“I guess I didn’t want to show it off. I mean, I don’t see any of the seniors running around in their Ascended forms.”
“What does running around have to do with practice? Do athletes run with a ball throughout the day, or do they set aside hours to practice and hone their skills each week? Every day?”
Her well-made point made me shift restlessly from foot to foot. “I understand. I’ll practice, I promise.”
“Good. Now, do you know how you summoned sunlight when you faced Carmilla?”
“No. I was scared witless, and all I could think of was protecting Holly.”
“Your natural instincts are strong, but you can’t rely on them to always help you. You need to learn to channel those abilities on command. With my help, you will be able to do so.”
For the next thirty minutes, she had me practice my Faerie Fire. Each time I conjured up a small handful of flames, she swatted my wrist and made me try again, until the fire engulfed my hand. Once she was satisfied with the size, she conjured targets for me to hit, but most of my flames sizzled out once they struck—which had happened when Gabriel confronted me with the phony wendigo in Tir na Nog.
“Not bad. Your aim is better than I expected.”
“Gabriel taught me to shoot last year, and I kept it up over the summer.”
“At least you’ve practiced something.” She checked her watch. “I expect to see some improvement on Thursday.”
“Professor?”
“Yes?”
“If you don’t mind my asking, how do you know all this?”
She studied me, eyes unreadable behind her glasses. “Ask me again another time, Miss Corazzi. For now, I suggest you get some rest. You have lessons tonight. Were this class worth a grade and credit, I would consider today’s performance to be worth less than an F.”
Leaving me with a bruised ego, Tristal strode away.
5
Shifters Gone Wild
Despite my enthusiasm for the weekend, I spent Saturday and Sunday stretched across the couch while my friends made plans to have fun without me.
They’d invited me and all, but my body refused to cooperate and do anything but collapse in a pitiful sprawl, alternating between the sofa and Liadan’s beanbag. Holly had retreated to her coffin Saturday morning and hadn’t emerged yet. Lucky bitch.
The second week of school hadn’t been any better than the first, perhaps compounded by the fact that Riordan and Tristal had added personal lessons to my crowded course load. By the end of Thursday’s practice, I felt like a ratty dishcloth that had been wrung dry. I’d still had to report to boot camp that night.
“We should ask again,” Liadan’s voice carried from the stairs. She moved around to the front of the couch and gazed down at me with sympathetic, worried eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you?”
“Nah, I’m fine,” came out in a drowsy slur.
Pilar turned the television to a music station, dimmed the flat screen’s brightness, and shut the living room blinds, pitching the room into semi-darkness. “Well, if you need anything, send us a text.”
The bell buzzed.
I slipped out of consciousness again, stirring to the sound of Liadan saying, “She’s on the couch.”
Gabriel’s voice broke through the lingering haze of intermittent sleep. “Bad time for a visit?”
“Oh, no. We are leaving to see a movie,” Pilar said. “Maybe she’ll get up for you.”
The door clicked shut, and then Gabriel’s booted footfalls approached.
“Wakey-wakey, lazybones.”
“I’m not asleep. I’m just too tired to get up and do anything.”
He entered my field of view, leaning over the back of the couch to look down at me. “You had all weekend to sleep. Now it’s time for dinner.”
The mention of food made my stomach grumble in an unflattering way. Protesting back muscles screamed and strained as I rolled into a sitting position. “I’m not cooking for you.”
Gabriel moved into the kitchen. “I know how to cook, remember? Besides, leftovers will do.”
He removed a box of leftover pizza from the fridge then paused to stare at the door where Pilar had pinned our weekly household duties. “Dude, she put up a chore wheel?”
I sighed. “Yeah. A couple days ago.”
He squinted at it then glanced over his shoulder at the sink overflowing with dishes. “Looks like someone isn’t pulling their weight.”
“Shut up.”
“C’mon, I’ll help you wash them.”
“Back home, we have this thing called a dishwasher,” I grumbled.
“Think of it as motivation to learn the associated glamour.”
With his help, it wasn’t so bad, except he made me scrub while he rinsed. Then we nuked the leftover slices of four-day-old pepperoni with extra cheese and went back to the couch. There were only five slices, and we wolfed them down in minutes.
“So, why aren’t you out with your friends?” he asked.
“Why aren’t you with yours?”
“I guess I just wanted to be with you.”
His words turned me all warm and fuzzy inside.
Then he sighed. “Okay, and I kinda owe Rodrigo my share of the rent. Figured I’d avoid him until my last client pays for their photos and I actually have some cash to give him.”
“Rodrigo will understand.”
“Yeah, he does, but I still feel bad about it.”
“So…” I bit my lip and touched his knee. “What happened over the summer? You haven’t said much about it.”
“You really want to know?”
“I wouldn’t ask otherwise.”
Gabriel sighed and set his empty plate on the coffee table. “Jada dropped by. A lot. Dad is trying to be understanding about it, but Mom… she really likes Jada, and she said I’m being unfair. We’d be married right now if she had her way, and since my dad is pussy-whipped, she made him stop adding money to my bank account.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. He passed me a few hundred on the sly before I drove up here, but Mom wears the pants in the family.”
“Our mothers would get along well.”
“Heh. Well, maybe one day they can meet. Though I’m not sure if that’d be a good or bad thing.”
“Well, my mom thinks you’re nice, and I’m pretty sure she figured out we’re dating.”
We were still on the couch three hours later when Liadan and Pilar returned from the movie. Gabriel had an arm around my shoulders, and I’d drowsed on and off, my cheek resting against the warm hollow beneath his chin.
He shifted lazily beneath me. “How was the movie?”
“Amazing.” Liadan collapsed into the seat on the sofa beside us and gushed for five minutes about the special effects, the romance, and how much she couldn’t wait for the sequel. Gabriel never interrupted her, and he smiled the entire time.
“Maybe I’ll check it out next time I’m in the city,” he said.
“Oh, you should. You must take Skylar to see it.”
“We also brought you two food,” Pilar said. “Mongolian.”
“And boba tea.” Liadan held up a bag and two large cups in a holder. “I got lychee for you, Sky, and jasmine milk tea for Gabriel.”
Gabe blinked. “That’s my favorite.”
She smiled brightly at my startled boyfriend and set her offering on the table beside our empty pizza plates. “I know. Enjoy.”
The tantalizing aroma of seared beef and shrimp in teriyaki sauce wafted up from the two takeout boxes. Despite having as much money as her father sent her, Pilar became the ultimate cheapskate whenever we visited a grill or a buffet, packing as much as she could into the bowl those Asian places provided.
“You two are the best. Thanks.”
Pilar placed her purse on the kitchen nook table. “There is a fae soirée in the student center. Will you be coming or…?”
I grimaced. “Make an excuse.”
She l
aughed. “We hardly need to manufacture excuses for your absences when you have a dozen courses this semester, Skylar.”
“True.”
After they left, Gabriel inhaled most of his takeout and slurped down his tea, eating like a starving hyena kept in a zoo on a strict diet.
Or rather, a disowned young man forced to rely on the university’s student meal plan, which really wasn’t enough when you were a gym-rat and a shapeshifter. As wealthy as the school had to be, they really should have been offering the shifters a buffet.
It made me angry. It made me furious any mother would disown her son over his personal choices, but it wasn’t my business.
Though it kind of was my business, wasn’t it? Gabriel’s well-being mattered to me.
“I’m full. Want the rest of mine?”
He waved it off. “Nah, I’m good. Pilar stacked that like she was feeding three bears.”
“I think she cheats with an Elastic Space glamour to fit more meat and veggies into the bowls.”
“Yeah? That’s useful.” He looked at his empty container again. “So, um… I know I invited all y’all fae types last year, but I wondered if you wanted to check out the Wild Hunt Club this semester. We’re always taking new members.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re a sentinel-in-training now, so why not? It’s fun, I mean, if you’re into hunting.” Something must have dawned on him at that moment, because he grimaced, eyes tightening and smile flattening. “You don’t have to come if you—”
“Sure.”
He blinked. “Really?”
“Why not? Did you think becoming a sylph would make me too fragile at heart for your hunts?”
“Honestly, last year, I thought you’d become the new cu sith. You had the growl down. Rodrigo and I had a bet on it. He thought cat sith, but I put my money on dog faerie.”
Dammit. Had he and Ben talked about this together? He’d said the same thing. “I do not growl.”
“See? You did it again just now.”
When I leaned closer to swat him, he danced away with his empty cup and container to trash them in the kitchen. “Since we’re both fed and you have hours until your morning classes, wanna head over to my place for some Call of Duty?”
“I’m totally down for kicking your ass all night.”
* * *
The Wild Hunt Club met every first and third Thursday on the edge of the quad on the boundary to Tir na Nog. For our safety, we were only allowed to cross over into the faerie realm in pairs.
It wasn’t that the fae would eat us, but that most couldn’t pass up the opportunity to trick a baby half-breed like us into eternal servitude, and Riordan was sick of negotiating deals to get us set free.
A group of about two dozen members were already hanging out on the quad when I arrived in sweats and sneakers, prepared for an exhausting run in the dark with shapeshifters. Gabriel was beside Rodrigo and a dark-haired student with piercing blue eyes and a hooked nose I recognized from Matt’s attempt to recruit for the Hidden Court on campus. Anji waved at me from where she stood doing stretches against a tree.
The moment Rodrigo saw me—or was it he smelled me, because he had his back to me and turned suddenly—he crossed the ground in three steps and scooped me into his arms in a bear hug that realigned my aching spine. “Hey, baby girl. About time you showed up to chill with us. You’re just in time.”
Jada pinned me under a gaze that was pure hostility, eyes slit into narrow lines of hate. “What’s she doing here?”
“Skylar asked to join,” Rodrigo said, beating Gabriel to the punch. “I gave her the okay earlier this week.”
“She’s not even a preda—”
“She’s a sylph,” Gabriel’s blue-eyed friend said, stepping forward to my defense. “Doesn’t that make her a faerie huntress of the skies or some shit like that? If she has wings, that makes us birds of a feather, and gives her as much right to be here as I do. Or you for that matter.”
“Fine, whatever.” Jada stalked off and joined Amalia over by the borderline.
Drama already. I sighed. “Thanks.”
“No need to thank me.” Stepping in closer, he lowered his voice and murmured just against my ear, “None of us like her, but she’s not a bad officer. Just an obnoxious bitch.”
I laughed. “Understatement.”
“Maybe, but we tolerated her for Gabriel’s sake. Now we’re stuck with her ass. Anyway, I’m Stark. Nice to meet you.” He put out a hand. I shook it and smiled.
“You can call me Sky.” A couple more shifters strolled up, one with white hair and feral blue eyes that made me think wolf the moment I saw him. His name was on the tip of my tongue. I’d seen him last year. In fact, I’d seen him at the Hidden Court meeting I’d spied in on. “So… Gabriel wouldn’t tell me much. What are we doing?”
“Tonight is race night.”
My enthusiasm collapsed like a house of cards. “That’s not very exciting.”
Stark burst out laughing. “It will be. You’ll see,” he said, bumping me playfully with a hip.
Gabriel sauntered over and leaned into me while squeezing my shoulder, the gesture pure possessiveness. It almost pulled me off my feet. Stumbling to the side, I landed against his chest. Something like a growl rumbled from him, startling me and poor Stark, because he fell back a step. No, not a step. He scrambled back almost two yards.
What the hell?
I wasn’t the only one staring either. Everyone gawked at him, including Jada, her mouth open some.
“So, um, looks like almost everyone is here now.” Rodrigo coughed into one hand and drew attention to himself. “My dudes, I’d like to introduce you to Skylar, our newest member, just in case y’all haven’t seen much of her around campus.”
All the attention turned to me. A few moments passed in friendly introductions, accompanied by ambivalent, disinterested stares. Shifters had that down cold.
“Anyway, we were just gonna race in the Shadow Thicket,” he said, referring to a copse of trees with a canopy so thick and trunks packed so tight I wondered how anyone could race in it. I’d only seen paintings of it in our textbooks. “Though I wouldn’t mind seeing how fast you are with those wings. Maybe we could veer off into the Twilight Meadow.”
Shit. “Uh, yeah. Sure.”
Jada tore her gaze away from Gabriel and cleared her throat. “Excuse me, but you’ve been promising to guide us to the Shadow Thicket since last semester. Some of us haven’t been there yet and would like to learn the way.”
“I’m gonna second Jada. I’ve been looking forward to this hunt,” the only male faerie in attendance said. I’d only seen Jiro around campus once or twice, but I’d overheard Pilar gushing about his pretty green eyes.
They were really pretty.
“Fine, don’t get your panties in a twist. I’ll race Sky another time,” Rodrigo grumbled.
“Oh yes, of course. Next time for sure.” I made a note to get some flying pointers from Gabriel before then.
Rodrigo led the way across the boundary line at a jog. The grass and trees of the mortal plane melded into something from a dream. The sky transitioned from an inky, star-studded expanse to shades of swirling plum, cobalt, and dark magenta—an eternal aurora borealis. Glowing flowers swayed back and forth in a gentle breeze to either side of the narrow, golden-bricked path we followed.
The faerie students among the group transformed the moment we crossed the Veil dividing the magical realm from the mortal plane. My ears elongated, and the wings I struggled to materialize in the mortal plane emerged in a flare of light.
Stark stumbled. “Oh shit, my eyes! That’s blinding.”
Another student groaned. “A little warning next time, dude.”
“Sorry!” I dimmed them, grimacing.
There weren’t many of my kind in the Wild Hunt Club, but Rodrigo and Gabriel had mentioned that. Jiro had to be the rarest fae in the group, because the nightmare-eating baku only Ascended within Japanese familie
s. The senior fae’s eyes took on a feral, amber gleam, and green scales dusted by a golden iridescence glittered over his skin. I couldn’t decide if he was gorgeous or terrifying. Maybe both. Why choose?
Not far behind him, Catlyn and Kitania—identical twin cat sidhe sisters a year ahead of me—traded their human guises for their fae forms. The oversized black cats darted ahead into the thick of the group, blinking in and out of the Twilight.
Julien hadn’t shown up for the meeting, which was probably a good thing for me. I couldn’t begin to imagine how much stronger his sexual aura would be across the Veil, and I had enough trouble as it was staying focused around him.
A rangy guy with brown hair and the start of a lumberjack beard moved up beside me and matched my pace. He hadn’t been there during the introductions. “Hey, I’m Justin.”
“Sebastian’s intern, right?”
“Yeah. Glad to have you join us. Sebastian’s said some good things about you.”
I nearly tripped over a root. “He talks about me?”
He laughed and reached out to steady me by the arm. “All good things, I swear. Anyway, be ready. It’s dark where we’re going, so try not to smack into a tree.”
“Thanks for the heads-up.”
A few of the shifters took their animal forms. When Gabriel fell into step beside me, Justin moved up to the front with Rodrigo, a honking big black bear named Isaac, and Blaire the white wolf. It had taken me a moment to remember his name. Eventually, the bricked pathway beneath our feet gave way to soft earth. Each step we took ignited bursts of pastel colors against the silver green moss.
Tir na Nog truly was beautiful. So beautiful that it was easy to forget the dangers lurking in the shadows. A few dark shapes darted past us, and I caught a glimpse of long, forked tails and bright, green eyes before they vanished again into the misty forest.
“Boggans,” Gabriel said when he caught me twisting my head around for another glimpse of the creatures. “They never bother us when we’re in a group like this.”
The trail wound deeper into the forest. Dryads peeked at us from their trees, and pixies weaved above our heads in the rustling leaves, but as the trees grew closer and closer together, the sightings decreased. Eventually, when I could no longer see the sky through the canopy, Rodrigo called us to a halt.
The Scary Godmother: The Paranormal University Files: Skylar, Year 2 Page 5
