It wasn’t me. It was the demon, I tried to tell myself. Except I wasn’t entirely sure that was true. It had definitely been the case last time, when I’d been fourteen and accidentally started a fire in the bathrooms at school. But this time? I may not have intended for the flames to come, but once they did I hadn’t backed away. I’d wanted my foster brother to burn. And the whole house with him.
Laura talked some more about her strategy for my appeal and rehashed more of what she’d found lacking in my original defense. I again found myself wishing she’d been my lawyer for my original trial, but then there was that niggling part of me that couldn’t help thinking, You didn’t deserve a good lawyer, you didn’t deserve to get off the hook for this, you killed someone and don’t even regret it…
Finally, we wrapped up our meeting and Laura promised to update me when she had a court date. She left through the door that led to the outside world, while I was escorted back into the cell block.
Laura had suggested the first step be to try to get me moved to juvi, but I’d told her not to bother—I’d be eighteen in a few months’ time so by the time everything got approved for a transfer I’d just be coming back here anyway. Besides, it wasn’t that bad here. I mean, obviously this wasn’t somewhere I’d actually choose to be—it was dreary and cold and depressing as hell. But, surprisingly, I didn’t feel unsafe here, which was more than could be said for my previous stint behind bars and for most of the foster families I’d been shuffled around to. My age probably worked in my favor in that regard, and the fact that arson wasn’t really one of the crimes that made someone a pariah behind bars. Now, if they knew I had a devil living inside me, that might have been a different story, but as it was, I kept my head down, didn’t make any trouble with the guards, and was amicable if not actually friendly to the inmates who bothered to speak to me. I knew the chances of getting out on appeal were pretty much non-existent, so I made my plans; I had eight years in here to get my shit together. I was going to get my high school diploma through their program here, then do some college classes, then once I got out I’d get a crappy job and save some money until my probation was over and I could take off for somewhere you didn’t have to declare your criminal history on every job application. By the time I turned thirty I’d be halfway to a decent life.
Of course, none of that actually happened…
2
Laura kept me updated over the next couple of months as she worked to put together my appeal. Finally, we had a court date—two weeks out from my eighteenth birthday—and on the day of my appeal I was led out of the prison and loaded onto a transport van for the hour-long drive to the courthouse. It was about half-way through the drive that everything went sideways.
It started with the sound of something heavy dropping with a thud on the roof of the van. The next thing I knew, the transport was skidding all over the road and I was being tossed around against the metal walls of the van like loose change in the washing machine. I was fully expecting to die; the van was going to end up wrapped around a tree, or we’d end up in the river and instead of dying on impact I’d drown, or worst of all, I’d survive the crash but end up suffocating inside this metal box I was locked in. Either way, the options weren’t looking good, and I surprised myself with the realization that I didn’t want to die. I was resigned to the idea of spending close to the next decade behind bars, I could barely remember a time in my life that I’d actually been happy, and I had a demon living inside me—but even so, the idea of dying right now, of all of this being over, sent me into a panic.
But of course, I didn’t die. The van ceased it’s erratic skidding and came to a halt, and I was finally able to crawl up off the floor and resume my seat at one of the metal benches. My breathing was beginning to return to normal when the doors of the van were ripped open.
I was expecting to see one of the guards who’d been assigned to escort me to court, but instead it was a stranger—a young guy maybe two or three years older than me.
“Seraphina Conley?” he asked, flashing what I could only describe as a roguish smile.
My eyes narrowed. The guy was totally hot, but didn’t really mean anything. I didn’t care how sharp his cheekbones were, or how cute his ‘just rolled out of bed’ black hair looked, any random stranger who somehow knew my name was automatically going to earn my suspicion. Besides, from my experience, hot guys and total assholes were often one and the same—the foster brother I’d killed being a prime example.
“Who are you? Where are my guards?”
He waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry, we took care of them.”
Why did that sound like something a mafia lackey would say to their boss?
“You’re going to come with us now,” he continued.
I finally took a moment to glance beyond Hottie McHotface to see he wasn’t alone—there were two other guys with him, both roughly the same age.
“Uh, I don’t think so,” I said in answer to his declaration. “I’ve seen Taken—I know what happens to teenage girls who are kidnapped by strange guys.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Okay. Well, if you prefer we can simply leave you here to fend for yourself. I’m sure you’ll make it a fair way in that stunning get up.” He nodded at my orange jumpsuit. “Fetching color, by the way. Really brings out your eyes.”
I scowled. “Whatever. I think I’d rather go back to prison than become a sex slave.”
He rolled his eyes. “Look, I really didn’t want to do this, but it seems I have no choice.” Before I could fathom what he was talking about, he lifted his hands and ropes of fire came shooting out of his palms, wrapping themselves around my body. I tried to struggle against their pull but they were wound too tight, leaving me helpless.
“How—how did you do that?” I somehow managed to stammer out, my eyes wide from the shock.
He merely smirked. “Come with us and you’ll find out.”
He made it sound like I had any kind of choice in the matter; he made it abundantly clear that I didn’t as he stepped forward and grabbed me around the waist, hauling me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“Oh my god! Let me go, you psycho!”
“Sorry Miss Conley but we really have to get going—the cops will be here any moment and, as you’ve already found out for yourself, fire magic is kind of hard to explain.”
He turned to his buddies, who I could no longer see because, oh yeah, I was hanging upside down over this crazy person’s shoulder! “Ready?” he asked them.
“Yep—let’s get out of here.”
The next thing I noticed was fire swirling all around us. I’d never really been scared of fire, noticing from an early age that it didn’t hurt me the way it did other people; but right then, I had to admit to being a little scared. I somehow knew that even though the flames themselves wouldn’t hurt me physically, they signified something even more frightening—my life was about to change forever.
We walked through the flames, ending up in some kind of cavern. The walls around me were made of rust-colored rock, and once the flames we’d walked through died the only light came from fire-lit torches spread at intervals along the walls. There was no sunlight in sight.
Hottie McHotface, who was clearly the leader of this little gang, turned to his companions. “She’s going to be pretty pissed about this—go back to your duties, I won’t tell her you were with me.”
They seemed pretty happy about this, offering a “Yes, sir,” and a, “Thank you, sir,” before I heard their footsteps disappearing behind us.
Urgh. Suck ups.
My kidnapper adjusted his hold on me before stepping forward. “Come on, Seraphine—it’s time to meet the queen.”
My eyes widened at that. The queen? Who the hell were these people? I had a brief image of being presented to Queen Elizabeth in my half-burned away prison jumpsuit with my ass in the air while I was being hauled over this guy’s shoulder and had to stifle a snort of laughter. I really hoped that wasn�
�t the queen he was talking about, because the sight of me like that would probably cause her to have a heart attack and I really didn’t need the Queen of England’s death on my conscience.
We walked through a winding passageway until we’d reached another cavern-type space, except this one was much bigger, at least as far as I could tell by craning my neck around behind my kidnapper’s back. There was a hubbub of voices, all of them coming to a halt as we entered the room.
“Aidan…” a female voice began in what I could only describe as an admonishing tone, “what by all the gods have you been up to?”
So his name is Aidan, I thought, glad I now had a name to put to my kidnapper’s face.
He lifted me off his shoulder and set me down on my feet. I wobbled for a moment and was annoyed to find myself relieved when he placed a hand on my shoulder to steady me.
Now that I had a better view of the room, I was able to glance around in what I hoped was a discrete manner and take in all the details. It was almost like we were in an underground cathedral; there were no pews or aisle or anything, just people standing around in the vast space, but there was a high—high—ceiling, and a dais at the front of the space where several people milled around next to a chair that appeared to be carved out of molten rock. It was coal black, with glowing embers scattered throughout. Sitting on the chair was a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties; she had long fiery red hair, pale skin and glowing hazel eyes. She wore a crown made of a similar substance to the chair she sat on and was looking at Aidan with an expectant expression. This must have been the queen, and it was obvious she had been the one to speak just now.
“Mother,” Aidan said, offering her a little bow of his head.
I whipped my head back to look at him, my eyes wide with shock. Mother? His mother was the queen? He was a prince? And how was that even possible—did she have him when she was eight years old?
“You’ll catch flies with your mouth hanging open like that,” he murmured in my ear. I snapped my mouth shut and turned back to face the queen.
“I’m waiting for an explanation,” she said, one eyebrow arched.
“Mother, this is Seraphina Conley.”
A ripple of shock carried through the people in the room, causing me to once again turn my head back to glance at Aidan. Why should my name cause such a reaction? I was no one.
“Do you mean to tell me this child is somehow related to Conley?”
“She’s his daughter.”
“How could you possibly know that?” It wasn’t the queen this time, but a guy standing on the dais next to her. He seemed to be roughly the same age as Aidan and I couldn’t help noticing he was also pretty hot—actually, now that I’d had a chance to take it all in, I realized none of the people here were lacking in the beauty department. What the hell was this place?
I felt Aidan stiffen with tension next to me in response to the guy’s question. “You know how,” he said in a gruff tone.
The guy said nothing in response, but his jaw clenched noticeably, which I found interesting.
“If this is true, then she is part human,” the queen said, the distaste obvious in her expression.
Umm…what?
“Her salamander traits are dominant,” Aidan said.
“Salamander? Like…those weird lizard things?”
The room was utterly silent, making me realize I’d accidentally spoken out loud.
“Umm, no—salamanders are fire elementals,” Aidan explained gently. “Your father was one—it’s where your fire magic comes from.”
“I-I thought I had a demon inside me…” I said weakly, still so confused.
“Urgh…humans,” the queen said with an eye roll, her tone one of exasperation.
“Why exactly have you brought her here?” The same guy as before said. “She was obviously doing okay in the human world.”
“Okay? Okay? Are you kidding me?” I went to gesture wildly with my hands as I often did when I was frustrated but the movement threw me off balance because I was still constrained by the stupid fire ropes. I ended up toppling over and face planting against the ground. Awesome move.
Aidan hauled me back to my feet and I turned to glare at him. “Can you please take these ropes away now? I’m here aren’t I? I’m not going anywhere!”
He offered me the edge of a smirk. “You know, I would, but that fetching jumpsuit of yours is pretty much in cinders now, so unless you want to go naked in front of everyone…”
Urgh. After almost year of communal showering in prison, any shyness I may have had about my body had pretty much evaporated, but that didn’t mean I wanted to flash in front of a room of beautiful strangers.
Acting as though nothing had happened, I fixed narrowed eyes on the guy who’d spoken. “If you think my life has been easy you’re out of your fucking mind. I never knew my parents, most of my life has been spent moving from one shitty foster home to another, and the one time I actually landed somewhere nice they couldn’t wait to get rid of me after I set my bed on fire and almost burned down their entire top floor. When I was fourteen I accidentally set fire to a bathroom in my school—that landed me behind bars for six months, which was real fun. And of course, a bit over a year ago when my asshole foster brother tried to attack me I set him and the rest of the house on fire—still not sure whether that was an accident or on purpose, although the courts seemed to think it was the latter seeing as how they locked me up for it.
“So in other words, I haven’t exactly been doing okay.”
The room was utterly silent, the guy I’d unleashed on staring at me with wide eyes.
“What did I tell you?” Aidan said with a chuckle. “Conley’s daughter. What’s it been, about twenty years since someone’s called you on your shit, Fenix. This is going to be fun.”
3
“I haven’t agreed to let her stay yet, Aidan,” the queen said sharply. “A halfling…this is quite unprecedented.”
“Mother, she needs training. She needs to learn to control her abilities. If she’s left out in the human world it’s only a matter of time before questions start being asked that will put Caldara’s secrecy at risk.”
The queen’s lips pursed into a tight frown. “Yes, I suppose you have a point there. Very well—this year’s class of fledglings is about the begin their training. She will join them and in three months’ time undergo the final Testing. If she succeeds she’ll become one of us.
“That wasn’t really what I had in mind…”
“Why not? She’s the right age, and it’s perfect timing.”
Aidan sighed. “The other fledglings have been learning to use their magic their whole lives—”
“Aidan, this is the deal—take it or leave it.” The queen’s tone brokered no further argument.
“Fine.”
Without another word, Aidan picked me up and once again hoisted me over his shoulder.
“Oh my god! Seriously?”
“You want to trip over again?”
“God, you’re annoying! You better be taking me somewhere to get new clothes.”
It wasn’t lost on me that at some point throughout that conversation Aidan had morphed from my enemy into my ally. It was clear I’d be stuck here for the foreseeable future, and while I still wasn’t thrilled to have been kidnapped, it was at least comforting to know I had someone in my corner. I sure as hell couldn’t count on the queen, or the guy Aidan had called Fenix.
Aidan carried me through a series of winding hallways until we’d finally reached another cavern. This one was much smaller, and it was furnished, giving it the appearance of a little apartment.
He set me back on my feet and disappeared through a little door on the other side of the room, returning a moment later with a bundle of black cloth in his hand. “Here, this should do for now—I’ll get you some proper gear made before you start your training in a couple of days.”
He handed me the bundle and I unravelled it to reveal a long black dress mad
e of some kind of shimmery material. I arched an eyebrow at him and was amused to see a faint blush color his cheeks.
This was so not something I’d usually be caught dead wearing, but beggars couldn’t be choosers so, after Aidan released the fire ropes, I dashed into the room he’d just come out of—a small bedroom—and quickly changed. It was a pretty snug fit; the owner of the dress clearly didn’t have the curves I did, but the material was reasonably stretchy so it worked okay.
I went back into the main room, where Aidan had seated himself at a little table. “Okay, if we could get moving on this gear you’re going to get for me that would be great—I don’t really do dresses.”
He turned to look at me as I spoke, his eyes travelling slowly down my body, then back up again.
“You should,” he said, his voice a little huskier than it had been earlier.
I felt my belly flip flop under his gaze. Nope, nope, nope. I was not going to be that girl. I was not going to go getting attracted to some strange guy I just met. And the fact he had another girl’s dress just lying around his bedroom obviously meant he was a player—he had ‘bad idea’ written all over him.
“Okay, moving on…I have some questions for you.” I took the seat across from him and placed my chin in my palm, my elbow resting on the table’s surface. “Why am I here? Why are you doing this?”
Aidan leaned back in his chair, his fingers drumming against the edge of the table. “I knew your father. We were friends a long time ago—before he left here.”
“How is that even possible? You’re like, twenty years old.”
He flashed a wry grin at me. “I have a very strict skincare regiment…and elementals age much slower than humans.”
Well I guessed that explained how his mother looked like she was only a few years older than him.
“Okay, you really need to explain all of this. Elementals? Salamanders?”
Paranormal Academy Page 79
