by Larisa Long
Blist holds the elevator door open for me.
“Hi, Elevator.”
Elevator clears his throat. Elevator never speaks to me when I’m not alone.
Blist hits the underground dorm button. “By all means, pretend I’m not here.” He grabs my hand again and looks at me as he silently counts.
Curse Number 12 says that no one can touch me without setting on fire. For three years I lived like that. Didn’t really think much about it until Blist told me he loved me. I always thought I was pure witch. Rules state there can be no mixing of pure species, and hybrids are considered dangerous. I was okay with not touching anyone else if I couldn’t touch Blist. But now he’s all I think about.
“Thirty,” Blist says, shaking his hand. “Not too manly to shake my hand every time.”
“Uh huh, and how much pain are you in?”
He shrugs.
“Blist shifter …”
He laughs at that rule the cousins stated which said we should be called by our species name.
“Wait a minute, what would you call me if you know … everyone knew?”
Blist clears his throat and motions to Elevator.
“Oh, Elevator’s cool with everything. So, what would you call me?” I wait for him, but I know he won’t slip. He’s too smart.
“What would I call you?” He thinks about it.
Elevator clears his throat again.
“I would call you beautiful.”
“Ah, that’s sweet. Now spill, shifter.”
“I would call you Zalia Witch Shifter.”
I frown. “Witch shifter? Not hybrid?”
He shakes his head. “Too dangerous around the anti-hybrid groups.”
Oh, yes. The groups demanding a purity of blood of all species. “Witch Shifter sounds ominous.”
Elevator door opens a bit and spills me out before slamming the doors closed with Blist still inside.
“Hello?” I look around. Yep, we’re on the underground dorm floor.
“Hey, Zalia,” Lux, the vampire, smiles as she and Mika stop their kissing to nod at me.
“Hey, Lux. Mika.”
“Where’s Blist?”
I knock on the elevator doors. “Elevator kept him.”
I hear a snort behind me and turn around to see Liam, the lion shifter, saunters towards me.
“Elevator wanted Blist? That’s new.” He pounds on the door. “Elevator? We need the jaguar back.”
I knock again. “Excuse me?”
Just then the doors open and Blist is tossed out. Luckily I move fast so he doesn’t hit me and accidentally catch on fire.
Before I can ask, Elevator slams the doors closed again and is gone.
Blist gets up and brushes himself off. He’s pale and shaken.
“What happened?”
“It’s fine.” He turns around and walks fast to the common room. Everyone follows him asking him what happened. He meanders past vampires and shifters who stop what they’re doing and watch him.
“Everything’s fine,” he says, unable to look anyone in the eyes. “Zalia, can I talk with you in your room?”
Since my room is directly off the common room, it’s easy to get to.
“Okay.” I motion for him to go first.
As soon as we get inside, Blist slams the door shut and puts his back to me like he’s trying to figure out what to say.
My stomach clenches, and I think I’ve lost a few months off my life. I’m not sure. I close my mind down because I don’t want to go through the panics. I wait and wait and wait. “Blist, I swear if you don’t …”
He turns around smiling. “Sorry, shifters feed on drama.” He points to the closed door. “Just wanted to give them something to chew on.”
I frown. Maybe I’m not a shifter because I hate drama. Makes my insides run amok.
His smile slowly dissolves when he sees my expression. “I’m sorry.” He bites his bottom lip. “Sorry, maybe it’s just the carnivore shifters who feed on drama.”
“Ha, as Xury would say.”
“What?” He jumps back.
“So are you saying I’m not a carnivore shifter?” My mind flips through what I could be. Not a carnivore. “An elephant? Rhino? You sure it’s not a butterfly?”
He flinches. “You know I can’t tell you.”
“Yeah, yeah. What did Elevator say?”
He shrugs. “He just wanted to remind me how important you are to him.”
“Huh?”
Blist laughs. “You should see your face.”
I feel my face. Doesn’t feel contorted or out of order.
“He just wanted to make sure my intentions were honorable.”
I stare at him like he’s speaking to me in grasshopper which I’ve never excelled at.
Blist has to stifle his laughter. “He wants to make sure I won’t hurt you.”
I continue to stare at him because I have no idea what he’s talking about. “Elevator did? Elevator?”
He nods.
I step back. “Didn’t realize we were so close.”
Blist laughs again. “Sorry, but do you realize how adorable you are when you’re trying to figure something out?”
I frown at him. “Huh?” I don’t know why but suddenly I’m clueless. My pulse jumps, and I race to my bathroom and look in the mirror. Still blonde hair. Still one green eye and one blue. I don’t have blue skin. I grab hold of the sink and close my eyes. “Please tell me this isn’t happening? Please?”
Blist gets as close to me as he can. “Zalia, what’s wrong?”
I rock myself back and forth. “This isn’t happening. Not again. Not again.”
“Zalia? Should I get Professor Sway?”
I feel my pulse, and it’s racing. It used to do that whenever one of the curses was activated. I grab my necklace. I still have it. “Does it look amiss? Warped? Melted?”
Blist looks at the ancient necklace. “No.”
Then I realize how tired I am, and my eyes pop open. “What day is this?”
“Friday.”
I breathe easier. “Okay, I’m okay.” I move past him and collapse on top of my bed. “It’s Friday. I’m okay.”
Blist kneels at the side of the bed. “What is happening?”
I wait until I’ve calmed down a bit and my breathing isn’t all catchy. “That used to happen when the curses first started. I’d get flustered and clueless and didn’t know what the fae …” I breathe slower because my voice is still snagging on something. “I thought they’d found another way to reload them.”
Blist shakes his head. “You’re fine, Zalia. I swear it. If I did anything that made you think—”
“No…” I reach out to him almost forgetting. “No, my mind’s been all jumpy lately, and then I just freaked. But since I can’t keep my eyes open, and it’s Friday. I’m fine.”
Blist has to close his eyes quickly because they started to change colors. “Did I ever tell you how much I hate them?”
I nod and yawn.
“What they’ve done to you. I’m going to find a way to make this right.” He carefully grabs a blanket and pulls it over me. “I’ll be right here.” He sits down in a chair and gets comfortable.
Blist normally sleeps in my room. Professor Sway doesn’t mind. It’s not like we can do anything. During the week, with Curse Number 23 still invoked and me not being able to sleep until Friday night, Blist and I study until he falls asleep. Then I take the chair and study until classes the next morning.
Friday through Monday morning, I sleep in my bed, and Blist watches over me and sleeps in the chair.
Chapter 3
I wake up quickly. My door is open, and I can tell the shifters and vampires are wandering around hungry because they’re surly and running into everything including each other.
“Fae off,” one of the shifters grunts.
A vampire hisses. “Pixies me off we have to share with the beasts.”
“Calm down,” Blist says in his smooth
voice.
I smile. I love waking up to the sound of his voice.
He peeks in and sees I’m awake. He jogs over as I say the spell that provides the meat platters and warm mugs of blood.
“Respect,” everyone say in unison.
“How are you?” Blist says.
I sit up. “How is it that you always look like that?”
He looks down at himself. “Like what?”
“So good.”
He blushes. “Aw. I think Zalia likes me.”
A few of the shifters throw something at him.
“Go eat,” I say, as I squint at the artificial sunlight streaming into my room.
“You sure?”
I nod, still yawning.
He grins which makes my heart beat that much faster and at least gets me awake.
I lumber out of bed and throw myself into the bathroom. I look at the mirror. Since the curses, I always look the same. Sucks I’ll actually have to start doing my hair and makeup once the curses are gone. Worth it though. Being able to kiss Blist. I shiver just thinking of it.
By the time I’m out of the shower and ready with yet another uniform of white and white, the vampires are napping on the couches and chairs. They don’t have classes til early afternoon. Most of the shifters are already gone except for Blist who’s talking with a younger shifter.
“Hey, Zalia,” the young shifter says, who can’t be more than eight. “So cool you’re a witch.”
“A good witch.” Blist smiles at the boy and then back at me. “Remember what we talked about.”
The boy nods and smiles but doesn’t take his eyes off me.
“Okay,” Blist taps at his watch. “Best get to class.”
The boy nods and trips over his backpack on the way out.
“Someone has a crush.”
I nod. “We’re in love. Wanted to tell you last night, but I was too tired. It’ll be a spring wedding the moment he’s of age.” I put my hand over my heart. “I hope he waits for me.”
Blist shakes his head. “You’ve been around Xury too long.”
For the next three weeks, everything was as normal as it can be in my life. Blist and I went to class. We met with Xury when she wasn’t involved with pixie politics. I fed the shifters, pixies and vampires with my spells. Blist and I studied at night, and I spent weeknights alternating between studying and watching him sleep. He, I guess, did the same on the weekends.
At the Academy, we don’t have holidays. We go to school every weekday, study on the weekends and do so until the quarter ends. The next quarter begins the very next day. No one gets sick since powerful witches constantly spell the Academy against disease and illness. We don’t take part in the activities of the rest of the realms because the Academy is protected against anything that happens.
I’ve walked the grounds since I was five and haven’t left since I first arrived. Neither have any of the other students or any of the Professors who agree to live at the Academy for all of their working lives. Apart from the curses, the faehead cousins, the worry of setting anyone on fire, the Academy is beautiful. It’s safe and reassuring.
There are the usual bully warlocks, but the entire campus is perfectly safe. If we didn’t have curfew just to get rest, we could roam from morning to night in every square inch of all the Academy’s realms without worry of harm.
Even the weather is controlled. Every summer, it’s a constant 72 degrees with white puffy clouds, Tuesday afternoon rain showers and a low of 70 at night. Every fall, it’s a constant 55 degrees with wind storms every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Winter is a much colder 38 with near daily snow storms, but never any ice to cause any slippages or problems. Spring is usually a mix of 60 to 66 degrees. There was much discussion amongst the botanists about what plants needed what temperature. Fifty years ago, they decided on a very complicated schedule of alternating days of sun and clouds and then rain and wind to ensure that all seedlings and new animals had the best chance at life.
Every living thing that exists somewhere in the thousands of realms also exists within the atrium of the Academy. If I can remember, the Academy actually exists within the middle of the city on a very small plot of land, but it’s spelled so that we look like we’re out in the middle of the most beautiful countryside.
I take a deep breath as I sit facing the window in the student’s dorm common room and listen to Xury and Blist argue about something they learned in their advanced rune classes. It’s the only class I don’t have with Blist. I look around at the Academy. Every color, every plant, every animal exists. Even though the entire campus is blanketed in snow, I can still see what it looks like in the spring. This is where I came alive. Sure, I’ve been restricted by the curses, but they are lessening and will finally fall in a few more months. This is where I am the happiest. This is where I met my best friends.
I have no idea what I want to be and won’t have to declare my intentions until next year, but I can’t imagine any other place else that could tempt me. Then I look at Blist and Xury. I know Blist wants to be a counselor here to help the others. Xury could do anything, be anything. Then, I realize pixies aren’t as beloved in the rest of the realm as she is here. Maybe she’ll stay here as well. Maybe we can all live here forever.
“Hello,” Xury says. “Zalia?”
“Huh?”
Xury shakes her head. “Still with your mind all over the place.”
I shrug. “Just admiring the Academy.”
Xury smiles as she looks around. “It is beautiful, isn’t it? Maybe we can all stay here?”
I glance at Blist. “That’s what I was thinking.”
Blist jumps up. “Have you decided?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” I want to be wherever they are, but I don’t say that out loud. Sounds so weird. “I probably should wait until the curses are lifted and then I’m me again.”
“Right.” He sits back down as if he’s disappointed.
“Hello …” Xury points at her paper. “Can we please agree what this fae’ing rune is?”
I shake my head. “You should teach patience.”
“No.” Xury curls her lip. “Patience takes too long.” She spits in a napkin, wads it up and throws it at me.
Unfortunately, the napkin is paper and has part of her in it, so it immediately catches on fire when it touches my skin. I say a spell quickly and it’s out before anyone else even notices.
“Why?” Xury asks.
“You spit in it.” Blist looks at Xury. “Which is disgusting. Can you try not to burn the place down first?”
She cringes. “Sorry, when are those fae’ing curses going to pixie off?”
My top lip instantly curls up. “Don’t remind me.”
Xury grabs her stomach, and instantly pixies are at her side.
“Are you alright?”
“What can I do?”
“It’s nothing.” She waves them off. “Just got reminded of the faehead cousins.”
All of their lips are instantly curled as well as they return to their tables to watch Xury from a distance.
Blist suddenly gets uncomfortable. “I don’t want you with them alone.”
“I know, but you can’t be in the same room with them.”
“Why not?” Xury looks back and forth between us.
“Since he said he wanted to shift and rip their limbs off.”
Xury puts her hand over her mouth as she laughs. Her expression turns devious. “Can I watch?”
“He won’t be doing that,” I remind. “Right?”
He nods. “Vax will go instead.”
“Vax?” I nod. “She’ll scare the pixie out of them.” I think about that. “I like it.”
Chapter 4
A few hours later, Vax peeks her head in my room. “Yo, Z? You ready to meet the faeheads?”
“No.” I sigh and look around. B cubed always meet me in the main lobby of the main admin building. It’s the only area they are allowed to enter since
they are technically not students anymore. “Yes.” I grab my books because from the dreaded meeting, I go directly to the dreaded rune class.
The only thing good about that is Blist is Professor Sway’s assistant since he’s an expert in runes. Yes, Blist distracts me, but I’m never going to be a rune expert so I’m fine with him distracting me.
Vax and I walk the campus as we bypass the vampires trying to dodge the snowball throwing shifters.
“Vampires ever get along with shifters?”
Vax snorts. “Fae no.”
“So, why stick everyone together?”
Vax glances at me funny.
“Sorry, stupid question.” Everything at the Academy is geared towards witches. Everyone else is glommed out of their sight. I watch Vax as she walks or I should say struts wherever she goes. She has this aura about her which tells everyone to fae off. “Thanks for doing this.”
Vax shrugs. “I like it when they try to intimidate me.”
“Right?” I laugh. “They think they’re bad ass. They wouldn’t even know which book to look up the proper definition.”
Vax furrows her brow. “You’re weird.” She looks me over. “I only like weird.”
I think about that. “Thanks?” I shrug.
“Normal is so overrated.” She sidesteps a shifter who falls trying to dodge a snowball thrown from a vampire. She picks up another snowball and throws it right at three vampires hitting all at once. “Sorry for what the faehead cousins did to you.”
I nod. “I wish they’d tried it on someone who could have fought back.” I flinch at that. Why can’t I fight back now?
“As soon as you can touch someone without setting them on fire, I can teach you how to fight.”
“Thanks,” I say too quickly. I’ve never been a fighter. Witches can conjure, spell, curse. We can do so even tucked away dreaming. Why go to the trouble to get hands on? So messy.
Even with several other species attending, the Academy is extremely segregated. I notice this as we pass by groups of students. Most of the groups are witches and warlocks. The pixies stay to their own area or wherever Xury is. Shifters are not as shy. They lounge everywhere. During summer and spring they sprawl on the lawns, play games, or just race around the campus trying to irritate each other. But they are always within shifter groups.