My face overheating, I smoothed my hands down my dress. “Thank you.”
He pulled a small cluster of flowers from behind his back, where he’d hidden it. “For you.”
“Oh! Wow. They’re pretty.”
“It’s a wrist corsage.”
Like the one the neighbor girl got from her date. Tiny flowers in blue, purple, white, and green.
He fastened it around my wrist.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked, holding out his arm.
“Yes.” I couldn’t believe I was going to the Grand Ball with a hot guy, that I’d helped defeat a rogue slake, and that I’d made it through Academy Orientation with all my limbs intact. Tonight, we would celebrate our efforts. And mentally prepare ourselves for the rest of the school year.
We took the skybridge at the end of the hall that crossed over to the main building. When we exited the entirely-glass tunnel, the ballroom waited for us, straight ahead.
Two nymphs in flowery gowns stood beside each of the doors on tiptoe. “Would you like to enter?” They asked in melodic harmony.
I stalled and turned to Donovan. “I still can’t dance.” I’d meant to learn but in all the uproar, I’d forgotten to ask Patty.
“No worries,” he said. “You can use elemental magic.”
My fingers stopped trembling for the first time in days. “Really? You should’ve told me that earlier.” Now, I couldn’t wait to hit the Ball.
I nodded to the nymphs and they swept the doors open.
We stepped inside and paused to take it all in. When we’d come here before, we’d been alone and we hadn’t turned on the lights.
Fireflies drifted across the ceiling, making the entire room glow and, in the corner, a band of centaurs played instruments I hadn’t seen before in my life.
Girls in gowns swayed to the music with each other or with guys in suits. I looked around but didn’t see Moira or Alys, though I knew they’d be here. They’d left with dates before Donovan and Bryce arrived.
“Dance?” Donovan asked, holding out his hand.
I dipped into a curtsy. Well, I tried a curtsy, but, jeez, I’d lived in the woods with a freakin’ sketar witch who wasn’t exactly into fancy decorum.
When Donovan’s lips twitched, I knew my curtsy needed as much work as my magic.
Donovan’s arm slipped around my waist, and he held my right hand at shoulder level. Crap. A waltz.
Closing my eyes, I willed myself to dance—using elemental magic—as Donovan spun me around the room.
It wasn’t bad. In fact, my feet moved where they were supposed to and I didn’t bump into anyone. There was something special about spinning around the room in the arms of a guy you liked.
“This is so much fun!” I said. I tipped my head back and laughed as he dipped me backward.
“Open your eyes,” he said as I straightened.
“If I do, I’ll step all over your feet.”
“You won’t.” Humor came through in his voice. “I promise.”
The song ended, and we stopped moving.
“At least my elemental magic kept me from looking like a fool,” I said with a big grin.
His cheeks darkened. “Confession time.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“There’s no elemental magic spell for dancing.”
“Even if I say damn it?”
“Even then.”
“I was dancing all on my own?”
“Well.” His eyes twinkled. “I was leading.”
“You.” I tapped his shoulder but couldn’t stop laughing. How could I be angry when I was having this much fun?
After two more dances, we went out on the deck. We leaned on the rail and watched the brownies dancing in the upper pasture. They were holding their own ball tonight.
“Would you like some punch?” Donovan asked after we’d stared at the moon for a while. “I can get you some.”
“Yes, sure.”
The second he disappeared inside, Alex zipped up from below and hovered in front of my face.
“I missed you, little guy,” I said with a smile.
“As you should.”
I rolled my eyes. “Where you been, anyway?”
“Here, there, everywhere.”
“So precise.” I frowned. “I need to ask you…” I lowered my voice. “The dragon. Is he okay?”
“He’s growing stronger all the time.”
That was good, I supposed. “Thanks. I was worried after he chased away Professor Mealor.”
“He’s for the future, but now is the present.” Alex’s wings fluttered, and his expression sobered. “The Elite boy treating you right? If he’s not, I’ll mess up his face.”
“Please.” I held up my hand. “Leave Donovan’s face as it is. I like it.”
“Maybe I could improve it just a little?”
“Alex.”
If dragonflies could sigh, Alex did. “I’ll leave him alone. For now.”
I shook my head.
“You look nice, Fleur,” Alex said softly. “Like a princess.”
Princess seemed to be a popular theme. “Thanks.”
“Something’s missing, though.” He zipped around me as if inspecting my dress and hair but stopped in front of me again. “Your necklace. That’s the problem.”
I fingered my chain. “I didn’t want to wear the concealer tonight.”
“No, that’s not it.” Darting in close, he settled on my neck, his little feet tickling my skin. A small flash of light and he’d transformed into a dragonfly pendant, attached to the chain.
“If you need me,” he said in a tiny voice. “Now you can find me.”
Cool.
Donovan came up behind me and handed me a glass. “Here you go.”
One taste and I could tell it had been spiked with verdeen, but we had lots to celebrate. And I didn’t mind getting tipsy tonight.
We stood, leaning against the rail, enjoying our punch and the silence between us.
“Can you tell me something?” I eventually asked.
“Sure.”
“For some reason, anything about the sixth family is a big secret.”
“Not really.” He sipped his drink.
“No one will tell me anything.” It came out like a whine, but I couldn’t help it. Curiosity was eating me alive.
“Everyone’s bespelled. We can’t speak of the sixth family.”
“Really? Why?” I held up my hand before he could speak. “I know. Wait and ask in history class.”
“I’m sorry. I’d tell you if I could.”
“The entire thing is silly. I don’t even know the animal on their banner.”
“I can tell you that.” Leaning close, he traced his finger along my new pendant. “It’s a dragonfly.”
Chills ripped through me, and my breath choked off in my throat.
“The last family member was banished,” I squeaked out. “Did he or she ever have children?”
“No one knows.”
As an unbelievable, incredible thought filled my mind, I shook my head.
No. It was impossible.
I didn’t know who my father was, yet I had unusual magic.
But I couldn’t be an Elite. I was an outling.
Or was I?
* * *
Book Two: Dragonsworn
I survived Orientation at Crystal Wing
Academy—barely—and now it’s time to
learn how to control my power.
After destroying a power-sucking slake before he killed my friends, I’m feeling stronger and more confident than ever.
Donovan and I are together, I’m pulling in more threads than before, and I have new abilities I’m excited to master… So, I might be flunking Magical Creatures & How to Tame Them. Not everything comes easy, right?
When I stumble over a dead girl—one of eight Outlings at the Academy—and she’s marked with an O and a #7, it’s clear someone’s copycatting the Outling murders that took place one-hu
ndred years ago.
With the clock ticking down and more Outlings turning up dead, I’ll soon be next. Last time, every Outling at the Academy was murdered.
But the killer is about to learn this Outling wizard won’t go down without a fight…
Chapter 1
One Month into First Year
My last class of the day, and I was about to plunge to my death.
Why had I signed up for Magical Creatures & How to Tame Them?
Oh, yeah, the dragon I’d met in the forest. Might be nice to learn new ways to communicate with him. Although dragons weren’t on this class’s syllabus.
Unfortunately, I was barely passing Magical Creatures, let alone taming them, which didn’t speak well for my ability to cozy up further to the dragon.
First test in Magical Creatures? Ride the aldakor. A.K.A., a giant wolf. Sort of a wolf if you ignored the huge curly horns on their heads and long, spiky tails. Other than that, they would fit in with mythical giant wolves with their four clawed paws and lush black fur. And canines too close to that of a Siberian tiger. The better to eat wizards with, my dear.
Really needed to ditch the fairytales.
“Riding aldakors is an Academy tradition,” Professor Trarion had said on our first day of class. “The original six used aldakors for transportation instead of flitting, an elemental magic they learned later.”
Frankly, I’d rather wear myself out with a flit than wrangle one of these beasts. But I also needed to pass this test.
We stood on a platform on the edge of the for-now, not-forbidden northern forest. A well-used trail stretched below and on either side of us, snaking down from the mountains. Behind us, the copper rooftops of the Academy gleamed in the fading sunlight.
“Okay, here they come,” Professor Trarion shouted. She tugged her dark blue teacher’s tunic down over her snug leggings. Ten students around me did the same with their Academy-emblazoned riding outfits. Sheepishly, I did, as well.
Only a few kids had signed up for this class. Everyone else had wisely chosen the other First Year course offered for this period. Magical Foods: From Exquisite Cuisine to Poison. Just think, I could’ve been discovering ways to poison Alys instead of swan diving across the backs of aldakors. Well, riding aldakors, something I’d yet to master.
“As the herd passes beneath us,” our teacher said. “Crouch and spring, and think ride to activate your elemental magic.”
Drea, another outling in my class who lived on my floor at Earth Coven, sent me a wan smile. After fainting at the sight of the three-headed Cerberus during Orientation, one would think she’d avoid anything to do with beasts. During our first class, she’d confided to me that her skapti involved working with animals. Magical Creatures was her Academy major.
I’d yet to pick a major. Throwing fire and feeding power into another person seemed to be my only skaptis. And I wasn’t sure what purpose they’d serve in my future. Could someone major in tossing fireballs?
“Here they come,” a guy squealed. “Get ready!”
Hard to miss them since their grunts and bellows resounded around us.
Each day at dusk, herds of aldakors streamed en masse to the upper pasture to graze. No clue how I’d missed them while slinking around campus during Orientation. These beasties were huge.
Their paws thundered on the ground. Dust rose into the air, thick enough to make the girl standing next to me cough.
My heart flailed in my chest, and my belly already cringed from the upcoming impact with the trail.
Two weeks into this three-times-a-week class, and I only had one more chance after today to pass this test. Failure meant I couldn’t advance to the next creature.
Which might not be a bad thing, after all.
“You can do it, Fleur,” Drea said, hip-checking me with a smile. “I know you can.” Only certainty came through in her voice.
The other students unanimously scowled.
“Better do it this time.” This ‘support’ came from Vik. His older brother, Ashton, was prefect of Wind Coven. At least Vik had kept with his family’s tradition of hating outlings.
I couldn’t blame him for feeling irritated. None of them would advance to the next lesson until all of us had ridden an aldakor. I was the one holding everyone else back. Well, unless I flunked out. Then they’d move on without me.
One week until add-drop period ended. Should I quit now? Surely, they could squeeze me into Poisons.
“Lean forward, sight, and spring,” Professor Trarion said in a lilting voice. An elf like her sister, Professor Alean, who also taught classes incorporating magical creatures, Professor Trarion stood two feet taller than me and had long, bright purple dreadlocks. Was she worried about imps making off with her hair overnight? Imps enjoyed colorful things and didn’t seem to mind stealing something even if was attached to the top of a person’s head.
She patted my shoulder, doling out encouragement.
I needed it. The beasts plunged nearer, the lead animal huffing as it bounded around a corner in the trail, leaped over a rock, and approached our platform.
“Ready…Set…” the Professor said as the animals grunted and snorted beneath us in a stream of black fur and gnashing horns, rushing toward the pasture. “Now!”
Around me, students leaped gracefully off the platform, landing solidly on aldakors. Their fingers wove into the creature’s dense manes as they swung their legs up and across the animals’ backs. From past experience, I knew they’d ride the aldakor all the way to the pasture, after which they’d hop onto the ground, give the aldakor a decent grooming in exchange for the ride, then meet up to congratulate each other on mastering this skill.
While I’d troop down the trail behind the last aldakor and stand in the shadows with defeat heating my body.
“Do it,” one of the other students yelled over his shoulder as the beast he rode galloped away. “Come on, Fleur!”
I jumped as the last, straggling aldakor bellowed and thrashed its paws on the ground beneath me.
Smack. My belly hit the creature. Nice backbone, there, buddy. Nearly cut off my wind. My fingers scrambled through fur, latching on. I was going to do it this time!
My legs bounced on the aldakor’s hips as I struggled to drag one up and across the animal’s back.
Closer…
Something hit my right foot—a bush or a tree—and my leg scissored out. Silky mane slipped through my fingers.
No!
I tumbled backward off the aldakor, who kicked in what felt too much like excitement. I swore the creature burst into beastie laughter. He kept going, his golden paws winking in the sunlight.
With a teeth-jarring impact, my butt hit the trail. The squishy trail.
“Aw, shit,” I said, grimacing.
Because…literally…shit.
* * *
Syncing to the City’s sundial, I realized I was late.
I hadn’t intended to stop in my room to wash and change before my meeting, but I’d never live it down if I showed up in the library with aldakor doo stuck to my ass.
Tonight, I was meeting up with an exclusive—their term, not mine—club.
Outling Club.
With so few members, exclusive had to be pushing it. Eight outlings total at the Academy, including me.
Climbing the stairs to the third floor of the library, I puffed as I rushed past the long rows of stacks to the small sitting area in the back set up with an oval wooden table, a few chairs, and a recliner and two sofas. I arrived winded and too sweaty, which told me it was past time to get some regular exercise.
Not on an aldakor.
“Sorry I’m late, guys,” I said weakly.
Eben, a Second Year student and our self-appointed Club president, lifted his arm and scrutinized his watch. So far, he’d been unable to harness enough energy to sync with Grathe City’s sundial.
“Two minutes late,” he said with a scowl.
Whoa. Thank the Fae it wasn’t three. Who knew wh
at would happen then? Maybe I’d turn into a pumpkin.
I dropped down onto the sofa beside Jenny, another First Year outling like me, though she was in Wind Coven. Her bright smile cheered me up. She fingered the citrine pendant she wore, a decent stone.
Leaning close, she whispered, “Ignore him. Jerk. He’s just jealous.”
I lifted my eyebrows and her gaze fell to my dagger, my moonstone. So, okay, I possessed the stone that ruled them all. At least I wasn’t being asked to throw it into the fiery pits of Mordor.
My gaze skimmed over the outlings present. Sarah, short and with chestnut hair, sat with her feet up in the recliner. The other Second Year students included Eben, Carly, and Eli.
An even split. Me, Manuel, Drea, and Jenny made up the First Year outlings.
“We’ll give Drea three more minutes. I’m confident she’ll be here by then.” Eben stared down his nose, his gaze focused beyond the stacks as if he expected her to appear this second, upon command. “But after three minutes, we’re starting without her.”
We kinda all stared at each other for those three minutes before Eben stood and passed around papers.
“Agenda,” he said. “First up, elemental magic.” His gaze swept over us. “Who needs more practice with mindspeak?”
Skimming the list, I didn’t miss the lack of sundial-syncing on the agenda. Honestly, I’d leave it off if it was my weakness, too.
We outlings had met together once since the Second Year students arrived, to commiserate and help each other acclimate to magical life at the Academy.
Fingering my dragonfly pendant, I wondered what my fellow outlings would think if I called Alex? I’d only spoken to my dragonfly friend once since the Ball at the end of Orientation. Grilled him, actually, about the sixth family and the fact that they’d had a dragonfly companion. As usual, he’d turned into the king of vague. So far, my history class had not revealed any details about the horrible thing the sixth family had done. We were still stuck in the background leading up to the original split from the fae. What could the sixth have done to be banished?
Crystal Wing Academy- The Complete Series Page 23
