I turned to Alec, but didn’t dare repeat the question to him. Fortunately, he answered it anyway.
“I’m an Undine,” he said without ceremony, then turned quickly to Bryce. “And I will be a hundred percent useless to this mission, professor. Nothing but rocks on the southern end of the cliff. I can’t navigate that in this body, and that seawater will burn off my shift just like everyone else’s.”
“Rhea or Leo will have to carry you out past them so you can swim wide then. No one else can hold their breath as long or manage a rip current, which there will probably be, and we need to know if the tear is underwater,” Bryce said.
Alita and I exchanged confused glances. “Tear in what?” she asked very loudly, which made all four of the others stop and stare at her in shock.
Rhea gathered her tray and stood in exasperation. “Leo, when you’re done babysitting, let us know. See you all at the arena,” she added to everyone else except Alita and me. She didn’t so much as look at us.
“They just got here, Rhea,” Leo said. “Been a little busy!” he called after her as she walked away, then sighed and met my eyes. “The tear is in the veil.”
I tried to keep my expression neutral, but I had no idea what he was talking about.
“She doesn’t know,” Bryce said, putting his tablet on the table, then glancing at Alita. “Neither of them know.”
“Neither did we until the end of our first week here,” Leo chided, his voice quick and impatient as he got to his feet and collected his tray. “So they’ll know by the end of the honing, just like we did.”
Alita and I walked with Leo, Bryce, and Alec to the arena, which I very much hoped was chosen as our freshman class meeting spot because of what must be its ample seating, and not so we could participate in some kind of battle royale hazing ceremony.
My thoughts were racing about whatever Leo meant by the veil just now, and how they were going to try to find a tear in it, even underwater. There wasn’t enough time to ask questions now, though. I didn’t know where this arena was since I was just following the others, but we’d definitely already walked the ten minutes it was supposed to take to get there.
“Wait,” I said, suddenly remembering that Leo, Rhea, Alec, and Bryce were all returning students, and this meeting was for anyone who had arrived within the last month.
I turned to Leo because we did have time to get an answer to this question. “Why are you going to this thing too? You’ve been here way longer than a month.”
“Extra credit,” Alec answered without hesitation. “They want camaraderie…moral support or something for you all. Tell you what, we didn’t get any of that either,” he added with a huff.
“Where are you from, Alec?” I asked.
“The Seattle network,” he answered. “Had a swimming scholarship to The Pacific Northwest Citadel and everything.”
“Wow, what made you come here instead?” Leo immediately winced and gave me a pained look. “What?” I asked quietly, but he just shook his head.
Alec laughed wryly. “Why did I come here…let me see,” he started, his voice thick with sarcasm. “Because I was set up,” he held up his hand and began counting off on his fingers. “And because of that, I lost my scholarship. And finally, did I mention because I was set up?”
Leo rolled her eyes. “Nobody made you take the supplements. That’s on you.”
“If they were only supplements…” Alec started, turning to walk backward to face us as he talked, “...they wouldn’t have given me webbed fingers and toes, now would they?” he asked, wiggling his fingers and looking at me for the answer.
“Um, no,” I said, not knowing what else to say with the intense way he was staring at me. “Wait, so you took a supplement and it made you change?”
“Yep. Got the letter for Eden’s Bluff the same day I got my rescinded offer letter from The Citadel.”
“Was the supplement in a vial?” I asked. “Red, blue, or yellow?”
Alec narrowed his gray eyes at me. “No, a blue syringe.”
“And you?” I asked, turning to Leo. “Why did you come here? What made you start changing?”
He immediately looked uncomfortable and forced a laugh. “It’s a long story,” he said. “Remind me and I’ll tell you later. The arena is just up there.”
And it was. A few hundred feet in the distance, a small stage with a lectern was set up in the middle of a combed sand circle. Bleachers full of people rose up all around, and I breathed a sigh of relief that it was because of the seating that we were called here today.
“Shit, we need to hurry up,” Alec said as Sylvie and Uri climbed the small set of stairs leading to the lectern.
“You’re in my section—the green rows on the left,” Bryce said to Alita. “Sit near the front so you don’t have to navigate everyone to get your tie.”
“My what?” she asked.
“Your—never mind. You’ll see. Just sit close,” Bryce repeated, then started jogging to catch up with Alec.
“Sorry, we have to be on the stage,” Leo said to me, raising his dark brows in apology. “You’re in the white section, dead center. Try to sit close,” he added as he started jogging after the other two toward the stage. Alita and I exchanged confused looks.
“They’re giving us ties?” she asked. “As in neck ties?”
“I have no idea, but I guess we’re about to find out.”
Chapter Seventeen
Alita and I made our way to our assigned colored sections, and I started to feel a little self-conscious that out of the several hundred people who appeared to be lining the stands, I didn’t see one other person with wild purple hair like I had. There were so many with the spectrum of red hair, ranging from intense, like Alita’s, to a strawberry blonde. The other spectrum ran jet black to white, even a mix of the two like Bryce, but no one had an unnatural color like I did.
I wished Leo were still close by so I could ask him why exactly that was, but he was already on the stage with Alec, Rhea, and Bryce.
“Thanks for coming everyone—just a reminder, to sit in the colored section designated by your transition assistant. Check your queue boxes if you have no idea what I’m talking about,” Bryce said, pointing to his temple. I stifled a laugh.
After a few minutes of organized chaos, people finally settled into their sections, and Leo stepped up to the microphone, his black hair loose now and falling in shiny waves over his shoulders.
“Welcome to paradise, class of 2323!” he said, then flashed one of his million dollar smiles as everyone exploded in cheers.
“All right, first thing is first, my name is Leo Red-Cloud—” he said, which garnered another explosion of cheers. He laughed and waved his hands in an attempt to get everyone to quiet down. “If you’re also a transition assistant, please stand,” he added, and several students seated in the front rows all around the arena got to their feet. “These are your Gnome, Sylph, Undine, and Salamander mentors here at Eden’s Bluff,” Leo continued. “And they will be the ones distributing your colors today.” He gave all the mentors a nod, and they each picked up a large shoulder bag from under their seat and began handing out differently colored striped neckties. Wow, they really were giving us neckties.
A very tall girl with long, silver hair and the same white shirt and black skort as mine approached the microphone next.
“Undines, we’re house blue!” she shouted, flipping her own royal blue and black striped tie in the air as those mentors passed them out to the cheering students.
The Undine mentor made way for another girl, this one very tan with thick, dark brows and choppy brown rockstar hair. She was wearing the same style white shirt—though, tied around her tattooed midriff—and instead of a skort, she wore the black utility pants the boys wore. How did she get pants? I wanted pants…
“Hello, kitties,” she said in a soft, teasing voice. The entire other side of the stands got to their feet and began hooting and cheering louder than the Undines and Leo’s fans put together.
After another few seconds, she gave the crowd a slow, easy smile and moved in closer to the microphone. “Those of you with Gnome blood will proudly represent…house green.” The entire side of the arena erupted in shouts and cheers again, led by the mentors passing out the green and black striped ties.
She stepped back and blew everyone a kiss, her arm flying high and wide to the crowd, which provoked yet another wave of deafening cheers. Next, a tall, lean boy seemed to glide from the group of representatives on the stage as he made his way toward the podium. His slim, T-frame build reminded me of Max, and I felt a pang in my chest at the thought of him. His reddish-blond hair flew loose in the breeze, along with the tails of his unbuttoned shirt, and when he spoke, I was surprised to hear a thick, Scottish accent.
“How do ye, Sylphs?” he asked, his voice rich and lyrical, which garnered cheers from everyone around me. At their response, he flashed a dimpled smile that rivaled Leo’s. “Is that so then? Weel then, lemme hear ye!” The cheers exploded again as people rose to their feet, and for the first time, it occurred to me that Leo was a Salamander, but also my transition mentor. Why wasn’t I assigned a Sylph mentor? “Lads and lassies, will ye join me in representing house white?” he asked, throwing his arms back just as huge wings that ran the gradient from purple to yellow unfurled behind him, the same colors as birds of paradise flying overhead this morning. His shirt floated overhead, landing a few rows up, and I couldn’t hold onto the thought about Leo with the chaos that erupted around me—not to mention with the wave of white and black striped ties quickly washing up through the stands. I grabbed one and tied it in a loose shoelaces knot around my neck as I made my way to the end of my row, out of the way of all the flying elbows as everyone put on their colors.
“Oh, it’s like that!” Leo said over the roaring students and held out a hand to the Sylph mentor. “Well, two can play at that game,” he added, winking to the crowd as he unbuttoned his shirt, making everyone cheer. A gust of wind kicked up and blew his black, wavy hair off his face and shoulders, which only made him smile. Every muscle in his chest, arms, and stomach flexed as he maneuvered out of his shirt and threw it into the crowd without looking. In seconds it was torn to shreds by people trying to grab it, which made the Sylph mentor shake his head and chuckle.
“Uri will have our hides.” He laughed again and shook his head as Leo walked into the wind. He pulled something out from behind the podium, then turned to face the crowd.
“You might want to stand back,” he said, waving away the Sylph mentor, who played along and exaggerated an eye roll. “Suit yourself.” Leo shrugged and dropped his chin to put a red and black striped tie around his neck. As he did, his armored black wings expanded, stretching far beyond the edges of the pop-up stage. The Sylph mentor laughed as he was forced back down the steps in order to avoid being knocked off. When Leo looked up, he cinched the tie with glowing red eyes and smirked. “Salamanders, welcome to house red.”
Everyone, not just the Salamander block, cheered, and I was sure my ears would be ringing for the remainder of the week. I stared at Leo, marveling at the ridges and curves of his wings in the daylight. The breeze that had been blowing on him before kicked up again, blowing his hair in every direction until he looked straight up and started moving his wings. The familiar, low thrum of it reverberated in my chest from several rows away, and in seconds he was in the air. Everyone gasped, then shouted again as he blew a cloud of fire over our heads, which quickly went out with a loud crack.
Everyone around me was going insane. One girl a few rows down got so excited she passed out and fell into the row ahead of her. Three of the others in the row quickly helped her back to her feet, and by the time I looked back up at the stage, Leo had landed again.
The Sylph mentor returned to the stage as well, his hand raised as he approached. Leo’s wings quickly folded in as he turned, receiving the high five, and then took a seat again with the rest of the upperclassmen mentors on the stage.
The aftershock of Leo’s performance rippled through the stands until Uri, dressed in a white suit that almost seemed to glow in the sun, made his way behind the microphone. The aftershock died down in under a minute in anticipation of what he was going to say.
“Well, it will certainly be difficult to follow that!” He grinned, earning a roll of laughter from the crowd. “But in all seriousness, the masterful displays you just witnessed are only a sampling of the miraculous transformations you will come to learn how to control in your time here at Eden’s Bluff. They are gifts of your Bright Natures—the bloodlines of Sylph, Salamander, Undine, and Gnome, who were the original inhabitants of this beautiful world.” Uri paused for a wave of applause.
Sylvie approached the microphone dressed in a breezy green dress and brown sandals that laced in criss-crosses over her dark skin. She stopped at Uri’s side and leaned closer to the podium to speak, the tinkling sound of the beads in her hair rapping against the lectern. A chill ran down my spine, but I wasn’t sure why.
“Dis week, my children, we begin da honing process,” she said, her hypnotic, tropical accent rolling off her tongue like waves breaking on the shore. “Several of de faces ya seen here today will be part of yer schooling, some ya haven’t met yet, but when yer ready, da career programs dat’ll show ya how to make da world a better place will be waitin’ fer ya. And togedda, my loves, we gonna fix every-ting.”
Chapter Eighteen
We were introduced to the teaching staff for the remainder of the presentation, but I couldn’t focus on anything they said after Sylvie spoke. The clouds overhead had started to darken and roll in the distance, so I attributed my sense of unease to the looming storm.
The air was still charged as we all made our way to the respective honing areas they told us to find. Mine was at the top of a stupidly high cliff, which I didn’t quite understand with a storm brewing in the distance. But I didn’t get paid to make these decisions. The surf was breaking hundreds of yards below, and I wondered if this was the cliff we were supposed to meet at tonight.
I didn’t notice anyone as we all walked, so when someone off my shoulder started talking to me, I jumped right out of my meandering thoughts.
“Tried yer wings yet?” the Sylph mentor from the stage said, his Scottish accent warm and comforting. Now that he wasn’t several yards away, I could see the smattering of freckles over his nose as well.
“Ah, no—no test flights yet for me,” I said without hesitation. “And from the look of that drop, I hope you’re not taking us up here for a maiden voyage.”
He laughed and jogged a few steps to catch up to me. At my side, he was about the same height as Max, and his kind, blue eyes only reminded me of him that much more. I had to get my queue to connect somehow.
“Dinnae fash. All ye birdies are still too wee to be tossed outta the nest today.” He gave me an easy smile, then offered his hand. “Ma name’s Ian.”
“I’m Halsey.”
“A pleasure,” Ian said with a nod.
“Can I ask you a question?”
He winked, his clear blue eyes twinkling. “Fire away.”
“Well, this is awkward maybe, but do you know why Leo Red-Cloud was my transition mentor even though I’m not a Salamander? I mean, shouldn’t it have been a Sylph mentor if I’m supposed to be a Sylph?”
Ian’s ruddy brows drew together. “Reckon wires must’ve crossed somehow once ye hit the radar.”
His words were like an abrupt punch in the stomach, and I stopped walking. “Wait, what?”
He looked at me, surprised. “Yer assignment—which bloodline ye belong to. Wires…”
“No, I mean about the radar,” I spluttered, remembering what the officer from The Grind, Eve somebody, had shouted to me as Max and I ran from Jen’s exam room.
“Oh…” Ian chuckled low in his throat. “That’s somethin’ tae do wi’ us sensing our own kind,” he said, pausing for a second to study my face. “Speakin’ of—what’s yer shift, if ye dinnae mind
? Mine’s that ridiculous pelican flying to breakfast ahead of the crowd each morning—well, one o’em anyway.”
“Uh, yeah…I saw you,” I managed, trying to get my bearings again. “My roommate said you’re a bird of paradise?”
“Guilty.” Ian nodded to the ground and slipped his hands into his pockets. “And you then?”
“Uri said my shift is an eagle.”
He nodded slowly. “Weel, I s’pose we’ll get tae see soon enough.”
We started to approach the rest of the group, but another unsettling feeling came over me. Ian hadn’t said he didn’t believe me, but it was clear he didn’t with the vibe between cooling just like the breeze coming off the ocean.
“You don’t think I shift to an eagle?” I asked, hesitantly.
Ian laughed out loud this time. “And why wouldn’t I?” He smiled broadly at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes this time. He didn’t believe me, and he also didn’t answer my questions. “Twas good tae meet ye, lass. I best get tae ma perch.” He winked again, the sparkle in his eyes having changed to something knowing, something guarded, which I didn’t understand.
He crossed to stand next to a woman with cascading waves of blonde hair that were blowing all around behind her, along with her light blue, flowing sun dress. Her angular face and wide eyes were kind, almost maternal, though at the most, she couldn’t have been more than ten years older than the rest of us. As I approached, she held my gaze a few seconds longer than a wordless greeting would have normally been, and again, I had the feeling that I was being evaluated somehow.
The woman finally looked away and smiled kindly to the rest of the group as we all took seats on the rocks surrounding her.
“Welcome, to your first honing session,” she said, folding her hands in front of her. “My name is Midori, and with the help of your transition assistants,” she added with a gesture behind her to the mixed group of upperclassmen sitting with Ian, “we’ll begin.”
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