by Lucia Ashta
I pursed my lips.
“Ky and Boone can hold their own, and the rabbit brothers, well, I’m sure they’re no softies out on a hunt. And don’t forget that Boone’s dad also sent seven of his wolves to help them out.”
“I know. That doesn’t mean I have to like it. They’re all risking themselves for me,” I grumbled while we meandered along the path, noting how well my boots navigated the loose rock beneath them. “Hey, what are these boots made of? They’re so comfortable.”
“From the bark of the wompa tree. It naturally sheds a layer that’s a lot like leather. We harvest it when it falls, and the tree regrows a new cortex.”
“Is that what the rest of your mom’s getup is made of too?”
“Yep. We use it for lots of stuff. Speaking of my home, what you did with my brother was amazing. How’d you do it?”
“I have absolutely no idea. Well, maybe that’s not exactly true, but it shocked me as much as it did him. I didn’t think I’d reached my mage magic yet when it just, bam, shot out of me.”
“It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. And one of the hottest.” He turned smoldering eyes on me.
“I’m going to miss sleeping in your arms,” I said.
He squeezed my hand. “I’m going to miss that too, more than anything. I’m really glad we had the time we shared together, Rina. It means a lot to me.”
My step faltered as we drew to a stop forty feet away from the gate, interrupting whatever additional nice things he’d been about to say. “Oh no. Not again,” I whined under my breath.
His attention whipped ahead of us, and he slowed his pace. “A … female rabbit?” he whispered, before settling his face into impassivity, preparing to be diplomatic no doubt.
“That’s what it looks like.” Only this rabbit was nothing like Rasper the Rabbit, or his three brothers Raker, Raider, and Rammer. The female was perhaps two-thirds as tall as the others, dressed in a pioneer-style dress, complete with a flowered apron that reminded me of the gentle badger Melinda.
Only scarlet-red claws didn’t peek out from beneath the skirts of Melinda’s dresses...
“Hey there, kids!” the female rabbit called out to us, and my apprehension eased by a fraction. She seemed friendly enough, and unlike the other rabbits, her voice didn’t sound as if it were coated in battery acid.
“Hello,” Leander answered, his voice slightly hesitant. “How are you today?”
“I’m doin’ just fine, thanks for askin’,” she drawled, and I narrowed my eyes at her suspiciously. “I take it ya want to enter the school.”
“Yes please, ma’am,” Leander said.
When the female rabbit’s gaze landed on our joined hands, I dropped his hand like it was a hot potato. Something about those black, pupil-less eyes unnerved me despite her friendly drawl and the way one ear flopped forward, suggesting she was inoffensive.
“Very well,” she said, linking her hands behind her back, reminding me of a military officer. I tried to shake the comparison, but couldn’t as she scanned the length of me, then Leander, taking in our fae-styled attire. Her eyes were almost too intelligent as they seemed to study every single detail about us.
“I’m Roberta Rabbit,” she said. “If ya state yer names for the record, I’ll let ya right in.”
Leander nodded. “I’m Leander Verion, prince of the fae and elves.”
“And I’m Rina Nelle Mont,” I said.
“Ah.” She tipped her head back as realization hit. “So ye’re the friends and siblins’ of the boys my sons are out accompanyin’.” She smiled, her friendly-looking face splitting to reveal a mouthful of shark-like teeth.
“You’re mother to Rasper, Raker, Rammer, and Raider?” Leander asked.
She nodded proudly. “Yep, them and three-hundred-n-sixteen others.”
I did some quick math. “You have three-hundred-and-twenty kids?” I asked, unable to keep the awe from my voice.
“That’s what I said, ma girl. Keeps a momma like me busy, that’s for sure.”
“I’d imagine so,” Leander said while I attempted to process the fact that there were three-hundred-and-nineteen terrifying monster bunnies in the world—three-hundred-twenty if I counted Roberta, and I was inclined to.
“So, what brings you here today?” Leander asked. He wasn’t freaking out like I was. Why wasn’t he freaking out inside like I was?
“Well, ma boys are still out huntin’ those wily shifters with yer friends and her brother. They’ll be back in time fer tomorrow’s flood o’ students, but I figured I’d give ‘em another day o’ the hunt. They do love it.” She grinned proudly.
“They haven’t found Rage and Fury, then?” I squeaked, before clearing my throat.
Her face fell and she scowled. “Nah, they haven’t, and it makes no damn sense. Ma boys could find a carcass buried two thousand feet underground.”
Well, that was a disturbing thought.
“Ma boys should definitely a found those scoundrels by now. I don’t like it, I don’ like it one bit.”
“We don’t like it either, ma’am,” Leander said. “Something isn’t right, that’s for sure.”
She shook her head, commiserating. “Not right at all. The world’s gone to hell in a flying shoe when ya kids can’t come to the academy without worryin’ about bein’ hunted by yer own.”
Okay, maybe she was starting to grow on me. How bad could she really be in her cute frilly outfit?
“I’m of a right mind to hunt ‘em myself,” she went on. “And when I catch ‘em, I’ll tear their throats out with my teeth, and right if I won’t enjoy the taste of their fear.” She bared her teeth while her eyes glazed over at the thought of it.
I took half a step back before Leander reached out to take my hand, keeping me in place. Right, don’t reveal your fear to a predator. That was the one lesson Ky had drilled into me every chance he got, and this rabbit in front of us was clearly no less dangerous than her sons.
She twisted her clawed paws in front of her. “I’ll wring out their bodies till they’re dry o’ blood, that’s what I’d do, evadin’ ma boys like they done. And then I’ll move on ta any o’ the others who helped ‘em. I still got my baby Rasper to pay ‘em back for.”
“We’re ever so sorry for the loss of Rasper the Rabbit,” Leander said. His compassionate tone sent a wave of guilt flooding through me. Here I was criticizing Rasper’s mother when she’d lost a son in a terrible way—defending the school, and me no less.
I forced myself to woman up, reclaiming that half a step I’d retreated. “His sacrifice was in part because they were hunting me. For that, I’m so incredibly sorry.”
Finished imagining wringing and killing, she brushed beneath both eyes with her paws. “Ya two are good creatures, caring about ma boys like this. I won’t forget it. On with ya, then.” She waved to the gate, blinking furiously. The large gate’s precious metals and gems sparkled in the mid-day sunlight, and swung open inward.
“What about the sanguinator and deliberator?” Leander asked.
“I don’t need that stuff. I got a feel for the magic, in here.” She thumped against her chest with both paws in a gorilla move. “Get on with ya. I got yer back.”
I nodded fervently, suddenly overwhelmed with my own wave of emotions. The rabbits might be effing scary, but I was feeling for them. “And we’ve got your back, Roberta,” I said, imbuing my words with the strength of my conviction. “We’re going to find Rage and Fury and anybody else who’s considering messing with our kind, and we’re going to put a stop to them.”
Roberta brushed beneath her eyes once more. “I like how you talk, gurl. I think you ‘n me are gonna be friends.”
Moved by her earnest expression, I smiled warmly at the bunny mother who’d just fantasized about killing the entirety of the Shifter Alliance. I liked the idea of her as my friend, meaning I’d officially lost my mind, and my third term at the Magical Creatures Academy hadn’t even begun yet.
; “I’d very much like that,” I said, beaming at her. She beamed right back.
She waved us in. “Go on. In ya git. Ya got learnin’ to do and asses ta kick. Don’t worry about the gate. I ain’t lettin’ a soul through here that doesn’t belong. Ye’re safe with me on watch.”
I didn’t doubt it for a second. “Thanks, Roberta. We’ll be seeing you.”
“That ya will, ma gurl, that ya will.”
And with that, Leander and I walked through the open gate. The usual fanfare of the fairy tooting his horn was markedly absent, his place atop the pillar empty. I supposed that was reserved for the official first day of classes of term.
I cast one last glance over my shoulder. Roberta was still beaming at me. I waved at her and turned back around to face the Magical Creatures Academy.
The Academy Spell had allowed me in. Up until that moment, I’d wondered if it had just forgotten to expel me or something. I exhaled my relief and steeled myself for a new term. I was ready to take it by storm.
8
Without my mountain lion shifter magic, I no longer possessed the superior healing abilities of a shifter, which meant that my first stop after entering the academy was a visit to the healing wing. While none of the injuries Galen had inflicted were particularly grave, I ached all over thanks to the swift strength of his staff, and I welcomed some soothing of the kind that Melinda doled out generously. While she tended to my many boo-boos, lathering on a thick layer of her Happy Healing Help gel, Leander went off in search of Sir Lancelot, assuring me the headmaster would want to know about our angelic manifestation to a Sedona resident. I had no doubt he was right; the owl had his hand—er, wing—in everything.
Leander met up with me again at the dorm room I shared with Wren, where I stood at the entrance to the common room examining my feelings about the changed appearance of our living arrangement since the end of last term. Gone was the extra room the staff witch Nancy had magicked for Sadie, which told me that Sadie wasn’t returning this semester. That also meant the Enforcers had officially pulled my protective detail. As brash as Sadie was, I already knew I was going to miss her.
Also absent was the additional room Nancy had crafted for Wendi. I definitely wouldn’t be missing her. Though she’d never been my favorite among the Enforcers to begin with, or any of the creatures really, she’d betrayed all of us. It was only thanks to her deception that Rage and Fury had managed to get their hands on me and my shifter magic, and almost managed to steal Ky’s magic as well. On the logical side, I understood why she’d done it. Rage had threatened to kill her mother, her only living relative, and that was as powerful a motivator as there was. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for Ky, or for Dad, or for Leander, or any of my friends for that matter, but still, I couldn’t help but think that, no matter what the circumstances, I wouldn’t be capable of betraying people who trusted me. Wendi obviously didn’t share my compunctions.
The exhaustion of the flare of my mage magic settled in heavily once Leander curled up behind me in bed, and I drifted away to sleep early in the day, nestled in his arms.
I groaned loudly now as the alarm clock blared its annoying beeping, searching blindly for the blasted annoyance. Surely in a school where nearly everything was controlled with magic, the staff mages could come up with a more pleasant sound to help me greet the morning.
I knocked over a bottle of water on the night table next to the bed with a clatter before I remembered that Wren kept the alarm clock on her nightstand, precisely because of my inability to wake easily or pleasantly.
“Leo, get that will you...?” I muttered, before running my arms along both sides of me in the bed. Empty. I sighed heavily as I remembered with a start that a magically-enforced curfew separated the genders at night here, which meant my contented mornings of waking in Leander’s arms were gone for the time being.
I tore off the covers, stumbled across the room, stubbed my toe against one of the posts of Wren’s bed, and barely stopped myself from hurling the clock against the wall to shut it off. Channeling Wren at the last moment, I clicked it off somewhat gently before dragging my feet toward my wardrobe. It was 7:02 AM. The first day of classes would begin shortly, heralding the arrival of my friends. I slipped one of my many pressed shirts and skirts from their hangers in the closet and chose my sky blue Converse with a thought of thanks to the pygmy trolls who helped everything at the school run smoothly. It was much easier to appreciate them when not confronted with their scowling little old man mugs and prickly attitudes.
As alertness took over, I began to rush, suddenly excited. The Academy Spell had welcomed me back for another term, and as soon as I saw Ky or Boone I’d have more news on Rage and Fury. With any luck, the torment the brothers had insisted on inflicting would finally be over, and this term of school would be a breeze compared to the previous two others.
With a quick glance at myself in the standing mirror, I flung the door open, anxious to start the day.
I didn’t get a chance to intercept Ky or Boone before all students, including oners this time, were summoned to the large, main auditorium in Irele Hall. Fianna and Nessa flitted around, scolding students, preparing the space for their revered headmaster owl.
“You,” Fianna was saying, pointing her diminutive finger at a pasty-skinned boy with scraggly dark hair and terrified eyes who was sitting two rows back from the front. “You’d better behave yourself, you hear me?”
The boy, who was definitely a oner, shot terrified looks to either side of him. When he didn’t spot anyone coming to his aid, he nodded fervently at the tiny fairy with the flaming red hair.
“Fianna,” Nessa scolded, “you can’t yell at him just because he’s a vamp.”
The crimson fairy crossed her arms over her chest while she hovered in front of the boy’s face, her back turned to him as if she’d already forgotten him and his imagined transgressions. “Vamp students betrayed us last year. He’s a vamp.”
“Yes, but not all vamps are the same, silly, you know that.”
Fianna narrowed her eyes at her cousin, suggesting she was an equal opportunity grudge holder. “I trusted the vamps before, and look where that got me. Now they’ll have to earn my trust.”
I kind of had to agree with her a little bit. None of the vamps I’d met at the school had been kind, though the pasty-faced boy seemed like he might be an exception. Regardless, I wrenched my gaze from Fianna, Nessa, and the boy, and claimed an open seat in the front row next to Ky, Boone, and Leander, leaving room on my other side for my friends.
Immediately I leaned forward in my seat and across Leander, shooting Ky and Boone loaded looks. “So? What news do you have? How’d it go? Did you get Rage and Fury?”
Ky winced while storm clouds rolled over Boone’s otherwise bright hazel eyes, and I had my answer.
“Are you kidding me?” I whined. “You didn’t find them?”
Ky clenched his fists and opened his mouth right as Sir Lancelot flew into the room and Fianna let out a cat-calling whistle to draw our attention to the front of the room. Magnified by the school’s magic, her call rose in volume until I had to cover my ears for some relief. A general wince and groan circled the room before the little fairy had the grace to appear abashed.
Nessa flew to the dais at the head of the room, with Fianna on her heels, and they claimed their usual spots to either side of the alighting owl.
“Welcome, pupils!” he intoned in an elegant voice that immediately reminded me he’d lived during times when etiquette was far more important than it was now. He swept his wings out to either side. “Welcome to the Magical Creatures Academy, or the Menagerie, whichever you prefer—we use both here.” He smiled, turning his feathered cheeks up around his beak. “I’m happy to see so many smiling faces this morning as it is indeed a happy day.”
Jas, Wren, Dave, and Adalia slipped into the room, shoulders hunched as if that would help conceal their tardiness, and claimed the seats I’d left them, immediately next to the
door. Wren settled next to me, giving my arm a quick squeeze and a mouthed, “Hi,” before facing forward and schooling her face into neutrality.
Fianna and Nessa were already glaring at her and the rest of my friends. Based on past experiences, they perceived my friends’ tardiness as a direct offense against their headmaster. Wren pinned her gaze a little too intently on the owl as he continued, tempting me to laugh.
“For those oners among you, please remain in your seats once I dismiss the others. I have more information to impart to you. But because of the good news I’m able to share today, I wanted you all gathered together. In past terms, the Voice, and its subfactions the Shifter Alliance and Undead League, among others, has threatened members of this school, along with the Enforcers. As you all know, or should know, the Enforcers are merely an extension of this great institution, as every single Enforcer is a graduate of the Menagerie.”
The owl smiled again, and I wondered why. This certainly wasn’t particularly good news.
“As of this moment, I’m pleased to announce that the threat has been contained and neutralized. The Voice is in discussions for peace with the Magical Council, the Enforcers, and any additional necessary representatives within the supernatural community to ensure that this peace will be long lasting and honored by all magical creatures.”
A wave of hopeful disbelief circled the room, but I wasn’t buying this peace that easily. I’d been on the receiving end of the Voice’s misguided ambitions, and its agents had given me every reason to distrust them. They’d killed most of the Enforcers while they slept!
“Yes, I realize it’s hard to believe, but even those who’ve attacked us in the past are simply misguided, desiring to enact their own ideas of justice.”
Pursing my lips, I crossed my legs and arms. I wasn’t so sure that Rage was at all concerned with any notion of fairness. Fury, maybe, but certainly not enough to get him to stop his brother from stealing what was mine.
“Finally, we can usher in an age of peace for the supernatural community. I’ve been waiting a very long time for something like this to happen.” The owl took a pause, seemingly just to sigh contentedly. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, peace begins to take on an elusive quality. I’ve wondered many times whether peace was even possible so long as dark magic exists, possessing and controlling both mages and creatures alike. But now … I’m just so pleased. With the ease of this threat, you’ll be able to make great progress in your studies this term. Your instructors will be able to give you their undivided attention and lend you the full scope of their expertise. The school’s staff mages will be able to focus on making improvements to the Menagerie’s systems of operation instead of concerning themselves so much with our defense. It will be simply wonderful.”