Page 49 of The Chosen Fae

Rune prayed they hadn’t caught any of them.

"Yeah, one. Are you sure that you didn't see any? All of us saw at least one of them." The guy sounded like he couldn’t believe she had missed all the excitement.

"I didn’t. I wish I had. Where were they? And where's the one you caught?"

"They were just all over the school. One was in the cafeteria. Another was at the gym. We found a couple in classrooms. The one we caught is at Wilkin's house now. The fae had been in the art room. Wilkin is there with him, making sure he doesn't go anywhere."

"Can I see the fae?"

"Sure. Since you missed seeing any of them."

"Okay, I'll run by there in a couple of hours. My mom will be home pretty soon. I need to eat dinner, and then I'll run over to Wilkin's house."

"All right. See you then." The guy left with the others, and then the front door shut.

Tasha went to her bedroom, tried the door, and found it locked. "It's just me," Tasha said.

Stone unlocked the door so she could enter her bedroom.

"I don't know if you want to free the fae they have at Wilkin's house or if you can even manage. But I’m game to help you try. Why aren't you disappearing when you have a chance?" Tasha asked.

"The Game Master took away our ability to fae travel," Lolita said, sitting on Tasha's bed, petting the cat on her lap. "We don't have to free the fae. That would mean one less in the competition."

Rune was surprised that she didn't want to rescue the fae. She suspected that there was more to the smallest wolf than she was letting on. She probably was tired of being ignored or bullied.

"Yeah, we'll try and free the fae. But we might need your help," Rune said to Tasha.

Stone was silent, letting them decide what to do.

Rune frowned at him.

He shrugged. "Sure, we'll free him or her, but Lolita's right. It means we have to deal with whoever it is in the competition still."

Rune shook her head. "We free him or her."

Stone smiled at her, as if he thought she was making the right choice, even though he sounded like he didn't want to go along with the plan.

But then someone knocked on the front door. “Oh, I don’t know who that could be.” Tasha hurried out of the bedroom, and Stone locked the bedroom door. Tasha headed to the front door.

"Now what?" Rune asked.

Then Tasha said, "Hey, Lizzie."

"We were supposed to do some work on our science project, but my new friend wanted to come with me."

Tasha didn't say anything for a moment. Then she said, "Uh, yeah, right. I forgot all about it. Take a seat at the dining room table. We can work on it there. Do you guys want something to drink?"

"Sure, do you have some of that pink lemonade still?" Lizzie asked.

"Yeah, I'll go get us some. What about your friend?"

Vesper said, "Yeah, sure."

“That’s Vesper,” Stone said, sounding irritated.

Tasha served up glasses of the pink lemonade for her and for them. "I need to get my science book and notebook from my bedroom. I’ll be right back."

She hurried down the hallway and tried the doorknob.