by Gabby Fawkes
I slunk into the corner and started to undress.
Emerald was standing with Oil Slick, the skinny blond Fae who’d whispered about my ears in the hallway, and a couple of other girls who looked just as mean. They took it in turns to giggle behind their hands at me as I slipped into my ugly gym clothes. I rolled my eyes so hard it felt like they’d pop out.
Just then, the Fae girl from History came waltzing round the corner. She must have changed in the toilet cubicle because she was already in her gym clothes. Without the frumpy school uniform I could see she had killer curves and ridiculously long legs. Her dark skin shimmered with the golden hue of Fae glitter.
She made eye contact with no one as she headed into the gym. She held herself with the dignity of someone who chose to be an outsider, rather someone who was forced to be. Not to mention she was wearing hot-pink tennis shoes, a choice someone who’d been ostracized would usually avoid.
She was definitely an intriguing one.
I headed out of the locker room and into the gymnasium. Of course it was state of the art, with a huge domed ceiling and bright spotlights that made the polished floor gleam. A series of blue mats had been set out.
The door at the other end of the hall opened and in came the boys. Nikolas Storm was one of them.
My hands begin to tremble. If I’d thought Nikolas was hot before, seeing him in sports gear ratcheted it up by about a million percent. His lithe physique was now on full display, and the outline of a six-pack was visible through his tight black long-sleeved tee. My pulse started to race.
Nikolas’s black owl familiar flew off to a dedicated perch attached to one wall. It looked oddly out of place amongst all the robins, sparrows and finches, as did Emerald’s brightly colored quetzal, which was busy preening itself.
While I waited for the teacher to turn up, I took a seat on the bleachers. According to my schedule, this class was not taught by a nun, which I was relieved about. The thought of Sister Celeste in shorts made me want to puke in my mouth.
A group of Celestial guys passed me, heading for some seats a few rows back. As they went, one of them said, “Yeah, I’d hit that. But she’d have to hide the ears.”
He was obviously talking about me. And, unlike Oil Slick, he’d obviously intended for me to hear.
Revulsion raced through me. I turned my head sharply. A Celestial boy with huge black and brown feathered wings was looking at me with a smug expression. He wiggled his eyebrows.
I flipped him the middle finger.
When I turned back to face the front, I noticed the Fae girl was smirking.
Just then, Coach Lassiter entered. He was Demonborn. From his gray rock-like skin, I could tell he was Azag.
Everyone stood up and sauntered down to the front, forming a loose line as he jogged toward us.
“We have two new students today,” he said, reading off his clipboard. “Nikolas Storm and Theia Foxglove.”
I glanced over at Nikolas. He kept his face to the front. Still ignoring me.
Fine. Two can play that game.
I turned back to face Coach Lassiter.
“I’m going to need to assess their strengths and weaknesses,” he continued. “So the rest of you warm up by doing laps. No flying, Trevor,” he added sternly, glaring at the Celestial jerk with the black and brown wings.
Everyone groaned and went off to run in circles, leaving Nikolas and me alone together. As we stood side by side, with just a foot of space between us, I felt like there was an invisible magnet trying to pull me closer to him. I could almost feel the coolness coming off his skin. But Nikolas’s face was completely impassive. It was like I didn’t even exist to him.
Coach Lassiter opened his arms to the mats in front of us. “Show me what you’ve got.”
“What do you want us to do?” I asked. “Run? Jump? Climb? You name it, I can do it.”
“Fight,” Coach Lassiter said.
My stomach dropped. I really didn’t want to fight my crush, especially considering he seemed to have taken an instant disliking to me. But then again, at least it would force him to notice me. And I’d get to touch him again and feel that tingly sensation run through my body.
Okay, so maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.
Nikolas and I stepped onto the mat and faced one another. Up close, I could see that his irises were so dark they were almost black. Like big voids I could get lost in...
Nikolas’s fist slammed into my shoulder. Pain bloomed from the spot his hard knuckles had hit bone. I staggered back, surprised by the blow.
Pull it together, Theia, or he’ll whoop your ass.
As I’d stumbled, the necklace William had gifted me had bounced into my face. I should’ve taken it off but had completely forgotten I was wearing it. I quickly tucked it away and pushed all sexy thoughts from my mind. Now I meant business.
I took up a fighting stance and tuned in to my Elkie powers. My senses heightened. I homed in on Nikolas, fists pulled up to my chest defensively, my eyes locked on his.
But as we danced around the mat on the balls of our feet, a strange sensation tugged inside of me. A prickle had started to race across my skin. I realized with shock that it was the same feeling I’d had when I’d recited the flame spell over dinner. My Mage magic was stirring as if instinctively roused by the fight.
I pushed it down, trying to quell the flame growing inside of me. I was Elkie. I didn't need magic. This was my chance to prove it.
Nikolas jabbed a right hook.
I ducked, springing on my toes.
He missed and jabbed again.
This time, I was expecting it. I punched out with my weaker left hand, slamming it into the part of his chest he’d left exposed. My fist collided with a thwack.
Nikolas staggered back, looking furious. He righted himself and immediately attempted to retaliate, punching out.
I dodged easily.
It had been a sloppy attempt. Predictable. Thanks to my Elkie senses, I could see what he was about to do before he did it, and with my Elkie agility I could get out of the way. He’d have to be more creative than that if he wanted to win.
His third attempt failed as well.
I couldn’t help but smirk as our eyes met.
But Nikolas didn’t return the gesture. In fact, he seemed really wound up. Either he took Battle Class super seriously or he actually had some kind of vendetta against me.
Suddenly, he charged.
That, I had not anticipated.
He slammed into me, shoulder first.
I let out a loud “oof” before losing my footing and tumbling back, hitting my back hard against the mat.
Nikolas fell on top of me. He landed heavily, knocking all the air out of me. His body crushed me against the floor, making it even hard to draw in breath.
The noise of us hitting the mat caught the attention of everyone else in the hall. They stopped running and hurried over to watch, forming a cluster around us. Emerald and Oil Slick glared at me with jealousy.
I growled as I writhed around beneath Nikolas, hitting out with my fists, trying to connect with any part of him. I caught the side of his head with my right fist, and his ribcage with my left. But he was too heavy for me to push off. I felt helpless, stuck beneath him like that.
He heaved himself up into a sitting position, straddling me and pinning my arms to the mat. I could feel the taut muscles in his thighs against my hips. The tendons in his arms were straining.
Then he peered down at me. For the first time, it seemed as if he actually saw me.
Something flashed behind his eyes. He hesitated. His gaze softened.
The electricity I’d felt when we’d first touched came back, crackling through my body at the place where our skin connected.
Then he punched me in the face.
Pain exploded from my cheek. I cried out and tasted blood in my mouth. Asshole! Now I was really riled up.
As anger pulsed through me, the tingly magic feeling came back. This
time it was even stronger than when I’d made the candles explode. And it was growing and growing. It felt uncontrollable.
Suddenly, I realized I was about to blow.
Before I knew what was happening, two huge orbs of white light burst from my palms. They blasted into Nikolas with the strength of a gale. He flew up into the air and landed on the hardwood floor with a crunch.
Everyone gasped.
“Nik!” Emerald screamed, running over to him.
I pulled myself to a sitting position, dazed, and stared at my hands.
What the actual heck...
Up ahead, I could see Nikolas lying in a crumpled heap. He was motionless. I’d knocked him out.
All around me, my classmates stared, all wearing matching expressions of shock.
Coach Lassiter’s face was the most furious of them all. “You used magic? What the hell were you thinking?”
“I didn’t mean to!” I cried as I leapt to my feet. “Is he okay? Did I hurt him?”
Coach Lassiter jogged away to Nikolas. “Let’s get him to the nurse. Trevor, can you?”
The Celestial jerk flew over and scooped Nikolas’s floppy body up into his bulky arms. I watched, helplessly, as he flew him out the gymnasium.
I looked down at my hands with shock. What the hell was going on with me?
6
To no one’s surprise, I found myself sitting alone at lunch. In half a day I’d managed to get myself a reputation as a dangerous troublemaker and now everyone was leaving me alone. Not that I minded. They all seemed like uptight assholes anyway.
As I ate my sandwich, I called Gus.
“Babe!” he cried as he answered the phone. “How’s everything going at Condom High?”
“Everyone sucks,” I blurted. “The teachers suck. The students suck. The security guards suck.”
“Security guards?”
“Uh, it’s a long story. I should probably save it for tonight.”
We’d arranged to have an actual talk that evening after school. I was only phoning him now because I needed a supportive ear.
“About tonight,” Gus said. “My parents are sending me to camp. I think it’s fat camp. I guess they’re worried I’ll flunk high school if I don’t do something about my love handles. Anyway, I leave tonight and there’s no phone reception there, so we’re not going to be able to talk.”
My stomach dropped. Gus was my lifeline. My confidant. Who else would listen to me complain?
“Fat camp?” I said with a disdainful tone. “How long for?”
“Long enough to buff up, I presume.” He laughed, but I knew Gus well enough to know he was putting on an act. He was sensitive underneath it all. “Uh, T-T, I’ve got to go. Daisy Bamford just knocked Ivy Fisher’s lunch tray into her face and now they’re going to fight. Good bye, I love you, good luck with the assholes.”
“No Gus, wait!”
The call cut out.
My shoulders slumped. I chucked my cell phone onto the table. What I wouldn’t give right now to see a brawl between Daisy Bamford and Ivy Fisher.
Just then, a figure moved into my line of sight. I looked up. It was the Fae girl from History and Battle Class.
“I’m Retta,” she announced, taking a seat. “My mom’s Henrietta Sugar Plum. The one going against Geiser in the elections.”
My mouth dropped open. “What?”
“Yeah. I figured I should get that out there right away.” She smoothed a hand over her short black ‘fro. “You know, I thought you were another one of those Geiser losers. But when you said all that shit in History Class to Sister Celeste I was like, ‘Awesome. This chick is cool.’”
“Uh… Thanks.” I blinked, surprised by her blunt way of speaking. It was refreshing. “You’re a Sugar Plum? As in a Sugar Plum Fairy?”
She winced and held her palm up to my face. “Do not use that word in my presence. It is so rude.”
“What? Fairy? But they use that word in songs all the time!”
“It’s called re-appropriation, dummy. As in, I can say it but you can’t. You know, I tried to get some books taken off the curriculum because they were full of that word, page after page after page of it, like it was totally no big deal. And guess what? I lost! The frickin’ PTA bans books with even a whiff of sexual content, but books with the f-word are apparently fine.”
I widened my eyes. Retta Sugar Plum was passionate. A fire burned inside of her. I liked it.
I held my hands in truce position. “Got it. No more F-word. So, would you say you’re a bit right on?”
“I’m a Sugar Plum. Of course I’m right on! And yeah, I guess I’m rich, but I’m not spoiled like these Zenith brats. My parents taught me to work hard. It’s why I hate everyone in this school. They’re so entitled. So narrow-minded. Most of them only pretend to like me because of my connections.” She pointed to a table of boys. Among them was Trevor, the Celestial I’d given the middle finger to. “Trust fund kids. Avoid them.” Then she pointed at Emerald’s table where she sat with Oil Slick and a bunch of other blond girls. “Two-faced bitches. Avoid them.” Next she pointed at a group of serious-looking Celestials. “Pious, religious freaks. Avoid them.” She craned her head to see who else was around, then stopped when her gaze settled on a group of Mages whose familiars were all crows, ravens, rooks and jays. “Ew. Nerds. Avoid them.”
I laughed. “Seems like there’s a lot of people I’m supposed to avoid. Is anyone safe?”
She shrugged. “The stoners are all right.” Then she grinned. “And me, of course.”
For the first time that day, I smiled. It felt like I’d actually made a friend in this awful place.
Retta leaned her head on her fist and looked at me intently with dark, mischievous eyes. “You know, you’re the first Elkie I’ve ever met. Isn’t that terrible? You need to tell me literally everything about being Elkie right now this second.”
So I did. I told her about Harriman, and my bow, and how significant an Elkie’s weapon is. I told her about our sensitive ears and penchant for hunting and all the demon-squirrels I’d killed because of William Geiser. Then I told her about the spellbook and my weird experience casting Mage magic for the first time.
Retta widened her eyes as I finished my story about the candles. “That was really your first time? I mean, I saw what happened in Battle Class. I figured you’d conjured that badass spell on purpose.”
My stomach clenched at the memory of the light ball, and the way Nikolas had flown through the air. I shook my head. “Honestly, I had no idea that would happen. I don’t even know where it came from.”
Retta started to laugh. “You really gave new-kid Nik a pounding. Not that he doesn’t deserve it.”
My eyebrow twitched with curiosity. It sounded like Retta already knew Nikolas and already disliked him. “You’re not a fan?”
She rolled her eyes. “He’s the moon mayor’s son. That whole family supports Geiser. Of course I dislike him.”
“Oh. Right.” It was a political thing. I shrugged. “Geiser supporter or not, I think he’s pretty hot. And I really didn’t mean to go all crazy Mage on his ass.”
Retta waved a dismissive hand. “He’ll be fine. The nurse here is one of those Demonborn healers. Adarna or whatever they’re called. And I guess he is kind of hot in a skinny-but-strong slightly-alternative way.”
“Too bad he completely ignores me,” I added a little glumly. “He’s been so rude.”
“Oh, look,” Retta said. “Speak of the devil...”
She nodded her head over my shoulder. I turned to see Nikolas entering the dining hall.
I felt my face blanch.
He appeared to be intact, with not a single bruise marring his handsome face. Considering how far my magic had thrown him and how horrible the crunch noise had been when he’d landed, I really thought I’d done some serious damage. But the Adarna nurse must have fixed him, just like Retta had suggested she would.
Whether he’d been healed or not, I still fel
t terrible for injuring him in the first place.
I watched him stride toward the food counters, my insides squirming.
Just then, someone stood up and announced, “The verdict’s back in the Vanpari Trials!”
I caught Retta’s eye. She looked just as curious as I was.
In cases where a crime had been committed by someone of one class against someone of the other, judges were usually extra cautious. The sentencing part of the trial was usually handed over to the appropriate court, if not the entire case, in order to counteract claims of bias. The very fact the Vanpari Five Trial was being held in sun court was pretty controversial.
The boy who’d made the announcement ran over to the large flat screen TV on the wall and turned it to a 24-hour news channel.
The live image showed a courtroom with the twelve jurors in their seats. Ticker tape running across the bottom of the screen read, ‘Breaking News: Jury Find Vanpari Five Guilty Of The Gruesome Slaying Of Celestial Woman.’
Standing in the defense box were four of the five Vanpari on trial. They looked like teenagers. They were all hanging their heads in shame. One of their shoulders shook as if he were crying.
I was shocked by their youth. I thought again of the Vanpari boy I’d seen in Bear Mountain. He definitely looked to be the right age.
In the dining hall, all the students were watching with the same rapt attention as those in the courtroom. A hush fell as the judge walked into the room, took his seat, and began to speak.
“A guilty verdict has been agreed upon for the murder of Carmella Reed. I find from the gruesome evidence of this trial, that the only appropriate punishment is for you to be transferred to the New York Department of Corrections whereby the sentence of death shall be carried out.”
All around the dining hall, people started to cheer.
I hunkered down in my seat, stunned by the reaction. Death? A sun court had ordered the death penalty on five moon-class boys? It was unheard of. There’d be some kind of fallout for sure.
I caught Retta’s eye. She looked just as disturbed by the outcome as I felt. No doubt she knew how much discontent this would stir up. When things already felt precarious between the suns and the moons, the outcome of this trial could definitely create a backlash.
