Crystal Wing Academy- The Complete Series

by Marty Mayberry

  I rolled my eyes. “Can you tell him—”

  “Her.”

  My growl slipped out. “Okay, her. Can you please tell her that I just want to help?”

  “She already knows.”

  “Then why are we here and not on the surface?”

  “You’ve got to coax her out.”

  “I’ve been trying.” Poor little thing. Her heads peeked over the boulder but disappeared when my attention drifted her way.

  “Try harder.”

  Sighing, I stepped closer to the boulders. “Come on, baby,” I said in a high-pitched voice.

  “Capria.”

  I turned. “Huh?” Something on the wall beyond Alex…I shook my head. I was imagining things. There was nothing down here but me, the pup, and my dragonfly friend.

  “Her name is Capria,” Alex said. “Try and see if naming her helps.”

  “Capria?” I whispered.

  The pup inched out from behind the boulder, her spiky tail sweeping back and forth slowly.

  “Come on, girl,” I said softly. “That’s right. Come out and let Fleur help you. You don’t want to spend the night down here, do you?” I sure didn’t. Talk about creepy. And damp. And gloomy. “Let’s get you back on top with your brothers and sisters.”

  She stepped closer, her middle head straining to reach my outstretched hand.

  “That’s it. I’m going to help you.”

  She stared beyond me, probably at Alex who buzzed just past my left shoulder, and keened.

  “I’m going to cup my hands and boost you up,” I said, stooping down to show her what I meant. “Want to get out of this hole and back to your family?”

  She crept nearer and soon all three heads were nuzzling my neck and licking my face, making me giggle and push her gently away. I stroked her multiple fuzzy cheeks, her long necks. “See? I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Her left head cowered into my neck and crocodile tears streamed down her face.

  “You were scared, weren’t you?” I said, my heart pinching in sympathy.

  She whined.

  I’d become more proficient with flitting but moving something her size was beyond my skill.

  “Let’s get you back on the surface.” Stepping away from her, I linked my fingers again and nudged my head toward the hole. “Stand on my hands and I’ll lift you up.” Please don’t let her weigh a thousand pounds.

  The pup cried and backed toward the boulders.

  “Aw, you know I won’t do anything mean. You can do it.” I tipped my chin toward the ceiling again.

  “Perhaps hurry,” Alex said in a tight voice.

  “Why?”

  “Things hide down here.”

  Shivers crept across my skin, and my heart skipped at least three beats. “Please say you mean bugs.” Non-poisonous bugs.

  “Can’t say it’s bugs.”

  More scraping, slithery sounds from the dark recesses of the cave.

  Something grabbed me around the ankle and hauled me off my feet.

  Chapter 10

  I slammed onto my knees and then my chest, and the wind was forced from my lungs. While I spit out dirt and my pulse galloped in my throat, I clawed at the soil, trying to find purchase. Whatever it was hauled me backward like a shark engulfing a minnow.

  Flinging myself onto my back, I reeled upright and clawed at the thing tightening around my leg. Nightlace! I smacked at the vine as it cut off my circulation.

  My blade. Get the damn blade out!

  Palming it quickly, I hacked and sawed, blubbering and shrieking at the same time.

  Severed, the vine snapped away with a hiss, leaving only a strangling strand behind that kept tightening on my ankle as if it didn’t realize it had been cut away from the main cluster.

  My lungs raging, I feverishly clawed the strands away from my skin and flung it at the—gulp—wall of nightlace. Vines slithered along the floor, reaching for me with deadly tendrils.

  Pulling power, I threw a fireball. That should kill it. But instead of catching on fire, the vines absorbed the flames and grew bigger.

  Great. They didn’t burn?

  I scrambled to my feet and backed toward the boulders.

  “Capria,” I shouted hoarsely. “If you want out of here, it better be now!” Whirling around, I cupped my hands for her to step on.

  She leaped forward, and one of her front feet landed solidly on my palms. She scurried up my body to my shoulders and flung herself upward, her wings extending, flapping, carrying her toward the opening in the ceiling

  “If you could fly…” I grumbled. The fluttering pulse in my throat told me to hurry. That the vines were coming for me and they meant business.

  I wanted to decimate them, hack away at them with my blade until I’d taught them a lesson, but I also wanted to live.

  A strand of nightlace snapped at my neck like a cobra. Missing my throat, it slithered down my body, hitting my thigh and wrapping around snugly. I smacked it, then sawed it with my blade until it released me with a snap, but more vines replaced that one, determined to overrun me and drag me into its lair where the plant could encase me like a python and choke off my breath, my energy, and my ability to survive.

  Arms flailing, I barely maintained my balance. I ripped at the vines but twice as many replaced the ones I fought off.

  “Sing,” Alex shouted.

  Blubbering with fear, I blinked at him. “What did you say?”

  “Sing, I said.”

  “This isn’t a good time, dragonfly-dude. Can you help me? You made yourself big during Stone Selection. Any chance you can do it again?” Then I could hop on his back and flee this den of nastiness forever.

  “That was then. This is now.”

  “Alex. I’m going to die!”

  “Sing!”

  “What the fae will singing do?”

  “A moment lost is a moment never recaptured,” he said in a lilting voice as if we lounged on a blanket in the middle of a park, having a picnic.

  “Argh!’

  “Do it, Fleur. Sing.”

  “Okay.” I growled, then sang out, “Row, row, row your boat…” No one would ever call me original. Or, after hearing me sing, ask me to perform on a stage. “Gently down the stream.”

  More vines entwined around my legs, reaching for my waist. Tugging me down, down…

  “It’s not working,” I yelped. Why had I thought singing a lame tune would make a difference? Did Alex think I’d lull the vines to sleep? Fat chance of that.

  “Sing louder,” he shouted.

  “Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.” My heart raging, I flailed at the vines with my blade, severing each that grabbed on, but I wasn’t making headway. They slithered up to my chest and wrapped around me, squeezing until I couldn’t drag in a breath.

  Pop. Pop.

  As I continued to sing, multiple dandybucklions burst through the wall and dropped to the floor. Their sunny-flowery, smiling faces bobbed back and forth as they righted themselves, their roots finding quick purchase in the soil. But when they spied the nightlace, they bared their fangs and plunged across the room.

  “Sing,” Alex shouted. “More will come!”

  I couldn’t imagine how dandybucklions would make a difference, but I trusted Alex.

  “Row, row…” I ground out while slicing through the vines. More shot up through the floor as if the ground around me was enmeshed with them. They wrapped around my legs, yanking me down.

  More dandybucklions appeared and joined their flowery friends, hitching themselves along the floor, their pointy branches extended. When they neared the nightlace, they tipped their faces back and liquid squirted from their fangs.

  Anti-venom? I thought it only worked on dragons.

  The vines hissed and sizzled and withered. They released my legs and chest and snapped every which way as if trying to fling the anti-venom off. As the dandybucklion army I’d summoned with a silly kiddie tune stalked the vines, the str
ands slunk into the floor and walls, disappearing, leaving behind steaming piles of goo—the remains of those who’d taken on dandybucklions and lost.

  En masse, the fleet of dandybucklions bowed toward me then sprang toward the wall of dirt, their heads acting like spears. They sunk into the soil, their stick-like bodies following.

  “Looks like I owe Sparky an apology,” I told Alex.

  Buzzing around my head so fast, he almost turned into a golden crown. He stopped about one inch from my nose. “Lessons learned are lessons applied.” A flash, and he’d turned back into a pendant hanging from the chain encircling my neck.

  I sighed and looked around. Now to get out of this hell-hole before the nightlace returned. If only I possessed wings.

  Renatt peered inside the opening with smoke curling from his nostrils.

  “Thanks for the help there, dude. Wouldn’t have made it without you.”

  His grunt came out like a snicker, but concern filled his eyes.

  “I’ll be up on the surface in a second.” Sure.

  Striding around behind the largest boulder, I hip-checked it, but it didn’t budge. Looked like I’d have to put some muscle into it. A shove, and the boulder rocked. Again, only harder this time. The boulder slowly shifted and rolled across the room, and I kept pushing until I’d positioned it underneath the hole.

  Climbing onto the top, I stood precariously with my arms extended upward. Awesome. Only a foot or so to jump.

  Definitely needed wings.

  I leaped up but missed the edge and smacked back down onto the boulder, wincing when my ankle twisted. Ugh.

  “You guys have something I could grab onto?” I called out. Like, a rope?

  Silence.

  “Thought not.”

  I jumped again. My fingers of my right hand caught the edge, and I slapped my left hand up beside it. My feet dangled in the air. What next?

  Holding on tight, I lifted one leg until I could brace my foot on the lip of the hole. If I fell now, my butt was going to hurt for thirty-five years. Assuming I survived the fall.

  Something grabbed my hands, making my heart stop. Whoever it was tugged.

  “Renatt? Yes! Help me.”

  Another pull and my arms were dragged up onto the ground. My head popped from the hole and my upper body followed.

  Renatt stood a short distance away watching benignly as Capria hauled me the rest of the way onto the ground, my hands held in two of her three mouths.

  When she released me, I collapsed on the grass. I wanted to kiss it. Hug it. Hug Capria, too.

  Instead, I climbed onto my shaky legs where I wavered, almost falling down. Renatt rushed forward as I collapsed, and I slumped against his side, panting.

  That was fun. Not.

  Capria nuzzled my hands and I patted her neck and fuzzy faces, crooning, “Good girl. Good pupper. Aren’t you the bestest doggo in the world?”

  She licked my face, doggy slobber going everywhere, while I laughed.

  Once I’d caught my breath, I played with the puppies for a while, tossing rocks and sticks for them to retrieve until the sun’s rays slanted across the sky and the babies had collapsed into panting puppy piles.

  “Guess we should head back, now,” I said to Renatt, who nodded.

  While the Cerberus babies scrambled to their feet and rushed over to cover me with doggie kisses, I said goodbye. “I’ll try to visit again!” As soon as Renatt could bring me back.

  I climbed up onto his back, finding it was much easier the second time around. At this rate, I’d be a dragon rider in no time.

  A quick wave and I was latching onto one of Renatt’s back spikes while he shot up into the air. In seconds, his flapping wings left the pups behind.

  All but one.

  Capria flew behind us, whining.

  “You’ve got to stay with the other puppies,” I said over my shoulder.

  Her wings flapped frantically as she struggled to keep up.

  This wasn’t a case of, she followed me home, can I keep her? Patty was not going to let me hide a Cerberus pup in our room. And Capria would grow larger.

  Renatt ignored Capria and took us back to the pasture where I’d originally found him.

  Capria landed nearby as I slipped off Renatt’s back.

  I stooped down to coax her closer. “Sweetie, you have to fly back to your family. I don’t think you could live here with Renatt, and you’ll soon be too big to live with me.”

  Renatt shook his head quite firmly.

  “I’ve got to go,” I said with one last stroke along her back. Her tail flicked back and forth, severing tall grass behind her. Turning to Renatt, I said, “Would you make sure she gets back home?”

  He nodded.

  “Thanks.”

  Capria wiggled over to me, her belly dragging on the ground. She whined and stared at me with her ears pricked forward, her brown eyes filled with sadness.

  “I’ll come see you again soon,” I said to Renatt. “Thanks for the ride. It was awesome. Something I never imagined I’d get to do.”

  He rested his chin on my shoulder and sighed. “I bet you get lonely here.” Another sigh. “Which is probably why you visit the Cerberus pups.”

  A brief dip of his head said yes.

  “I wish you could live at the Academy but you’re too big, too. I doubt they’d let you stay there any more than Capria.”

  He gave a slight shake of his head.

  After a quick wave, I left them, jogging down the path toward the western pasture, my heart breaking as Capria’s mournful keen rang out behind me.

  When I was far enough away from them that I could be certain Capria wouldn’t follow, I slowed to a walk. I wiped my eyes and sniffed, and hoped she’d be okay. I could trust Renatt to keep her safe until she was back with her family, but I missed her already.

  By the time I approached the edge of the forest, dusk and night were fighting a duel in the sky, staining the clouds orange, yellow, and blood-red. Long tree shadows speared across the path. And it must be woodland creature bedtime, because not a cricket or bird made a sound.

  Ahead on the trail, a stick snapped.

  Had the sound been caused by the wind?

  Overhead, the trees stood like stoic sentinels, indicating no breeze.

  Someone—or something—could be between me and the western part of the Academy campus.

  “You’re being silly,” I whispered in a catchy, uncertain voice. My mouth flashed dry, and my stomach rolled. I was alone in the woods. There was no one here but me, Capria, and Renatt. I was probably safer here than inside my Coven room with the locks engaged.

  A soft breath of a sound made me pause, one foot lifted but refusing to step forward. This reminded me of when I’d risked my life by going into the woods to save Moira and Donovan.

  But we’d killed the slake. I was safe.

  Well, except from whoever was hunting outlings…

  I couldn’t stay in the woods forever.

  Flit. Silly to stand here speculating about who might be creeping up on me. In a few seconds, I could be joking with Patty and Beatrice in my room.

  I’d called elemental magic and was about to say goodbye to the forest, when a sharp cry was followed by a thud and a scraping, clawing, dragging sound.

  My heart bolted against my ribcage as if it hoped to break free and run. Sweat trickled down my spine, and a shiver shot through me.

  I wanted to call out, who’s there, but I wasn’t stupid. Sure, I took chances, but I’d only done it to help others.

  Another cry, cut off abruptly.

  Like with Moira, I couldn’t leave if someone was hurt.

  Pulling my blade, I gathered threads of power from around me and filled my moonstone to overflowing. I moved forward, peering around but seeing nothing unusual. Rounding a bend in the trail, I came to a straight section. Through the woods ahead, the western part of the Academy gleamed in the late-day sunlight, promising sanctuary.

  Had I been mistaken? Ma
ybe I hadn’t heard anything. My mind was playing tricks with me, scaring me when there was no cause.

  A creaking sound overhead brought me to a halt and, while I cringed and hoped I was wrong, a sour taste filled my mouth.

  I needed to look. I had to look. But I didn’t want to.

  Because I knew.

  Moist, oval leaves littered the ground like grisly confetti.

  Nightlace.

  Like a thrill seeker whose gaze was drawn to a shrouded body lying on the ground beyond the yellow crime scene tape, my eyes were dragged upward.

  My head spun as if I’d taken a blow, and shaking took over my limbs. The world stilled, each second lasting an hour.

  While a gut-wrenching groan of horror erupted from me, my focus centered in on the body swinging. Back and forth. Back and forth.

  Sarah hung from a tree, suspended by nightlace. Her fixed, unfocused eyes held what I read as stark fear, and her tongue bulged from her mouth.

  Freshly displayed for me to find, she still swayed. She’d died so recently I expected her feet to twitch.

  On her throat above the rounded neckline of her t-shirt…

  …a bloody red O encircled the number six.

  Chapter 11

  “Her roommate said she’d gone into the woods to meet a boy,” Cloven said from beside me.

  We sat in the Headmistress’s office. Justine, as before, had taken her seat opposite us. With her fingers steepled beneath her chin, she flicked her eyes from Cloven to me.

  When I found Drea, I’d floundered before notifying the Headmistress. This time, I’d pinged Cloven, who’d not only flitted to my side right away, he’d also seen the O and the number.

  I’d been too shaken to do anything but stand beside him and blubber. He’d brought me here then returned to take care of Sarah’s body before joining us.

  “Someone’s killing us,” I said, my voice a wreck. I was a wreck. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Tears kept leaking down my face. I couldn’t get the image of Sarah swinging out of my mind.

  “We’re going to find out who’s doing this. I promise,” Cloven said, squeezing my hand. How could anyone be warm when my heart—the world—had frozen solid? “We’ll make them pay.”