Crystal Wing Academy- The Complete Series

by Marty Mayberry

  “They won’t let us off if they find us in the eastern pasture, where the nightlace lives,” Patty said. If she kept at it, her entire thumb would be gone in an hour. “No way we could pretend we got lost on our way back to our Coven.”

  “Nope.” I started moving the buckets closer together. “You guys should leave. I’ll handle this alone. I’m sure I can fit all the plants into two buckets.”

  Patty dropped her hand on my shoulder. “We’re doing it together.”

  “Together,” Bryce echoed, making my heart swell to the size of a watermelon.

  Once they could reach, the plants hugged each other like twins reunited after birth. Moira needed to work harder on her empathy skapti. Dandybucklions did have feelings. It was wrong to keep them penned up in the greenhouse. They needed to be free.

  In no time, we’d combined them into three containers. Taking one each, we crept from the greenhouse and hid in the shadows.

  Bryce was right. Like clockwork, a pair of centaurs trotted past, heading toward the western part of the campus. We counted to twenty then snuck across the lawn, our shoes slipping and sliding in the newly-fallen dew.

  When the centaurs paused and started to turn, we dropped to the ground and pressed ourselves flat. Sweat beaded on my face and trickled down my forehead.

  “See anything, Leelith?” one asked softly.

  “Thought I did? But nothing’s moving, now, dude.”

  “This place,” he huffed out. “Gives me the jeebies.”

  “It’ll be nice to get back to the office, to the usual routine. Leave creature investigation to the experts like Roark.”

  “Agreed.”

  They continued toward the Academy, their hooves drumming on the grass.

  We counted again to twenty then stood and continued jogging northeast, the buckets smacking our shins.

  “Think we should…stick to the path and…act casual?” Patty whispered, getting winded already from our rush. Girl needed to work out more. I ignored the fact that I was breathing heavier than my roommate. “We can say we’re…doing something…for the Headmistress. If we’re caught.” Her air wheezed. “Asked. Whatever.”

  I switched the bucket from my right to my left hand. Four dandybucklions in one container weighed more than fifty-seven. “What would we say…” I kept my voice low. “What can we say we’re doing?”

  “Not patrolling the grounds.” Bryce hustled on the other side of Patty.

  We left the lawn and trotted up a path the gardeners must use to circumvent the outer part of the campus because it was unlit, overgrown, and it snaked beside the woods. The random sheds with tools leaning against the outside walls and wheelbarrows parked alongside confirmed my suspicion.

  I couldn’t stop peering into the woods, hoping warded or wizard-controlled nightlace wouldn’t see me and attack.

  “Maybe we can say we’re…bringing the centaurs a snack?” Patty said.

  I bit off my laugh. “Sure. I’ll tell them I made brownies.”

  “How do you make brownies?” Patty asked. “They’re…tiny people. Born from other tiny people.”

  “I meant the chocolate kind.”

  They shot me matching frowns.

  Jeez, how had Elites survived this long without tasting brownies?

  “How much farther?” Patty asked, dragging her feet. “I’m…worn out already.”

  Blowing my hair off my face, I squinted, but night clouds had banished the moon, making trooping along the rutted path a challenge. “Just up over the next rise and we’re—”

  “What the fae do you kids think you’re doing?” A voice blasted out from the shed to our right. Leelith. He’d been heading toward the northern part of the Academy campus when we last saw him.

  My guts quivered. “Run!”

  We bolted, our buckets bruising our legs.

  “Stop! Halt!” rang out behind us. “I mean it!”

  “Don’t stop,” Bryce chugged, his feet slamming the earth. “Don’t halt. Mean it, too.”

  Dull thuds told me Leelith was giving chase. How could we outrun him? He was a freakin’ four-legged centaur Seeker!

  We thundered up over a rise and reached the edge of the eastern pasture. Joy should be shooting off like fireworks inside me, but dread had snuffed out the flame.

  “You two head for the Academy,” I said, slowing. “Hide. Leave your buckets with me.” I shuddered to a stop, and my bucket slipped from my sweaty palm, clunking on the ground. Sparky and his friends bounced against each other as the bucket wobbled. “I’ll tell Leelith I’m alone. That I saw two kids along the edge of the campus but they went inside. Go now. Get away.”

  “Absolutely not,” Patty said, jogging back to join me, Bryce at her side. They lowered their buckets beside mine, and she swiped her hand across her face. “We’re in…this together.”

  “We don’t all need to get in trouble.” I nudged them toward the Academy. If they ran, they could slip into the grove of trees between us and the campus and then enter through the outer door near the cafeteria. I’d distract Leelith, and he’d miss my friends. “Really. Go. I don’t mind.”

  “Well, I mind,” Bryce said as Leelith topped the rise and, spying us, picked up speed, his hooves a blur on the ground.

  I chugged out my frustration.

  Caught. And soon to be charged with theft. If we stood between the dandybucklions and Leelith, could we hide the plants?

  Leelith slowed as he approached us, his steps dull thuds on the grass. “All right, you guys. What’s up? Don’t you know there’s a rogue nightlace cluster on the hunt? It’s dangerous out here.”

  “We were…taking a stroll,” I said. “Looking for…” Aw, hell. I lifted my chin. “We were looking for tranas.”

  “Don’t see no nets.”

  “We’re catching them with our hands,” Patty said with a grimace. Her fingers flexed at her sides.

  “You do know they stink like sh…” He coughed. “They stink.”

  “We told, um, Professor Grim we’d catch some for him,” I said. Eventually. During our next class. What were the odds Leelith would check this detail with Professor Grim?

  “Grim says he never asked three students to capture tranas.” Leelith scowled. “Said that lesson is scheduled for next Tuesday.”

  Damn mindspeak. Where was a phone with crappy cell service when you needed one?

  “Thought my friend and I told you three to go to your Covens?” Leelith said.

  “We were heading there right now.”

  His bushy eyebrows lifted. “Entrance is nowhere near the eastern pasture.”

  “Okay, we’ll confess,” Bryce said. “Tell you what we were really doing.”

  “We will?” Patty and I said in unison.

  What was Bryce up to?

  “Yup. We were out here hoping to capture dandybucklions. For a class. Their anti-venom. You know what it’s used for?”

  “Dragons,” Leelith said.

  Why did no one seem to know the venom actually worked on nightlace? The only dragon anyone knew of was made of solid crystal, so who the fae was worried about a bite?

  Leelith grinned. “Nice story but I don’t see any buckets or rope.”

  Bryce stepped to the side.

  The buckets were empty.

  Chapter 28

  “While you tell a pretty decent story,” Leelith said. “And the buckets are a nice touch, I’m still going to have to take you to the Headmistress’s office.”

  “Can’t you just, I don’t know, escort us to the Academy instead?” Patty said, her thumb pressed against her mouth. “We promise we’ll stay in our Coven rooms from now on.”

  “Justine wants to talk to you herself.”

  Great. He’d pinged her already.

  His curious gaze drilled on me. “She wants to see you in particular, Fleur. Seems this isn’t the first incident you’ve been involved in.”

  In a flash, we stood in the Headmistress’s office.

  “Neat trick,”
I said to Leelith. “Flitting all of us here without making contact.”

  Leelith’s easy smile slipped out. “Thanks.” Council Seekers on patrol must dress in stealth mode, if his dark pants and shirt were anything to go by. Searing Shears were secured in a sheath strapped across his chest. His dark hair had been pulled back into a man bun, like Cloven.

  “Care to teach me how to flit like that?” I could only imagine the possibilities.

  He tipped his head back and released a burly laugh. “And give you a way to get into more trouble? Not a chance.” When his gaze fell on Justine, he sobered instantly and his front hooves twitched on the braided rug. “I’ll, um, be going now. To the perimeter. Eirib must be wondering what I’ve gotten up to.”

  “Thank you, Leelith,” Justine said, standing. “I appreciate you acting so quickly.” Even her usual dignity couldn’t mask her irritation when she turned to me. “Fleur,” she said as Leelith flitted from the room. Shaking her head, she settled back in her chair and ground her butt against the cushion. “I could swear I told you to remain with Tria.”

  “She’s…” Not even a scrap of nightlace could make it past the Council Seekers and they’d put wards in place to keep anyone from flitting nightlace past their barrier. Tria had studying to do. She’d trusted me to go to class and return to my Coven room.

  Still, shame lit my face on fire. I owed her an apology. Resisting the urge to fidget, I sat in one of the chairs. Bryce took the other and Patty settled on his thigh.

  “Sorry,” I breathed out. “I was just…”

  She held up her hand. “Did you know I attended this very Academy when I was seventeen?”

  “Can’t say that I did.”

  “Upon graduation, I took a position here as a teacher’s aide. After furthering my education in Grathe, I was able to obtain a full Professorship.”

  “I’m…happy for you?”

  Her lips scrunched. “My point is, after forty years there isn’t anything a student can do at the Academy that I haven’t seen before. But let me tell you. You…try my patience. You’ve been one unexpected surprise after another.”

  “It isn’t her fault,” Patty said, lifting her chin. “I asked her to help me—”

  “I’ll get to you two in a moment,” Justine barked, and Patty flinched.

  Pressing my knees together, I ran my fingers up and down my thighs. “We wanted to—”

  “Free the dandybucklions. A worthy cause under normal circumstances but you know the campus is under attack. Outlings are dying. Yet you still defied my directive and not only snuck around the campus at night without Tria for protection, you approached the eastern forest, the primary home of the nightlace. You know we believe most of the clusters have been warded to attack.”

  Or Blaine was sending them after us.

  Pain burst in the back of my throat. “I had to do it. Don’t you see?”

  “While I understand completely, I deplore your methods.”

  The color blanched from Bryce’s face, and I felt doubly bad. I should’ve made him leave the second he found us at the greenhouse.

  “Instead of taking matters into your own hands—when the campus is under lockdown—you could’ve come to me.” The edge in her anger fled like I’d flicked a switch, and her voice softened. “I have a heart, and I’m always willing to listen.”

  Why hadn’t I thought of coming to her? Instead of jumping into something without looking, I could’ve asked for help. Then we wouldn’t be here; I wouldn’t have gotten my friends into trouble.

  Justine steepled her fingers beneath her chin. “I’m not pleased to see any creature held in captivity, especially on my campus. Believe me. I intended to speak to Grim about this very matter myself.”

  “You did?” I slumped in the chair. We’d broken into the greenhouse, stolen the dandybucklions, and taken our chances crossing the Academy with nightlace on the loose, when the Headmistress would’ve taken care of this anyway? Great.

  “I’m sorry,” Patty said. “Don’t blame Fleur. As I was saying, this was completely my idea.”

  “And mine,” Bryce added. He stroked Patty’s back and my heart crunched. They were a team, while me and Donovan…

  Donovan! A quick sync with the city’s sundial told me it had been two hours since we’d spoken.

  He was waiting. Well, he had been waiting. He might’ve left by now.

  “I want you three to flit to your rooms immediately. While I’m tempted to give you detention—”

  “Babysitting vrilla toddlers?” Patty gaped in horror.

  “I’m prepared to be lenient.” The narrowing of her eyes on me made it clear I stood on the edge of a cliff. One more misstep, and I’d plunge over the side. “You’re to remain in your Coven rooms other than for classes and meals from now on.”

  “But—”

  She flicked her hands at my friends like they were pesky mosquitoes. “Patty and Bryce, you may go now.”

  They stood and, after a quick glance at me, popped from the room.

  The Headmistress smoothed her neat bun. Seven years ago, she’d had deep chestnut hair. In the years I’d lived with Ester, Justine had gone completely gray. She’d lost weight, too. She must’ve been sick. “I’m worried about you, Fleur. I’m terrified for all my students, and I don’t like to leave when things are unsettled.”

  I frowned. “Are you leaving?”

  Her finger traced along the edge of her blotter. “Few know this, but I’ve been offered a position at an Academy in the United Kingdom.”

  “Who would be Headmistress here if you left?”

  “I believe Cloven is aptly suited for the role of Headmaster. But I have not accepted the position yet. I’ve been given until spring to decide.” She leaned back in her chair. “But that’s another matter altogether. Back to the nightlace. Leelith and Eirib are some of the Council’s best Seekers, but these clusters…They have me stumped.”

  “Someone has warded them. Or they’re directing them to kill.”

  “We’re doing all we can to prevent further injury.”

  “What can we do to stop the wizard?”

  “There isn’t anything we can do. You are not part of the equation.”

  Best not to talk about my ongoing investigation, then.

  “There isn’t anything that I or the Council hasn’t thought of, let alone tried. But the Council isn’t…” Releasing a sigh, she pinched the bridge of her nose.

  My voice thickened as I forced my words through my tight throat. “The Council’s isn’t concerned because only outlings are being murdered, not Elites.” Which was why they’d only sent two Seekers.

  “I’d like to say your assumption is wrong.”

  “It’s not. I appreciate that not everyone—” I waved to her but also thought of Cloven, “that not everyone feels the same.”

  “You speak of Cloven. He doesn’t hide his outling identity, but I believe most have forgotten. He was raised Elite and to most, that must mean he is Elite. His father was an outling who attended the Academy, where he met Cloven’s mother.”

  “He told me about his sons.”

  “He said he planned to, because of Blaine.” A tightness appeared around her gaze that darted away from mine. “Although, I can’t imagine he told you everything about his past.”

  And what did that mean? Curiosity, my downfall, bloomed inside me. I’d have to look into this further… “I have been doing a little research into nightlace. You know that already. I could do more.”

  “I’m asking you to leave this to us. Again.”

  “I’m being careful. Really.”

  A vein throbbed in her temple. “Tell me how being careful equates with running around the campus after dark.”

  “I have my blade.”

  “Tria is to be with you at all times.”

  I scowled. I liked hanging out with her, but still. “I can protect myself.”

  “Your power is wild and unpredictable. Untrained. She’s a Level Three Seeker alrea
dy.”

  Wow. Tria must be very powerful. “I’m learning all the time.”

  “Not enough to take on something like this,” she snapped. Her pinched expression loosened. “I appreciate that you always put others ahead of your own wellbeing. Bryce and Patty will obey my directive, but just as I’m certain they won’t consider stepping out of line, I’m equally sure you’ll leave this office and do whatever you please.”

  I squirmed. No use denying her words. I didn’t intend to flit to my Coven room, though it was only because Donovan was waiting.

  Maybe he was waiting. He could’ve given up on me already. The knot tightened in my chest.

  “I also know what I would do in a similar situation. So, all I can ask is that you be careful.”

  “I promise.” That assurance, I could give her. Standing, I turned toward the door.

  “One last thing, Fleur.”

  Not facing her, I paused with my fingers on the doorknob. “Yes?”

  “Dragonsworn.”

  The legend surrounding the crystal dragon. Alex had mentioned the word to me. “What does it mean?”

  “You’ll know soon.”

  Cryptic, as usual.

  With a sigh, I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.

  Chapter 29

  One flit, and I stood on the roof.

  The empty roof.

  Turning, I squinted up but didn’t see movement on the top of the tower, in our spot. The place where we’d lain on the tiles during one of our first unofficial dates. Where we’d shared our first kiss.

  Where I’d huddled waiting for him the other night when he didn’t show, unable to hold back my sobs.

  The sharp sting of tears shouldn’t fill the back of my eyes. This wasn’t like when Mom dumped me on the front steps of the Academy then drove away.

  He was an Elite. A stupid, thoughtless, ugly Elite. I didn’t need him.

  I didn’t want to need him.

  Should I send him a ping?

  Like that would do any good? He’d ignored me for days. He’d probably ignore me for the rest of my life.