Chapter 13
DAVID
I sat down next to Cearo and tried to steal a glance at whatever she was doing, but she moved slightly to obscure my view.
“What are you writing?” I asked, trying the direct approach. She didn’t bother to answer. “How did you get all of these books?” Still no response, but her writing slowed. “There’s so many. Do you have a favorite?”
“It changes every hour,” she said, barely above a whisper. I smiled just for getting an answer out of her, even an unspecific one. I could relate though. I couldn’t pick a favorite cookie if my life depended on it. I thought about telling her that. Maybe if I told her something about me, something that wasn’t heavy, we could have an actual conversation.
Before I could continue, she stood abruptly and put the book in a pocket hidden in her dress. “I am going to find food.” She walked quickly back toward the entrance, while I sat back against the wall, disappointed. I wanted to figure her out, but she’s so cagey, even with small things. It was hopeless.
Eric came into the alcove a moment later. “Get anything out of her?”
“No. She’s going to get food. I’m gonna try to sleep for a while.” I lay down and pulled another pillow to me. At least this was more comfortable than the cell. Eric made himself comfortable also and opened up his chosen book. I was already asleep before I could read the title.
I woke to the ground rumbling above me. Eric was still across from me with his book. He didn’t seem too concerned, so I nipped my panic in the bud.
“Don’t worry. It happened when Cearo left. I think it’s the tree rising up. She must be back,” he informed me. I nodded and sat up. My stomach grumbled so loudly that Cearo could probably hear it from the tree. Hopefully, whatever food she got, she got a lot of it. I heard a faint set of footsteps coming closer to the alcove. A minute later, Eric and I were both shocked by who came in.
Mom was here. She was alive and she was here. Eric and I sprang up and ran to her, enveloping her in a hug tight enough to suffocate. “Thank God you boys are safe,” she gasped out.
“We’re fine. Are you hurt?” I asked. She shook her head and we hugged her again in relief.
“How’d you escape? How’d you find us?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, we didn’t even follow a path. How’d you know where to go?”
“Cearo’s brought me here before…kind of.” That seemed to remind her that Cearo should be here. “Where is she?”
“She left a little while ago to get food,” Eric told her.
“Oh, alright then.” It came out on a heavy breath and I finally noticed how tired she was.
“You should rest. We’ll talk later,” I said. Giving me a grateful look, she went to the back of the alcove where it was darker and collapsed on some pillows, already asleep. “Cearo was right again,” I whispered to Eric. “We just had to wait.” I didn’t know how she could have anticipated all of this, but I decided from now on I would never question Cearo’s judgment. We’d see how long that promise lasted.
Eric was still hesitant. “I don’t know. That was a lot to take on faith. She got lucky, guessing Mom could find a way out of the trap she left her in.”
“I don’t think she was lucky. I think she knew this would happen. She just didn’t explain it to us.”
“Well, I don’t like that either. I want explanations next time she makes us do something.”
“I doubt we’ll get any.”
“Then maybe Mom will be able to give us some.” I shrugged.
The ground shook again, softer this time, and Cearo reappeared a few minutes later. She carried a blanket fashioned into a sack filled with big, charred chunks of meat from some unidentifiable animal. I didn’t care what it was as long as it was edible. When she spotted Mom, she looked satisfied, not surprised in the least. After shooting Eric and me I-told-you-so looks, she spread the blanket out and motioned for us to have at it. She sat in her original spot and pulled her book out once more. I shrugged at Eric again, and we sat down to dig in.
“What is this?” Eric asked Cearo after we’d each taken a bite. This definitely wasn’t any animal I’d tasted before. It wasn’t bad though.
Cearo didn’t answer. I wasn’t surprised. Eric gave an exasperated sigh, but I guess his demand for explanations didn’t extend to food since he kept eating. I couldn’t blame him. It had been so long since we’d really eaten that this felt like a feast. We tore through it so fast, I had to make a conscious effort to stop and spare some for Mom.
We finished our meal in silence, since all we really wanted to talk about was sitting beside us. Talking about her strangeness right in front of her didn’t seem like a nice way to repay her for that. After all, Cearo did save us.
When we finished, Eric ended up taking a nap, so I stole his book and read for a while. It was a novel about evil pixies that kidnapped kids. They got the kidnapping part right, so I wondered what else was based on truth. I’d just gotten to a chapter called Mnemophobia when I noticed Mom was up. She came over and shook Eric awake.
“Do you feel better?” I asked her, handing her the meat I had set aside for her.
“Yes, sleep helped.” She took the food from me and seemed to recognize it. “And this should help too. You two already had some?”
“Yeah, there was plenty. What is it anyway?”
“Unicorn.”
We choked and gagged even though we were no longer eating. Eric stood and bent over. I thought he might actually throw up. Mom was still wolfing it down though like it was nothing. Like it was an everyday thing to be eating pretty-mythical-creature meat.
“Wha — what?” I said.
“Unicorn. Yes, they exist, and this kind is very common in the forest. Its meat will keep you going for much longer than regular food.”
Eric looked at the place our food had been before we devoured it like starving savages. He was horrified. “We just ate a cute, innocent unicorn?” It’s a good thing we didn’t have a little sister, because no little girl would ever speak to us again if she found out about this.
Cearo snorted almost like she was trying not to laugh. Weirder than unicorns, I thought.
“Don’t feel bad. They are nasty little things. They’ll rip you to shreds if they’re hungry,” Mom said.
We gaped at her, jaws nearly hitting the floor. “Unicorns eat people?” Mom nodded. “Unicorns? The pretty, magical horses with the horns on their heads?” Mom nodded again. “No way. Aren’t they supposed to be pure goodness?”
Cearo, having enough of our stupidity, came over to join the conversation. “They are known for their goodness because of the benefits their meat and horns can provide. And of course they are beautiful. They are predators and their beauty is bait for you, their prey. That is why they were forced here.” She looked angry at the thought, like it was a personal affront.
“What do you mean they were forced here?” I asked.
She looked over to Mom. “Did you tell them anything?”
“We were a little preoccupied,” she responded. “I told them about the division between the Seelie and UnSeelie, but that’s about it.”
“Humans forced them here,” she explained, “along with the fae and any other creatures they found intimidating. Humans want to feel like they have absolute control over their world. Anything that threatens that, either by power or predation, they eliminate.” Her sneer became more pronounced as she spoke. She clearly wasn’t a fan of humans in general.
Mom cut in when she noticed Cearo’s bitterness. “Humans didn’t understand us and felt unsafe. The only way they could think of to deal with us was to make us leave. Their numbers were much greater, so they were able to hurt us enough that we retreated here, where it was difficult for them to find us.”
So humans had been so scared they’d forced the fairies and unicorns and other things into a completely different world. I already knew the answer to my next question. “Is that why everyone here hates us so much?”
&nb
sp; “Yes.” Cearo was very straightforward. Mom nodded reluctantly.