“Stuart Wright was an avid sportsman and an acclaimed archer. No one else was in the position to properly try to secure the creature. It merely ended differently from what we’d imagined.”
“What’s so different about now?” Griswold asked. “Should we send Wolf and Marcy out to look for it? They’re the only faculty members closest to Pures other than us.”
Bateson laughed, her cackle distinct. “Oh, no, no. You guys aren’t leaving me out. If there’s a search for the longma, I’m coming along this time.”
“It still doesn’t make a difference. You could just end up getting another clueless student killed,” Griswold said. “I still can’t believe that an elf could lack the common sense of not approaching a damn longma. That kid got what he had coming.”
You…cold-hearted jerk!
Next to me, Marcy fisted her hand. I would have, too, but I was nervous thorns would erupt. Common sense? I had plenty of it, and I bet Justin had it as well, when he’d tried to help the shot longma. I had a lot of instincts to depend on, too, and that was what had guided me to approach and save the longma last year. Griswold was full of it.
“No, it won’t be the same.” Glorian paused before continuing and I could just imagine her staring at Suthering like he’d lost. “Now we have Anessa’s daughter.”
Marcy gasped a breath and I froze. Anessa. It was the second time I’d heard her name. My mom. My mother’s name—her real name. Anessa the elf. I’m guessing she was powerful?
No one spoke for a moment at the round table.
“You don’t deny that possibility, Gerry?” Glorian asked Suthering. “You didn’t conclude Layla’s parentage on her application to enroll. There were a lot of blanks.”
“Her mother changed her name before Layla’s birth.”
“Hmm.” Glorian must have tapped a pen to the tabletop because a faint rhythm took up the wait for her to speak again. “Yet, you don’t seem at all surprised that she could be Anessa’s daughter.”
“I don’t know that she is,” Suthering replied. “Ethel’s been researching and she thinks she might be…”
“Well, I know she has to be her daughter.” Glorian delivered the blow smugly. “I ran a DNA test on her sister.”
Sabine! Dammit!
“She gave you consent?” Suthering demanded.
“Absolutely. She’d been complaining to Leo that she wasn’t getting any sense of her powers.”
Bateson cut off Glorian’s explanation. “Sabine… She’s the blonde one, right?”
Glorian sighed, as though detouring into explaining who Sabine was taxed her. “Yes. Leo suggested she try a specialized DNA kit.”
Suthering must have slammed his hand down. “That’s…not fair.”
“To whom? You? Because you want to keep Layla’s powers to yourself? To shield her from contributing fully to our legacy, our mission?” Glorian’s voice escalated in pitch until the final word. Mission. Not the school’s, I knew. Just hers—whatever it was.
I gritted my teeth and fisted my hand tighter. Thorns be damned. No one would see them in the darkness.
“If her twin shows a strong DNA link to Anessa’s, it’s fact. Layla has to be a Pure, and she’s going to find that longma for us.”
“I still don’t think this is worth our time,” Griswold said, ending with a yawn. “There are so many other things to do. We haven’t had much success at capturing and keeping those beasts for decades. It’s not likely to change now.”
“But what if it gets out? Or is accidentally injured by humans?”
I twisted my lips at Glorian’s worry, wondering if an ancient species could be safe away from elves who could help it. Not that I stood by imprisonment, but something of a caretaker to make sure they survive wherever they naturally live, in a world where humans couldn’t see them.
“Survival of the fittest,” Griswold replied.
Glorian must have smacked her hand to the table. “No. We’re going to search for the longma and bring him home.”
Home. Here, at the Academy, so Glorian could control it? I wasn’t sure if that fate was any better. All I knew was that I didn’t want the longma to be injured any more.
“We’ll set up another field exercise for your Zoology quarterly,” Glorian declared. “And see if the Holden girl will bring us to him. Say we’re tracking for another animal, and while she’s out near the last location we’d found the previous longma, maybe she’ll spot it.”
“And use her as bait,” Suthering argued. “I won’t stand for it.”
“You don’t have to. We’ll vote.”
“Glorian, this isn’t wise,” Suthering warned.
“Oh, it’s not only wise, it’s necessary,” Glorian said. “All in favor of instituting a field exercise for the sophomore Zoology final quarterly, please vote now.”
They must have been raising their hands because no noises came to us. Silence. Then, “Griswold. Don’t.” Suthering’s voice was pleading yet demanding at the same time.
Griswold huffed. “Gerry, I made myself clear. I don’t care. It will only end poorly.”
Another slam of a hand to the table. “And it doesn’t matter if a student is killed in the process? This is a school! Not a slaughter room with sacrifices.”
“If they’re injured, we’ll give them medicine. They’ll heal and forget about it all, and then it’s done.”
“It’s the principle of it, Gris,” Suthering said, still with that warning tone.
“I vote in favor just to avoid a tie and the need to drag this out. I don’t have time to sit around and talk about this. These two want to have the field exercise and hunt for the damn thing, then go for it.” Wheels squealed, like a chair was being pushed back, probably Griswold’s, and then a moment later, the door slammed shut.
A soft slap came from the room, like a piece of board smacking down. Then pages flipping in the air. Bateson’s humming. “Okay. So it looks like we’ve got at least a couple of weeks until the final quarterlies, so I’ll schedule it for the last day of the sessions. Sound good?”
“No.” Suthering.
“Yes.” Glorian.
“Well, we outnumbered you, Gerry. Tough luck.” Another slap, like she’d closed the book or planner she’d been consulting.
“Where would you even attempt to track this thing?” Suthering asked.
Glorian didn’t even hesitate to reply. “My…source said it was seen flying near the abandoned North Stand. One of the former structures the previous research manager used for tracking them.”
Behind Marcy, Wolf softly scoffed. “Can’t even say her husband’s freaking name,” he mumbled quietly.
Marcy elbowed him to shut up.
“I know where the North Stand is,” Suthering snapped.
Glorian continued. “It’s one of the locations I’d instructed Stuart Wright to frequent in seeking out the creatures last time.”
Chapter Nineteen
After the two councilwomen left Suthering’s office, we piled out of the room and found the headmaster staring at the tabletop. A blank, vacant frown as he zoned out at the mahogany furniture.
“This is bullshit,” Wolf started.
“We’ll join the students on the field excursion,” Marcy said.
“Obviously.” Wolf smirked at her while he stood up and cracked the kinks from his neck. “And for the next two weeks, we should—”
“You could go, Layla.”
I blinked at Suthering watching me. Go? Like…I’m dismissed from his office?
“Go back to your father in Texas. Leave. Keep your grades intact. And escape this. Get away from her…”
I sat down next to him. “But there isn’t any way to escape who I am.” I’d still have my powers. “And I’d never want to.” I would never abandon my true friends, never leave the longma—any creature—to fend for himself against a wicked trio of councilmembers.
Suthering smiled sadly. “You can still get good grades at home and earn a scholarship for college
. To go on and chase your dream of being a vet.”
Being a vet. Sure, it was my endgame, I thought. I’d told Suthering I wanted to be a vet—well before I knew what awaited me at this school. Being thrust into a world of elves and powers in sync with the earth… Well, I hadn’t had the chance to sit down and reevaluate my goals. Did I truly want to be a vet someday? Or could I stand the risk of striving to be something more?
“I’m not going anywhere other than after that longma,” I said. When no one spoke or argued, I nodded and joined in on our plans.
Later that night, Flynn and I returned to the Green House. He came up to my room with me. I didn’t invite him, but I could tell by the dejected seriousness on his face that he didn’t want to be alone. Or maybe he didn’t want me to be alone. So we’d naturally stuck together.
No sooner than I unlocked the door and let him in, did he suggest we call for a take-out dinner from the cafeteria. I nodded, hardly caring about food after the day’s events. As I went to my desk, I noticed a note taped to my lamp. I removed it and then turned the light on. Paige. She was with Marcus again. No surprise there. Actually, I was glad for her absence. I couldn’t stomach retelling what I’d heard. What I knew was coming.
Glorian’s sending us out, using me, to seek out a longma, so she can…make more longma babies? Keep it as a treasured token of elven coolness? God. I had no clue what went on in her head. Animals—ancient species or not—had rights.
I knew she was a traditionalist. She and Ren certainly liked to gloat in their old, proven elven bloodline. But what was she after? She’d posed a worry that the longma could be hurt out in the real world. That struck true, but the alternative of simply keeping it locked up wasn’t a better option. It was common sense to let them live their lives, not control them. Hunt them and capture them for selfish purposes.
Certainly not hunt them or track them at the expense of using students’ powers.
If anyone gets hurt… I blew out a hard breath through my nose, clamping my teeth tight together. My longma wouldn’t hurt me. I was confident. It couldn’t want to harm me—it had saved my life. Yet, if it was tranquilized. Or drugged. Or otherwise manipulated, what was to say it wouldn’t harm someone else? Like it had when Marcy’s fiancé had tried to save it after Stu shot it.
I’ll keep Paige and Lorcan back. Warn them to stay out of the way. Who knows. Maybe my buddy is that stealthy and won’t even show with a whole troop of Bateson’s Zoology class tromping around looking for him. Heck, if I can somehow sense him as a Pure, I’ll order him to flee and not come near.
“Food should be here in a half-hour,” Flynn announced. He let his phone drop to his side as he sank onto the edge of Paige’s bed. His dark-blue gaze looked tired. He was exhausted, maybe just as worn down from the mentally taxing day as I was.
“That’s fine—”
The door burst open and I regretted not locking it. “There.” Sabine pointed at me. Lorcan was at her side, panting as she was, like they’d run to get here. “I told you she’d be here. If she’s not in her library, she’s a homebody.”
“Layla,” Lorcan started and stepped closer into the room. Sabine shut the door behind her and snicked the lock in place.
Flynn sat up from his slouch and Lorcan reared back slightly. “Oh! Flynn. I didn’t see you there.” He gave a single almost laugh. “Well, no surprise. You’re always with her.”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Then I noticed what he gripped in his hand.
“Where did you get that arrow?” Flynn stood and went to the redheaded Aussie.
“And why is it here?” I asked. I took it from Lorcan’s outstretched hand. Lightweight but not pliable. Exactly like the one I’d found lodged in my longma.
“Stu’s here.”
I jerked back at Lorcan’s reply. Here? At Olde Earth? But he was kicked out.
Lorcan nodded, his bright hair tossing back at the rigorous movement. “Yeah. Here. At the Academy, somewhere. When he shouldn’t be because he was expelled.”
“And why was he kicked out, again?” Sabine asked as she crossed her arms and came closer to us. “Leo won’t say, but I bet you know, since he’s your brother.”
Always after the gossip.
“I don’t know, actually. Just that he acted up and got in trouble. Got too cocky about his powers.”
Sabine twisted her lips then huffed. “At least he has some.”
“Why are you here?” I demanded. Just seeing her pissed me off. Because of her stupid boyfriend suggesting a DNA sample kit, and because of her stupid impatience to know whether or not she’d ever gain some elven powers, Glorian knew which elven bloodline we likely belonged to. A Pure one. A powerful one, so much that it made me a pawn in seeking out longmas for her.
“So, Leo was practicing some archery, thinking about trying out for the team next year. I don’t know.” She waved a hand and shrugged. “And I don’t care. It was boring because he kept talking more than actually shooting the targets. I wandered and found Lorcan in the supply shed.”
“The cabin.” He nodded and turned his attention from her to me and Flynn, volleying his gaze back and forth, clearly excited or impatient to tell his part. “I was reorganizing inside since the upperclassmen were hogging all the good targets. And as I was putting extra arrows away, I found a stash of these”—he held up the arrow again—“hidden underneath the lockers. As soon as I pulled it out, I knew it was the same thing you guys had shown me last year.”
Sabine set her hands on her hips and said, “So, like, I came in and he’s looking at this arrow like it’s a snake. And I ask him what’s wrong.”
Lorcan took over again. “I froze because she startled me. I dropped the arrow and she picked it up.”
Sabine’s turn. “And I saw it had some little barcode numbery thing under the pointy part.” She took it from Lorcan and held it closer to our faces, pointing at the scannable barcode.
Huh. The broken shaft that was stuck in the longma’s side had no barcode. Or, maybe it had and it was snapped off.
“So, he’s all zoned out and freaking a little for no reason.”
Lorcan cut in with, “Because I knew it was the same weird arrow you’d found before.”
“So, then…” Sabine rolled the word out for special effects. Boy, you could sure tell our wannabe-playwright dad had lectured about projecting voices and oration skills. “I said we should look up the ID.”
Lorcan wheezed out a breath, seemingly caught up from his rush here. “There’s a computer for scanning equipment in and out at the storage cabin. I typed in the numbers, and bingo. Stu had checked out a bundle last week. He’d been checking out arrows for a long time since he was expelled.”
Stu was here? Where? In the freaking woods? If he was expelled, he couldn’t be welcome at dorms or on the campus itself.
“Yeah, Stu. He’s still around. And armed.” Lorcan set his hand on his hip and shook his head as it hung down. “He’s gotta be hiding somewhere nearby to be able to sneak in for weapons and ammo, or he has someone else playing retriever for him.”
Flynn met my gaze and clenched his jaw.
“Stu’s been here. Armed with those things. And that’s twice he’s shot at my longma.” I paced away.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Shot at your what?” Sabine said.
“My—” I growled and fisted my hands as I turned back to her. “Why did you tell Leo you wanted to do a DNA test?”
She squinted at me, likely so sure I’d answer her question before sticking my own on her. “Uh…why not?”
“No way,” Lorcan said. “Like those ancestry and heritage things that they have sales for online?”
She nodded. “Only Olde Earth has their own version. To help outsiders figure out where they came from.”
“We know where we came from!” A simple, boring small town named Coltin, Texas. Where no one was out to use me for my powers.
She crossed her arms. “Not our mom. The name she gave Dad
was fake!” Then she dropped her arms to her sides, like she couldn’t hold in the agony of it. “I want answers. Everyone’s getting all these connections and crap, and I’ve got nothing. It’s not fair. The stupid DNA test didn’t even find anything useful.”
Glorian lied to her.
“No. It was plenty useful.” I ground my teeth before saying, “Thanks to you, the council thinks our mom was a strong Pure.”
“Pure?” She narrowed her eyes at me. “So you’re…a Pure?”
“They think our mom was.” I refused to admit it to her. Arm her with the admission of my power so she could tell her loverboy, who’d tell Glorian? No thanks.
“So…” She snarled at me. “You’re a Pure.”
I said nothing and when Flynn opened his mouth as though he wanted to cut in, I shot him a look that said to think again. He pursed his lips instead.
“You’re a Pure.” I don’t think her brow had ever wrinkled as much as it did then as she seethed. “It’s unfair! I’ve got nothing!”
Lorcan cleared his throat. “Sometimes, it takes a while. And it can be a gradual—”
The lock on the door slid and Paige slammed the slab of wood open. Just as violently and quickly, she shut it and locked it. Turned around with wide eyes locked on me. “They’ve changed Bateson’s Zoology final location to the North Stand.”
Yup. All I could do was nod.
“Mom just called me and told me.”
Figures.
“She said there was a longma sighting this morning.”
What, Ethel just now got a hold of you? Maybe you need to cut back on the Marcus time a little bit.
She walked further into the room to stand between me and Flynn. “You?”
I raised my brows.
“You saw it.”
Flynn cleared his throat and she spun to face him.
“You too?” She gawked at him.
“Hold up here.” Sabine waved her hand for our attention. “Longmas? You said something about them last year too. You’re not talking about the dragon things that kill everybody with fire, right? The deadliest elf-animal monster?”
Of course, she’d put a bad spin on them. Gullible fool.
Discovery: Olde Earth Academy: Year Two Page 17
