The Pixie Prince

by Kirsten Krueger

  “The cafeteria is in the Naturals Building,” Fraco said as they walked along the path toward the campus. He pointed his clipboard toward the nearest building, positioned on the right side of the tower. “There also dwells the Science of Affinities lecture hall in the basement, alongside the school’s recreational swimming pool.”

  “A pool?” Demira mused quietly, her lips cracking into a grin as her eyes slid toward Nixie. Calder was stuck walking between the girls while the flyer, Demira’s cousin, and a few of the other students they’d picked up on the way were ahead, closer to Aethelred and Fraco, who continued to rant about the campus. “You would enjoy that.”

  “I don’t swim,” Nixie retorted flatly.

  “I don’t swim much either, but I’m not opposed to skinny dipping.” Demira wiggled her turquoise-tinted eyebrows at Calder, who returned the impish expression. “Will you join me tonight?”

  “Perhaps.”

  His vague response was enough to widen his sister’s eyes. It wasn’t that his promiscuity shocked her, but the fact that he was considering submerging in a body of water was unexpected, even to himself. He didn’t elaborate on the subject, though, and neither did Demira as she peered at the words on his t-shirt.

  “What’s the shirt about?”

  Calder glanced down at the image. “It’s a band Nixie and I were going to see tonight—”

  “I love concerts,” Demira gushed. “Col will never come with me, though. He’s an introvert.” Although his back was to her, she didn’t hesitate to stick her tongue out at her cousin. “I’m lucky if I can get him to come out for ice cream with me.”

  Calder studied the boy ahead of them, with his short, wiry, deep green hair, and wearing a long-sleeved button up even in the August humidity. Though Calder didn’t say so to Demira, and though he was outgoing enough to hide it, he was an introvert, too, and he understood Colton’s desire not to be stuffed in a room crammed with people. Even if he did love the bands he and Nixie often went to see, he was always mentally drained by the end of his night, whereas his sister could have hopped around to three more concerts before heading home.

  When they reached the base of the Residence Tower, Aethelred swung open the glass double doors, allowing Fraco to lead their pack into the ground floor lounge. The room, scattered with brightly-colored armchairs and couches, was already brimming with teenagers—some with normal hair and eye colors and others with brilliant, unnatural shades, like Lana’s. Calder, Nixie, and Demira strayed on the outskirts, near the spiral staircase, and scanned the crowd while Fraco and Aethelred made their way to the front, joining the other adults who stood there.

  “You two were running late, so we gave the kids their cards already,” a young woman with bright lavender hair and eyes informed Fraco, who seethed. “They’re excited to hear your speech, though.”

  “Mr. Sherwin!” Fraco sang impatiently, summoning a man with rosy pink hair. The pile of colorful cards he handed the man was doused in an oily sheen. “Hand these out—quickly.”

  Nodding, Mr. Sherwin received the cards and then darted away, the movement so swift that Calder had merely blinked and the man was standing before them.

  “What the…” Nixie began, but she couldn’t even produce a curse that could adequately portray her reaction.

  “Names?” Mr. Sherwin prompted, scrunching his large nose as Fraco’s greasy residue transferred from the cards to his fingertips.

  “Demira McCoy,” the girl said, unfazed by the man’s Affinity for speed. He handed her a green card so rapidly that she barely had time to grab it.

  “Uh, Calder Mardurus…and Nixie,” he added, nodding toward his sister. Mr. Sherwin chucked two more green cards at them before hurrying over to Colton, the transition almost like teleportation.

  Calder watched the green-haired boy receive a purple card and Lana receive an orange card before glancing down at his own. Upon it was his class schedule, along with his room number: 306.

  “Orange means you’re in the Physical class,” Fraco announced, “purple means you’re in the Mental class, and green means you’re in the Natural class.”

  “What do those classes mean?” Nixie muttered, glaring down at the green card in her hands.

  “It means your Affinity is related to nature. And that,” Demira said, pointing to the room number on Nixie’s card, “means you’re my roommate.”

  “Glorious,” she grumbled.

  Demira smirked. “Perhaps you and your brother could switch.”

  “Only if his roommate is hot.” Nixie peered over at her brother’s room number, and she seemed inclined to search the crowd for a matching number, even if Fraco was still rambling on with the introductions and rules. The speech, however, was halted a moment later when a teenage boy came tumbling down the spiral stairs, the thud of his body against each step reverberating through the lounge.

  Fraco blinked like a fish when the boy landed on the floor only a few paces away from where the twins and Demira stood. “What…”

  He didn’t even have to ask the question before it was answered in the form of a massive figure stomping down the steps with a gleam of dark humor in his gray eyes. His equally deep gray hair was slightly disheveled, and his arms and torso bulged with muscle beneath the white t-shirt he wore. When he assessed the damage he’d done to the silver-haired boy groaning on the ground, his aura of pitiless triumph exuded for all to witness.

  “You can’t hide, Dispus,” he sneered, hopping down the final step only to kick the kid. “It doesn’t matter what you look like—I can smell you.”

  “A smelling Affinity?” Demira mumbled, unconvinced.

  “Mr. Corvis!” Fraco shrilled, his posture stiff and his glare stern as he maintained his position at the front of the room. One malicious look from the big bully weakened the man’s confidence in an instant. “You…will not harm other students.”

  The boy on the ground moaned loudly, and without the faintest hint of hesitation, Calder stepped forward and extended his hand, offering to help him up. He could barely lift his silver head of hair to look at Calder with his murky irises, the color shifting continuously. Every one of this boy’s features seemed to be oscillating, as if the fall had shattered his genetics and they were desperately attempting to realign his physical attributes. Even so, Calder didn’t retreat—not until the towering bully only two steps away snarled.

  “You’re really gonna help him? After what I just did to him?”

  “Well,” Calder drawled, meeting the larger boy’s gaze with aloofness, “after what you just did to him, he looks like he needs help, wouldn’t you say?”

  Cracking his knuckles, the bully took a step forward, putting himself within easy punching distance. “Do you wanna be next, primie?”

  Calder pursed his lips, aware that every eye in the room was on him. Even Fraco had stopped his scolding, probably hoping Calder would settle this matter for him so the greasy little man wouldn’t have to deal with this brute. The injured kid had collapsed completely, not even bothering to reach out a hand for assistance. Perhaps he had done something to deserve this cruel of a punishment; likely not, though, and if this bully had destroyed this kid for no reason, Calder knew it was best not to become his public enemy.

  With a hard glare of surrender, not respect, he retreated three steps until he was again between Nixie and Demira, uninvolved.

  Every one of the teachers who had been stationed with Fraco wove through the crowd to confront the conflict, and none frowned upon Calder for opting not to help the victim. They understood, because it was clear as they sentenced the bully to his punishment and hauled the broken boy away that none of them were particularly eager to cross the path of Mr. Corvis, either.

  With Fraco’s speech cut short, the primaries dispersed in waves of hushed whispers, a few giving Calder sympathetic looks. As he ascended the stairs with Demira ahead of him and Nixie behind him, he wondered if, despite his surrender, he’d gained an enemy, anyway.

  Demira, tho
ugh shaken enough not to mention the planned skinny dipping, hadn’t lost her admiration for him. When they reached the third floor, where both of their rooms were located, she placed a fingertip on his silver chain, right on the center of his chest. With her Affinity, she twirled the chain around until the metal bit at his neck, and then she leaned in and softly murmured, “Meet me at the pool tomorrow night—midnight. Don’t bring clothes.”

  He could still feel the heat of her breath and the pinch of the metal after she’d sauntered to her room, leaving the necklace to uncoil.

  “Good luck,” a reserved voice said just before Demira’s cousin, Colton, passed him. Calder was too dazed to register what he might mean by that—or that the green-haired boy disappeared into room 306, his dorm room. He might have stood there in the middle of that square-shaped hall for the rest of the night if his sister hadn’t slammed him into the nearest wall.

  “What the hell was that?” she demanded, nodding toward the spiral staircase—toward the lounge.

  It took him a few moments to realize she was referring to the exchange between him and the bully. “I—I didn’t want to become pulverized meat—”

  “Then why did you try to help that kid?” she growled, her short pigtails looking more like horns with the way her nostrils flared.

  “You’re…mad that I tried to help him?” Calder’s brows furrowed. “Not that I backed down?”

  “Obviously! God, Calder… Did you see the size of that guy?”

  “Yes…” he confirmed slowly, “which was why I backed down.”

  “You looked like an idiot!” she barked, her voice echoing through the empty hall. “A weak idiot! You shouldn’t have interfered.”

  “I should have helped the kid—”

  “No, no—use your brain. Can’t you already see a hierarchy has been formed here? That big guy is the alpha, and you almost became his prey.”

  “Nix, I don’t want to get involved in some…hierarchy.” He shook his head, wisps of his long hair falling before his eyes. “I’m more concerned with the fact that we have superpowers. Aren’t you?”

  “Having superpowers only makes the stakes higher. This is a power game, Cal, and we can’t afford to lose, even if it means we’re shitty people. If that big guy picks on your roommate, the quiet one—don’t stick up for him, all right?” Calder’s jaw clenched as he glanced over at the door to room 306—the door Colton had shut himself behind only moments before.

  “What if the big guy picks on you?” he challenged, meeting his sister’s unyielding eyes.

  “I can handle myself,” she dismissed, spinning on her heel before he could object. He wanted to ask her about their superpowers—Affinities—and about how she’d managed to block the rain out of the van earlier, but on the subject of water, Nixie now seemed as closed off to her twin as she’d always been to everyone else.

  3

  Origins

  “How do you think they know what size clothes we wear before we even get here?” Calder asked, examining the green cargo pants and white t-shirt he’d found waiting for him in his dorm room. He and Colton had just exited the Residence Tower to trek along the walkway to the Naturals Building, eager to eat their first meal in the cafeteria. The morning sun reflecting off Periculand’s white buildings was blinding, and the August heat made him wish he had as little hair as his roommate.

  “They’ve been studying us for months,” Colton replied, unfazed by the ominous implications of his words. His deep green eyes roved the campus and town with mild interest, as if viewing his surroundings from afar. Though he would have matched better wearing Calder’s outfit, Colton had been given plum-purple cargo pants that symbolized his status as a Mental. He wore the same white t-shirt as Calder, which said “Periculand Training School” in the top right corner.

  “How do you know?” Calder whispered, inspecting the school buildings for signs of cameras. He saw none, but he was now keenly aware of how vigilantly this town had to have been monitored.

  Colton continued studying the scenery with shrewd eyes. “I’m observant.”

  “No,” a female voice drawled as two girls stepped up beside Calder, “you’re paranoid.”

  Colton dismissed his cousin with a scathing look as Demira shot Calder a wicked grin. Her deep turquoise hair was confined to a sloppy bun today, and like the Mardurus twins, she wore earthy green cargo pants. The freckles on her cheeks were even more prominent in the sunlight, and with her face so close, Calder realized they were the same shade of blue as her hair.

  “My cousin sees things that aren’t real,” Demira explained to the twins as the four of them stepped up to the glass front doors of the Naturals Building. Students were already packed inside, seated around the colorful, round tables scattered throughout. When Demira yanked open one of the doors and crooned to Calder, “Ladies first,” he didn’t even smirk at the taunt; he was too wary about what lay within the cafeteria—or who, more accurately.

  In the far corner, the big bully from the previous night occupied a blue table with a horde of other students surrounding him. On his right sat a boy with spiky, neon green hair and manic eyes; on his left sat a girl with short, straight, purple hair and a wad of bubblegum in her mouth; and behind him stood a lanky boy with taffy-pink hair and a matching pair of eyes that carefully scanned the room, as if searching for a threat. Those three seemed dignified; the rest just seemed to grovel.

  “What do you mean he sees things that aren’t real?” Nixie asked, as oblivious to the bully as he was to her. He hadn’t noticed the four primaries enter the cafeteria, even when Demira sauntered in last and yawned loudly.

  “He has schizophrenia,” she answered as the four walked up to the buffet line.

  The appetizing scents of bacon and toast permeated the room, but Calder still felt queasy with the bully at such close proximity. Nothing usually frightened him, but he’d never had an enemy before, and if that guy had an opinion as dramatic as Nixie’s on what had unfolded the night before, then Calder sincerely hoped his dark gray eyes didn’t linger in this direction.

  “I do not have schizophrenia,” Colton snapped as he piled fruit onto his tray. “It’s my Affinity.”

  “Your power is having schizophrenia?” Calder asked, earning an irritated glance from his roommate.

  “How long have you two known about your powers?” Nixie asked before Colton could defend himself.

  “A while,” Demira replied as she scooped scrambled eggs onto her plate. “I’ve always worked on cars with my dad, so you can imagine having an Affinity for metal has come in handy.”

  “And you?” Nixie prompted, raising her eyebrows at Colton.

  His green eyes avoided her as he casually responded, “I’ve always been gifted with a view of the Otherworld.”

  Demira rolled her eyes before jabbing her elbow into his ribs. “Don’t scare off our new friends by talking about the Otherworld. I told you he has schizophrenia.”

  “What’s the Otherworld?” Calder inquired as they neared the end of the buffet.

  More primaries trickled into the cafeteria now, some swaggering with intent and others cowering meekly, as if the dull walls and brightly-colored tables might attack them. The twins and the cousins left the buffet before the line formed behind them.

  “Your mind isn’t advanced enough to comprehend the vastness of the Otherworld.” Colton sniffed as he slipped into a chair at the empty yellow table they’d chosen not far from the buffet. Though his eyes still arrogantly evaded his peers, they did land on the table in the far corner of the room, where the bully sat. “Demons flock to that one.”

  “Come again?” Nixie spluttered, nearly falling into her seat beside him. “Demons?”

  “Ignore him,” her roommate droned, sucking on a watermelon wedge. “He sees weird shit. I’m sick of hearing that gloom hangs over me and darkness threatens to penetrate my heart. Tell me more about you two—and your water powers.”

  Calder snorted as he gnawed on a piece of bacon.
“We do not have water powers. That would be lame.”

  “Or terrifying,” Demira offered, her bluish eyebrows arched at him. “Not for anyone else, but for you two, I mean. I saw the way you reacted to the rain yesterday. Even with your punk rock t-shirts and emo hair, you two aren’t as tough as you want everyone to think.”

  “Our hair is naturally black, I’ll have you know.” Nixie’s lips pursed before she bit into a piece of toast. “And we are tough. You don’t have a clue as to the hell we’ve been through.”

  Demira shrugged, unfazed. “Everyone’s been through hell, just a different kind. What happened to you two—a flood?”

  “Of sorts,” Calder mumbled, toying with the food on his plate. “What do you think made that guy such an asshole?”

  Demira followed his glare toward the bully, now chuckling at something the purple-haired girl had said. “Some people are just born assholes.”

  “Indeed,” Colton agreed, as if narrating a script. “Nero Corvis has always had a rotten heart.”

  “Nero Corvis?” Nixie repeated. “That’s his name? How do you know?”

  “I read life like a book. The Otherworld shows me all that is relevant—”

  “Okay,” Demira groaned, interrupting her cousin as she slumped back in her chair, “he’s trying to be a creep at this point—but…he is always right. So, I assume that big, bad asshole’s name is Nero.”

  Nixie hummed, gazing at him from afar. “Nero… I like it.”

  “You like it?” Calder blurted, bewildered.

  “I told you, Cal, that guy is at the top here. We need to befriend him.”