Last Fae

Chapter 20 ~ Searching for Clues

We shifted back and got dressed before we walked through the village. The trees still held the shape of the houses they'd been grown into but grass had grown through them and the paths were overgrown with more grass and new trees. There was no real sign of the slaughter that had taken place, but no evidence that it hadn't either.

My eyes searched the ground with every step terrified I'd find the long dead body of a Fae but there was nothing. It was like no one had ever been there. When I saw the familiar outline of my home I hesitated. The red door sat wide open and the top had come loose so it hung lopsided. Perhaps I had done that in my desperate race to escape with Mia that night, or maybe the next morning when I'd searched for my family.

I trailed my fingers down the red wood once I'd convinced myself to take the final strides to the house I'd grown up in. I ducked inside holding my breath. The once packed earth of the floor was now grass and weeds, the roof over head had splits in it allowing light to filter through. The small table and chairs still stood as it always had in the centre of the front room a thick layer of dirt and grime covered it and the woven place-mats had started to rot away.

I moved into the next room, mine and Mia's. The memory of scrambling out of bed and grabbing Mia, pulling her with me as screams rent the air stopped me from moving further in. I turned back and climbed the stairs to the room above. My parents room, the queen bed sat in the centre, their shared office desk to the right covered in leather bound books much like the one I'd found on Kellan's desk in the cabin.

My father had taught me to write and read the Elder language with those books. I picked one up but the pages were rotting away and anything they might have said was no longer legible. I sighed, the ache in my chest growing with each new item I saw. Kellan had followed me up but kept his distance, giving me the space I needed to get through this.

I walked to the bathroom doorway and glanced inside. Her jewellery box sat open on the shelf by the mirror and I couldn't resist entering. The gold locket she'd always worn sat in the centre. The snapped chain the only reason she'd taken it off. Inside old pictures of Mia and I. I wrapped the chain around my fingers and hugged it to my chest.

What had really happened that night? If they were still alive, why had they left me behind? Did they think I was dead too? My heart squeezed in my chest and I struggled to breath. I felt the world spin around me and sagged to the floor for stability. Kellan raced over and grabbed me. "Hey, are you okay?" I rubbed my temples and shook the dizziness away.

"Yeah, lets keep going," I pushed myself to my feet again, using Kellan for stability and hurried down the stairs and out of the house. The walk through the rest of the village was a blur as my mind kept skipping back to that house. To questions I wasn't sure I'd ever have the answers to. We reached the other side of the village and Kellan stepped forward, leading us through the last of the houses and out to a stretch of what was once empty space and was now an overgrown region full of young trees and new growth.

In the centre were three rows of three well established pines all evenly spaced in a manner that could not have been natural. I moved closer, fear wrapping its claws around my chest. There was a human sized space between each tree.

"This is where we buried the dead." Kellan confirmed my suspicions and I dropped to my knees. Only nine? I'd seen bodies strewn everywhere throughout the village and into the forest beyond. There were hundreds of Fae and he had only found nine bodies?

"Where are the rest?" He just looked at me. Waiting.

"If they're still alive, where are they?" I whispered, tears trickled down my face as I stared up at him, "Why did they leave me?" He shook his head.