Tales of the Travellers

3

I didn't understand until later that Cattai couldn't see me because of the collar. The Trader took it off me at the end of the day and we were all sent back into our cages.

Dot told me more about what Cattai would be doing. There were a couple of fairies dedicated to spending their whole time to entertaining the family they were owned by. In this case, Cattai was mainly dedicated to entertaining their three daughters Bernadette aged 14, Samantha aged 10 and Caroline aged 7. But would also be sent to entertain Georgia Everly, the woman of the family, and, in extreme but unlikely cases, Samuel Everly, the Master of the house.

Either way, the whole family had a thing for fairies. Physically and playfully.

I pressed my lips together. The lifestyle Cattai was a part of now didn't sound horrible, it sounded better than the one she had left behind. And under these conditions I probably would've found leaving Cattai here a better option. But the fact that the Everly's may get bored of her and maybe kill her or sell her to someone else was what made me realised I needed to get her out of here.

I let her come here without a fight, and I was making sure I fought to free her.

"I need to get out of here," I informed to Dot. She laughed at me.

"When you figure out a way can you let me know? I'd love to leave this shithole too."

I smirked, "Yeah sure. I'll bring you along. I'll give everybody a chance to escape with me."

"You're quite the dreamer Kim."

I shrugged, "Where are we without dreams?"

*

Cattai walked through the hallways like she always did. After a couple of days, I had noticed she was going in a sort of routine. For practically prisoners fairies were allowed surprisingly flexible working spaces and expectations. So long as we did our jobs we weren't terribly harassed.

But I did notice that fairies were often called to do other things. As an eight-year old at the time I never quite understood what exactly, but looking back on it now I cringe at the memory and was often glad for my ignorance.

Cattai would be heading down the hallway to go to Bernadette's room to have morning tea or something.

I waited for her to walk by before grabbing the back of her dress and yanking her into the bathroom. She went to scream in fright, but my hand managed to clamp her mouth shut. She struggled in my grip as I held her close and waited for her to stop. After a moment I released her and she attempted to hide under the wink.

"Cattai! Calm down, it's me! It's Kimberly!" I assured her as she whimpered.

She shook her head, looking around the bathroom for me, but I was still beyond her sight. "You can't be. Kimberly is in Enchanted Forest." Her words were semi-muffled because she was trying not to cry, and I couldn't blame her. It would be frightening to be suddenly pulled into a bathroom by an invisible being.

"It's me Cattai. I promise, I got sent here as well. I'm so glad I found you," I informed.

She still didn't seem to believe me, but she stood up from under the sink. "Why can't I see you?" she asked.

"It's one of these collars they make us wear. It seems to make us disappear," I explained.

She expressed that she didn't believe it was me, that the Everly's were trying to trick her or something. She looked close to crying again. To prove I was me I told her what we did every night for her to go to bed, I'd tuck her in, kiss her goodnight and we'd fall asleep looking at the stars when we could. I told how I was a half-blood and some very small things that I only told Cattai.