Sarah raised her hand. “I still can’t hear a mindspeak ping.”
“Okay,” Eben said. “Come on over, and we’ll practice.” He tapped the back of the chair beside him. “I believe it’s easier to hear when you’re close to the person pinging you.”
We spent the next fifteen minutes taking turns pinging Sarah without much success.
“It’ll come,” I said when she sighed out defeat. “Give it time.”
She raised a hesitant smile. “You think so? I’m beginning to wonder.”
“Sure. Keep at it.” I wasn’t sure, actually. And I was beyond grateful for Donovan’s teaching.
“Next on the agenda is flitting,” Eben said. “Anyone having problems with that?”
“I traveled ten feet yesterday,” Carly said with a grin.
Cool, go you, and wonderful, the others cried out, cheering her on until she blushed.
While I did like feeling as if I belonged somewhere, I hated seeing Ashton’s comment about an outling’s poor magical skills confirmed. My abilities had to be an anomaly. Even the Elites displayed varying degrees of aptitude, from Donovan, who was neck and neck with me in most of my classes, to Alys, who could still only pull in one thread. That latter fact provided me endless satisfaction in Cloven’s classes.
“Anyone else have a flitting update?” Eben asked.
“Still working on it,” Manuel said. He scratched his dark hair, leaving a few strands standing on-end. “But I was able to flit from my dorm room to the ground floor this morning.”
Eben high-fived Manuel. “You’re doing fantastic.” Eben may be a bit anal but he was supportive. Maybe he wasn’t that bad a Club President.
“I, um, can flit from my bathroom to my main dorm room,” I said. Flitting came easy for me but mentioning the fact felt too much like bragging.
Everyone smiled, and Jenny patted my arm.
“Okay, then,” Eben said. “Next on the agenda is enhancing skapti.”
I sat forward.
“We’re all pulling in at least one thread, correct?” Eben asked.
Everyone nodded, but none of us would’ve made it through Stone Selection if we didn’t have the potential to pull in some variation of power.
“Keep at it. Since they’re all around us, we can grab them in any situation. Some of you might not know this, but that’s why skapti power is sometimes called environmental power. Threads are fed to us from the world around us. Before you know it, the luckier among you will find it easier and easier to draw in multiple threads. Though don’t be disappointed if you can only ever draw in one at a time or only one color. You’ll still be able to fulfill your full Level Five potential with one solitary thread.”
“Fantastic,” Sarah said with a grin.
“Last item on the agenda is the most vital.” Eben stared down at the paper on the table in front of him. “Fitting in at the Academy.” His solemn gaze met each of ours, one-by-one, and our moods dropped at least three notches. “Who’s dealing with bullies? Which, unfortunately, will be a common occurrence, I’m afraid.”
Sarah raised her hand. “Only one so far.”
Protectiveness rose inside me, and I stroked my dagger. “Who?” I asked. “I’ll speak to the Headmistress about them, if you want.”
“Right now, I’d rather not say.”
“How do you want to handle it, then?” I asked, my fingers gliding across my stone.
As her eyes drifted to my hand, she released a soft smile. “Not that way, but thanks.” Her chin lifted, and she tucked a long strand of hair behind her ear. “Instead of getting pissed off—or crying—I’m answering each of his taunts with pure kindness. I’m hoping that’ll smooth out his rough edges.” She blushed. “Because, he’s kinda cute.”
“It’s hard to be mean to someone who is unfailingly nice,” Eben said, ignoring the cute comment. “Good thought on your part.” He made a note on his agenda. “Let me know if we need to intervene.” His brown eyes darkened. “It won’t be the first time I’ve had to handle something like this.”
Sarah dipped her head. “I will.”
“Anyone else?” Eben asked. When we all shrugged, he said, “Okay. That’s it for tonight, then. Let’s meet up here again next week at the same time?”
Agreeing, we rose and took the stairs to the ground floor, then walked out of the library together.
“Anyone want to get an iced coffee?” Manuel asked.
“Not me, but thanks,” I said. It was getting late, and my body ached from my repeated tumbles off random aldakors.
We split up, me walking right after a soft goodbye, the others turning left, going either to Wind or Fire Coven or to the coffee shop. Me and Drea were the only outlings in Earth Coven.
Weird that Drea hadn’t shown up for the meeting.
My footsteps echoed around me as I passed the exit to the Clinic. I waved to a few kids in the shopping area but only one responded. Second Year students were almost universally snooty, as if we First Year kids deserved a trial by scowl, their version of a mini-initiation before acceptance. Or maybe they didn’t want to bother getting to know us until it was clear we wouldn’t flunk out.
Definitely needed to master riding an aldakor. And discover my other skapti. Because flunking out of the Academy was not an option.
I’d gone to Justine, the Headmistress of Crystal Wing Academy, after things settled and shared my ability with fire and feeding power into Professor Spires—Cloven—but she’d only smiled and said, “Wonderful. Keep exploring.”
Whatever that meant.
Leaving the mall, I bumped into Ashton coming from the other direction.
“Outling,” he said snidely, smoothing his hair and jacket. Messy, considering how flawless he always kept his appearance.
“Elite,” I said just as snidely but I knew the taunt had no kick.
He huffed and crossed the mall to join a bunch of guys sitting at a table outside the ice cream shop. He should get an ice cream. It might sweeten him up.
Shaking my head, I continued, taking the stairs leading to the skywalk spanning across to Earth Coven. I loved how they’d built it completely out of clear crystal. A lot of kids avoided it because, as you walked across, vertigo hit, giving the feeling you were about to plunge to the ground.
After a few more excursions on the roof with Donovan, I’d become addicted to heights.
As well as Donovan.
I walked across the span, staring through the clear glass, taking in the stars and moon overhead and the trees at eye level at my sides, plus the statues below.
A slithering, scraping sound behind made me pause. Frowning, I peered back, into darkness that swallowed the entrance.
“Hello?” I called out. My heart tripped when the sound was repeated, but I didn’t see a thing. Not a speck of movement, either.
Had I imagined it?
I couldn’t quite convince myself it had been nothing.
Okay, so the skywalk wasn’t as much fun as I’d thought. Not when night had fallen and I was traveling alone.
Ignoring the prickles lifting along my spine, I turned back and continued toward Earth Coven, my pace quicker than before. I wasn’t scared. Not too much, that is.
When the scraping grew louder, as if something was creeping up on me, my mouth flashed dry and I bolted.
I hit the far side of the skywalk at a dead run, my breath raging in my chest, my veins on fire. My fingers scrambled on the doorknob. Fear sobbing out of me, I wrenched the panel open and dashed forward.
I tripped over something solid lying on the floor on the landing.
Falling onto my knees beyond whatever it was, I flipped onto my butt and then scrambled backward, abrading my palms on the tiles with the frantic movement.
It was shaped like a human.
By the fae…
“Drea?” I whispered, squinting in the low light.
Lying on her back, she’d clasped her hands on her chest like she’d decided the stairway floor was an aw
esome place to take a nap.
Or like she was lying in a casket.
Not a good thought, there.
Green leaves lay around her body, tossed there by someone or scattered by the wind. Plump and full, they looked freshly picked.
When I inched forward, my gasp burst past my lips.
Drea stared at the ceiling, glassy-eyed. I checked, but she had no pulse. She wasn’t breathing either.
At the base of her throat where her school uniform was unbuttoned to expose her pale skin, something drew my eye. I leaned forward, my pulse hammering in my ears loud enough to eclipse everything else.
Tears welling in my eyes, I reached toward her but snatched my hand back.
A circle had been carved into her flesh, and beaded blood had dried in the outline.
What…? Inside the circle…No, not a circle. An O. For Outling? In the middle, someone had carved a number.
With Drea dead, there were no longer eight outlings at Crystal Wing Academy.
The clock had just ticked down to seven.
Chapter 2
I pinged the Headmistress and, after I’d essentially screamed into her brain, she immediately appeared at my side.
One quick glance at Drea, and she grabbed my quaking shoulders, turned me to face her, and said sharply, “Flit to your room immediately. I’ll…” Pausing, she squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them, tears rimmed across the brown depths. “I’ll notify the authorities. They’ll want to question you.”
“The Council?” They’d shown up after Moira, the girl in the dorm room next to mine, was nearly drained by a power-sucking slake—a power vampire. Donovan and I killed the slake with lightning and fireballs before he could finish draining me and my favorite teacher, Cloven. Talk about frightening everyone during Orientation week.
While a Council-appointed Seeker had questioned us two weeks ago, their investigation had concluded with Professor Mealor—the slake’s—death. To think one of our teachers had masked his identity so he could sneak on campus and tap into our power. He gave the law-abiding slakes like my roommate’s boyfriend, Bryce, a bad name.
Justine paused again and frowned, and I knew she mindspoke to someone. She nodded then turned back to me. “Actually, one of the Council Seekers will be here shortly. We’ll go to my office immediately.”
Wizards dressed in white coats and wearing rubber gloves flitted onto the landing and crowded around Drea.
Before I could contemplate flitting there myself, she’d taken my arm and relocated us.
A centaur awaited us, his slitted hooves shifting impatiently on the colorful braided rug. Over his furry body, he wore a button-up shirt and four-legged pants that ended at his ankles.
“This is the one who found her?” he grated out, his gaze holding mine in place as if he could plunge into my mind and drag out my every secret.
“This is Fleur,” the Headmistress said in a voice that came across calm and collected. But how could she be? My hands shook, and my heart still slammed double-time in my chest. “Fleur found Drea, the murdered student.”
Murdered. Having it confirmed only made me shake harder. I sunk into a chair before my legs gave way.
“The body?” he chipped out. “Where is it?”
“Taken care of,” she said, wincing at the term, body. “All evidence has been mapped and spirited away to the lab intact, exactly the way I found it.”
It. We were talking about Drea, here, an outling like me. I sniffed and wiped my eyes, my mind pulled back to when Drea patted my shoulder, telling me I could ride the aldakor. That she believed in me. It seemed only seconds ago she was standing beside me.
“Did you touch the girl?” the centaur asked me. He hovered close, and his breath was hot on the back of my neck. Reaching around my shoulder, he lifted my hand and slid his fingers across mine. “You did.”
“Just to make sure she was really dead,” burst from me. I wrenched my hand away, but I had no need to feel defensive. I hadn’t hurt Drea. Yet, somehow, this conversation felt accusatory.
“Explain,” he barked. “Now.”
“It’s okay, dear,” Justine said to me in a soothing tone. “Just answer his questions honestly. You’re not on trial, here.” And, to the centaur, she added, “Roark, this is…the one.”
He plodded forward, nudging the chair to my right aside, and pivoted his flanks so he could face me. His fathomless eyes sunk into mine as he studied me with even greater intensity. “She can’t be.”
Justine shrugged. “True, it’s still uncertain, but still…”
The centaur’s shoulders loosened, as if me possibly being the one—whatever that was—meant I could now be trusted. “Tell me what happened, girl.”
I started with when I left the library and ended with hearing something slithering behind me and bolting through the door, where I tripped over Drea. “The leaves scattered around her looked fresh, like they’d been picked from the branches seconds before I found her.” The leaves had to be evidence.
“I must touch your head,” Roark said, plodding a few steps closer.
I reeled back against the hard wooden chair, my panicked gaze darting to the Headmistress.
“Roark will scan your mind for any details you might’ve forgotten, dear. Sort of…” she frowned, “an instant replay? Is that what it’s called in the outling world?”
Maybe. I really didn’t remember. After Mom dumped me at the Academy entrance when I was ten, I’d been taken to Ester, a strict, half-troll woman who lived in the woods. She didn’t have electricity, let alone a TV.
“Just relax and he’ll be finished in no time,” the Headmistress added.
Did I have any choice about this? Probably not.
At my hesitant nod, Roark reached out, but his hands stopped a few inches beyond my temples. “Will you permit this?”
“Umm…” I squirmed. By the fae, was this the serum I’d heard about, something used by Seekers to ferret out information?
“Sit calmly,” Justine said. “Don’t move while he probes.” She leaned forward, eagerness tightening her features.
I swallowed my unease and nodded to Roark. “I guess you can look.”
He cupped my head and closed his eyes. A grating hum lifted from his chest and encircled the room like a swarm of angry bees. As he sorted through my memories, tossing most aside like useless flotsam, anxiety rose inside me in a sickening wave. Saliva pooled in my mouth.
“Stop,” I cried out, wrenching away from his grip.
Now I knew why everyone feared Seekers.
“Nothing,” he said to Justine. “I…don’t believe she was involved.”
Hadn’t I just said that? “I told you. I was in the library.” My voice rose as horror sunk tendrils through me. “I have witnesses.” Although, I had no idea why I’d need them. I wasn’t on trial here.
“Drea had only been dead a few seconds,” the Headmistress said. “I knew you weren’t involved, but now we have Roark’s word for the Council as proof.” Her intent gaze fell on Roark. “And?”
His chest collapsed with his sigh. “I couldn’t tell.”
“Interesting.” Justine relaxed back in her chair and tapped her chin. “Not there, then?”
Roark partly turned away from me. “I felt as if…parts of her have been locked down.”
“Bespelled?” Justine asked. “Even more intriguing.”
“Maybe. Or…”
Their combined gazes pinned me in place.
“You’re an outling,” Roark said.
Had he read that in my mind?
“Her mother left her here when she was ten,” the Headmistress said. “She had already drawn power. And released fire.”
“Ah,” Roark said, but I couldn’t tell what he meant from the single word.
“She lived with Ester until it was time to attend the Academy.”
“The sketar witch,” Roark said. “Wise choice.”
“Ester purposefully did not test her.” Defensiveness came th
rough in Justine’s voice. “I asked that she prepare Fleur for anything. Just in case.”
“Prepare me for what?” I asked, my attention flicking between them. They were discussing something big regarding me, and I had the right to know what it was. Did this involve my suspicions about the sixth family and my maybe-companion, the dragonfly, Alex?
Justine flipped her hand my way as if dismissing my question as unworthy. “If…We’re letting her develop naturally, of course.”
“Wise,” Roark said.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Please tell me.”
“You can go to your room now, Fleur,” the Headmistress said, leaning forward. She shuffled papers on her desk as if she’d already dismissed me. “We have no further questions.”
I had questions. But I also had a feeling they would not be answered. Grinding my teeth to bite back the words I wanted to blurt out, I stood.
“Can you flit or do you need help?” the Headmistress asked.
“I can do it myself.”
“Don’t say anything about this, dear,” Justine said. “Keep the events regarding Drea to yourself for now.”
Roark nodded.
“Tomorrow, we’ll announce Drea left. That she returned to her outling parents.”
“She was murdered,” I said. “You said that yourself. Whoever killed her carved an O on her chest for outling and, inside, a seven. This morning, there were eight outlings here at the Academy. Now, there are only seven left.” A bullseye felt burned into my forehead.
“I…don’t remember a mark.” Justine paused and her eyes glazed over. Mindspeak again. With whom this time? “No, it has been confirmed by the lab. There’s no mark on her skin. From their early observations, the technicians believe she encountered a rogue nightlace cluster during her studies. It must’ve followed her after she left class.” At my frown, she added, “We hold one class after sunset, Magical Horticulture of the Night. Drea attended that class earlier this evening.”
“She was supposed to meet us at Outling Club but didn’t show.”
“What time was the meeting?” she asked.
“Eight.”
The Headmistress nodded. “As I suspected. Her class let out just before then. The nightlace cluster followed—they can be sly—and…you saw what happened.”
Crystal Wing Academy- The Complete Series Page 24
