The Fairy Code

Chapter 5

"Don't you get tired of carrying me around everywhere?" I asked Louis.

"Well," he said, "you are quite heavy."

"That's not very kind!"

I might have been on his back, but I could tell he was smiling.

"You could you be anymore inconsiderate?" I asked.

"I could have insulted your face." He said.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Oh I would."

"I hate you."

He laughed. "You don't mean that."

"Oh yes. Yes I do."

"But we just made it to the camp."

I looked up. "Yes! Louis! We made it!"

The Code hadn't killed us! We had made it safely!

"Rat!" I heard people calling from camp. There was someone waving.

Louis waved back.

"Are those your friends?" I asked.

Louis didn't answer, he just kept walking towards the camp.

"Well, here we are, Faraley." He set me down.

"Who's this, Rat?" A taller boy asked.

"Everyone this is..." He looked at me.

"I told you my name." I said. "You just used it."

"I know. But, we don't use real names here." Louis said. "I'm Rat, remember?"

"Fine. Who am I then, Rat?"

"You can be Thorn." He said.

"Excuse me?"

"As in 'the thorn in my side'."

The tall boy and his friends laughed.

I'm sure my pain was hilarious.

"Medusa, think you can patch up her ankle?" Louis asked a girl.

She lived up to her name. She needed a good haircut and brushing.

"Why is she dressed in men's clothing?" I asked.

"Because I'm no lady." She had an Irish accent and apparently a wicked tongue. "I could probably do it. What'd you bring back from the town?"

"Her." Louis pointed at me. "That's it. We are everything else."

"He got lost." I said.

"I did not!"

The other two gentlemen laughed again.

"Shut up!" Louis said. "I didn't get lost. Temporarily misguided is all."

I rolled my eyes.

"Come on, girl." Medusa said. "I'll get you different clothes and wrap that ankle up."

I followed her into one of the three tents.

"This here's my tent. Don't touch anything that looks fragile. You can sit on the bed." She told me.

I sat on the sheet covering the pile of hay. "Comfy." I lied.

"You're going to need to get out of those rags." She threw some clothes at me.

"Is there something wrong with my dress?" I asked. "It has a few holes but-"

"You'll never survive in that. Get changed."