Free Enchanted Revenge by Theresa M. Jones Page A

don’t use the tripudio?” I said, deciding to change the subject. It was something I had thought about when my legs were screaming at me earlier on the couch.
    “We could. It would save time, but could cost us infinitely more. If we pass them, how would we know? We could lose their trail easily, and then where would we be?”
    “Dang,” I said, only because he was right and it sucked. “Okay, so what now?”
    “The trip to the Central Village is at least two weeks, so we will take some provisions from here. Mostly the nectar and cheslins. They will sustain us.” Two weeks? Shoot. Me. Now.
    “Nectar?” He pointed to my glass, indicating that the blue stuff in the pretty glass was nectar. “What is it?”
    “It’s juice from the trees. It’s equivalent to the water from the Mortal Realm. The water here is different, and only a Sprite can drink it. All other Fae drink some derivative from their province. We are Sylph, but we can drink the nectar of the Nymph. Just as they can drink our serum from Kamalani. And both Nymph and Sylph can drink the wine from Vesuvius of the Pixies. The only ones that are different are the Sprites. They can only be sustained on water, and none of the rest of us can drink their water.”
    “I feel like I should be taking notes,” I chuckled. “Yellow flowers, good. Water, bad. Fae blade, strong. Tripudio, can save time but lose the trail. Anything I’m missing?” Though I was being sarcastic, I felt the smile pulling at my lips.
    “Don’t tell anyone your real name. That’s an important one,” he said.
    “But I thought you said it wasn’t…”
    “It’s not dangerous or anything. It’s custom. But it’s important. You only say your real name to the one you love and pledge your life to.”
    “Oh.” Weird.
    He cleared his throat and shifted in his chair, then suddenly found his book very interesting once again. I could have been polite, I could have let him read and not question his abrupt change in mood, but I didn’t.
    “Have you ever told someone your real name?” He took a deep breath before closing his eyes for a good three seconds. Then he looked up at me and nodded.
    “Once, but I will not talk about it.”
    “How old are you?” He already knew I was young. Basically a child.
    “I am in between.”
    “Ugh. What does that even mean? Why do you always talk so weird?”
    He shook his head. “Come with me, we have a long journey, and you appear to be finished eating.” Obviously, since the flowers were gone. Duh.
    Fairy boys were even worse than mortal boys. And I didn’t even understand mortal boys.
    I was so screwed.

Chapter Ten
Abada : A creature similar to a horse, but with two horns. One at the top of its head and another, smaller horn on its nose. Abadas are very picky creatures, and rarely interact with another species. They have magical properties and are very powerful animals.
    When we left the tree house, it felt surreal; it was the first place I slept in this strange land, the first place I cried for my parents here, the first place Alec and I connected on a level of friendship. But I tried not to dwell on it too much. I walked behind him as we left that little, lonely village of empty tree houses.
    After walking for a few hours, we stopped at a little clearing where we could sit off the trail and eat. We ate some cheslins and drank the nectar, and my legs and feet loved me so much for the rest I could almost hear them blowing me kisses.
    We hadn’t talked much since we left. I had tried to start a conversation when we first started walking, but Alec quickly shut me down. I didn’t know if it was because of where we had stayed, and whatever loss he had felt, or if it was because of something else.
    But I was tired of being quiet.
    “What did you mean when you said you were ‘in between’?” He looked over at me, actually looking at me for the first time since we left the village. His green eyes sparkled in the sunlight that snuck its way