I nodded.
“And no one else? Your mother ...”
“My mother died when I was a baby,” I said.
“So, your Aunt Clare would have noticed.”
“But ... she never mentioned anything,” I said, feeling troubled. “Aunt Clare was human, as far as I know. I never noticed her looking like anything other than a human. She was my adopted aunt.”
“She probably was human, but somehow knew to hide your difference,” Chance said. “Or she might have been fae; we have no way of knowing.”
“But ...”
“How old was she?”
“Oh, she was old. I think she was already in her fifties,” I said. “She looked it. Her hair had streaks of grey.”
“Then she was probably human,” he said. “Faefolk live for a very long time. If she appeared that old, she would have been hundreds of years old. Possibly thousands, depending on the heritage. What color was her hair?”
“Just brown.”
Chance nodded. “Very likely human.”
“Aunt Clare told me she’d made friends with my mother in a shelter, when my mother was only twenty years old,” I said. “Aunt Clare was lots older. They became close friends, so she took care of me after my mother died. She died just a few weeks after I was born.”
“I’m sorry she died so young,” he said. “It sounds like she died before you could even know her.”
I took a deep breath. I didn’t like feeling sad.
“Um, so. Something you said earlier,” I said. “You mentioned I was already shifted?”
He nodded.
“So, what do I looked like when I’m in my true form?” I asked.
“No one knows until you show us,” said Chance. “And you’re not the only orphan who’s first shifted back at the Academy. Don’t worry, I know it’s a shock. The professors will show you how to do it. Soon, I’m sure.”
“Will it hurt?” I asked again.
“No, Holly. It will not hurt.”
I felt insanely curious about Chance’s natural form, but he’d said it was very personal, so I didn’t ask him about it.
Thinking back to the older faun we’d witnessed, I understood why it would be personal. That old man had been in his birthday suit.
I put my hand up to cover my grin.
A gust of cold autumn breeze whooshed over us, and I shivered suddenly.
“We’d best be going inside again,” said Chance. “We didn’t bring jackets.”
“Okay.” I turned to walk back. As we got to the door that led into the castle, Chance turned to me.
“Holly, I have something to tell you,” he said. “The headmistress had wanted to wait until Christmas, but recent events have forced her to move the date up.”
“Oh?” Curiosity bloomed in my mind.
“Can you meet me here at midnight tonight?” Chance asked.
I looked into his eyes, and saw he was very earnest.
I nodded. “Yes, sure. But why not just tell me now?”
“Because it’s a special secret. Oh, and bring your birthday necklace,” he said.
I stared at him.
He is so mysterious.
“All right,” I whispered.
“Good,” he smiled. “Now let’s get you to your dorm room.”
We walked down the stairs and around the hallways until finally we were standing outside Liesl’s and my room.
“Goodnight, Holly,” Chance said. “It’s only seven thirty, so I’ll see you in about four hours.”
I nodded.
He bowed slightly, turned and was gone.
So mysterious.
I turned and entered the room.
“Hey!” Liesl smiled. “Sooooo, tell me what happened!”
I shook my head. “What happened, what happened ... oh my gosh. Well, the sunset was really beautiful. Much brighter than in New York City.”
“Probably because of the smog,” Liesl laughed.
I had been telling her about the city. Clean air wasn’t one of its charms.
“And ... Oh! We saw a real life faun!” I exclaimed.
“WHAT?” shrieked Liesl.
I nodded, grinning. “It was incredible! Oh! And he was NAKED!”
Liesl threw her head back and laughed. “Was he cute?”
I smiled. “Probably sometime back in the day. He was an old man.”
“EWWWWW! Ha ha ha!”
“Ha ha ha!”
“So, what else?” Liesl asked.
“Um, a short lesson in shifting into a glamour,” I said. “Did you know I’ve been shifted nearly all my life?” I shook my head in amazement, plopping down on my bed and flinging my arms wide. “I had no idea. Can you even imagine?”
“I can,” Liesl smile. “Plus, all of us are, shifted, I mean. From a very early age.”
I sat up. “Oh, right! So, your heritage is, wait, I know you told me when we first met ...”
“Sylph heritage,” Liesl finally said, laughing.
“Right! Sylph. The faefolk that inhabit the ... wind?” I guessed.
“The air,” Liesl said. “We usually live high up, either on the sides of mountains, or up in tall trees. We can fly.”
“YOU CAN FLY!?” I exclaimed with delight.
Liesl nodded, looking proud. “Yes. Fly. It’s actually very cool.” She grinned broadly.
Chapter Thirty-Three
A Secret Revealed
I lay there in bed for a long time, unable to sleep. I’d been worried about oversleeping and missing the secret rendezvous with Chance, but my mind wouldn’t allow me to doze off, let alone sleep.
I held the alarm watch in one palm, my fingers twirling the wristband around in nervous agitation, my eyes closed, trying to fall asleep for over an hour, but it was no use.
I glanced over at Liesl. Soft snores came from the mound of blankets on her bed, and her tousled hair was just barely visible in the moonlight.
I shifted my gaze to the window. I could just see the moon if I leaned over a few inches. It was full, and beautiful.
It will light the way tonight.
Clouds drifted slowly across the bright harvest moon, looking very fluffy and fat.
My thoughts turned inward, and I thought about what Chance had said.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of his cryptic words, but I was so excited I could not sleep.
A mysterious and special secret that the headmistress had wanted to save for Christmas.
Something that can’t wait.
“...recent events force its disclosure...”
What had happened recently that might force the headmistress to divulge a secret?
The explosions.
My stomach hurt.
The headmistress had said that those responsible were agents of the Oak King. She’d implied the people who’d attacked the school were close to the Oak King.
What if the attackers are distant royals, like me?
What if she decided that I might be associated with the people who bombed the outside of the castle?
WHAT IF I’M BEING EXPELLED?!
All of a sudden, I felt like vomiting. The remnants of dinner rose to the top of my throat, and I scrambled to untangle myself from the blankets and sit up.
Oh God oh God oh God ...
“This can’t be happening,” I whispered aloud.
“Mmfmrglbb ...” Liesl mumbled and turned over.
My eyes went wide, and I held my breath until she settled back down.
I closed my eyes and bent my head, trying hard to tamp down my nausea.
How could this happen?
Not much had been said about the people behind the bombing. The student body knew next to nothing about what had actually happened.
Or at least the first-years didn’t know...
My head started hurting.
I loved it here at Titania Academy. I couldn’t go back. I just couldn’t. I thought back to the summer and surviving on the streets of New York, and my stomach s
tarted hurting even more.
OhGodohGodohGod
I scowled. I had apparently become soft during my months here at the school. How ridiculous. BUCK UP, HOLLY. I tried to feel better. You can survive anywhere. It wasn’t working. I felt sicker than ever.
Maybe some fresh air will help.
I put my shoes on, being as quiet as I could, grabbed my birthday necklace from the nightstand, where I’d placed it earlier, and tiptoed out of the dorm room, shutting the door behind me with care.
I stared at the moon through the hallway window.
Just a short while ago, I had thought it so beautiful; now all I could think about was how it had looked in the New York smog.
Unshed tears in my eyes, I descended the staircase, staying quiet, and walked to the edge of the school’s central hallway.
It was deserted this late, and I took a few minutes to look at everything I had grown so fond of.
I took so long that the chime on my alarm watch sounded, making me jump.
I press my finger to shut it off, then looked up.
Had I heard a sound?
I shook my head, trying to clear it.
Sadness and longing filled my head, warring with fear and regret.
“Well,” I said out loud, “I’d better get going. Don’t want to postpone the inevitable. Chance is waiting.”
There is was again.
I strode to the opposite staircase, and quickly ran up the first two flights, then turned around and look down onto the hallway where I’d just been standing.
Nothing.
Wait, a shadow was emerging from the back hall. I held my breath and waited, trying not to blink.
It was the night guard, walking his rounds.
I remembered now: the headmistress had set several guards to roam the school, day and night, since the explosions occurred.
He looked bored as he slowly walked toward the front doors of the school, peaking in side hallways and doors as he went.
I let out my breath as he passed, then turned and walked up the steps a little slower.
I was still very worried. I was sure that this might would bring the most horrible news of all, and I would have to leave the school behind, and return to living on the mean streets of the dingy city I had grown up in.
Or rather, under.
The underground subway cubby Aunt Clare and I had called home had seemed cozy and relatively safe while she was still alive, but the day she’d died, it had turned into the worst nightmare of my life.
Loneliness and misery had filled my head, and I’d cried myself to sleep in a vacant doorway. The cubby no longer felt safe. It felt as if it was filled with ghosts of the past.
I shuddered, blinking back tears.
Stop thinking of such things. Just stop. STOP IT NOW.
I reached the top hallway and looked down on nearly a dozen staircases. The main floor hallway was not visible.
How had I gotten all the way up? I didn’t remember. Just walking up steps, over and over, thinking about my past, I guess.
“Okay,” I whispered to myself. “Let’s get this over with.”
I reached out and grabbed the door handle and turned it downward ten degrees. It was not locked. I pushed it open and was greeted by a face full of cold air.
I’d worn a jacket this time, and the wind had died down a bit.
I stepped outside and closed the door behind me.
Wouldn’t want the night guard to come looking for the source of the cold midnight breeze wafting down into the school.
I checked my watch. I was a few minutes early, but as I took a few steps around the corner and looked at the spot Chance and I had watched the sun set early, I saw his silhouette framed by the light of the moon.
He was already here.
He turned, as if sensing my presence.
“Holly,” he said. It was not a question.
I walked forward slowly, glad for the darkness of night that hid my swollen eyes.
“Hi,” I said lightly. “Well, I see the wind died down.”
“Yes,” he glanced around. “Thank goodness. But I see you wore your jacket. That’s good. It’s cold up here at midnight, regardless.” He led the way to the stone wall edge.
I was beginning to think of it as “our spot.”
The moonlight illuminated the entire parapet once we walked out from under the covered area.
We stood there, looking out at the school grounds, now much darker and half in shadow.
I closed my eyes, breathed in the cool night air, and tried to savor the last minutes before Chance dropped his news.
My stomach felt tense, but luckily, the night air helped to tamp down any lingering nausea.
“Holly,” Chance said in a quiet voice. “Do you have your birthday necklace?”
I pulled it from under my jacket. The green leaf and red berry holly design twinkled in the moonlight as I held it aloft.
“The headmistress wants you to know who sent this gift for you,” Chance murmured.
I looked up at him. THIS is what he was going to tell me? Who’d given me the necklace?
Thoughts raced through my mind.
Should I still be worried?
Was it a bequest from my father’s side of the family?
Was it tied to the people who attacked the school?
Was I going to be expelled?
I held my breath and watched his face, waiting.
Chance gazed into my eyes.
“The necklace is from your father,” he said.
WHAT?
“Is he still alive? I thought ...” I swallowed, my throat suddenly hurting.
“I cannot answer that, I’m sorry,” said Chance. “I am just to tell you the necklace is from your father.”
“That’s all?”
“Yes.”
omgomgomg
Maybe I’m not going to be expelled.
My eyes filled with tears.
Did I dare to let joy enter my heart?
I had to make sure.
“So,” I looked at him. “I’m not going to be expelled?”
“What?” Chance looked confused.
Of course you’re not going to be expelled. Idiot. You were worried about nothing. NOTHING! It’s your birthday necklace, that’s the surprise. It’s from your father.
Oh my God.
A silly grin spread out on my face.
“Nothing. Nothing.” I looked down at my necklace. “My father gave me my birthday present.” I looked up at Chance again. “So, he knows about me? He knows I exist?”
My voice was unnaturally high.
Now it was Chance’s turn to hold unshed tears in his eyes.
I looked into them and began to drown.
I couldn’t blink, couldn’t turn away.
I was fully in the moment.
I thought I smelled juniper berries waft over on the night air.
Chance leaned forward, ever so slowly. He eyes held mine.
He bent down, so close I could smell the minty scent of his breath.
He stopped a few inches from me, a look of love in his eyes.
I couldn’t help myself.
I leaned forward, closing the last bit of space between us, and kissed him.
I had never kissed a boy before. His lips were warm and soft, and as we kissed, I got a fluttery feeling in my stomach, as if a thousand butterflies were dancing in a circle, celebrating the kiss.
Finally, he pulled his head back, and looked at me, a soft smile on his face.
He stepped back and put his hand over mine and kept looking at me. And that smile didn’t leave his face.
I probably have a similar smile on mine.
Then it happened. The loving expression on Chance’s face morphed into one of surprise and shock as he was shoved hard from behind, and lifted, and thrown over the edge of the open parapet.
Less than a second after he was thrown, I was tossed over the edge. We fell almost at the same second.
The e
ntire thing seemed to happen in slow motion. I remember feeling the shove and the scoop and being tossed over the edge.
Those few seconds took a million years.
We were nearly two hundred feet high.
One second after the fall, I was facing up to the parapet edge, my body half turned, and I could see faces watching us fall. I could see Jessica and Naomi.
I could see Aspen and Tundra, their paws up on the stone edge, their eyes open wide in utter shock. They must have sensed my surprise and fear at being pushed over the edge.
The next second, I was turning.
The third second, I was facing down, falling in slow motion alongside Chance.
I fell sideways, my head turned to the sky, and slowly turned to face down.
Chance was falling face down, his hands out in front of him as he fell.
The fourth second into the fall I saw something flying up to us. Something small.
It was Chance’s hawk familiar.
The fifth second of the fall, I saw the hawk grow, from a normal sized hawk, to a hawk the size of a bus. It was swooping down and under us.
It was catching us.
We fell onto its back. It shuddered, then regained its balance and flew gently ahead.
I thought I was going to have a heart attack, my heartbeat was thundering in my chest so fast.
Chance put his arm around me to steady me on the hawk’s feather-covered back.
The giant raptor glided to the ground, landing gently, and folding its wings against its sides. It crouched on the school lawn, and Chance and I slid off. A few seconds later the hawk was its normal size again and flew up to perch on Chance’s shoulder and nuzzle his cheek.
I swung around and looked up from where we’d fallen but saw no one there anymore.
A pop! heralded the arrival of Tundra and Aspen, and suddenly the world was filled with warm, rough wolf fur, and wet licks from eager tongues.
We stood there, Chance’s arm still around me, and I tried to slow my breathing down to normal again.
“Before we have company,” murmured Chance, and he turned and kissed my lips.
I closed my eyes and pressed eagerly against him and flung my arms around his waist.
“Oh my God!” came the faint call. “Mr. Mac Craith! Miss Ó Cuilinn! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?”
We broke away from each other and turned toward the voice.
The school front doors were thrown wide, and light from the inside hall spilled out onto the front steps, and Professor Ó Baoghill was running down the steps and toward us, as only a middle-aged woman in a warm purple robe, fluffy beige slippers, and a bright yellow nightcap can.
Faerie Misborn Page 24
