Alfheim Academy

by S. T. Bende

  “You don’t have a choice.” Signy placed her hands atop Britney’s shoulders. She gently guided her back to her Protektor, who gripped Britney’s wrist and held tight.

  “Let go, Ivy!” Britney tried to wrench her arm away, but Ivy must have been a master of the mom-grip. Bitch-Face got absolutely nowhere.

  “Signy, your communication said a tracker found Aura in the woods?” Ivy frowned. “How did the dark elves figure out where we are?”

  “I have no idea,” Signy said. “But we’d better not waste any time. Britney, step into the Bifrost.”

  “No.” Britney glared at my aunt.

  “Sorry about her.” Ivy locked a second palm around Britney’s arm and muscled her into the Bifrost. Britney’s mother entered the transport next, and the three of them were sucked upward. They disappeared into the rainbow wormhole, Britney screaming all the way up.

  My artsy best friend ran a hand through her multi-hued curls. “Any chance that rainbow will spit Britney back out?”

  A snort escaped my nostrils.

  Beep!

  Signy and Larkin glanced down to study their smartwatches. When they looked back up, their faces were pale.

  “What?” I glanced nervously at Elin. “What is it?”

  “The Council of Protektors just sent an update,” Larkin said. “Two days ago, on the eve of the Ministry vote to determine whether only full-bloods would be granted admission to Alfheim’s best educational institution—the one that feeds all top government posts—the high-ranking Opprør ministers disappeared. With only the Kongelig in office, the vote passed almost unanimously, which means the next generation of leaders will be exclusively native-born.”

  “And the missing Opprør?” Elin asked.

  “They haven’t been returned.”

  My stomach churned. “What’s the queen doing to fix it?”

  “Nothing, so far. The Kongelig control her cabinet, so that majority can block any action she proposes. By the time our next ruler takes the throne . . .” Signy avoided looking at me. “It may be too late to repair the damage our world’s incurred.”

  Ice danced along my spine. I didn’t want to be the princess of a place like that—or a princess at all. I barely knew how to manage my own life, much less an entire realm. And given the legacy my newly discovered grandmother was creating, I had zero desire to pick up her reins.

  “Enough talk. Larkin, Elin, go ahead.” Signy gestured to the rainbow. “We’ll be right behind you.”

  With a nod, Larkin and Elin stepped into the Bifrost. They flew upward without so much as a whimper.

  “Our turn,” Signy said softly.

  Right. It was time to move to an entirely new planet. As a secret princess. No big deal.

  “To be clear, this isn’t optional, right?”

  “No.” Signy wrapped me in a tight hug. “But whatever happens, I will be with you every step of the way. No matter what, I am always on your side. And I will always have your back.”

  My eyes pricked and I hurriedly pressed the heels of my hands to my face.

  “I love you,” I whispered.

  “I love you too,” she replied.

  With great reluctance, I withdrew myself from her embrace. “Guess we’d better go.”

  The only parent I’d ever known stepped inside the rainbow and held out her palm. I took in the feathery tops of the evergreens, the sharp peaks of the mountains, and the soft glow of the afternoon sun. A deep inhale committed the scent of pine and dust to memory, and I stepped into the light, holding tight to Signy’s hand.

  Chapter 4

  WE WERE SUCKED UPWARD with a deafening whoosh. My brain may as well have been smashed in a vise—the pressure between my ears was so intense that I closed my eyes and prayed for the transport to end. Thin air chilled my nostrils as my head began to spin. Either I was oxygen-deprived, or overwhelmed with the centrifugal forces, or just plain freaked out.

  Or all three.

  After an eternity, the forces shifted. We began a free fall that pulled my neck taut and left me wondering if I was about to suffer death by dismemberment. The pressure increased as we slowed nearly to a standstill. I opened one eye to take in the kaleidoscope of colors tunneling around me and, through a haze, the brilliant green hues of the planet far below. Signy wrapped one arm around me, using the other to pull us toward the green world. We were stuck in some kind of webbing, whether real or imagined I couldn’t tell. The next instant we again barreled downward.

  When I was positive the rainbow ride of doom would never end, strong hands gripped my shoulders and held me tight. An arm tucked beneath the backs of my knees and I was lifted, cradled securely so I barely felt the jarring bump of impact. When I forced my eyes open, the rainbow was gone. Signy set me on my feet in a wide meadow carpeted in soft grass and violet flowers, and peppered with terrified teenagers.

  Our landing spot was a far cry from the bleak landscape I’d imagined Alfheim would be. The velvety grass and vibrant blooms of the meadow were bordered by a ring of lilac-leaved trees. A large, frothy waterfall cascaded down an enormous mountain range to my left, and directly in front of me stood a white-trunked tree, easily four stories in height. Its silvery leaves were wide and glossy, and ivory flowers bloomed in clusters at the edge of its branches. The setting was the epitome of peace.

  The mood, however, was flat-out pandemonium. Roughly a half-dozen girls—adults in tow—stood around the meadow, some screaming, some crying, and a few squealing excitedly. Britney had her head against her mother’s chest, her shoulders heaving up and down as she wept. She looked up as the Bifrost retracted behind me, the kohl that normally lined her amber eyes marking an uneven path down her cheeks. She was probably mourning her forced relocation on the eve of homecoming. So tragic.

  Elin moved to my side while her mom fell in line next to Signy. “Do you see those women?” Elin jutted her chin toward the edge of the meadow.

  I followed Elin’s sightline along the edge of the trees. Yikes. “The ones with the perma-frowns holding bows and arrows? Or the ones holding the electric spears?” The presence of the weapon-wielders left me edgier than I already was. “We couldn’t escape if we wanted to.”

  “She could.” Elin tilted her head at a girl hovering a few feet above the ground. Pale blue wings emitted shimmering, powdery particles that reflected light as they fell softly to the ground. Signy had told me stories about the älva, the winged species of light elves humans called faeries, or maybe fairies—I’d never been sure. Either way, they were very rare, and very strong. Apparently, the “fairy tales” Signy had drilled into to me were more fact-based than I’d realized.

  “Ladies!” A melodic voice carried across the meadow, drawing our attention upward. “Calm yourselves.”

  A lithe, impossibly beautiful woman leapt from the top of the white-trunked tree to float into the center of the meadow, where she touched down in the grass in one fluid movement. Her silver-streaked, chestnut waves were pinned behind her ears with pearl clips, and her lavender-colored wings glittered in the sunlight. With the absolute authority emanating from her wrinkle-lined eyes, she reminded me of a stern ballet mistress.

  “Who’s that?” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth.

  “The queen,” Signy whispered back.

  “Skit.”

  “Aura! Language!” Signy chastened.

  “Crêpes,” I corrected myself. I pushed my anxiety down and studied the winged woman more closely. Stress lined her pale blue eyes, and two frown lines nestled deeply between her brows. The tendons in her thin neck protruded and her jaw twitched, as if she bore down on her distaste. Nothing about her screamed “warmth” or “love” or any of the qualities I associated with the fictional grandmothers from my storybooks. But she didn’t look like the monster I knew her to be, either. She looked like, well, like an attractive old lady. Was this woman really responsible for erecting the barrier? And by default, for everything bad that had happened in Alfheim since?

&n
bsp; “And that,” Signy nudged me, “Is the queen’s Minister of State—Fyrs Narrik. He’s responsible for stripping regions of resources and tearing families apart in the name of protecting the barrier. Do not get on his bad side.”

  I followed Signy’s gaze to the serious, grey haired man standing at attention near the base of the white tree. His shoulders were taut, his hands folded behind his back, and his crisp black coat bore some kind of military insignia. He frowned at the gathering, his disapproval etched firmly across his weathered face.

  “Jerk,” I muttered.

  “Agreed.”

  The queen’s focus shifted at Signy’s whispered word. Her eyes rested briefly on my aunt before landing on me. She studied me in silence, her impassive expression softening as her eyes moved from my blond hair down to my scuffed black boots. The next minute she raised her chin, drew her shoulders back, and clasped her hands at her waist. Her white dress billowed as her wings lifted her several feet off the ground.

  “Protektors,” she ordered. “Still your charges.”

  Ivy took a step forward. She wrapped her arms around the still-weeping Britney until agonized wretches became pathetic sniffles. The rest of the adults followed suit until the only sounds in the meadow were a handful of giggles and muted sniffles.

  “Velkommen,” the queen began. “On behalf of the brethren of Alfheim. I am Queen Constance, ruler of the Light Realm. Lest there be any doubt, you are here because Svartalfheim ordered a Key Strike—the first in sixteen years.”

  An anxious murmur ripped through the meadow.

  “I am pleased to see that all of our female Keys have arrived safely. We await the extraction of our sole male Key and intend good energy for his safety.” Queen Constance bowed her head, and the adults in the meadow followed suit. Minister Narrik kept his head raised, his fierce eyes likely scanning the crowd for dissenters. Gods only knew what he’d do if he found any.

  “That’s right, there’s only one guy coming,” Elin whispered. “I call dibs.”

  I snorted.

  “The Key Strike was one wave of this attempted siege. A subsequent attack occurred while we were occupied with arranging transport. The dark elves managed to breach our security, and the Sterkvart crystal was stolen from the Alfheim Tree.” Queen Constance gestured to the white-trunked tree behind her.

  The adults broke into frantic conversations. Signy had shown me drawings of the Sterkvart—it was a pale, green gem, about the size of a golf ball. As the heart of the tree, it transferred energy to the other realms, fulfilling our cosmic purpose of instilling light to all. Without it, the tree wouldn’t last long . . . and the realms would be cloaked in darkness.

  “With the crystal gone, the branches of the tree will die until Alfheim is linked only to its energetic opposite, granting Svartalfheim direct access to our realm. Recovering the Sterkvart crystal is now our realm’s top priority. Every citizen, including yourselves, is hereby ordered to do their part to recover the piece so vital to our survival.”

  “How are we supposed to do that?” Elin blurted.

  “Shh,” I hissed.

  Had she not gotten the same speeches I had about the evil queen and her elf-offing flunkies?

  Elin waved me away. “Look, we just got here. We’re going to need more direction than ‘find a crystal.’”

  Queen Constance raised an angular brow, and my stomach clenched. I would so cut her if she laid a single bony finger on my best friend.

  Nearby, Narrik cleared his throat and glared at Elin.

  I would cut him too.

  After an eternity, the queen turned her attention to Larkin. “How fitting that the only daughter ever born to a Protektor speaks out of turn.”

  Larkin bristled, but in typical Elin fashion, the queen’s dig rolled right off her back. She stood firm as Queen Constance lifted her chin. “Each of you will use your gifts to identify potential locations—and theoretical abductors—of the crystal. As Keys you must act as leaders in spearheading the hunt to retrieve this vital piece of our—”

  The crackle of burning wood interrupted the Queen as smoke began to mist one of the upper branches. A few garbled cries rang out as the branch shriveled and turned dark. My stomach felt the burn the second the limb blackened. My hands flew to my belly button, and I clutched my torso, pressing against the stabbing sensation in a pointless effort to stop the pain. Whatever was happening to that tree was happening inside of me, too.

  And it hurt like no other.

  I dropped to my knees and breathed into the pain, waiting for it to pass. By the time I looked up, the remains of the branch lay smoldering on the ground. All that was left on the tree was a blackened nub of a limb.

  What the Helheim just happened?

  Signy knelt at my side, running her hand along my lower back. Calming pulses filled my body, but nothing could stop the panic rooting in my head.

  None of the other girls standing in the meadow had been taken down by a dying tree branch. Why was I the only one affected that strongly? Was it because I was a princess, or was I just a doubly massive freak?

  Elin stared down at me, fear blazing in her eyes. “Let’s burn down the entire tree,” she blurted. Minister Narrik glared at Elin, his eyes surging with even more disapproval than before.

  “Please, stop talking,” I begged.

  But if Elin heard my words, or noticed Narrik’s re-focused ire, she didn’t show it. “If we burn the tree, we won’t be able to use it to bring light to . . . wherever. But I’m sure we can figure out another way.”

  The queen pressed her lips together in a thin line. “The limbs may die, but the tree itself cannot be destroyed. The Norns who crafted it took pains to ensure that could not happen. To destroy the tree would eliminate our very purpose.”

  Queen Constance turned her attention to me. I shifted uncomfortably under her stare.

  “It is of vital importance that every citizen of Alfheim take up the charge to retrieve the Sterkvart crystal. Your Protektors and professors will offer guidance as to how you may best use your individual gifts to aid the search.” Queen Constance clasped her hands at her waist. Minister Narrik approached to whisper something into her ear before snapping back to military attention. The queen glanced around the meadow, then raised her voice again. “I must attend to a Council matter. In the meantime, you shall commence your formal training. You may now report to your residence, where a course of study has been established with your destined discipline in mind.”

  Elin shot me a worried look. “Destined discipline? What if I’m destined to be something boring on this planet, like a lawyer?”

  “I think you’re good. I’m sure they need artists here, too.” Alfheim sure as hell needed someone to give it hope.

  “They’d better,” she muttered.

  The queen raised one bejeweled hand. “Protektors, escort your charges to their new home. And do not forget your primary task. Many worlds are counting on you.” With that she turned to Minister Narrik. They spoke quietly for a moment before the queen unfurled her wings and flew high above the field. Narrik stalked from the gathering as the queen soared into the distance.

  Signy and Larkin turned to Elin and me. “Are you ready?” Larkin asked.

  “Not in the slightest.” I frowned. “Where is this new home, anyway?”

  Signy wrapped an arm around my shoulders and followed the crowd toward the edge of the meadow. “Our new home is within our realm’s most revered learning institution. Ladies, allow me to introduce you to Alfheim Academy.”

  Chapter 5

  “THIS PLACE IS INSANE.” Elin’s words bounced off of high, stone walls, her voice reverberating in my head as our tour group followed a fourth-year student named Evensong through the halls of Alfheim Academy. With its high ceilings, lavender scented air, and cream-on-white décor, the school was an oasis of calm in a realm wracked by fear. Its exterior was reminiscent of a medieval Midgardian castle, while its inside was opulent elegance. Glossy wood floors covered the
central curved staircase, stretched across the main entryway, and ran the length of the hall that I presumed led to the classrooms. Floor-to-ceiling windows formed the inside walls of the academy, providing a see-through partition that allowed beams of sunlight to dapple the space.

  Insane didn’t begin to cover it. This place was a masterpiece.

  “Keep walking, ladies,” Evensong trilled.

  Elin and I hastened to catch up as she rounded a corner and stepped through a glass door onto a stone path. Outside, flowering vines snaked along the low rock walls, their sweet fragrance enveloping the handful of blazer-clad girls and boys resting their forearms on the ledges while surreptitiously pointing at us. Mid-term transfers at Alfheim Academy must have been a rarity. And a still-sniffling tour group must have been rarest of all.

  Evensong’s long black waves brushed against her deeply tanned arm as she turned to face us. “Alfheim Academy is laid out in a classic U design, with each of the four dormitories housed in one of the anchor towers. Our educational divisions are scattered throughout the main structure, with the exception of the Våxa, Dyr and Verge programs.”

  “The what programs, now?” Elin whispered.

  I shrugged. We hadn’t covered the academy during our Alfheim lessons, on account of our expecting to graduate from Granite High. We hadn’t planned on moving realms until we turned eighteen either, but here we were.

  Is this seriously my life now?

  Evensong pointed with two fingers. “Out here you’ll find the horticultural quadrant. It’s maintained by students in our Våxa department, and open twenty-four hours a day to faculty. Students, of course, are welcome to visit between sunrise and an hour past sunset. Curfew is strictly enforced, so unless you want to face the disciplinary council, be sure to be inside your dormitories before the final bell stroke.”