Poisoned Garden

by Tracy Korn

  "Are they blueberry flavored or something?" I asked, studying her stack of electric blue Belgian style waffles.

  "Something called figberry," Alita answered, shaking her head at her plate, seemingly in awe of her masterpiece. "I can't even explain the flavor. You'll just have to get some," she added, nodding to the baked goods bay just behind us.

  "All right then." I said, about to turn and grab a plate when I saw Leo already watching me from the other side of the room. A table of others who were definitely not first-year students surrounded him, and my heart started pounding in my ears. I managed to return his smile with a weak one of my own, then quickly shifted my attention back to the bright blue waffles at the baked goods bar. I put a plate on my tray and added one of the waffles to it, trying to pretend that I couldn't feel his eyes burning holes into me like laser beams. Just focus on the food, I told myself. Not his abs. Not his shoulders. And definitely not his eyes…which were staring at me right now. Carbohydrates. I needed to focus on carbohydrates.

  Every kind of pastry imaginable flanked the tray of waffles, their bright blue color outdone only by the various tubs of syrups directly in front of them. Brown, which I imagined must have been maple, but also chocolate, something called Faya, which was bright green with what looked like finely chopped nuts mixed in, and a golden syrup called Mana. I thought it might have been butterscotch until I stirred it with the spoon and swirls of red and orange appeared in the wake of the ladle. Whoa.

  I had no idea what to choose, so I just opted for a little of the strawberry syrup Alita had on her waffles. I turned to ask her if she'd ever had the Faya or the Mana syrup, but she was already gone. I scanned the room for her, which was starting to get crowded, and after several seconds, I saw her waving me over to her table.

  I only had time to blink before realizing it was also Leo's table, and he was still watching me.

  Chapter 16

  I took a deep breath and crossed quickly to the juice station, too nervous even to see what I'd poured. It was thick and yellow, thicker and lighter than orange juice, but at this point I didn't really care.

  I started to make my way over to Alita, who finally stopped waving her hands in the air like some kind of red-headed windsock, and Leo got to his feet. What was he doing?

  As I approached the table, he pulled out the closest empty chair for me, much to the surprise of the cat-like blonde sitting on the other side of him. Her electric green eyes looked me up and down a few times before she was able to manage the ghost of a smile. Her long hair was so shiny it almost seemed like a mirror as she flipped it off her shoulder and rested her pointy chin in her hand.

  "Figberry waffle. Good choice." Leo smiled and gave me an approving nod. "Have a seat."

  "Thanks," I said, a little embarrassed that literally every person at the table was now staring at me.

  "We didn't have waffles like this in the Miami Citadel network," Alita said. "I mean, we had waffles, but just the normal color. We did have the strawberry syrup though," she added, then studied my plate. "Did you have strawberry syrup in your Citadel network in Portland, Halsey?"

  I almost choked on the gulp of air I sucked in at her question. "Yeah, of course," I said, reasonably sure they had it behind The Citadel wall. I mean, if we had access to strawberries in The Grind—albeit not to any as big as the ones here—they had to have them there.

  A smile pulled at the edge of Leo's mouth as he met my eyes again, and after a knowing look, he cleared his throat. "Halsey, this is Rhea," he said, gesturing to the mirror-haired cat-girl to his right. "This is Alec," he added with a nod to a very pale, blond guy who was shoveling food into his mouth like he was being timed. Leo held out a hand to another boy who was intently reading a tablet in front of him, barely picking at his food with the other hand. "And the professor reading the tablet there is Bryce," he said, waiting for the boy to look up from under a wing of black hair, which was bleached near the ends. The boy casually raised a fork and wagged it back-and-forth a few times, which I presumed meant hello. Leo chuckled.

  "Nice to meet everyone," I said, quickly taking a drink of the juice on my tray. I startled a little, expecting orange juice flavor, but it tasted like peach and something tart that I couldn't identify.

  "It's mango," Rhea said, staring through me without even blinking.

  I startled again, surprised she'd been watching me, and shook my head. "Oh, I know. I just thought I'd grabbed orange juice," I added, which wasn't totally a lie.

  Rhea raised a golden eyebrow before returning her attention to what looked like an omelette on her plate.

  "So, you're a freshman like Alita?" Alec asked, then took a bite of the pastry he was holding.

  I nodded. "We're roommates. I just got here yesterday."

  Alec's face exploded in a wide smile as he cut a glance at Leo. "We heard…" he said. Leo rolled his eyes.

  "What's your new little job title again? Transportation babysitter or something?" Rhea asked, squinting at Leo.

  "Transition assistant, thank you very much," he answered. "And you're just jealous because you don't get to ride in private cars and jets."

  "Why didn't we have that?" Alec asked. "They just put us on a boat. And by the way, for a place that gives out so many scholarships, somebody tell me where the funds for private cars and jets are coming from?" He looked around the table, but everyone just stared at him.

  Leo shrugged. "Obviously, there are some donors now or something. Anyway, are we still going tonight?" he asked, then nudged Bryce, jostling his tablet.

  "Going to what?" Alita asked around a mouthful of waffles as she leaned in.

  Bryce finally looked up and pushed his bangs out of his eyes, the shade of gold so light it was almost yellow. I gasped.

  "We're going to the cliff," he said absently to Alita, then shot a glare at me. "And before you ask, yes, I'm Chinese, and yes, I still have yellow eyes. Thank you, hurricane berries. Did you land here with purple hair, or are you a peacock or something?" I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out except half-words and squeaks.

  "Mine just got darker red," Alita interjected.

  Bryce shook his head impatiently. "A bluejay? What?" He pressed his lips into a flat smile, daring me to respond.

  "Um, an Eagle," I finally said abruptly. He squinted at me, taking another look at my hair, but then he quickly shook his head again and held up his tablet screen to Leo. "So, you need to take off from the north end and fly south this time."

  Alita nearly choked on her waffles. "Take off from a cliff?"

  "He flies," Rhea groaned. "Freshmen…"

  Alita raised her chin in protest. "But I can't fly."

  "Then maybe you can just scurry around and look for some rodents to eat." Rhea gave Alita a sardonic smile.

  "Says the Djin snake." Bryce chuckled, then turned his yellow-gold eyes back to Alita. "You don't have to fly to come with us. Not everyone here is Sylph or Salamander Fae."

  "Which are you?" I blurted, wishing with every one of the eternal next few seconds that I hadn't. I cleared my throat. "I mean, if you're not Sylph or Salamander Fae... And Fae, isn't that like, Faeries?" I managed, then took another long gulp of mango juice.

  "Faeries are the genus—the family, like Homo Sapien." He sighed, seemingly already exhausted by this discussion. "I'm Gnome Elemental Fae. My shift is a wolf," he added with an expression that seemed to dare me to laugh. "Not a werewolf. Those are Lycan and a completely different thing from us," he added, his tone now abrupt and biting.

  "Uh, all right." I nodded slowly. It made sense that he shifted into a wolf. I could see it in his face—in his eyes, of course, and in his long, narrow nose. I wondered if I resembled an eagle in the same way and made a mental note to check a mirror later. Almost immediately, I felt compelled to roll my eyes at myself for the thought. Was I really starting to believe all this?

  I turned to Alec, but didn't dare repeat the question to him. Fortunately, he answered it anyway.

 
"I'm an Undine—water Fae," he said without ceremony, then turned quickly to Bryce." And I will be a hundred percent useless to this mission, professor. Nothing but rocks on the southern end of the cliff. I can't navigate that in this body, and that seawater will burn off my shift just like everyone else's."

  "Rhea or Leo will have to carry you out past the rocks so you can swim wide then. No one else can hold their breath as long or manage a rip current, which there will probably be, and we need to know if the tear is underwater," Bryce said.

  Alita and I exchanged confused glances. "Tear in what?" she asked very loudly, which made all four of the others stop and stare at her in shock.

  Rhea gathered her tray and stood in exasperation. "Leo, when you're done babysitting, let us know. See you all at the arena," she added to everyone else except Alita and me. She didn't so much as look at us.

  "They just got here, Rhea," Leo said. "Been a little busy!" he called after her as she walked away, then sighed and met my eyes. "The tear is in the veil."

  I tried to keep my expression neutral, but I had no idea what he was talking about.

  "She doesn't know," Bryce said, putting his tablet on the table, then glancing at Alita. "Neither of them know."

  "Neither did we until the end of our first week here," Leo chided, his voice quick and impatient as he got to his feet and collected his tray. "So they'll know by the end of the honing, just like we did."

  ***

  Alita and I walked with Leo, Bryce, and Alec to the arena, which I very much hoped was chosen as our freshman class meeting spot because of what must be its ample seating, and not so we could participate in some kind of battle royale hazing ceremony.

  My thoughts were racing about whatever Leo meant by the veil just now, and how they were going to try to find a tear in it, even underwater. There wasn't enough time to ask questions now, though. I didn't know where this arena was since I was just following the others, but we'd definitely already walked the ten minutes it was supposed to take to get there.

  "Wait," I said, suddenly remembering that Leo, Rhea, Alec, and Bryce were all returning students, and this meeting was for anyone who had arrived within the last month.

  I turned to Leo because we did have time to get an answer to this question. "Why are you going to this thing too? You've been here way longer than a month."

  "Extra credit," Alec answered without hesitation. "They want camaraderie…moral support or something for you all. Tell you what, we didn't get any of that either," he added with a huff.

  "Where are you from, Alec?" I asked.

  "The Seattle network," he answered. "Had a swimming scholarship to The Pacific Northwest Citadel and everything."

  "Wow, what made you come here instead?" Leo immediately winced and gave me a pained look. "What?" I asked quietly, but he just shook his head.

  Alec laughed wryly. "Why did I come here…let me see," he started, his voice thick with sarcasm. "Because I was set up," he held up his hand and began counting off on his fingers. "And because of that, I lost my scholarship. And finally, did I mention because I was set up?"

  Leo rolled her eyes. "Nobody made you take the supplements. That's on you."

  "If they were only supplements…" Alec started, turning to walk backward to face us as he talked, "...they wouldn't have given me webbed fingers and toes, now would they?" he asked, wiggling his fingers and looking at me for the answer.

  "Um, no," I said, not knowing what else to say with the intense way he was staring at me. "Wait, so you took a supplement and it made you change?"

  "Yep. Got the letter for Eden's Bluff the same day I got my rescinded offer letter from The Citadel."

  "Was the supplement in a vial?" I asked. "Red, blue, or yellow?"

  Alec narrowed his gray eyes at me. "No, a blue syringe."

  "And you?" I asked, turning to Leo. "Why did you come here? What made you start changing?"

  He immediately looked uncomfortable and forced a laugh. "It's a long story," he said." Remind me and I'll tell you later. The arena is just up there."

  And it was. A few hundred feet in the distance, a small stage with a lectern was set up in the middle of a combed sand circle. Bleachers full of people rose up all around, and I breathed a sigh of relief that apparently it was because of the seating that we were called here today.

  "Shit, we need to hurry up," Alec said as Sylvie and Uri climbed the small set of stairs leading to the lectern.

  "You're in my section—the green rows on the left," Bryce said to Alita. "Sit near the front so you don't have to navigate everyone to get your tie."

  "My what?" she asked.

  "Your—never mind. You'll see. Just sit close," Bryce repeated, then started jogging to catch up with Alec.

  "Sorry, we have to be on the stage," Leo said to me, raising his dark brows in apology. "You're in the white section, dead center. Try to sit close," he added as he started jogging after the other two toward the stage. Alita and I exchanged confused looks.

  "They're giving us ties?" she asked. "As in neck ties?"

  "I have no idea, but I guess we're about to find out."

  Chapter 17

  Alita and I made our way to our assigned colored sections, and I started to feel a little self-conscious that out of the several hundred people who appeared to be lining the stands, I didn't see one other person with wild purple hair like I had. There were so many with the spectrum of red hair, ranging from intense, like Alita's, to a strawberry blond. The other spectrum ran jet black to white, even a mix of the two like Bryce, but no one had an unnatural color like I did.

  I wished Leo were still close by so I could ask him why exactly that was, but he was already on the stage with Alec, Rhea, and Bryce.

  "Thanks for coming everyone—just a reminder, to sit in the colored section designated by your transition assistant. Check your queue in-boxes if you have no idea what I'm talking about," Bryce said, pointing to his temple. I stifled a laugh.

  After a few minutes of organized chaos, people finally settled into their sections, and Leo stepped up to the microphone, his black hair loose now and falling in shiny waves at his shoulders.

  "Welcome to paradise, class of 2127!" he said, then flashed one of his million dollar smiles as everyone exploded in cheers.

  "All right, first thing is first, my name is Leo Red-Cloud—" he said, which garnered another explosion of cheers. He laughed and waved his hands in an attempt to get everyone to quiet down. "If you're also a transition assistant, please stand," he added, and several students seated in the front rows all around the arena got to their feet. "These are your Gnome, Sylph, Undine, and Salamander mentors here at Eden's Bluff," Leo continued. "And they will be the ones distributing your colors today." He gave all the mentors a nod, and they each picked up a large shoulder bag from under their seat and began handing out differently colored striped neckties. Wow, they really were giving us actual neckties.

  A very tall girl with long, silver hair and the same white shirt and black skort as mine approached the microphone next.

  "Undines, we're house blue!" she shouted, flipping her own royal blue and black striped tie in the air as those mentors passed others out to the cheering students.

  The Undine mentor made way for another girl, this one very tan with thick, dark brows and choppy brown rockstar hair. She was wearing the same style white shirt—though, tied around her tattooed midriff—and instead of a skort, she wore the black utility pants the boys wore. How did she get pants? I wanted pants…

  "Hello, kitties," she said in a soft, teasing voice. The entire other side of the stands got to their feet and began hooting and cheering louder than the Undines and Leo's fans put together. After another few seconds, she gave the crowd a slow, easy smile and moved in closer to the microphone. "Those of you with Gnome blood will proudly represent…house green!" The entire side of the arena erupted in shouts and cheers again, led by the mentors passing out the green and black striped ties.

  She stepped back and bl
ew everyone a kiss, her arm flying high and wide to the crowd, which provoked yet another wave of deafening cheers. Next, a tall, lean boy seemed to glide from the group of representatives on the stage as he made his way toward the podium. His slim, T-frame build reminded me of Max, and I felt a pang in my chest at the thought of him. His reddish-blond hair flew loose in the breeze, along with the tails of his unbuttoned shirt, and when he spoke, I was surprised to hear a thick, Scottish accent.

  "How do ye, Sylphs?" he asked, his voice rich and lyrical, which garnered cheers from everyone around me. At their response, he flashed a dimpled smile that rivaled Leo's. "Is that so? Weel then, lemme hear ye!" The cheers exploded again as people rose to their feet, and for the first time, it occurred to me that Leo was a Salamander, but also my transition mentor. Why wasn't I assigned a Sylph mentor? "Lads and lassies, will ye join me in representing house white?" he asked, throwing his arms back just as huge wings that ran the gradient from purple to yellow unfurled behind him, the same colors as the birds of paradise flying overhead this morning. His shirt floated overhead, landing a few rows up, and I couldn't hold onto the thought about Leo with the chaos that erupted around me—not to mention with the wave of white and black striped ties quickly washing up through the stands. I grabbed one and tied it in a loose shoelaces knot around my neck as I made my way to the end of my row, out of the way of all the flying elbows as everyone put on their colors.

  "Oh, it's like that!" Leo said over the roaring students and held out a hand to the Sylph mentor. "Well, two can play at that game," he added, winking to the crowd as he unbuttoned his shirt, making everyone from all the sections cheer. A gust of wind kicked up and blew his black, wavy hair off his face and shoulders, which only made him smile. Every muscle in his chest, arms, and stomach flexed as he maneuvered out of his shirt and threw it into the crowd without looking. In seconds it was torn to shreds by people trying to grab it, which made the Sylph mentor shake his head and chuckle.