Dust (Of Dust and Darkness) - By Devon Ashley Page 0,49
laws. I haven’t broken any laws. We were stolen for no reason other than slave labor! So excuse me if I don’t want to go along with it!”
He’s looking at me funny. “That…doesn’t make sense. We’re all aware this prison exists and what you do here, but we’ve always been told you were criminals. That you were guilty of a crime towards a faerie, and that’s why you’re being punished here and not back in your Hollow.”
I shake my head in disbelief. You’ve got to be flippin’ kidding me! “No, Jack. Do I look like the kind of pixie you’d expect to see in a prison?”
His lips press firmly together and his gaze falls elsewhere. He whispers, “I wonder if my father knows.”
“What?” I snap.
I guess he didn’t mean for me to hear that because he seems to disregard my question. His head bends back to look topside, though for what I can’t figure. “Look, it’s pretty much the end of my shift. You took a long time to wake up from…that…what they did to you.
“Eat that,” he adds, motioning to the soup and bread on the floor before me. I had forgotten. “I don’t think anyone will come to check on you tonight, but if they catch you with the canteen, just tell them I chucked it at you.”
I huff. Sadly, they’ll believe that. They’ll probably even commend him for it.
He picks up the lantern and says, “Sorry, but I’ve got to take the light with me. I wouldn’t want them catching you with it while I’m gone.” I nod slowly, my insides groaning, not looking forward to being in darkness again. “Do you need the light for anything before I go?” I mash my lips together and drop my head, shaking it. I’m suddenly overcome with sadness and I don’t know why.
“Rosalie?” he asks softly, and I slowly lift my head to meet his green gaze, my eyes wide with surprise that he used my name. He steps closer to me, looking like he wants to ask me something important, but falls back on his heels and comes to an abrupt halt. “Goodnight, Rosalie.”
And just like that he ascends, and with him the light I so desperately want.
I sit in darkness for a moment, waiting for my eyes to adjust. You wouldn’t think they’d need to focus when all you see is black, but they do, making you dizzy until they do. First thing I do is unscrew the lid to the canteen. I really should have inspected the soup while I had light, just in case something’s fishy with it. Even though Jack is playing the nice faerie, I just can’t bring myself to trust him. I sniff the soup but can’t really make out the ingredients. The moist heat warms my nostrils, and I realize this is the first warm food I’ve had since I was stolen. I take a small sip but don’t taste anything. It’s thin like water, but I can tell there’s some kind of flavoring in it, it’s just too weak for me to decipher. I take a gulp of what I assume must be some type of broth and set it aside, giving my stomach time to decide if it’s okay with the ingredients.
I grab the bread next and take a deep sniff. Mmm…it’s been so long since I’ve had bread. A smile curls my lips because even my barely-there senses can catch the strong whiff of yeast. I pull a piece free and lay it upon my tongue, allowing my salivary enzymes to break it down as I gently gum it, savoring what little flavor I can taste.
Within minutes I devour the broth and bread. I hate to eat the rest of my seeds, thinking it best to hold off on eating them until later, but you never know who or when someone will show up. I fear they’ll take the cup away if they see it, so I spend the next hour nibbling as I think of my life back home. I wonder if Tin or Mustard decided to court Poppy. I know she’ll jump and squeal with joy the moment one of them decides she’s the one for him. I think it’ll be Mustard. He seems to dote on her more than Tin.
I can’t help but wonder if anyone would have asked me if I were still there. Tracker might have been considering it. He did go out of his way to chase me down and check up