by Larisa Long
Xury looks down at her pink bikini. “You remembered the one I love.”
I nod. The one that barely covers anything. Check.
Blist looks down at his long shorts. “Thank you for not giving me the speedo.”
I almost faint at that thought, but manage to show him a meek smile and hope I’m not blushing.
Xury rushes to the water and dives in.
“I wish I was as brave as a pixie.”
“You are. Do you realize what you do for all of us on Friday nights? It’s the only decent meal the non-brooms …” something in his jaw tightens. “Sorry.”
I shrug. “We call ourselves that everyday.” I don’t know if that’s true or not.
“But it’s the only decent meal we get all week. You know there’s a waiting list and lottery for each Friday? There’ve been fights, bribes, death threats and even a black market to get a seat.”
“Did not know that. Maybe we could find a larger room?” I’ll have to think about that so more can attend.
Blist spreads out a towel and grabs an umbrella.
I plop myself down and note the time. One hour of beach time equals one week at the Academy. The beach is far inside one of the furthest realms. We can only risk two hours, and I make sure to set my alarm for about 45 minutes so I can get back to my Friday ritual.
Blist sits next to me. “You don’t have to hide from me.”
I look down. “I’m wearing a bathing suit under my shorts.”
He gives me a look. “You know what I mean.”
Xury screams as she comes out of the water and then dives back in.
“I know what it’s doing to you.” He looks at me waiting for me to say something.
I wave him off like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
“I mean it.” He gets as close as he can without actually touching me. “There has to be a way. Have you tried your aunt and uncle?”
I scrunch my face up like I’ve eaten pickle ice cream covered in hot chocolate. “What do you think?”
Five girls, all shifters, slowly walk by and take Blist in. “Hey, Blist.” All of their gazes look him up and down. Many times. I mean many times. His hair. Face. The requisite chiseled abs which he got the moment he shifted. He said it was the exercise he got as a jaguar, but I think it’s because he’s afraid he’ll unshift during class. Yep, he’s just that hot. Even hotter because he doesn’t realize just how hot he is.
He nods to them but doesn’t give them anything else. They sigh and keep walking. “Try them again. This isn’t heathy. Can I talk with them?” He gauges my reaction.
I dig my feet into the sand. “Sand feels nice.”
“You should teach a class on evasion.” Blist sighs and stretches out on the blanket.
I glance over at him. Since his eyes are closed, I allow my gaze to slowly travel his face and body. I wonder what his touch feels like. Even if he just ran his fingers through my hair or caught a strand of my hair and brushed it back behind my ears. I shiver at the thought of Blist.
The alarm blares, and I jump up. “Scared the fae out of me. I’ll be back.”
Blist nods.
I snap my fingers and am back in front of the dorms. Friday night. Just before 10. Perfect. I race through the lobby and into the cafeteria. The witchlock loners are already settled. A group of pixies wait in the center of the room and rush me as soon as they see me.
“Where’s Xury? She hasn’t been in class all week. We’re worried. Does she need us? Has she missed us? Has she mentioned us?” They stare at me with wide eyes. Their normally perfect complexions are marred with dark circles under their eyes and crinkled foreheads as worry has crept in and overstayed the welcome.
“She wanted to go to the beach.”
They all take a deep breath.
“You know Xury. If she asks, you do it.”
They nod, let out a breath and take their seats.
I wave my hands, and the pixies get their flavored sugar water. I step aside as the vampires arrive, and I get them their liquid meals. “Vampire’s choice for decor.”
The pixies groan. Pixies are colorful and all about light whereas the vampires live up to their gothic reputation. They only dress in all black with just the hint of the school colors showing through.
The vampires whisper to each other and then one of them motions for me. I lean in, and they whisper their choices, careful they don’t accidentally touch me and burst into flames.
I snap my fingers, and the walls turn into a graveyard with only a full moon for light. Bats fly around, and the lights above us all blink red.
The vampires sigh as they look around. “This is nice. Thank you.”
I nod. “Where are the shifters?”
“Here,” a wolf shifter growls. “Blist with you?”
I nod. “Beach.”
He looks at his watch. “How long do you have?”
“Four more minutes.” Everyone knows witchlocks can zap to another place within the realm, but we can’t keep the location active in our minds for too long if we aren’t there.
I wave my hands, and the raw meat platters show up.
“You have the spell?” The wolf shifter asks.
I hand him what I’ve written. He immediately jogs over to one of the loner witchlocks. “When we’re done, do this.”
The witchlock studies the note and glances in my general direction. “This for her?”
“It’s for all of us, faehead,” the wolf growls. “Just do it.”
The witchlock shakily takes the note as the wolf shifter nods at me.
I glance at my watch. One minute. “Everyone good?”
They produce thumbs up and nods. “See you next week.” With that, I’m back at the beach.
“That was fast,” Blist says.
I look at my watch. “Thirty seconds here?”
Blist nods.
I scan the water. “I can’t see Xury. Can you see her?”
“She’s fine,” he mutters. “She’s always fine.”
I crane my neck and stand on my tiptoes and scan the ocean for her hair. “There she is.” Then I step back. “She’s on a surf board. Where did she get that?”
“She’s a pixie,” he says quickly. “Let me talk with them.”
I look down at him like he’s crazy. “Who?”
“Your aunt and uncle.”
I laugh for the longest time before I plop down. “Thanks, I needed that laugh.” I look at him, but he’s serious. “My aunt and uncle better known as the King and Queen of the entire realm? Better discuss it with your parents first.”
He snorts. “That would go over well.”
I realize he’s staring at me. “What?”
“Just thinking about Curse Number 36.”
I roll my eyes and start twirling my hair. “Talk about something more interesting please.”
He flinches as if I’ve hurt him. “You don’t think you’re interesting?” He sits up. “Or is it me?” He looks away quickly and pretends to wipe away a tear.
I throw sand on him. “The shifters asked about you.”
He throws himself on his stomach and puts his chin on his hands. “Which one was it? Was it my secret crush?”
I toss more sand his way and wish I could throw a shell or something. “It was Masimu.”
“Masimu the wolf shifter or Masimu the dragon shifter?”
“Wolf.” I don’t know why he asked because his answer would be the same regardless.
“They’ll be fine.” He glances towards the ocean. “What about the pixies? Meltdowns without their Queen?”
I nod. “Oh yeah. I don’t think they’ve slept all week.” I hesitate when I say that. “They were all fidgety and wondering if Xury asked about them.”
I could be gone six years dead in a ditch the witchlocks had to step over daily, and they still wouldn’t ask about me. “Okay, maudlin much?”
“Hmm?”
“Nothing. Just having my own little pretty petty pity
party.”
He looks at me with such intensity I hope he won’t ask me any questions because I wouldn’t have the willpower to deflect.
I lie back and stretch out. It feels nice just to relax for a bit without brooms around. Just a day at the beach with Xury and Blist. This will be the new moment I dream about when things go sideways, and they always go sideways.
I open my eyes and sit up straight. I hadn’t realized that Blist was watching me. So much attention from a shifter would make even the strongest wither. I smell my shirt. “Can you smell the food on me?”
“No.” He suddenly gets serious, but I can’t take any more pity.
I wave to get Xury’s attention and point to my watch. She nods and gives me the just a minute sign.
I sit back down, but Blist’s eyes show his worry. I don’t know what to do. No one is ever worried about me. “I’m fine. I can handle it.”
“You shouldn’t have to.”
I shrug. “Not much I can do. Only witches can reverse it, and they can’t with the curse. I won’t risk doing anything else. Thirty-six curses are enough.”
He smiles. “The 36th though.” He puts his hand over his heart. “That’s not so bad is it?”
“Ha.”
His grin slowly dissolves. “I hate them.” He digs at the sand. “I truly hate them.”
I’ve never heard Blist say a foul word about anyone or anything. He doesn’t even cuss like the rest of us. I don’t know where this is coming from.
Xury runs up and throws herself down on the blanket. She shakes off like a whort pup, and water goes everywhere drenching Blist and I. “There’s a pixie surf club here.”
“Of course there is.” Xury could find pixies on the moon. She could find them even if they’d been declared extinct in all realms. “Ready?”
Blist nods even though I think I detect regret. Or maybe I hope.
I snap my fingers, and we’re back at the dorms.
Chapter 4
Xury takes a deep breath. “Time and date please?”
I roll my eyes. “Monday to Monday. You know the rules.”
She shrugs. “Was only hoping to get another weekend in.” Her eyes widen quickly as she catches herself. “At least a Friday night.”
“That was a quality save.”
Xury smiles at me. Her hair is already dry, and she smoothes out her uniform. “Thank’s, Z. See you.” She waves behind her as she rushes to her class. Xury is a genius and takes only the most advanced classes.
“Bye, X.” I used to be in her classes. Curse Number 5.
“Meet me back here in five?” Blist asks.
I nod and rush to the elevators. I skip down the halls and throw open my room to see Blist staring out my tiny window. I slam the door shut. “Blist, what the fae? If they catch you here.”
He slowly turns around but can’t look in my eyes. “I knew it. I knew you were covering.” He looks at the room shaking his head. “I hate them. I truly hate them.” Anger pours out of each word as his eyes begin to shift.
I put my hand out to calm him. “Some of the other rooms are worse than mine.”
“Whose? I live underground, and my room is five times this big.” He walks the foot from my window to my closet. “Why don’t you have your own bathroom?”
“Used to be a closet.”
He sighs. “Live with us.”
I step forward because surely I didn’t hear him right. “With the shifters and vampires?”
He nods.
“And how would that work?”
“They accept you.”
I shake my head. “They appreciate I can feed them. That’s the extent. They don’t want a witchlock hanging around.”
“Please call yourself a witch and not a witchlock. You will never be a warlock.” The look in his eyes alternates between sorrow, anger, pity and maybe fury. I’m not sure. “What about living with Xury?”
I shake my head. “Pixies don’t want a witch hanging out with them either. They can’t relax with a witch around. I’m fine here.”
“Fine? I saw tears in your eyes when we left you on Friday.”
I shrug. “Maybe I’m just emotional or mad. Maybe that runs in the family. Maybe that’s what happened to my parents.” I roll my eyes. “Fae.”
Blist’s face tenses. “Should I ask?”
I sigh. “The King and Queen found me one day in the streets of a foreign realm, and they felt so sorry for me because I was a lowly piece of squash. They were going to make a bread out of me, but I screamed when they tried to mash me and decided to raise me as one of their own.” I shake my head. “We’re going to be late.”
“First tell me what you do every weekend.”
I could be sarcastic and make something up, but Blist has his most serious face on. Shifters can switch from super fun to super serious in an instant. I point to the cot. “I sleep.”
He pushes on it. “Why isn’t it a real bed?”
I motion to the room. “Any other bed would have to be born in this room.”
He frowns and waits for more. “And?”
“I sleep from Friday night to Monday morning.”
He steps back. “How?”
I wish I didn’t have to tell him, and it does seem that every move I make is because of it. “Curse Number 23. No sleep through the week. It goes well with Curse Number 26 though. Anything I read or study or work on during the week must be repeated three times.”
Blist only stares at me. His skin shimmers, and his eyes start to shift again.
“Blist, I mean it. You shift in here, and they’ll find you.”
“I truly hate them. Truly.”
“So you’ve said. You have to go before they find you. Meet me downstairs.”
He leaves as quietly as he probably arrived, and I sit down on my bed completely shaken to the core. I never wanted him to know. Ever. I don’t want anyone feeling sorry for me. It’s not a curse. It’s just who I am.
I look around at the room. Dark brown walls which nothing can be nailed or stuck to. I don’t know why. The curtains are nice. I flinch as I look at the ugly plaid blue and orange fabric that I think was someone’s old sweatshirt. “It’s not so bad. Cozy.” I nod. “I have my privacy. I can set my own hours.” I laugh at myself. I look down at the ground. “Then why do I have to constantly wipe my tears away?”
I meet Blist downstairs, and he looks like he’s completely preoccupied. We don’t talk at all during the walk towards class. The dorms are connected to The Royal Fae Academy, but the campus always seems farther away when walking towards it.
The Academy is officially one huge castle looking stone building with several stories above ground and several below. The campus classrooms are built in a circle surrounding a huge aviary and greenhouse. Even though technically we are in the middle of a larger realm, the Academy exists within its own realm protected by stricter laws.
Once we arrive at the Academy, we cannot leave until we graduate. There’s really no need to leave. We have forests, beaches, deserts, mountains, volcanoes, oceans, rivers, snow, sun, rain, fog, mist. Every animal, bird, reptile, fish, plant and insect that exists in every realm can be found at the Academy. All family visits have to take place on campus grounds. Depending upon our course of study, students might have to stay ten years or a couple hundred. We don’t have to decide until we’re seventeen. So, I have another year.
Blist nonchalantly puts his hand out, and I carefully hand him my books. I could carry them myself, but shifters have extra strength and a protection obsession. I have to be careful not to touch him, but he trusts me so much he doesn’t even look.
At least I can take all my classes with Blist. He’s technically a genius, but one of the witch rules is that shifters cannot advance too quickly. I guess they’re afraid of them.
We walk down the halls. Blist walks with such a nonchalant attitude with his head back and his smile plastered to his face. Every single species stops what they’re doing when he walks by. It’s like
he’s walking in slow motion. Even vampires glance in his direction and lick their lips when Blist saunters by.
I can’t imagine my life without him, but I know the moment he meets his fated soul mate that I’ll have to deal. He can only be with a shifter. Luckily we have a few years since shifters don’t come into their full powers until their eighteenth birthday.
Two years to adjust. I mourn him already.
He laughs at something I say, and I don’t even know what we were talking about. He’s a god, and he doesn’t even know it. None of the witches look in my direction of course. Most of the other species stare at me in awe that I’m so lucky to be next to him.
The other species are fine with me. I think they pity me and fear all witches. None of them are as friendly as Blist or Xury, but they aren’t cruel. I’m tolerated. That’s about it.
We get to classroom eight, and we step inside. The entire classroom hushes as they watch Blist’s every fluid move. We’ve been doing this so long we have it down. I wait for him to get settled. He drops something. I wait for him to pick up whatever he drops. As soon as he’s finally settled, I sit down. The entire thing is choreographed for his protection. Can’t be setting one of my best friend’s on fire. That wouldn’t be cool.
Blist sits up straight with his hands folded in front like the best student ever. I look around as everyone finally tears their gaze from him and sighs.
The teacher, Professor Georr, clears his throat. “So nice of you to join us, Blist Shifter.”
I laugh accidentally. Can’t get used to being called by our species as our last names. Another new rule that B2 came up with, and it’s only in class. So, I’m Zalia Witch. I like Xury Pixie. That name rocks. I can’t stop giggling. I’m practically invisible so I’m used to entertaining myself.
I could probably walk in class naked and turn into a molting beetle, and no witch or warlock would notice. I think about that. Maybe for Halloween.
Luckily, Professor Georr is a witch, and he only looks mildly irritated in my overall vicinity. He grunts as he pushes his glasses back up his nose. They’ve been falling down for decades. I remember my aunt and uncle talking about him never being able to find a pair of glasses which fit.