at Lark’s core grew brighter, her shoulders relaxing and a joyous smile spreading across her face.

  Nola opened her eyes without meaning to, and the vision ended.

  What on earth did that mean?

  Groaning, she flopped back onto the bed. The rest of the night, she tried to think of how this all fit together, how she could possibly get out of jail.

  She came up with nothing.

  Chapter 28

  Kelty, Rowan, and Briar were about to the edge of the wood when Kelty heard her name being called. She let out a hiss as her head snapped toward the sound.

  I never should have let the humans know my name.

  She turned midair and flew toward the voice. Near the entrance to the park, she found Jeanine, Adam, and Cameron.

  “Fix him,” Jeanine said as Kelty landed in front of them.

  Kelty widened her eyes at the surrounding humans and beckoned them to the thicker trees off to the left. The passersby couldn’t see her, but they could certainly see a group of teens talking to the air.

  “What do you demand of me?” Kelty hissed in a whisper.

  Adam shoved Cameron forward. He looked dazed and not all like she remembered, like he wasn’t fully with this world anymore.

  “What happened to him?” she asked the humans.

  “What happened to him?” Jeanine burst out. “One of you must have gotten to him!”

  Kelty bristled at the girl’s tone. The air shifted as Briar landed softly behind her. She felt Rowan up in the trees keeping watch. Forever her watcher.

  “Fable had them under some sort of compulsion.” Briar spoke with a seriousness Kelty had never heard from him before. “He was testing whether or not humans could live in Faerie. And when they were turned loose, he made sure they would point accusations at Nola. It is why she is in jail.”

  Moon and stars… Her heart went out to the human before her. Humans are barely equipped to live in their own world, much less Faerie.

  Kelty stood on tiptoe and reached her hand to Cameron’s temple. She sent a small spark of energy to get a glimpse of his mind and found the abnormal compulsion easy enough, like something that just didn’t fit with the rest of his mind, his memories. She gently prodded at it with her own magic, trying to get a feel for what it was. Without meaning to, she was sucked further in; she saw a stone structure and a green female faerie. And Nola, along with other humans, dressed in baggy beige clothes.

  No, too far! Human minds are so chaotic.

  With effort, she pulled herself back out, took a breath, and sent her magic back in. She dove in this time, surrounding the compulsion, willing it to dissipate, convincing it its job was done.

  This human wants to keep his memories. He wants to be in control of his own thoughts and actions.

  At first, the compulsion swelled and fought. Cameron moaned.

  Gritting her teeth, Kelty used another burst of magic. Your work is done, she thought as she once more sought to erase the compulsion. After a moment, it slowly started to fade. When she could sense no more, she pulled out of his mind.

  Cameron cried out and sank to his knees. Jeanine threw Kelty a panicked look.

  Have I broken him?

  Then Cameron’s eyes opened abruptly, and he lifted his head gingerly. Upon seeing Kelty and Briar, he jerked back, but Jeanine grabbed his arm. “You’re good. They fixed you. I think. How do you feel?”

  Kelty breathed a sigh of relief.

  Cameron straightened and took a breath. “Fine,” he said. He looked around again. “Where’s Nola?”

  Kelty felt Briar stiffen behind her. She almost rolled her eyes. “We are going to get her. Return home.” She turned away from the humans.

  “She’s in jail!” Jeanine exclaimed. “How are you going to get her out of there with all that iron?”

  Kelty winced. Cursed iron. We could use their help.

  “I’ll go,” Cameron volunteered.

  “You were one of the ones that put her in there,” Briar said tersely.

  “What? Why would I—”

  “Stop,” Kelty demanded. “Others will hear.” She sighed. “Come if you must, humans. You will have to travel your way.”

  Unwilling to waste another minute, she looked up and met Rowan’s eyes. He nodded. They took off together, Briar following close behind and rushing ahead once they got to the open sky. The dwellings multiplied and the amount of trees dwindled as they flew, giving Kelty an uneasy feeling.

  She was not prepared for what she saw when Briar stopped to hover.

  The human jail was a forbidding building surrounded by wire fencing. There were no trees in sight within the fence and barely any around the area. The very air around it felt metallic, sick, human.

  This is a terrible place. How will we ever get her out?

  They landed a ways away under some sparse tree cover near some houses. Rowan put a steadying hand on Kelty’s shoulder.

  “I will go in. I can withstand the iron better,” he told her. Kelty’s eyes went to the scar on his chest. She had come so close to losing him. Luckily, the amount of iron in his body was cured—even made him more able to withstand it—but she didn’t want him risking it. She opened her mouth to protest, but Briar spoke.

  “We will have a better chance together.”

  As his words sank in, Kelty realized he was right. They always had a better chance together. And despite the risk, she wanted Rowan there.

  She nodded. “All right. Where is she?”

  “I saw the humans take her in a door—there.” Briar pointed toward the back of the building.

  “And Fable?”

  Briar sighed. “I didn’t actually see him. But he is behind this.”

  “That’s all you know?”

  “I can’t exactly go in there,” Briar shot back.

  Snapping twigs alerted Kelty to the approach of the humans. She focused her gaze out through the sparse trees to their right and spotted them. Her breath hitched as she saw who trailed behind.

  He looked human on the outside. Peachy skin, shorter blond hair; he wore what the humans called jeans and a T-shirt—but inside, Kelty could see the magic that made him a faerie.
>
  How? Kelty slipped into her spirit affinity and probed deeper—only to recognize the energy.

  Fable. She was torn between rage and satisfaction that he would show his face to her again. Her magic swirled slowly within her core, ready to lash out.

  Kelty felt a hand on her arm. She looked into Rowan’s confused face. “Fable,” she breathed.

  She looked to Briar, noticing how the emotion drained from his face.

  “He must have been the one Nola said was passing around notes at school,” Kelty continued in a near whisper. The humans were still too far to hear.

  “This is our chance then,” Rowan said, straightening his shoulders and fixing a challenging gaze on the human Fable.

  A million questions ran through Kelty’s mind as to how he did it, why, what the end goal was, but Rowan’s words reminded them of their two more pressing concerns: getting Nola out of jail, and saving the Court of Outcasts.

  The next few moments seemed to stretch into eternity as the human version of Fable finally strode into hearing range. Adam, Jeanine, and Cameron walked in front of him, but all three humans looked stiff and they avoided walking directly in front of him, keeping heads turned slightly toward him to keep an eye on his movements.

  “I hoped you would come.” Fable was the first to speak. His voice was a little deeper, rougher, more human.

  The humans walked until they stood on either side of Kelty and Briar, apparently unwilling to stand with the one who must have been their benefactor, the one who got them into the mess with the magic before.

  “Why did you put Nola in there?” Briar spoke before Kelty could. “What do you need her for?”

  Fable studied him. “She is that important to you.”

  Briar’s expression tightened as he clenched his fists. “Answer me.”

  Contempt flashed across Fable’s human face. “I do not have to explain myself to you.”

  “And what about me?” Kelty broke in. Briar aimed a glare at her, but she ignored him. “You severely wounded my court, the court you helped build, with a dark magic and then blamed me, while putting my human sister in jail. Why?”

  She hoped to get him talking, so that she could slip into his mind, or at least determine how powerful he was in this form.

  “You do not need me anymore, Kelty of the Outcasts.” He smiled at her indulgently. “Your answers will come soon enough.”

  She channeled her rage into her spirit power then, focusing on his mind—and coming up against a barrier so strong, it almost physically hurt.

  He is still powerful, even in this human form. Kelty hurried to gather her magic and prepare to strike again.

  Fable turned his head back to Briar, as Rowan’s hand encircled her arm. A soothing burst of magic flowed through her, but she feared even their combined magic wouldn’t be enough to get all they needed.

  Think, she urged herself. There is always a way. If fighting him with spirit wouldn’t work, there had to be something else that would. She could threaten to suffocate him with the winds or water, strangle him with branches, blind him with light—but they still needed all of the knowledge he possessed, and he might even enjoy the violence, even if it was turned on him. The only way out of this one may be knowledge—which they were sorely lacking. Kelty regretted focusing so much of her attention on her magic the past days instead of trying to figure out Fable himself.

  “It is as simple as a promise.”

  Fable’s words snapped Kelty back to reality. He was addressing Briar, eyes alight.

  Briar’s expression darkened. “And this promise will free Nola?”

  “Yes.”

  Rowan’s grip tightened on her arm, as if he wanted to stop Briar, but he made no move to do so. Kelty knew the moment Briar decided. A sort of peace replaced the anger as he said, “Name the oath.”

  “You will allow Nola to choose her own future.”

  Shock flashed over Briar’s face.

  That is too simple, Kelty thought, suspiciously. There is something we are all missing.

  Briar had hidden his shock by the time Kelty opened her mouth to caution him. Wordlessly he extended his hand, which Fable’s whipped forward to grip.

  “I will allow Nola to choose her future,” Briar said. A burst of magic surrounded their hands. A mark showed on the inside of Briar’s wrist.

  Fable flashed him a smile before his skin darkened to gold and his wings sprouted from his back. He took off into the air to fly over the fence and disappear behind the building.

  “We can’t just let him go,” Kelty spoke into the shocked silence. “After he frees Nola, there is no telling what he will do.”

  “It may be what is best for Nola,” Briar answered, a forlorn note to his voice. He gazed off to where Fable had disappeared around the back of the jail.

  Frustration rose to the surface. “That may be true, but there are others who will suffer—who are suffering.”

  Briar looked at her then. “Whatever dark magic he’s created…” Briar shook his head. “If he wants to leave, let him leave.”

  “It may be best,” Rowan agreed. Kelty turned to him in astonishment. “The next chance we get, we will warn those of Faerie. For now, things will be better here if he was not here.”

  But I still do not know how to help my court… Kelty ran a hand through her long hair in agitation, at a loss for words. And if he leaves, the answer might just leave with him, despite his words earlier.

  Above all, it felt like losing. She had so wanted to triumph, to beat him somehow.

  “This world would definitely be better if he was gone,” Jeanine spoke up. Kelty blinked out of her thoughts. She had forgotten the humans were even there.

  “You will have to help the others they took from the field, too.” The blonde girl fixed Kelty with a look. “They are alive, but seem…lost, like he was.” She gestured to Cameron.

  Yes, Kelty agreed internally, though she also felt a flash of irritation at having to clean up Fable’s mess. And we have been discussing things of great importance in front of the humans, she mentally berated herself.

  “It will be dealt with. You will tell no one of what just transpired,” she warned them.

  Jeanine shrugged one shoulder, Cameron held up both hands in a gesture of surrender, and Adam merely glared at her.

  Kelty sighed internally. I will deal with them later. When Nola is safe, and my court has been returned to power.

  She grabbed Rowan’s arm. “I don’t like this. We will prevent him from leaving if possible. And we should make sure Nola is safe once he brings her out.”

  He looked grim but nodded, and together they left behind the humans and Briar to attempt to get closer to the deadly building and the enemy inside.

  Chapter 29

  Nola hastily wiped at the tears on her cheeks as footsteps approached her cell. She had tried so hard to think of a way for them to come out of this unscathed, frustration building until tears fell from her eyes.

  She faced the door, stomach dropping as Mark strode into view.

  “They came for you,” he said.

  They, not he.

  “I can go then?” she asked slowly, unsure what this meant for her, what this would mean for Briar if he wasn’t one of the ones who came, unsure what Fable would do at this point.

  He nodded with a smile. “It is time for you to go.”

  Hope spread through her chest though her mind remained doubtful. Why would he let me out just because they came? What did they give him? After all this, why would he let me just walk away?

  The same guard that had let Fable in before appeared, jangling his keys as he selected one and unlocked the door. Nola sat frozen on the bed.

  “You cannot help them in here,” Fable reasoned in that soft, so-sure-of-himself tone.

  It snapped Nola out of her fear. I need to take this chance.

  She stepped through the door and past the silent guard, heart stuttering as she was once again within arm’s reach of Fable. He looked l
ess deadly in this form, but that didn’t make it any easier to walk past him as the guard moved to lead them down the hall.

  Fable remained silent as well as he fell into step beside Nola. She forced one foot in front of the other, watching him from the corner of her eye.

  Luckily, the walk was short, and they encountered no one. Nola tried not to fidget as the guard went to open the door to the outside.

  The door opened, and Nola caught sight of a familiar green figure and smaller purple one standing just outside.

  Fable spoke then. “I will return for you.”

  Nola took off at a run and nearly slammed into Rowan. He wasted no time awkwardly swinging her up into her arms. Kelty frowned at the building as the door swung shut, Fable still inside.

  “Go, please,” Nola begged.

  Kelty pinned her with her silver eyes, then her gaze softened. Rowan took to the air, his wings creating gusts of wind that tousled Nola’s hair. She clutched him tightly, but frantically glanced around for Kelty.

  Don’t play the hero, she silently begged, only relaxing when she glimpsed her chosen sister flying beside them.

  And then her gaze caught a flash of blue and black wings as Briar joined them, and Nola smiled, caught up by the grace of him in flight, calm spreading through her despite the awkward ride.

  I will finally be home soon.

  * * *

  As soon as Nola’s feet hit the familiar soil of the woods, Kelty pulled her toward her home tree. Nola craned her neck to catch a glimpse of Briar. He gave her a look of relief, but there was also apprehension.

  What did he do to get me out? What happens now?

  She wanted to speak to him, but then she was surrounded by the dim light of magicked stones within Kelty’s tree, and Kelty was peering at her sharply. “What happened? I want to hear all of it,” she demanded.

  Nola sighed and shimmied around her to sit on the pile of blankets the faerie slept on. Kelty remained standing, looking both agitated and drained from being so near the jail, as Nola recounted her tale of a place in the southernmost part of Faerie called Bliss and what went on there, ending with the unnerving conversation with Fable.