The Clan of Outcasts (Seasons 1 and 2)

Part 13: "Trust Me"

"Where am I?" He asked.

"The Forest," Jade responded, watching him carefully.

"The forest?" Echoed the soldier. "Then how did I get—" Even as he asked it, the sparse memories came flooding back: he once worked as a palace guard, but he had been assigned to accompany a Hunter, and their camp had been ambushed—

His eyes, keen now, returned to the mysterious woman with the silvery hair. "How did I get here?"

Jade's smile never wavered. "I brought you, of course."

"But..." There were too many gaps in his memory, too many events all crossed and muddled together. He remembered blood and pain. He blinked at the strange woman. "You saved me?" He whispered. "Why?"

Jade blinked. "I need your help," she stated soberly.

Now that Justin was more aware, he noticed little things around the hut: a pitcher of water on the table, a broom in the corner, a second cot. "What do you need my help for?"

Jade seemed to relax. The things behind her back moved too, spreading thicker and looking more than ever like large wings—but that would be impossible!

"You know of the people called Gifted, correct?"

Justin's mind leaped back to Edri Rodan, a captain in his unit—and the only Gifted person he actually knew. "We were directed to identify them as Outcasts," he remarked.

Jade nodded. "When King Balwyn ruled, he wanted to implement a plan that would integrate the Gifted into society as citizens who use their gifts as they were designed, to help people."

Justin frowned. "The King is dead. The Regents and the Royal Council vie for supremacy."

Jade shook her head and chuckled. "The Crown Prince has returned and claimed his throne. Beren Seramis once again sits on the throne in the White Castle."

Justin wagged his head and put his hand up to feel the bandage across his brow. "How long was I unconscious?" He asked.

Jade shrugged. "A few days."

"Few days?" Justin sat forward and threw up his hands.

As soon as the words left his mouth, the pitcher of water toppled over, sending its contents spilling off the table and onto the floor.

Jade immediately leaped up to clean the mess, and that's when Justin saw: white, feathery wings, unmistakably attached to Jade's own shoulders. He went for his sword, but his scabbard no longer hung at his side.

"Justin," Jade murmured, mopping up the water on the table. "You need to stay calm—"

The soldier caught sight of his sword leaning against the wall, just beyond his reach. If he could just stretch a little further—

The sword seemed to jump off the ground and slide out of the scabbard, coming to rest gently in his outstretched palm.

Jade whirled around to find the angry, frightened young man pointing the tip of his blade at her throat.

"What are you?" He growled, even as his hands trembled in fear at what he had just witnessed. "What have you done to me?"

Jade didn't flinch. "I am an Angel," she said, gesturing to her wings. "I gave you a small gift, the Gift of Telekinesis. You can move things with your mind."

Somehow, she could reach past the sword and close her soft, pale hands around his rough, grimy ones. She released his death-grip on the sword, and Justin stared at it, hanging in the air between them. He turned the blade sideways and brought it to rest across his knees—all without touching it. He couldn't take his eyes off the sword, as his mind scrambled madly to make sense of what seemed to be an alternate reality he had somehow slipped into.