Turvy Topsy

by Larisa Long

  I nod. “Too bad they all hate …” Then I think about it. “There is one.”

  Blist shakes his head. “No. Not him.”

  “He’s pure.”

  Vax snorts. “Pure faehead.”

  “Who?” Zephyr asks.

  “Raks.”

  He grunts. “Wasn’t he fated to you?”

  I shake my head. “It was Witch’s Fate. That’s all done now.”

  “Will he help?”

  I think about Raks. “He’s good. His friends are warlocks, but he’s never been evil. Ever.”

  Zephyr motions for one of his dragon guards, but I stand up quickly. “You won’t be able to get to him if he’s on the witch floor.”

  “Not a chance you’re going back there,” Blist growls.

  “I’m the only one who can.”

  Zephyr grabs my hand. “Take the dragons as far as you can go.”

  I put his hands back on his chest to protect his wounds. “Your dragons will stay here to protect our King.”

  The dragons look at each other and nod.

  “No one is going with me.” I look quickly at Blist who is already shaking his head.

  “I’m not going to let you walk in there alone.”

  “And I can’t worry about what they’ll do to a shifter.”

  “You’re a shifter,” Blist says quickly.

  I steady myself. “We both know what I am.” I glance around the room. “We all know what I am.”

  “You’re very rare,” Zephyr whispers already out of breath. “You’re a good witch. A hybrid. And you have the powerful blood of our wolf and dragon ancestors flowing through you.”

  “We can talk about this later. Besides the warlocks still think I’m a dragon shifter. I can use that.”

  The dragons murmur.

  I point to my room. “Xury’s in there with her bog worm.”

  Some of the dragons squirm.

  “She’ll be fine. I’ll use my magic if any of them try to fae with me.”

  Witch’s Fate appears. “Do whatever you need to do.”

  Zephyr tries to sit up, but we all make him stay down. “Fate …”

  Witch’s Fate leans over Zephyr and then looks at me. “Such beautiful hybrids. As was your mother.” She closes her eyes before she turns around. “I’m so ashamed at what has happened.” She turns back around and wipes a few tears away. “So many good witches have changed sides.”

  “Not Raks?”

  She shakes her head. “No, he’s good. Still and always. The weak witches are too enamored by the lure of power. The warlocks have so much now.”

  “And Warlock’s Fate?”

  She shakes her head and stares down at the floor. “Not even he can control them.”

  Fae. I don’t look at Blist because I know he’ll be flashing those worried eyes at me which make me melt. I have to stay focused. “What about Shifter’s Fate?”

  The dragons growl and grumble.

  “What?”

  Witch’s Fate takes a deep breath. “We think he’s been captured.”

  I shake my head as I have trouble concentrating on what she just said. “Captured?” I thought the Fates were all powerful.

  “We believe so,” Witch’s Fate wrings her hands. “He has been unreachable for weeks.”

  “How long were we gone?”

  “A month.”

  “Fae,” Vax yelps again and glares at the door where Xury is.

  Zephyr winces as he tries to change position. He hands one of his guards a necklace and motions for her to give it to me. “Take that. With me being wounded our connection isn’t as strong. We’ll be able to hear everything.”

  I cringe. “Everything?”

  Zephyr nods.

  I look at Blist. “Just don’t go all angry jaguar if they toss out vulgar language.”

  Blist has to stop himself from laughing. “I won’t now, but I’ll make them wish they hadn’t later.”

  “Agreed.” So want to see Blist get his jaguar on and make the warlocks scream. “Huh.” Pretty bloodthirsty. “I’m going.”

  Zephyr nods.

  Witch’s Fate touches my shoulder. “Do what you must, Zalia. There are no consequences now.”

  Don’t know if I like the sound of that. I mean sure no consequences means I don’t have to worry about my conscience, but no consequences? I wonder if that’s how the good witches turned. The lure of action without guilt. Action without consequences or responsibility or punishment. That is powerful indeed.

  Blist walks me out of the common room. When we get to Elevator, he stops and kisses me. He presses his forehead against mine, and he doesn’t have to say a word. Everything he wants to say is in his eyes. His beautiful green eyes.

  I touch his heart, and Elevator opens the door. In a second, I’m in.

  Elevator doesn’t immediately move. “Are you sure about this, Zalia?”

  I shake my head. “Yes.”

  “That was a most conflicted response.”

  I nod. “No.”

  Elevator sighs. “I am proud of you.”

  Elevator moves, and my stomach jolts. I feel my throat start to close. My skin feels like a thousand death mites are attacking.

  “It’s alright, Zalia.”

  I jump a mile at the sound of Zephyr’s voice, but then I remember the necklace. “Nearly gave me a fae attack.”

  I hear the dragons laugh.

  Faeries appear above me and try to calm me by petting my hair.

  “We’re here,” Blist whispers. “Say the word, and we’ll be by your side.”

  Hearing his voice calms me. I’ll think of the handsome Blist. Calm and soothing. My best friend always. His green eyes.

  “Ready?”

  “No.” I can do this. I can do this. I can do—

  Elevator opens the door to the witch’s floor.

  “What in the fae have they done?”

  Chapter 7

  The entire floor is trashed. Holes have been punched in the walls, ceilings, floors, and pictures bolted to the walls have been torn out. Furniture is strewn around and smashed. There’s some suspicious stains in the corner. If those warlocks actually peed here …

  The rug has been ripped apart, and vases are broken as flowers scream for help. I motion to the faeries who get to work providing triage for the broken stems and lost petals.

  Some doors have scratch marks where something either got in or out. I try not to focus on the blood. It’s everywhere. Splattered onto the ceilings and seeped into the wood.

  I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I concentrate, but I only sense a few warlocks. They are hiding in various rooms. Probably recent switchlings who are annoying but harmless. I have to find Raks.

  The faeries appear above me and shake their heads.

  “He’s not here?”

  “Who are you looking for?”

  The faeries clasp their hands over their mouths. They pick up the broken flowers, gather the pieces of petals and disappear.

  I don’t have to whip around to see who belongs to that voice. It’s nasally with just a hint of whine. Dray Penn. I turn around slowly and am stunned to see that he has huge claw marks up and down his neck and face. “What the fae happened to you?”

  “Like you don’t know.” He glares at me.

  “If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked.”

  “My brother’s still in the hospital.” He smirks. “Wasn’t it you?”

  I step back. “Me?”

  “It was some kind of foul smelling dragon. I’ll make sure they become extinct.”

  I have to ignore the grunts from my necklace.

  “Not me. Sorry. Not sorry.” I turn around and start to walk away. Warlocks hate it when someone turns their backs on them.

  “Hey.”

  I step over broken chards of everything and ignore him.

  “Don’t walk away from me, you whore.”

  I hesitate, but there’s something odd about him. He’s usually not so needy. It’s like
he’s wanting to distract me. Then I realize. He wants me to face him. There are now about a dozen warlocks hiding in the various rooms waiting. “An ambush.”

  “Get out of there,” Blist whispers.

  I glance back at Dray and then say the spell that turns all the doors into a sticky, cobwebby mess. It’s not permanent, but it’s enough to invoke the willies in even the strongest warlock.

  “Bad ass,” Vax whispers.

  I hear gags and movement as most shuffle to get as far from the door as possible. I amp up the spell to make the web super glue sticky and expandable as long as the warlocks move. Best return to Elevator. I march past Dray with my fingers up and twirling. “Don’t make me do it. Again. There are only so many times before others will start gouging their own eyes out.”

  Dray narrows his eyes at me. “Someday I’m going to dance on your grave.”

  “Wow.” I get to Elevator and step inside. “Just make sure you’ve got your clothes on. Don’t want to be haunted for eternity.” I wave at him.

  He throws his hand up, and Elevator is able to close his doors fast before several knives hit me.

  I take a deep breath. “Vax how do you pull off bad ass every second? It’s exhausting.”

  Elevator sighs. “He’s going to be an issue.”

  I nod. “He’s always been an issue.”

  “Are you alright?” Zephyr asks.

  “Fine.”

  “Why is he such a faehead?” Zephyr asks.

  “Overcompensating.”

  “For?”

  I shake my head and laugh. “Only a dragon would be clueless and ask that.”

  “I don’t …” Zephyr hesitates as he tries to think.

  Come on, brother. I’m not going to literally spell it out. “Something none of the shifters would ever have to worry about? Think, Zephyr.”

  I hear one of his guards whisper something as all the shifters laugh. “Oh,” he sheepishly says.

  “Ding. Ding. Ding.”

  “Still … there’s no excuse for his actions. The last time was a warning to him and his brother. There won’t be another.”

  “Respect.”

  There’s a moment of absolute stillness and quiet, and I almost think I’ve lost the connection.

  “Respect,” Zephyr whispers before the other dragons whisper the same. “That is quite the honor to have a hybrid say that word to shifters first.”

  “I know.”

  Elevator doors open, but there’s no one in the lobby. I open the doors, and it’s the first time I’ve seen the Academy in a month. Actually more if you count my whole prison and trial and sleeping.

  Blackened clouds swirl above us. I can smell blood and death in the air. The sounds around me are deafening. “What is that?”

  “It’s the sounds of the other realms breaking through. The Academy’s shields are falling.”

  Standing outside the dorms with a clear view of the entire campus, I suddenly feel most exposed like I’m walking into an ambush.

  “Trust that feeling, Zalia.” Zephyr whispers something to someone beside him. “Masimu will patrol above you.”

  Instantly, I see the dragon in the skies.

  “Poor Masimu.”

  “Why poor Masimu?” Zephyr asks.

  Ummm. “To see the Academy like this. I only see one part, but he’ll have to see everything.”

  “Nice save, Zalia,” Vax grunts.

  I shrug as I watch Masimu. He glides this way and that but then whips around like he’s being attacked by bees. “What’s happening?”

  “Masimu, get back here now,” Zephyr yells. “They’ve sealed us in. They’re trying to breech on one side.”

  I see movement ahead of me and hide behind a bush. “Fae. The Queen’s here.”

  “Does she have the stalykes with her?”

  I nod before I realize I haven’t said anything.

  “Zalia?”

  “Yes. A dozen.” They freak me out.

  “Stay calm. You know they sense fear.”

  Uh huh.

  The stalykes have always allied with the Queen. We should have known then that something was off about her. They are supposedly descended from demons. They’re all green scales with a mushroom shaped head. They have slits for eyes and a long forked tongue which slides out like a snake to sense what’s happening. "I can’t stay here.”

  The faeries hover above me again.

  “Did you find Raks?”

  They nod.

  “Where?”

  They mime what I think is the chem lab. I close my eyes and conjure myself to the chem building and the 3rd floor bathroom. Unfortunately, there are a lot of others hiding there, and I end up appearing on the top of the bathroom stall.

  “Hey,” a young witch says, looking up at me and pulling her skirt around her. “I’m going to the bathroom.”

  “I won’t stop you.” I leap down. “Warlocks on this floor?”

  The witches nod and point in all directions.

  “Great.” I press my ear to the door and close my eyes. I can’t hear anyone or sense anyone. The chem lab is only two doors down. If I can just get there before something foul happens …

  I open the door and look one way and then another. No one in sight. I tiptoe out and a few warlocks appear down the hallway.

  “Hey, look at that,” one says.

  I look behind me. Fae. I want to snap my fingers and do the Dray Penn on them, but they’re on the warlock football team. Probably welcome the exposure. I snap my fingers to blind them temporarily, but they block that. Did I say block? Yes, it was a block, but their block knocked me on my ass. I throw a couple of spells, but they just send them back to me hitting my lip, and singing parts of my hair.

  Fae it all. I stay on the ground and grab my shoulder like I’ve been hurt. They get closer and closer. Warlocks love weakness.

  “It’s that Zalia high breed.”

  “I’m coming to you,” Blist says.

  “No, I’m fine. I don’t want the shifters here. Too many warlocks.”

  “Who are you talking to?” One of them smirks. “Maybe she’s one of those split personality high breeds.”

  I can’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Don’t confront them. Be weak. “It’s a hybrid, faehead.” Fae weakness. I want to channel my inner Vax.

  “Huh,” one of them smirks. “Did you hurt your little elbow?”

  One of them tries to grab my leg, but I do a spell in time to make him fall right on his jaw.

  He grabs his face. “Fae, that hurt.”

  I shrug. “Didn’t hurt me.”

  “What we are going to do to you?” one of them hisses.

  I roll my eyes. “From the rumors, not much.”

  One of them clenches his fist.

  Hate the smirks. I conjure some steel toed boots which luckily they don’t notice since I’m still holding my elbow and have placed myself in a fetal position.

  There’s an explosion on campus that rocks the entire building. I use the op to jump up and kick them. Vigorously. I add an extra force behind my kicks, and all three go down grabbing themselves.

  “Oooh, that’ll do it.” I hear the dragons from my necklace moan and hop around like I’ve kicked them.

  “Are you okay?” Blist asks.

  “Uh huh.” Definitely have to remember that spell for later. “Grab your own crotch curse. That would be handy for those getting extra irritating. Imagine one of the warlock teachers trying to lecture while grabbing at himself? The Academy will run him out of the realm.”

  I can almost feel Blist’s blush. “That’s my Zalia.”

  The faeries sprinkle some sleeping potion on the three warlocks.

  “Better make it extra potiony.”

  They nod and sprinkle the entire bottle.

  “Good, they should be out for a week.”

  The faeries nod and drop the tiny bottle in one of the warlock’s ears.

  I look closer. “Huh, it went all the way down there, didn’t it?”
<
br />   The faeries giggle.

  I find chem lab and yank open the door. The entire room’s dark. I can sense Raks though. I hope he’s not in a tiny jar or something.

  One of the faeries holds a teeny bulb up, but the light only extends to the edge of his nose.

  I snap on the light and find Raks with a witch making out. “Seriously?”

  “What?” Raks jumps up quickly. “I wasn’t doing anything. Zalia, is that you?” He rubs his neck and then runs his fingers through his hair. “I was just checking out the witch.” He kicks himself. “The lab. The witch in the lab. I mean the litch in the wab.” He shakes his head.

  I glance at the witch. “You must be the new transfer?”

  She nods and gets up like she has something to hide. “You’re Zalia. Heard a lot about you.”

  Raks finds something interesting on the ceiling. “Awkward.”

  “Raks, I need you.”

  “Thank the fates,” he falls over himself getting away from the witch and tries to hug me. “I’ve waited so long to hear you say that.”

  I step back and put my hand up.

  Some of the faeries tug at his hair and ears to try to stop him.

  “I need you to anchor me.”

  “Anything you want.” He smiles. “I’ll be your anchor. We can go back to Witch’s Fate and get the scroll reversed. I’ll make amends.”

  Raks tries to shoo the faeries away. “So, how do we want to do this? We still have to wait until we’re 20, but I know a loophole. A work around.”

  Blist growls.

  “Close your eyes, Raks.”

  He does.

  I grab his hands and peer around him to the witch. “Sorry about this. I’ll have him back to you in a bit.”

  The witch gathers her things together. “Keep him. I’m registering as warlock anyways.”

  “Good luck,” Raks says.

  I conjure Raks and I back to the shifter dorms.

  Raks stands there with his eyes closed. “Can I open my eyes yet?” He starts to unbutton his shirt. “Do you want my shirt on or off? I know how you like to watch me.”

  Oh, boy. I glance around. Not really the reception he’s thinking about as the dragon shifters surround him with their arms folded over their chests.

  “Can I open my eyes?”

  “Uh huh,” Blist says standing in front of Raks.

  Raks does, and I’m thinking he’ll try to bolt or disappear or throw up. He only smiles at all the dragon shifters. “Wow, you’re all so dragony.” He spots the female dragon shifters. “Wow, pretty. Hey, I’m Raks. Do you know Zalia?”