Come Away

Chapter 16 - Friends

The woman who led me here grabs my arm again and forces me into the room. I stumble forward, stopping a few feet away from where most of the girls are gathered around a table overladen with food. My eyes latch onto one doe-eyed girl who froze to stare at me, the knife in her hand hovering over a plump turnip. All of the girls seem to be either preparing or sorting through the pile of food.

That is, they were until I showed up.

"Keep your eyes to yourselves or pop them out of your pretty little faces." The woman beside me hollers, and all the girls jump back to their tasks.

Then the woman grabs one of the girls who's walking by with a bucket of water. "You, bring this one over to be stripped of her clothing. Be sure she is dressed in the proper gown and put to work with the others."

The girl's head is hung, her eyes diverted away. "Yes, my lady. And where shall I put her old clothes?"

The woman glances me over, her nose raised and her lips pressed into a disgusted sneer. "Burn them all. Anything mortal has now been deemed toxic by the High King."

I hug my arms around my middle and look down at my clothes. Maybe they do seem a little worn out and dirty, but toxic?

The girl nods and her bright eyes flash up at me before falling back to the ground. "Follow me." She says. Wherever she's going, I know it'll be better than standing next to the tight lipped woman with sharp nails, so I hurry after the girl with the bucket.

She leads us into a side room and sets her bucket on the floor, pausing to stretch her back as her brow furrows in discomfort. Then she looks right at me and again I'm caught off-guard by the intensity of her stare. There's a spark of resolution inside her, despite her previous display of surrender. She gestures to the bucket on the floor.

"Wash yourself if you please. I will fetch your new clothes." Her voice is stronger now that the woman can't hear her.

I watch her leave out the door again and stand there in the dim light as it filters on to the dirt floor around my feet. It comes from an off-white orb that flickers in the corner, like a lightbulb about to die. My focus returns to the bucket, and I look at my faded sneakers with a sigh.

I guess I don't really have a choice, do I?

And besides, after seeing all those girls who mirror my own fears, I know that there are more terrible things going on in this place than me having to give up my old clothes.

Sitting on a stool, I tug one shoe off after the other, followed by my cargo pants (now spotted in blood) and my jacket. The girl reappears as I'm standing there in my undies and t-shirt. If she notices, she doesn't care. The folded clothes in her arms are set on the stool, and she tells me to hurry before we're whipped for dallying.

The rest of my clothes are torn off and I consider rinsing myself with the bucket of water, but I'd rather be covered in sweat and dirt than gashes from a whip. There is thin, white slip that fits like a small dress. I then pull the heavier navy dress over my head and let it fall to my calves. I look for shoes, but don't see that the girl left me any.

She must have noticed my confusion. "Only the wealthiest faeries are allowed to wear shoes." She says. "And since you are neither wealthy nor Fae, you will walk in bare feet." Her small frame bends to gather my clothes on the floor, and I hand her the sneakers when she stands upright.

There's a glimpse of a smile on her lips as she takes the sneakers from me. "Do not worry. You will get used to not having shoes." She glances at the door where the the noise from the kitchen continues on. "At times I pretend to be a wild princess who hates wearing shoes, so I can feel like I do it on purpose."