Upended Life (Artemis University Book 1)

by Erin R Flynn

  “Is there a problem, Ms. Vale?” Professor Richardson asked with an annoyed sigh.

  I tried to tell him, but I couldn’t make the words come out. I unlocked my phone and swiped on Craftsman to connect the call. I didn’t think he had a class to teach then but office hours.

  I wanted to cry when he answered.

  “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you in class?”

  “Help,” I choked out before my body started spasming. I couldn’t control my limbs anymore and the phone slipped out of my hand, luckily falling on my bag as I would be pissed if I broke my brand new phone.

  I locked up as my nerves went into overdrive and more sparks started but larger. I heard people around me but everything echoed.

  It felt like forever, my body going from spasming to seizing. Then Craftsman was in front of me, Dr. Salzman next to him.

  “Fuck, the reservoir is full,” Craftsman growled. “She filled a bloody reservoir. You need to slow down those doses.”

  “We can’t, that stuff is toxic to her,” Salzman reminded him.

  Craftsman grabbed my arms, making me realize I was on the floor convulsing. “Give it to me, Tamsin. Let it out and give it to me.” He snarled when I shook my head. “I can take it. Let it out and I’ll go to the healers, I promise. You’re convulsing. Let this out.”

  So I did, screaming in pain as it came out of me so violently it felt like a sonic boom. It hit me back with the force and I felt as if I’d run right into a brick wall the pain was so sudden and intense.

  I sank into the floor when it was over, tears leaking out of my eyes as agony pulsed through my body. I wasn’t the only one; Craftsman was on the floor in front of me in the same state.

  “Sorry,” I rasped.

  “I know,” he groaned. “I’ll be fine. I sent it into the wards.”

  “Huh?”

  “The wards that protect the school are of my creation but the teachers, faculty, and even the guards help keep them going,” Headmaster Edelman explained.

  When had he gotten there?

  Nah, I didn’t really care. I just gave the barest nod I heard him.

  “Can you move, Ms. Vale?” Dr. Salzman asked. He gave me an understanding smile when I snorted. “Can we move you?”

  “Not yet,” I admitted, the world still tilting a bit and my body thinking that puking all over the place might be a good idea.

  “She is a danger to all of us if—” Professor Richardson was saying in the background, an argument going on that I didn’t realize. I must have checked out for a minute there because Edelman was red in the face.

  “She wouldn’t be in this state if you had helped your student. Clearly the reservoir was full.”

  “I couldn’t have known that as no one can fill one in a week, much less a few days,” he snapped.

  “Or she couldn’t access it and I warned you so you were ready to help her!”

  “Sparks were coming off of her and I’m not going up in flames because you let in some unknown that can let out a blast like that and destroy a classroom!”

  Huh? I blinked around and saw what he was talking about, wanting to groan for a whole other reason. Desks were smashed against the far wall, belongings and books strewn around the room.

  Oddly enough, all of my stuff was fine, like my magic didn’t want me to have a mess later. How nice of it as it about tore my body apart.

  Mel came racing in as I pushed to sit up, feeling like I could handle that. She got filled in and looked ready to burst as the professor was still bitching. Moving over to Craftsman, she squatted down next to him in front of me.

  “I don’t get this and what’s going on,” she hissed. “It shouldn’t be this breaking of a dam on this level. It’s like this power was meant to go somewhere or for something and is pissed it was trapped and contained. She didn’t have a rune on her that someone put to suppress her. This was gradual and she grew up that way.”

  She didn’t wait for an answer, gently picking me up to bring me to the infirmary. Something she said clicked though, and she might not have been far off.

  What if this energy was meant for Faerie? What if it wasn’t what fairies got from Faerie by going there but what Faerie got from them?

  How much magic would it take to sustain a magical world?

  A lot, right? It made sense. Maybe it syphoned off some of the fairies’ vast power and that’s why they never went off the rails?

  They were cleansed but in the way a hard workout could cleanse someone of their feelings. And push their power and ability levels. Pushing that hard tested limits.

  It made sense.

  How the fuck did I test the theory?

  How did I fix this before I went off the rails?

  Professor Richardson’s snort brought me back to the present. “She’s completely lost and doesn’t understand any of the material. Missing half a class won’t change that she’s clearly going to fail the semester.”

  “It’s the second bloody class,” Craftsman snapped. “Give her a minute to realize that she needs to brush up on what she learned in human classes to understand this one.”

  “I already did and the book is coming soon,” I muttered, giving Richardson an annoyed look he’d not only written me off so fast but announced it to everyone. “Not understanding your class does not mean I’ll fail a whole semester. My other professors make sure the material is well laid out and easy to keep up with if we’re willing to do the work.”

  His nostrils flared. Good, now we were both pissed, the lazy fuck.

  Mel carried me over to the clinic, Edelman grabbing my stuff and setting it on the chair next to the cot I was on.

  As long as I was there, Dr. Salzman decided to start the physical we had scheduled for after class. He put a privacy barrier around us even as he drew the curtains against the others.

  “I read something in the book Edelman gave me,” I told him, naming the book when he asked.

  He rolled his eyes. “That’s not the one I’d have told you. The author was an elitist idiot who wouldn’t know objectivity if it bit him in the bottom.”

  “I agree just from reading it, but it did mention fairy reproduction and I thought I should mention it to you. It said we can’t get pregnant unless we want to?”

  He nodded. “That’s actually true but there’s more to it. Fairies and their magic have an uncanny way of adapting, it’s why they survived and thrived to always be at the top of all species. It’s said that long ago when there was a problem of people trying to use fairies and their power to add to their bloodlines, they came together at Faerie and the queens handled the situation.”

  “Oh good, there’s a history of people wanting to breed fairies,” I drawled, thinking back to Von Thann.

  “Unfortunately, yes, and, I believe, bleeding them in the hopes to absorb their magic too,” he muttered, nodding when I shivered. “Unlike shifters and other species, you do not actually mature fully until thirty and cannot have children until then. You also live longer than us, as Faerie was said to be the ultimate fountain of youth.”

  I nodded along with what he said, wondering if that “fountain of youth” was pulling energy off of us that could age and tire us down, forcing us to produce more. Sort of like a mystical salt scrub to get rid of the dry skin?

  Maybe. Something to think about.

  And something I wasn’t sure I wanted to share. I was about to tell Dr. Salzman my theory but then I had a flash of Edelman and his excitement that I could translate Faerie for him. Would this be like that and another line I shouldn’t cross?

  Probably. Better to work out my theory and some ideas on my own.

  “Also, you and your magic have to be in agreement and willing to have a child for you to get pregnant,” he said, bringing me back to the present. “I’m not sure how your magic can agree, maybe with the magical compatibility of the partner, but it definitely has you covered in case there is a situation like you worried about.”

  Or sex with Hudson. Nice. I fro
wned though. “Where did you get this information? What if it’s bogus?”

  “Well, we found two sources already but I have more,” he promised. “I actually called the previous head doctor that I trained under and fibbed a bit that I was doing a presentation for the classes—which I do from time to time—on species reproduction and even if fairies were gone, they should not be forgotten. But that I had forgotten or wasn’t taught. He teased me and filled me in, absolutely sure of the answer.”

  “As he treated lots of fairies if he was the campus doc when they were here.” I nodded when he did.

  Well, that seemed like a credible source to listen to for sure. Nice.

  A female doctor came for the rest part of the exam, clearly trained in all the girly stuff. She did confirm that before I let her put me in the stirrups and learned firsthand what women bitched about as objects were cold and no one wanted to be on display like that.

  However, I did feel relieved when she declared that everything looked good and I was a healthy nineteen-year-old.

  Yay, good news!

  The privacy barrier came down as we finished up and I was told I could get dressed. I found out there was yet another argument going on. I hurried to get dressed—no one wants to be naked for a fight.

  “But you know what she is. Tell me,” a man demanded.

  “No,” Mel snapped. “If I tell you, you’ll tell the clan and the Vogels. It can’t ever just be you, Father. You will put their safety and security above all else and I protect her.”

  “Of course I do, that’s our mission, one you’ve clearly forgotten, running from it and—”

  “I ran from you and what you demanded of me, which was not about protecting my king and queen,” she seethed.

  “Yes, and how mature of you. So much better than speaking to me about it.”

  “When was I allowed to? When did I have permission to speak, sir, yes, sir?” she taunted. “We both fucked up on that, Father, as you never even asked me if I accepted, giving orders as always. I had the excuse of being barely an adult. What was yours, huh? You clearly haven’t even reassessed to see you were at fault too.”

  “That is neither here nor there. The problem is the threat now. The prince is here, the next leader of our people, and there is a threat here. I need to determine how big of threat.”

  Mel was quiet a moment, her voice deathly cold when she spoke. “And what would you do if you deem her a threat, Father? You won’t pull the prince out of school—heaven forbid any royal or leader be inconvenienced—so you would take care of her. Someone under my protection. My sister for your fucking mission. You are just as heartless as you’ve always been. She’s not a threat but a person I love!”

  “She is not your sister,” he snapped. “You have siblings that you abandoned. She is no one to you.”

  Mel snorted. “She saved my life and I declare her my sister. I had hoped that wasn’t mutually exclusive with the family I was born into but you always, always have to have your lines and unwavering rules.”

  I yanked back the curtain and swallowed a flinch when I saw the huge man, bigger than Hudson, looming over me. I glanced at Mel. “You saved me first.”

  She shook her head. “I saved you from being raped, Tams. You saved me from death. You saw the state I was in and I was to fight the next night in a death match. It was all rigged and they were going let me be slaughtered so they could boast their ‘champion’ defeated a Rothchild so no other real contender would challenge him. No one would figure out it was all fixed then.”

  “Oh, well damn,” I muttered, rubbing the back of my tired neck. I hadn’t known that part.

  “So you won’t tell me?” Mr. Rothchild pushed. “You choose her over your family and the Vogels? That’s your loyalty?”

  “No, that’s how you are declaring it, but I know more than it’s not one or the other,” she seethed, her voice cracking with emotion. “But you always draw lines in the sand so yes, I choose her and the reason is simple. It’s a reason you should actually take to heart and listen to for once, Father.”

  “Why?” he bit out.

  “Because she’s seconds from telling you, going against her beliefs and annoyance at the division between the species—which the Vogels praised her for and were interested in—so I’m not upset and this doesn’t cause conflict between us. And you would never consider that. You want to know, believe you have a right to know for your mission, and that’s all that matters to you.

  “You want to lecture me about loyalty, but what about me? You don’t care that you’re asking me to betray someone I love and promised to protect. You don’t care what that will do to me or her. So I choose her because she would never ask me to choose and you always do. And she is worth protecting. She’s alone in this new world where she was tossed in the deep end.

  “Which of us has lost our way, Father? I believe our ancestors would side with me for standing at the side of one who needs protection and deserves it. The Vogels do too, but there is more to them in life. Remember that we used to protect more than one family of royals, but the masses and those who needed us. So do not lecture me again or use our last name against me and my mission.”

  I reached for her, crushed she was basically picking me over her whole family even if her dad was an ass.

  “And there was no threat,” she added, pulling herself up and standing tall before glancing at me. “I don’t want this to be the impression you have of dragons after the Vogels have showed you who we truly are. We’re not hysterical and flip at every little thing to take care of or kill people.”

  “I don’t get it,” I admitted.

  Craftsman moved closer and stood next to Mel. “It was one freshman vampire with a thorn in her craw that she’s not the most special one anymore no matter what her parents tell her. She’s starting problems again that one unknown is the focus and powerful.” He shot me a tired glance. “Blake sent out a message to everyone that there was a bloody explosion and the student who did it was injured.”

  “Well, that’s not remotely what happened,” I seethed. “I’m running out of reasons not to beat the shit out of her. Seriously. She’s owed several ass kickings from me now. This has to stop.” I gestured to Mr. Rothchild. “Especially when some people won’t stop to check facts and are ready to take me out. Is she really trying to get me killed before the school board can rule on what she did?”

  “Apparently she wants you gone and doesn’t care how,” Mel drawled. “And really doesn’t care if she starts an international incident in our world.” She glanced at her father again. “And she’s friends with Hudson. You might want to at least check with him if you take out people in the name of protecting him.”

  “I wasn’t going to act today,” he snapped, done with our jabs. “And I answer to the king and queen, charged with protecting their son.”

  “Go after Tamsin and you will no longer have that role,” Hudson declared firmly from across the clinic, storming over to us. He was so pissed I about saw the steam coming out of his ears. He moved so I was behind him and he stood next to Mel. “She is under our protection as well. Father granted it officially after this latest problem with the Wards and certain vampires on campus.”

  Mr. Rothchild dipped his head to Hudson. “I understand. And to be clear, I wasn’t acting on anything, merely gathering information on the situation and finding no one would answer my first question needed to assess the threat. You know our security is to ask what species and I responded to reports of an explosion where you were—”

  “Wasn’t even there,” Hudson corrected. “Not even close. The ‘alert’ was worded to make it sound as if it was in the cafeteria half the school was in during one period. It was one class that a small power clap happened in. It was big for her still on the cleansing pills for unknowns. That’s all. Some smashed desks.”

  Mr. Rothchild frowned. “That’s not at all what we were told.”

  “Exactly,” Mel agreed. “One petty brat exaggerated and from there, a
bunch of her petty brat friends exaggerated it further and further as they alerted their parents and those ‘needing’ to know after getting probation for posting protected information to social media. They were smarter this time but this is getting out of hand.”

  No, it was already out of hand. I moved away from the group, no one noticing since they were too busy trying to defuse one problem.

  Great. I was going for the head of the snake.

  She was outside the building holding court with people and recounting what she survived and how it was her duty to alert people. Cute.

  “Anyone here into spanking?” I asked the large group. “Any doms? Blake is on the search for a new one. It’s how she likes to play, rough to a level that several have been uncomfortable with.”

  I went even further and listed several she’d recently slept with. I was on the third name she was sniffing around when she tried to hit me.

  Snake in trap.

  I grabbed her around the throat and used my body to flip her into going flying, landing hard on the ground. I didn’t let up, on her before she could even recover. My fist hit her face twice before she tried to fight back, shoving me as her fangs came out.

  Well, that just gave me a new target.

  I smirked when one snapped from my hit, her bellow of pain very satisfying. She tried for me again and I kicked in her ribs, thrilled I was stronger along with the magic.

  “Stay down and end this, admit defeat and concede all of this,” I demanded, knowing she wouldn’t.

  Good.

  She launched at me and I spun out of the way, elbowing her in the face to break the other fang and kicking in her knee so she collapsed to the ground in a shattered mess. I had to give it to her, still she tried, but a swift kick to her hip and I felt bones break.

  “Stay down!” I repeated. “You started all of this, Blake. I warned you I will finish it. I don’t care if that ends with your death as you’ve been gunning for mine.”

  I smiled evilly when her eyes went wide that I would take it so far. I squatted down and pressed my hand on her broken ribs as I leaned in.

  “You wouldn’t be the first, bitch. You think this is a hardass act but the secret is it’s not an act but a downplay.”