by LJ Andrews
Chapter 3
Sunday night the house was quiet. I sat at the desk in my small room, tapping the pen along the scratched wood. An etching along the side of the wood was from a boy named Chance. He’d wanted me to know he’d been there, apparently.
The reflection journal was due in less than an hour and I still had no idea where to begin. I thought about being childish and writing something like “you suck” but Graham warned me that Sapphire wasn’t an idiot. Anything other than thoughtful, serious entries would leave me with a choice between demerits or extra housework.
Glancing out the window, I gazed at the pointed treetops. Sapphire had led the students through a few trails at the back of the house earlier that morning, and in turn had pointed out the fence line for my information.
When Sapphire said fence line, he meant it. The chain-link barrier was at least twelve feet tall, and in my opinion, completely wrecked the atmosphere of the woods with its gaudy presence.
The short hike was the singular moment when peace settled inside my chest. The only calm I’d felt since being ripped from Aunt Liz’s house. I’d made sure to take some time to perch on a fallen log, away from everyone else, of course, and just breathed the fresh air. The sparks of life erupted through my blood like always when nature was around.
As a kid, I believed the forest could speak with me. Aunt Liz encouraged my creativity, and even played along, asking what the rocks and trees were saying as we hiked in the hills by our house. Maybe she hoped it would be a bit of power coming out. My parents were supposedly witches, but I never developed a talent for spell casting.
I pushed my passion for the outdoors away as I’d gotten older because it served as a painful reminder that magic was somewhere in there, but refused to show. But when Sapphire led us into the forest of Wyvern Willows, the same tingle of home returned. If I listened close enough, I could almost go back childhood and hear the whispers in the trees.
It was stupid and certainly not going in my journal.
I clasped my fingers behind my head, closed my eyes, and tipped back on the chair a bit. Aunt Liz had been on my mind a lot today. Being away from her, with all those other kids she had to look after, it didn’t seem right. She didn’t deserve it, any of it. She sacrificed her life, her career, so she could raise me. What a way to show gratitude.
The thoughts bumbled about in my mind, sending a choking wave of guilt through my chest, as though someone had hooked tight bands around my ribs and squeezed tighter and tighter. The pain drew my open palm over my heart to ease the ache of guilt.
A knock came to my door. The hinges groaned open before I could protest.
I glared at Mitch when he stepped into the room. “You know it’s polite to wait until someone invites you inside.”
Mitch shrugged and sat on the corner of the bed. “I figure there isn’t a lot you could be doing that would be that private.” He smirked. “I mean unless you need a sock. I can leave and come back in, what? A couple minutes.”
“Shut up. How about just privacy in general.”
Mitch scoffed and rested his head on my pillow! I tilted my head, a little astonished. How should I react? Fighting other students wasn’t allowed.
Mitch noticed my glare and hugged my pillow with a sly grin. “What makes you so angry, man?”
“Do you mind?” I huffed, ripping the pillow out from beneath Mitch’s head. My blood was hot in my veins when my fingertips dug into the cotton stuffing.
“I don’t mind at all. In fact, I’m here to listen. Tell me your troubles.”
“You think you’re funny, huh?” I threw the pillow at his head and turned back to the journal.
“A little,” Mitch said, lightly. “Look, I’m only here to see how your first twenty-four hours have gone. It can be a bit of a culture shock. I mean I’m from Seattle, so coming to Wyvern Willows blew my mind with how small it is.”
“I’m fine.” Now I sounded more like I was growling.
“Sure, you sound like it. You’re mad at the world, right? Think it owes you something. I’ve seen it a lot here. Let me fill you in—the world doesn’t owe you anything.”
“That’s not it.” My cheeks flushed with heat—dammit, the changeling broke through a wall. A sucker punch to the back when I wasn’t looking.
“Ah, now we’re getting somewhere,” Mitch said. “What makes you mad, then?”
“I don’t need to say anything to you.”
“You don’t, but tell that thing.” He pointed at the journal. “The sooner you figure it out, the faster your time here will pass.”
“Did Sapphire send you in here? Because I don’t need your help getting thoughts out.”
“I had a hard time when I first came too, but it gets easier and it does sort of feel good to get things out. But no, Sapphire didn’t send me. I happen to like making friends. I’ve been here for a while, and I’d like to think I can help someone else.”
“How noble.” My teeth dug into the tip of my tongue. I didn’t need to be like this, and did like Mitch. He’d been decent on the hike, not annoying, just friendly. I cleared my throat. “Sorry.”
“It’s cool.” Mitch paused, staring at the bare ceiling like he was lost in deep thought. Finally, after I’d gone back to tapping the pen on the desk, Mitch rolled over and talked to my back. “So, what is it that makes you so mad that you’d go joyriding? Not enough love at home?”
“I have enough, probably more than I deserve.” Sighing, I set the pen to rest on the desk and sat backward in the wooden chair so I could face Mitch. “I don’t know why I’m angry. I just am, all the time. I’ve never felt like I belonged anywhere, and I don’t. I don’t fit in with people, don’t fit with any guild or clan.”
“Some places defectives are mistreated,” Mitch agreed. “But there are other districts that aren’t as prejudiced, you know. Here for example. I think the human side prefers all the defectives. I sort of creep them out.”
“You have full fae magic, then?”
“Yeah,” Mitch said. “But I don’t use it. I’m probably more human than the humans in a lot of ways. So you’re angry because you’re defective?”
I shrugged. “Probably. I don’t know, there’s always been this thing inside me, like a storm’s about to burst any second. And I go joyriding to drown out the noise, okay? How’s that for your session, doctor?”
“A good start, a real good start.” Mitch said with a wink.
“What about you? Why are you still here?”
Mitch grinned, but he definitely had a slier look. “Well, I kept stealing after I came. The MPF judge wanted to send me back to my fae family, but they were still pissed their little human treasure got the drop on them and returned to my family. They didn’t want me either. Anyway, Sapphire went to bat for me and kept me here for an extra program length. I’m nineteen, been here since I was sixteen, but I don’t mind still going to school and all the other stuff. Keeps the days from dragging. Sapphire said I might be able to be one of the counselors eventually if I can stop stealing.”
I grinned. “Still stealing.”
Mitch shrugged as though it wasn’t an issue. “I mean, old habits, right?”
“All right then, what’s your deal? Why do you steal?”
“I didn’t have a lot of skills. Homeless. Family-less—is that a thing? Orphan, but not an orphan.”
“I get it.”
“I’m fae. I’m tricky and good at sneaking around. Stealing kind of became my thing to earn a living. I’d pick pockets, you know, small scale at the mall and stuff. Then, bigger jobs for different guilds. Short story—I got caught one day and was sent here. Back then, I guess, possessions meant so much to me since I didn’t have any, that after I came here I thought all the stuff would disappear or something. So, I started hoarding it. I never sold anything I stole from the house, I just kept it.”
“That sort of sucks, Mitch,” I said.
Mitch waved the thought away. “It’s cool. I’ve got this place
. So, listen, tomorrow at school I can show you around if you want. It’s good you’re coming only a week into the start of summer, so it won’t be so bad. Do what you want, of course, but if you don’t want to wander around alone, stick with me and Graham.”
I nodded slowly, eyeing Mitch as he finally abandoned my bed and moved toward the door. “Thanks.”
“No problem. You’ve only got fifteen minutes, dude. Just write something.” Mitch smirked, then trudged out of sight.
Tapping the desk with the pencil eraser, I turned back to the notebook, simply staring. After a few moments, I managed a few sentences.
I like the forest. I guess I’m angry and don’t know why. I wish I could tell Aunt Liz I’m sorry tonight.
I quickly slammed the notebook shut. There were slings all the students were supposed to hang the notebooks in and place them on the outside knob of their doors, so Mr. Sapphire could collect them after lights out. I didn’t like it. Anyone could read the journals, but it was a little consolation that more staff patrolled the halls and watched the slings like a bank vault. Maybe no one cared to read other personal thoughts enough to risk getting caught out of bed.
With one minute to spare, I slipped the notebook in the sling. Already, Bart, a goofy-looking guy with a massive receding hairline, was trudging down the hallway knocking on doors for the five-minute curfew signal.
I closed the door, hoping to avoid any interaction, not because the guy was unpleasant, just that he kept looking at me like I was some broken thing that only a solid hug could fix. No thanks.
I flipped out the light and was about to pull the blinds over my window, but stopped. Mr. Sapphire was outside on the lawn, right where the trees began, talking to someone I couldn’t see. I leaned against the glass, battling the darkness to get a better look. Clearly, the way he huddled away from the porch lights, he didn’t want to be seen. Sapphire shook his head, talked with hands, and looked distressed.
Whoever he spoke with must have said something he hadn’t wanted to hear, and was still completely concealed by his massive form.
My forehead chilled when I pressed my skin against the glass. Sapphire paced, moving enough to reveal his shadowy visitor.
My breath sort of hitched in my throat—it hadn’t ever done that before.
She was young, seventeen, eighteen tops. Her hair reminded me of sunrise, and even in the pitch of night her eyes gleamed bright and captivating. Awestruck. I’d heard of the feeling, when you get the wind knocked out of you, but I’d always thought it was an idiotic notion. Yet here I was.
I couldn’t make out specific features, but from where I sat perched against the window, her skin was bright and absolute perfection.
What was she doing here in the dark with an older man?
Like cinder blocks in my stomach, a definite pull to be at her side grew. Almost like I deserved to be a part of the tense conversation.
Until the girl nodded briskly at something Sapphire said, then without warning, was devoured by the depths of the forest.
The skin around my eyes pulled tight as I searched for any sign of the girl. She shouldn’t be alone, not in any way should she be alone.
The manic need to be with the mysterious girl mounted like a flame in my chest. What was Sapphire thinking sending her into the woods, what sort of man did that? Why did I care? I cursed under my breath and flopped onto the bed. When the twist in my gut worsened, I shoved my head under the pillow, desperate to rid myself of the sudden nausea. What the hell was wrong with me? I didn’t get like this over females. But like I’d lost my mind, I wanted to find out who she was, find out why Sapphire spoke to her in the dark. A new desperation grew. I had to know the girl.
And that thought unnerved me most of all.
Chapter 4
The sun could be a miracle after a tumultuous night. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, embracing the warmth of the rays on my cheeks. The clock on the nightstand was blinking. Blinking that it was midnight!
I shot up in bed, shaking the old-fashioned machine. I cursed loudly. At some point the power must have gone off during the night. This was when I wished more than anything the rules allowed for cell phones.
I spilled out of bed, sheets tangled around my waist as I dug through the tiny closet for some clothes.
A fist pounded on my door, followed by Mitch’s voice. “Teagan, come on. The bus is leaving in five minutes.”
“I’m coming!” I said, as I shoved a black T-shirt over my head, and slipped on the best jeans I could find. Wobbling around, I bounced into the hallway with my shoes, toward the shared bathroom area. Other reforms shuffled up and down the stairs. Some headed for the bus, others too old or without a need for summer school, held chore charts in hand.
The bathroom was massive. Remodeled to hold five sinks, three showers and two stalls. I pinched my toothbrush between my teeth while I finished tying my shoes. Normally my hair settled in waves when it was longer, but since Aunt Liz forced me to cut it before coming here, this morning it was messy and grungy.
I slapped water along my scalp hoping to correct the awkward sandy wave sticking up in the center of my head. With a sigh, I stared at my reflection. I looked exactly like I’d just rolled out of bed.
Good enough. I hurried back into my room and made sure my smell was at least presentable.
Outside, a white bus with rust spreading like a plague along the edges rumbled up the drive. Cursing, I snatched my backpack from the floor, taking the stairs two at a time until I burst out the door.
Mr. Sapphire stood like a muscle-packed sentinel on the porch stairs, and all at once I remembered the secret meeting in the dark with the girl.
“Calling it close, Teagan,” he said
“Yeah, well there were things by the trees that kept distracting me,” I replied with meaning. Sapphire must have suspected, because I had to admit, I enjoyed the way his brow lifted too much. “Check your power, it went out last night.”
I jumped onto the bus and the door clamped shut. The driver was a plump woman with curly orange hair and curled, black fingernails. Some type of ogress, maybe a troll, I guessed. She scrutinized me hungrily, then nodded her thick head to the back of the bus. “Find a seat, young man. You make me thirsty.”
I looked at her horrified, but Mitch’s laugh drew me to his seat. “Don’t mind Wanda, she’s a fae sith, but she hasn’t touched blood in ages. Sleep in?”
I slumped into the seat next to him. “No, the power went out. My clock reset during the night.”
“Weird. Mine was fine. Well, you made it at least.
“Great.”
“Hey, it’s not so bad. Really, you’ll like the school. I’m not lying when I say this, man, some of the girls here . . .” Mitch kissed his fingertips to his lips and smacked.
“Yeah, that’s great except Sapphire thinks mixing girls and guys will damn us all.”
“Well, it doesn’t hurt to look a little.”
I almost said something about the girl in the trees last night, but when the words formed on my tongue they seemed to evaporate. I’d keep it my secret until I figured out who she was.
Wyvern High School wasn’t anything special. It looked a lot like my last school, except the grass was a rich green, no brown spots, and the trees were perfectly sculpted.
I trudged behind Mitch and Graham through the front doors and paused briefly when a stone statue of a grisly dragon peered down at us from the perch above the entrance. My gaze halted on the structure, a chill raced down my spine as the white stone beast seemed to read my very thoughts.
“These people really hold onto dragons,” I said.
“Well, when you live in a town with the word wyvern in the title, what do you expect the mascot to be? A turkey?” Mitch chuckled, waving farewell to Graham when he drifted into a separate door. “Sapphire said once the dragon guilds were the epitome of strength. They hold onto the symbolism not the fire breathers. Rotten history and all that.”
“The wars?”
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Mitch blew out his lips. “Come on, dragons and mages—they basically ruled together. Then they all slaughtered each other. Not becoming. Fae can be creeps, but we tend to leave each other alone.”
All people could be creeps—human and magis alike—but there was something wrong about the Dragon Mage wars. They’d been allies, then something snapped. And the cost was bloody and devastating. Power corrupted, that was my theory.
Mitch stuck with me, and though I’d never admit it, I was glad Mitch had the same first two periods. There were a few students in algebra class who intentionally sat two seats away from us, and a few more who gave us steely glances. In the end I crossed my arms and sat back with a snarl painted on my face.
“Don’t let it get to you,” Mitch said after class. “It’s not because we’re magis, more that we’re the reform guys—the criminals.”
“What happened to being a warm, welcoming community.”
“Ah, that’s just Sapphire being optimistic. Truth is most kids here are genuine asses.”
I snorted a laugh and shot a glare at two guys, who looked pasty and high on something, until they turned around.
“Part of the program is to get us to integrate with our peers naturally. Not everyone loves the idea. You didn’t think everyone would be cool with a convicted thief and a wild boy in their precious babies’ world, did you? Add unknown abilities on top of it—come on. The parents, mostly human, talk. Some kids keep their distance. I prefer it that way if you ask me.”
“Wow, I think that’s the first time I’ve heard a hint of bitterness,” I said, shoving Mitch’s shoulder.
Mitch laughed and spiraled down the stairs with me in tow. “Maybe a little. I’m awesome, but I’m not perfect, Ward.”
Mitch stopped and pointed to a door with a big Welcome to Summer School sign still strung up over the window. “Well, this is Tiddel’s English. Your third period. We have the same lunch hour. If you want, Graham and I usually eat outside at the football field. Want to meet us after?”
I nodded, feeling even more grateful there was someone to talk to today.