by H. D. Gordon
THE HALFLING
The Aria Fae Series
Book 1
H. D. GORDON
Copyright © 2016 H. D. GORDON BOOKS
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and publisher of this book.
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For my dearest daughters, Soraya and Akira, because the world needs more glorification of amazing women, and I’m proud to have produced two of them.
PROLOGUE
Life had been admittedly difficult to live as of late, but that didn’t mean I wanted to get shredded to pieces and eaten by a monster.
In fact, I wasn’t sure I could think of a worse way to go. So I ran. I ran like the love child of Forrest Gump and Bruce Jenner. I ran for my life. It was fitting, I supposed, as I’d started this story out running, that I should end it that way as well.
I was fast, of course, but the beast was faster.
It was gaining on me; I could feel its hot breath against my back. The whole world became the chase, just me and the creature coming after me. Nothing existed outside of that. My mind could go no further than to tell me to move. The factory lights were bright above me, but I was lost in the darkness, perhaps had been for a while, but only now could see so.
My arms and legs pumped, my breath tearing in and out of my lungs. Terrible pain exploded across my back as the beast’s sharp claws cut through my jacket and ripped through my skin. I cried out in pain, stumbling, nearly falling, but somehow kept my feet.
To fall now would mean certain death.
I ran, but knew I could not keep it up much longer. I couldn’t leave here without her… but it seemed I was unable to save her, and thus, I would likely not leave here at all.
How had things gotten so dire so quickly? How was it that I was going to die before ever seeing eighteen, or graduating from high school… or falling in love for the first time?
And worse, so was she, because I couldn’t save her, because I was too weak to save her.
Terrified as I was, I could not run much longer. That left only the option of turning, and facing the beast for a fight.
CHAPTER 1
Ten days earlier…
The place was new. A city this time, rather than a small town. I’d needed a change. Had needed to run, I guess, depending on how you looked at it.
The high school was much larger than my last one. Easily five times the students, stuck right in the center of Grant City. The walls were made of stone and the windows offered views of brick and concrete. I hated it instantly, or so I told myself. Realistically, I recognized that it was not the place I was unhappy with.
It was my life in general at the moment. Things had taken a nosedive in a record timeframe, and this was my way of dealing with it. I had run, and found that my issues had tagged along with me.
“Miss Fae?” said the teacher, a mousy woman whose name I hadn’t yet remembered, pulling me from my thoughts. “Do you want to stand up and introduce yourself to the class?” She smiled at me and waved her hands in a come on, get up gesture.
I suppressed a sigh and stood from my seat. I couldn’t understand why teachers always asked this question. Was anyone’s answer ever really, “Why, yes, I’d love to do that!”
“My name is Aria,” I said, trying not to fidget. All the attention, the eyes of the other students, made me uncomfortable. “I moved here from Blue Hook. I like reading and long walks on the beach.”
No one in the class laughed at this little joke. No one even smiled. Feeling like a super buttwipe, I sighed and took a seat.
“Thank you, Aria,” said teacher-what’s-her-name. “And welcome to Grant City. I’d imagine it’s quite a change from Blue Hook, but it’s not so bad once you give it a chance.”
I gave her a small smile. I could sense she was a good person, and despite the rancid air, constant noise, and lack of green, maybe city life wouldn’t be so horrible after all. If there was one thing I prided myself on, it was my ability to adapt. I had to believe I could find happiness here, because like my current issues, I knew my happiness came from within me.
And, yet, my depression was overwhelming; my moods unpredictable, my emotions a roiling sea. My mother was dead, and the people who’d been the closest things I’d had to calling my own had cast me out.
I was a wanderer, an orphan, a soul without a home.
These were the conditions under which I arrived in Grant City. Nothing more, nothing less, than that. I’m not sure if that makes all the things that happened next fate, but looking back now, it sure feels like it.
CHAPTER 2
The morning passed by in a blur. I stood and introduced myself to the class three more times. Sat through lectures, took notes, read some of the novel I was into while pretending to follow the prescribed text.
I actually enjoyed the practice of learning, had been taught its value at a young age—which was why I’d enrolled myself in the high school the day after arriving here. But I just wasn’t super enthusiastic today, for obvious reasons.
As I’d told the classes, my name is Aria. But what you don’t know is I’m only half human. The other half of me is Fae—hence the last name, a personal joke of mine, as Halflings like myself only have a single name—but I’ve lived the majority of my life among humans as an operative of the Peace Brokers. The Brokers are an organization of Halfling supernaturals that try to maintain peace between the races. I’ve studied in the human schools, eaten the human food, and absorbed the human culture, right down to the Van sneakers on my feet and the skateboard I ride around on.
But I’ve never felt completely comfortable among full humans. The other half of my blood is Faevian, and that world, the world from which my mother hailed and where I’d been a liaison, was nothing like this one. Now that she was gone, and my superiors had shunned me, I was stuck on this side of the veil permanently. I had no reason to return to any of the other supernatural worlds anyway.
It would be a lie to say that the idea of pretending to be a human, of living a normal human life, didn’t deepen my depression. I’d always thought I was meant for something more. As it turned out, I was mistaken. I wasn’t even a legal adult yet, and I’d already messed up everything irrevocably, lost it all with a few tosses of the dice. Now, in a city full of people, I felt utterly alone.
So when the lunch bell rang, I was more than ready to find a quiet corner to eat and lose myself in a book. If you’ve never experienced the power of a good novel, the way the words can carry you away from your problems and into a new world where the stakes are not your own, I feel sorry for you.
Books have saved my sanity more times than I can count, and if I’d ever needed saving, it was now.
I followed the sea of students into the cafeteria, keeping my guard up against the onslaught of emotions that could overwhelm me in a crowd this big. It was something I’d gotten good at, as any Fae Empath who hopes to make it through puberty must.
Full human teens were a particularly sensitive bunch.
The cafeteria was small, too small, I thought, to hold all of the students flowing in, with off-white walls painted with the school’s mascot and colors—blue and white. Signs reading things like, Go Bluejays! and Stop Bullying! hung in various places. The chatter and hustle of the crowd swallowed me up, and I watched my feet, careful not to make eye contact.
I don’t want you to think this anti-social behavior is typical of me—it’s not. With the Peace Brokers, I’d been taught since childhood how to be diplomatic, how to treat all life with the honor it deserved, how to get people to like me, to trust me. The power of persuasion I had over most people was also part of being a Fae Halfling, and the Brokers had used this ability of mine to the fullest.
Until I was kicked out of that whole universe, anyway.
I sighed, chewing my lip, and grabbed a tray with a cheeseburger and fries, the sight of the food comforting me. I was of the belief that one of mankind’s greatest creations was a good burger, and it was one of the things in my life that had become familiar, a constant. I may not be like all the other people around me, but all in all, the human world itself had accepted me as one of its own.
And yet, I am adrift in a sea of agony, I thought, my inner somber poet rearing its head.
I paid for my food and stood looking at the cafeteria, forgetting until just this moment how terrifying it was to pick a lunch seat at a new school. You had to choose a good one, because you could end up being stuck there all year. It was not too different from the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter.
Luckily, I didn’t have to choose, because I noticed some students exiting with their lunches through a glass door that led outside, and followed them. Much to my relief, when I pushed through the door, I found that there was a square courtyard. It was surrounded on all sides by brick buildings, and the air was still rank with exhaust and garbage, like any city, but there was some grass, a few trees. When I looked up, there was the sun, still warm in early September.
It was a small blessing, and I took it. As half Fae, I thrived in an outdoor environment. Spotting a corner with an empty bench, I hurried over with my food and took a seat, instantly feeling more at ease now that I’d settled.
I ate, and no one bothered me, for which I was glad. I felt lonely beyond words, but there was not a soul near that could make me feel otherwise. Or so I’d thought. It’s funny the things you learn as you get older.
Shoving the food in my face a little less aggressively than I would have in private, I watched the other students with a practiced disinterest. People watching always entertained me. It’s a quiet, personal activity that opens up time for reflection.
Problem was, at the moment, I wasn’t ready to do any reflecting.
A sound pulled my eyes to the center of the courtyard, where a group of girls were standing, and I looked up just in time to see what looked like a brand new laptop fall to the concrete near the group, the device cracking with an unmistakable sound.
The small courtyard grew as silent as a stuffy church. No one even seemed to chew their food.
“Hey!” said a thin, strawberry blonde-haired girl. Her voice raised in pitch, and it was obvious she was fighting back tears. “You broke it!” She looked like she was a freshman or sophomore, but the other three girls standing in front of her were definitely seniors.
She went to pick up the laptop, but the largest of the senior girls blocked her path. My shoulders tensed, my stomach dropping. The fear the blonde girl was feeling rolled off her in waves, hitting me with nauseating force.
The bigger senior girl—the ringleader, from where I was sitting—had her hands shoved coolly in her jacket pockets. She was an average sort of pretty, tall enough to be a model, but corded with muscle in a way that suggested sports instead. She had short, cropped brown hair and hard brown eyes that revealed Latino descent, and wore a lettermen jacket that more than likely belonged to some hotshot football player.
I suppressed an eye roll. The whole scene could not get any more cliché. The dynamic could be found in any high school across America. But that didn’t make it any less uncomfortable. I swallowed the last bite of my burger, no longer tasting it.
“You know the deal,” said the brown-haired bully. She held up a paper. It had a red B written at the top. “I told you to write me an A paper.” She pointed a finger at the sheet in her hand. “What does that say, Sammy? Is that an A?”
“It’s a B,” the blonde girl mumbled, tears welling in her eyes. She was looking at the ruined laptop with utter dismay. “You only gave me a day to write it!” she yelled, and then instantly recoiled.
The brunette—Andrea—rolled up the sleeves of her jacket, her hands clenched into fists. There was hardly an intake of breath in the entire courtyard. I realized belatedly that I was now standing.
Andrea gave a smile that was toothy and twisted, and shoved Sammy hard in the chest, making the smaller girl fall back onto her butt in a way I knew had to hurt her tailbone. Andrea moved to stand over the girl, but I found myself blocking her way.
It seemed to take Andrea a moment to absorb what I’d done, and her face screwed up as she took note of me. “Get out of my way, puta,” she spat, confirming my guess about her roots.
I held up both of my hands, palms out. “Why don’t you just leave her alone?” I asked, my voice amicable, soothing.
Andrea looked confused, which I chose to believe was her default state, given what I’d seen from her. “Who the hell are you?” she asked.
I shook my head, still holding up my hands, but my body having moved itself into a defensive stance; right leg back, knees slightly bent, shoulders turned sideways to provide a smaller target, loose and ready.
“I’m no one,” I said, locking eyes with her. “No one at all.”
She said nothing, only took a step back. I’m pretty sure she would have walked away, too, if her friend hadn’t spoken up. I wondered how many times in a single day I could keep my eyes from rolling. It was a habit of mine I was trying to break, because it seemed to me to be terribly juvenile, but some situations just called for it.
“You gonna let her talk to you like that, Andy?” asked the sidekick.
Andy still looked confused, but then the dull anger came back over her. I saw the idea form in her head even before she took the cup that Sidekick Number Two was holding, knew what she would do even though she tried to be quick about it.
My reflexes are too good, and I know the ways of people too well. So when she tried to dump the drink on me, and instead I popped the bottom of it up with my hand, and it splashed all over her face, there was no way to avoid what came next.
I’d find out later that Andrea Ramos—Andy to her friends—was not only the star athlete and senior bully at Grant City High, but she was also a trained boxer. Her father owned a chain of gyms that trained fighters, and her attitude was just as strong as her right hook.
As it was, I stood before her now, soda dripping down her face, every eye in the courtyard on me, my hands held out before me like I was some lion tamer. To say the least, this was not how I’d wanted to start my first day at a new school.
There was no time to think anything else, because Andy swung at me with a hard right, and I ducked out of the way, feeling the air whoosh over my head. She’d swung hard enough to knock out my teeth had it connected, and this pissed me off.
My body just acted, despite my rule never to use my abilities against humans. It really wasn’t fair to them. My Fae blood gave me stronger senses, faster reflexes, more stamina and strength. So when I swept Andy’s legs out from under her with a clean swing of my leg, spinning around and standing upright again before she even hit the ground, you can imagine the look of shock that was on everyone’s face.
For a moment, the whole city seemed to go silent. I used the time to scoop up the broken laptop and back out of there, grabbing the blonde girl’s arm and taking her with me inside the school.
We escaped. B
ut I didn’t need to be full human to know my troubles with Andy Ramos were not over.
As it would turn out, they were going to be the least of my worries.
CHAPTER 3
Once we were inside, I realized I didn’t know where to go. GHS was a tall and old stone building, the classrooms cold and the stairways many. It was going to take me some time to be able to navigate it, and at the moment, I was a little too shaken up to think straight.
I hadn’t meant to embarrass the girl like that.
“Come on,” said a voice near me, and I realized the blonde girl was still standing beside me. She took my arm and pulled me toward a staircase. I didn’t know what else to do, so I followed.
We took a set of stairs up and made three rights, coming to a hallway that was mostly empty. Glass windows made up one long wall, and I could see into a large room filled with computers and other electronics. Inside were maybe eight other students. They were all wearing headphones and staring at screens.
“What class is this?” I asked, not seeing a teacher anywhere in the room.
She reached into her bag and took out an ID card, scanning it over the sensor on the door. A little light went green and allowed us access to the room. She held the door for me. “It’s called CODE,” she said. “But we just call it the game room. I’m Samantha Shy, by the way, Sam to my friends. And before you ask, yes, that’s really my name .”
I hadn’t been about to ask that, but whatevs.
“Aria Fae,” I said. “It’s nice to meet you… Sorry about your computer.”
A couple of the other students in the room looked up, but then just looked back at their screens. I followed Sam to the back of the room, where there were three round tables and several chairs. Bookshelves surrounded the area, giving it a sense of privacy. I took a seat at one of the tables, placing my backpack and the broken laptop I was still holding on the table.
