by Melle Amade
“It’s Friese,” she said. “Your name is Eyla Friese.”
“I’m dead,” I mutter.
She shook her head. “Look I don’t have any idea why you’re impersonating a Frost Fae, but I sure as hell am not going to turn you in. I’m no friend to the fae. And if you’re impersonating one, I’m guessing you aren’t either.”
I can’t stop the reflex of looking over my shoulder. The door is shut tight and there’s no one else in the room.
“How the hell did you even know?” I asked.
“Well, besides the fact I can read your mind?” She smirked as she fully retracted her wings and sat down at the small table in the corner.
“Right. Can you read everyone’s mind?” I asked, suddenly realizing how useful that could be.
“Only when they’re shouting or in a state of near panic,” she said.
“I wasn’t panicking,” I retorted.
“Oh, you were totally scared.” She laughed.
“Screw you.” I flopped down on the opposite chair.
“No thanks,” she said with a laugh. “I like dudes. Demon dudes.”
“What?”
“I’m kidding! I like any hot guy with wings. Doing it in the air.” Onyx threw her head back and let out a heavenly sigh. “Now that is where it’s at.”
My eyes must have bulged out of my head. I suddenly felt ridiculously sheltered, even though I shouldn’t have. I was raised here damn it. Crown Academy was my home, but the years away from the supernatural world had certainly made me forget some of the things they took for granted.
Onyx shook her head. “Fae, you are going to have to chill out if you’re going to pull this off.”
I looked at her cautiously. “I thought you didn’t like Fae.”
“I don’t,” she said. “But I do like it when someone is up to no good. And you most definitely are. So, I’m all in.”
I frowned. What did she think? I was just going to spill my story? By the way she was leaning forward in anticipation that was exactly what she was thinking.
“Look,” I groaned. “You have to understand if they find out I’m here, I’m dead. Like dead dead. Not sent off to fae prison, the Arena or anything. I’m just killed on sight.”
“You make death sound like a bad thing,” Onyx said.
Right. Reaper. “Well it generally is to those of us who still want to live.”
“Don’t worry, I know some Reapers of the Fae, I could hook you up with a nice ride to the afterworld.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re missing the point, Onyx. I’m not here to die. I’ve got to get something taken care of.”
“So, you came here voluntarily?” She looked incredulous.
I burst out laughing. “Yeah, I worked so damn hard to get out of here the first time, then I just came fucking back.” I rubbed my fingers against my forehead.
“With a pretty big effort, too.” Onyx looked up and down at my frost fae body. “What is it? A charm? A spell? How long is it going to last?”
“Like I’m going to just tell you?” I asked.
“Like you have a choice?” She smiled.
The reaper had a point. She already knew enough to turn me in. I bowed my head down and showed her the ball of the needle in my neck. “It’s from a fallen fae,” I said.
It was her turn to look shocked. “You killed a frost fae?”
“I tried.” I shrugged. “But it was self-defense.”
“Mmhmm.”
“No, really,” I said. “She came and attacked me and killed my werecat.”
“She killed your cat?” Onyx looked skeptical.
“Tat was my fucking werecat,” I growled. “She turned into a dragon. Don’t they teach you anything at Reaper Academy?”
Onyx shook her head. “Not that. But I’m a Hellion so we don’t deal with animals. Just assholes.”
I laughed. “Maybe that Eyla bitch is on her way there now.”
Onyx shook her head. “Not the fae. I deal with human jerks.”
I nodded like I understood, but I seriously didn’t know much about the reaper world and right now I had more than enough issues dealing with the frost fae. “Anyhow, she took poison before I could get any information out of her.”
“So, you decided to impersonate her and find out why she was trying to kill you.” She nodded. “Seems completely illogical.”
“I have history here,” I said.
“Yeah, I guessed at that. You’re not going to tell me who you really are, are you?”
I shook my head as a large white envelope with the Crown Academy seal slid under the door. I purposefully kept my mind blank as I got up to retrieve Eyla’s welcome packet.
“Look,” I said as I tore open the envelope and dumped Eyla’s papers onto the table. “I appreciate your help and the truth is, I could use a friend, but if you know who I really am, it isn’t going to just be me they execute.”
Onyx’s laughter filled up the room.
“Which bit of ‘I’m a reaper’ didn’t you understand?” she asked. “I’m celestial, I can’t be executed. At least, not that easily.”
“Okay fine, I’m still not telling you my real name.”
“Suit yourself,” she shrugged. “What classes do you have?” She reached over and dug through the papers until she found my schedule.
“Eyla Friese,” I murmured, reading over my welcome letter. “And my family comes from Sirkka in Lapland. Shit. That’s a prison outpost.” I made a mental note to find out more about the Friese family and what crap they were up to. If she was at Crown Academy, her dad probably ran the prison there.
“Sweet! We’re in Assassins 401 together,” she grinned. “You’ll see how much I suck.”
“You can’t be that bad if you made it to 401.” I encouraged her.
She shrugged. “It’s not even like I’m really supposed to be assassinating people. I’m just supposed to take souls out of their bodies. But…” she shrugs.
“I don’t have any magic,” I said.
“Yeah, I sensed that. Were you born like that?” Onyx asked, her dark eyes sympathetic.
“No,” I shook my head. “I had them strip me of it.”
“Burn me in Hell, you did what?” She sounded like I’d just told her I’d killed my best friend.
“I’ve been living with humas for the last four years,” I said.
“Living with humans? Holy shit. You’re hard core.” She nodded her head at me with respect.
I shook my head as I stood up. “I don’t know about that. I’m just exhausted. Which room is mine?”
She pointed at one of the three doors down the short hallway. I walked into the cell like room without even turning on the lights and lay down on the single bed, falling fully dressed into a fitfull slumber.
9
“Get your ass up, lady,” Onyx’s pounding on the door startled me awake. I sat up completely confused for a good minute. How the fuck did I end up back at Crown Academy?
I leaned forward, stretching my back out as I touched my toes and groaned over my knees.
“Are you alive in there?” She pounded on the door again.
“Yes, I’m fucking alive,” I growled bounding out of bed and jerking open the door to stop another bout of loud thumping. Her fist almost landed on my face, but I tipped backwards nimbly avoiding her fist, and she fell forward. I caught her, but my laughter rang loud in the small room. “You might want to use a little less force when knocking on a door.”
I pushed her upright, stabilizing her on her feet.
“Fae, I thought you were dead in there. There wasn’t a sound all night. No tossing no turning, no nothing.”
“I was tired,” I shrugged.
“Well, shake it off.” She grabbed my shoulders demonstrating the action on me. “You’ve missed the first week of school. You need to get in there and show them what you’ve got.”
“You’re a little too enthusiastic for me just opening my eyes,” I commented. “Maybe let me catc
h my breath?”
“I’ve been knocking on your door for the last half hour,” Onyx pointed out.
“It wasn’t locked why didn’t you just come in?” I asked.
She looked like I had suggested sticking burning coals in my eyes. “You don’t go into someone’s private room. Are you crazy? What if that big frost fae had snuck in here in the middle the night and you two were doing the nasty?”
“Ew.” I scrunched my face up. “That’s disgusting.”
“What do you mean it’s disgusting? It’s one of the best things ever. It’s like… No. Forget that. It is the best thing ever. Sucks I’m not going to get anything around here. Not with the place crawling with fae. I mean, I wouldn’t turn it down it the topic came up. It might be a drink of water in a drought and I may have to take what I can get.” She paused on her rant and noticed I was just blankly staring at her. Her hand flew to her hands flew to her hips have you actually even ever done it?”
“I’m not a child,” I said. “I’m twenty-one, of course I’ve done it.” I used air quotes to make her realize how ridiculous she sounded. I didn’t mention it was stupid fumbling with human boys that had no idea how to engage with precision. But still it’s not like I was a virgin I just, well, I just didn’t know what all the fuss was about.
“Well, come on we have to grab breakfast and then get to class. I looked at your schedule and you’re totally late.”
“Can I at least wash my face first?” I asked.
“I actually have the shower running for you,” she said, stepping out of my way. “I don’t mean this in a bad way, but you kinda stink.”
Oh, for fucks sake. I suddenly realize I haven’t taken a shower in forever. Not since the night before I went to class, worked at the orphanage, fought Eyla, watched Tat die, and raced over to Bruta’s house. My head swam a bit at everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.
“Thanks.” Gratitude seeped through my voice. “A hot shower is exactly what I need.” I took the two steps towards the bathroom.
“Great!” Called Onyx. You have two minutes and don’t forget to put on the uniform!”
Damn. Having Onyx around was almost like having a personal assistant. I jumped in the shower and after a quick full body scrub, I toweled off, avoiding looking in the mirror. It was still too weird seeing me with pale skin, blue eyes and white hair.
Then I saw the uniform hanging on the back of the bathroom door. I stared at it for a good minute, frozen in time. As a young child this is exactly what I had aspired to, but once I reaized what it meant servitude to the royal house, well, I hated it. I spent my entire freaking teenage years planning how not to put on that goddamn uniform. The gray and maroon. Plaid skirt, the gray shirt, and narrow maroon tie. The waistband corset to store weapons and, later I realized, to show we were bound to the dark fae royal house.
Onyx was pounding on the door again. “Your two minutes is up and you’re thirty seconds overtime.”
“I’ve got this,” I said, irritation rising in my voice. “Back off a second.” It was one thing to have a personal assistant it was another thing to be pressured all the time. Even though I knew she was right. You don’t wanna be late for class at the Academy.
I pull up my knee-high socks, slip on my loafers and we’re racing out to the cafeteria.
“You start with history,” Onyx told me as we ran. “Can’t be late. It’s taught by Professor Ironspring and she’s the worst. Super strict she might like you because you’re a frost fae. But she definitely does not like me. I have that class Wednesdays. She hates me. I sit in the back and give her the death stare just to make her angrier.”
“How’s that helping your grades?” I asked.
“What do I care about grades?” She laughed. “This doesn’t even count as part of my academy. It’s just a place they stuck me for a year so the people that didn’t like me wouldn’t have to see me at the reaper academy. Once they graduate, I have to go back and still do another full year.”
“Lucky you,” I said “I don’t plan on being here one year; not at all. I think a good few weeks and I should have this thing figured out.”
She frowned. “But you’re the only friend I have here.”
“We just met last night.” I tried to laugh it off, even though my heart warmed at her words and I knew I felt exactly the same way.
“Fair enough,” she conceded, “but we are roommates, that counts for something.”
“Don’t get used to it,” I said. “We’re not going to be roomies long.”
“Well if you don’t get your ass through breakfast quckly, you’re not going to be in the academy long,” she retorted.
There was almost no one left at the food counter when we got to the cafeteria. Everyone else had eaten already. You’d think it would’ve been something spectacular and magical, but it was just a cafeteria serving crappy food. The academy wasn’t trying to raise spoiled kids or make us feel special. They were here to toughen us up. We didn’t live in some peaceful world of dancing faeries like the humans all talked about. We lived in a wartorn world. The academy wanted us to teach us how to sit down, shut up and follow instructions.
I grabbed a roll, a banana and a massive cup of fae coffee. Thank God they served that. There was nothing like it in the world. It was like human coffee on steroids. It gave more than just an energy boost; it was like the world was brighter and happier once you drank a single cup. I grabbed two.
We walked through the large hall looking for a table I heard a voice call out, “Eysa over here!” At first it didn’t register that it was calling to me. Onyx elbowed me in the ribs.
“There’s your frosty the snowman,” she said, pointing out Oison who was waving me over.
“How do you know about Frosty the Snowman?” I asked. “That’s pretty human of you.”
“Spoiler alert,” Onyx said, “I’m a reaper. I reap humans. I know a lot about them. It’s one of the topics I was actually good at in school.”
“I keep forgetting you’re a reaper,” I commented.
“No one else does,” she said.
I glanced around the room suddenly realizing everybody in the cafeteria was staring at us. I raised my chin. Fuck them.
“Come on,” I said and led her towards Oison’s table.
Rhea was glued right to his side and pixie girl was sitting at the head of the table I sat down without thinking about it, but Onyx just stood there. I motioned to the bench next to me. There was plenty of room. But then I realized everybody at the table was glaring at her.
“You guys haven’t met?” I asked, feigning naivity. “This is Onyx Nightshade, she’s my new roommate.”
“We’ve seen her around,” Rhea said with a crisp tone. “She can’t sit here.”
I stood up. “Fine. Didn’t want to sit with you anyhow.”
The pixie girl looked startled. “You’re going to pick a reaper over us?” she asked.
I shrugged. “What about if I pick somebody who doesn’t have any other friends on this entire campus over three people that seem to be getting along just fine,” I asked. “What about that?” I grabbed my tray.
Pixie girl’s eyes were wide. “What happened to you out there?” She asked. “You’re like really weird.”
“I like this new Eyla,” Oison said. “Sit down Onyx. You can’t be any worse than the rest of the assholes who go to this school.”
“Well thanks,” Onyx raised her eyebrows at him. “That’s one hell of a complement.”
I was surprised to see him blush. Maybe Oison was going to find something attractive other than a frost fae.
“We haven’t met,” Onyx said, leaning forward and holding out her hand to the pixie girl.
I silently thanked her. Damn she was good. She knew exactly how to help me out.
“Maura,” the pixie girl said.
Check. One more name on my list. “This is Rhea and you’ve met Oison,” I said. “Guys, this is Onyx. Get used to her. I don’t care that
she’s a reaper, she’s pretty cool.”
Maura’s look of shock didn’t escape me, but a small pack had gathered behind me. I could sense them.
“Yeah she’s pretty cool if you like dead things,” a voice full of sparkles and darts made it pretty damn obvious who I was hearing. It was the light fairy princess and apparently her posse, stopping by our table to say hello.
I glanced up and wasn’t planning on saying anything, but then I saw my sister, Heather, disdain written all over her face.
“What the hell is your problem?” I glared at Princess Tatiana.
“Excuse me?” The sparkles in her voice were like bullets that sprayed all over me. But my temper was up and I wasn’t having it.
“We’re just sitting here having breakfast princess I don’t think we need your commentary on my roommate.”
Oison kicked me under the table. Rhea looked startled but Maura had an evil little grin on her face as if she was enjoying every single second of this.
Tatiana didn’t look amused at all. Her light fae skin was turning bright red and she was clearly pissed. “You show up to this Academy a week late,” she said, “and dare speak to me like this?”
I know I need to shut up, but I can’t stop myself. “I wasn’t the one visiting your table to make snide comments,” I said. “I don’t know what your damage is, but just leave me and my roommate in peace.”
“Oh, I’ll leave you in peace,” she said, as the class bell went off. “I’ll watch you get expelled before your final year even really starts.” She reached out and a spark flew from her hand, hitting the corner of my tray, knocking it off the table and spraying my two coffees all over me. Oison, Onyx and I all rose at the same time. I was lunging at the princess, but Oison and Onyx were holding me back. I wasn’t as pissed about the dirty uniform as I was about losing my coffee.
“See you in class,” giggled Tatiana.
My gaze flew to my sister Heather who was looking down her nose at me. She flipped her purple hair over her shoulder in complete agreement with what Tatiana had done and they sauntered off with their posse.
