The Outskirts: The Sky Raiders (Jace x OC)

Part 6

The Wayminder walked away.
"Are you kidding me!" I said. "That's it! You can't go home or save your friends, you'll never see your family again, good luck! That's all we
get!"
"Kendal, you have to calm down, they'll hear us." Cole said tentatively.
"Sorry. But we have to save them, if we leave this area and go to that town, we might never see them again, we have to do something." I said frantically.
"I know." He said.
The light slowly faded away as they sat behind a pillar in silence. I could hear the blurred murmur of distant conversation.
What would we do? If we got free marks, could we save our friends? If we did, we supposedly can't go home. How big was the Outskirts?
Questions swirled around in my head, I realized I was missing something important. We had no idea how to survive in the prairie. We had no food or water. We could die of thirst or starvation before even making it to a village.
The light faded, and bright stars adorned the moonless sky. I didn't know much about astronomy, but I'm pretty sure the star pattern is different from back home. The crowded stripes of stars looked like multiple milky ways, and some stars glowed bright red and blue.
The only other light came from the campfire where the slavers were settling down to sleep.
"Cole, they're not paying attention. We should see if we can free them."
"Okay." Cole said. "But we have to be super quiet."
I took off my wings and flower crown and shoved them into the bush so they wouldn't be in my way.
As we crept toward the wagon, I could see kids leaning against the bars, some conversing quietly. Dalton rested his forehead against his folded hands, Jenna was talking quietly to Sarah.
Not only had I agreed to go to the haunted house, but Dalton had noticed that the door had locked, and tried to warn us, but we ignored him. We had to save him.
Not all the wagons looked like cages, some were more like coach's, a few looked like portable
houses.
When we got closer, we hid behind a lone bush. All the kidnappers were present. Me and Cole watched as they joked and ate.
The slavers eventually bedded down. Most of the kids had fallen asleep to. Dalton leaned against the bars of his cage, staring vacantly at the nearest campfire. The sight made me tear up. They didn't deserve to be caged and sold to be slaves.
The camp fell silent. The muscular redhead paced in lazy circles studying the empty night.
I tried to form a plan. Presumably, the cages were locked. I had seen no keys. Nobody had gone in or out of the cages since the slavers put the kids in them. Sharing a glance with Cole, I hope he knew what I was going to do. I pointed at the cage that Dalton was in, and waited for the redhead to walk to the far end of camp and we crept toward the cage. Dalton and a few other boys perked up when they saw us coming.
We dove into the shadows under the wagon.
Cole put a finger to his lips.
"Cole, Kendal?" Dalton whispered in disbelief.
I winced. I worried the kidnappers had heard Dalton. I raised my head toward a crack in the floorboards.
"We came through on our own. We're here to try and bust you out." I said.
"Are the cages locked?" asked Cole.
"Yes," Dalton whispered through the crack.
"Ham has the key. The guy who first greeted us in the basement."
"I remember him," I said. "He went into one of the coach's."
"I'm going to try to steal the key." Cole said.
"Are you nuts!" Me and Dalton whisper-yelled at the same time.
"Not so loud." Cole urged.
"They'll catch both of you. You should run for it." Dalton said.
"No," Another boy said from the van. "Get us out."
"Shut it," a third voice whispered. They all fell silent.
I heard footsteps approaching. I shared a terrified glance with Cole.
"What's all the commotion about?" The redhead inquired in a rough whisper.
"Nothing." One of the boys answered.
"They were trying to take my coat." Dalton improvised quietly.
"Keep it down or I'll confiscate it." The redhead threatened. "It's time to sleep."
"Just wait until my dad catches up." One boy said. "He's a cop."
The redhead gave a weary chuckle. "There is no way from there to here. Your parents won't even remember you. No more noise. I don't want to come over here again."
"Sorry." Dalton said.
"Don't apologize," he said. "Just stop talking."
"Excuse me," a soft voice said coming from another wagon.
"That goes for all of you," the redhead snapped, barely keeping his whisper.
"I just thought you might want to know about the kids hiding under the wagon." She said.