by Gabby Fawkes
As I hovered in the archway, watching Nikolas Storm sit back down, I wondered if he had switched. And if so, why?
But whatever intrigue I felt toward him, he clearly did not feel in return. He just picked up a book and started reading it as if he’d already forgotten I was there.
Emerald’s eyebrows slowly raised into a look of pure smugness. I got the hint. I wasn’t welcome to this little party.
Well, screw her.
I turned and walked back out the way I’d come.
In the foyer, I bumped straight into a red-headed girl. I jumped back. She looked at me expectantly.
“Who are you?” I asked.
She grinned. “Heidi. I can’t wait to be your sister. I have so many questions. Like, why is your hair that color? What’s wrong with your ears? Do you always carry a bow with you?”
I narrowed my eyes. This was Heidi the freshman? For a fifteen-year-old, she seemed very babyish.
“I like it that color,” I said. “There’s nothing wrong with my ears, all Elkie have pointed ears. And yes, my bow is sacred so I carry it at all times.”
She tipped her head to the side, as if inspecting a curiosity at the museum. “I always wanted a big sister. I mean, I have Emerald but she sucks. I always wanted a nice big sister. Are you nice?”
I’d never been anyone’s sister before. Maybe if Heidi was Elkie I could be a good sister to her. But she seemed like a typical, spoiled, rich Mage kid, so I wouldn’t put money on there being any common ground between us.
“I’m not sure,” I told her.
Heidi was holding one of those oversized cages I’d seen the NYC fashionistas carrying. Instead of a bird familiar inside, there was an egg resting on a bed of purple velvet.
“I just got him at my debutante ball,” she explained when she saw me looking. “He’s not hatched yet.”
In her other hand, she held a leash. My gaze followed it down to a demon-hare sitting at her feet.
“This is Sprinkles,” she added.
I raised an eyebrow. I was never going to get over the way city folk kept wild demon-beasts as pets.
Sprinkles tipped its nose up and sniffed in my general direction. I didn’t know what the etiquette was so I bent down and patted it once on the head with a flat palm.
“Do you want to see your room?” Heidi asked.
Want was a strong word. What I wanted was to go home. To be with my friends and family and people who didn’t seem to despise me at first glance. But what I wanted was not something I was going to get, so I sighed and said, “Lead the way.”
Heidi led me up the long, sweeping staircase then down a hallway, before she turned me into a huge bedroom.
I gasped. “This is all mine?”
It was worlds away from the simple room I had at home. There was a huge bed, more shelving space than I needed for the few books and ornaments I’d brought with me, and a massive floor-to-ceiling window framed with soft white linen curtains. The cream-colored carpet underfoot was brand new and the walls were freshly painted. It looked like something from a magazine.
All my boxes had already been carried in from the van and were neatly stacked against the wall. I noticed a second door beside them.
“What’s in there?” I asked, walking over.
“Bathroom and closet,” Heidi replied.
I opened the door and gasped, again. I had my own bathroom and a walk-in closet that was stuffed with clothes.
“Are these for me?” I exclaimed.
Heidi beamed with pride, as if it had been her paycheck that had purchased it all rather than her dad’s. “You should get dressed,” she said.
I looked down at my jeans and stripy top. “I am dressed.”
She laughed. “No, I mean for your welcome dinner. Dad got an outfit especially for you.”
She walked into the closet and pulled one of those plastic dry-cleaner suit bags from the rail, then lay it on the table.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about William Geiser buying me anything, let alone clothing. It felt a bit creepy. Or maybe I was just being paranoid.
Heidi unzipped the zipper. All I could see from this distance was beige.
Beige.
You couldn’t get a less Elkie color if you tried. Back home in Harriman we wore bright colors and patterns and dyed our hair. I’d never worn beige in my life. Beige was the color of fashionable Mages, along with nude, taupe, cream, eggshell… all variants that looked the same to me.
I couldn’t help the feeling that the full closet of clothes was William Geiser’s attempt to get me to blend in, to be less Elkie. Or maybe I was being childish. There’d been no obligation on his part to give me a beautiful, freshly painted room or buy me a whole new wardrobe. He was probably just trying to be nice.
“Um, I think this outfit will clash with my hair,” I said.
Heidi beamed. “That’s why there’s a hat!”
She retrieved a round box from a shelf and removed the lid.
More beige. And a feather!
I tried it on and looked at myself in the mirror. The hat completely covered my pointy ears. Was it totally crazy of me to think that was William’s intention? To hide my ears? To make me look less Elkie?
“Okay, I’m not wearing that,” I said. “The dress I’ll do but I’m drawing the line at a hat.”
I took the new ensemble and laid it out on my bed. Heidi followed and sprawled herself on top of the bedspread. She watched me keenly as I removed the silky beige monstrosity from its bag.
“Hey… that guy in the living room,” I asked. “Is he Emerald’s boyfriend?”
Heidi scoffed. “She wishes! No, that’s Nikolas Storm. He’s the son of moon mayor.”
“He’s moon-class?” I asked, frowning with confusion. “But he has a sun-class tattoo.”
“He switched,” Heidi said with a shrug.
So my hunch had been correct. I raised my eyebrows. “Do you know why?”
“No. But his mom’s cool with him living with Dad because they’re good friends.”
I almost choked on my shock. “He lives here?”
My brain could not comprehend this news. Sexy Nikolas Storm lived here. I’d gained two sisters and a crush in the space of ten minutes. My mind spun.
“He lives in the pool house,” Heidi explained.
“The what?”
“The pool house,” she repeated with extra emphasis. “You know, the house next to the pool?” She spoke in a tone that implied I was an idiot. “It’s a bit of an inconvenience having him there, but he’s only living with us until he completes senior year.”
I pondered our parallel situations. Nikolas Storm was certainly an intrigue. A moon-class Mage turned sun-class. The son of the moon mayor. I wanted to learn more about him. But now was not the time. I’d have to make do with the knowledge that he wasn’t Emerald’s boyfriend and he lived a stone’s throw from my window. Gus was going to lose his mind when I told him.
“I’d better go and get ready for dinner,” Heidi said, leaping up from the bed. Then she froze. “Oh crap.”
I glanced over to see what had prompted her cuss. Sprinkles had pooped on my rug.
I exhaled. “Mother fu—”
“I’ll get the maid,” Heidi said, cutting off my cuss.
“Nah.” I shook my head. “I can clean it myself.” I was adamant I wasn’t going to use any of the maids for things I could do myself, even if it was as gross as cleaning up poop. “You know, where I come from, demon-hares are hunted and cooked for dinner.”
A look of horror overcame Heidi’s features. Her bottom lip wobbled. She scooped Sprinkles up protectively in her arms and hurried out of my bedroom.
I guess that answered the question as to whether I was going to be a nice sister or not.
“Theia, where’s your hat?” Mom gasped as I entered the dining room.
I was dressed like a silky meringue for God’s sake. What more did she want from me?
“I’m not wearing it,” I told
her firmly.
“Don’t be ungrateful,” Mom hissed. “William’s paying for your education and providing a roof over your head. The least you can do is wear the outfit he chose specially for you. Go and put it on.”
“Mother…” I began in a warning tone. “You don’t need a parenting book to know how ill advised it is to tell your seventeen-year-old daughter how to dress.”
She huffed at my sass.
Just then, William himself strolled in, and the topic was dropped.
Everyone turned to look at William as he positioned himself at the head of the table. My spine tingled at their automatic display of submission to the patriarchy. Once again, I thought of English manor houses.
William raised a glass. “To my new daughter, Theia.”
My stomach turned. I’d only just found out I was getting a step-father and he was already comfortable using the D word? It was too much, too soon. Dad had only been dead a year. I wasn’t ready for some new guy to step into his shoes.
I caught the look on Emerald’s face. She seemed just as grossed out with him referring to me as his daughter as I was. But dutifully, she raised her glass.
I did the same, clinking it against everyone’s in turn. The sound of crystal tinkled through the room.
The maids started to file in with delicious-smelling dishes.
“I got a gift for you,” William said to me with a delighted little smile.
I tensed. “You didn’t have to do that,” I said hurriedly. “I mean, the clothes are already plenty.”
The last thing I wanted from William was more neutral-colored hats to cover up my Elkie ears.
“Nonsense,” he said. “It’s only right to welcome you to the family.”
William clapped and the Erlik maid from before scurried in. She handed me a rectangular gift.
My stomach turned to knots. Having people watch me open gifts was my personal hell. Having a ton of people I barely knew watch me open a gift I was almost 100 percent certain I didn’t want was basically torture.
I squirmed under their gazes. Then slowly, I opened the box.
“It’s a spell book,” William said before I had a chance to work it out for myself.
My heart clenched.
“All Mages have one,” Mom added. “Remember how I wanted to get you one when you were younger?”
Remember? There was no way I could forget. Mom had been trying for years to ram my Mageness down my throat. Now she’d found the perfect way to foist it upon me, when I couldn’t refuse. She was sneaky, my mom, I had to give her that.
I looked up. “Thanks.”
As I went to place the book down something dropped from the gift wrap. It was shiny and caught the light as it fell onto the tabletop.
Emerald spotted it. Her eyes narrowed. “Is that a necklace?” Her voice was saturated with jealousy, even though she probably already had millions of pieces of jewelry to her name.
I peered down. She was right. William had brought me a necklace with a simple silver chain and a small blue sapphire pendant. It was really pretty, but I couldn’t help the sense of disquiet inside of me. Call it Elkie perception, call it paranoia, but everything just felt a bit wrong. The clothes. The spell book. The jewelry. It felt like my whole identity was being shifted before my eyes.
“Shall I help you put it on?” he asked, pretty much proving my point.
“Nah, I got this,” I said hurriedly, not wanting to feel his fingers on my neck.
I worked the clasp quickly and clipped the necklace in place. It hung down against the shimmery fabric of the dress.
“Don’t you look pretty?” William exclaimed.
Pretty? Nope. All the nopes.
Heidi looked thrilled. “Try a spell! Try a spell!”
This whole meal was making me super uncomfortable. I felt like a circus attraction, a bear in a ballgown expected to dance for everyone’s entertainment.
“Can I not?” I asked.
“Just try the first spell,” Heidi coaxed. “It will be the easiest.”
“Maybe after dinner.”
Mom pinned me with her glare. “Theia…”
Clearly, I wasn't getting out of this.
I opened the spellbook. Immediately, a small tingle spread through me. The book had induced a physical response in my body, like magnetic attraction.
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. The book felt like mine. Heat rose up my throat and I tugged at the collar of my dress.
“Well?” Heidi prompted.
My vision danced as I glanced down at the words on the page. “It’s written in another language.”
“Latin,” Emerald said haughtily. “Obviously.”
“I don’t speak Latin.”
“Don’t they teach languages in the forest?” she scoffed.
“Try,” Heidi urged, interrupting her sister. She looked so excited.
All eyes were expectantly on me as I squinted down at the page, trying to focus. The writing was in loopy cursive that only added to my difficulty. In a clumsy manner, I began to mutter the words under my breath.
Suddenly, a pop came from the candle on the table. It had sputtered, as if dying, before returning to normal.
Well, fuck me...
Heidi clapped her hands. “It’s a fire spell! Keep going!”
My hands started to shake. I turned my gaze back down to the book and continued reciting the words.
All at once, every candle on the table erupted into foot-tall flames.
Heat blasted my face. My heart flew into my mouth as I gaped at the columns of roaring fire.
Everyone pushed back their chairs. Mom clutched her chest. The girls turned their heads away from the heat and the three bird familiars took to the air, flapping their wings and squawking.
Everyone was clearly shocked. But through the flames, I caught sight of William. He hadn’t flinched. He was calmly observing the whole thing. The look of delight on his lips was unmistakable. It was as if he’d already known what was going to happen.
A chill ran down my spine. I snapped the spell book shut. The flames immediately shrank back down to normal size. A stunned silence fell.
What the heck...
Heidi began to giggle. “That was awesome!”
Emerald glared at me with jealous, beady eyes.
My heart was almost pounding out of my chest. I kept my gaze fixed on William. He still had that knowing look in his eye, like he’d known exactly what was going to happen. I got the distinct impression there was something off about him. Something weird.
As though completely unfazed, he cut his steak and took a delicate bite. “Theia, you’re going to make an excellent Mage.”
His words echoed the ones Mom had told me a million times. But I’d never wanted to be a Mage. I was my father’s daughter. Elkie, through and through. If I honed my Mage magic, it would feel like I was shrinking Dad. Mom may have already replaced him with a new model and a swanky mansion, but I wouldn’t.
I shut the spell book.
4
I peered out the passenger window of Emerald’s car as she pulled into the parking lot of Zenith. The only word I could think of to describe my new school was opulent.
It was so big it looked more like a college than a high school. It was several stories high and made from a combination of glass and brick. There was a belltower but instead of a bell, it had a sun sculpture that appeared to be made of solid gold.
A whistle escaped from my lips as I opened the passenger door and unfolded myself from the cramped position I’d been in.
I’d just shared a very awkward carpool in the back of Emerald’s convertible, squished in with Heidi who talked incessantly and Nikolas who didn’t talk at all. Emerald attempted to flirt with him the whole way but was completely unsuccessful, which was kind of amusing. At least I wasn’t the only recipient of his cold shoulder.
The only enjoyable part of the ride had been when I’d texted Gus a picture of my gross school uniform and freshly dyed dark
brown hair, and he’d sent back an essay’s worth of crying-laughing emojis. I also managed to sneakily take a photo of the side of Nikolas’s head without him noticing, but there wasn’t enough of him in the picture for Gus to pass his hot-or-not judgment. Not that I needed Gus’s opinion on that; Nikolas Storm was a Grade-A hottie.
As I craned my head up to look at the solid-gold sun in the belltower, Nikolas appeared at my side. He, too, looked up. His frown was so intense, his thick, dark eyebrows nearly met in the middle.
“It’s a bit OTT for a bunch of teenagers,” I quipped.
Nikolas slid his gaze over to me. He said nothing. Then he marched off.
Rude.
“Hey, Nik, wait up,” Emerald cried in a pathetically breathless manner.
She hurried after him, dragging Heidi along with her, the younger sister hanging on like the intimidated freshman she was.
“Don’t worry about me,” I called out sarcastically. “I can find my own way around.”
I sighed and marched toward the main building. There was a fountain in the middle of the square, around which sat a bunch of Celestials. Their uniforms had been specially tailored to accommodate their wings and they sported an array of different colored feathers. They watched me pass with judgy expressions, so I kept my chin up high.
The entry doors to Zenith were made of glass that opened automatically as I approached. I stepped inside and was immediately overpowered by the stench of fresh lilies and the blinding glare of a shit ton of white marble.
It was everywhere. Marble floors. Marble columns. Marble staircase. The whole place was a lurid shiny white color, like the interior designer had been given a one-word brief: Heaven. I squinted against the glare.
As I followed the signs toward reception so I could sign in as a new student, a cluster of Faes watched me with disdainful expressions. One of them — a skinny blond girl with papery wings that looked like oil on water — whispered to the others about my ‘gross pointy ears.’
