by Alicia Fabel
“That’s how I’d feel about shooting anyone in the face,” Annessa insisted.
“Mmm-hmm.” Ian lifted a bow off of a hook along the half wall behind them and held it out toward her. “Here.”
“We’re still doing this?”
“Yep.” He pointed down range. The targets became gremlins.
Those things had haunted her nightmares her whole childhood. And he’d obviously seen that at some point while nosing around her head.
“You can kill them once and for all,” he told her.
Annessa lifted an arrow into place, drawing on what she’d seen on TV. The tip sagged downward, pointing at the ground. “I have no idea how to do this.”
“Clearly.” Ian coughed to hide his laugh when she gave him a dirty look.
“Making fun of me was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”
“I told you it would be fun. I never said for who,” Ian teased. Then he helped her notch the arrow and pull the string back. He lifted her elbow and hands until her arms started to burn from holding everything in place. “And now, let go,” he instructed.
She did. And the arrow didn’t hit anywhere near a gremlin. It was kind of fun, though. So Annessa chose another arrow and tried again. With Ian calling out tips, she eventually nicked a gremlin in the arm. It immediately started to cry, to Annessa’s dismay. Ian found the entire scenario hilarious, of course. When Annessa covered a yawn with her hand, the gremlins winked out.
“We’re done?” she asked.
“You can keep shooting if you want.” But Ian’s easy smile slipped for just a moment.
Annessa put a hand on one hip and waited for him to explain.
“You yawned,” he said.
“And?”
“And that tends to happen to people when I mess with their heads,” he explained. “So no more gremlins for now because your mind needs a break.”
Annessa made an “O” shape with her lips. “That’s why the suits were yawning the other day, like they were bored out of their heads.”
“Congratulations. Now you know one of the secrets to my superpower.”
“It’s a secret?”
“So don’t go spreading it around,” he confirmed.
Annessa felt the knowledge join the bundle of other Ian-secrets under the shroud. “Because then people will know if you sneak in to give them a lobotomy?” she guessed.
“Correct. And if Phyton found out, it might be bad for me if I’m ever be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Okey dokey. We’ll just file that under Classified for Guild Security, then.”
“Look at you,” Ian teased. “Learning the ways of the Academy.”
Annessa looked up at the sound of buzzing. It was Bee Girl. She navigated the range without a hitch and made her way to the opposite end. As she settled into a comfortable stance, her swarm spread out like a cloud.
So disturbing.
Just don’t take a swipe at any and they will leave you alone, Ian said.
Bee Girl pulled back the bow and let her arrow fly. It hit dead center of the bullseye.
Annessa gawked. I thought she was blind.
She is.
Then how’d she do that?
The bees, Ian explained.
Like sonar or something? Annessa asked.
Not sure about the specifics. Never asked.
Because it would be rude?
Ian looked at her like she was crazy. You think I care about offending people?
Annessa cracked a smile. You’re scared of bees, aren’t you?
Of course I am. Ian shivered.
“Stop staring, Elion,” Bee Girl shouted suddenly. Only, she yelled it at Annessa. Right as she sent an arrow for Annessa’s head.
Annessa screeched and ducked before she realized the arrow had stopped moving. Bee Girl still held her bow suspended in the air. In fact, everything around Annessa had stopped. Even the bees studded the air with stillness. It seemed Annessa finally had a reason to be grateful for her new trick.
The arrow stuttered, fighting its way forward through time. With Annessa’s head out of the way, it was headed for Ian’s shoulder. His eyes were frozen wide with shock. Annessa had to assume that Bee Girl didn’t go around shooting people very often. Just before the arrow flung back into motion, Annessa snatched it out of the air. Ian blinked and then eyed the arrow in her hand. At the sound of a thud, Annessa turned to see that Bee Girl had resumed shooting arrows into the target. Like she hadn’t just tried to kill someone.
What was wrong with that psycho?
As if Bee Girl knew Annessa was looking again, she met her gaze head-on. In a flash, the world shivered and Annessa wasn’t standing on the archery range anymore. Instead, she stood in someone’s living room. She’d never been there before, and she didn’t think she was actually there in that moment. It was more like a dream.
The pictures on the wall had been knocked to the floor. Annessa was sure there was a smear of blood across the wallpaper. At her feet lay the body of a stranger. And then the room shifted. It became a little girl’s bedroom with pink walls and flowered curtains. A child screamed behind her, and a woman begged someone to stop. Annessa’s chest grew heavy. She didn’t want to look, but it was like the channel changed and she was forced to see it anyway. And she couldn’t look away.
A woman was tied to a chair. She’d been beaten. Her head lolled to the side. And with the last of her strength, she begged the men to spare her baby girl. Delicate fangs curved down over the men’s bottom lips. The girl was two or maybe three. She had on footed pajamas with pink stripes. One of the Phyton held her eyes open with his fingers. The other held a cigarette lighter.
“Tell us where to find the Legend,” the man with the lighter said to the woman. But she shook her head. Tears streamed down her face. And then came screaming like Annessa had never heard before.
Annessa jolted from the scene when Ian yanked the arrow from her fingers. Her chin wobbled as she tried to acclimate herself to reality. It was like waking up and not knowing exactly where she was. And even though she knew it had only been a dream, she couldn’t shake the horror of it. Especially when she looked at Bee Girl’s unseeing eyes. A pit formed in Annessa’s throat. She had a sick feeling that it had been real many years ago.
Ian tugged Annessa’s arm. “Come on.”
Her legs were wooden as Ian propelled her away from the archery range. She stumbled and tried to forget the images seared in her mind. When Ian stopped, they were in the shade of the training center. Annessa leaned over, gasping for air and choking on the sob in her chest.
“It was so bad, Ian,” she whimpered.
“I know.” Ian wrapped his arms around her and held her up when she sagged. “I saw it second-hand.”
What’s happening to me?
Ian pointed at Annessa’s new shadow. I think that came with baggage.
Annessa’s mind flew over the implications. It wasn’t just little time-freezing blips anymore. Her new abilities were evolving. And now Ian knew. It wouldn’t be long before others figured it out too. She was never escaping the Academy.
“After what you just saw, you still think the Academy is the thing to fear?” Ian asked her.
Annessa pulled away from him. Her desire to get away from the Academy was complicated. And she didn’t want Ian nosing around her reasons, so she blurred her mind.
“You only do that when you’re trying not to think about him,” Ian pointed out.
“I do not.” Only it was a lie, and she acknowledged that fact clear enough for Ian to know it too. “Elion isn’t the only problem,” she insisted. “I don’t agree with killing off Phyton indiscriminately.”
“I think you will find that a lot people around here feel the same way,” Ian replied.
“But?” Annessa prompted.
“But fear makes people see bad guys everywhere,” Ian admitted. “Even where there aren’t any.”
“I don’t want to be that kind of person.”
/>
“You’re obviously not,” Ian said. “After all you’ve lost and seen, you still refuse to condemn their kind. And if nothing so far has swayed you, the Academy won’t be able to either.”
“Elion always told me that the Academy would make him into something he didn’t want to be,” Annessa shared. “And everyone here thinks that if it has fangs, it needs to be dead.”
“He wasn’t talking about the Academy making him into a bigot,” Ian assured. “He was talking about becoming a Legend. That’s what he’s been fighting against his whole life. The biggotry, on the other hand, comes from being a constant target of the worst Phyton out there. The people from this mountain can’t see Phyton as individuals anymore, but you can. You haven’t been closed off from the rest of the world like they have been.”
“They encourage each other’s hatred.” Annessa shook her head. “I don’t want any part of a people like that.”
“People surround themselves with others who confirm what they believe,” Ian said. “That’s Psychology 101.”
Annessa raised her brows. “You actually paid attention in one of your classes?”
“I was trying to impress the TA.” Ian grinned. “She was a tough nut to crack, so I had to resort to harsh measures.”
“By harsh measures, you mean learning.”
“Like I said. Harsh.” Ian sobered. “All it means is you get a lot of scared people together and it’s like adding fuel to the fire.”
“I don’t want to become fuel.”
“I thought we already established you’re non-flammable,” Ian replied. “And the Academy could use another levelheaded diamond among all the coal.”
“Did you use lines like that on the TA?” Annessa teased.
“I know, right?” Ian winked. “It makes no sense how it didn’t work.”
Annessa rolled her eyes. “You seem pretty diamond-like to me too.”
“Aww, you’re sweet.” Ian patted her arm. “I like you too, but you should know that I’m not interested in you like that.”
“You know what I meant.” Annessa gave him a speculative look. “But since you brought it up, what is your type?”
“This conversation just went off the rails,” Ian evaded. “I think you’re trying to avoid the topic.”
“The topic of diamonds?”
“The topic of why you’re still so desperate to run away. Even now that you seem to belong here.”
“If anyone finds out I’m less than normal, what do you think will happen?”
“You’re not going to make me answer that when you already know the answer, are you?” Ian asked her.
“Sometimes a girl just wants to be told she’s wrong.”
Ian barked a laugh. “Not any normal girl. And you’re not wrong.”
Translation: She’d be stuck with the Academy and guilds forever. She’d be in a constant back and forth with Elion forever.
“Ah ha,” Ian cried. “I knew that was the real reason you want to leave so badly.”
Dang it. “That’s not true.”
“Yeah, it is,” Ian said gently. “I’ve known since I met you that you’re scared of getting hung up on him again.”
“It’s stupid, right? I know why he left, but I still can’t get over this fear of being hurt again.”
“Being scared of rejection is far from stupid,” Ian argued. “But why do you think he would push you away this time?”
“All he cares about is sending me away,” Annessa explained.
“Because he thinks that’s what you want.” Ian’s eyes lit with understanding. “It’s not what you want. But if you keep hating him, it’s easier to convince yourself that you do. And if he never knows he has the opportunity to keep you, there’s no chance for him to decide he doesn’t—no chance for him to have the power to hurt you again.”
“I can’t go through feeling like there’s something wrong with me again. Like I’m unwantable.”
“It makes sense,” Ian said and then added, “But if he didn’t want you, he wouldn’t have bargained what he did for you.”
“What bargain?”
“He bought your right to walk away from the Academy by agreeing to master the Legend inside him.”
“And that’s dangerous for him,” Annessa concluded, knowing that if Ian’s abilities came with a price, Elion’s probably did too.
“Legends aren’t legendary because life handed them unicorns and rainbows,” Ian confirmed.
Annessa wrapped her arms around her waist. “What will happen to him?”
“I don’t know,” Ian admitted. “I do know that he’s not uptight by choice. He has to keep exact control over his very existence, or things will go to hell in a handbasket. And then there’s you. Making that task very difficult for him.”
Which would be a great reason for Elion to decide he doesn’t want her. And a good reason for her to leave no matter what. For his sake.
I think he’d rather have some difficulty if he got to keep you.
Annessa scowled. “I thought you shielded my thoughts. But you can still hear everything, can’t you?”
Ian winced. “You said you wanted space.”
“So you pretended I had it to make me happy.”
He smiled charmingly. “Isn’t that what a friend does?”
“Can anyone shield their minds from you?” Annessa asked.
“Now that’s a secret I’m going to keep to myself,” Ian replied. “No matter how much I like you, Trouble.”
“Why do you like me?”
Ian shrugged. “You didn’t run away when you learned what I am.”
“You’re that easy?”
Ian laughed. “Most people don’t find being an open book easy.”
“Eh.” Annessa shrugged. “If you know all my thoughts and stick around, you’re the best kind of friend—you’re for real.”
“You know, I can see it now,” Ian said.
“See what?”
“Why Elion would do anything for you. And I’m not even interested in the bonus benefit of getting into your pants.”
Annessa smacked his arm. “You’re horrible.”
“You know he’s still in there.” Ian nodded at the training center. “All hot and bothered, thanks to you. And taking it out on the heavyweights.”
“I am not going back in there,” Annessa protested.
“That’s fair,” Ian said. “First, you need to decide if you’re going to stay or run away.”
“I didn’t say that,” Annessa blustered.
Ian tapped her head. “Didn’t need to.”
Annessa sang the only verse of Lavender’s Blue that she knew until Ian tore off down the road on his bike to escape her.
Annessa padded through the trickling stream to the fountain. The egg filled with an ocean was still there with the others. Ian was there too.
“Why are all those others dead?” she asked.
“They aren’t dead. They just don’t belong to you,” Ian explained.
“This one is mine?” She touched the shell that warmed her finger and then burned it with ice.
Ian nodded.
“I forgot how beautiful it was,” she admitted.
“That must’ve made you sad,” he commented.
It had. “I don’t want to forget it again.”
“How will you remember?” Ian asked her.
“I’ll stay here,” she decided.
“You can’t. It’s too cold.”
Ian was right. Her breath came out in a puff of fog, and her toes were numb. “Then, I’ll take it with me.”
“What if someone steals it from you?”
Annessa shook her head. “I’ll hide it.”
“Okay,” Ian approved. “You should hurry, though.”
“Why?”
Ian became Sam. “You don’t want the revenants to see you.”
Annessa scooped up the ocean egg. It slipped easily out of the basin’s edge when she tugged on it. She tucked it inside her shirt before it scor
ched her fingertips. “I’ll be careful,” she promised Sam.
Once again, Annessa jolted from sleep when she walked through the chamber’s door. Apparently, she needed to start wearing socks because getting cold feet in bed was doing weird things to her REM cycles.
19
Annessa did a good job of not staring at Elion, while half-listening to Sam talk about some campus thing happening later that night.
Territorial Barbie plunked down on the edge of the table beside Elion, flipped her head to the side, and asked, “Why does the Canadian girl keep staring at you? It’s weird.”
Elion frowned and immediately looked up to meet Annessa’s eyes. Annessa wanted to protest that she hadn’t been staring, even though she had. But getting flustered would just make her look guilty, so she gave Territorial Barbie a bored look instead.
“Uh-oh,” Annessa said to Elion. “I think Barbie’s flipped her head so many times her brain got scrambled. You should make sure she gets that checked out.”
Elion’s eyes lit with something.
Shoot. Annessa had just identified Barbie for him. She returned her focus to Sam, who was hiding her smile by taking long sips of lemonade. Sam lifted an eyebrow behind the rim of her glass. Double shoot. The bimbo wasn’t the only one who’d noticed Annessa staring. Annessa shook her head and rolled her eyes, but her cheeks flushed.
Damn. Kinda sorry I missed that. Ian slid onto the bench.
Why? You saw it on instant replay in my head.
Yeah but it’s always better in real-time. Ian looked over at Quinn, who was consumed by whatever book she was reading. As usual. He chose a grape from his plate and tossed it on her open book. Quinn looked up and seemed surprised he was there. Her surprise quickly morphed into a scowl as she stuffed her book into her bag and left.
“Bye Sis,” Axton called to her retreating back, clearly giving her a hard time about leaving without a word.
Quinn kept going but did give a minimal wave over her shoulder without slowing.
“What did you do to piss her off?” Axton’s already impressive chest seemed to grow broader as he inhaled slowly through wide nostrils. His chocolaty eyes hardened.
