“Dig in,” she said, taking a seat in front of me.
She didn’t have to tell me twice. I shoveled food into my mouth and loaded it onto my plate at the same time, as I had one delicious mouthful after the other. I hadn’t had a home-cooked meal since my parents died, and I’d forgotten just how good one could be.
Yemoja smiled as she ate. “Here I was worried you might be a picky eater.”
I tried to reply, but my mouth was too full of a bite perfectly balanced with biscuit, eggs, and grits. When I finally swallowed, I said, “This is the best food I’ve ever eaten.”
“Good.”
“So how long do you think it’ll take me to be able to control my gift?”
She took a bite. “It’s not as complicated as you might think. At least, not as hard as some of the other aspects of using our kind of gift.”
I nodded as I refilled my plate for the fourth time.
“As you probably realized, our gifts are tied to our emotions. Because of that, in times of extreme pressure, it’s easy to lose control. But there’s another, more reliable, way to use your ability, and that’s through your will. Your will is steady and constant. You might be feeling angry or scared when you get out there, but if you put your will at the center, your desire to do the right thing, you’ll be able to keep control. Does that make sense?”
“Kind of. I mean… I think I might’ve done it once when Oden said he… well, never mind. Have you ever lost control?”
Her gaze rose as if locked in memory before she said, “Oh yes, many times when I was younger. I’ve even had to resort to emotion on occasion to do my job, but I wouldn’t recommend it. As you well know, that’s how mistakes are made.”
There was a loud slam at the front door. Yemoja looked at me with widened eyes, her eyebrows raised in mock fear.
I slumped. “That’s probably for me. I... uhh… haven't been keeping up with Bri.”
“Ah, well I was on my way out anyway. I’ll let her in. Good luck.”
“Yemoja,” I said, halting her. “You know, I used to cook with my mom. Maybe you and I could cook together sometime?”
She smiled to herself. “I’d like that,” she said, and she left the kitchen. I heard the front door open and close, and a half a minute later a deranged version of the angel of death stormed into the kitchen, purple pigtails and all. “Why the hell didn’t you call me?” she said, plopping into Yemoja’s seat and grabbing a piece of bacon.
“I’m sorry! Things got out of hand and I didn’t know what to say.”
Her face relaxed. “Congratulations on getting adopted.”
“Oh. Uhm...”
“But I still hate you.”
I’d never seen Bri so chatty. She had missed a whole lot in a short time, but a few months ago she was nowhere near as open with me as she was now. “So you actually murdered Kai? What’s wrong with you? How does that make you any better than him?”
“It was an accident! I lost control over my gift and…” I wasn’t sure if I should tell her, but I’d already hidden too much. “He’s not dead.”
She stared at me blankly for three seconds and said, “Spill, bitch.”
It took a half hour of disclaimers before I even got to the meat of the story. I triple checked the lock to my door as I made my way through the last part of it, the part I felt most embarrassed to tell.
She gasped. “You ho! You’ve been sexting?”
“You don’t understand, Bri, I can’t help it. I cannot resist him.”
She looked stunned. “I’m not judging you. We’ve all dated our share of murderers…”
“Putting a pin in that.”
“But has he at least explained himself? The dance? That thing with Carter?”
I sighed and chewed on my bottom lip. “I’m… afraid to ask.”
“Don’t be a wuss. You have to ask. I’m serious, Reina. Ask him now.”
“But what if he really did those things?”
She shrugged, “Then you have all the information and you decide for yourself… but FYI, if you still like him after that, I’ll murder him… and you for that matter.”
“Okay,” I said. “Here goes.”
Me:
Kai, there are a couple of things I need to ask you.
I glanced at Bri, but the reply came back right away.
Kai:
Fine, I’ll answer two of yours if you answer two of mine.
Me:
Can I ask where you are?
Kai:
No. That’s one of yours. Are you still dating Oden?
I bit back a smile, but Bri scolded me with her eyes.
Me:
No.
Kai:
Did you guys ever…
Me:
No… but seriously Kai? That’s what you're worried about?
Kai:
;)
Bri nudged me.
“I’m shaking. Why is this so hard?”
“Because you don’t want to know the answer,” she said, snatching my phone away from me. She typed a message and handed the phone back to me.
Me:
Did you know about the attack on the school?
Kai:
I saw this one coming.
There was a delay before he started typing.
Kai:
No, I was just as in the dark as you were. When Quan got hit, I started looking for a way to get you out of there. That’s when I saw Carter. He’d been using his gift to alter my mood all semester, but the joy in his face as he played, even as those monsters attacked, gave him away. I attacked him, but Zane stopped me and told me this was only the beginning. You were already unconscious. If things got worse, you weren’t going to walk out of there, so I asked to meet whoever was in charge. He’s terrifying, Rei. The guy probably would have killed me on the spot, but Zane was able to convince him that I’d be useful. He used my school ranking as leverage. I negotiated to have him delay the attack. As long as he wants me to do his bidding, you’re safe at GFA. That’s why I need you to stay there. Or else, this is all for nothing.
I looked over at Bri and her gaze was still jotting back and forth over the screen. Then she stopped and looked up at me. Her eyes drooped with sadness.
Kai:
Rei, you still with me?
“Respond!” Bri urged.
Me:
Yes. I’m here.
“Ask him about Carter.”
Me:
What happened with Carter?
Kai:
That guy I was with? That was him, Rei, DT, and what you saw was his death touch.
I swallowed a lump in my throat.
Kai:
I couldn’t stop him. Carter fucked up, but… he was trying to be better. You’re not going to like me saying this, but The Fallen help a lot of people. They feed hundreds of hungry people every day. I’ve seen it.
Me:
What if we evacuate the school? You can come home.
Kai:
There is no coming home from this Rei. The Fae will execute me on sight. Especially since… I’m going into the field today. I might have to… kill a Fae.
Me:
Just come home we’ll figure this out.
Kai:
Who would believe me besides you?
Me:
Hi, Bri here. I believe you too, but we need proof. Do what they say until me and Reina can figure out how to get you out of there.
Kai:
Bri, don’t let her leave the campus. I don’t know what’s going to happen if our paths cross. I might not be able to protect her.
Me:
I heard she kicked your ass. So… maybe you should go hide on campus.
Kai:
Touche.
28
Kaito
I hopped from the car and followed Ensley into the factory, smoke pouring from a vent at the top.
“Before we start,” I said, “I wanted to apologize to you about… you know.” I scratched the back of m
y neck. “I didn’t know your situation and, like...we all have our shit.”
She looked up at me with her light brown doe eyes. “Thanks for saying that.” She shrugged, her dimmed gaze teeming with sincerity. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
I simpered. “Join the club.”
She forced a smile and spun quickly, not wanting to dwell on our shared failures, and led me into the belly of the factory.
The industrial building roared with life as I walked past dumpsters packed with shards of black glass. I slowed my pace while I picked up a handful from a pile that spilled over. It was enough to bring the memory of the glass demons back with a vengeance, and I shuddered to think how many Ensley, and whoever she’d previously been working with, could bring to life with the amount of glass they had gathered. The resting army could have wiped out the entire school, but they were not sentient as they seemed. They were only piles of discarded material. It was strange to think that in the hands of someone Gifted, even garbage could be dangerous. Ensley was only a com—her gift would be considered a party trick to anyone who mattered—yet she’d found a way to use her ability to slay the Fae. I wondered if that was the connection to GFA that I never understood. Why attack a school at all? Was it because the administration of Gifted Fae Academy ruthlessly decided whose gifts were worthy and whose weren’t? I’d certainly been on the wrong end of that a few times. It was the institution that led all the others. The Fallen had a sound strategy. Wound the gatekeepers. If they’d been able to finish their attack on the school, they might even deter enough students from applying to bring the cycle to an abrupt halt. But then where would the Elite go to learn how to use their powers without losing control? I wondered if The Fallen had a plan for that. Probably.
Ensley waved me on. “We’ve been looking for more people who can puppet them, but it requires a unique set of skills. It’s not like we can post the job opportunity online.”
“Where’s the rest of your team?”
She wiped a hand over her face. “Let’s just say the position has a high turnover.”
I wasn’t sure if she meant people were dying or quitting, but I thought if I asked I might lose my nerve. She smiled at me, but all I could think about was how this small girl had taken the lives of the Fae. “You know, that’s why you were selected to begin with.”
Finding my voice, I said, “I can’t promise I’ll be any good at it.” And by that I meant I couldn’t promise I’d kill anyone.
She replied as if she’d caught my full meaning. “You better be, because we are dealing with Fae, and if you don’t kill them, they will kill you.”
I hadn’t given opposing the Fae serious thought before that moment. My whole life I had idolized them. Now I faced the possibility that I’d either be forced to kill one of my idols or be killed by one.
“Can I ask you something?”
Ensley turned to me, her eyes already rolled, like she was annoyed with my question before I even asked it.
“How do you kill Fae?”
She shrugged. “I was just about to show you.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
She exhaled through her nose, her voice flat as if the question was hardly worth the breath to answer. “I remember that the Fae are not innocent in all this.” Her peppiness had vanished. The girl standing in front of me seemed absolutely capable of being romantically involved with DT.
I could tell from her obvious irritation that I should change the subject. “So what are you going to do, roll me in a pile of those things before we head out?”
“That’s idiotic. We melt the glass into one sheet, you touch it, then we break it. Do you think it’ll work?”
I didn’t know, but the idea was both clever and terrifying. “I’m not sure. Worth a shot.”
It was hard for me to imagine the vicious beings that attacked the dance as just piles of glass, manipulated by only a few people. I assumed that’s why they oriented the glass in that way. If people believed them to be monsters, they wouldn’t be peeking around the corner for the person who was moving them. Not to mention The Fallen stayed out of harm’s way as their piloted demons took on the Fae.
That night at the dance, Yemoja Roux struck the dark shifting masses only to watch them rise relentlessly and continue until she’d used her gift to reduce them to dust.
“There’s this place on the shore I go to practice,” Ensley said. “By the shoreline. But, unfortunately, your face is a little too well known, so you’ll have to make do here.”
Another memory from my time at GFA rose: a dark claw jutting from the waves at the school’s fort. Did Ensley know she was practicing so close to the cloaked hideaway? If she didn’t, I wasn’t going to be the one to clue her in.
She walked over, handing me a smooth slate of colored glass. “Please,” she said quietly. “I know you don’t want to be here. I know you’re not the man we all thought you were, but you’re my family’s only hope. Zane’s too, along with countless others. If you give it a real chance, you’ll see it. The Fallen will earn your loyalty. I promise.”
I nodded, taking the slate in my hands. Sorry, Ensley. My loyalty is to Reina and no one else.
29
Reina
I lay silently beside Bri in my bed as we stared at the ceiling, disappointed that our strategy session didn’t yield any decent solutions. “Can I ask you something?” Bri said, finally filling the silence.
I nodded, taking a deep breath to steady myself for what was coming next.
“Why do you like Kai?”
I brought my palms to my stomach and pressed down, allowing myself a moment to brace myself for the memories, though I already had an answer. “The moment kids started getting their gifts, school became unbearable. In middle school, I remember being scared all the time. Then this new boy showed up, and he didn’t seem scared at all. Despite being a serf, he always looked out for me. Broken bones, bloody noses... one beating after another to stop the Elites from hurting me.” I turned to her. “Think about that. Protecting someone in a hopeless situation with no gift to lean on is just…”
She scoffed. “Stupid?”
I winced then took a moment to choose my words correctly. “It transcends the Fae. He was born with the instinct to protect, and I wanted to be just like him.”
“And then he became an asshole.”
I turned back to the ceiling, suppressing the burn behind my eyes. “Yeah. He changed.” I wove my fingers together, the echoes of Kai’s torment ricocheting in my mind. I gulped down a wave of emotion. “He got lost for a while. Lost in being a prodigy, his parent’s expectations, his own hopes for the future.”
She snorted. “He’s still lost.”
“I’m not so sure about that, Bri.”
She jackhammered up. “You sure it’s not just because you think he’s hot?”
My cheeks burned. “That too, but, at first, when he was protecting me, he wasn’t. He was awkward and he didn’t have that whole Adonis thing going yet,” I mumbled. “But think about it, after fighting his whole life to build his reputation, to accomplish his dream of attending GFA, he threw it all away in an instant to save us. Just like that. In a snap decision.” My breath was shaky when I inhaled next. “Now that I think about it, he’s even more of a hero than the boy I knew.”
Bri nodded.
“We have to get him back.”
Bri nudged me, a strand of purple hair falling into her face. “Do you love him?”
I covered my face with my hands.
“Oh my god, you totally do.”
I bit down on my smile. “I never said that.”
“You didn’t deny it either.”
A knock sounded at my door.
“Who is it?” I croaked.
Yemoja Roux peeked inside, her magenta hair already woven into a braid. She grinned. “Are we having girl talk in here?” she asked, her face beaming with excitement. She lay beside me and I shot Bri a warning glare not to say anything.
/> “So, what are we chatting about today?” she asked.
“Nothing really,” I said.
The joy drained from her face so quickly it made my heart ache. She sat up, managing to fake a smile that somehow hurt worse. “Oh. No problem. I didn’t mean to intrude, I was just popping in to say hi. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”
“Wait,” I said.
Bri’s gaze met mine, but this time it was her eyes that held the warning. I patted the bed beside me and she sat down, her emotions bottled more cautiously this time.
I took a deep breath. “I need your help,” I started, “but I’m afraid you won’t understand.”
“You can trust me,” she said, but Bri didn’t look convinced.
I turned to her, reading the lines around her eyes like they each belonged to a different chapter in her life. “I need you to trust me.”
“Okay,” she said, but I could tell from her shallow breaths she was nervous about what I’d say next.
“Kai’s in trouble.”
I could see the questions stirring behind her eyes. Are you still in contact with him? Why don’t his own people help him? But instead of asking, she listened patiently.
“Kai joined The Fallen to stop the attack on the school. Zane confirmed it that day when I ran into Kai.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “Are you sure he isn’t just—”
“I’m sure. He’s afraid of The Fallen’s real leader. It’s a boy with white hair, maybe a few years older than me. I saw him with Kai that day. It all happened so quickly that I couldn’t really understand what I saw, when Carter just…” I shuddered at the memory. “But, now I know that he has a death touch.”
The Brave & The Broken: Gifted Fae Academy - Year Two Page 10
