by Larisa Long
“I am. All’s well.”
He catches his breath and reaches his hand out towards me.
I jump back quickly. “I mean all’s back to normal. My normal.”
He puts his hand down and sighs. “Still the thirty-six curses?”
“Yep. Had to reverse the 37th. That one sucked.”
“Yeah,” he says. “What’s the 36th?” He grins at me.
I wrap my hair around my finger. “That my hair won’t ever change. They thought it was a curse. It saves so much time in the morning.”
“Not a crush on one of your best friends?”
“Nope.”
“That’s good. That would be super awkward.”
“Yep.” I sit down and lean my chair back balancing it on just the two back legs. “Super awkward.”
“I probably shouldn’t tell you I’ve always been in love with you until I can actually kiss you.”
I almost fall backwards. Almost. I catch myself before the chair buckles and jump up in time. He said love and kiss. Blist. My Blist. Is he mine? “How long has it been since you’ve eaten?” That’s weird. Not what I was going to say. “Your lips probably need blood. I mean your meat needs stomach. I mean your abs need protein.” I shake the crazy off and try to pace myself.
“Zalia.”
I can’t look in his eyes. I can’t. One look into his green eyes, and I’ll lose it. Have to pace myself. I wave my hands and meat appears everywhere. I cringe when I see that every square inch of space is covered in meat.
“Respect,” they scream from the other room.
“Might have overdone that one.”
“Little bit.”
“I’ll let you eat in peace.” I walk to the door.
“Zalia, please.”
I stop in the doorway but can’t turn around to face him. “I’ll be back. You need to eat.”
I rush out of the sick ward.
Shifters hunch over plates, snarl and growl at others who try to steal their plates. “Respect,” they all say in unison.
I nod and rush out not stopping until I’m back in the tunnels and then outside. I kneel over to catch my breath. “What the fae is wrong with me?”
“You’re not used to being happy,” Xury says, leaning against the wall waiting for me. “Don’t think you deserve it.”
“Xury, you’re safe.”
“Of course.” She motions to herself. “I’m me.”
I try to move around her, but she blocks my way.
“March right back in there now.”
“They’re eating.”
She winces. “Well, wait a few minutes, then.” She shivers. “I wouldn’t want to see that either. All that raw meat. Where do you get it?”
I glance at her funny. “No animals were harmed in the process.”
“That’s good. You being part witch and part shifter. Uh oh.”
I look at her. “Yikes. I hadn’t thought about that.”
“Maybe you’re more of a butterfly.”
“Seriously?”
“Could be.”
I think about that. I could shift into a butterfly and flit from place to place. “I could do that.”
“Wouldn’t you be what your mother was?”
I freeze. “Professor Sway is a dragon. Am I a dragon? Would I be able to fly?”
“Come on, we have to get to class.” Xury pops open a small mirror and puts on more lipgloss. “Cannot believe they didn’t cancel classes at least for a week or more.”
Epilogue
Two months later…
I’m okay. Really. Just fell in the toilet. Again. For the third time. It’s one of the thirty-six curses my cousins cast on me. I used to toilet surf six times a day, but the curses are lessening.
Witches rule my world, and I’m what everyone calls a good witch. I’ve never broken the rules, never dated, never even been kissed. Oops. Have to change that last part. Technically my fated soul mate Raks kissed me before the cousins reversed the spell that made me invisible to all witches. He said he’d wait for me, and he did. For three seconds.
I don’t mind. My heart belongs to one of my best friends. His name’s Blist, and he’s a jaguar shifter. We shouldn’t be allowed to date, but I found out that my mother was part shifter. We can’t even touch without him bursting into flames, but the curses are supposed to lessen over the next year.
That scares me to death. I’ve been center stage at my own lavish pretty petty pity party for so long its hard to think of myself in a positive way at all. Still don’t know if that’s just me or one of the hidden curses.
“There you are,” Xury arrives in a flurry. “We still need to find that right color for your walls.” Two hours after the world almost ended, Xury had moved my one bag of belongings into my own underground room with the shifters. It’s eighteen times the size of my old closet sized room. Xury is determined to overdecorate with every color imaginable.
It means I can see Blist all the time. The shifters and vampires have never eaten better, and I don’t have to make up weird ways to get to the bathroom anymore. I do miss that.
The witchlocks don’t even know I’m not living in the upper floor anymore. Sometimes I step inside my old closet room just to remind myself of everything I have to be grateful for. I was so used to figuring out everyone else’s needs that I never even thought of my own.
Blist rushes into the bathroom. “Knew you’d be in here.”
I notice Scin has appeared in the mirror to watch Blist. I don’t blame her. He’s gorgeous.
He holds up his tablet which has the spreadsheet of the thirty-six curses. I look over the chart with the various colors to indicate most are weakening. He has asterisks next to each one to explain the various loopholes. “Want to try?”
Xury flinches.
“Okay, you sure?”
Blist nods and puts his arm out.
I carefully move my hand near his arm and inch closer and closer.
His skin starts to singe, and he shakes his arm. “That’s closer than last month.”
Xury sighs. “At this rate, you’ll be able to kiss in a year.” She stomps her foot. “I want to see you two kiss now.”
I blush but don’t even try to hide or evade. I still don’t know what kind of shifter I am, and luckily I haven’t even seen the cousins. Or, I should say they haven’t seen me. Don’t miss that at all.
I’m Zalia, and I’m part witch and part shifter. A possible hybrid should I ever shift. I’ve known my best friends the pixie, Xury, and the shifter, Blist, since I was five. I’m starting my own origin story. There’s no way I’m going to let anyone else create it for me. No one should. Own your story. Be proud of your origins. Don’t give anyone else that power over you. Ever.
Fall
Chapter 1
I’m okay. Really. Just fell in the toilet. Again, but only for the second time today. Curse Number 8. It’s one of the thirty-six curses my cousins cast on me. I used to toilet surf six times a day, but the curses are lessening.
I’m Zalia, and I’m part witch and part shifter. A possible hybrid should I ever shift. Witches rule my world, and I’m what everyone calls a good witch. I’ve never broken the rules, never dated, never even been kissed. Oops. Have to change that last part. Technically my fated soul mate Raks kissed me before the cousins reversed the spell that made me invisible to all witches. He said he’d wait for me, and he did. For three seconds.
I don’t mind. My heart belongs to one of my best friends. His name’s Blist, and he’s a jaguar shifter. We shouldn’t be allowed to date, but I found out my mother was part shifter. We can’t even touch without him bursting into flames. Curse Number 12.
I do a quick glance in the mirror, and I actually don’t mind the colors my faehead cousins chose this season. Since it’s fall, the temperature hovers near 55 degrees, and we can wear our fall black boots and leggings. We have the usual black Royal Academy jacket, and most of us wear this instead of the vest. The colors are pumpkin orange an
d deep leafy green. Completely fall inspired, but not eye gouging like summer’s lime and lemon.
I don’t have to wait for the ghost, Scin, to appear in the mirror because she’s been hanging out more in the lab where she met her end. There’s a few new students, and I think she has a crush on one. Anyway, I rush out of the bathroom because I really don’t want this to be a thing where I meet Xury and Blist in the bathroom. I mean, it’s a bathroom.
I race out and down the stairs, careful that I don’t set anyone on fire and grateful that I’m completely dry from the toilet surf. Technically, witches can’t really look at me still. Curse Number 18. Some of the brave might glance in my direction, and the setting on fire is now mostly a singe.
I slow down once I get closer to class and see Blist waiting for me. My gorgeous golden jaguar shifter boyfriend. Insert appropriate blush. His smile almost makes me trip. Even though every single student regardless of species drools over Blist, he doesn’t notice them as he stares directly at me.
His dark blond hair curls perfectly around his ears and his greenish-bluish eyes could make anyone melt. “Scin still MIA?”
I nod as he hands me my books and barely grazes his finger across my arm. I jump back quickly and hope I didn’t singe him.
He holds up his hand. “Barely a twinge.”
I shake my head. “You can’t do that without me knowing. I need to have the spell ready in my head in case I have to put out the fire.”
He shrugs. “Maybe we’ll even be able to kiss before we’re thirty.”
“Ha.” I think about that. “Probably not until we’re fifty at least.” I don’t allow myself to get all glum thinking about that.
We sit down in our usual seats, and I glance around the class. Since The Royal Fae Academy was technically started by my family, the majority of students are witches. This means they rarely look in my direction and outright hate me.
Good witches are just called witches. Warlocks are witches who don’t care about the consequences. Those of us without our full powers or who haven’t decided yet whether to be witch or warlock are called witchlocks.
Vax, the bear shifter, nods in my direction. “Respect.”
“Respect.”
All of the other species, without exception, acknowledge me with a smile or a nod, depending on shifter. The vampires outright stare which can be creepy. They rarely blink. The faeries usually giggle and wink at me while they flutter at eye level since the pure faeries are only a few inches tall.
One of the new rules one of the cousins created was that the Academy needed to be more inclusive. For the rest of us, we thought that meant more species could attend, and we were all excited about meeting different groups. Most of us have been sheltered our entire lives and have only read of the other species.
For the faehead cousins, being more inclusive meant that each class could only be seventy-five percent witch, warlock or witchlock. The other twenty-five percent had to be taken from the other species. Since only shifters, pixies, faeries, and vampires attend, it wasn’t that great of a change.
Pixies still can’t take classes with non pixies. I have no idea why which means I still don’t have any classes with my other best friend Xury. And there are only three vampires allowed per class. There is a lottery to see who gets to study where. Luckily, most of my classes are still with Blist.
Professor Yeru clears his throat. He’s at least five hundred years old and wears the same three piece rumpled mismatched wool suit every quarter. Oh, and his voice sounds like he’s been on pixie juice since he was a just a tiny warlock.
“Witches, warlocks, witchlocks.” Professor Yeru screeches.
Vax clears her throat.
The professor sighs without even looking in her direction. “And the other species.”
I glance at Blist who smiles. He never seems to get angry at all the prejudice from the teachers. At least he’s never gotten angry around me.
“Today, we are going to talk about stinkweed.”
I curl my lip and sink down in my chair. Officially and unofficially I’m excelling in botanical class. Officially because for some reason plants like me. Unofficially because that’s another of the faehead cousin rules. All witches start each class with an ‘A.’ All other species start with a failing grade and must prove themselves. Why they are allowed to get by with that is another thing I’ll never know. I wonder if that’s one of the other rules.
I know the cousins cursed me with thirty-six curses, but there are a few I’ve never been able to figure out. Perhaps this is one of them, to never understand the motivations of the faehead cousins.
Professor Yeru knocks on his desk. “All witches and warlocks and witchlocks are excused from this lecture.”
It takes about a millisecond for every single witch, warlock and witchlock to leave.
I look at the Professor and then at Blist.
Blist nods at me. “It’s okay. You should go.”
I raise my hand and the others laugh as the professor looks around the room knowing full well I’m still sitting there but unable to look directly at me.
“Professor?” I snap my fingers to get him to at least glance in my general direction.
“Yes, Zalia Witch, niece to King Philock and Queen Ama.”
I roll my eyes. Another of the faehead rules. Everyone has to be addressed not only by their species name like last quarter but by their relation to the King and Queen.
“I’d like to stay. All the stinkweeds and I are quite acquainted, and I can introduce them to the other students.”
The class laughs again which produces a scowling Professor.
“Yeah, let her stay.” Masimu, the dragon shifter says. “She’s an actual good witch. Aren’t many of those.”
Blist sighs as he glares at Masimu.
I flinch.
The professor is technically a warlock and doesn’t take kindly to witchly insults about good witches versus evil warlocks. The professor sighs again. “I love these interruptions,” he mutters. “Thank you so much for your valuable input, Masimu Shifter, great nephew of the third most useless landscaper for King Philock and Queen Ama.”
Masimu further irritates the professor by being congratulated for that. “Third. That’s cool. Up last year from fifth.”
The vampires clap as more shifters stand up to shake Masimu’s hand.
“Stay if you must.” The Professor throws up his hands. “I will not attempt to control a witchlock.” He turns his back and starts to write on the chalkboard. “No matter how much I might despise her,” he mutters.
“What was that?” Masimu jumps out of his seat. “Did you just disrespect Zalia?”
I glance at Blist and cringe. The shifters have decided to protect me since a) I found out my mother was part shifter and I was excited about it, b) I feed them real food, c) I saved the school and them from being tormented, tortured or otherwise treated unpleasantly.
“The fae do you think you are?” Vax jumps up as well as do all the shifters, the vampires who aren’t asleep at their desk and the faeries who start to flutter around the professor.
Vax is bad ass. Pure bad ass. She’s what future bad asses inspire to be. She’s bear shifter with arms and neck covered in tattoos with shifter symbols. Her hair is tall on the top and shaved on the sides. She usually has a permanent smirk on her face and would humble even the strongest to submission.
The professor glares at her. “What did you say to me, filthy shifter of a whore.”
The entire class gasps. Technically that is correct. Vax’s shifter mother is in the trade, but the professor meant it not as a description but an insult. Before a riot breaks out, I glance at the faeries and nod.
In unison, six faeries take out very tiny straws and blow towards the professor.
“Three, two, one …” I watch as the professor grabs his neck where the poison darts hit, smiles and hits his desk unconscious. “And he’s out.”
We all get up and leave. Don’t be alarmed. We
have botanicals class Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursday afternoons if Thursday doesn’t fall on an odd number. The class ends like this forty-seven percent of the time.
Luckily, my uncle, Professor Sway is not only my rune professor but also wicked with the botanical knowledge.
We walk out to find Xury waiting for us.
My other best friend. She is also a magnet to any pixie within a five mile radius. She’s the most beautiful pixie anyone has ever seen with her bright red hair and translucent skin, and pixies from all over the realm have made it a priority to visit her at least once in their life. They have called it the Xury Pilgrimage in The Pixie Times.
Xury smiles as Blist and I approach. “Faerie darts?”
I nod.
“You have the best classes.” She jumps up and down. “Since I’m also out of class early…”
“Seriously? You said you could wait another month.”
“Did I?” Xury makes a point to consult the fall sky of dark rolling clouds and jumps when we all hear what sounds like the howl of the Banshees in the distance. “I think we deserve it, don’t you?”
I notice Xury’s pixie entourage looks so sad I think a few tears fall.
“Two weeks again?”
Blist shrugs and Xury jumps up and down and claps.
She looks over to the Pixies who are already going through withdrawal.
I snap my fingers, and Blist, Xury and I are in the mountains.
Chapter 2
Xury looks down at her bright red ski outfit and matching skis. “You remembered the ones I love.”
I nod. “Always.”
She screeches, grabs her skis and heads to a group waiting for her.
I shiver as I zip my teal jacket up and wrap my matching scarf around my neck.
“Good to be out of the school colors.” Blist sits down in front of a fire pit. “I don’t know how you conjure every single detail.” He looks at the snacks. “Hot chocolate?”
I grab a huge mug and dunk about three thousands marshmallows in. I hand him another mug.
He looks at it suspiciously and sniffs it. He jumps back. “Beef stew?”
