Page 168 of Once Upon a Fable

It’d been five days since I’d said goodbye.

Five days since I’d freed my family and murdered a shit ton of evil in this place.

I fell to my ass in the middle of the clean hallway, cursing the crush of memories. The unbearable slicing down my chest.

They’d wanted to stay.

I’d forbidden it.

Once Storymaker was dead, and my family had packed their bags, I’d escorted them to the cave. I’d bound the hands of the chef and his scullery maid, trusting them to keep their mouths shut in the real world.

I’d offered them two choices. Live or die. Forget what happened here—swallow their own pain, or tell people. One option meant they could go home; the other meant they’d have to stay with me.

They’d been kind to us. They’d snuck us food when we’d been starved and gave us medicine when we’d been beaten. They weren’t like our master, and I had no desire to kill them.

As we stood in the mouth of the cave, moonlight had cast all of us insilver.

The energy between us was weird. Not quite celebratory, not quite afraid. Wariness that this was a trick was the main mood.

The only things anyone had bothered packing were a spare set of clothes and some food for the journey. No one had bothered to take the Fable book we’d been given or any other mementos of this cesspit.

Good fucking riddance.

Despite the lack of luggage, no one noticed I hadn’t packed at all.

They didn’t notice I hung back as we got closer to the cave.

They turned in shock when I stopped on the outskirts of the stone cathedral, and whispered, “Goodbye.”

The chef and his maid waited in the shadows while my family returned in a flock. A flock of kids who’d grown into adults, all scarred with the same troubles.

“Kas?” Nyx touched my arm, her eyes wide. “Goodbye? What does that mean? You’re coming with us, right?”

Wes leaned heavily on Jareth who had him propped up between him and Neo. Sweat ran down his face, fever and sickness evident in his stare. “Come on, man. Let’s go.” He shivered even in the hot evening. Whatever those bastards had done to his leg, he’d been poisoned from it. “You saved us, Kas. Don’t be a jackass now.”

I half-smiled. “I’m never a jackass without reason.”

“Exactly.” Wes winced, coughing in pain. “So enough dilly dally. Let’sgo.”

“I agree. Go.” I pointed into the black tomb of the cave. “Between all of you, you should remember the way.”

“We can’t do this without you, Kas,” Sarez murmured, clinging to my hand. “We wouldn’t evenbehere without you. If you think we’re going to walk away—”

“You’re not walking away. I’m coming after you.” I cupped her cheek, staring into her eyes before looking at everyone in turn. “I promise. I’ll find you.”

“Just come with us now.” Quell sniffed, tears tracking molten silver in the moonlight. “We can’t say goodbye.”

Wes swayed, his skin green and leg smelling rank. They couldn’t delay getting him help.

They have to go. Now.

This wouldn’t be easy. Christ, it would be the hardest thing I’d ever done. But I wouldn’t let them wait here while I did what had to be done. My job wasn’t over yet. I’d vowed to keep them safe, and they weren’t safe...not yet.

“I’ll follow soon. I give you my word. I just need to clean up first.”

“Clean up?!You’re going to bury those bastards?” Elise snarled. “No way. Let them rot.”

“If anyone finds this place,” I said. “They’ll be a manhunt if they find a house of corpses.”