Academy of the Elites: Unbound Magic

by Alexis Calder

  “Don’t do that to yourself,” he said. “You’re not the one who hurt her. He made that choice and that makes him the bad guy, not you.”

  I nodded, only half believing him.

  “It’s going to be fine. We’ll figure it out together,” he said.

  I swallowed over a lump in my throat. That wasn’t going to happen. Whatever this was, I was going to figure it out on my own. “We should go in and get this over with.”

  He took a deep breath. “I almost didn’t come since Professor Halifax is gone but no way was I going to leave you alone with her.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “Maybe she’ll just send us away?”

  “That would be nice,” Matt said. “You and I haven’t had any solo time in a while.”

  I smiled at him. Rolling around in-between the sheets sounded like exactly the kind of stress relief I needed right now. But first we had to get out of this class. “You ready?”

  Squaring my shoulders, I opened the door and walked in, Matt right behind me.

  “You’re late,” Professor Flora called.

  I stopped in my tracks and faced the professor. She was in a pink dress today that looked oddly similar to a toga. I wondered if she was wearing clothing that was popular in Faerie. Her silver hair was swept up into a pile on top of her head and dozens of gems were pinned in her hair. She looked more like she was ready to go to a party than teach a class.

  “Sorry, I was in confinement this morning,” I said.

  She pursed her lips.

  I was pretty sure she didn’t care.

  “So we were doing this independent study with Professor Halifax to work on connecting our magic and it turned out, the whole thing was a scam. You know? She just wanted us to help her open a portal. So I’m not sure we still need this,” Matt said.

  Professor Flora cocked an eyebrow, making her features look even sharper than usual. “You’re correct, young man. You may leave. Only Raven needs to be in attendance.”

  I let out a stifled squeaking sound of surprise. That was not what we were hoping for. If I was stuck doing this, I thought I’d at least be doing it with my mates.

  Professor Flora’s gaze was on Matt, but I was pretty sure she was smirking at me.

  “Well, I can stay if it will help Raven,” Matt said. “We do have a unique bond.”

  “I know all about her bonds,” Professor Flora said. “I read her file. It’s possible that I know more about her than you do.”

  “My file?” I asked, recalling the folder Dr. Green had when I first arrived.

  Professor Flora still had her gaze set on Matt. “You are dismissed, Mr. Obscura. For now.”

  Matt turned to me, his expression pleading. I could tell he felt terrible.

  “I’ll see you at dinner,” I said.

  He nodded and then turned to leave.

  I looked over at Professor Flora. “So, what are we working on today?”

  “Remedial magic,” she said.

  “Uh, I know I’m still pretty new, but I did open a portal a few days ago,” I said.

  “Could you do it again?” she asked.

  “It’s illegal to open a portal to the fae realm,” I said. “So no, I wouldn’t do it.”

  “But could you?” she asked. “Because I’m wondering just how much magic you are capable of on your own or how much of that was magic you channeled through your more experienced mates.”

  I hadn’t thought of that before. All of them grew up with magic. They’d studied it before coming here. I was the one who was new to all of this. “Fair point.”

  “This way,” she said, gesturing to the desk in the center of the circular room.

  On the table there were five rocks sitting on squares of colored cloth. They were all black and smooth. While they were pretty enough, they didn’t look special. But I’d been here long enough to at least know that surely wasn’t the case. If she had them out for me, they were something important.

  “These are element stones,” she said. “All magic can be traced to one of the elements as you have likely learned in your studies.”

  “Yes,” I said. “My strongest is fire. So I spent most of my time here thinking I was a fire mage.”

  “Your mother was a fire mage,” she said. “Your father was … something else.”

  “Fae, yeah, I know,” I said.

  She smirked. It was unnerving. I didn’t like seeing her so self-satisfied. It didn’t feel like it was going to end well for me.

  “Fae magic is different,” she said. “We align with elements, but we also have magic from our court. In Faerie, there are five courts. Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer, and Shadow.”

  I remembered reading about the courts briefly in one of the few books I’d found on the topic of Faerie. Mostly, it was just a rundown of the creatures that lived there and the million ways they could kill you. It never got into the fae themselves, though I was certain they were more deadly than any of the creatures listed in the book. “I know the names of the courts, but that’s about it.”

  “I’m not surprised. Those who live in this realm are afraid of us,” she said.

  A tiny shiver ran up my spine at her words. Us. I was part of them, part of that realm that caused so much fear. It was difficult to imagine. Most of my life I was just Raven. A human girl trying to make it in the world.

  Then, I found out I was a mage, which had been difficult enough to adjust to. Adding the fae blood was just more confusion. I still wasn’t even sure I ever fully wrapped my head around being a mage.

  “This will allow me to find out your court,” she said. “I have my suspicions, but I want to confirm before we move on. Each court has their gifts and it’s important to know what you are predisposed to with regards to your magic.”

  “Alright, what do you want me to do?” I asked, stepping toward the stones.

  “It’s simple,” she said, walking to the other side of the desk so she was facing me.

  She waved her hand over each stone in turn. The third stone lit up, glowing green. “See that?”

  I nodded. “It’s beautiful.” It really was. The stone had changed color and now looked like an emerald with a green light radiating from it.

  “I’m from the Spring Court, so the spring stone responds to me,” she said. “Your turn.”

  I shook my head, not quite sure of what to expect as I lifted my hand. I waved it over the first stone, nothing happened. Then I moved to the second stone, nothing. Third stone, still nothing. I was starting to wonder if this whole thing was a big joke. Some trick she was playing on me. Or maybe it worked, but I wasn’t actually fae after all.

  When I waved my hand over the fourth stone, it turned molten orange and lit up in a warm glow like that of a fire. “Wow.”

  “Summer,” she said. “Do me a favor and try that last stone.”

  I moved my hand away from the glowing orange stone over the final stone. As soon as my hand hovered over it, I gasped. The stone dissolved in front of my eyes, leaving a swirling cloud of black smoke. “What the hell?”

  “Summer and Shadow,” she said.

  I set my hand down and both rocks returned to normal. “What does that mean?”

  “It means you’re the missing child of the youngest prince of the Summer Court. He was half summer, half shadow as his parents united their kingdoms in marriage. He came to this realm and never returned,” she said.

  “That’s a lot to take in,” I said.

  “It is,” she agreed. “And now I know where we have to begin.”

  “You make it sound so ominous,” I said. “What does that even mean?” I was getting really tired of people keeping things from me.

  “It means we’ll start by finding out what your magic is capable of and we work with that to help you reach your full potential,” she said. “But you’re in no shape to be doing anything yet after that time in confinement. We’ll start next week.”

  I wasn’t going to argue with a week off of independent study sessions
. “Great.”

  The bell rang and for the first time ever, I was grateful to go to my History of Magic class.

  11

  Raven

  I felt naked without my school bag but it was going to have to wait till tomorrow. I did not want to have to go back to gym any sooner than I had to. Luckily, the student next to me let me borrow some paper and a pencil so I could at least take notes.

  Professor Craft walked into the room in a flourish of flowing fabric. She had an affinity for long skirts and cloaks. Today’s outfit was a navy-blue skirt dotted in silver stars. Her cloak matched and looked like it was made of enough fabric to make two cloaks.

  She stopped in front of her desk and tucked a strand of gray hair behind her ear as she stared out at all of us. “Based on recent events, I think a deviation from the curriculum is appropriate.”

  I straightened in my seat, wondering where she was going with this. Recent events had to mean the fake trials Professor Halifax had set up. And I had a feeling my return to class was partially to blame for her changing her lesson. Otherwise, she’d have started whatever this detour was right after the events. Not wait until my second day back in class.

  She walked over to the white board and grabbed a marker. “No notes today. This isn’t exactly on the up and up. But you have a right to know.”

  I set my pencil down, feeling a mixture of intrigue and guilt. I also had a feeling I knew where she was going. After just coming from my lesson with Professor Flora, I was glaringly aware of the missing information regarding fae history. I also knew it wasn’t officially supposed to be taught.

  Professor Craft wrote a single word on the board and I knew my guess was correct.

  Faerie

  The word seemed to mock me. Reminding me of how out of my element I was here. I wasn’t just green when it came to the world of supernaturals. I was completely unaware of how my fae heritage played into it at all.

  Whispers filled the classroom and I swore I could feel the eyes of a dozen students on me. I forced myself to stare ahead, not turning back to meet their gaze. Of course the whole school knew all the details of the event in the Spellcasting room. Why wouldn’t they? Gossip spread through this building faster than mono had in my high school.

  “You’re not taught about the fae realm because all portals were sealed between our realms,” Professor Craft said. “Some fae remain with us, either by choice or because they didn’t have the ability to open a portal before everything was sealed. Some are here because they are part fae. Including one of your classmates.”

  Professor Craft stared at me and I felt my face heat. Fuck. If anyone was unsure if the rumors were true, they all knew now. Thanks for that.

  “The fae are not to be feared as you’ve been taught, though,” she said.

  I looked up at my professor, surprised by her statement. My classmates were clearly startled too because the whispers started back up.

  “Listen,” she said. “I’ve made a career out of studying history and while I know I don’t look a day over fifty, I can tell you I’ve lived several human lifetimes and I have seen things.”

  The class was quieter now, hanging on her every word.

  “Tell me,” she said, walking around her desk so she was standing in front of the rows of students. “Are there no bad mages? No bad shifters? No bad humans?”

  “There’s bad people in every group,” someone said.

  “Exactly,” she said. “There’s always someone who ruins it and makes the rest of us look bad, right?”

  “Right,” several people answered.

  “Let me tell you, I’ve heard it all. Try being a fallen angel. I’m supposed to be evil by nature, right?” She raised her eyebrows.

  The class laughed and I smiled along with them. I’d been here long enough to know that the human misconceptions about supernatural creatures was very wrong. Like she said, there wasn’t any good or bad group of supernaturals, just good or bad people within them.

  “So do you think the fae are evil?” Professor Craft asked.

  Nobody said a word.

  Professor Craft hopped up on her desk, taking a seat on top of it. She set her hands on her lap and looked out at the class, her eyes finally settling on me. “Raven? Are you evil?”

  “Of course not,” I blurted out.

  “Of course you’re not,” Professor Craft agreed. “The fae were locked out because their magic is far more powerful than the magic of the supernaturals native to this realm. Some of them abused their power. Most did not. However, that was not the true reason why they were sent away.”

  “What was it?” I asked, totally hanging on every word by this point.

  “You think they’re powerful here, in their realm, their power is beyond frightening. Their power is muted in our realm to the point where some of their magic doesn’t even work here. Their most deadly spells and darkest magic has to be cast in their realm. Which made it a very dangerous place to visit. It was also difficult for some to resist the temptation.

  “And of course, we know the stories about what it was like in Faerie. If you eat their food or accept their drinks, you never want to leave. The magic in their very earth that grows their food is far beyond what we can comprehend or control. They can force most other creatures to do anything they want. Though, in our realm, other creatures can match them. On their home turf, none of you would stand a chance. Except for maybe Raven. And only because she could eat their food and probably resist their compulsion. The rest of you would be screwed.”

  I’d never heard the classroom so quiet before. The hair on my arms stood on edge. Every part of me felt on edge. I had no idea the fae were that powerful. And now I almost didn’t blame everyone for being so afraid. They closed off that realm for a good reason. Not that it was the right call, but I could see why they made that choice out of fear.

  As I replayed Professor Craft’s words in my mind, I started to wonder about the book. Here, it was nothing. But it had come from a fae and was being sought after by a fae.

  My hand shot into the air.

  “Yes, Ms. Winters?” Professor Craft asked.

  “Do they have magical objects the way mages and others do?” I asked. “For spells or whatever.”

  “Of course,” she said. “While their magic seems to be more quickly accessed and more inherent, it’s still possible to use spells, charms, and other things similar to how mages work. Though, like mages, some fae are more powerful than others.”

  She turned her attention back to the class. “Now, who can tell me the four courts of Faerie?”

  “Five,” I said. “You mean five.”

  She smirked. “Good catch. Most often only the four high courts are taught.”

  “I know,” one of my classmates said.

  “Go ahead,” Professor Craft said.

  “They’re named for the seasons,” the girl said. “Summer, Spring, Winter, Autumn.”

  “Correct,’ Professor Craft said. “And as Raven mentioned, there are rumors of a fifth though I have never met anyone from that court.”

  “Shadow,” I said, unable to keep it in.

  “Yes, the Shadow Court,” Professor Craft said.

  The whole class seemed to be holding their breath.

  “The Shadow Court is a bit of a mystery,” she said. “The Shadow Fae are said to be able to control light in any form. And they’re said to be able to control the flow of magic itself. Closing it off or directing its path. They are said to be experts at using portals.”

  I could almost feel the gaze of the class on me. Shit. Why hadn’t I just kept my mouth shut?

  Though, there was some good that came from it. I was now almost certain the fae I was dealing with was from the Shadow Court. He had closed off the lights and eliminated our magic. He literally did the two things his court was known for doing. If only I knew how to use that knowledge to my advantage.

  Professor Craft hopped off her desk and walked back to the white board. She wrote down the n
ames of the four major courts. “We’ll skip Shadow since it’s not usually an issue. Shadow Fae rarely leave their own court.”

  Under each of the courts, she wrote a few words, explaining as she went. “The Summer Court is associated with fire magic. Spring with an ability to speak to animals. Winter with a mastery of both water and air. And finally, Autumn is known for its association with earth-based magic.”

  A few hands shot up and students asked questions but I was so deep in thought, I had a difficult time concentrating. All I could think about was that book and why I had it and why the shadow fae wanted it.

  By the time the bell rang, I realized there was only one person who could help me. And right now, she was locked in a prison cell.

  Good thing I knew a demon who could travel through dreams.

  12

  Raven

  I was on pins and needles my whole last period class. My idea was insane and I wasn’t even sure if it would work. But it was the only one I had. If there was a chance Professor Halifax knew what was in that book, I had to find out. What if she could help me destroy it? Or send the shadow fae away?

  I knew Luka was in a conjuring class last period and I had a general sense of where it was so as soon as the bell rang, I beelined it to his classroom. If I had a choice, I’d do this myself but I couldn’t dreamwalk. Even if I could, my magic was still weak from the confinement room.

  The hallway was teeming with happy people. The day was over and it was finally time to hang out with friends and socialize. Pockets of students were gathered in the middle of the hall or against walls. I swerved around them, glaring at them for slowing me down. Usually, I didn’t mind what other people did but today, it really pissed me off. Luka was probably heading straight to the cafeteria to find me but I had to catch him first.

  His classroom door was closed and I didn’t see anyone milling about. My heart sank. I was too late. Shoulders slumped, I walked toward it just in case. The door swung open, nearly hitting me. I jumped out of the way as the class filed out. They got out late which meant something was going right for a change.