Initiation Year 1: An Academy Reversed Harem Paranormal Why Choose College Bully Romance (Fallen Fae Academy Book 1)

by Rachel Angel

  “Where the hell am I?” She turned to look at the dormitory and at the rest of the university. It was nothing like the buildings she’d seen the day before.

  Chapter 7

  “You’re at the Faery Realms,” a familiar voice said.

  Harley turned around to see April standing there, but instead of the typical jeans and t-shirt, she was almost nude save for a short colorful skirt and colorful tank top.

  “What’s going on?” Harley said. “Where am I?”

  “You’re in the Faery Realms.”

  “Faery?”

  “Yes, in the Land of Fall.”

  “The Land of Fall,” Harley repeated in disbelief.

  “Neat illusion, isn’t it?” April said.

  “You can say that again,” Harley said as she looked around at the mystical forest. “But am I still at school, or what?”

  “Of course.”

  “But why the illusion? Why buildings resembling and old Ivy League school? Why the fabulous architecture? Why bring me here?”

  April shrugged. “You certainly have a lot of questions, don’t you?”

  Harley nodded sarcastically to the side. “Gee, wouldn’t you? I mean, look at this?”

  April nodded her understanding. “We just wanted Fallen Fae Academy to look like a real school. You know. Humans sometimes can get so frazzled by things they don’t understand. Besides, it’s really none of their business what we do here. As for the great architecture, well done, wasn’t it? Shows a bit of prestige and of course a touch of glamour here and there.”

  Stunned, Harley turned to leave. “Well, I think I should go to class now.”

  “Great. I’ll walk with you. Political Science, right?”

  “Um, yes.”

  “Did you say humans back there?”

  “Yeah. They go nuts at the slightest sign of… well, you know. Magic.”

  “Magic,” Harley muttered. “So, what am I doing here?”

  April didn’t skip a beat. “You’re a great artist, just the kind of artist we need here.”

  Harley looked at her, still bewildered and confused.

  April led her down a corridor and stopped at the back door to her class. “Look, don’t let this frazzle you. I told you. You belong here.”

  Harley nodded and entered her class, dismayed to see all four student leaders in her class. Zed and Red sat at the back while Kingsley and Oak sat on either side of the class.

  Harley felt a little too overwhelmed to deal with them now. In addition, she noticed that the entire class was male.

  “Great,” Harley muttered as she made her way to an empty seat smack in the middle of the class. She passed Zed and Red without even looking at them and as she sat down, she offered Kingsley only the slightest hint of a cordial smile. She thought she saw the same hint on his lips, but it was fleeting.

  This is probably going to be another shitty class with them here, she thought.

  “Settle down,” Professor Higgins said as some of the guys hung together chatting. “Settle down everyone.”

  The remainder of the guys took their seats and faced the professor.

  “Now, where do we start,” the professor said. He turned to the board behind him and pointed to the map that was projected against it. “Let’s start with the good times.”

  “I had a pretty good time last night,” Oak shot out. Wearing a sleeveless shirt, his muscular arms were on full display. He flexed them and glanced wickedly at Harley. “I have a pretty good time every night.”

  “Good for you,” the unimpressed professor said. “Now, years ago, peace was what everyone sought and the nobles of these great lands united to ensure that peace.”

  He scanned the class. “Can anyone tell me where the Kingdom of Spring is?”

  Kingsley, wearing a body hugging black long-sleeved shirt, pointed to the top of the map, circling with his finger the entirety of the kingdom. The gesture was so cool and laid back, so self-assured.

  Harley couldn’t help but notice the flex of each muscle as he moved. There was something fluid and majestic, yet so powerful in the slightest gesture.

  Professor Higgins tapped the board with his finger, pointing to the top part of the map. “That’s right. The Kingdom of Spring is up here and spans out to here.” He then pointed to the bottom of the board. “And that leaves the Land of Fall down here.”

  He turned to the class.

  “Does anyone know why that peace was broken?”

  “Some dude from one side probably screwed with the wrong lady from the other side,” Oak said. He stood and released the mane of wild brown hair. “You know how wild we men can get when we see a lovely maiden.”

  Harley audibly gasped at the sight of him. He’d been sexy and wild before, but the mane of hair around his face brought a whole new facet to his appeal. She was fascinated by the savage side of him, something so wild and untethered.

  She suddenly thought of Ashley and her comment about him being a beast in bed.

  Really? What kind of beast?

  Harley had no idea what that could really mean, but she felt that it was something she would like to discover.

  Oh, hell yeah.

  “Sit down, Mr. Oakley.”

  With a playful grin and quick wink at Harley, he sat back down and brought his hair back into its tight ponytail.

  Again, Harley was mesmerized by the play of his muscles as they worked to capture every stray strand of his wild mane.

  The guys in the class laughed at his antics. Harley peeled her eyes off him just as Kingsley glanced back to see if she was laughing. She smiled, not at the Oak’s silly behavior, but at Kingsley.

  As wild and savage as Oak was, Kingsley carried a more distinguished and regal sort of appeal. Damn, he was so good-looking, and without Cici hanging all over him, he looked even better. He was so sexy in a completely different, but enticing way.

  “Ms. Harlequin,” the professor said.

  A ripple of chuckles went around the room, and Harley realized she’d been staring at Kingsley.

  Shit, she thought, as she pulled her gaze away from his knowing grin.

  “Ms. Harlequin,” professor Higgins repeated. “Do you know how long the war between the Kingdom of Spring and the Land of Fall has been going on?”

  Harley shook her head. She had no idea. Despite the map on the board, she had no idea what the Kingdom of Spring was or where the hell it was, and as for the Land of Fall, all she could imagine was a great pile of autumn leaves.

  “Three years ago,” the professor said. “Yes, three years ago the treaty that had been signed…”

  Harley tried to concentrate on the rest of the class, but the professor had a way of droning on about one event and another. Soon, Harley had no idea what he was talking about. One king had done something awful on one particular date in a particular area, and another king, not happy with what the first had done retaliated by doing something even worse on yet another date in yet another place.

  It was tedious beyond anything she’d ever experienced, and hoped that once they’d gone over the details, he would move onto something a little more interesting.

  But the man went on to show that he had an obsession with mindless details.

  Harley felt numb by the time she walked out of the class and was in desperate need of fresh air. As she walked out to the forest, she was struck again by the illusion that had surrounded her. For whatever reason, the colors all seemed more vivid and bright, and once again, the sweet smell of maple trees and flowers assailed her nostrils. She drew in a long, deep breath and marveled at the beauty of this new vision, but then noticed a series of tall shadows coming up from behind her.

  What did they want now? she thought, knowing full well that it was the foursome of foes. What humiliation were they going to put her through this time?

  “Surprise! Surprise!” Zed said with a teasing grin, as he gestured to the new surroundings. “Bet you have no idea where you are. Bet you don’t know where all those
mountains went.”

  Harley stopped walking and turned to face him. His blue spiked hair gave him such a hard edge and, were it not for the silly grin on his face, she might have found him menacing. As it turned out, there was an allure to him that bordered on irresistible.

  “Really?” she said, ignoring the twitch of arousal in her belly. “How much do you want to put on that bet?”

  Cocking a brow, he backed up a step. “Well, nothing, stupid. It’s just a figure of speech.”

  “Yeah, as I figured,” Harley said, looking at all of them. “All talk and no action.” She walked on as they shot quizzical glances at one another.

  “So, then tell us, where exactly are we?” Red challenged.

  She stopped again and looked at all of them. “That depends,” she said, feeling rather sassy. “When you guys are around, it pretty much feels like I’m in hell, but then I look around at this magnificent forest, trying my darndest to ignore you guys, and I feel like I’m in a mystical, magical land.”

  “So, you know,” Oak said, sounding disappointed.

  “That I’m in hell?”

  They all grimaced and shifted uncomfortably.

  Harley couldn’t resist a tight grin. It was nice to have the tables turned for a moment. It was clear they weren’t used to being spoken to in such a fashion; especially by a girl.

  “Actually, you’re in the Realm of Faery,” Zed said.

  They looked at her with anticipation, as if their final reveal should have shocked her.

  “Of course, I know,” she said, then added a little white lie. “I’ve known from the beginning, silly. It’s in the name of the university, Fallen Fae. Duh. At first I thought it was a pun on the Academy catering to the Arts and Creative Professions, but then I realized it was an Academy of the Fae.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Kingsley said, clearly disappointed by her calm acceptance of the situation.

  “Then why stick around?” Red said. “The Realm of Fae has nothing to offer you.”

  Harley shrugged and walked on. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. If I can learn something worthwhile, something that will guarantee me a good paying job when I get out of here, then I’ll stick around.”

  Kingsley hurried up in front of her and turned to face her, blocking her way.

  Looking up at him, she tried to understand what he was up to. There was a hint of something warm in his eyes, but his lips were in a flat straight line.

  “This isn’t a place for humans,” he said softly, but sternly. “The best thing for you to do is to leave and find another institution for that education you want.”

  “Sorry to tell you,” Harley said, looking up at him with defiant eyes. “I can’t afford to go anywhere else. This is my only option. And with my dad out due to an accident, and my mom working two jobs, there’s no way in hell that I’m going to pass up the chance to get an education here. So, if you guys want to continue with this silly game of bullying and intimidating me, bring it on, ‘cause I ain’t leaving.”

  Stunned silent, the guys watched her walk away.

  “I don’t think you really understand what Kingsley is trying to say, little girl,” Oakley said.

  Fuming, she glared at him. It was one thing to have her father call her such, but quite another to hear the words on his lips.

  “You’re in the Realm of Faes. This is the place of faes. Do you know what that means?”

  “Does that mean that you’re a fae?” she said innocently.

  “You’re catching on.”

  “And?” she said, unimpressed.

  “This isn’t a land of fairy princesses,” Oak said, “or fairy god-mothers, or tooth fairies. This isn’t the small butterfly type of fae that comes whisper in your ear and makes your wishes come true. We’re of the type that you should definitely be afraid of.”

  “I’m shaking in my flip-flops as we speak,” she said sarcastically. Truth was, she was a little concerned about her new surroundings, but she didn’t want to let it show. She knew that if she showed the slightest sign of fear, they would never let up.

  Oak took a menacing step closer to her, the breadth of his chest blocking out almost everything around him. For the first time she was able to clearly see the details of his many tattoos. A few were comical cartoon characters, but they were all in not so comical situations. She noticed an adorable little fawn who was giving the finger, then a bright colorful cartoon duck who was humping another smaller duck.

  But then it was the crude unapologetic demons that caught her eye. Monsters with ugly smirks and even a dragon flying off with a sexy girl in its claws.

  And the spider she’d glimpsed the first time she’d met him. It was a beautifully detailed spider, but it left her skin crawling all the same.

  “You’re in over your head,” he said, his voice an animal growl. “The faes here are built for battle, not whimsy. “We’re trained to fight, and we fight to the death. We’re raised to distrust, dislike and ultimately destroy humans.” He leaned in closer. “If you think you’re being bullied now…”

  Zed stepped forward. “As a member of the Fallen Boys, I think I should make it clear to you. This is a dangerous place for a human. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, you are in constant danger. You never know what Kingsley, Oak or us twins will do to you. And, as for Cici and Ashley…” He paused and licked his lips as he looked at her. “There’s no telling what they’ll do to you. Sometimes I think they’re even more vicious than we are… especially when they get jealous.”

  “Yeah,” Oak added. “And they get jealous pretty easily. I think you noticed that, didn’t you?”

  Harley tried to turn around to go the other way, but Zed came around to block her.

  “We’re not just talking about tossing spaghetti down your back. We’re magical beings, and we can make your worst nightmare come to life. Our brand of magic is among the most powerful of all supernaturals.”

  Again, she turned away, but Red stopped her.

  “Be very careful who you talk to,” he warned. “Be very careful who you trust.”

  Right before her eyes, he transformed into Professor Higgins.

  Startled, she backed away. Holy crap. She hadn’t expected that. But when she saw the look of satisfaction in Mr. Higgins eyes, she knew she had to get it together.

  “I don’t think it’s a look that really works on you,” she said flippantly.

  He growled and, just as quickly, he returned to his red, spiked hair and deep blue eyes. “Like I was saying,” he said. “Be very careful who you trust. You never know who or what you’re really dealing with.”

  “Be very careful where you walk, too,” Oak added. “What might look like a normal building, could turn out to be a dark dungeon.”

  “Or a dank cave,” Zed said.

  “Or the edge of a cliff.” Red snapped his fingers and they were suddenly atop a flat grassy cliffside, overlooking the churning waters of the ocean far below.

  Harley’s toes were on the very edge of the cliff, and a dizzying wave of vertigo shook her. She looked down to the thunderous waves that smashed violently against the boulders and cliff walls, while menacing whirlpools threatened to suck anything that approached it down to the depths of the sea. The gentle breeze that had been a caress on her skin was now a biting wind, while dark clouds above lit up the sky with lightening.

  Red snapped his fingers and the ocean disappeared, replaced by the breezy forest. “I’ve always hated the sea,” he mused.

  “Sometimes we like to play really nasty tricks on you humans,” Zed said. “We’ve stolen so many children, only to replace them with one of our own. Oh, yes. It’s always so amusing to watch a human parent try to understand the, sometimes, strange behavior of their changelings.”

  “Changelings?”

  “That’s was we call a fae who is raised by a human.”

  “So,” Harley said nonchalantly. “A human who may have magical powers.”

&nb
sp; “Not really,” Oak said. “Most of them never learn about their powers, so they don’t know how to use them. They’re called fallen fae. They’re the worst of all. Once they learn about their powers, they often tend to resent the humans who raised them and turn that newfound magic power against the very people they thought they loved. Then they just turn on any human who crosses their path. It’s amazing sometimes how they can wreak havoc on the life of a poor unsuspecting human; a human just like you.”

  “So, what’s to say that I’m not a changeling?” Harley suggested. After all, why else would she be there?

  “Naw,” Oak said. “You don’t even have the faintest trace of being a changeling.”

  “Like what?”

  “There’s usually a little something around the eyes, a little something about the nose and just that special je ne sais quoi about them,” Zed explained with a shrug. “You have none of that.” He waved his finger in circles in front of her face. “You just look like a plain, everyday human. Very bland. Very boring, even.”

  “Then why am I here?” she challenged.

  “Easy,” Zed said. “They made a mistake. It’s happened before.”

  “Then I guess I should take it up with the school’s admissions, right?” Harley said.

  “Why bother?” Red said. “They’re so screwed up, they probably don’t even know they’ve made a mistake.”

  “But we know,” Oak said, punching his massive fist into his open hand. “And we can correct it.”

  Cici and Ashley met up with them, each going to their respective boyfriends. Ashely got up on tiptoe to give Oak a big wet kiss, while Cici nudged her way under Kingsley’s arm.

  “What are you guys up to?” Cici asked, already suspicious. Her eyes were made up with vivid green that made her eyes look even larger than before.

  “Trying to talk a human out of sticking around where she doesn’t belong,” Red said. He licked his lips and looked hungrily at Harley, then bared his teeth in a real show of hunger.

  “I don’t think talking is the right strategy,” Ashley offered. “I heard that humans don’t often understand what they are told. They tend to understand actions a little better.”