Neela

Neela

The dark green snuffle tuff snarled and bared its oversized fangs, so I placed its injured mate on the grass beside me and shuffled away a few inches. I wanted to get as far away as possible, but that was all I could manage in my exhaustion.

The wild creature came warily closer and settled beside its mate, licking her and whimpering quietly.

The next thing I knew, Liz was shaking my shoulder to awaken me, and I blinked sleepily. A fae with long silver and black hair peered into my face, his silver eyes flecked with onyx.

I turned my head. “Treat the animal first.” I had a broken ankle, but the creature was near death and needed urgent help. I hoped this doctor could heal wildlife as well as fae. And, er, humans.

Liz looked at me like I was a softhearted fool, but altruism had nothing to do with it; my motives were selfish. I would feel like shit forever if this thing died because I’d stabbed it with my tree branch, and I didn’t want its death on my conscience. Plus, its mate might rip my arms off.

When it was my turn, the Healer placed his hands over my ankle, and a warm tingle suffused my injury, like water bubbling through my limbs. It spread along my bones, knitting them together, healing my flesh, clearing away infection. The sensation bathed me in warmth and left me feeling whole.

Before I could do more than thank the Healer, Liz carried me upstairs to bed.

“I can walk,” I insisted, though I wasn’t sure that was true.

“The Healer said you needed to rest overnight since you’re still suffering the effects of human tech.” She winked, knowing as well as I did that human technology had nothing to do with me not appearing fae. “You can resume dancing and stomping your little feet in the morning.”

Her arms felt like slender iron bands. “Aren’t I too heavy? How can you carry me so easily?” Liz was taller than me, but I was all wiry muscle.

She snorted. “You’re an undersized runt. A child could carry you up these stairs.”

The two snuffle tuffs followed us upstairs at a wary distance, not used to being indoors but unwilling to leave my side. I didn’t know what they expected of me…had I become their mother now? Were we imprinted or something? Would I spend the rest of my days with two wild creatures on my heels?

I settled into my super comfortable bed, and the snuffle tuffs made a nest of blankets and cushions in the corner of my bedroom. They curled together like two large tufts of grass, bringing a faint forest smell to my room. The sounds of their gentle snuffles lured me to sleep.

The next morning, the wild creatures followed me downstairs and sat just outside on the threshold to the kitchen while Liz and I ate at the kitchen counter.

“We can eat in the breakfast room if you want,” Liz said through a mouth full of buttery scones. “I always ate here when it was just me, but technically we’re supposed to use the proper room.”

I shook my head. “Too stuffy in there. I prefer it here. Besides my snuffle tuffs can see the garden here.”

Liz raised her green eyebrows. “Your snuffle tuffs?”

I shrugged.

Liz asked about the trial, and I told her every detail. How the princess and princes were entitled dicks and deserved to die. How they orchestrated my demise, and how they’d looked me in the eyes while I was writhing in agony and simply walked away.

Liz’s mouth dropped lower and lower as I told my story. “Wow. Imagine how awful they’d be if they knew you weren’t really fae.”

I shivered. That hadn’t occurred to me. I’d let myself be smug in the knowledge I was fooling them and chosen to ignore the danger.

I had to work on my Plan B. I bit into a breakfast meringue, which was as delicious as it sounded and apparently also nutritious, then caught sight of the snuffle tuffs shuffling in the doorway. I broke off some meringue and tossed it at them, but they just watched it thud on the floor like it was a dead rat, then stared at me in disdain.

I shrugged. “Sorry. I don’t know what you guys eat.”

Liz eyed the beasts suspiciously. “Are they your pets now?”

The larger, darker snuffle tuff, whom I decided to call Herb, morphed its tiny cute muzzle into a giant terrifying snout and bared its fangs at her.

Liz backed away so hard she fell off her stool and landed on her ass on the black-and-white tiled checkerboard floor.

I laughed. “Nope. They’re definitely not my pets.” I turned to them. “You guys go forage some breakfast for yourselves in the garden if you’re going to be fussy.”

They scampered off, and I was pleased to see how well the smaller one looked, seeming for all the world as though she’d never met the wrong end of my walking stick.

I stretched my ankle in a lazy circle, searching for lingering pain and finding none. “Amazing.” I took another bite of meringue. “I could get used to this place.”

If I wanted to stay here, I needed a Plan B, fast. Soon the whole realm would realize I wasn’t fae. I’d already been here almost forty-eight hours, and I only had two weeks until my fae abilities were supposed to appear, so I had to figure out where I would live before then. “Is there a human town here?”

Liz picked herself up, righted her stool, then sat. A scowl had settled on her features, probably related to my new leafy friends and her bruised ass. “What are you talking about?”

“Back home, we have Chinatown and Little Italy. Do you have anywhere like that for humans? A place where we all hang out? Human town.”

She sipped a mouthful of juice, studying me. “No, and we don’t have a zoo for humans, either. Don’t talk like that, or fae will think you’re nuts.”

I didn’t buy it. If there were any humans in this realm, they would find each other. Strength in numbers.

People who didn’t belong ended up in the worst part of the city. I chewed my lip and thought. “Where do all the lowlifes hang out?” Her face was blank, not appearing to understand the question, so I rephrased it. “Where is the scariest part of town? The one place you wouldn’t want to go. Back home, it’s the Docklands. Where is it here?”

“If you promise not to bring your new friends—”

“Herb and Doug,” I informed her, having just decided on Doug’s name.

She paused. “Which one’s the girl?”

“Doug.”

“Okay. If you promise not to bring Herb and Doug, I’ll take you to the worst place in Verda.”

I grinned. “Rockstar.”