“Some find us annoying, particularly those who don’t belong in the Spring Court,” he said. “It’s a shame. It would have been fun to have you by my side.”
Have you by my side. His words sent a sharp thrill down my spine. Which was weird. And annoying. Nothing about this fae thrilled me, especially not the thought of him being by my side. Nope. I wanted nothing to do with him. Nothing to do with his beautiful green eyes, his gorgeous glistening skin, that mouth that looked as though it knew how to…
What the hell, Norah?
“So, what about the others? What are they like?” I asked, desperate to change the subject, though there was a part of me that was also desperate to know what he meant.
“Rourke, the Autumn fae, is…strange, as I’m sure you’ve gathered. Strong, devious, fixated on darkness.” He cleared his throat as we bounced along the path. “People assume that’s how the Winter Court fae would be, but Autumn is the season when the leaves pack up and die.”
“Well, then what are Winter fae like?” I asked. “I mean, he seemed a little unnerving, I guess, but you all do.”
He laughed again. “Trust me. We know how we come across to those who have spent their entire lives in the human realm. Kael is…sensible, I guess you could say. He focuses more on logic than on emotions, so he comes across as cold and unfeeling. He doesn’t have much patience for frivolous things.”
I shivered, remembering how annoyed he’d come across when he’d asked to see my ears. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
“The opposite of Summer.”
We fell silent after that. The buzz of the thick forest rose up around us, sounds of insects and birds and rustling leaves. It was a nice sound, one I felt could lull me to sleep if I wasn’t careful. Maybe I really was part of the Summer Court. At the thought, I almost laughed out loud. How quickly the strangeness of this world and these people had begun to fade. Already I was beginning to feel as if I’d stepped out of a dream and into the true reality of my world.
And it gave me a sudden burst of bravery.
“So about that whole ‘stand by my side’ thing,” I started to say just as Finn came to an abrupt stop and deftly lowered me to my feet. The second my toes touched dirt, I stumbled away from him, glaring at his stupid sparkling eyes.
“Ah, here we are.” He dusted off his hands and grinned. “It’s probably best if the other students aren’t introduced to you by me carting you inside the Academy on my shoulder. Start off with a good impression, if you know what I mean.”
My heart began to thunder in my chest. The whole training to fight monsters thing had drawn me here, but I hadn’t really considered that I’d be training with other people. High school had never really been a pleasant experience for me. I’d been the weird girl, the one no one really liked. Sometimes, I’d made friends, but they’d only stuck around until they realized that I just wasn’t like other people.
The thought of going straight back into a school atmosphere? Well, it wasn’t making me excited, to say the least. I’d never planned on going to college. I thought school was in my past. Not in my future.
“I know what you’re thinking. Want to know how?” He grinned. “Because every single changeling who has come here has thought the same thing. You didn’t enjoy school. You didn’t have many friends. You got bullied, made fun of. Don’t worry. Everyone here has been through the same as you. You’ll fit right in.”
“If I try not to go inside, you’ll just sling me over your shoulder again,” I said. “Won’t you?”
He cracked a grin. “See, you’re catching on already.”
Chapter Nine
The actual Academy itself was something out of a gothic horror movie, minus the dark and rolling clouds lurking in the background. The ancient stone castle was the color of the steel Manhattan buildings, but a tapestry of thick green moss covered the bottom half. Spires rose up from every corner, and a large archway commanded the entrance. Through one of the thin rounded windows on the third floor, I spotted a hazy figure staring down at us. I shivered but kept my chin high as I strode through the archway behind Finn, who I could have sworn was chuckling under his breath.
Inside, we climbed a curving staircase that was carpeted in a deep red that reminded me of the color of Liam’s hair. Framed painted portraits lined the wall. Fae, I was guessing. They sat on thrones with various crowns decorating their heads. Twisting branches of bright and vivid flowers sat on one while another crown was nothing more than the deep gold of autumn leaves.
“Our Royals,” Finn said with a flick of his wrist at the paintings. “There’s the Spring King and Queen, and there’s Autumn.” We passed two more. This one had a crown of roses, and the thorns had remained intact, something that seemed a bit like a hazard to me. “And that’s Summer.”
“Right,” I said with a nod. “Makes sense. I guess. Actually, none of this makes sense. You have royalty?”
Finn grinned and pointed to the next painting. “And this here’s our Winter Royals.” Their crowns had no leaves, no flowers. Only knotted brambles twisted tightly together.
The expressions on their faces were cold and uncompromising. Was I really like them? I’d never thought of myself as unfeeling, as calculating, or as cruel, but maybe I didn’t know myself that well. After all, it turned out I was a fae, something I’d never known about myself until now. Maybe there was more about me I didn’t know. Maybe I really wasn’t the kind of person I thought I was.
Maybe I wasn’t as weak and as helpless as I’d always thought.
“Who’s that?” I asked when we passed the last portrait on the wall.
For the first time since we’d met, Finn’s face crumpled, and the lighthearted expression fell away. He clenched his jaw and kept moving up the stairs, his eyes turned away from the portrait.
I jogged to keep up. “Wait, who is that, Finn?”
His voice was hard when he spoke. “Marin. She was our Queen for three hundred years, but her rule was overthrown by members of the Autumn Court. At that time, there was only one Queen, and the Autumn fae wanted change. Four Courts. Four rulers. So, they killed her.”
I gasped.
“Out of respect, we keep her portrait on the wall, but some would consider it treason to display any amount of loyalty to our dead Queen. We may one day need to remove it.”
“That’s…terrible,” I finally said.
He stopped short, spun on his feet, and placed a finger to my parted lips. I almost stumbled down the stairs from the sudden contact, and my heart froze in my chest. Our gazes locked, and a strange emotion flickered in his eyes, one I was sure was reflected in the flutter in my stomach.
Something about this Spring fae felt strangely alluring. It was as if some unseen force had drawn me to him. And suddenly, a mere finger to my lips didn’t seem like enough at all. I wanted more.
Where the hell were those thoughts coming from? Him? Or me? It was insanity. I’d only just met him. He was a fae. He’d stolen me away to another realm. And my heart still felt cracked in two. How could I possibly be thinking about anything but how much I wanted to scream and cry and run?
I shook my head, and that strange tugging sensation snapped away.
“Don’t say things like that, especially not in front of anyone who isn’t me. Don’t even say it in front of Liam or Kael, and especially don’t say it in front of Rourke,” he said, voice suddenly dark and empty. “We must fully commit to our current Royals. It’s the only way we can survive.”
My heart thumped. “You’re kind of freaking me out here.”
“Good.” He gave a nod before that familiar lopsided smile of his reappeared on his face. “I couldn’t let you get too comfortable, now could I? Got to keep you on your toes on your first day.”
Something told me I would never be comfortable around Finn, no matter how long I was here.
“Norah, meet your new roommate, Sophia.” Finn’s green eyes sparkled as my new roommate came bundling out of the door. She wrapped me
in a tight hug, and my breath whooshed out of my lungs. When she pulled back, she smiled, and I couldn’t help but smile back. Everything about her was bright and cheerful. She had long, glistening hair that reached her waist, and her eyes were a bright sparkling green. And she seemed a lot happier about our strange new world than I would have expected.
“Good,” Finn said as he began to walk away. “I’ll leave you two to catch up. Orientation will be downstairs in about an hour. See you later, Norah.”
He winked as he disappeared, and the bright spots in my cheeks rushed back in full force.
“Seems like he likes the look of you,” Sophia said with a grin as she pulled me into our quarters and shut the door. “You have the green eyes and the fair hair. Maybe you’re Spring.”
I was pretty certain I wasn’t Spring, but the idea of it sent a rush of warmth through my gut.
Her eyes tripped down to my empty hands, and she cocked her head. “Where’s all your stuff? Didn’t you pack a bag?”
“Erm…” I said, suddenly nervous. What would she think if she knew that the Redcaps had been chasing me around Manhattan? I got the feeling that the Autumn and Winter fae weren’t as well liked as the sunnier seasons. And she definitely seemed like a sunny, happy one. The kind of fae who everyone would like.
“I didn’t have time. There was this whole fight with my step-dad, and I couldn’t go home to get my clothes.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said with a kind smile. “I’m sure the fae will be able to get some clothes for you. I mean, they are ancient, magical beings after all. Surely they can conjure up some kind of wardrobe.”
“We,” I said. “We’re fae, too. As strange as that sounds.”
“I know,” she said, eyes lighting up. “Can you believe it? I mean, at first, I thought maybe they were crazy. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d met some weirdos. But then they made a good point. I’ve always been weird and different, and the past six months have been really bizarre.”
I lifted my eyebrows and perched on the edge of the antique red sofa. It looked as though our quarters were a lot different than the dorms on college campuses. We had a living area full of antique furniture with a patchwork rug spread across the stone floor. Two doors hung open, both leading into lofty rooms with four-poster beds.
“Have you been seeing strange things, too?” I asked.
“Seeing things?” She shook her head and sat next to me. “My ears got all pointy, and I kept passing out all the time when I touched iron. Went to the doctor and everything, and they couldn’t find anything wrong with me. In fact, they said I was healthier than the average eighteen-year-old. Why? What have you seen?”
“Ehm…” Should I try to explain it? And how could I? I wasn’t even entirely sure I knew how to describe the Redcap. Plus, introducing myself as someone wanted for two homicides probably wasn’t the greatest idea in the world, especially when I’d be spending who knew how much time with my new roommate.
Homicides. A fresh wave of pain smacked me in the face. My eyes burned with unshed tears, and the painful lump in my throat returned. Bree was dead.
My oldest friend in the world was dead.
And it was all my fault.
“It’s okay,” she said, giving my arm a squeeze. “I understand how you feel. It just started happening to you, didn’t it? I was scared to tell people about it, too. I thought they’d think I was crazy. And well…some did.” She let out a heavy sigh and gave my arm a squeeze. “I won’t think you’re crazy, Norah. When you’re ready to talk about it, I’ll be here to listen.”
I gave her a weak smile.
And that was when I decided that sharing quarters with another changeling wouldn’t be so bad after all.
An hour later, we entered the Great Hall for Orientation. The vaulted room was located on the ground floor of the academy, sandwiched between four wings that spread out like the long points of a compass. Golden light streamed in the arched windows along one wall while banners of gold, red, black, and green hung along the other. Our footsteps echoed as we drifted inside, and my eyes widened at the motes of glistening dust that drifted through the sweet-scented air.
At the far end of the room sat a wooden table, parallel with the small stage where a cluster of powerful fae stood watching. I spotted the four guys who had saved me in Manhattan. My stomach flipped as my gaze caught with Finn’s. He winked at me from where he stood next to the other three guys, along with about a dozen more fae. Some men, some women.
Five more tables stretched across the center of the Great Hall. Four held what I assumed to be other students. At each table, many had similar features, and they wore cloaks of similar colors. A cluster of deep red hair on one. Several students with gleaming black eyes on another.
The final, fifth table was full of nervous-looking students, cloak-less and confused. That would be where we would sit.
Sophia and I eased onto the wooden bench and waited while one powerful female fae stood and stepped to the edge of the stage, her lilac gown rustling around a lithe yet toned frame. Magic shimmered across her skin, and her deep golden hair gleamed beneath the sunlight that streamed in from the large windows. She looked no more than five or ten years older than the rest of us, but there was something ancient and wise in her dark eyes.
“Welcome to Otherworld Academy. I’m Alwyn Aldair, your Head Instructor,” she said with a wide smile that felt more eerie than welcoming. “As always, we have sixteen new changelings with us this evening, from four different origins in the human realm. So far, you may have realized that four is a common theme here. And that’s because we have four courts. From each human origin, there will be a Spring, a Summer, a Winter, and an Autumn amongst you, giving each Court four new changeling fae a year.”
We all nodded and murmured. The fae who had saved—or captured, depending on how you looked at it—me had explained most of this to me, though they hadn’t gone into much detail. I guessed it made sense, though I still didn’t understand the how or the why of it. It was also one more point in the Not-Spring column, since I was pretty certain my new roommate was the embodiment of all things Spring.
“For some of you, it will be quicker to determine your Court. Fae in each season tend to have certain traits and certain dispositions. That said, it’s not always the case. Many times, a changeling recruit will start her first year believing she’s of one Court and find she’s of entirely another. It’s a process, one we’ll determine through training and challenges.”
A hand shot up near the end of the table. With a frown, Alwyn nodded at the student. “Yes?”
“Why don’t you know what we are?” the guy asked. “I mean, you guys keep saying we’re changelings, and that we were swapped at birth. So, we were born here, right? Are we not in the same Court as our, uh…” He trailed off, swallowing hard.
Our parents. My skin and neck began to tingle, and a heavy rock tumbled down into my gut. I still hadn’t come to terms with the fact that my mother wasn’t my birth mom. And I had a feeling that most of the new recruits here felt the same.
“Excellent question.” Alwyn steepled her hands underneath her chin and smiled. “Yes, your Court is hereditary. Only in rare—and I do mean rare—cases does the son or daughter not fit within their natural born Court. And yes, we do keep meticulous records on each of our changelings. Unfortunately, Magnus Farrow, our previous record-keeper, died in a fire seventeen years ago. With him went all of his records and knowledge about the changelings. We don’t know who each of you are. That knowledge was lost. So, that’s why we must perform these tests. The changelings who come to the Academy two years from now will no longer need to undergo the introductory first year since our current record keeper is alive and well, and the files are routinely copied down. We won’t make the same mistake again.”
Well, that was certainly interesting. And, in response, half a dozen more hands shot up.
The Head Instructor held up her hand with an irritated sigh. “Let me guess. Yo
ur next question is why we’ve been swapping out human babies with fae. Well, here is the very long answer made short. There are more realms than just the human and the fae. There is a realm of darkness, of demons. Each year, we must pay a Tithe to that realm. Sixteen fae babies must go into the human realm, and sixteen human babies must come here. If we do not keep up our Tithe, the darkness will not only descend upon us but it will descend upon the humans as well.” A tense, uneasy silence followed, and she smiled. “So, you see. We must do this. Or else we would cause the Apocalypse to arrive in both our realms.”
Every single one of the new recruits stared at Alwyn with a mixture of confusion, horror, and fear. Including me.
“Luckily,” she continued as her face slightly brightened, “we can make the swap back during the Summer Solstice. You will each be trained in the ways of the fae, and you will each be trained to fight. Once your training is complete, you will join your Court along with your male or female mate, those of which are on this stage and will be working with you throughout your time at the Academy.”
Hold up. My eyes widened. Had she just said mate? The words from Finn began to tumble over me. By my side. I swallowed hard, and my heart began to race. Murmurs began to echo all around me, the rest of the changelings as thrown by this new information as I was. In fact, it almost felt more shocking than the reveal about the demons and the Tithe to hell.
Almost.
A girl stood from the table, her long fiery hair swishing around her shoulders. “You can’t just assign us mates. Don’t we get some choice in the matter?”
“It will be your choice, eventually,” Alwyn said coolly. “You’re from Manhattan, yes? Then, one of these four males here will be your mate. Finn, Rourke, Liam, or Kael. And trust me when I say that you’ll be happy for it, as strange as it may seem to you now. The magic of Otherworld has brought you here together at the same time. You may not understand it yet, but you will in time.”
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