‘Uh-huh. Get much exercise last night?’
There were more giggles and Felicia’s cheeks went from slightly paler than usual to a rosy red. ‘That’s something else I don’t regret.’
‘Neither do I,’ Charlotte commented around a mouthful of food. ‘I slept like a baby without you there.’
‘I really enjoyed myself last night,’ Jesse said. ‘All of last night, not just the part when I had Flis’s fingers–’
‘I don’t think we need to go into too much detail, darling,’ Felicia said quickly. ‘I’m sure no one wants to– Who am I trying to fool? Of course you want the details, but you’re not getting any.’
‘I was just amazed that Jesse actually noticed you were interested,’ Krystal said.
That comment got Jesse to blush. ‘Oh, I know. I can be really oblivious about that kind of thing, but even I get the idea when someone puts their hand under my shirt in the hallway.’
‘She had to get that obvious before you noticed?’
‘Well, I sort of thought she liked me before that, but… Yes, she had to get that obvious.’ Jesse grinned one of her timid grins which, to Krystal, were starting to look less and less innocent. ‘I’m shy. I can’t help it.’
~~~
The sound of running feet in the hallway followed by urgent knocking drew Krystal to her door, and she opened it to find Felicia standing outside Jesse’s room. The indigo looked nervous: she was hopping from foot to foot and twisting a piece of paper in her hands. When she turned around, there were dark streaks down her cheeks where her mascara had run.
‘Flis, what’s wrong?’ Krystal asked.
Trudy appeared at Krystal’s shoulder to find out what was going on. ‘Jesse went out to Threefold Park with Xan,’ she said.
‘O-oh,’ Felicia said. ‘I… That is… Charley’s still out flying and then I got this note…’
‘Come in,’ Krystal said. ‘You can at least sit down and wait for Jesse to come back.’
Nodding, Felicia walked in and took a seat on Krystal’s bed, hunched over with her hands still pulling at the note which had to be on good-quality paper because it was still intact. ‘My parents are divorcing,’ she blurted as soon as the door was closed. ‘Papa made the announcement at midday. It’s all in the note.’ She waved the piece of paper vaguely and then went back to tugging and twisting it.
‘Your parents are divorcing,’ Trudy said, ‘and you get to hear about it in a note?!’
Felicia just nodded. There were tears starting again, quiet ones adding more dark streaks to her cheeks.
‘What else does the note say?’ Krystal asked.
‘Uh, Mama will go to Appleyard as soon as the divorce is final. That’ll be next Royalday.’
‘Appleyard? She’s going to join–’
‘She intends to join the Sisters of Perpetual Harmony, yes.’
Krystal pursed her lips and settled onto the bed beside Felicia. ‘Well, there are far worse places to be under the circumstances. The nuns are, mostly, nice people and they don’t care why you want to join so long as you genuinely want to.’
‘Mama has never been a strict draconist, but she believes strongly in the ancestors.’
‘That helps. She won’t be able to just join. There’s a three-month period of adjustment and reflection. Prospective acolytes live among the sisters, gradually taking on more of the life. They can decide it’s not for them any time up to the Ceremony of the Cloth.’
‘You seem to know a lot about this,’ Trudy commented.
‘Entering the sisterhood was always an option, and you know I like to do my research.’
‘Somehow, I can’t see you as a nun.’
Krystal gave a shrug. ‘I could at one point. After– Well, I was about thirteen and looking at my options. Whatever my dracoform turned out to be, the sisterhood would not judge, you see? Then my talent for magic was noticed and the possibility of a scholarship came up…’
‘Yeah, I get it.’ Trudy did get it: Krystal had considered becoming a nun because it would have kept her out of sight where no one would see her scaled shape.
‘I don’t know how you could consider it,’ Felicia said. ‘I just can’t get over never seeing Mama again. Papa hasn’t decided what he’s going to do yet either. I may have to move away. I’d lose my place in the school. My life is over!’
Krystal let out a short laugh. ‘What makes you think you’ll never see your mother again? The Sisters of Perpetual Harmony aren’t a cloistered order. They run an orphanage and a hospital. When you join, you leave the family you were born to in order to become a sister, but they don’t ask that you just forget your loved ones. In times of need, sisters are even permitted to visit relatives, especially when there’s some chance that such a visit might save a life. If your mother has the talent for it, she could become quite the healer, you know?’
Felicia managed a weak grin. ‘I think Mama’s talents lie more in organisation. She’s always been good at organising parties and events.’
‘There’s always room for someone to help keep things running. It’s not the end of the world, Flis.’
Felicia gave a small grimace. ‘It will be if I have to leave here.’
10th Day of Harvest.
‘Was Theodore Marin trying to turn our brains inside out?’ Felicia asked over lunch.
‘That session was a little dense,’ Krystal agreed, ‘but that’s the basis behind a lot of movement spells relating to other planes and it leads on to a better understanding of the flow of magical energy from the contingent astral plane.’
‘Smart girl said what?’ Charlotte asked.
‘Oh, well, I got that there was some connection with thaumolytics,’ Felicia said, ‘but all that multidimensional mathematics was incredibly hard.’
‘For me too,’ Jesse said. Today, in the lecture, Felicia had been flanked by Jesse and Krystal, which Krystal had found interesting and a little amusing.
Krystal grinned. ‘I can go through it with both of you. It’s not that hard if you’ve done some applied mathematics… Which neither of you have, obviously.’
There were some quick glances around the group. ‘You’re the only one that got taught general maths, Krys,’ Trudy said.
‘You’re the only one who did chemistry and physics too,’ Jesse added. ‘And I did botany and Xan did some zoology, but you studied general biology.’
‘I can cook!’ Trudy said brightly.
‘So can I,’ Krystal replied.
‘Maybe one of you could teach me,’ Felicia said. ‘I’m probably going to have to cook for myself soon.’
‘Oh yes, you really should learn some sort of service profession,’ Charity said from behind Felicia. ‘Though what family of any breeding would allow you under their roof now is anyone’s guess.’
Felicia cringed. Maybe the old Felicia would have had a ready comeback for the comment, but right now she was an easy target, her confidence shot. But she was a misfit now…
Krystal pushed her chair back. ‘Leave her alone, Charity Darkmoon, you worthless coward,’ she said as she turned to face the indigo.
Charlotte’s voice came from the back. ‘Moron says what?’
‘What?’ Charity said, and Krystal had to force herself to keep her face straight as the other girls, except for Felicia, burst into laughter.
‘You heard me,’ Krystal said, ‘or are we going to add “deaf as a post” to cowardly. Going after wounded prey is just about acceptable in wolves, but… You know, that’s a very good analogy.’ Her gaze swept over Charity and the girls behind her. ‘A pack of feral wolves.’
Charity’s face twisted into an angry glower. ‘Stay out of this, orphan. You don’t want to get in my way.’
‘Or what? You’ve already painted me as a necromancer. What’s next? Pretty much nowhere you can go that’s worse than that. Huh, I bet there are times when you’ve wished you were an orphan. Carrying around a name like Darkmoon can’t be easy. Of course, I doubt you inherited a talent for magic down that l
ine, so I guess it’s just a knack for knowing when to throw your friends under a speeding train, like you did with Felicia. I wonder when it’ll be time for the rest of your friends to be used and cast aside?’
Charity’s eyes narrowed, but there behind her, her cronies were glancing at each other and it seemed that Charity had a reasonable sense of when to back off and rally the troops. ‘This isn’t over, dirt hugger,’ she hissed.
‘It is if you’ve got the sense you were born with,’ Krystal replied, but Charity was already strutting away, yanking on the invisible chains which attached her to the girls in her posse.
‘Beautiful,’ Charlotte said, wiping mock tears from her eyes. ‘That was beautiful. I really wish I had a camera.’
‘I still don’t really get why you keep standing up to her for me,’ Felicia said. ‘I was just as mean to you as she is. You weren’t so nice to me then.’
‘That was then,’ Krystal said. ‘You were a legitimate target. Things have changed and I don’t believe in holding grudges. All that does is waste good reading time.’
‘Actually, Flis,’ Jesse said, ‘I don’t think you were as mean as Charity is.’
Felicia smiled. ‘It’s sweet of you to say so, darling, but I’m sure I was.’ Her smile faltered a little and her brow furrowed. ‘Though, now you mention it, Charity always has had quite a callous streak. She is trouble, Krys. You should take a little care around her.’
‘I will,’ Krystal replied. ‘If I’m lucky, however, she’s going to have to find something else to throw at me before she can mount another attack, and I’ve no family, no background, nothing much she can use as leverage. Being on the bottom of the ladder isn’t always a disadvantage.’
11th Day of Harvest.
When lunch was done with, Krystal was a little surprised to find Felicia rushing to catch up with her, after giving Jesse a quick kiss. Felicia and Jesse had a slightly strange relationship in that they displayed public affection more than Krystal and Trudy did, but they seemed to spend less time together out of classes. Of course, Krystal and Trudy did not share any classes while Jesse was with Felicia much of the day, but Trudy was now in Krystal’s bed every night and the same was not true of Felicia and Jesse.
‘It’s speciality classes now,’ Krystal commented. ‘Aren’t you due in the mind corpus lectures?’
‘I transferred,’ Felicia replied. ‘They said it was okay this early in the year and I could probably catch up. Uh, I was hoping you might help a little there. And I already know some mind corpus, but I’ve never studied practical meta-magic, and that’s useful for all sorts of charms, and counterspells, and a lot of higher-level magic, right?’
‘Yes,’ Krystal replied. ‘I’m mostly studying it because I find magic interesting, but the practical uses are enormous. The class is a little basic for me, to be honest, but I can help you get caught up, sure.’
‘Thanks.’
There was silence for a second or two as they walked the rest of the way to the lecture theatre. ‘Flis?’ Krystal said as they selected their seats.
‘Uh-huh?’
‘I think we’re friends now, right?’
Felicia glanced at Krystal with a quizzical look on her face. ‘I… Well, it’s not something I would’ve imagined me saying at the start of term, but yes. At least I hope we are.’
‘Good. So, you should understand that I’m saying this as a friend. If you hurt Jesse somehow, I will make all your scales turn grey and your hair fall out.’
Pausing in the middle of sitting down, Felicia blinked a couple of times, wrapping her head around the statement. ‘Uh, oh, well…’ She finished sitting down. ‘I suppose that seems fair, but I wouldn’t worry about it. If anything, I’m a little besotted and Jesse is just enjoying the sex. It’ll be her who breaks my heart.’
Krystal grinned. ‘Only by accident. I don’t think that girl could harm a flea if it was biting her behind.’
‘Quite so, darling, but a little word to the wise: always be wary of the quiet ones. She’s not so shy when we’re alone in her room.’ Felicia dropped her voice to a conspiratorial near-whisper. ‘Why, on Royalday, after she’d calmed me down about that note, she–’
Thankfully, at that moment, the lecturer walked in. Krystal was not sure what Jesse had done to Felicia on Royalday, but whatever it was, Krystal was sure it was too much information.
13th Day of Harvest.
‘I’m going to tell Flis tomorrow night, at the study meeting,’ Krystal said.
Trudy’s voice was somewhat muffled since she was lying face down on the pillow, trying to recover from what Krystal had just finished doing to her. ‘Tell her what?’
‘What my dracoform is. Well, show her, probably. I don’t suppose she’d just take my word for it. I wouldn’t.’
Turning partially on her side, Trudy looked up at Krystal. ‘I think you would, expecting to see proof later maybe, but you would. But do you think she can be trusted with that?’
‘Well, yes.’
‘But you wouldn’t have said something now unless you wanted my opinion, right?’
‘Also, yes.’
Trudy leaned forward and kissed the end of Krystal’s nose. ‘You are beautiful, you know? Confusing and a bit contradictory, and I don’t know how you’ve grown up quite so innocent and world-wise.’
‘Blame the nuns.’
‘I do. Okay…’ Trudy sighed and looked up toward the ceiling, and then back to Krystal. ‘It’s maybe a big secret and you’re putting it in the hands of someone you barely know. And her father is a Darkmoon, so I think you should consider what you’ve said about Charity Darkmoon and loyalty.’
‘Yes,’ Krystal said, ‘but I don’t actually believe that Charity is going to sell out her friends because she’s a Darkmoon. I think she’s going to do it because she’s got the basic compassion of a hair louse. I think Flis is… different. I think she bullied people because it was the way she knew how to behave. I think she’s discovered she can have friends who don’t want something from her and she likes that.’
‘Still a pretty big thing to hand her based on the belief that she’s too excited about friendship to sell you out to the royals.’
‘Maybe,’ Krystal said, ‘but there’s one other thing which might hold her back. She’s fallen for Jesse’s timid charms and I think she knows Jesse would tell her to get lost if she sold me out.’
Trudy’s eyebrows went up. ‘Flis is in love with Jesse?’
‘She says she’s “a little besotted.” I got the feeling it was more than that. She’s not so sure that Jesse feels the same way.’
‘Huh. That doesn’t sound like it’ll end well. But, if you’re confident you can keep Flis under control, so to speak, then break out the scales tomorrow. I’m not going to complain too much. I think you look amazing. Just remember, I’m your girlfriend and I don’t share.’
Krystal gave her a pout. ‘Aww. Jesse and Charley showed an interest when you were angry with me. I’m sure we could get an orgy going if–’
Somehow, with a speed which thoroughly surprised Krystal, Trudy hooked a pair of fingers inside Krystal and pressed them up against the spot which was guaranteed to shut her up. ‘Mine,’ Trudy said. Her fingers began to circle and pump.
‘Not… actually… arguing,’ Krystal got out before Trudy’s mouth covered hers and speaking became entirely impossible.
14th Day of Harvest.
‘Ancestors! My brain hurts,’ Felicia said, falling back onto Krystal’s bed and covering her eyes with her arm.
‘And we have to do this stuff next term?’ Charlotte asked.
‘Only if we pass the end-of-term exam,’ Trudy replied. ‘Maybe we’ll all fail and be spared the horror.’
‘You won’t fail,’ Krystal said. ‘You’re all doing pretty well as far as I can tell.’
‘I don’t feel like I am,’ Felicia said.
‘You’re just feeling like everything’s against you.’
‘It is!’
There was a round of giggles and then Krystal said, ‘I think we should take a short break while Flis’s brain reboots… Unless I blow it entirely in the next few seconds.’
Felicia lifted her arm and looked up at Krystal. ‘Huh?’
‘There’s something… Well, the others all know and you’re a misfit now. I said I wouldn’t lie to friends.’
‘You’re making considerably less sense than usual, darling.’
‘Probably. Okay, this is a secret. You know when someone says that something’s a secret and they really mean it would be really embarrassing if anyone found out so they don’t want you to blab it all over the place.’
Felicia nodded. ‘It’s generally valuable blackmail material.’
‘Yes, well this is nothing like that.’
‘Oh.’
Getting to her feet, Krystal stepped into some clear space. ‘I’m not sure what would happen if anyone else found out about this, but it would probably be bad.’
‘Are you sure you want to tell her?’ Charlotte asked, frowning.
‘I said no lying to friends.’ Krystal unbuttoned a couple of buttons on her blouse.
‘Ancestors!’ Felicia squeaked, sitting up straight. ‘You’re really a boy?!’
‘Uh, no,’ Krystal replied as lights began to flicker around her. Only Trudy had actually seen her change before: when she had taken on the zombie, she had been behind them all as they held the doors shut. Now they watched as the lights danced over her skin, shifting in colour as they did so. White at first, they flashed through reds, yellows, blues, greens… Beneath them, Krystal’s skin shifted, scales forming across its surface, her legs lengthened, and her breasts swelled. She shook her head as her hair lengthened and changed colour, becoming a rainbow-shaded cloud that fell to the upper slopes of her breasts. As the lights faded, she looked down at Felicia with iridescent eyes. ‘I do have a dracoform,’ she said, her voice an octave lower than normal.
Felicia’s jaw worked up and down a few times, but no sounds came out.
‘I think you broke her,’ Charlotte said.
‘If you break her,’ Jesse said, ‘you have to pay for her.’
‘You’re a royal,’ Felicia said.
Misfit Magic (Misfits Book 1) Page 17
