Discovering Fae

Mal

I hated leaving Fae. I could barely stand being in a different room, but walking away from her, willingly, with no intention of turning around and no idea when I could go back to her? It was torture.

I rubbed at the ache in my chest. The all too familiar feeling of emptiness and pain from being away from the one I was bonded to. I thought I never again would feel that feeling. I never suspected that I would be walking away from her again. This time, I didn’t choose it. Fae was making me and that hurt more than I thought it would. But it was no more than I deserved. At least I had the benefit of knowing that it wasn’t going to be permanent. She didn’t have that security when I left her.

“It won’t help,” Quinn said as he made a sandwich.

“I hate this feeling,” I said, shaking myself out of it to finish making my own lunch.

“It gets better as the Bond gets stable,” he shrugged. “As it stands, yours is pretty damaged to begin with. You leaving did most of it, so you have no right to complain. Of course, Fae being taken didn’t help any. Speaking of, how is she doing?”

“I want to say she’s getting better, but I just think she’s hiding it better,” I sighed. “She’s pretty overwhelmed right now and that’s not doing her any favors.”

“I can see how that could be a problem,” he nodded.

“No, you don’t,” I shook my head. “None of us can. We all knew what we were our whole lives. We knew who we are, what we are, where we came from. Good or bad, we had what she never got. She didn’t even know she wasn’t human. In less than a year, she’s had her whole world turned around and shaken up like some cheap snow globe. I hurt her, she gets taken and tortured, we lose Nando, she finds out her parents are alive and freaking royalty, and she’s got all of this power only to find that it’s hurting me because she can’t control it. She needs me, Quinn. And I can’t do anything to help her without risking her paying too high a price.”

He chuckled and shook his head as I tossed my sandwich on the plate, too irritated to eat right now.

“Trust me, I know that feeling,” he said. “Not the part about the unstable magic, but the rest of it? I have more experience in that than you can imagine.”

“What do I do, Quinn?” I sighed, rubbing my temples.

“You wait,” he shrugged. “Right now, there isn’t much either of us can do to help her. It hurts me, too. My little girl who I never thought I would see again in this life is broken and hurting and there isn’t anything I can do to fix it. Not without hurting her when, not if, she hurt me. Mary is the only one that won’t be hurt when Fae loses control. As much as we want to be there, Fae needs her mother more than either of us right now. So, the only thing we can do is wait and be here when they get back.”

I groaned and sank to the floor, holding my head in my hands. Quinn chuckled and finished his sandwich. This was going to be hell.

After a while I got up and ate lunch. While Fae was with Mary, trying to learn control, I decided I might as well do something productive. It would be a waste, having all this time with Quinn, Fae’s father who is Soul Bonded, and king of the Sidhe without taking advantage of his knowledge. Not to mention it would also be a decent opportunity for me to get him to not glare at me every time he saw me with Fae.

I was about to go find him when the front door slammed open, and Mary runs in looking frantic with red eyes and wet cheeks.

“Mary?” Quinn said, coming from the library. “What happened?”

“Where’s Fae?” I asked, not seeing her or even feeling her nearby.

“I don’t know,” she shook her head. “We were with Jacob and Nana. One second, she was there, then the next she was gone, right before my eyes.”

“What do you mean she’s gone?!” I shouted. “What happened?”

“I don’t know!” she said. “Jacob was talking with her, but he wouldn’t tell me what about?”

“Jacob? Our Jacob?” Quinn asked and Mary nodded.

“Wait, you know- Whatever. I don’t have time for this,” I said and left the house, already on my phone to call in the cavalry.

Gods, I hoped this wasn’t going to be a repeat.

Fae

Gary may have been useless when homeschooling me, but he did teach me other things that had nothing to do with math and literature. He taught me how to survive.

At the time, I thought it was a pointless waste of time for both of us. The most it would ever be was a last effort when we moved around. A “just in case” measure to make things easier for him, should we find ourselves needing to be off the grid for whatever reason.

Now, I was actually thankful he had taught me that crap. I had no idea where I was and very few of the plants looked familiar to me. I could hear birds everywhere, but I couldn’t really see them, nor did I see anything bigger. I was pretty sure that was a good thing, but it wouldn’t last after nightfall.

So, I got to work.

First thing was a shelter. Yes, the cave would be a fine idea, but I know there were bats in there and I didn’t fancy getting rabies. Aside from that, there was no telling what else was in there, since the echo of the water drips hinted at it being quite large. There wasn’t much I could build with the wood I could gather on the ground, and I didn’t exactly have a saw or machete in my pocket. Well, that idea had to be put on hold, then, until I could figure out how I was going to build a shelter without wood.

Fire. I needed a fire, not for heat, but protection. Not knowing where I was meant I had no idea what kind of predators were just licking their chops thinking about leg of Fae for dinner. Plus, the freaking mosquitoes were already being a nuisance, so I could guess what it would be like when the sun went down. Now that kind of wood, there was plenty of.

I spent a while gathering up the fallen branches and some of the dead leaves to use as tinder. It was going to be a pain trying to get it to light by primitive means, but it couldn’t be helped. I grabbed a good stick and a kind of flat piece of wood and started trying to get a fire started.

Survival was a curious instinct, spurring you into action instead of letting the situation hit you. It didn’t stop the thoughts, though.

Where was I? How did I get here? How in the heck do I get back? Was Mary telling Mal so he could use our bond to find me? Could he find me? Could anyone? Was I even on Earth or was I back in the Sidhe? I hoped I wasn’t in the Sidhe. On earth, I knew what to expect. Dangerous animals and deadly plants and life-threatening weather patterns. In the Sidhe, there was certainly all of that, but also magic and, of course, the fae themselves. Some were friendly, some were shy and would stay away, but some were aggressive to those not of their kind.

After a while, my hands were sore, and I was nowhere near a fire. It was just too humid, and I didn’t have the kind of knowledge to make it work. I sighed and sat back, knowing when to quit a lost call. My stomach growled and I rolled my eyes. Of course, I would get hungry now.

Well, fire would have to wait as well. I needed food and I’m pretty sure water wasn’t going to be far off either.

I started wandering around the area, looking for something I knew would be safe to eat. There was plenty of berries, nuts, fruit... But none of them looked familiar to me, so I didn’t chance it. What I did find, and it made me shudder a little bit, was termites.

“Gods above, I knew I was going to have the bad luck to end up eating bugs in my life,” I muttered as I broke off a thin twig and pulled the leaves off. “Fine dining at its peak. Mal, if you’re coming, bring me a burger.”