Dark Nine [18+]

Chapter Thirty-Five

I was the last being alive with Fey DNA and it was miniscule.

Logically, it makes no sense. Are we witnessing a ghost? She looks real to me.

I think she must be Fey. Maybe one that got stuck in a time warp. Because nothing else explains this.

I feel warmth at my back and I know Mars has approached me from behind.

I wait for him to pull me back and scold me.

However, I don't expect him to place a hand on my back and usher me forward.

He clearly wants me to make this person talk.

I approach, turning off my stealth, my feet press through ferns and the naked woman spins, her brown eyes wide as she looks up at me.

She looks familiar in a way I can't describe. Like I've seen her face before. She doesn't have hair, it's fallen away from the stress. Her teeth look strong, but her body is barely keeping itself together.

"Who are you?" I ask, and she doesn't answer, so I ask instead, "...do you need help?" I hope I sound kinder, and not so confronting.

"...female?" she asks me back, calming down a little.

I nod and approach.

She's not armed, she's just alone. She's no threat.

"Where are you from?" I kneel right next to her.

"Depends," she wipes her dry eyes, she had been crying but barely any water had come out.

"Where do you come from today?" I change my wording.

She looks to me, as she answers, "Planet... Apastron. I was pardoned."

I pretend to understand how that's possible. I nod. I only understand that she's covered in blue grime, so she must have been one of the prisoners in Alpha Centauri's hold. She looks defeated by life.

"Your name?" I ask.

"Airy," she barks out a painful laugh, "It stuck. I'm half only," as I wait for her to explain to me, she heaves in a deep breath, "Half human," she looks up at me, "You look a little... human too."

"...what's the... um, what's the other... half..." I gulp.

Airy shivers as she looks down at the pile of dust, running the tips of her fingers through it over and over. I'm honestly concerned she may be minutes from death. We can't keep talking forever. She needs strength.

"...airy... the mistake I made... having you... a female, weak and soft like air... so she hid me away..." Airy keeps stabbing her finger into the dust. I reach over and grab her hand, pulling it back, "Fey," she says, "I'm half Fey."

"Have you been locked away for six destinies?" I ask, feeling my stomach turn. I didn't know Kors may have also imprisoned Fey for a life term – whatever that may be.

"I am the only one... released," Airy closes her eyes, "And I wish I was dead."

"Why?" I snap this, feeling bad for being so aggressive but being alive was a miracle.

"I have no home," she admits, "Nothing. They're all dead... cruel to me... but still... all I knew..."

"Is this your... um, where your mama died," I see her looking at the pile, shaking her head.

"No. I don't... grieve... her. She's the reason. They're all dead," she looks at me, whispering so quietly she's just mouthing the words, her voice no longer anything but parched and dry and empty, "My mama was too evil –" she speaks it too quietly, in such pain, I barely hear, I don't know if Mars heard, but I clamp my hand around her mouth, as gently as I can, and I hope she sees the warning in my eye not to speak another word.