Last Fae

Chapter 23 ~ Strange Discovery

There was a wall beneath my hand. But it wasn't the smooth sterile surface of the cell, it was rough cut stone piled together to create the side of what appeared to be a house. My breath misted the air in front of me and the cloud settled into the fog that swirled around my legs. Strange trees speckled the land around the house, the leaves were shaped like teardrops and shimmered like glass in the blazing white light of the sun. The ground sprang under foot and when I swirled the fog away I realised it was a thick layer of moss, not grass, that I was standing on.

The sky above was the purest, brightest blue I had ever seen and I stared around the wide open space with awe. It was spectacular the colours seemed so much brighter than where I had just come from. But I had no idea where I was or how I'd gotten here. I turned in a slow circle and the space I had come from was filled with the same mist covered ground and scattered sparkling trees as everywhere else.

I walked in a straight line in the direction I must have come from. Keeping myself calm while I tried to figure out if I could even get back there. The air shifted around me and the ground beneath my feet lost its spring, the soft slap of my feet on the hard concrete floor.

The smell of chemicals stung my nose and I let out the lungful of air I'd been holding. Mia's figure no longer stood in the centre of the room waiting for me, in fact she was nowhere to be seen. I ran to the door and found Kellan leaning against the wall opposite. His legs crossed and gaze focused on the cell I'd been in. A relieved smile brightened his face when he saw me, he took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair before pushing himself off the wall. "Anything? You weren't gone for long."

"It was like a whole other world," The words tumbled out of my mouth in a blur, "The cell just disappeared and there was a stone house and the trees sparkled and the sun was blinding white. I just walked straight through. It doesn't make any sense. Was that all in my head? Did you see any of that when you touched the back wall." Kellan shook his head his eyes focused on the wall at the back of the cell, a look of contemplation on his face.

"Did you see any Fae in there?" I paused before shaking my head. I hadn't seen anyone at all. As alive as the place had looked it had been empty of life as far as I could tell.

"Not that I saw, but I wasn't there long, I wanted to make sure I could come back. I'm not even sure how big the place is. It looked like it stretched for miles in every direction. Do you want me to go back." He leapt forward and grabbed my arm as I turned to try one more time.

"No. Not yet. I think we need to inform the Council. We have no way of knowing who is in there or if they know you just got passed their defence system. Even if you didn't see any Fae, I think it's fairly likely that they are responsible for this anomaly. I doubt the humans have the capacity to create something like this. I can't even see it. So, it has to be targeted to only let Fae through.""What if they are through there though?" I gripped a bar of the door in my hand leaning forward through the doorway. "My family could be in there. Mia might actually be alive. I have to check." Kellan's hand tightened around my arm and I hesitated looking down at his fingers.

"We don't know how they'll react to seeing you either." He murmured, eyes cast down to the ground.

"But, I'm one of them. They wouldn't do anything to hurt me." This was my family we were talking about. My friends. People I had known my entire life.