1 A Torn Wing (1/2)

Ruby Gardner's only thought was to run. She knew it wasn't a good idea to use her wings in public but it was better to risk being seen by a human than to be caught by her aunt and uncle now.

She was so close to freedom! No way was she about to let them sell her off. So what if she was special? Her powers had never been anything but trouble!

Holding her breath and praying her wings didn't flutter too loudly, Ruby rose into the air and zipped through the trees…right through a broken window of a stone castle that appeared out of thin air.

Hissing in pain, she examined her wings for potential damage. There seemed to be a small tear in one of them. She cursed.

Finding the materials she needed to patch it up wouldn't be easy on the run but if she was lucky there would be something she could use around here. This place definitely didn't belong to a human so it might have what she needed.

Humans might be the majority but there were more subspecies of magical creatures known as fae blending into their society than they could imagine. Fairies, werewolves, mermaids, elves…

The mermaids typically stayed hidden away in the ocean but everyone else had adapted to hiding in plain sight by using a technique called glamouring. Ruby's glamour had curly brown hair blue eyes. Simple as can be.

It hid her wings and pointy ears, among other things. There was another reason she almost never took it off, even among her fellow fairies. It was tied into why she was running away so she didn't like to think about it.

With her wing injured, Ruby couldn't fly anymore so she walked through the castle in search of first aid supplies. Who owned this place anyway? It was a total dump.

Not only was it filthy but the stones in the walls were cracking, all the furniture was half-destroyed like a werewolf had used it as a chew toy during the full moon, and it smelled terrible. She would think it was a wolf's den if not for the fact that wolves didn't like castles. They were notoriously messy.

Ruby made her way to the kitchen and was even more disgusted than before. Rats. Rats everywhere. Would this place even have what she needed?

She rummaged through the cupboards for a few minutes before she got lucky but they did have at least one of the ingredients she needed to make a wing poultice after all. She was in the middle of searching for the next ingredient when a voice sounded behind her, startling her so much that she knocked her head against an open cabinet door.

”Who are you and what are you doing here?”

Ruby whirled around, rubbing her head. A young man (at least he looked young; you could never tell with fae) with short, messy black hair and brown eyes was staring at her distrustfully.

”Sorry…is this your place?” she asked cautiously.