Turvy Topsy

by Larisa Long

  I shrug. “They were all pixied at me because I accidentally set one of them on fire. It happens. It had been a hard week, and I didn’t want their drama.”

  “I will reduce your sentence by half for not releasing the vampires.” She shakes. “Dreadful species. And I will decrease it by three quarters for attempted vampirocide. I will also increase by a quarter and a half for trying to help the shifters.” She cringes. “And increase your punishment by another 10 seconds for unauthorized feeding. Your fifteen seconds will be served separately.”

  I don’t know why I’m so giddy, but I have to practically bite my own lip off to keep myself from laughing. It’s like when I get all giggly when I consume too much chocolate.

  Ms. Guthie closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as she notates something on the scroll. “And to your other charges?”

  Other charges? Fae. Fae. Fae. I glance at Shifter’s Fate. That’s why he’s here. Raks must have shifted some of his cluelessness to me. Fae it all. They know I’m a hybrid. Fae. Did I say that already? Fae. Just in case I didn’t. I wait because I’m not just going to blurt it out in case they’re still in the dark.

  “You …” Ms. Guthie points her long pen at me which extends another two feet. It has an even longer feather on the top which reaches into the cage and almost pokes my eye.

  I glance up at the faeries who all have their eyes closed as if the feather almost gouged their own eyes out.

  “Zalia Witch, you are a most dangerous hybrid.” Ms. Guthie shudders. “Speak.”

  Fae. “Before the arrest, I learned I have both shifter and witch blood.”

  Raks gasps again and steps away from me. “How did I not know?”

  I ignore him. It’s easy.

  Raks clears his throat. “If I may? May I be released from my fated bond with this … dangerous hybrid?”

  Witch’s Fate looks at me. “Would you concur?”

  “Sure,” I say as calm as I can, while yodeling at the top of my lungs inside.

  Ms. Guthie sighs. “Raks Witch, you are excused. You are no longer fated to be with Zalia.”

  Thank you, I secretly whisper.

  Raks bows to me or at me. I’m not sure which. Then he stands up straight like he has no idea either. He shuffles this way and that, finds the door, stumbles and then is gone.

  Ms. Guthie rolls her eyes and motions for me. “You are a hybrid?”

  Right. Back from the Raks brink. “I claim both witch and shifter blood and the nature of both, but I cannot claim to be dangerous. I am a good witch and assume I will be an equally good shifter.”

  I glance at Shifter’s Fate who nods at me like I said the right thing.

  Ms. Guthie inhales and exhales again at the same time. “For the most serious charges of trying to help the shifters escape and for being a dangerous hybrid, you will be remanded to this dungeon where you will remain indefinitely or until your death. Whichever comes first.”

  “What?” Shifter’s Fate shakes his head. “That is not what we discussed.

  “No it is not,” Witch’s Fate agrees.

  Warlock’s Fate isn’t shocked nor is he worried. He just is.

  “The trial is concluded.” Ms. Guthie folds up her enormous pen.

  I glance up at the faeries who all share a tissue as they sob uncontrollably.

  I look between Witch’s Fate and Shifter’s Fate. “What’s happening.”

  “The sentence begins now. Zalia you will sleep until your end.” Ms. Guthie snaps her fingers, and I feel myself falling.

  Chapter 2

  “Psst.”

  I hear something, but I shoo it away. “Just want to sleep.”

  “You’ve been sleeping. Wake up, Zalia.”

  I jolt myself awake. “Where am I? When am I?”

  Witch’s Fate stands over me. “Are you awake yet?”

  I look around. “I’m still in the dungeon.” My sentence was indefinite or until death and then I was drifting. I hate to ask. “What year is it? Is Blist still here? Am I still a witch and shifter? Are we in space?”

  Witch’s Fate throws her hands up. “It has only been a month since the sentence.”

  I feel my heart and touch my face. “A month? Am I dying?”

  Witch’s Fate shakes her head.

  I glance up to see the faeries watching me, and they act out a scene that tells me everything. “It’s that bad?”

  Witch’s Fate nods.

  “Where is everyone? How is everyone?”

  Witch’s Fate sighs. “I assume you are referring to your other species?”

  I nod. “For three years all witches and warlocks hated me. I don’t have any friends of my own species.”

  I think there’s almost a hint or whisper or something of remorse from Witch’s Fate, but I’m probably wrong since she shoos something away and then yawns.

  Ms. Guthie opens the door and stands in front of me. “Zalia Witch Shifter …” she has to stop as those words leave such a foul taste in her mouth she has to spit to the floor. “You are released.”

  I raise my eyebrows and glance up at the faeries who nod. “What’s the catch?”

  “No catch,” Ms. Guthie hisses.

  Witch’s Fate clears her throat.

  “Right.” Ms. Guthie snarls. “It has come to my attention that I have been harsh with my sentencing standards even though the Academy under my tenure has never been more prosperous or prestigious, but who am I to complain?” As she drifts off to the rhythm of her own drama, I wonder what’s going on.

  She flips her hands, and my cage is opened. I start to walk out to freedom.

  “Stop,” she commands. “Are you forgetting your sentencing?”

  What’s happening? Am I in some kind of a nightmare induced insanity?

  Ms. Guthie holds up her hand to me and looks at her watch. “First sentence has now commenced. It is for feeding all the species.”

  I wait. Is this the five second sentence?

  “The next sentence is now commencing. This one is for specifically feeding the shifters.”

  I glance at Witch’s Fate who clasps her hands together and stares at the ceiling with the blandest expression I’ve ever seen.

  “The final sentence is for specifically feeding the vampires. Alright, do you need a break before your next sentence?”

  I look around. I’m still not convinced I’m not nightmared or something. “No.”

  “Very well. I will note that I did give you the opportunity but was refused rudely.”

  I flinch. Didn’t think I was rude. Could have said so many things.

  “There.” Ms. Guthie scribbles something into the scroll. “The sentences have concluded. Zalia Witch Shifter, you are now free. Your name will be cleared if you do not abuse the rules in the next one hundred and fifty years.”

  Before anyone says anything else, I’m thrown out into a bog. Right in the deep end.

  I jump out and look around. The faeries appear again. “Is this where they let everyone out from the dungeons?”

  They giggle and nod.

  I close my eyes as the smell of the bog hits me. “Tell me this is what happened to Fex Penn?”

  They nod again. This time more enthusiastically. At least I feel better. “Where am I?”

  The faeries bounce up and down and point. I stand up on my tip toes and can barely see the top of the watch tower in the middle of the Academy. “Fae. I must be eight miles away.”

  The faeries nod.

  I look around. It’s foggy and boggy. That’s all I can see. The only sounds are the croaks and hiccups from the toads and frogs. “The bog realm?”

  They nod again. I sigh and start walking. There’s no conjuring and no magic in the bog realm. I continue to drip as I walk. No drying either, I assume. I grimace as I try not to remember that I’m barefoot, and I’m squishing the ground.

  The problem with the bog realm is that you just have to walk. You never know when the realm decides you’ve walked enough. Some have been known to walk
for months. Others, two minutes. I hope for me it’s sooner. “I want to take a shower. Eat massive quantities of chocolate. Get out of this multi-colored thing that is sponging up the stench around me.”

  I hope I can take a shower before I see Blist. I look down at myself as the bog water has started to congeal into a rust colored sticky goo. The smell is the most foul smell that anyone has ever encountered. Like rotten eggs, moldy bread, sewer. Lots of sewer. Ripe.

  I don’t want Blist to see me like this. I don’t even want to see me like this. I must have walked for ten minutes before I notice the Academy’s square is coming into view. As soon as I step on official Academy realm soil, I conjure myself to the dorms and the showers. I must have taken eighteen showers. Five more than is required after escaping from the bog realm.

  I slip into a t-shirt and jeans and try to recognize myself in the mirror. By the time I’m done, it’s dark. I run out of the bathroom and hit the warlock guard right in the chest and bounce off. This warlock is as big as the doorway he guards. “Come on,” I hiss. “I just got released.”

  The warlock glares at me and shakes his head. “No exceptions.” He points to my old room down the hall as the vein in his neck throbs to some hidden melody.

  “Not the closet again.” I spin around. “I’m a hybrid. I can stay with the shifters.”

  He shakes his head again. “No exceptions. Should have thought about that before curfew.”

  “I was bogged.”

  He shakes his head.

  “Sucks.” I conjure a chocolate malt and sip it as I bound back down the hall, kicking every door I can find. I know. It’s childish and it really hurts my foot, but fae it all. Also, pieces of paper drop from the ceiling like confetti. I roll my eyes and wave my hands so all my new citations can make friends with all my other ones in the drawer in my old room.

  There’s just something still foul about me. Like my mood is swirly. I’ll have to ask my Fates about it. Maybe its a residual from the curses.

  I throw open my old room, aka the closet, and sigh. I slam the door again. “Nope. Not happening.” I skip down the hall and peek my head into one of the smaller common rooms. This one only has a bunch of recliners. No books, no TVs, nothing else. Not a single witch or warlock in sight. I look at the window and think about … just think about … possibly climbing out and escaping.

  “I’ll report you so fast,” the warlock guard says.

  “Snitch.”

  I settle down into a recliner and close my eyes. I think maybe I’ll pretend to sleep, let out a few snores loud enough to scare my ancestors and the warlock will hide. I never thought I’d actually fall asleep.

  Chapter 3

  “Get up,” someone screams as he kicks my chair.

  I jump three miles and have to squint my eyes as the sun blinds me. “Where am I?”

  I realize I’m still in the common room, and Dray and Fex Penn glare at me.

  I cringe, slam my eyes shut again, and fall back to the recliner. “What a thing to wake up to.”

  Fex Penn grabs my arm and tosses me out. “Get the fae out of this room. Shifter scum.”

  I crumple to the floor, and my shoulder is killing me. The Penn brothers have the grip of a Duster Bungie, a desert dwelling species world renowned for their foul snout and their death defying grip. Then I realize it’s morning. I can finally find Blist. I race out of the room or at least I try.

  The Penn brothers block me in.

  Fex beads his eyes at me or his eyes become even more beady. I’m not sure which. To say he’s not attractive would be an understatement. My eyes immediately start watering like he’s made of onion.

  “Say the magic word, whore,” he hisses.

  I stare at him. “The magic word is whore?” I think about it. “That’s interesting.”

  “You know what I mean, shifter.”

  “Magic word.” I think about it again. I really think about it. “Get the fae out of my way?”

  Dray yanks my hair out of my face.

  I flinch back. Since the 36 curses pretty much got me used to not being touched, that was my reality. Since the curses are gone, being touched by a warlock, and especially a Penn, is beyond my stomach’s ability to comprehend. My insides start to churn the chocolate malt I devoured last night. Alright, the three chocolate malts I devoured last night.

  I put my fingers up and start to spin them. “You touch me again, faehead, and I’ll make sure Dray can never wear clothes again.”

  Dray’s eyes widen as he steps out of the way.

  “You don’t want to frighten the tourists,” I remind him.

  Fex only glares at me. “What are you going to do to me?” He looks me up and down. “Filthy hybrid whore.”

  I study him. “You use that word a lot. Is it a psych issue? Have you gotten therapy?”

  He smirks. “Are you gonna shift?”

  They don’t know. Huh. I could definitely use that to my advantage. I get closer to him and pretend I’m sniffing him. “You don’t know, do you?”

  Fex swallows hard.

  I look him up and down. “Guess I could give you a running start.” I narrow my eyes and give him my best teeth gnashing. “My wingspan might blow out the walls, but my shift wouldn’t mind a snack.”

  His bottom lip quivers as he moves out of my way.

  I step around Fex, but he can’t help himself. He pushes me so I hit the ground and bust my knees. I flip my finger towards him, and he falls flat on his face. “Ow. That’s gonna leave a mark.”

  Faeries appear around me and glare at the Penn brothers. They must do something to block more of his spells because his face reddens and his body quivers.

  “Just leave her alone,” one of the witches says.

  “Thanks,” I say as I get up.

  The witch raises her hand. “Don’t thank me. None of us like you.”

  I look around as everyone within a few feet nod their heads. “Huh. Still hated by witches and warlocks everywhere.” I think about that.

  One of the warlocks leans closer to me. “Are you gonna cry?”

  I let tears well up as they laugh. Then I laugh at them. “Over you? Nope.”

  The faeries blow some dust in their faces, and the taunters all start violently sneezing.

  I saunter past the sneezers to the elevator and don’t even have to push the button. Elevator opens the door, and I’m inside in a flash. The doors close and I collapse barely hanging onto the bar.

  “What happened?” Elevator asks.

  I shake my head as real tears actually form and fall.

  Faeries appear again and try to pet my hair to calm me.

  “I think the bad ass spell wore off.”

  Elevator grunts. “Side effect to the dungeon and the bogs.”

  I actually didn’t mind that. I felt invincible. “Now I feel like myself. I guess I don’t have to figure out what was off about me.”

  “The air in the dungeons are made to enhance the prisoner’s …” Elevator hesitates.

  “Crankiness?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Why?”

  Elevator lunges a bit up and down as it shrugs. “No one wants to hear pleads and see tears all the time.”

  I think about that. “Makes sense. Now I’m me again?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Is everyone alright?” I look up at the faeries who nod. “Blist? The shifters? Xury? Professor Sway?”

  “See for yourself.” Elevator opens the doors.

  Blist is standing there. Blist. My Blist. My gorgeous Blist.

  I race to his open arms.

  He picks me up and holds me for the longest time. He finally puts me down, and I look at him. I really look at him. Curly dark blond hair. Piercing green sometimes blue sometimes shifter eyes. A smile I never tire of.

  “You’re so gorgeous. Did I ever tell you that?”

  He shakes his head as he looks me over. Before I know it, I’m kissing him.

  It was everything I always drea
med it would be. Time must have stopped. Or it should have. My mind definitely stopped swirling. I didn’t care about what happened or the 36 curses or anything. I just wanted to feel Blist’s lips on mine.

  Now, I have no idea what time we started, but I can swear I hear owls and night crickets by the time our lips stopped touching.

  Blist steps back. “Wow.”

  I touch my lips. “Is it supposed to feel like that?”

  Blist’s eyes shift just a bit, and he puts his hand over his heart. “Something shifted.”

  I feel my heart as well. “Me too.”

  “It’s your souls,” Professor Sway appears. “Sorry, I gave you your space.” He looks down at our hands. “Take each other’s hands.”

  Blist grabs my hand, and I feel the shift again. It’s like I’m searching for him, drawn to him. Then everything makes sense when we touch.

  “It’s like a magnet,” Blist says smiling.

  “Do you know how rare that is?” Professor Sway says smiling. “Each of your souls searches for the other. As soon as you touch, your souls both expand to include the other.”

  Blist shakes his head. “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “You two are literally soul mates. You have chosen each other. Your shifts have chosen each other. Even Fate has chosen.”

  “And Witch’s Fate let me go from the fated Raks.”

  Blist closes his eyes and sighs. “Thank you.”

  “You weren’t jealous of Raks?”

  He shrugs. “I didn’t trust that Fate wouldn’t amp up her hook.”

  “Huh.” I look into Blist’s eyes and it’s like everything makes sense. There’s no doubt. No confusion. No worry. There’s just Blist.

  “I feel the exact same way,” he says.

  I flinch. “Can you read my mind?”

  Blist thinks about it. “No. I didn’t hear the words, just the feelings.”

  Huh. Uh oh. I glance at Professor Sway and then down as my blush takes over. My thoughts veer in the direction of the naughty. So much naughty. Even the faeries hovering above me blush.

  Blist chokes. “Definitely felt that.”

  Professor Sway clears his throat. “Well, things like that will have to wait.” He moves closer to us and looks around. “You do realize, Zalia, that shifters must not until they are …”