Stay (11 page)

“It’s okay Kailen.” I said as I reached up
and wound my fingers through his hair, pulling him even closer to
me.

I sat there in his lap, breathing him in for
a long time. He finally released his grip and pulled away.

“How did I get out?” My voice was hoarse and
my throat felt raw.

“Tucker used a long stick to help him reach
you and he pulled you out.” He gestured to someone sitting a few
feet away from us.

I managed to push myself up on my hands
enough to see a young sandy haired boy staring intently at me. He
was wearing baggy khaki colored pants that were rolled up at the
ankles exposing his bare feet. He wore a long sleeve tatter green
shirt that I noticed matched the color up his eyes as he blew his
hair from his face.

“I’m Tucker Reed, but you can call me Tuck.”
He held his hand out to me.

“I’m Callie. Thanks for saving me.”

“You’re lucky that I got to you in time,
there is a waterfall just over there.” He pointed. “You probably
would not have survived the fall if you had gone over it.”

I shuttered as I looked in the direction that
he pointed.

“What are you doing out here, Tuck?”

“I have lived out here for a while. Ever
since my parents died during a battle with the Petrona guards, two
years ago.”

“I am so sorry.” I wondered what might have
caused the battle, but I didn’t want to pry. I had just met the guy
and I wasn’t sure how he would react to my asking.

He seemed so young to have been out on his
own for so long. “How old are you, Tuck?”

“I am sixteen, but don’t worry. I can handle
myself pretty well.” He swelled his chest up as if to convince
me.

“I can see that.” I said and smiled.

All of my clothes were wet because I was
still wearing my backpack when I fell into the water. Tuck built a
small fire on the rocky beach and I laid them out to dry. I slipped
into one of Kailen’s long shirts and washed the clothes that I had
been wearing out in the river and set them to dry as well.

Kailen wrapped one of the blankets from his
pack around me and we sat by the fire while Tuck ran down to where
the river pooled and tried his luck at catching us some fish for
dinner.

“We should ask him to come with us.” Kailen
said into my ear as I leaned back against his chest.

“Maybe. I could not imagine being on my own
like that at his age.” I was having a hard enough time dealing with
my own parent’s death. I could not imagine being fourteen and
having to learn to fend for yourself on top of it. At least I had
help.

“He seems to be pretty good at surviving out
here. I think that he would be good for us to have around and we
would be good for him too.”

Tuck came back carrying several long silver
fish by a string. He removed the scales near the water, and then
arranged them on the fire to cook. The roasted fish smelled
heavenly. I had not eaten anything other than jerky and cheese
crackers for days.

“Tuck?” I asked gently. “I know that we do
not really know where we are going, but I thought maybe you would
like to come with us. I am learning how hard it is to be out here
on your own, and I think that you would be a big help to us. We
were hoping to find somewhere that we could set up as a permanent
home for a while.” I didn’t want to seem like I was mothering him,
so I tried to appeal to the survivor side of his ego.

He looked deep in thought for a moment, then
shrugged his shoulders and answered. “Sure, I don’t really have any
reason to stick around here.”

So it was settled. Tuck would join us.

We filled ourselves with fresh roasted fish,
it had me thinking about my dad. I remembered the times that we
would all go camping and how I felt when I had caught a fish for
the first time. I wished that he could have been there with me. He
would know what I should do with my life, but I bet he wouldn’t
appreciate all of my new suitors. I think he was quite relieved
that had made it most of the way through school without him having
to worry about who I was dating.

Then again, he may very well be glad that I
have someone around to help me get through this. I smiled to myself
as I thought about that. He would have hated knowing that I was out
here alone.

Once I found that my clothes were pretty dry,
I slipped back into my jeans and t-shirt, but I regretted having to
give Kailen’s back to him. It smelled of the spring and the rain,
just like him. I wanted to savor that smell.

“Let’s get going.” Tuck was starting to
gather his things as well. “If we can make it there, I know a good
place that we can camp for the night.”

“Ok then, let’s go.”

Chapter 11

Tuck helped us gather up our things and then
he led us down the rocky river bed toward the waterfall.

“Where are you going?” I called to Tuck.

“There is a good place to sleep through here.
I found it a while back when I first came out here.” Tuck said.

Kailen looked a little nervous. “Maybe we
should just follow the tunnel. I am not really sure about
this.”

Tuck stopped walking and turned around to
face us.

“The guards patrol the tunnels too much. If
you want to avoid them, it is better if we stay where they won’t
see us.” He said.

Kailen hesitated for a moment, but then
nodded and started to walk.

Tuck led us down to where the river dropped
over the edge of a cliff. It was hard to tell in the dark, but it
must have been at least a twenty foot drop. He turned to the right
and I noticed that the wall gave way slightly to reveal a narrow
path that tilted down toward the bottom of the ravine.

“You will have to really watch your step.
Nobody really comes through here so the path can be pretty
dangerous. Try to watch your footing and go slow.” Tuck said as he
started to descend.

I stepped onto the rocky path and Kailen
followed close behind me. It was very steep in some areas and loose
gravel caused me to slide several times. Each time I slipped, I
dropped down onto my butt to keep from going over the edge. By the
time that we made it to the bottom the seat of my jeans were
covered in mud and muck.

We stood on the flat ground at the bottom of
the cliff to regain our bearings.

“Where to now?” Kailen asked Tuck.

“This way.” Tuck answered as he headed back
towards the river.

“What’s over there?” Kailen asked getting
irritated.

Tuck let out a huff and turned back around.
“I am just trying to help you out. If you don’t trust me you do not
have to come, but there is a good place through here.”

“Let’s just go and check it out.” I said
trying to ease Kailen’s nerves. “We don’t know what we are going to
find following the tunnel anymore than we do going this way. Tuck
has lived down here for a long time. It would not hurt us to trust
him.”

Kailen gave me a long hard stare and I return
the stare with just as much fervor.

“Alright.” He let his shoulders relax. “We
really don’t have anything to lose.”

Tuck turned back around and continued
walking. I followed close behind and after a few minutes I looked
back to see that Kailen followed too.

We made our way back to the waterfall. I
stood and watched the powerful flow of water as it cascaded down
the side of the cliff. It caused the water to churn violently at
the base and large clouds of foam formed all around it.

“Through here.” Tuck called over the loud
roar of the fall.

I watched as he headed close to the wall and
seemed to disappear into the falling water.

“Tuck!” I called frantically.

Tuck leaned back out and motioned for us to
follow. As I approached, I realized that Tuck was standing on a
ledge just behind the wall of water. I followed him through it as I
felt a soft cold spray of water settle over me.

He ducked into a narrow passage just a few
feet from where I was standing and I followed. It was much narrower
than the main tunnel that I was used to, and it seemed to weave
back and forth, as we made our way through it.

After walking for what seemed to me like
forever, but was probably only about fifteen minutes, a funny thing
happened. I started to see sunlight up ahead in the distance.

“What is that?” I asked mostly to myself.

“You’ll see.” Tuck answered.

Kailen grabbed my hand as we headed in the
direction of the light. My mouth fell open as the passage ended and
we found ourselves standing in a huge cavern. It was almost large
enough to fit three Petronas inside of it. Okay, maybe not that
big, but still pretty big. It had a tall domed ceiling, and in
various spots, there were rays of light shining through
illuminating the whole cavern.

Kailen squeezed my hand, and I peered up to
find him smiling as he held his other hand to his face to block
some of the glare.

“This place is amazing!” I exclaimed.

“I thought you would like it.” Tuck said with
pride.

“How did you ever find it?” I asked.

“I found the passage behind the waterfall one
day when I was out there fishing. I thought it was pretty cool, so
I followed it. Then I found this.” A huge grin stretched across his
face.

“I still come here sometimes when I get tired
of the tunnels.” He continued. “But it always seemed like too big
of a space for just me.”

I smiled up at him, but I could hardly
process what all of this meant. This could really be my new home. I
have no idea how we were going to make it all come together, but it
was going to be an amazing.

“Let’s find a good spot to set up our
things.” Kailen said as he started to circle the cavern. “We need
somewhere to sleep, somewhere to cook and somewhere to train.”

“Train? Train for what?” I looked at him
puzzled.

“You have to learn everything there is about
being a Fae. That includes being able to fight. You saw some of
things that you can encounter here. I may not always be there to
protect you. You need to be able to defend yourself.”

“I can defend myself.” My voice sounded more
confident than I felt. However, Kailen wasn’t buying it.

“You need to be prepared for anything. Plus,
if you are ever planning to take on the queen and her army, you
better be ready” He was getting that serious tone to his voice
again.

I looked to the ground. I wasn’t even sure
that I wanted to take on Lilith. I was hoping to just start over
new and forget about all of that. I had already been through so
much, did I really want to start a war?

Kailen noticed my reservation, but he chose
to ignore it. Instead, he walked away and began to set up a place
for everyone to sleep for the night. He spread the blankets out in
three separate rows close to one wall. Then very neatly, he stacked
our clothes and supplies a little further away.

Tuck went back out to the waterfall to try to
catch us some dinner. I watched Kailen for a while, he was stacking
stones in the center of the cavern forming a pit that we could use
to cook. He was bent over with his back to me and I could not help
but notice how good he looked from this angle in his dark blue
jeans. I smiled to myself and decided that I should take advantage
of our time alone while I still could.

I walked up to him and gently traced my hand
down his back and across his tight butt and let it rest just before
the top of his leg. He froze for a moment and then stood up slowly
to face me.

A little glint of light sparkled in his eyes,
and he grabbed me by my waist and pulled me to him. He grinned down
at me for just a moment and then pulled me into an embrace. His
lips hovered briefly in front of mine and then he pulled away.

My confusion must have been written all over
my face, because he just apologized. He said that he was sorry but
that was it. He promptly went back to stacking the stones.

I grabbed his arm and turned him back to me.
“Kailen, what’s going on?”

“You are an incredible lady.” He said and he
wrapped his arms around me and held me close. “I don’t ever want to
let you go.”

“Then don’t.” I whispered and leaned into
him.

He smiled slightly, but the smile never
reached his sorrowful eyes.

“What? Is something wrong?” I asked as I
pulled back to look him in his eyes.

He stared at me for a second. “Someday you
are going to the queen. I’m just a glorified vagrant. I could never
be a part of that world. I should not have kissed you. It wasn’t
right.”

Pain shot through me, my eyes wanted to fill
up with tears. “I never even wanted to be queen!” I yelled, and the
memory of my first kiss flooded my senses. How could he say that it
was a mistake? “I still don’t know if I want it! Especially if it
means that I can’t be with you.”

“Callie, you are the queen. Whether you like
it or not, that’s what you were born to do. Look at you. Look at
your wings.” He pointed at my wings as they slowly unfolded
themselves from my back. “I am just a cast off, I have no place in
Petrona. They would never accept me there, and I am afraid that it
would only hurt your status among the people if I were to allow
this to continue.”

“Then I won’t do it.” I crossed my arms in
defiance. “They have managed this long without me. Lilith can keep
it, I would much rather be here with you.”

He pulled me back to him and I wrapped my
arms around his waist and held onto him as I never wanted to let
go. “We’ll figure something out.” He said, but he didn’t sound very
confident.

Tuck came back carrying more of those long
silvery fish, and an armload of smooth glossy wood. I pulled away
from Kailen and turned to face him.

“I have dinner!” He called as he held up the
fish.

“Where did you find all of that wood?” I
asked.

“The river carries it here and deposits it
along the bank in some of the narrower spots. There is plenty more
where this came from, we should stock up.”