Faerie Marked (Fae Academy for Halflings Book 1)

by Brea Viragh

  “I thought we were friends, Roman.” I knew I had to keep him talking. To keep him distracted while I worked to find a way to break the glamour keeping Wilson and the others trapped and immobilized.

  “Keep your enemies closer and all.” To him, it was simple. “I had you in a spot where I could watch you. You didn’t become a threat until you somehow managed to make it into the top ten. Then I knew I had to act.”

  Roman was cocooned in magic. I sensed it the closer he got to me. Some sort of protection spell he’d set up before our interaction. Keeping him safe…from me? Keeping him safe from anything.

  Sweat drenched my face despite the chill in the air, a product of stress and adrenaline. I shifted my balance and spread my legs to stand my ground. I was the damn top first-year for a reason. I had to believe in myself.

  I wasn’t going down without a fight.

  “Why are you doing this?” I demanded.

  “It’s not even about me, not really. I mean, of course I had to make sure I kept my place. But no one deserves a spot at this academy more than Mike,” Roman insisted, conviction evident in his gaze. He took another step forward, closing the distance between us. “I’m doing what I have to do to make sure he stays.”

  “Wait, what?” Confused, I said, “Mike is the crown prince. He doesn’t even need to be in the academy. He’s full-blooded Fae and heir to the throne. Why would he have to be here?”

  “Oh, but he does need it. It’s imperative. You just don’t get it. Mike is too damn honorable to fight dirty, to scrabble and claw to stay at the top. It’s up to me to make sure he stays. He has to earn his place and makes it through to next year. And I’m sorry, Tavi, but your sob story and mysterious background isn’t enough for me to think you deserve it more than he does. So, you need to die. It’s the simple truth. You’ve jeopardized his position enough already. He’s lost focus because of you.”

  Roman clucked his tongue as his words skittered down my spine like a spider. Then his fingers flexed at his sides and the tension between us went nuclear.

  I wasn’t talking to my friend anymore, if he’d ever been one to me. I was talking to an enemy. And only one of us would walk away from this.

  I didn’t wait for him to continue his speech. All was not well at the Halflings Academy, and now I was more confused than ever. Magic sang through my bones as I called a spell to levitate Roman away from me without doing any physical harm.

  The spell snapped like a striking snake. I sent him flying with a blast of power, all the way backwards into the side of the castle hard enough to knock loose bricks and rubble down to the ground.

  Strange, it took him less than a second to get to his feet and charge me on a howl.

  Yeah, not good.

  My heart pounded and my ribs ached with every inhalation. Gradually my brain churned, slowly at first, trying to come up with a battle plan.

  I was on my own, but I didn’t need to act like it. Roman had severely underestimated me this entire semester. Now it was time to show him why.

  Roman’s spell rocked against me like a shotgun blast before I could dodge it. The rest of the air left my lungs in a startled cry and my heart squeezed itself into a tiny ball as his magic rushed over me. I bent over, cradling my chest, the pain holding me captive. My eyes rolled back into my head.

  “Come on, Tavi. Tell me you didn’t learn that spell?” Roman taunted. “Aren’t you the top student? Do you know how hard it was to pretend I needed your help with levitation?”

  I used the pain, drawing it into my veins, into the vessels and the capillaries until my whole body tingled with it. With unreleased magic. I threw it back to Roman with a yell and exhilaration lifted me up. Like I had suddenly grown wings.

  Yes, I had magic too, asshole. And I was going to use it to crush him.

  The blast hit him square in the chest but this time Roman stood his own ground with his arms out to the side. He rushed me again, one leg sweeping out to knock me off my feet. He grappled with me, using his momentum to slam a hand into my supposedly broken arm. Despite the healed bone and the added protection of the sling, it still hurt like hell.

  I screamed. The sound pleased him. But he was close enough for me to grab his sweatshirt and smash my forehead into his face.

  Blood burst from his nose. “You little bitch!” But he didn’t fall.

  Roman roared again. He lunged forward and struck with claw-tipped hands, like the blow of a sledgehammer to the sides of my head, whatever potion he’d used to hide his nature allowing him to shift.

  Then the jerk tripped me. He knocked me back, his muscles sinuous and strong, pushing me across the grass and onto my back. Seconds later he dropped directly on top of me, his knees pressing into my sternum.

  Then the world decided to crawl sideways.

  “What’s the matter? Having trouble breathing? Can’t get up?” Roman continued with the taunts, his thighs tightening.

  I raised my legs and hit him in the back with my knees. It gave me just enough room to wiggle out from underneath him. He jerked his head, trying to shake off the sudden pain in his kidneys from the strike, then reared back and prepared to slice me open.

  I rose to my knees, slammed my fist into his throat while hooking his thigh with my ankle. Roman toppled. Before he hit the ground, I scrambled back, spinning in an attempt to get away and clawing at the dirt to gain ground.

  Roman stared at me, his mouth open, then slid forward and grabbed me around the hips to pull me back. I yelled as my fingers dug into the ground.

  “Do you really think you can win?” His voice was low and growling. “I mean, honestly, Tavi. Do you think you have the upper hand here?”

  Winning definitely wasn’t on my mind. Surviving, however…

  A tingle of awareness shot through me and I knew we’d gotten closer to his glamour skill during the struggle. The undercurrent of his magic ran deep. It would take time to find a back door to it. To break through his spellcasting so I could find a way to release Wilson and the others under his magical thrall. It was time I didn’t possess.

  “Let me go, you asshole,” I managed to get out. When I turned around to give him my most intimidating glare, his eyes glowed amber in the darkness.

  Asshole wolf slimeball. The same type as Kendrick, the type who thought they could do what they wanted without a care for who they hurt along the way. Maybe Roman believed he did this for Mike but there were other ways to help your friends succeed. Ways that didn’t involve murder.

  Roman muttered a spell under his breath, sending me twisting into the air and landing hard on my back for the second time. I skidded a few feet before a tree broke my path.

  I saw stars. It was a different kind of pain than the one in my arm, and different too from when he’d pushed me from the balcony.

  The stars didn’t want to go away. I still saw them when I turned over on my side, coughing. They were scattered across the lawn and glowing sharply. A contrast to the dark dampness of the grass.

  But the one closest to me wasn’t a star.

  It cost me precious seconds to understand; the glimmer I saw was a piece of quartz from the exploded crystal ball. I was wearing the same clothes from last night, so shards must have fallen out of my clothing, stuck there even hours after the explosion.

  Instinctively I reached for it, reaching for anything I could potentially use as a weapon. After my fingers closed around the chunk of quartz, I realized might not have been such a good idea at all. Would it break Nurse Julie’s potion spell? On second thought, breaking the spell would release my own inner wolf and put me on a more level field against Roman. Because until I could discover a way to break the glamour enchantment, I was on my own.

  A heartbeat, then another, and then…the familiar icy coldness. But it was taking too long. Would I have time for the full effect to take hold before I had to fight off Roman again? And if not…what was I going to do with a piece of rock?

  Roman leaped into the air, his eyes glowing and a
growl cutting across the night. He landed on me and pinned me to the ground. Leaving me no room for escape. The ax was about to fall.

  I clutched the crystal and jammed it as hard as I could into the exposed skin of his neck just as Roman tightened his grip, his hulking shape on top of me and holding me down.

  The crystal fragment still had fire inside it. The same fire that had caused it to rupture in the first place. I could feel it pulsing in my hand. My only hope of surviving was that somehow the quartz crystal would have an effect on Roman, at the very least weaken him enough for me to get away.

  Then his teeth ripped into my throat and the world exploded.

  30

  The stars disappeared. Both from the sky and the ones I’d seen like chunks of diamond scattered across the lawn. Everything disappeared under the tearing of those fangs through my skin. Through veins and arteries until the warm rush of blood pooled beneath me and I could no longer feel my arms or legs.

  I felt nothing.

  Roman and I were falling together. Out of reality, out of existence. He continued to rip at me maliciously until I didn’t know where I left off and he began. Was he drinking my blood? Anger built up inside of me, straining for release, before disappearing under a wave of pure agony.

  Every part of me went icy-cold. I tried to focus and couldn’t, tears leaking from the sides of my eyes. Darkness encroached at the edges of my vision until I lost myself on a tide of pain, no longer present. No longer able to fight back.

  I was dying.

  A pop sounded. Muffled. Far away.

  Someone help me…

  I didn’t want to die alone. I waited for visions of my life to flash before me and remind me of all the things I’d done wrong, all the things I’d miss when I passed from this life to the next. I’d never dreamed it would end like this.

  My pulse beat roughly in my ears. I wasn’t sure what I heard. Until suddenly everything came to a screeching halt and Roman collapsed forward, his jaw releasing from my throat and hot blood, both his and mine, flowed over me.

  A commotion broke out around us.

  His body fell to the side just as hands reached for me and when I blinked, though he was distorted, Detective Wilson stood over me.

  I watched his mouth moving but I didn’t hear the words. I heard nothing beyond my pulse until Nurse Julie gathered me up into her arms.

  I was hallucinating. They couldn’t be here. They were glamoured. I felt the force of their words although I wasn’t sure I made them out.

  It’s going to be okay.

  “It’s going to be okay.”

  Julie held me for the longest time as men swarmed the lawn. Wilson’s men, as he’d promised, those on his staff and those from his pack he trusted.

  They’d come for me at last. How?

  My head was spinning.

  “Stay steady, dear. We’ve got to stem the flow before you bleed out. Try not to move. Tavi, do you hear me?” Nurse Julie rasped.

  I glanced over toward where Roman lay in the grass near me, saw his unblinking eyes staring straight at me, and I caught a glimpse of the shard of quartz I’d managed to strike him with, still lodged in his neck, dripping with blood mixed with the crimson decorating the lower portion of his face.

  Dead.

  Somehow, I’d gotten away with my life.

  “Come on, let’s get you out of here and get you cleaned up.” Nurse Julie pulled me to my feet with a flutter of her wings. “Stay with me, now. I’ve got you.”

  Every inch of me hurt but I didn’t protest, teetering on the edge of consciousness. When I couldn’t walk, she lifted me easily and turned, carrying me off. I lay cradled in her arms, trying to see but everything blurred again. I rested there, nearly blind, each step sending a jolt of pain through my ravaged body. But I didn’t cry out as she whisked me inside the castle straight to her office.

  “Stay with me,” she repeated.

  “I’ll try.”

  Was that my voice? It didn’t sound like me.

  I lost myself to the pain. Was I awake? Asleep? The last thing I remembered was Julie’s concerned expression before I passed out entirely.

  “Using the crystal against Roman was a stroke of genius on your part,” Julie told me later, once the blood had been cleaned, my wound dressed, and my newly re-broken arm reset again. “I swear, you continue to surprise me. How did you know it would disrupt his magic enough to release the glamour enchantment?”

  I struggled to sit up by myself but when it proved impossible, I let Nurse Julie help me into a seated position. “I didn’t know. It was the only thing available to me. I didn’t have a choice.”

  “Well, it worked. It weakened him just enough so Detective Wilson was able to stop him.”

  I shook my head and winced. “Wait… You mean I didn’t kill him? With the quartz, I mean.”

  “No, honey, you didn’t. Detective Wilson shot Roman. And just in time, too.”

  My head still spun but at least I didn’t have Roman’s death on my conscience. “He meant to kill me.”

  “And almost succeeded, judging by the damage, but you did good, kiddo. Unfortunately, touching the quartz negated your potion spell. Here’s another vial for you.” She reached into her drawer and withdrew a potion for me to take. “You really do go through these like candy. We are going to have to work on it. Now go get some rest. We’ll meet again tomorrow. I can teach you how to whip up your own batch. And I know this is a needless warning, but don’t touch another quartz crystal again. I’ll have to tell your divination professor to provide you with an obsidian ball if you want to do any more scrying. Marsh keeps a few in her office.”

  “Thanks.” I offered her a weak smile and swallowed the potion. “I owe you.”

  “No, sweetheart. You owe me nothing.”

  We were interrupted by the clearing of a throat and Nurse Julie and I turned to the doorway in tandem.

  “I hope you’re lucid enough for me to come in and ask you a few questions, Miss Alderidge.” Detective Wilson looked softer than normal, as though someone had shaken him out and smoothed away the rough edges.

  I gave him the same smile I had given Nurse Julie seconds earlier. “Sure. Let’s get this over with,” I told him. Better now than later.

  Nurse Julie made a perfunctory protest about how I’d been through enough and needed rest, but she stood and offered up her swiveling stool to the detective anyway. He thanked her with an inclination of his head but didn’t sit.

  “I wanted to let you know. Roman did not survive the gunshot wound. Your secret will go no further than those in this room,” he told me softly. “We will keep your true nature hidden.”

  Roman had been my friend, or so I’d thought. We’d spent countless hours together talking and laughing. Now he was dead. I tried to search inside myself and find the remorse I knew I should feel. Somehow, I found nothing beyond a cold edge of satisfaction. The situation was finally wrapped.

  “Too bad two students had to die before he was stopped.”

  Detective Wilson grimaced. “It’s unfortunate, yes. But at least we stopped him before he could commit a third murder.”

  “Are you going to tell the headmaster about me?” I wanted to know.

  Detective Wilson scoffed, turning his head away to give me a view of his strong profile. “Your headmaster is a prejudiced piece of crap. It would go against everything I believe in to reveal your secret to him. So nah, little girl. I’m going to be cheering you on from the sidelines. Continue to kick serious ass and get your Faerie citizenship so you can get the hell out of here.”

  I held my hand out for him to shake, his callused fingers wrapping around my much smaller ones. “It’s a deal.”

  After I was sewn up and bandaged and sent on my way, I met Melia outside of the office. When I looked over at her hastily covered sniffle, her eyes were wet and tears trailed down her cheeks.

  “Meli, what’s the matter?”

  “Oh my God, Tavi. Just…just—” And she stopp
ed, hugging me to her chest as only Melia could. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”

  Though my one arm remained in the cast, re-broken during the ordeal, I hugged her close with the other one. “I know, me too. But if you don’t stop crying then you’re going to make me cry too, and I already look bad enough.”

  She laughed through the tears. “I’m glad you didn’t die. You’re my best friend.”

  I rested my head on her shoulder and drew in Melia’s unique and familiar scent, like a flower in a thunderstorm. “You’re mine, too.”

  Melia swiped at her cheeks. “Headmaster Leaves wants to see you in his office right away.”

  I groaned. “Great. I guess it couldn’t wait til morning, could it? I’m dead tired.”

  She wrapped an arm across my shoulders. “Come on, I’ll walk you there.”

  We made our way to Headmaster Leaves’ office and I took a seat in front of his desk. I listened to him as he commended me for my bravery in assisting a law officer with the takedown. Obviously he didn’t know the full story and thanks to Detective Wilson he never would.

  His soliloquy on my strength, courage, and powerful magic included an admission on how my actions would not bring back those who had passed, but he was proud to know I was one of his students.

  Once I would have nearly preened with his praise. It was exactly what I wanted. Someone validating my place here. Someone in authority telling me I belonged and I’d done a good job.

  Now it amused me, this prejudiced werewolf-hating loser praising my virtues while he had no clue who actually sat across from him.

  Good. I wanted to keep it that way.

  “One more thing before you go, Tavi.” Leaves fixed me with a stern look not in the least softened by his smile. “I took a glance through your file to find information on your family, to contact them about your heroic actions. I didn’t see anything. Most of your personal info is blank. There’s no permanent address, no phone numbers—”