Free The Lost Soul by Suzy Turner

Don't worry."
    "You are a brave soul, Jack. And I thank you. If you would like, I can send some of my best faeries with you?"
    "No, I think I should do this alone. I don't want to endanger any of your kind. But thank you for your offer. I will leave at nightfall."
     
    When the golden orange skies turned a deeper shade, Jack decided it was time to say goodbye to the Malean Faeries, thanking them for saving his life and taking care of him. He was saddened everybody turned up to wave him off, except for the one faery he wanted to see the most. He had grown fond of Zalea during the time they'd spent together. Considering the way their friendship had blossomed, he found it hard to believe she couldn't say goodbye. But he understood. Saying goodbye was such a difficult thing to do.
    The community of faeries all stood and waved farewell to the strange man who had appeared out of nowhere. They stood watching him walk away, with the large leather bag on his back and his temporary walking stick. He turned one last time and waved just before he walked out of sight, gone.
    Jack had been walking for several hours before the feeling he was being watched overcame him. He jumped to the side and hid behind a nearby silver tree, carefully looking around to see if he was being followed. He could see no-one behind him, so he stepped out from the tree and continued on his way, but the sense remained with him.
    His stomach soon began to rumble so he eventually sat down beside a softly flowing stream. The faeries had told him all the water in the kingdom was safe for consumption, so he dropped his bag to the ground and leaned in, cupping his hands so he could take a sip. As his thirst was quenched, he sat down and took a small piece of bread from his bag. Biting into it, he heard a gentle thud behind him and then a splash.
    "Oh!"
    Turning, Jack found the culprit. The person who had been following him was none other than Zalea. She had been carrying a small bag herself which she had accidentally dropped and it had rolled into the water.
    "You'll never make a spy," he chuckled, standing and retrieving the bag from the stream. "Your father won't be very happy."
    Looking down at the ground, Zalea lifted her eyes to look into his, batting her eyelashes in time with the movement of her lilac wings. "I know, but I had to do it. I couldn't just sit back and let you go alone. I need to find her, Jack."
    "I know, I know," he said as he took her into his arms in a soft hug. "And we will. We will find her. But why didn't you just tell me you were coming with me."
    "You would not have let me. You would have told my father."
    He smiled, "No, Zalea. I wouldn't have told him. But I would have tried to stop you from coming. This is going to be dangerous."
    Zalea shrugged her shoulders, "I know."
    "Do you know these forests?"
    "Yes, but I have never left them. I have only ever been to the edge of the forests of Moharth. I have never ventured further."
    "Well, tomorrow you will. But for now, let's get you some food and then we will continue walking. It's going to take us quite a while to walk to the edge of the forest, then we can rest for a few hours before we go beyond your borders," he said, looking across at the miles of silver trees in the distance. Eyeing a few small mountains beyond the forest, he wondered what lay in wait.
     
    That night as they lay side by side beneath a thin cotton blanket, Jack's head began to ache. It was a familiar sensation he'd had before. It was the headache that came before the girl had communicated with him.
    As he sat upright upright, Zalea stirred and opened her eyes, "What is it?"
    "I think someone is trying to talk to me?" he whispered, rubbing his forehead.
    "What do you mean, Jack?"
    Explaining what had happened while he was in captivity, Jack stood up and paced up and down, waiting for the girl's voice in his head, but nothing came.
    "Try speaking to her?" suggested Zalea.
    "I'm not really sure how, to be honest."
    "Try