“Now delve deeper. Sink beneath the surface to what’s hiding inside.”
In my mind, the outside of the boulder liquefied, shifting and molding but never holding its shape long enough for me to grab onto. I strode over to it and held it steady while I poked my head through the wavering surface.
Inside, thin, delicate strands of rainbow threads rippled as if on a breeze.
Environmental magic.
“Can you see them?” she asked.
“Yes,” I breathed out. So beautiful, like splashes of paint on a wall or an oil slick gliding across the top of a puddle.
“Do you see black threads or only the other colors?”
“No black.” Not so far but they had to be here somewhere.
“Go deeper. Leave the boulder if you need to. Sink down deep, into the earth. There’s no limit to how far you can go to find what you need.”
Black threads. Where were they hiding? My feet left the ground as I fell into the world, sliding and tumbling, my hands outstretched, my mind seeking…
A thin black thread caught up and kept pace beside me.
I coaxed it closer with a soft murmur. “Come.” It paused then rippled toward me, as cooperative as the Cerberus pups. I held out my hand, palm up, and it wove around my fingers, creating a series of rings. “That’s right.” Because it tickled, I laughed. “You want to play?”
When it draped across my palm, I snapped my fingers around it, keeping it from escaping. Finding another thread nearby, watching as if curious, I reached out and ran my fingertip along its back before encircling it with my fingers and tugging it near.
The two strands wove together easily, creating a double warpling. I’d never heard the word before it came to me at Katya’s, but it fit.
“You’re doing it, Fleur,” Minerva said. “I see your moonstone glowing with power. Release the threads, now.”
“I don’t want to lose them.”
“You won’t. Now that they know you’re here, that you’ve found them, they’ll seek you all on their own.”
I opened my eyes and stared down at my blade lying on my lap. Sparks filled with magic darker than the night flickered along the surface of my moonstone.
“It’s beautiful,” I said.
“Pat yourself on the back,” she said. “You’ve touched Level Four.”
“Wait. That easy?”
“You’ll need to practice to be proficient, but you’ve learned the basics of locating and harnessing environmental magic.”
“What about Level Five?”
“That Level will surprise you. But I can’t tell you exactly how to reach it.”
“Why not?”
“Each Unraveler discovers a way on their own.”
“But you’re the Master. Shouldn’t you tell me how to get there?”
“No, you’ll… Oh.” Pain crossed her face. “I’m sorry, dear. I’d hoped…” She swallowed hard, as if something had lodged in her throat. “I hope this has been enough.” Rising to her feet, she drifted quickly back and forth in front of me, her hands opening and closing to fists.
“What’s happening?” Standing again, I looked around but didn’t see anything unusual. But I’d set up my camp deep in the woods, and I was far from the Academy.
Anything could be lurking nearby.
Fear skittered across my skin like I’d fallen into a nest of spiders.
Minerva stopped pacing and reeled toward me. Her face grew even paler, if that was possible for a ghost. “It has begun.”
Talk about cryptic.
The smile she lifted held warmth but no happiness. “You hold our future and our past in your hands.” She stretched her arms toward me and…
Chapter 35
A gust of wind hit my body and sent my hair whipping around my face.
I teetered on the edge of a jagged cliff that plunged down at least a hundred feet. My arms spiraled, and my feet slithered forward. I yelped, and my voice shot back at me.
At the base of the cliffs, a dark sea churned. Waves slammed against enormous boulders, shooting water up into the air.
Snatching at a scraggly bush before I fell over the side, I used it to claw my way back to level ground, where I raced away from the edge and turned.
An endless sea stretched ahead of me, the moon highlighting white caps that tipped the waves rushing toward the shore.
“Minerva?” I yelled, but there was no reply. How had I gotten here and where was I?
Hugging my arms around my waist, I held back my fear. Patty’s blanket had slid and caught at my elbows, and I tugged it up and wrapped it around my shoulders. It no longer provided warmth. Without the pups snuggling against me, cold sliced through my skin and clawed at my bones. Shivers took over my frame.
“You have the items,” Katya croaked from behind me.
I jumped and spun to face her.
She loomed over me, her pincers extended as if she itched to snatch the cupla stone from my hands then fling me over the cliff.
I stepped sideways, putting space between us, but she followed, creeping after me on her eight spindly legs that compressed the ground with enough force to shake it.
“You brought me here, didn’t you?” I said.
Minerva had known. Or suspected.
“You have what I need,” she said.
“I thought I was supposed to ping you when I was ready.” And I didn’t have what she needed. Would she tear my head off when she found out?
Heat poured through me, and my heart forced its way up into my throat. My muscles spasmed as if they were prepared to run. How far would I get before she caught me, trapped me?
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the cupla stone and held out my left hand. I unfurled my fingers to reveal the smooth, round, glossy pink stone. Sweeter than the blush of dawn.
“Do you know what this is?” The words erupted from me. It felt wrong to give Katya Cerberus dreams when she took such pleasure stealing hope from everyone else.
She plucked it from my hand. Reeling backward, she held it aloft while roaring to the sky. Clouds dashed across the moon, sending ghostly shadows jerking along the deep grass behind her.
“Finally!” she yelled. A flash of light, and the cupla stone disappeared. Katya turned and slithered close to me again. “I do know what the stone contains, girl. Power I’ve sought for a lifetime.”
It’ll never be yours. The words hovered on my tongue, but I swallowed them down deep. Let her discover her mistake on her own.
Her pincer darted toward my throat.
Gulping, I flung myself to the side, because behind would only bring my death. And I ached to live.
“The dragon bone,” she said hoarsely. “Give it to me!”
“I…” My jaw trembled. “I don’t have it. I couldn’t find one.” She hadn’t given me a chance to find one.
“Lie!” Her pincer poked forward again. “It rests with you always.”
Since she couldn’t mean the jewelette Alys had given me that I’d hung on my chain, Katya must mean my pendant. My fingers clawed at it.
The shape had changed. No longer a dragonfly, it was now curved into a dragon.
Alex?
Give me! he’d said.
How could I do it? I—
“Just a snip,” she said slyly. “No harm in that, now is there? With a complete cupla stone, I only need to pinch of dragon bone dust for…”
“For what?”
“Nothing for you to know.”
“To create a spell to hide from your son, the arachnoid king.”
Her gaze narrowed. “Who shared secrets?”
I pinched my lips together.
Her front leg crashed on the ground. “Who?”
“Do you want a bit of bone or don’t you?” I slammed my own foot on the ground. Two could play these games. “I’m beginning to think I’ll just let the healers cut off—”
“No!” She growled. “Give me bone.”
“Remover the Serum and heal my hand first.” I held
it out. “Completely heal it. No tricks.”
Her lips twisted up on one side. “What if I feel like being tricky?”
“You know who—what—I am.”
She snorted, dismissing me already. “A would-be Unraveler without a Master.”
“I’ve reached Level Four.” A stretch. Minerva said I’d touched Level Four. But I was close. I’d practice.
And I’d remember Katya.
As if I’d dealt her a blow with the thought, she stumbled backward. “How is this possible?”
“Remember Minerva?”
“The matriarch.” Her gaze grew sly. “What of her?”
“She’s a Master, and she’s teaching me.” I jerked my hand toward Katya. “Remove the Serum and heal me or I’ll call black environmental threads. I’m close. So very close to Level Five.”
“Many think they’ll get there but none living have reached their full potential.”
“I’ll reach my full potential. And I’ll never forget what happened at your shop. I’d hate to think your bespellings could suddenly unravel.”
She flicked a pincer my way and murmured words that sounded fae.
The bandage on my hand disappeared and, while I watched, the sheen of Serum lifted and my blackened, flaking skin repaired itself until nothing but the clear, smooth skin I’d had before remained.
“We have a deal?” She strained her pincer toward me.
“I won’t find my fingers rotting away the second you disappear?”
“I have removed the Serum and healed you as agreed.”
“Then we have a deal. A snip of this dragon pendant will see it fulfilled.” I hadn’t forgotten how tricky she could be. “Correct? You agree?”
Her head bowed. “I agree.”
Magic licked through the air, swirling around us in gold dust before shooting toward the sky.
Perfect. Let her try to work a spell with dragonfly bone dust.
I reached up and stroked my pendant, praying with everything inside me that this wasn’t a mistake.
I had to trust Alex.
Before my nail pinched a tip off a wing, I paused. “Back up a second. You haven’t actually fulfilled your end of the deal.”
“What are you talking about?” she growled.
“You said you’d send a helper, but you stole him from me before we’d finished my quest.”
“I did not say how long you’d have his help.” Her arm flicked out. “You brought the cupla and the bone. Your quest was finished.”
Denying it would not work in my favor.
“Besides.” She scowled. “I didn’t steal him, a Bespeller did.”
I’d find a way to make the Court Bespeller pay.
“Not her, either,” Katya croaked. Her beady black gaze narrowed on my face.
She had me, and she knew it because…
Horror burst inside me, a bomb about to explode.
The rogue Bespeller had taken Donovan.
Chapter 36
Frantic, I pinged Tria, Find me. Please!
As a Seeker, she’d pin me down in seconds.
A quick twist, and I’d broken off a tiny bit of Alex’s wing. I thrust it at Katya. “Take it.”
“With pleasure.” She snatched it from me and roared again, so loudly my eardrums snapped.
A bang, and she’d disappeared, leaving me alone on the cliff.
Only then did I realize I hadn’t reminded her of the charm that would let Donovan remember me without draining his power. But, at this point, it hardly mattered if the Bespeller killed him.
Tria burst into view where Katya had just stood. “Thank the fae you’re okay! I’ve been worried, and—”
“Get me back to the Academy. Now!”
In seconds, we stood in my room. But I didn’t want to be here. I needed to find Donovan. Leaving Tria sputtering something about the challenge she’d had in locating me, I flung open my door and raced out into the hall.
“Fleur,” Thorn said. “Just the person I was hoping to find.”
“No time, dude,” I started down the hall, toward Bryce and Donovan’s room.
Thorn called after me. “But Fleur. I need to tell you about that Smythe boy.”
Smythe boy. Whoa. Wait a sec. My footsteps stalled, because I knew who he meant.
Ashton.
I turned and raced back to Thorn. “What is it?”
“There’s something peculiar going on with him.”
Yeah, yeah, I already knew that. I flicked my hand at him, hoping he’d take the message to hurry up. “Like what?”
“He’s been seen following outlings.”
Just as I’d suspected. “Anything else?”
His lips—as blue as my hair and streaked with splashes of white—pursed. “Isn’t that enough?”
Growling, I spun and raced toward the room at the end of the hall.
“Wait,” Tria called.
Everyone seemed determined to hold me back.
She slammed up beside me, panting. “I have to tell you something.”
“No time. Donovan’s…” Did he still live or had the Bespeller killed him already?
My eyes stung but I damn well refused to cry. It was time to act.
To get even.
“But the journal,” Tria said.
“Can it wait?” I strained to get away, but her grip held true.
“It isn’t Minerva’s.”
Okay, so that was weird enough to make me pause. “Whose is it?”
“Feadeler Claydreeia’s.”
Where had I heard that name? Somewhere…
In the book I’d found in the library.
“That’s really cool,” I said. “But I have to go talk to Donovan.”
“You should be all over this.” Tria frowned. “What aren’t you telling me?” Her eyes widened as she stared down. “Wait. Your hand!” Yanking me close, she delivered a big hug. “You did it. You’re healed.”
“I am. Can I…” I edged sideways, slipping from her grip. “Gotta go. Let’s talk later? I’ll fill you in on what happened.”
The weight of her stare followed me as I raced toward Donovan’s room. I sputtered to a stop outside their door.
Lips appeared. Plain old pink lips. Was Thorn the only one around here with color?
“Password?” He—she—whoever said.
“You know I have no idea what it is,” I said.
The lips made a hissing sound. “Then you will not be granted passage.”
Irritating door. I slammed my fists above the mouth, making the panel shudder.
“None of that, now,” the lips said. “Behave or I’ll call the Coven prefect.”
Sure, you just do that.
But getting hauled to Justine’s office wasn’t on my agenda for today.
Thankfully, Bryce swung open the door before I could do anything further. “Hey, Fleur. What’s up?” Leaning forward, he peered out into the hall. “Patty with you? She and I were—”
“Where’s Donovan?” My voice came out like I spoke around sandpaper.
Bryce frowned. “He’s…” His gaze drifted upward. “He, uh, went…”
“I know about the roof. I know that he jumps. And I know what happens before he hits the ground.”
“You do?” Bryce’s shoulders eased, and he flopped against the doorframe. “Well then, that’s where he went.”
“Was anyone with him?”
He scrunched his face. “Why would anyone be with him? You, I would get, but he wouldn’t…” His shrug shifted his Academy shirt. “You know. He wouldn’t tell anyone else. Except me. And you. Probably not even his brother.”
Definitely not his brother.
“If you’re not up for braving the roof, which I completely understand,” he said. “I’ll be happy to tell him—”
I bolted down the hall. Reaching the end, I flung open the steel door and raced through the opening. My boots clunked on the sturdy glass as I flew across the skywalk. By the time I’d reached the bottom of the
stairs and ran down the hall to the western stairwell, my heart was slamming a billion beats a minute and my lungs were on fire.
I yanked open the stairwell door and took a few staggering steps forward. Only six flights to go, and I’d be there.
I had to get there in time.
Someone else’s footsteps thudded above me, galloping toward the roof.
“Donovan?” I yelled.
Laughter rang out. Not a perky, we’re gonna have fun laugh, but a tropey evil, I’m gonna hurt someone laugh.
“Ashton,” I shrieked. “You…you…”
He must’ve opened the door to the roof because cold air enveloped me in a frigid hug.
The door slammed shut, leaving me gasping, struggling to get to the top before he reached Donovan.
Had Donovan jumped already?
Crap. Four flights left.
Ashton.
I’d suspected it could be him. When I heard him talking with someone in the gardens, it must’ve been Professor Mealor. They’d argued about what Professor Mealor was doing.
Had the Professor been acting under Ashton’s orders? That made the most sense. Why else would a teacher kill students?
Blackmail.
No, a bespelling, one Ashton could deliver.
Ashton had also befriended Eben. He’d been planning to kill every outling from the start, and he must’ve thought he’d more easily get Eben if the other guy hung around.
Panting, my muscles like spaghetti, I staggered to the top of the stairs. I wrenched open the door and flung myself out onto the roof.
Ashton and Donovan, arms linked, struggled near the edge.
Growling something the wind stole before I could hear, Ashton yanked his right arm back and swung at Donovan.
Donovan ducked as Ashton’s fist swiped the air above his head.
A flick of Ashton’s hand, and white threads in tight braids plunged from the sky. They connected with Ashton’s fingers and sparks rained down on the stone-covered rooftop. He brought his hands close together and molded them, forming a ball of power made up of meshed white threads.
My throat cramping and my chest heavy, I yanked in black threads. No time to weave them. As quickly as they hit my moonstone, I hauled them back and flung them at Ashton. If I was lucky, I’d hit him with a Level Three but it was better than nothing. “Unravel!”
Crystal Wing Academy- The Complete Series Page 74
