Crystal Wing Academy- The Complete Series

by Marty Mayberry

  Biting her lower lip, she gave me a quick nod.

  With that, we added another layer to our truce.

  “While you asked us to meet up to talk about your plan, you’re not truly that worried about your hand, are you?” Tria asked.

  “I am.”

  “Do you actually think you’ll be able to whiz through all the Levels and achieve a Five overnight?” Alys said with a sneer.

  “What’s wrong with that?” I spit out, daring her to mock me for my dream.

  Her shoulders limped. “Well…nothing. I guess.”

  “It’s not impossible,” I said to Tria.

  “It isn’t. And it makes sense if you’re willing to pay Katya’s price,” Tria said. “Though it’s not a perfect solution if she can only slow the progression. You’ll still end up losing your hand.”

  I yanked on a clump of my hair. “Not next week.”

  “Eventually.”

  “We’ll worry about that later.” I cleared my throat. “Back to the second problem. I’ll rely on you guys for flitting. Easy enough solution unless someone or something’s chasing me.”

  “I’ll protect you,” Tria said fiercely. “Ping me, and I’m there.”

  “Me, too!” Patty shouted, bouncing on the bed again.

  Moira jumped in with a grin. “Me, three.”

  Everyone looked at Alys.

  “Don’t push it,” she said sullenly.

  I laughed. Couldn’t help it.

  The others joined in, even Alys.

  There had been too many times in the past when I’d hated this girl. My freakin’ sister! But maybe there was hope for us yet.

  “When you begin negotiations with Katya,” Patty said. “Don’t let her know she’s in control.”

  “Good point,” Moira said. “She’ll take advantage of you.”

  “Keep her scared,” Alys said.

  We were talking about Katya. “I can’t see her afraid of anyone. Not even the king.”

  “Especially the king. She’s in this world on the Sídhe’s good grace,” Patty said. “The third family sponsored her coming here ages ago. If she messes up, she’ll be sent back to the fae world and her children will die.”

  “The fae will kill them?” I wasn’t keen on spiders, let alone billions of tiny Katya spawn, but I wouldn’t smoosh them beneath my shoe. Not too many of them, that is. “Who are these people? The fae?” My ancestors. Whoa. Still not used to considering myself as Elite. What a cluster this was.

  “The fae won’t kill her children,” Patty said. “Her son, the arachnoid king, will.”

  “He’d kill his siblings?”

  “In front of Katya,” Moira said. “Then kill her, too.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she murdered his father,” Patty said. “He hates her and would do anything to cause her pain.”

  As if she knew as little as I did about the Sídhe, Tria seemed to be sucking this information up as eagerly as me. She said she’d moved to Grathe recently with her mom and stepdad. But why didn’t she know more of the fae history than I did?

  “Katya murdered the father of the king?” I asked.

  “Ate him alive,” Moira said.

  I shuddered. “Wow. I guess she’ll be on her best behavior with me to keep them from shipping her through the veil.”

  “Not so,” Patty said. “If you enter an agreement with her, it’ll be binding. The Sídhe won’t be able to intervene. But my point was, she won’t do anything that would offend the king.”

  Which meant she wouldn’t be eager to reverse or find a way to suspend Donovan’s Bespelling. I was surprised she’d been willing to do it the first time, but Donovan could be persuasive. Maybe his connection to the throne had made her willing to take the chance.

  I’d worry about all this once I’d heard Katya’s price for my hand.

  “Moving along, what about the rogue Bespeller?” I asked. “How can we expose whoever it is before they kill me?”

  “Or before they make me kill you,” Alys said dryly.

  Neither was a good scenario.

  Tria pointed at Alys again. “Warned you.”

  Alys huffed. “I’m merely stating the truth.”

  “Any idea?” I asked.

  “We can set a trap for the Bespeller,” Patty said.

  I lifted my eyebrows. “I assume you mean to use me as bait.”

  “Too dangerous,” Tria said.

  “I don’t think we have any other choice,” I said.

  “There are lots of options,” Tria said.

  I splayed my hands wide. “Like what?”

  She shrugged. “I’m thinking.”

  “Okay, you come up with a plan and get back to us. Soon. Like, before they bespell someone else to kill me.”

  Tria scowled. “Not happening.”

  As if she could prevent it?

  “Next agenda item,” I said. “The beatleycarne.”

  “What beatleycarne?” Moira asked.

  I explained about how it had escaped, that it had locked its prankster focus on me.

  “I have an idea about the prankster,” Tria said.

  We all looked to her.

  She rubbed her hands together. “We’ll trap it and return it to the cave. Once we do.” She tapped the diamond on my chest. “This will disappear.”

  At least I’d know when the creature was gone for good.

  “How will we catch it?” Patty asked. “They’re mooshy and slippery. Plus, they’re sneaky.”

  “We’re five women,” Tria said. “We can outsmart a slug.”

  “A clever slug,” I said.

  “Still. I’ll come up with some traps and we’ll spring them,” Tria said. “That beatley will be back in the cave within days.”

  That would be a relief.

  “Give me a day to come up with some solid ideas and then we can put them in place,” she added.

  We all nodded.

  “What about Donovan?” Alys asked, returning to the subject I’d hoped to avoid.

  “I’m going to deal with him myself,” I said. I’d never involve Katya, the fiend who’d given him a charm that allowed him to remember me—while draining away his magical powers.

  Alys huffed. “You’ll be in a nursing home before you’re able to unravel his bespelling.”

  I grinned, hoping my inner sting didn’t shine through, because…ouch. “Love how you believe I will eventually reach a Level Five.”

  She poked her tongue against the inside of her cheek then let out a long breath. “It was meant to be a taunt.”

  “Turned it back on you, didn’t I?” If she thought she could outsmart me, she was wrong.

  “We’ll go with you to Katya’s,” Tria said.

  “To keep you safe!” Patty added.

  “Here we go again,” Moira said with an easy grin. “You’re not leaving me behind, either. I’m going, too!”

  We all looked at Alys, who colored.

  “Please,” she said. “Naturally, I’ll go.”

  She would? Had to admit, my heart actually jumped. Then floundered, because her relenting meant nothing.

  “Someone has to look after Moira,” Alys said, but her lips quirked up despite her appearing to fight it.

  “Aw, come on.” Moira jumped to her feet. “Group hug!”

  Tria and Patty leaped off the bed and dragged me up and over to Moira.

  “Alys,” Moira said sternly when the other girl remained seated.

  “Do I have to?”

  “We’re making a pact to watch out for Fleur,” Moira said. “For each other. We need to cement it with a hug.”

  “Sappy alert,” she grumbled.

  Moira smiled. “You know you want this. Deep inside.”

  A heavy sigh puffed out of Alys. “No, actually, I don’t.”

  Moira tapped her foot on the floor.

  “Okay.” Alys ground her teeth. “I’ll hug you.” She pointed to Tria. “And you.” And to Patty. “You?” She rolled her eyes
at Moira. “You’re a given.” Her scowl fell on me. “But her?”

  “Be nice,” Moira said.

  Alys crossed her arms on her chest. “I can be nice.”

  Moira held out her hand. “Prove it.”

  Alys’s lips thinned. “Okay.” Inching closer, her arm smacked down on my shoulder. “Don’t read anything into this.”

  “Wouldn’t think of it.” But I couldn’t stop a tiny dream from sprouting inside me as we giggled and stumbled around the room, locked together.

  Family. I had a sister.

  Even if she hated me.

  We parted, each returning to where we’d originally been seated.

  “While I appreciate the offer, ladies,” I said. “I have to go to Katya’s Kuriosities alone.”

  Patty turned pleading eyes my way. “She’ll lure you in and never release you. If we’re there, we can watch out for you.”

  “Facing death already.” I nudged my chin toward my hand lying on my thigh. Twitches and pinches underneath the bandage told me the Serum continued its work, eating away at my flesh. Patty told me the healers had covered it with a magically renewable bandage. Who could watch the flesh disappear before their eyes? “Not much Katya can do to make things worse.”

  “You haven’t met her babies,” Patty said.

  And I hoped I never did.

  “Why can’t we go with you?” Tria asked. “I get the sorceress bit. Even why her being a Bespeller adds danger, though it makes sense that you’d ask her help. But we’re in this together.”

  I loved that. Loved having these three girls as my friends. Well, two-point-one girls as my friends. Although, this assumed I had even ten percent of Alys’s support. That might be too generous.

  “You can’t go, because she’ll use you against me,” I said. “You know she seeks out vulnerabilities.”

  “Then I should be able to go,” Alys said. “She’ll never see me as a weapon she can use against you.”

  Actually, Katya would. Despite trying to hold myself back, she’d sense my weakness for Alys. “It’s easier if I go alone.” Let that serve as my excuse. I wouldn’t explain further.

  “You’re right,” Patty said. “But—”

  “I can handle it,” I said. What did I have to lose?

  “Anything else?” Alys asked.

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s enough, isn’t it?”

  “Sucks to be you,” she said. The comment came out mean, but her eyes sparkled. A day ago, I never would’ve thought me and this girl would be communicating if only on a superficial level.

  “Sucks to be you, too, doesn’t it?” She shouldn’t forget I could give it back better than she could fling it my way.

  Her scowl deepened, but her eyes shimmered.

  The unexpected punch in my belly from knowing I’d hurt her made my skin itch. I shouldn’t feel guilty for hitting her back as hard as she’d hit me.

  “I need to study.” She jumped to her feet and rushed toward the door. “I missed a month of classes.”

  “Alys,” I called.

  She froze mid-step but didn’t turn. “Yes?”

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” she bit out.

  Moira rose to her feet and stretched. “I should go, too.” She tilted her head toward Alys. “I need to make sure she doesn’t fall asleep when she’s supposedly studying.”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Alys snapped, returning easily to the girl I’d known since I arrived at the Academy.

  “Sure, you would,” Moira said easily. She opened the bathroom door and waved for Alys to go ahead of her. “But don’t worry…” Her voice faded as they crossed the bathroom. “I’ll poke you whenever you close your eyes.”

  Alys groaned.

  Beatrice, our room’s brownie, popped into view as I shut the bathroom door and leaned against the panel.

  “Sweet,” Beatrice said when she took in me, Patty, and Tria. “Party?” Her smile fell when her blue-eyed gaze fell to her empty bowl. “Not sweet. Not party.” Scowling at me, she stomped her tiny foot. “Me see big issue here.”

  Only five inches tall and she could make me scurry.

  Brownies like Beatrice kept our Coven rooms clean. The school paid them, but to keep them from turning into malicious boggarts, we regularly left them treats. Beatrice had a voracious appetite.

  “Don’t get in a huff,” I said. Light words that didn’t cover how fast I ran to the fridge and pulled out the white, waxed paper bag I’d placed there yesterday.

  I’d discovered the cutest little bakery on campus near the clinic. With the healers after me, I wouldn’t be going to the bakery to buy goodies for the next month, however.

  I opened the bag and pulled out an éclair, then laid it carefully in Beatrice’s bowl.

  Her grin grew as I added a second éclair, then a third.

  Tria’s eyes widened. Patty snickered.

  “Good things come in threes,” I said. “Right?” My teeth ached just looking at the pile of concentrated sugar.

  “This…” Snatching up an éclair, Beatrice stuffed all of it into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed. Where the fae did she put it? She lifted a second and flicked it in the air like a wizard’s wand. “This sweet.”

  Chapter 11

  Cara was a First Year student, like me. Red hair, blue eyes, and flirty ways. She was a direct descendent of the second family, which made her infinitely suitable for the heir to the throne.

  I’d hate her if she wasn’t so nice.

  Scratch that. I hated her anyway.

  She sat across from me in a lounger in Cloven’s class, laughing at something Donovan must’ve whispered. During class, Donovan had spent part of his time learning to control threads that would enhance his innate ability with weather, another part of his time glancing around the room, catching me sitting across from him, and smiling.

  And the rest of his time talking with her.

  “Ignore them,” Patty hissed from beside me. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

  Sure, it did. He was giving her that half-smile that used to belong to me.

  “It doesn’t,” Bryce added from beyond Patty. “I know…” He shrugged, and the concern in his gaze made me like him all over again. “I know he thinks about you.”

  Other than when he was a dragon?

  Patty scowled at Cara, whose eyes widened at the unexpected malice shooting her way. Her laughter cutting off mid-snicker, she slunk lower in her chair.

  “Focus on class,” Patty said to me.

  I did need to pay attention. Cloven was talking about different colored threads and how some worked better for certain skaptis than others. He’d mentioned he’d be testing us on the material next week.

  But I couldn’t stop watching Donovan and Cara.

  Easy to say I wanted to see him happy, that I’d let him go if he wanted to be with someone other than me. Harder to put the idea into practice.

  It hurt.

  Patty leaned over and rubbed my arm. If we were alone, I had a feeling she’d hug me, because her hug brimmed in the softness of her eyes.

  Bryce grumbled, but I knew he couldn’t say anything to Donovan because Donovan would say, who’s Fleur?

  And Moira…Well, her empath skapti must be picking up on my down mood, because she looked like she was about to cry.

  “D doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Patty whispered. “If he did…”

  He might never know what he was doing. He’d move on with his life, completely oblivious I existed. While I’d be left floundering without him.

  I couldn’t give up.

  “Any questions?” Cloven asked. As he’d lectured, he’d paced back and forth in the long oval space between our loungers.

  “I have one.” Moira sat forward and raised her hand, probably excited for the distraction. “With my empath skapti, I’ve found dark blue threads help me focus on emotions better than any other color. Is that normal?”

  Cloven smiled. Hands clasped together in f
ront of his waist, he rocked back on his heels, making the hem of his velvet Academy robe swish across his black shoes. “Excellent question. Unfortunately, there’s no definitive answer. Magic is highly selective. Just like with elemental magic, what works for one person may provide an enormous challenge for another. The same holds true for the stone power we draw in via threads to enhance our skaptis. The key to honing your abilities is discovering which colored thread provides you with the most consistent result.”

  “So I’ll focus on dark blue then, because that works almost every time.” Moira’s gaze slid my way before moving back to Cloven. “Not black, though, which is very similar.”

  “Wizards have a rainbow of colors to choose from but we’re excluded from two. White belongs solely to Bespellers,” Cloven said. “And black…” He nodded to me. “Black can only be drawn in by an Unraveler, the counter wizard to a Bespeller.”

  Moira nodded.

  “Any other questions?” Cloven asked. When we all shrugged or shook our heads, he clapped his hands. “Then our class is dismissed.”

  Everyone rose and gathered their things. I remained where I was. Next, I had a free period, which meant I’d use the time to work with Cloven on my Unraveler skapti.

  So far, we hadn’t made much progress. He was doing all he could to help me, but he wasn’t a Master Unraveler.

  “I’ll see you for lunch?” At my nod, Patty shot me a solemn look before leaving, holding Bryce’s hand.

  Donovan strolled from the classroom beside Cara. His gaze didn’t slide my way, indicating he was fully focused on her.

  Her high-pitched giggle echoed in the hallway.

  What if I worked really hard and somehow found a way to achieve a Level Five Unraveler, broke his bespelling, and then he told me he’d fallen for Cara?

  The ache in my throat wouldn’t go away, no matter how hard I swallowed.

  As the door shut behind them, Cloven dropped down onto the lounger beside me, the one vacated by Patty.

  “That boy is making a big mistake,” he whispered, his attention focused on the door.

  Like other professors, Cloven probably assumed Donovan and I had broken up. My fellow students had caught on quickly to what happened. Donovan constantly introducing himself to me must’ve given it away. Most had treated me with utmost sympathy. Only a select few, thankfully, savored my pain.