Fae

Copyright 2014 by Emily
White

This book is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.

All rights reserved, including the
right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form
whatsoever.

Contact:
[email protected]

Please visit her blog at
www.emilytwhite.blogspot.com

First Edition: February 2014

Smashwords edition

White, Emily. 1983

Fae: a novel / by Emily White -- 1st
ed.

p.cm.

Summary:

Ella escapes the Mamood only to face
war of both the mind and body amongst those she thought were her
friends.

FAE

A Novel by

Emily White

To my sisters--for always sparking my
imagination

Part I

Prologue

It was Fire that was
Manoo
’s only friend, and Fire that
destroyed him. Ages and millennia taught Manoo to forget how fickle
his friend could be. But when he emerged from the hole in the void,
created by the very person meant to be his undoing, he forgot
neither his friend’s betrayal nor his own true purpose.

Weakened to a shadow,
Manoo learned patience as he grew stronger, hiding in the one place
no one would ever expect to find him.

Chapter One

Surprises

I fell on my bed,
laughing.

"I'm being serious,"
Cailen said, his eyes wide with innocence. "I'm terrified of
water."

A new round of giggles
burst from my mouth and shook my whole body. I dove face-first for
the pillow. It was totally ridiculous.
Cailen
? The guy who'd entered into a
training program with hundreds of other students and came out as
one of only four survivors afraid of something as benign as water?
I dove deeper into the soft, down folds to snuff out the noise.
When I turned to peek at him, I could tell by the sour expression
on his face that he was not amused.

I howled with laughter
again.

My chest started to hurt
and I needed to rub at it just so I could breathe. Several minutes
and an achy stomach later, I'd finally reigned it in enough to look
at him again.

He sat across from me on
the only chair in my bedroom. He leaned the chair to its limits,
pressing its back against the wall, his arms across his chest. Not
good.

With a giggly sigh, I sat
up to face him. It took a few breaths, but I managed to put on a
straight face.

"Are you done?"

I had to think about that.
And since I could feel Cailen's irritation rolling off him in
waves, I decided to say, "Yes." It was easy to forget sometimes
that Cailen wasn't used to being mocked. When I did remember,
though, the guilt poured through me. In Auru, he was someone
important. But he wasn't in Auru and that was because of me. "I'm
sorry."

He tipped the front legs
back onto the floor and leaned forward with a smile. Forgiveness
always came so easily with him. "It's your turn."

Ever since I'd returned to
Soltak over three weeks ago, there'd been nothing to do but wait
for the inevitable ground battle between the Soltakians--and their
allies the Mosandarians, a music worshipping race whose songs
continuously echoed on the planet’s surface--and the Mamood.
Entertainment was hard to find amongst the miles of
military-controlled corridors that made up the underground
Soltakian bunker. They called it The Block for a reason--flat,
bland, and nondescript. And it wasn't like we could leave. I was
firm on that point. There was no way I could leave the Soltakians
alone to face a battle I'd created.

I'd already proven I had
no problem getting blood on my hands.

So Cailen had suggested we
try a truth game, played by trillions of people across the galaxy,
to pass the time. When it came between dwelling on the impending
doom, wandering around aimlessly, or finding out more about Cailen,
the choice pretty much made itself.

Plus, Cailen and I agreed
we needed time together. It still bothered me that I didn't know
whether our feelings for each other were genuine or contrived. I
figured as long as we tried to get to know each other, some day it
might not matter if they turned out to be either, neither, or
both.

The drilium bond wasn't
ever going to go away. I could feel it now, buzzing through my
veins, drawing me to Cailen. The want I had for him was unbearable
sometimes, but I didn't give in and touch him. I wasn't ready for
that yet. Not until I knew I
really
loved him.

I scrunched my nose and
rubbed my eyebrow. What truth did I have to tell that he didn't
already know? Ninety-eight percent of my life was lost in the
oblivion of my failed memory. The rest I'd spent with
him.

Well, there was that one
secret. I shuddered as goose bumps prickled across my skin. That
was one particular secret I wasn't ready to tell anyone. No one
could know about my hallucinations. Besides, I'd only had them that
one time. Malik's ghost must have decided I wasn't worth
haunting.

"My favorite color is
green," I finally said. A blush spread across my cheeks when I
remembered just why my favorite color was that particular shade.
Looking into Cailen's green eyes, I thought back to the years I'd
spent in
Sho'ful
thinking about them. They were the only things that'd stuck
with me. Everything else was gone.

He half-smiled with a
knowing look. "Is that why you've worn that dress three times this
week?"

I looked down and stroked
the silky folds of my green Auri dress. A smile crept onto my lips
as I realized Cailen not only noticed, but remembered. "I don't
have to answer that. It's your turn," I said as I peered at him
through the strands of my hair.

He leaned back again and
looked up at the silvery ceiling for a few seconds. Weariness and
impatience prickled from him to me. "I'm tired of being trapped in
here. How about we go up top?"

"You know it's dangerous
outside."

He chuckled. There was no
humor in it, though. "Yes. Dangerous."

There were several long,
uncomfortable minutes of silence before I'd decided our game had
come to an end and stood up to put on my cloak. "Will we get into
trouble if we leave?"

He tore his gaze away from
the ceiling and smiled a wolfish grin. "I really don't care." And
before I could react, he jumped out of his chair and grabbed my
wrist.

I went airborne, my feet
literally a few inches above the floor, before I slammed right into
his chest, our arms wrapping around each other to keep from
falling. We both kind of froze for a second before bursting out in
laughter.

"Sorry," he said. "I
forgot how light you are." His hands tightened on my waist as the
mood suddenly shifted. Anger oozed through his veins to me. Anger
at the Mamood, at what they'd done to me on
Sho'ful
. Sometimes when he looked at
me, I'd see his eyes pinch at the corners and I'd know. I didn't
need the bond to sense his feelings then.

Moving stiff as stone, he
let go of my waist and wove his fingers through mine. The bond
tingled at the contact and I vaguely remembered that I'd decided
against this. I loosened my fingers, ready to let go, but the
warmth pulled at me, flooding my very core. My vision went dark at
the edges until it physically hurt to think of letting go of him.
He looked down and gave a tight smile.

I ripped my hand away from
his before I could talk myself out of it, and pain tore through my
chest. I bent over, gasping.

"Sorry," he
mumbled.

I took a few more deep
breaths as the pain slowly turned to a dull throb. "Will it always
be like this?" I said as I wiped at the pool of sweat behind my
neck and cradled the ache in my side. I felt like someone had just
beat me with an iron club.

He let out a strained sigh
and slid his hands behind his back. "No. Not always."

"Sounds like there's a
secret hidden in there somewhere."

Cailen smiled and shook
his head before his gaze flitted above my head. "It's not a secret.
But if you're feeling better, we should go while we have a
chance."

A quick glance around the
corridor confirmed Cailen was right. If we were going to sneak
outside, the quiet lull between meal and duty shifts was the time
to do it. Unfortunately, that lull only lasted about thirty
minutes. Right at that moment the corridors stood silent and empty.
No witnesses to report back to anyone that the two Auri were out
wandering around. It wasn't exactly against the rules, but by the
way everyone watched us by very carefully "not watching" us--and
how Lastrini always seemed to know what we were doing--we had a
pretty good idea that the Soltakians didn't like us out of our
rooms. A fact that irritated me and infuriated Cailen, though he'd
never admit it.

"Let's hurry," he said as
he lead the way. Cailen always seemed to know the way, to secret
doors and special rooms. I had an inkling he’d been doing a lot
more exploring of The Block without me. Even now, though I had no
clue how to get to the door out of the bunker, Cailen walked ahead
with very assured footsteps, not once pausing at an intersection or
turn.

And so far, we hadn't come
across anyone. The vast, empty corridors echoed our footsteps. I
wanted to laugh at how sneaky I felt.

After a few twists and
turns through the seemingly endless maze, Cailen froze and motioned
for me to stand close to him. I stood at his side, my heart racing,
and wondered what very savvy plans he had. He glanced down out of
the corner of his eye and smiled like he'd just decided to let me
in on one of his super special secrets.

My stomach jumped, eager
for his trust.

He put a finger to his
lips and cocked his head to something just around the corner from
us. I peered past the wall where we were hiding and saw the "Great
and Glorious Door" to the outside world, guarded by three soldiers
with weapons humming. Actually, if it weren't for the guards
standing very erect and alert, I never would have guessed the flat
and non-descript door was my gateway out of The Block. It didn't
look any different from any other door in the bunker. They probably
would have been wise to leave it alone and no one would have
figured it out. Well, none of the civilians anyway. Not that they
had to worry about that, though. People were fighting to get
into
The Block, not out
of it.

I leaned back and looked
up at him to waggle my eyebrows. This was going to be so good. I'd
been secretly craving an adventure like this for weeks. Getting
past them would be too easy. Either one of us could take out their
weapons and blow past the doors. Secrecy was probably at an end,
but who cared? Nothing we did pleased Lastrini anyway.

Cailen leaned down and
pressed his lips against my ear. He spoke so low I had to stop
breathing just to hear it. "Don't make a sound." I felt his lips
pull up into a smile before he straightened. Right then the signal
for duty and meal change dinged through the walls and the air
around me and Cailen shimmered just as hundreds of the Ladeshian
giants filled the corridors.

Cailen grabbed my hand--I
didn't pull away--and led us into the heart of the mass of
throbbing and marching bodies. No one looked at us. Well actually,
it seemed like people were looking at us but when I really took in
their gazes, I realized they were looking through us. Like we
weren't even there.