“Longmas?” Lorcan shook his head. “Aren’t they extinct?”
Flynn shook his head at the same time I bit my lip and Sabine laughed. “They’re all dead,” Sabine insisted. “Leo was talking about it with his friends. The last one was hunted a few years ago.”
Still, Paige turned to me, and with a crestfallen expression tugging on her usually cheerful face, she asked again. “A longma was here earlier?”
“That’s why they changed our final. The Council wants to use it as an example to practice tracking animals in the field.” I eyed the odd arrow Lorcan held in his hand. Only, it wouldn’t be a simple practice run of searching for a creature in its natural habitat like we were all budding Steve Irwins.
And I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure we find nothing.
Chapter Twenty
Word spread quickly about the semi-last-minute change to Bateson’s final. Some of our classmates were excited for the opportunity to travel on school time. Others, like Marcus, were nervous about new expectations and being able to properly study for a perfect grade. The directive Bateson gave to us was to “track and observe bobcats in their native setting.” From what we’d overheard inside Suthering’s office closet, we knew that was nothing but a disguise for what the council really wanted.
For the few days that followed the council’s decision to seek out the longmas, Flynn and I were partnered to work with Wolf and the animals. I almost felt bad for Flynn being introduced—finally—to the Menagerie in such a rushed and hasty way. There wasn’t any time for him to tour all the wings, to explore the depths of the Menagerie hidden in the cliffside. Wolf was single-mindedly driven to drive us to our bones.
Together, Flynn and I tried to work with animals Wolf ordered to come at us. Not quite an attack, but he would distract the animals, order them not to listen to us, and then we’d try to override his control over them.
Not only were we crammed with instructions and more demanding tasks, we were given a hurried and overwhelming lesson on self-defense. After we’d told Wolf and Marcy about Lorcan finding those arrows, and that Stu was still around and using those weapons, our mentors insisted on drilling us on self-defense tactics. Don’t call me a ninja, but I felt I was getting some of the stances correctly. Yet, it didn’t make sense. If Wolf and Marcy were alarmed at the presence of danger, it was in the form of Stu’s arrows. A block with my forearm wouldn’t help there.
We continued in this frenzied manner right up until the final quarterly. On the morning before we were slated to fly to a remote region in the Canadian Rockies, where this North Stand was, Flynn and I rode together to the greenhouse after our classes were finished for the morning.
I drove, and it was probably for the best. That boy was the definition of distracted. Stared to the side. Kept his hands jammed deep into his pockets—something I’d noticed he’d stopped doing for a while over the last couple of months. Must have been his nervous tick. His tell for vulnerability like me tugging on my earlobe.
“You okay?”
He shrugged. “Just… I haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
“Finals will be over before we know it.”
He scoffed. “I can’t stop thinking about it all. Especially about Marcy.”
I frowned as I paid attention to the path. Marcy? He was so obsessed with her he was losing sleep? Over his mentor?
“It’s so sad. About her and the Justin guy. Her fiancé was killed because of all the drama of this place—being set up to hunt the longmas.”
Yes, it was sad. But to lose sleep over it for this long? Flynn didn’t strike me as a mopey kind of guy. Too direct. Too sharp to get to the strategy, wanting action and something to accomplish. Maybe this was his soft side. But because of Marcy losing her boyfriend?
Jealous? How many times had I checked myself, overanalyzing Flynn’s closeness to Marcy.
Do I want him to be losing sleep over me instead? I squinted at the discomfort of that idea. No. That’s stupid. He needs his sleep. I’d rather him be ready and rested and rearing to go. To have my back tomorrow. Not lagging in the past, sad about someone he’d never met.
I hated the brusque attitude that came so easily. Was Wolf rubbing off on me? No. I was practical. And inspired. Sure, Marcy’s fiancé dying was tragic, and it only drove me to that much more determination to keep my friends safe this time.
“It’s just…” He shook his head as we came to the greenhouse. I parked but didn’t move to exit. “You’re so attached to this thing. The longma.”
I resisted the urge for anger.
“Your pet.”
I tried to laugh. “He’s my buddy.”
Flynn nodded. “I respect that. But you…you won’t put yourself in harm’s way to save him, will you? If it comes down to that?”
“I’d…” Define harm.
“I know it means a lot to you. But I don’t want to…” He stood up and rested his hands on the roof of the cart, hanging his head low to face me more directly. “You mean a lot to me.”
I didn’t know what kind of a unique bond and relationship Flynn and I were slowly heating up. But friends didn’t say things like that. Not with such a pained longing in their eyes.
And he is making an analogy of Marcy losing Justin at the longma’s fate, just as I could lose mine?
“I’ll be careful. I’m not reckless.”
“I know.” He slanted his head to one arm and the sleeve lowered. “I’m just scared for you.”
“For me?” I smiled. “As if you’re not going to be right there at my side? Watching my back while I watch yours?”
He grinned.
I frowned. A band of leather wrapped around his arm just above his wrist. I’d never seen it before. Well, he was fond of sticking his hands deep into his pockets. And we were just getting out of long-sleeved season. But…
“Where’d you get that?” I pointed at it. There wasn’t anything offensive about it. A wide band of leather with metal beads or rivets pounded into it. Kind of steampunkish on him. Manly. Earthy. It suited him, but where the heck did he get it or when did he have the time to shop for it?
“Uh…Marcy gave it to me.”
Just when I was talking myself out of the possibility he had the hots for her…
Inhaling slowly and evenly, I asked, “Marcy?”
He nodded. “As a gift on my elven date.”
Sure, that wasn’t a sentimental occasion to gift him with a piece of jewelry…
“I see.”
“It’s…” He looked to the greenhouse and then back to me. “There’s a rea—”
“Hey, come on, kids.” Wolf bounded down the stone steps leading to the greenhouse.
“We’re not kids!” Flynn shouted for the umpteenth time.
“You eighteen?” Wolf retorted.
“That’s just a number. Being eighteen is a legal standard—”
Wolf chuckled at Flynn. “You coming?” he asked me. “Last day before we fly out.”
I was relieved Wolf and Marcy really were going to be coming along on Bateson’s final exam. I wondered how they’d gotten approval to join us, but I’d bet Suthering had some say on the matter. Maybe Suthering himself would come too. I tried to picture it, all of us students traipsing through the woods… Any mental image to chase away the sting and confusion about Flynn and his true feelings.
“What is this North Stand, anyway?” I asked as I finally stepped out of the cart. A butterfly flew up to me and then away.
“One of Olde Earth’s outposts. It used to be a hunting stand that the government owned. Nevis purchased it and it was a popular site off campus to gather for field excursions. Just another Academy-affiliated property. We don’t own it, but we have exclusive rights to use the land.”
“It’s part of a federally operated wildlife area,” Marcy explained as she joined us. “Big, open space where no one really visits.”
So, truly remote. Isolated and left alone, just like all of Olde Earth. Great.<
br />
“Well, one last day to prepare.” Wolf clapped his hands and he tilted his head toward the cart. “How about we ride to the Menagerie together, instead of walking?”
I gnawed on my cheek. Sure felt like he wasn’t including me…
“Let’s catch up for a minute,” Marcy said to me.
Why? She saw me every day, if not at the Menagerie as Flynn and I trained, then in passing at the Green House.
“Okay?”
“I’d like to spend some time with you on my turf for a change.”
I followed her as she led the way to the building of plants but scowled behind her back. “Sounds like a waste of time.”
“You know, I’d expect that attitude from someone like your sister, but not you.”
“It’s a waste of time right now.” Surely that had to sound less bitchy. I didn’t mean anything against her. But now? The day before what was sure to be stressful with unexpected challenges? “I’m a Mammalian Terraine elf. There’s nothing in here for me to work with.”
Her reply was a huff as she opened the doors. Greenery surrounded us and the peaty scent of earth hit my nose.
“Well, there’s the butterflies. And other insects. But I doubt they’ll help me tomorrow.”
“Never discount your allies, Layla. You never know when you’ll need one.”
I kept quiet. Sage words, general ones as well. And I wasn’t dismissing the tiny fliers, but they couldn’t aid me in searching for and protecting the longma tomorrow.
“I remember when Anessa came here. She was an outsider, you know.”
I licked my lips as she turned to me, crossing her arms and leaning her butt to a low table of empty pots. So everyone’s just going to assume she’s my mom, then. Okie dokie. I wanted to have a connection to her, but that was just a name…
“She was scared of her powers. I was just a kid—my parents worked here in the maintenance department, but I remember her coming through the greenhouse for the first time.” She nodded at the entrance we’d just come through. “She was absolutely terrified at first.”
“I was too.” I wasn’t above admitting my weaknesses. “But I’m not so much anymore. Hence the need to be with the animals and honing my awareness of my powers, practicing under Wolf.”
Instead of replying, she stared at me. As the minutes ticked on, I grew antsier. What did she see in me? What was she looking for? A replica of this younger version of Anessa? I never knew her, so how could I portray her?
“I know you aced Chan’s class last year. I saw you and Paige studying over his study sheets, consulting his texts. And it’s pathetic that you’re so close-minded now.”
“Uh… Less riddles, please?” She’s praising me for being a good student but dissing me for being too narrow in my thoughts?
She cocked her head to the side and a blonde ringlet slid loose. “I respect and admire your drive to accept your powers. But you’re neglecting others.”
Other powers? I swallowed and some of my confidence crumbled. She seemed so sure…
“Olde Earth. Think about it. You’re at a school where we’ll teach you how to control your energy and its reach to species on earth.”
So that settles the possibility of outer space beings then. I couldn’t even smile internally at my own snark.
“There are many living beings on Earth.”
Uh…duh… Still, I wasn’t following. I squinted at her.
She leaned forward, bending at the waist, like she was letting me in on a secret I should have guessed. “Animals aren’t the only species out there.”
Animals aren’t the only species to connect to?
My breath stilled in my lungs and my heart raced fast.
Many living beings. Of course, there were.
Oh, my God.
I dipped my head to look at my hands as I turned them over. Plain, white flesh. No marks that could hint at thorns poking through. I’d been so busy after the eavesdropping on the council meeting, seeing the longma again, news of Stu being here and arrows taken out. Those thorns had fallen further back on my concerns. And why wouldn’t they have? They hadn’t appeared again, and I’d been plenty furious and annoyed since Ren’s bullying.
“I…”
Marcy just barely shuffled on her feet, adjusting her weight as she leaned against the table’s edge. “You what, Layla?”
“I can’t. Not now. I can’t even consider another…more…not now.”
Jesus. Another power to control? A new, even weirder connection to something other than animals? I had to focus on the longma. Concentrate on everything Wolf was charging into me and Flynn before Bateson’s final exam at the North Stand. I didn’t have the time or brain space to learn a whole new trick.
She nodded and lifted one hand, like a take it easy gesture. “Perhaps after this year, though, you might consider being more openminded to broaden your horizons.”
Procrastination. Sure. Sounded perfect. Already the memory of those thorns popping out rehashed the gripping anxiety that had come with it.
Not now.
“Because it’s far better to anticipate your powers when you least expect them to engage with you.”
Chapter Twenty-One
I ate absolutely nothing the morning of the Zoology final. Breakfast would come right back up with the nerves crashing in my stomach. Flynn and I skipped our run too. We met up, as usual, just outside the dorms, but when he found me sitting in the pre-dawn darkness, freezing my butt a little on a stone bench in a garden, he joined me. He didn’t say anything but his presence spoke loud and clear. I wasn’t alone.
Then, a couple of hours later, I was surrounded. My classmates nearly bounced with an excited energy as we were driven in a bus to a small, private airport. Waiting for us was an Olde Earth plane. Not a ritzy, bright-white one like the one Sabine and I had flown in to come to the Academy, but impressive nonetheless.
Without Leo there, Sabine took a seat with Aura. I was between Flynn and Paige. As Ren and one of his traditionalist friends sauntered down the aisle, I held my breath.
Please keep going. Please keep walking. Do not sit right—
He took the seat across the aisle from us.
Dammit.
Bateson stood in the aisleway, directing students to find seats, waving them along. Once all the students were at least on the plane, settling into seats, Wolf and Marcy came down the aisle. At Wolf’s heels was Merlin.
Interesting.
Our mentors stood there, before Bateson as they waited for a backup of students ahead of them to clear.
“Morning, Wolfie,” Bateson said to Wolf. She ran her hand up his sleeve and squeezed his shoulder.
“Uh-huh,” was his reply.
“How come you’re coming along, Wolfman?” Ren taunted.
He didn’t even turn to him, staring stoically at the back of the student in front of him in line.
“Can’t speak, Wolfie?” Ren laughed and his friend howled, egging him on.
Merlin’s ears cocked and as he turned his head toward the boys, I sat up.
Merlin, you calm down. And no growling.
When the dog obeyed me, Wolf glared ahead and then whipped around to narrow his eyes at me.
I smirked in a don’t even think about it way. Then he laughed once, perhaps humored that I caught him trying to use Merlin to retort to Ren for him—and intercepted it.
“You’re quite the peacemaker, huh?” he muttered to me.
“Wolf, why are you bringing him?” Bateson asked, exasperated at the sight of the scraggly-haired wolfhound.
“Because I can.” And when she didn’t take the bait at the deadly leveled stare he gave her, it seemed Wolf was above her rules.
The line began to move again, but I was pleased that Wolf and Marcy scooted into the row ahead of us. Merlin sat in the aisle seat, curling into a tight ball of a dog.
“Hey, what is the deal with your name?” Flynn asked, leaning forward and speaking through the gap between Wolf and Marcy’s
seats. “Is it due to your sect? Or—”
“It’s because it suits his personality,” Ren butted in. “He’s just about as civilized as a wolf.”
Before Ren’s friend could howl a second longer, and before Ren could laugh a breath more, Merlin lifted his head and growled at the boys.
Check myself? I knew I was annoyed. Merlin could speak for me. Ahead, Wolf chuckled a deep rumble. “So, not a peacemaker, then.”
“Is it short for Wolfgang?” Flynn persisted.
“His parents argued about his name,” Marcy answered. “Since his mom got to pick his sister’s name, his dad gave her two options. Colin or Wolf. She hated the name Colin because of Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice, so he’s Wolf.”
I smiled at the story yet wrinkled my brow. Marcy was more than just coworkers with him. Or she used to be more. That was a detail a friend would know about another. And they bickered so much…
Bateson clapped twice and began speaking about the flight. An hour to get there, then we’d be driven to the North Stand’s post. Apparently, there was a wooden structure that had been built years ago, a tall tower like a hunter’s blind. Where they used to study the longmas at their nesting location… Then we took off.
Flynn and I looked out the window.
“Scared?”
I didn’t want to turn to Ren at his question.
“Scared I’m going to prove you wrong?” he jeered.
I jerked back to glower at him.
“You warned me not to prove I’m better than you.”
I did say that. But it was a slip of tongue. I wasn’t challenging him. I pulled my lip between my teeth and bit hard, tight enough to ensure I wouldn’t give in to his bait and argue back.
“You’ll see.” He scrunched up his nose and nodded. “I’ll show you out there how you’ll never matter in the legends of elves.”
“Famous last words,” Paige muttered as she patted my arm.
“Check yourself.” Flynn whispered it as he wedged his fingers between mine and held tight.
“What was that?” Ren asked Paige. He leaned over his armrest, likely mad he couldn’t get right into her face.
Discovery: Olde Earth Academy: Year Two Page 18
