by Larisa Long
Witches Fate grabs my hand. “Close you eyes. Listen. Learn. Don’t speak.”
“Wow, you’ve got the grip of a maltzor.”
“What did I just say?”
I press my lips together as Blist grins.
She hesitates and then shows me images. Realms destroyed. All inhabitants. Every single plant, animal, insect, soul destroyed. Other realms lost, spelled so that even the most powerful witches will need to spend years trying to undue the spells. Some species extinct. The realm around the school had been demolished. There are species in hiding. Some are still missing. Sold to the underground or hiding in forgotten realms. Entire families gone.
I feel the anguish, the pain, the sorrow, the tears. She shows me the images of the school. How it looked before they restored everything. There wasn’t a single room that wasn’t damaged. The vampires are still in hiding. The caverns had been blown up. The buildings all vandalized. Many of the younger witches were so traumatized they fled back to their families. Most of the warlocks who helped the King and Queen are either in prison awaiting trial or have gone into exile.
“Do not get me started on what they let the stalykes do to the grounds …” Witch’s Fate shakes her body and sighs. “Apparently, proper toilet trainer was never part of their agenda.”
I look at Blist who grimaces.
“You’re up!” Xury screams into the room in a flurry. She grabs me in a hug. “I’ve been here everyday, and wouldn’t you know it, the one time I leave early … you wake up.”
She shakes her head at me. “That was a nightmare being trapped with the pixies like that with all the school in a war.” She sits Borgles down on a chair. “Scared him to death. Him? Her? It?” She thinks about it and then shrugs. “Anyway, a nightmare. I don’t think I’ll recover anytime soon. Is it too early to go to the mountains or beach or something? I definitely need to de-stress.”
“Yes,” Witch’s Fate says, with the type of finality in her voice that no one dares question.
Xury shrugs and picks up Borgles. “Anyway, I have class. Can you believe it? Just rebuilt the Academy. My best friend just woke up. Borgles is molting or something. My pink lip gloss still hasn’t arrived, and I have to go to class.” She mutters on the way out. “I’ll see you after.”
Zephyr shakes his head. “She’s like a tornado within a hurricane.”
Professor Sway and Blist nod.
“Anyway …” he shakes himself off and breathes easier again as if Xury alone could control the room. “We’re rebuilding the school,” Professor Sway says.
“Are they going to fae the old rules so everyone can attend?”
“They are.” Professor Sway studies me. “You think that’s wise?”
“Yes. Finally.” I think of the various species we’ll be able to meet. “Blist, you’ll have to learn about all new groups. More groups. More drama.”
Liam saunters in chewing on a large piece of meat. “What are we talking about?”
“The new Academy,” Blist says.
Liam grunts his approval as the meat is far more interesting to him.
Professor Sway ignores Liam. “They’ll start in the Fall.”
“Everything’s going to be so different.” I think about it. “We’ll all be equal, right? No more witches are everything bull … nonsense?” I sigh. “That always fae'd.”
Witch’s Fate looks down at the ground as the shifters around me smile.
Blist lifts my hand up to his lips. “I love you, Zalia. I love that you never for an instance ever thought witches were better than anyone else.”
“No.” I think about that. “Why would I? We aren’t.”
He shakes his head as he smiles. “Respect.”
“Respect,” Liam says, as everyone repeats it.
“Respect,” I answer.
Zephyr nods as well. “It’s normally a difficult thing to overcome. The conditioning. The training. The culture.” His eyes glaze over as if remembering everything. “It took me awhile.”
I flinch at that. “Really? You had to overcome thinking you were better than everyone because you were a witch?”
He nods at me like it’s natural to think that way.
I look at him. “It never was for me.”
Blist nods at everyone. “She never thought that. Not once. Not for a second.”
They all look at me like I’m an oddity that should be cataloged and then studied extensively.
I nod absently as my mind is still on the wounded, the missing, the ones in exile.
“They can’t hurt you again,” Zephyr says.
Why am I not convinced? “They always manage to find a loophole.”
Professor Sway rolls up the plans for the school. “That’s where we were. The professors. All except the warlocks. We were with the higher Fates. Outlining the crimes of the King and Queen.”
“The Fates’s Fates?” I ask.
He nods. “The gods, and they assured us the former King and Queen will never be allowed to harm anyone again.”
“What about Beira? B3?”
Professor Sway sighs. “She and her family haven’t been seen. I’m hoping she’s safe.” He thinks about it. “I’m sure she is. She would have known they were coming for her and taken precautions.”
I don’t want to ask, but I have to. “What about B cubed? Did they go with their parents into exile?”
Everyone looks at each other and shrugs. Apparently when one of us is ‘normalized’ is the word they use if our powers are stripped, there is no interest in them any longer. They have no powers and are no longer a threat. “Huh.” I can imagine them … No I can’t really and don’t need to.
Apparently, Witch’s Fate realizes I’m still not convinced. “The realms are on high alert for the former rulers. Their magic has been stripped. If they set foot outside of their exile, they will be arrested and put on trial for crimes against the realm, murder, treason, and anything else we can figure out.”
“Uh huh,” Raks says, looking at us while chomping on an apple.
“Raks, you’re alive.”
He looks down at himself. “I am. Now, can we finally resume what we were—”
“Raks, you know I’m in love with Blist, right?” I didn’t think I had to spell it out for him, but it’s Raks. “He’s my fated. He’s my chosen. He’s my heart. My soul. My everything.”
Raks looks at me and continues chewing.
“He’s the only one I’ve ever or will ever love.”
Raks just smiles.
Blist tenses beside him. “Remember what we discussed, Raks?”
Raks takes a very noisy bite and chews slowly. “Yep. If I get within two feet of Zalia. If I …” he continues to bite loudly as he thinks. “If I hint that I’m in love with her … which I am by the way.”
Witch’s Fate rolls her eyes and holds up her hands and then massages her temples. She points to the door. “Leave, Raks. Now, before I let the shifters use you as an appetizer.”
Raks grins. “Cool.” He saunters away. “See you in class, Zalia.”
Everyone looks to me, but I shrug. I can’t even explain him.
A few of the dragon shifters approach Zephyr. “King, there is that issue we talked about.”
“Right,” he takes my hand. “A few loose ends, but I’ll be back. You rest.”
I grab hold of the table.
Blist grabs me quickly. “You should go back and rest.” He doesn’t wait for anyone else to speak before he helps me back to the recovery room.
Vax nods to us as she’s reading a magazine beside the sleeping Masimu. The shifters continue to stand guard over the ones still unconscious.
I get back into bed, and this time Blist lies down beside me. We face each other as if it’s just the two of us. “They’re going to be alright?”
He nods. “Shifters are strong. Sometimes it takes a while to heal, but they’ll survive.”
“And you?” I trace the scar along his neck.
“I’m fine, Za
lia.” He puts my hand over his heart. “It took a few hundred years off my life when I found out you died thirteen times.” He closes his eyes quickly as his shift growls. “I should never have left you. Ever.”
“You had to get to the faehead Penn brothers.” I still cringe thinking about that. The sounds the shifters made with the growling and the ripping.
“I’m sorry,” Blist says. “You shouldn’t have had to see that.”
“You shouldn’t have had to do that.” I think about the Penn brothers and those like them. “Why did they have to be such faeheads?” Then something hits me. “You didn’t … take too much, did you?”
Blist laughs. “No.”
“Good. Wouldn’t want you to be sick or anything.”
“But you’re going to be alright?” He asks me and I nod. “Dizzy? There’s a crystal for that I bet.”
“There is.” I smile. “I wasn’t dizzy. Just wanted to be alone with you.”
“Oh.” He curls up closer, and we look into each other’s eyes.
“So, my brother’s the King.” I make a face because not everyone can say that. It’s weird.
“You could live in the castle.”
I curl my lip as I think of the King and Queen plotting there or B cubed doing whatever they did there. “No thanks. I like it here. There’s this gorgeous jaguar shifter who takes my breath away.”
His smile expands as he traces his finger around my lips.
“Did you have the ceremony for the shifts lost?”
He nods. “And for Pem’s. They are running free with the ancestors.”
I close my eyes as I think of them. “I wish I could have been there.”
He points to his heart. “You were.”
“What about Elevator?” I wonder if all the buildings were demolished …
“Elevator’s fine.”
Blist kisses my fingers.
“I have no curses. They finally fae’d off.”
He laughs.
“I know my shift or unshift I guess I would say.” I find my necklace and trace the jaguar. “No wonder I couldn’t find my own shift.”
He nods. “The blood of powerful dragons and wolves flow through you.”
“I said I loved you. The realms are safe. The King and Queen have been defeated. The bully Penn brothers are …” I hate to think it but … “being digested?” I shiver. “Yikes. B cubed are gone. They’re going to open up the Academy to all species, and everyone now is equal. Not that we weren’t before, but …”
I put my finger up to my chin like I’m trying to think of what else off my list. “Oh, I passed rune class. I can understand the faeries. Once the Academy is finally done and all the species are here, can we figure out how we can help the rest of the realm? You know what the banshee talked about, the missing faeries and pixies and—
Blist tightens his grip on me.
“What? What am I missing?”
“Something off your list.” Blist touches my face. “You kiss me and never stop.”
That’s completely doable. “Then chocolate. Respect, Blist.”
“Respect, Zalia.”
Thank you
Thank you for reading Turvy Topsy. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I had a blast!
Other Books by Larisa Long
Y. A. Regency Romance
The Bering Sisters: A Regency Romance
Y. A. Reverse Harem/Paranormal Romance
Immortal Reign Series
Her Three Immortals
Reverse Harem Dystopian Dark Fantasy Romance
Praesim Series
Chosen Rye
Adult Reverse Harem Paranormal Urban Fantasy
Angels of Shadows Series
Snow Rises
Rivers Fall
Angels of Shadows
Forged in Heaven & Created in Hell