Oberon Academy Book Three: The Sylph

by Wendi Wilson

  “What happened?” he asked, his voice soft and gentle.

  “Nothing,” I admitted. “Nothing happened because I avoided her last night and this morning. When I got back from my shower, she was gone.”

  “And you feel guilty about that?”

  I lifted my chin with a sniff. “I was scared to face her. Afraid of how she’d act after spending all weekend with him.”

  “That’s understandable,” he said. “Her behavior has proven to be erratic and unpredictable with his influence.”

  “Yeah, but she’s my best friend, Easton. I know he’s doing something to her. Manipulating her emotions. Whether it’s with magic or just his silver-tongued words doesn’t matter. I need to try to break her out of it, to bring her back to us, to herself, no matter what. I can’t be a coward.”

  He stared at me, letting my words hang in the air. Then he pushed a wrapped breakfast sandwich in front of me, followed by a cup of coffee. I thanked him and took a sip, groaning with pleasure. Creamy and sweet, just like I liked it. The scent of bacon and eggs hit my nostrils and I unwrapped the sandwich, taking a big bite.

  “Shaela and Charles are having a little reunion,” Easton explained while I ate. “They didn’t get to see each other last night since she got in so late, so they had plans to meet up this morning before classes started.”

  I nodded without comment.

  “I’m sure she would have told you,” he offered.

  “Yeah, if I hadn’t snuck out before she woke up and spent an hour in the bathroom.”

  “Hey,” he said, his hand darting over to warm my thigh, “you’re one of the bravest people I’ve ever met, D. You don’t have to be strong all the time. You shouldn’t beat yourself up for having emotions. For feeling fear. Or anxiety. Give yourself a break, okay?”

  I nodded, blinking back the tears that stung the corners of my eyes at his kind words. He was right. I did need to give myself a break. I’d already resolved to make things right with Shaela, and the past was the past. There was nothing I could do to change it.

  I shot him a grateful look, and he squeezed my knee before pulling his hand away. We finished eating and he kissed me goodbye, needing to stop by the library before first period. I trudged my way to history with Professor Alfred.

  I managed to tamp down my anxiety during my first two classes, but as I made my way to sociology, my nerves started twitching. I hadn’t run into Shaela all morning, and I wasn’t sure which version of her I would get—my normal, happy, caring best friend, or the person she became when she spent time with her grandfather.

  She was already there when I arrived, sitting at her normal desk and pulling her tablet from her bag. I slid into my seat and offered her a smile as she looked up.

  “Hey,” she said, her voice chipper, “I missed you this morning.”

  Relief flowed through me as she leaned across the aisle and gave me a quick hug.

  “Me, too,” I said.

  “Sorry I had to leave before you got back from your shower, but I had plans with Charles. How was your weekend?”

  “It was good,” I said, darting a look over my shoulder at Easton, who sat in his regular seat behind me. “We just hung out, you know, the usual. How was yours?”

  She rolled her eyes and groaned. “It was weird. My dad was hostile toward Grandad at first, but he eventually came around and started acting civil. But it was pretty uncomfortable. He just won’t forgive his father for leaving him.”

  I bit my tongue, forcing the words back that wanted to come flowing out. Of course, her dad was hostile and unrelenting. Puck had deserted him as a baby, leaving his mother to raise him alone. And according to what Easton told me, the Fae marry for life. A magical bond ensures it. Her grandmother probably died young because of their separation.

  I sucked in a quick breath at the thought. If what Easton had told me was true, how was Puck even alive? If married Fae couples separate, they grow weak and eventually die. Robin Goodman didn’t appear the least bit weakened. If he was, in fact, using magic to sway Shaela to his side, he must have been stronger than ever.

  I opened my mouth to ask her about it, but the door swung open and Professor Goodman strode into the room. Shaela’s eyes lit up with happiness, and I barely stopped myself from rolling mine. I let them drift closed and took a deep, cleansing breath before reopening them and focusing on our professor.

  “Good morning, class,” he called out, moving to sit on the corner of his desk.

  “Good morning, Professor Goodman,” the students chanted back.

  “Today, I’d like to talk about the Zephyrs and all that they’ve done for humanity since revealing themselves after The Great Famine.”

  My resolve to remain unbiased and supportive around Shaela flew right out the window with those words. Anger flowed through me at the reverence in his tone. The slight smile on his face. The misty look in his eyes. Like he approved of the Zephyrs’ tactics.

  I raised my hand with a little extra vehemence. Easton leaned forward and clucked his tongue, placing a hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged him off. He knew what he’d been taught about the plight of humans.

  I’d lived it.

  And why wasn’t anyone else disagreeing with him?

  “Yes, Ms. Thorne,” Puck said, pointing a finger at me.

  “What the Zephyrs have done,” I spat, “is ensure the humans are completely reliant on them. They turned us into servants, doing whatever it took to please our masters. Just to get the barest of necessities met.”

  “Us?” he responded. “Are you grouping yourself in with the humans?”

  “Of course I am,” I shouted, completely losing control of my temper. “Up until a few months ago, I thought I was human. I lived as one my entire life. And when I found out I wasn’t completely human, I was still under the impression that one of my parents was. So, yes. I am grouping myself in with them, because out of everyone here, I know what the Zephyrs have put them through.”

  “Maybe they deserved what they got,” Aubrey called out from the front row. “The humans were stupid enough to put themselves in a position to need saving.”

  “What are you even doing in this class?” I hissed, my temper flaring even higher. “Didn’t you take it last year?”

  She turned in her seat with narrowed eyes. “Not that it’s any of your business, you freak, but just like anyone else would, I jumped at the chance to learn under Professor Goodman.”

  “You mean Puck, don’t you?” I gritted out between clenched teeth. “That’s what you and Tiana called Shaela for years, intending it to be an insult of the highest measure.”

  Professor Goodman’s eyebrows rose up as he looked from me to Aubrey, then at Tiana. I was sure he’d say something to them. At least ask for an explanation. But he didn’t say a word about it. He admonished us for getting off topic and continued with the discussion.

  I looked over to find Shaela frowning at me and slumped back in my chair. That was just great. I didn’t even make it five minutes before pissing her off. Again.

  On the bright side, my anger didn’t manifest as a lightning-striking electrical fire tornado. Shaela really would never forgive me if I inadvertently hurt her grandfather.

  I just hoped I didn’t have to hurt him, intentionally or not, before I managed to figure out and break the spell he had her under. Today’s lesson and her reaction to my rebuttal only served as proof that he was, indeed, using some type of Glamour on her. Making people fall in love was his specialty, after all.

  I just needed to prove it.

  CHAPTER 14

  They cornered me in the locker room during gym. I cocked my head to the side as they advanced, wondering what they were up to and where they got the nerve to get in my face after the way our previous confrontations had turned out—with me losing control and them being scared out of their wits.

  “Hey, Mutt,” Tiana said, her words accompanied by Aubrey’s high-pitched giggles.

  “Excuse me?”

&n
bsp; My eyes widened as I stared at their smirking faces. I wasn’t sure what the word meant, but by the sadistic gleam in Tiana’s eyes, I could tell it was nothing good.

  “You know,” she said, holding out a hand to inspect her fingernails, “mutt. A mixed-breed dog that has no clear lineage and a muddied bloodline.”

  “Sounds just like you,” Aubrey added with a laugh.

  I folded my arms across my chest, arching a brow. As far as bullying went, that was a pretty weak attempt to drive me to anger. I wondered why they’d attempt it in the first place.

  “What do you want?” I asked, injecting a fair amount of boredom into my tone.

  “We just wondered why you’re so disrespectful of your own people,” Tiana said, her face flushed with excitement.

  I pinched my lips together, refusing to respond. They were up to something, and it wasn’t just another attempt to make me feel different and lesser than them. They were downright gleeful.

  “You know, the Zephyrs,” Aubrey prodded when I didn’t speak.

  “The Zephyrs are not my people,” I gritted out, losing my resolve to remain mute.

  “Well, of course they are,” Tiana argued, her voice rising as other students moved in closer to hear. “You may be a mutt, but we do know one definitive fact about your parentage.”

  She paused, most likely for dramatic effect, and let her eyes travel across the dozen or so girls who’d crowded in to witness our confrontation. I kept my eyes on Tiana, not wanting to see their expressions. I’m sure they were eager for her to go in for the kill.

  “You,” she continued, “are second-in-line for the Zephyr throne. One day, you’ll be their queen.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath as Aubrey added, “If you live long enough to see it.”

  Holy shit. She was right.

  I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it myself. Obviously, if she died, her child would inherit the crown—my father would be king. As his only child, I would be next in the line of succession. With everything going on with Shaela and Puck, finding out Cris was my father, and the war brimming between the Sylphs and the Zephyrs, the idea of eventually becoming queen had never occurred to me.

  “Maybe you should just leave Oberon Academy,” Tiana hissed, her eyes narrowing as her lip curled. “Go find a Zephyr school where you can learn to be what you really are. We all know the dark side of you is dominant, anyway. You’ve proved it again and again.”

  I opened my mouth to respond, to tell her where she could go and what she could do, but a shout from the locker room doorway cut me off.

  “Let’s go, girls. Move your wings!”

  Miss Jeannie’s voice echoed through the silence, followed by the quick shuffle of feet toward the door. My stare-down with Tiana lasted a few more seconds before she smirked, tossed her hair, and spun on a heel to follow our classmates. Aubrey followed her like she always did, the tinkling sounds of her laughter trailing behind them.

  I stood frozen for a few moments. A myriad of emotions threatened to drown me, and I fought against the power surging through my veins, demanding release. Anger at Tiana and Aubrey for gleefully making me realize my situation in front of our peers. Shock and self-recrimination that I hadn’t even considered the ramifications of being a descendant of Sebille.

  And, most overwhelmingly, fear. As if the Zephyr queen didn’t have enough reasons to want me dead, the fact that I could one day be the leader of her people would surely drive her hatred to even greater heights. Whereas before I was just an abomination and a nuisance, now I was a true threat to everything she’d accomplished during her reign.

  I took a few deep breaths, forcing my muscles to relax. Once I felt the powerful urge to destroy things with my magic ebb away, I headed out of the locker room, my dragging feet scuffing across the floor. Easton stood just outside the locker room, a concerned look on his face.

  “Hey,” he said, “you okay?” When I only stared at him, he added, “I heard some of them talking about what happened in there.” He jerked his head toward the sparring mats where a group of girls watched us with furtive glances.

  “Did you know? I mean, did you realize?” I asked, my voice cracking with emotion.

  “Of course, I did,” he said in a gentle voice. “I’ve spent my entire life preparing to be king one day, knowing I could eventually be at war with the Zephyr monarch. The fact that, one day, in a few hundred years, it could be you? That changes everything, December.”

  I opened my mouth to respond, but Miss Jeannie’s voice cut me off as she hollered at us to get out there and get to work. Easton gave me a soft smile and took my hand, pulling me out onto the gym floor.

  “We’ll talk about it later,” he whispered. “I promise.”

  I pulled him to a halt, my grip on his hand tightening. He stared at me, the gold of his hopeful aura reflecting in his ice-blue eyes.

  “Do you really believe I could do it?” I asked, my voice low and breathy.

  “I know you could, D. You will be the queen the Zephyrs have always needed. The queen who puts the world back in order.”

  I stared at him for a moment, my eyes travelling across his features. The hope and belief etched there sent a shiver down my spine.

  Easton was counting on me, counting on something happening that I wasn’t sure ever would. Or if it even should.

  I was pretty much useless during our sparring session. Thank God I was partnered with Easton. He knew I was distracted and took it easy on me. Anyone else would have used my inattentiveness against me, taking pleasure in beating up on the mutt.

  The second half of class was dedicated to magic practice, and I threw myself into it, burning off the nervous energy that had built up inside me. Keeping my work contained in a far corner, I formed fireballs and flung them toward the wall. In one smooth movement, I followed each flaming orb with a stream of water, making sure to extinguish the fire before it actually hit the wall and burned school property.

  Beads of perspiration broke out across my nose and upper lip, but I ignored the tickle of sweat as satisfaction spread through my body. Expending the excess energy felt good. So good. Like it was what I was meant to do.

  I let the magic recede and bent over. Propping my hands on my knees, I concentrated on slowing my breaths and bringing my heart rate back down to a normal level.

  That’s when I heard the barking.

  I glanced over my shoulder to see Tiana, Aubrey, and a handful of other girls grouped together. Tiana was making sounds I’d heard once before. A few weeks before, Shaela and I had watched a movie on her tablet about talking dogs. It was perfect for a night of silliness, and we’d laughed through the entire thing.

  The dogs in the movie talked to each other, but when they were around humans, they made the same sounds Tiana was making while staring at me with a malevolent grin on her face. Aubrey and the other girls giggled, egging her on. She barked louder.

  Movement to the right caught my eye as Easton stepped forward, ready to intervene on my behalf. I caught his eye and gave him a miniscule shake of the head. He stopped, but didn’t look happy about it. I was sure he thought I might lose it and rain hellfire down on their heads, but I was past that.

  I was in full control and knew exactly what I was doing.

  “I always knew you were a bitch,” I called out, emphasizing the technical term for a female dog, “you didn’t need to prove it.”

  “What did you call me, Mutt?” Tiana demanded, taking a threatening step forward.

  Was she crazy? I’d proven again and again that I was dangerous to her, that I was not to be trifled with. I’d lost my temper and magically attacked her more than once, and she’d mostly kept her distance from me since the last time I nearly killed her.

  Why was she suddenly so fearless? Did she think I was less dangerous now that my father had been outed as a Zephyr and ousted from the faculty? Maybe she thought I’d take whatever she dished out to keep myself out of any more trouble.

  Well, she had an
other thing coming.

  Power welled up inside me. I kept it contained just below the surface, its intoxicating rush making my nerve endings crackle. My eyes darted across the gym, then crinkled with pleasure when I saw Miss Jeannie preoccupied with two other students. I looked back at Tiana and smiled.

  “You sure you want to mess with me right now?” I asked, keeping my tone conversational. “We all know how that usually ends for you.”

  The other girls took a few steps back, leaving Tiana and Aubrey on their own. One side of my mouth ticked up at their lack of loyalty and support. I held out a hand, and a ball of blue-green flames burst from my palm.

  Tiana flinched, but held her ground. Aubrey’s eyes widened and mine narrowed at the sight of them. I could have sworn they shown with glee, not fear. Then the moment passed and Tiana squared her shoulders.

  “You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed. “You’re already standing on shaky ground at this school with one foot out the door. If you attack us one more time, you’ll be expelled.”

  So, that’s why she was suddenly so brave. She was certain I wouldn’t retaliate for fear of getting kicked out of Oberon Academy. In her mind, she had carte blanche to do or say whatever she wanted to me, without consequence.

  “December.”

  Easton’s voice sounded behind me, a balm dousing the flames roaring inside me. I squeezed my hand into a fist, putting out the flames while keeping my eyes locked on Tiana’s. She smirked, thinking she had won. A nasty chuckle burst from her lips as she held up a fist to Aubrey, who bumped her own against it.

  My magic spiked in time with my anger, begging to be set loose on the awful girls. I barely held it in check as the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I pinched my lips and breathed through my nose, fast and heavy.

  “They’re not worth it,” Easton whispered.

  He was closer, close enough that I could feel his breath on my neck. He stayed behind me, though, knowing that whatever I decided to do, it had to be my decision. He couldn’t interfere, or it would make me look weak, like I needed back-up. That would only give Tiana more ammunition.