by Larisa Long
I look at the cousins. B cubed. I’ve been tormented by them for years. They’ve tormented others for kicks. What to do with them? They don’t even give me the courtesy to look at me as if they understand the gravity.
“Can we speed this along?” B1 asks.
B4 looks the most worried, but feels better thinking that B1 isn’t upset at all. B2 just looks pixied and confused. Her normal cocktail of expressions.
“Like she’s going to do anything.” Dray Penn returns covered with some kind of towel. “She’s a good witch. Probably make them meditate on a crystal or balance their chakras.” The warlocks laugh.
“Oh no.” B1 shivers as her eyes tell me that she’s never going to change. Ever.
B2 looks at her nails. “Fae, the next time I see that idiot manicurist, I’m going to remove her eyes. This is so not forest green.”
Witch's Fate tenses and sighs. She looks at me as if to say, ‘teach them a lesson.’
“Okay, I’ve decided.”
Dray Penn shivers. “Probably be something stupid. That’s why good witches suck. Good witches suck. Good witches suck.” He tries to get the crowd to chant, but the wind comes up so he has to keep track of his towel before we all suffer again.
I wait for them to finish yucking it up. “Take away their powers.”
The warlocks gasp. Queen Ama faints.
“That was worth it right there,” Witch's Fate whispers to me.
“For how long?” Warlock's Fate asks.
I study B cubed. “Forever.”
Witch's Fate looks at Warlock's Fate who nods.
He waves his hand, and B cubed are officially … wait for it… normal.
As soon as their powers are taken away, everyone realizes the glamour they had to use every day. They are actually different sizes. B1 is two feet shorter than her sisters. B4 is two feet wider than her sisters. B2’s hair falls out. They don’t look like each other or anyone else. Completely ordinary.
The warlocks shrug and walk away.
“Wait,” B1 runs after them. “Wait. Dray. Wait. We’re fated.”
He has to run so fast to avoid her that he loses his towel, and others scream when they see him.
The guards pick up the Queen and carry her away.
“I’m sorry,” Witch's Fate tells me. She motions for other guards who come. “But you have much to answer for. You’ve disobeyed many of the rules of the Academy.”
I drop my head. “Yes, I have.” Doesn’t matter that the rules sucked. I know I broke many of them. Every good witch knows the price of breaking the rules, and I must atone if I am to remain a good witch.
Different handcuffs cover my wrists to bind me. This time, the cuffs are anti-magic meaning no magic will break them and no magic can be said while wearing them.
She smiles at me. “At least the warlocks weren’t smart enough to use these to begin with.”
I can’t even get upset. The curses are gone.
Chapter 11
I go with the guards willingly as they put a cover over my head. I’d heard of this happening to others which is why the location of the detentions are never known. I know we aren’t to leave the Academy, but I am so disoriented by walking this way and that way, upstairs and then downstairs and then upstairs again. Walking into rooms and then out of them again that I have no idea where we are.
If they think I could somehow count the number of steps or taste the air or smell the walls to know exactly where we are, they don’t know me at all. I’ve gotten turned around in a closet before. Absolutely no sense of direction. Not one bit.
The hood is torn off me, and I try to open my eyes. The sun is streaming through, and I can’t see anything.
The door opens and then closes, and I know the guards have left. I have to wait until my eyes adjust. It’s only then that I can tell someone else is in the room with me.
I wait until I can see clearly. I was never one to just randomly call out, ‘Hello, is anyone out there?’ A waste of words. After a few minutes, I open my eyes and can see. I’m in a dungeon. A small room made entirely of stone. The sun streaming is actually a very bright light, and there are no windows to indicate day or time. I’m inside a cage within the small room. “Overkill.”
“Indeed,” someone says.
I look at the man standing in front of me. He’s wearing a full length dark brown monk type cloak and looks to be in his thirties which means he could be any age. “Shifter.”
He nods.
Then I feel his power. There’s an aura around him. “Oh, Shifter’s Fate.”
He nods again.
“Are the shifters alright? Blist?”
“They are.” He smiles. “It’s very good of you to have accepted your shifter blood so easily, but you must never turn your back on us, Zalia.”
I flinch. Didn’t know that was an option. “I wouldn’t.” I think about it. “Shifters are my family. I’d never turn my back on them.”
“The witches will try to get you to renounce your inner shift.”
“Doesn’t matter. I won’t.”
He moves closer to me like he wants to be able to see my expression clearly. “They’ll try to threaten you. Entice you.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
He studies me. “You are quite rare within our community. Only one in every three thousand years are born as you are.”
I nod. “The shifters don’t mind at all.”
“No, they wouldn’t. You’re good luck.” He paces back and forth, and I notice his cloak drags on the ground. That would bug the fae out of me wondering about the dirt and things I was picking up.
“I will try to calm them. They are very worried about you.” He looks at me. “Are you sure you have no feelings towards that Raks witch?”
“None. I love Blist. No one else.”
“He adores you. Always has. He chose you long before it was fated. His shift chose you as well. Would probably give up being a shifter just to be with you. I admire that about him.” His gaze drifts off as if he’s thinking of something else. “That type of love is rare.”
“Since I’m a hybrid, what happens if Witch’s Fate and you disagree? Who should I listen to?”
He smiles. “That is up to you, Zalia. You trust your brother to lead us?”
My brother. I close my eyes as the memories flood back to me. It’s like they were locked away in a closet, and I finally found the right door. Of course, as soon as I opened the door, everything spilled out onto the floor in a disarrayed mess, but whatever. They are my memories. Mine. My own origin story. My parents. My brother.
I was born in the castle. My grandmother was the Queen and ruler. My parents met at the Academy. Then, that day. I remember it. Philock tricked them. Spoke about rebellions and disagreements about having a hybrid as Queen. Convinced them they were at risk for assassination. Swore that he’d protect their children if they exiled themselves. “Is the realm really destroyed? The one my parents were sent to?”
Fate nods. “I am sorry.”
“Was my mother really a dragon shifter?”
“Yes. You descend from powerful wolves and dragons as well as your royal blood.”
I smile thinking of that. “I’ve felt powerless for so long.”
“But you never were.”
“Zephyr is also a hybrid?”
“Yes. Like your mother.”
“Dragon?” I smile. “Dragons are cool.”
Fate has to suppress his smile. “Are you trying to compliment me?”
I look at him quickly. “No. I really wasn’t.” Even though I do know he’s a dragon shifter.
He glances up at the ceiling and sighs. “You can come out now.”
The faeries appear.
He shakes his head. “Faeries.”
“Why don’t faeries like shifters?”
The faeries stomp and fume, and I can almost hear them. They must really be yelling.
Shifter’s Fate takes a deep breath. “You will have to discuss the speci
fics of their animosity with them.” He glances at them. “I will not dishonor them by telling their story.”
One of the faeries throws something at him, but he’s fast enough to duck in time.
They shrug, and produce a very exaggerated and very foul gesture to the shifter which I’m hoping he doesn’t notice.
I squeeze my lips together so I won’t laugh. “Bad faeries.”
“The battle is about to begin. Witch's Fate and I will protect you. She doesn’t like it that you’re a hybrid, and neither will the warlocks when they finally use their tiny brains to figure it out.”
The faeries laugh at that.
He sighs. “You might have to go along with them while …”
I nod. “While the coup is taking place.”
“Once your brother takes the throne.” He looks at me as if waiting for me to ask something. To say something. “I’m impressed you did not ask for Blist to come and visit you.”
“I won’t.” I look around. It’s not as dingy as dungeons usually are described but still not really guest ready. “I don’t want him to see me here, and I don’t like the shifters around the warlocks.”
“Agreed. I’m also impressed that not a single cell in you demands power which you could have by taking the throne yourself.”
I flinch. “I’ve never wanted to rule. I’m not a Queen. Never even thought of it.” I grab my stomach. “Just that threat makes me ill.”
“That is good, Zalia. You are a pure soul.”
“Professor Sway mentioned I might have to be named temporarily.”
“Perhaps.”
“Could he do it instead?”
Shifter’s Fate narrows his eyes as he studies me. “Why would you ask that?”
“He’s our uncle, and I don’t want to rule. I trust him. Do you?”
“Yes, his soul is also pure. Power would not corrupt him. I do not believe it will come to that. When your brother arrives, everything will return to normal.”
Normal. For three and a half years, I haven’t had normal. Then the curses made me forget even my memories of normal. “I can’t wait to see what normal looks like.”
Spring
Chapter 1
Still waiting to see what normal looks like as I look around my dungeon quarters. It’s the day of the trial, and I have no idea what to expect. I’ve been here for what I think is three weeks. I didn’t realize punishments in the dungeon meant I’m only awake for ten minutes a day. The rest of the time, I sleep. Not by choice. I found that out the first day when I spent ten minutes trying to figure out when I’d be eating.
Then I woke up. The next ten minutes were the next day spent wondering where to find my bathroom. Then I woke up. How did I know time passed? Well, a strange vertical mark appeared on the wall in bright neon yellow. Thought it was some random weird stain until a mark would be there whenever I woke up. Four days in a row. On the fifth day, another angled mark appeared and slashed through the other four. One mark per day.
Fortunately, I don’t have to wear my school uniform. Unfortunately, I have to wear some kind of jumpsuit thingie in various colors. It has a bright yellow hood. I don’t know why. The sleeves and legs are twice the length I need. The left side is orange, and the right side is pink. Several of my ten minutes I wasted trying to adjust the lengths. I think the back is a different combo of colors. I didn’t want to spend another of my ten minutes trying to figure it out.
Ten minutes awake a day goes by fast. Then, it was already trial day. So, I figure and hope I’ll be awake for my trial. I’ve never seen an actual trial.
I pace the length of my cage. It’s the size of a very small bed which is crammed into the cage. I don’t have books or food or chocolate. That last one faes. I wonder where the trial will take place, who will be there, if I can see Blist and Xury.
I still haven’t seen Blist since the 36 curses fae’d off. I know I can’t just kiss him at the trial, but you’d think they’d make an exception since I’ve never been able to.
The door opens quickly, and headmaster and headwitch Ms. Guthie, Witch’s Fate, Warlock’s Fate and Shifter’s Fate walk in. I hear shuffling and wonder who else is coming. And why are the Fates here? Raks appears.
“Raks?”
He grins. “I’m to represent you.”
Fae it all. I sigh. I forgot he was pre-witch law. There’s no getting out of this room. They’ve brought the trial to me. I look at Warlock’s Fate.
“You must be wondering why I am here?”
“Yep.”
He smirks. “Since you have yet to declare …”
“Witch,” I say quickly. “Good witch. I’m not a warlock. Never have been and never will be.” I don’t cringe or grimace or even apologize or say the polite, ‘no offense,’ thing.
Witch’s Fate and Shifter’s Fate both smile with a look on their faces that spit out, ‘told ya.’
Warlock’s Fate sighs. “Since there has been no official ceremony …”
I roll my eyes. “I was a bit busy since every single witch and warlock hated me.”
He puts his hands up to stop my explanation. “It matters not.”
Whatever. I’ll just ignore him. “Why is Raks here?”
Raks looks around. “Did I not explain it?” He studies me. “You heard the words, didn’t you?”
Oh, I don’t know if it’s just the fact that the dungeon has increased my foul mood or if it’s a perfect storm, but lately I’ve been more impatient, more irritable. Raks pushes me right over the edge into full on pixie. If that’s possible.
I take a deep breath and try to calm myself. I’ll deal with whatever is bugging the fae out of me later. I’ll have to remember to investigate. “No worries. I’ll put a pin in it.”
Raks frowns. “Put a pin in what?” He roots around in his pocket. “I think I have a pen in here.”
Witch’s Fate trades a glance with Warlock’s Fate. I wonder if they’re bargaining to see which one has to endure Raks. He’s absolutely gorgeous. Green eyes. A smile that could melt a stingy hemlock. His muscles have muscles, but he’s never been what anyone would describe as a thinker.
Ms. Guthie clears her throat. “I am here with three of the Fate’s on this day, March 22. The trial commences.” She looks at me. “Would you care for witnesses?”
I glance up to see several faeries hover above me.
Rella nods to me.
“I have them.”
Ms. Guthie sighs. “They will be sure to squeal to everyone the proceedings here.”
That’s the idea. Tell one faerie, and that faerie will tell another. Before thirty seconds are up, every faerie will tell everyone. It saves time and patience.
I grimace. Both of which I lack lately. Why am I so foul? I shake my head. “Later. Pin,” I remind myself.
Ms. Guthie rolls out a scroll. “Zalia Witch, you have been charged with crimes against The Royal Fae Academy which is heinous because your own family, your own blood, started this institution. Heinous and unacceptable which means your punishment should be more severe.”
I prevent myself from rolling my eyes. They are always so super serious about things that really aren’t.
“You conjured food for species who already had meal plans.”
Raks puts his hand over his mouth.
What did I just say? I dig my fingernails into my hands so I don’t laugh out loud.
“You have also been charged with using various spells, chants, and incantations against your cousins, the royal …” She looks at Warlock’s Fate who shakes his head. “Right, those have been removed from your record since the aforementioned warlocks are no longer warlocks and no longer matter.” She takes out a very large pen and scrapes the sentence off the scroll. Literally scrapes like what’s written there is dried macaroni or something.
“Did you conjure food to feed the masses?”
“Yes.”
Raks gasps.
Ms. Guthie writes something in her scroll. “Why? And you may consul
t with your counsel if you wish for guidance.”
I laugh out loud. I can’t help it. “With Raks?” I look at him who smiles at me as if he’s waiting in line for an ice cream cone. “That’s alright. I’m fine.” I bite my lip to prevent any more laughing.
“As you wish. Answer the charges.”
“I conjured food because the Academy refused to properly feed everyone.”
Ms. Guthie guffaws or something which is a very strange sound like she was inhaling and exhaling at the same time. “Explain in detail. Now.”
She’s super serious so I’m proud of myself for not laughing. Besides her face is so puckered up, I don’t think she’s ever laughed in her entire long life.
“The Academy feeds the shifters some gristly things that smelled like they were frozen a hundred years ago.”
Shifter’s Fate nods.
“The pixies are fed some artificially sweetened water which makes them all kaflooey, and the vampires are given synthetic swill.” I hold my hand up to clarify. “Their words, not mine.”
“Huh,” Ms. Guthie glares at me. “So you admit it?”
I nod. “Yes.”
She writes something else down in her scroll. “For those crimes, you will receive five seconds of detention.” She leans forward. “You see the gravity of your situation. If you hadn’t been blood bound to this institution, your sentence may have been lighter.”
Horrors. I count to five. Was that it?
“And to the charges of trying to free the shifters and vampires who had been legitimately dungeoned?”
I actually have to bite the insides of my mouth to keep from laughing. “I did try to free the shifters, but they knew it was against the rules and refused to abide by it.” I listen to the words. Sounds right. I tried to channel Elevator. “I did feed both the shifters and vampires because they had been refused food for two weeks.”
Shifter’s Fate clears his throat. “That is completely against the rules.”
Ms. Guthie raises her hand to silence Shifter’s Fate. “That has been addressed.” Then she motions for me to continue.
“I did not try to out the vampires.” I shake my head. “I mean free them.”
She raises her eyebrow. “Why not the vampires?”
