Noble Fae Academy: Year One

by Addison Creek

  I felt it through my chest, my arms, and my fingertips, a million bright stars lurking behind my eyes, then swirling around me with a tearing sensation that pulled me apart at the seams until I was in a million pieces, shattered on the ground.

  The fragile quiet exploded, blowing me apart so that I could never be put back together again the way I had been moments before.

  I felt myself collapse to my knees as the world shook. There was a rumbling in my mind as if a great mountain had been sliced into.

  From a distance I could hear screaming. My chest heaved and I tried to draw breath, but a boulder sat on my chest. I fell sideways with my face turned up to the sky. All I could see was lightning bolts lancing down with a power that was shocking, and big enough to destroy everything even as it destroyed my very being.

  I screamed and screamed and screamed as my hands clawed the ground.

  I tried to stop the magic that had been let loose inside me, but it was impossible. It just kept pouring out and out and out and out. I tried to give it a direction, to keep it away from the castle and the students.

  Do not hurt anyone.

  My throat was raw and my eyes were closed. My whole face felt as if it were burning.

  I forced the magic toward the ground. I just kept feeding it. I felt the ground shift as it tried to accommodate all that power, like a million explosions one after another. Direct the magic, I told myself.

  Lance it. Make it a rope. Make it a lightning rope that only goes in one direction.

  I had no idea how long I lay there as magic destroyed everything I ever was, ripping apart my skin, my hair, and my being.

  At some point I stopped screaming because my throat was too raw. Eventually, as I lay there panting, I tried to open my eyes. But I couldn’t. Not yet.

  My ears were ringing. As with the explosion the day before, I couldn’t hear.

  It was as if explosions had gone on around me and inside me. My magic had exploded out.

  After a while I managed to open my eyes. I didn’t know what I expected to see, but the sky was as red as if the sun were setting. There were no purples or pinks or blues.

  Only blood red.

  I gasped and tried to sit up, but I couldn’t.

  I looked at my hands. They were raw and bloody, all cut up. All around me there was scorched earth. The grass I had fallen onto was no more. In its place was a barren wasteland.

  I slowly started to roll over, every muscle in my body screaming. I felt like screaming out loud again, but my throat was too painful.

  My eyes managed to find the mountains, and it was then that I realized that nothing of what I had imagined had come to pass, not the crashing boulders or the waves of fire, not the howling air or the bitter wind.

  Yet there was the smell of scorched earth in my nostrils, even though the mountains looked fine.

  I blinked again.

  There had been no avalanche. There had been no lightning strike on the peaks. There was simply the bitter red sky.

  Ever so carefully I tried to sit up. But I couldn’t.

  I heard distant voices and sensed movement, but it all felt far away. All the other students had been outside when my magic had exploded, and I wondered if they were okay.

  I closed my eyes again, hoping I hadn’t injured any of them. The magic that had sparkled inside me had subsided at last, until it was simply a bright color without any glimmer left.

  Maybe it wasn’t supposed to sparkle. Maybe that had been a warning sign for weeks. But I was too tired to think about that right now.

  “You idiot,” said a woman. There was step beside my head, then Clouda knelt down next to me and put her arms underneath me.

  I whimpered.

  “Whoever knew you could do that,” she whispered into my ear.

  When she lifted me up I tried to cling to her, but my arms wouldn’t work.

  “Go to sleep now,” she said, and touched my temple.

  And that was all I remembered.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I didn’t wake up in my bed in the dorm, but in a private room that I didn’t recognize. A feeling of unease immediately overtook me. What had happened?

  I didn’t want to be alone, it reminded me of prison. I had no desire to go back to prison.

  I looked around and saw that the room was simple, with nothing hanging on the walls.

  And sitting in the corner was Lisa, the principal’s assistant. When I opened my eyes, she looked up from the book she was reading.

  “Welcome back,” she said.

  I opened my mouth to say something, but my throat felt so raw that I kept silent instead.

  “Drink what’s on the table next to you. That should help. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say,” Lisa said.

  I reached for the glass with trembling hands. Some of my fingers were bandaged. My arm was crisscrossed with small cuts and bruises.

  How had I done that?

  “We’re wondering the same thing,” she said, following my glance. “It’s a miracle you made it through that magical storm alive. The whole castle started shaking, and we all ran to see what it was. I expected it to be a storm of intruders, but nope, just one of our own students making a mess of our lawn. Fallyan is out there fixing it right now.”

  I stared at the liquid, then drank it down. It tasted sweet.

  When the glass was empty I lay back on the pillows. “Will I be expelled?” I asked. My voice was still barely a whisper, but at least now it didn’t hurt.

  Lisa snorted. “Certainly not. You’re a menace. There isn’t another student on this campus who could do what you just did. Don’t tell anyone I said so, of course,” she said.

  I nodded my head. It was funny that Lisa of all fae was worried about getting in trouble.

  “How long do I have to stay here?” I asked.

  Again she looked surprised.

  “Well, you’ve already been here overnight. Studies have resumed and outdoor practice is continuing. Fallyan is still working on repairing the carnage you brought to the grass. Stay here tonight and then go back to the dorm. You’re excused from work duty for the next few days too.” She paused, considering me. “Most students who end up with their own room wish to keep it,” she observed.

  I didn’t say anything to that. I didn’t wish to keep it.

  “Your friends have been asking after you,” Lisa said. “I must say you’re the only former prisoner who’s managed to make friends. I don’t know how you did it. I can let them in if you’d like.”

  I thought of the other prisoners who had been brought in, who had been accused of less serious crimes than I had, and yet who’d had trouble integrating. Some of them were too wild. Some of them didn’t like the bargain they’d been forced into.

  It was a grim bargain, to be sure. A couple had tried to get away. Their flight had been short-lived, of course. In any case, none of them had integrated and made friends. But I had been lucky; I’d had Vayvin and Esmeralda from the very beginning, when Wayllin introduced me to them. I nodded my head to indicate that she should let them in now.

  She closed her book with a snap and stood up. “Normally I’d be worried about you leaving without permission. But given the condition you’re in, I’m not too concerned,” she said.

  I expected my friends to come right in as soon as she left, but they didn’t. It was a long while before Vayvin and Esmeralda came.

  “That was insane,” said Vayvin. “I had no idea you could do that. Did you know you could do that? It got us out of homework, but still.”

  “You do like to go on, don’t you?” said Esmeralda, rolling her eyes at Vayvin. Then she turned serious and came to stand next to the bed. “How are you feeling?” she asked me.

  After a few moments of feeling pretty awake I was starting to feel groggy again. “I’m fine. I guess my magic just needed to get out. It had been years,” I said.

  Esmeralda nodded as if that didn’t surprise her. “To be honest, I’m surprised the tea
chers didn’t see it coming. It’s not like you were the only one who showed up in cuffs. I just don’t think anyone else around here is anywhere near as powerful as you are. In fact, I’ve rarely seen power like that. How are you feeling now, though? You said you’re feeling better?”

  I nodded and licked dry lips, and Vayvin poured me more of the sweet drink. “You should have seen everybody’s faces,” she said, handing me my glass. “The earth started rumbling and the sky changed color. I thought the world was ending, or we were under attack. It took a couple of minutes to figure out that it was one of our own.”

  “I didn’t mean to do it. I was just blowing off a little steam,” I said.

  “You did that. You blew off a little steam. And blew the ground apart,” said Vayvin.

  “I’m surprised the whole castle didn’t explode,” said Esmeralda.

  “I don’t have an explanation. It just happened. I couldn’t control it. But it sure did feel good,” I said.

  “Good,” said Vayvin.

  They stayed a little longer, then told me that someone else would be coming to see me. I wasn’t too surprised when Prince Reidar came in a little later with his two faithful bodyguards.

  “Hey there, Fire, those sure were some loud bangs,” he said.

  I raised my eyebrows. I had eaten a bit of dinner between the visits and was now sitting up in bed. I desperately wanted to get back to the dorm. I didn’t like that Lisa had said I should stay one more night where I was. Maybe I’d sneak back when no one was looking.

  “That’s a pretty generic nickname,” I told him.

  “You’re right,” he said. “And that isn’t fair at all. You’re not generic, no way,” he added, grinning.

  He was resplendent in purple velvet, with his usual insignia on his shirt and his hair perfectly tousled. His bodyguards stood silently behind him, Batham grinning, Colly impassive.

  “We missed you down in the kitchen. It’s more work for the rest of us when you’re not there,” said the prince.

  “You aren’t getting lazy, are you?” I asked with a smile of my own.

  He shrugged broad shoulders. “I’ve been lazy.”

  After the prince left I fell back to sleep. My mind had mostly been on what had happened outside, but a small part of me was still thinking about the next few days. I was supposed to write a paper for Clouda, but now that wasn’t going to happen. How would she handle it?

  I also had to join an organization, though I still didn’t want to. None of the organizations interested me. I had a passing temptation to try theater, but I recoiled at the thought of performing in front of others.

  I dozed on and off all night, but every time I closed my eyes I saw that burning red sky, and my hands would shake and I would start to cry. Once when I opened my eyes the sheets were ripped up.

  Eventually, in the middle of the night, I sat up. I had decided to make my way back to the dorm and the blissful snoring of my fellow students.

  Painfully, I got out of bed and got dressed. It was a slow process. A clean uniform had been laid out for me on a chair, presumably for tomorrow, but I decided to put it on tonight.

  My whole body ached. There were bruises everywhere. The prince and his bodyguards had been kind enough not to comment on any of it, but when I looked at my body I could see that I must have looked awful to them.

  Worse, I had missed my reading lesson. I just hoped Colly wouldn’t forget, and we could have another one. He had been as expressionless as usual during the visit, so I had no clue what he was thinking.

  Eventually I managed to pull myself out of bed and into my clothes. Once I was fully dressed, I opened the door to see dark corridors with small fires lit in holes cut into the walls. The fires were low at this time of night. There was no one in sight.

  There were supposed to be guards all the time now. Since Prince Connor’s murder, you couldn’t go anywhere without being watched. But as I moved down the hall it was silent and still. There was no one.

  The hair on the back of my neck started to rise. I checked on the powers inside me and felt nothing.

  I was entirely empty of magic.

  I sighed and wondered how long it would take for my power to come back, and if there was anything I could do to hurry the process. I hadn’t meant to give up all of my power. But then I hadn’t meant for any of it to happen the way it had.

  As I rounded a corner on the way to the dorm, I thought I heard something behind me.

  I paused and turned to look around, standing at a turn in the hallway and looking back at the door I had just come through, the door to my private room.

  To my utter shock, there was a shadow, surely the Shadow, moving toward that door. Was it the same one I had seen on the roof, that had thrown me off the tower? My stomach churned at the thought.

  I desperately wanted to confront the figure that was making for my door, whoever it was. Were they there to attack me? To kill me?

  But I knew I couldn’t fight the enemy tonight. No, I had to get to safety. I had to find a guard, or get to my dorm room.

  I crept away from the corner and started to walk as quietly as I could. When I thought I was far enough away, I started to run. I ran and ran. At every corner I’d check, expecting to see a guard, someone I could ask for help.

  But there was no one. I was totally alone. Had the guards been drawn away again? There was no telling.

  When I made it back to the dorm room and opened the door, relief flooded me, along with sweat.

  Before I stepped into the room I glanced back down the hallway. It might have been my imagination, but I was fairly certain that there was a shadow lurking at the end of it.

  I paused and stared the Shadow down. Now that I knew I was safe, I was bolder.

  The figure didn’t move, but a trickle of cold started drifting around me. The black night started closing in.

  He has merely drifted there, into the dark space, I told myself. I thought about running at him, but I knew I’d never catch him.

  Then he disappeared, and I stepped into the dorm.

  Safe for one more night.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I woke up the next morning to the feel of a weight at the foot of my bed. It turned out to be my neighbor Londa, sitting quietly. Esmeralda and Vayvin were standing nearby.

  “Fancy seeing you here,” said Vayvin.

  I sat up groggily. “I didn’t want to sleep alone in a room by myself,” I said.

  “We always knew you were a strange one,” said Esmeralda.

  “We’re going to be late for breakfast,” said Londa.

  As we made our way to breakfast, I noticed something spectacular out the windows.

  “Is that snow?” I asked.

  I had barely lived in any place in my life where it snowed. Not since I had left my early home in the mountains, which was a long time ago now.

  “Sure is,” said Vayvin.

  “It’s getting to be winter here,” said Esmeralda.

  “A lot of the year has gone by and you’ve still managed not to join an organization,” said the clipped voice of Fallyan, who strode up to walk next to us.

  I glanced at the others, then went ahead and said it. “Londa hasn’t joined one either,” I said.

  “Thanks for that. Thanks so much,” said Londa.

  Fallyan glanced down at his notes.

  “I was aware of that. I was actually looking for the both of you. How relieved I was to see that you were together,” he said drily.

  When neither of us spoke, he gave us a lecture. “You have until the end of the week to join an organization. If you don’t join one by then, we’ll assign you to something ourselves, and you’ll have no choice in the matter. I guarantee you that’s not what you want to happen.” With a smile and a nod, he strode away.

  “I hate joining things,” said Londa, with feeling.

  “There’s always the band,” said Vayvin.

  “Can you imagine how pathetic you have to be to join the band?�
� Londa asked, winking.

  I grinned. “Pretty pathetic.”

  We made our way into the atrium. I had entirely forgotten that I had missed a couple of days. What was maybe worse, I had almost forgotten about what had happened before that. Walking into the atrium for breakfast brought it all back to me with a vengeance. Every student in the spacious room turned to look at me.

  Kayka was talking to somebody, but she stopped the moment she saw me. Both of the remaining princes turned to look. Prince Orlando had a scar on his face, so I knew right away that our confrontation the other day hadn’t made us friends.

  Not that I had supposed it would.

  “Is it just me, or is everybody staring?” Londa yelled out.

  With that there was a flurry of activity as everyone turned to their neighbor or their food. Nobody wanted to be caught actually being curious.

  As for me, I looked at the former prisoners, some of whom had gathered and formed their own group of misfits. They glared at me, then looked away. It was clear enough that they viewed me as a traitor.

  “Someone is famous. Someone has made an impression. I guess you’ve gone from being a lowly prisoner to being . . . something else,” said Esmeralda.

  We went over to get some food, my empty stomach issuing a desperate rumble. As we moved along the serving row and then to a table, I was careful not to look at Prince Orlando again. He was clearly furious with me, for what I wasn’t certain. Nerys had always hated me, but Prince Orlando felt like my first real enemy.

  I wondered dully as I gathered my food if anyone at the academy could afford to have real enemies when there were so many enemies outside the walls.

  By the end of the week I was exhausted. Clouda had begrudgingly given me a little more time to write the paper. I had a feeling that someone had stepped in on my behalf, but I had no idea who or why.

  On the second day I was feeling much better. I took some of the wraps and bandages off my hands and made my way down to the kitchen first thing in the morning, relieved to return to my usual routine and my favorite activity.

  I was also developing an idea for what exactly I was going to do about joining an organization. I mean, I had to earn my keep; I was supposed to be a distraction for the killer, so I was gradually putting together an idea for how I could best do that. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, but it was my idea nonetheless.