I turned to head back to my dorm.
“Wait, wait, while we’re on the subject, what’s it like to have sex in zero G?”
I bit back a smile. It was a question I’d been asked by guys and the occasional girl a lot in the last couple of years. I sighed, leaning in so I could whisper my answer. “It’s terrible.”
His face lit. “Really?”
I nodded. “Gravity is one hundred percent necessary.”
He shook his head. “Damn. Way to ruin the fantasy.”
I shrugged.
“Look,” he said, “nothing weird. We’re just going to disguise ourselves as the girls, sneak past security, and ask Briara to connect you to the wifi.”
I sighed in resignation and reached out for his outstretched hand. Reina’s form once again formed on my body. “Kaito, you’re so strong,” I said with Reina’s voice.
Quan snickered. “Who’s the pervert now?”
27
Reina
I eyed my schedule warily. There were so many teachers I’d hoped to see on it, but Briara was right, it was nearly empty. I supposed you couldn’t infuse confections with an ability if you had none, nor face-off with classmates in combat, but I hoped to have something.
All I saw listed on it was a general studies class with a professor I’d never heard of, a history class with a professor listed as “To Be Determined” and Gift Defense, which I immediately deemed my most interesting one. The rest of the day was a blank sea of independent studies with no professor at all broken up only by a lunch break. I was confident that GFA, with its incredible reputation, knew what they were doing. If anyone could bring out the gift in me, it was the greatest Fae academy in the world.
A knock at my door put me instantly on edge. I looked up to Briara who seemed to ask with her gaze if I’d been expecting someone. I shrugged and stood, hoping it wasn’t Miranda as I reached to open the door.
I sucked in a sharp breath as I stood face to face with myself and Briara. Their hands were clasped together, a strange gesture that surely meant a gift was to blame. Stunned, I eyed my clone closely, the image slightly older than how I thought I looked. Briara’s clone was spot-on accurate, which made me believe that mine must’ve been too.
“What the hell is this?” I said, trying unsuccessfully to cloak the uneasiness in my words. I backed away.
“Oh,” Briara said. “Let them in, they’re here for me.” She put down her cup of tea. “Close the door.”
I obeyed, but my mind seemed dead set on the possibility that we were about to be murdered and replaced with our unexpected doppelgangers.
The two silent girls stepped in and dropped their hands. Their features melted away, the deformed mixture giving way to their true forms. I nearly squealed when I saw Briara’s purple hair change to the most famous green. “Holy shit,” I said, practically hyperventilating. “You’re Quan Levout.” Duh, it was obvious. Everyone knew about his transforming ability after the stunt he pulled at the Varsity Tournament. Still, I hardly expected him to visit.
“Sup, girl,” he said with a nod.
I blushed, but that was nothing compared to the heat that rushed my face when I realized that the clone of me was actually Kai, who now stood inches from my bed. I gulped. What was more horrifying, that Kaito was just in my body or that he was currently in my dorm room? With the dorms separated by gender, I’d completely let my guard down. Of course, Kai’s new crew had a way into Pink House, but what were they doing here?
Kai watched my mental flips with a satisfied grin then turned to Briara. “Hi,” he said. “I’m sorry to barge in like this. I’m Kaito Nakamaru.”
My mind got foggy and Briara also seemed to lose her words until finally she uttered, “Yeah, I know. Are you here for wifi?”
Quan looked around, unsettled by Briara’s spooky decor. “He’s new. You know, wants to check his status and stuff. I was thinking that after you hook him up, you and I could grab lunch or something.”
Briara rolled her eyes.
Kai tilted his head and gave a Prince Charming smile that turned Bri’s face a deeper shade of crimson than Veranda Yarrow’s hair. I couldn’t help her. I was frozen, half a second from burying my face in my pillow until they left.
“No problem,” Bri said. “Give me your phone.”
Kai held out his phone and, even with gloves on, she hesitated to take it. Then she sat back in her chair and pulled off her gloves, resting Kai’s phone on her palm.
We all waited for something to happen, but Bri’s gift wasn’t flashy. It hardly looked like she’d done anything at all. A moment later, she put her gloves back on and handed the phone to Kai.
“That’s about twenty minutes. Use them well.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a weighted look pass between Kai and Quan.
Quan leaned in and began to whisper to Briara. I bit my bottom lip to stop my nerves from spilling as Kai’s gaze moved across my side of the room.
Briara’s voice shot out, “But she sa—” Her voice cut and Quan leaned back into her, making her giggle. She looked up at me, her eyebrows raised and her lips pressed together.
What? What was she trying to say? I unfortunately didn’t know her very well, certainly not well enough to figure out what was going on.
“Fine!” Briara said, loud enough for us all to hear. “I’ll go to lunch with you.” She turned to Kai. “If you stick around, I’ll charge your wifi one more time when I get back.”
“Wai—” Before more of my objection reached my lips, they left, or should I say Bri left with a clone of me. I turned to Kaito, my stomach knotted with butterflies, my mind screaming scenarios.
I wasn’t sure if Quan was trying to get Bri alone, or if Kai was trying to get me alone, but either way I found myself alone again with Kai. My instincts told me to run, but I was too curious to obey. Kai smirked at me and lay in my bed. My breath caught in my throat.
“Oh, relax,” he said, laying back. “We both knew I’d end up here eventually.”
“What are you doing?”
He inhaled slowly, delighting in the torment of his delayed response. “I just came to use the internet.”
I nodded, crossing my arms.
“Have a seat,” he said, tapping the bed. “You’ve been in my bed a hundred times.”
I nodded. “But this is the first time you’ve been in mine.”
He laughed. “Your parents would have—” His smile dropped. “Sorry.”
I shook my head, taking a seat at the end of the bed. “It’s okay. I’m feeling a little better today.”
Sensing my need to change the subject, he sat up and leaned against the wall. “Do you remember the day Raphael Mazarin died?”
“Yeah, you walked me to the bus stop.”
“Yeah, well… before I left, I saw this weird guy. He had blue hair and a tattoo similar to the mark they found at the scene. He had this creepy smile and he kind of drew my attention to the news.” He shook his head and looked down at his phone. “I don’t know, Rei. It was like he was bragging about it or something.”
“You should report that, Kai.”
“Thing is, I saw him again here. His name is Zane Blaque. I confronted him and he had no tattoos and acted like he never saw me at the bus station.”
“Are you sure it’s the same guy?”
He nodded. “I’m at least 50% sure.”
I bit back a laugh. “Well, 50% may as well be 100%.”
He smiled. “Don’t be a jerk, Reina.”
I took a deep breath and crossed my arms. “Just admit you wanted to check out what the internet is saying about you.”
He lifted his phone and the screen read Kaito Nakamaru joins GFA Nobles after duel with Oden Gates.
“Catchy. Maybe, just this one time, you can just chill out and enjoy your time at school. You know, be a normal high school boy for once.”
He leaned closer. “Really? And what would a normal high school boy do in this situation?”
A sweet scent
filled my nose as he inched closer. It reminded me of cinnamon and made my mouth water. Deja vu. I felt Kai about to strap me in for another go at the emotional rollercoaster. I stood breathless and flushed. Was this some kind of joke? Why was he hitting on me? It could only be a trick. “I think I prefer your old way of bullying.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re confusing me,” I said.
He smiled and stood. “I don’t know, I like seeing you like this.” As he stared down at me, I could scarcely see the boy I knew so well. This one was a mystery, a dangerous one. He was going to hurt me, and this time would be much worse than the others.
“Like what?”
“Just, the look on your face. I can’t tell if you want me or if you’re scared.”
“Neither can I.”
A knock at the door broke the silence. I opened it and my stomach dropped to find Miranda at the door. “Where’s Briara? I need wifi,” she said. Her gaze lifted to Kaito and her expression brightened.
“She’s not here,” I said, but she pushed passed me like I wasn’t there.
“Are you here for wifi too, Kaito?”
“Sure am,” he said. And I felt a twinge of regret that I hadn’t seized my moment with him. It was like Miranda had boy radar.
“I’ll wait with you,” she said, pulling him to sit beside her on my bed.
She giggled and whispered something to him that made his eyebrows shoot up.
I heard him say back, “Everyone always asks that.”
The urge to flee slammed into me. “I don’t need wifi. I’m going to go grab some lunch,” I said, moving to the door.
But instead of a response, Kaito leaned into Miranda and whispered something else.
Fickle, unreliable asses—they were perfect for each other. And that’s what I told myself as I swallowed my jealousy. I went to lunch alone, reminding myself every chance I got that he wouldn’t have been worth the tears.
28
Kaito
Carter gripped the strap of his guitar as we made our way through the school’s underground tunnels. He explained, “This is all within the barrier of the school, but back when Lannon Gainsboro was a student here, he cloaked the memory of this part to everyone but the students who attend here, so we can pretty much do what we want.”
“Does that include him?”
He shrugged. “Probably. I mean, he hasn’t returned to undo it. Maybe when he graduated his gift cloaked his memory of it too.”
We’d been walking for some time and there was still no end in sight. The tunnels were well lit and cheerfully decorated with spray-painted murals of famous Fae and line art.
I stopped when I got to the image of Yemoja Roux. “Why do they call this place the fort? Do people fight there?”
“Chill, man. I hope you’re not planning on starting something. I mean… didn’t you prove yourself or whatever to Oden? You’re not going to try and get revenge or something, right?”
I shook my head and continued walking when I noticed several more murals starred Yemoja Roux. It was no surprise that she was so popular among the other students. She was popular around the earth.
Carter continued. “Most people are just glad we have a place to hang out unsupervised that they don’t risk starting anything at the fort. The combat zones are enough to keep people who need to battle it out satisfied. The fort is mostly for parties and hooking up.”
“You didn’t answer my question about the name,” I said, but he only smirked. Thirty minutes later, when the tunnel finally let out, I understood why.
I stood before a grassy plain filled with students and music. It had huge slates of broken gray walls that rose and fell through the uneven hill. There was an inner wall with a tower and a labyrinth of open air paths which held the bulk of the forty or so students, as well as a table with bottles of liquor and rainbow-colored mixers. My gaze moved to the larger wall that ran along the edge of the ocean, where several couples sat together and gazed out at the sea. Even in their poor condition, I could tell it was made of the ruins of some forgotten coastal fort whose better days seemed long since passed. The sun had just begun to droop low, reaching out across a turbulent ocean and rigid hostile environment. I tried in vain not to notice that one of the GFA students was missing from the night’s festivities.
“Carter!” We followed the voice to see a petite blonde girl in a knotted spaghetti strap top hustle over, her bare stomach and low-cut shirt a delightful alert that no one here was in uniform. I technically was wearing mine, but the way I’d rolled up my sleeves and kept it mostly unbuttoned could hardly be considered uniform. The girl grinned. “Oh my god, Carter, I can’t believe you’re here!” she said. “You have to do the music.”
He turned to me and nodded with a satisfied smile that I understood completely before he followed the girl to the fort’s only tower. I didn’t want to wander around the party looking for someone I knew, so I turned my sights to the outer wall. I walked up the slow incline as the uneven rocks beneath me were nearly five feet wide. Even with the waves crashing against the wall, it was completely solid and, with such a wide width, it was hard to imagine someone being dumb enough to fall off. I threw a hand in my pocket as I walked easily past a couple who were so engrossed in their conversation they didn’t even notice me pass. The ocean seemed alive and wild, as if in warning of a storm, but even though the clouds grew darker, no one at the party seemed to worry about rain.
I continued to the highest point on the wall, the furthest corner from where I entered, and I could see that the school’s boundaries didn’t extend far into the ocean. I estimated it to be about twenty feet based on the usual movement of the ocean's waves at that exact point, on the far side of the wall. To my left, the wall turned back and sloped to the inner fort on the opposite side, where I spotted another couple who leaned in for a kiss. The salty air reminded me of the days I spent with Reina at the pier. I wished I could go back to that first kiss and redo everything, but I wasn’t sure what I would do differently. Surely, if I’d protected her and made a spectacle out of her situation, she would have been targeted more. I sighed, but perhaps I didn’t need to enjoy tormenting her. It was obvious she found me attractive. I could see it in her face. But lots of girls did—even Miranda. Why then did the prospect of messing around with Miranda seem so simple and easy and with Reina seem so consequential? Why did my mind linger on her, despite knowing it would be a terrible idea?
My gaze was drawn to a fleeting movement in my peripheral vision. I snapped my eyes to the water just in time to see a black object break the surface of a wave, just on the other side of the school's barrier. I leaned forward and squinted. What was it? Some kind of claw? A hand touched my shoulder. I yelled, nearly jumping from my skin. I slipped off the edge of the wall. Stunned, I caught myself in my gift and rose to face a stunned Oden who looked like he’d accidentally murdered me.
“Dude,” he said. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just came to say hi.”
“I saw something. There,” I said, pointing to the black mass.
Oden leaned forward, squinting. “What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
He turned to me. “Maybe seaweed on a rock or something. In any case, it’s on the outside, so don’t worry about it.”
I nodded, shaking the worry off my face.
“Glad you could make it,” he said. “Let’s get you a drink.”
29
Reina
Briara clung to my arm as we walked through the party, and I didn’t mind one bit. It was also my first real party, and it was nice to have someone around who shared my apprehension. It was much warmer at the fort than it should have been for the season, and I wondered if someone was somehow regulating it. More than anything, I wanted to avoid the first awkward moments of mingling, so instead, I took in the coastline and the beautiful gray structure that hosted the party.
There was a good collection of students standing around with red
cups in hand. “Okay,” Bri said, “if I don’t leave here with a boyfriend, you’ve failed as a roommate.”
I grinned. “Okay, so if you see a guy you want, say dibs. That way we both know he’s yours and I know to help you snag him.”
“Got it.”
My attention snapped to a quick movement that sent my heart fluttering. “Enzo McCain,” I said in a daze.
At the base of the wall, Enzo zipped from one group to the other, distributing something that was too far to see. His speed was even more impressive in person than it was when broadcasted in the Varsity Tournament. He occasionally bent down to touch his shoes to keep them in range. I sighed. If only I had a gift that special. The high I’d been riding from learning that I had a gift that was somehow similar to Yemoja Roux had worn off in the week that had passed. I still felt unremarkable—more so when in the presence of students who would certainly become Fae.
Briara laughed. “At some point, you’re going to have to learn not to be so starstruck. They’re ordinary boys.”
I smiled, eyeing Enzo’s slick hair and confident smile. “They are anything but. They are literally going to save the world.”
She squeezed my arm. “Trust me. They’re just boys,” she said, following Enzo with her gaze. “They’ll hook up with you and never speak to you again like all the rest.” She turned to me, her purple eyes cutting. “Don’t fall for it.”
“I mean… I’ll do my best but like… just look at them.”
In a flash, Enzo was standing beside us and I nearly choked on my breath. He held out two multicolored shots. “Sunset shots.”
I lifted the shot to examine it. “What’s a sunset shot?”
“Reina, right?” he said, and his eyes flickered to Briara, sending a pink tinge to her cheeks. “When the sun hits the horizon, everyone here will take the shot to kick off the party.”
“The party hasn’t kicked off yet?”
The Fae & The Fallen: Gifted Fae Academy - Year One Page 10
