Eternal Flame

~24~

Tara fought back a whimper as the fairy who had a grip on her arm frogmarched her out of Amelia's house, his grip tightening with each step to the point her arm felt numb. She stumbled after him, his pace much quicker than hers.

Biting down on her lip, she tried once again to focus on shifting into something, anything, to get her out of this, but like all the other times, she was unable to do so.

Dammit, but she needed to get away. While she did know some basic fighting skills from the self-defense course she took with Trevor and her siblings, she could tell all these fairies were well trained and skilled warriors that she couldn't take on while she was still in her human form.  Not to mention it was a dozen of them versus her.

 They reached an old, shabby concrete building that looked like it was about to crumble at the slightest gust of wind. Tara had a feeling that this was where she'd been held prisoner after she'd been jumped by Amelia and the other fairies.

The fairy roughly threw her to the ground. She landed face first, getting a mouthful of dirt and the air whooshed out of her stomach. She scrambled into a sitting position, spitting out the dirt. She glared up at the fairy, still spitting out bits of dirt and grass from her mouth.

The fairy drew a sword out from the sheath strapped to his belt. "Stay there and be still," he commanded in a deep, stern voice. "Or you'll be meeting the end of my steel."

Tara bit back the retort that hovered over her lips and watched as the other fairies barreled into the old building. She sat stiffly on the ground, eyeing the fairy who held a sword pointed at her, staring down at her with cold, ruthless eyes.

She wondered what they would do to her, what they wanted with her.

About five minutes later, the fairies came back with a short, hunched old man with thin silver hair in tow. They walked over to where Tara was sitting on the ground. Tara narrowed her eyes, suspecting that this old man was the other prisoner who'd been in the cell with her.

The old man raised his eyebrows. "Why, you look mighty better, lass," the man said in an Irish accent, confirming her suspicions.

"You," she said. "You're the other prisoner that was in the cell with me."

"Right you are, lass. And you definitely clean up well."

"What's going on?" she asked, scanning the fairies who were gathered around her.

"I'm finally being let out," the old man said. "These kind fairies are setting me free from this place, after seventy long years of being held. While Amelia was a crazy bitch, she did manage to hide this realm really well. Now all that's left is to find the Passage Into Other Realms. You were so determined to get out of here and I knew if I told you the book would help you escape, you'd find it and bring it to me. I do appreciate how you were willing to help me, though. So kind."

"What are you going to do with me?" she demanded.

"That remains to be seen."

A cold feeling settled over her. "What do you mean?"

"It means that if we find any use for you, you'll be one of us. If I decide you're not as valuable as I thought, then we'll let you."

The cold feeling was replaced by a hot, fiery rage as she thought about all she'd endured since being kidnapped by Amelia and how she'd wanted to help this man escape along with her. She shot up and lunged at him, snarling.