by Lan Chan
They left me alone shortly after. I got on the MirrorNet straight away and dialled Basil’s number. “I have concerns about your so-called love life if you’re picking up a call on a Friday night,” I joked when his face appeared. Internally, my relief was palpable. He saw right through it.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. Odette walked by in the background and waved. She was wearing a pointed black hat inside. I waved back but didn’t comment. Now was not the time.
I told Basil what had happened. His frown became increasingly pronounced. “Goodness, Lex. Next time someone asks you to perform a ritual, maybe you should pause before doing it.”
“Well, I know that now!”
“But for them to push you into a situation like that knowing how dangerous it is. Have you told Jacqueline?”
“No! And I’m not going to.”
“Why not?”
I bit my lip. Why not? “I’m not sure. I think maybe they’re right. If Gaia is going crazy because she’s trapped, I need to find a way to free her.”
“Except we have no idea where she might be.”
I nodded absentmindedly. “Azrael said something to me that I’ve been mulling over. Why am I afraid of the ocean? Maybe something didn’t happen to me when I was a baby. Maybe I’m afraid of it because something might happen to me now if I go in there.”
“You believe she’s been bound to the ocean?”
“It’s as good a theory as any other. Only problem is that I can’t get anywhere near it without freaking out.”
“Maybe you don’t have to. Do you understand how the mermaid lagoon works?”
I shook my head.
“Really, Alessia! You’re taking Elemental Magic. This is basic stuff!” I waited for his parental rant to subside. He blew out a breath. “Anyway, the lagoon is magically sectioned off from the Earth’s ocean, but it is still a part of it. It is made possible by the continued maintenance of a two-way portal. If you can get in contact with the mermaids, they might be able to search the ocean for you.”
“Wouldn’t someone have come across something beforehand?”
“Not if she’s been concealed somewhere no one would want to go.”
That was how I found myself outside Isla’s bedroom door. A place I generally tried to avoid at all costs. The Fae occupied a nicer part of the dorm wing. Actually, it only looked nicer because they probably glamoured it. Isla’s door had words carved on it in what appeared to be an Elven language. I was terrible at Dead Languages but I couldn’t imagine a marking made with a blunt knife to be flattering. It never occurred to me that she would be the brunt of that kind of bullying. The side-eye I got for being in their section of the dorms was all I needed to know about how welcoming this place was.
She came to the door when I knocked. I didn’t know which one of us was more surprised. I launched into my request before I could change my mind. “You said you’d help me with my fear of the ocean,” I said.
“I did,” she said. “But it’s Friday night and I have stuff to do.”
I eyed the floral pyjamas she was wearing. “Such as?”
“None of your business.”
“C’mon! I’m on a time crunch here?”
“What crunch? One more day isn’t going to get your grades any better.”
I debated whether telling her the truth was advisable. Basil had lived in the human world for years. Despite being a mage, he was less polarised by species loyalty. Isla was so far from neutral it wasn’t funny. On the other hand, I was putting her into a position I had been in and it wasn’t pleasant. So I told her. The play of emotions across her features might have been comical in other circumstances.
“You’re making this up,” she said. I allowed the silence to stretch out. I wished I was making even half of this up. Her drawn-out sigh was the victory I needed. “Fine,” she said. “But I’m not letting you into my room while I change.”
I didn’t want to go in there anyway. I leaned my back against the wall and waited. Of course it was at that very moment that Brigid happened to come around the corner. She saw me waiting and her smile morphed into a snarl. The two minions behind her wore equally lovely expressions. “What do you think you’re doing here?”
“What does it look like?”
I didn’t know when to keep my trap shut. But she was going to be antagonistic whether I stayed silent or not. “It looks like you’re not wanted. You’ve got two seconds to get out of my sight before I–”
Isla’s door opened. “Give it a rest, Brigid,” Isla said. “It’s getting really tired.”
My jaw dropped. So did Brigid’s. Isla strongarmed me away. I kept glancing backward to make sure Brigid wasn’t going to ambush us. But the other Fae had stormed off. “What just happened?” I asked.
“Just keep walking.”
I let it drop. Otherwise I might have had to dwell on the scary realisation that Isla Hess and I might sort of be friends.
29
“It could take a while for them to emerge,” Isla said. We were within hearing distance of the lagoon. It was the closest I could get to the water without having a panic attack. After everything that had already happened this week, I didn’t need to have another breakdown.
“Can we wait elsewhere?” I asked.
“We can’t just call them and then disappear. They could be anywhere.”
She had already taken her shoes off. In preparation, she’d dressed in shorts and a singlet. I was still in my jeans.
Isla was inching towards the water. “How can you not love it?”
“How can you not love cemeteries?” She gave me a look that said she thought I was deranged. Okay, I conceded that point.
“You can go in if you want.”
She hesitated. The pull of the crashing waves must have been strong because she kept turning her body towards it. The fervour of her love for the sea suddenly brought tears to my eyes. I glanced internally for the billionth time since leaving the fern forest. For the billionth time I was disappointed that my hedge magic remained miniscule.
“Okay,” Isla said. “I’ll stay. There’s no need to cry.”
I swiped at my cheeks. “Sorry. It’s not this.”
I sank down into the sand. After a beat, she joined me. “What happened?”
My hesitation spoke volumes. Somewhere along the line I had begun to see Terran as more than just a usurper Academy. “I’m okay. You shouldn’t waste this opportunity. Just go ahead.”
“You’re right. We shouldn’t waste this opportunity. Which is why you’re going to get your ass into the water.”
“No way.”
She rounded on me. “Brigid knows you’re scared of the ocean. After what just happened, how much do you want to bet she’s going to try and mess with you somehow?”
I had to admit, she knew how to push my buttons. We spent the next hour trying to get me desensitised to the ocean by taking me closer and closer to the water. With each foot that I neared the swell, my heartbeat spiked. I breathed through my mouth.
“I wonder what would happen if you had the ocean on one side and a horde of rats on the other,” Isla said.
“Rats can swim! Yet another reason to hate the ocean!”
It was at that moment that we heard the first splashes of disturbed water. I yelped as a pair of mermaids propelled themselves through the surface, somersaulted in the air and glided gracefully onto land. They slithered up the dunes as far as they could go.
“You’ve gotta try and meet them halfway,” Isla hissed.
I stared at the darkened water. Wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans, I clenched my teeth together and forced my legs to take one step at a time. It was agonising but I managed to approach the mermaids. From what I’d learned in class, their speech was inaudible outside of the water. In it, they could communicate perfectly. The water Fae were able to communicate with them through telepathy. Hence why I needed Isla.
“Can you tell them what we need?” I asked her.
She nodde
d. I focused on the mermaid on my left. She was the one who had tried to entice me into the water in class a few weeks ago. Her skin was alabaster smooth. I wanted really badly to reach out and touch the scales on her shoulder. She noticed me staring and smiled. Even though they were on land, her hair haloed around her head as though suspended by water. I wasn’t surprised that sailors marooned their ships trying to get to the mermaids.
The one on the right made a circular hand gesture. “She wants to know if there are any specifications you can give them about where they could look,” Isla asked.
I scratched at my head. Samantha had said that Gaia was reacting to the pollution of the earth. It would also have to be somewhere most other sea creatures were reluctant to go. I imagined the dumping of all manner of rubbish into the ocean would tick her right off. “Try where the water is most polluted,” I said.
Isla frowned. “Toxic water is harmful to supernaturals as well,” she said.
I bounced from one foot to the other. Half of it was because I knew I was asking a lot. The other half was because of the sound of waves around us. “I’m not sure what else to do?”
Isla relayed the message. “She said you’ll owe them bigtime when the favour is done.”
Of course I would. With no other options, I agreed to their terms. “Let’s go back before I end up indebted to the entire supernatural community.”
Speaking of debts, I woke up earlier than usual the next morning to start my chores in the Grove. I hit a snag trying to get past the fence. When I touched the pickets, the small charge I usually felt blasted me backwards. I landed on my butt. Phoenix whined. A glance inside at the well showed the state of my hedge magic was still almost empty. For a few heartbeats I allowed myself to let my head sink between my bent knees. Phoenix pushed his warm, wet nose against the crook of my neck. With a heavy sigh, I stood. Straightening my back I braced for the shot of pain and grabbed the fencing. The shock snaked up my arms, but I held firm. I vaulted over the fence and landed with jittery nerves. The purple and yellow nymphs appeared before me. They were scowling.
In anticipation of their chastising, I slipped into the Ley dimension. When she spoke, the purple nymph’s words were only slightly speedy. “There’s something wrong with you,” she said. “Something more wrong than usual.”
“It’s nice to see you too.”
I shook myself of the last of the protection spell’s burn and got to work. While I hauled water and pruned like a chump, the nymphs and Phoenix played on the lawn. For all their warning about human animals not reacting well to supernaturals, Phoenix was showing no ill effects. Either there was something wrong with him or there was something wrong with the Academy. It could go both ways really.
When I was done, I retrieved the demon blade from where I left it beside the mature Arcana tree. The nymphs and I went through routine after routine of drills. I wasn’t very good with other weapons, but with the demon blade, I suspected I was beginning to show signs of improvement. They would never say so, of course. That would almost be like being nice to me. No, the first signs I might be improving was when they increased their ranks and I could still manage to deflect their attacks.
I was in the midst of executing a perfect underarm sweep when a bright flash of green lit up the edge of the web of energy. The nymphs immediately stopped attacking to converge on Kai. I released the shroud of the Ley dimension to find him leaning with his back against a tree. His mouth was curved at the edges. After a second of being blinded by the sheer masculine beauty of him, I noticed the faint smudges under his eyes. When was the last time he slept? He’d been doing who knows what inside Seraphina for weeks on end. Most of the time he was absent from classes.
“Not bad, Blue.” He took a few steps towards me. His angel blade appeared in his hands. Swinging the heavy blade with the ease of a seasoned fighter, he held it out with the tip pointed at me. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
“Are you jok –?”
He struck out while I was distracted. The nymphs scattered to the edge of the clearing but stayed to watch me get my ass handed to me. Now that Kai had stopped being my instructor, I bet they missed these shows. Once upon a time Kai would have pulled the strike a second before it landed and then chewed me out for all of the things I’d done wrong. This time I raised the demon blade and met him head-on. The two swords clashed in a spark of green-and-black fire. The dark power in me ate up the green as it roared over the length of the demon blade. I dragged the blade against his sword and pushed back to create distance.
My heart faltered at the lack of blue at the same time his eyes widened. “Blue,” he said.
“Keep going.”
In the time it took for Kai to make a decision, I dropped into the Ley dimension and read his movements through the web of stars and lights. I knew he held back but beating Malachi Pendragon at even a quarter of his strength was more than most people could claim.
He came at me again. This time he swung the angel blade in a wide arc that was meant to disorient me as I tried to pinpoint its trajectory. But in the Ley dimension everything slowed down enough so that I had the chance to pivot out of the line of his reach. Using the only thing I had to my advantage, my size, I ducked under his arm as he pulled back and struck his ribs with my elbow.
The contact sent a jarring vibration up my arm. “Dammit!” I shouted. In my hubris, I’d forgotten he was made of much sturdier stuff than I was.
“You okay?” His words were laced with laughter. I dug my sneakers into the ground and charged. The world around me wavered. My heartbeat became thunderous in my ears. When Kai brought his blade up to defend, I slipped right past it, as in right past the physical barrier of it, and landed smack bang against his chest. It sent us sprawling. Neither of us had factored in the phasing. We both dropped our blades rather than risk somebody getting hurt. He wrapped his arms around me as we fell and rolled so that he took the brunt of the impact. As a result, I felt nothing but a cushioned bump until we came to a stop with him on top of me.
“If we were shifters,” Kai said, his green eyes pinning me far more effectively than his body, “I would have won.”
“If we were shifters, I would have every right to rip your face off for daring to think I need protection.”
He eased his arms from beneath me to brace on either side of my head. I found myself bunching the front of his T-shirt in my hands. With a brow raised, his dipped his head and traced a line down my right jaw with the tip of his nose. When he inhaled, my back arched into him.
“Yield,” he said.
“You’re dreaming.”
He chuckled. “If I were dreaming, you wouldn’t have so many clo –” He paused mid-sentence, his eyes having gone the green of pine needles. My whole body curled when he kissed me. The slow intensity of the open-mouthed kiss had me straining to get impossibly closer. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I made a soft whimpering sound that caused him to shiver.
Something small and solid hit me on the cheek. I whined against Kai’s mouth. He pulled back as the nymphs lined up for more blows. I thought they were being jerks until I heard the distinct sound of boots on gravel. Kai moved so quickly I lost equilibrium as he hauled me upright. By the time the two Fae girls reached the clearing, we were just two innocent bystanders. Were it not for the murderous scowl on Kai’s face, we could have been mistaken for fellow plant enthusiasts.
One of the girls smiled at him. “This space is off limits right now,” he said. The tone was razorblade sharp. I was almost taken aback by it. They disappeared in the time it took me to blink.
“That was really mean,” I said. “They were junior school kids.”
Thinking about the kids sapped all of my energy. I was so busy trying to keep up with both Academies that I’d been able to pretend I didn’t miss Cassie and Charles. But sometimes I would find myself heading toward the junior campus out of sheer habit. The slug in the gut when I remembered it was off limits floored me every time.
“
Hey,” Kai said. I sat down on the lawn. He joined me. “What’s wrong?”
“How much longer am I going to be banned from places?”
The Kai I knew, my Kai, disappeared as a shadow crossed his face. In his place was Malachi Pendragon, last of Raphael’s line, youngest member of the Supernatural Council. “You’re not –”
“Save it. The least you can do is not treat me like I’m an idiot.”
“Blue.”
I tried to get up. He latched on to my wrist. “Your low-magic. What happened to it?”
It had been a while since I heard the term low-magic. It rankled. At the same time I knew he didn’t mean anything by it. I glanced down at where his fingers shackled me. All he would have to do was squeeze and he’d shatter my bones. Now, more than ever, I understood why the humans were so terrified of the supernaturals. I had just been spoiled by being scooped up and protected.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “You’ve got more important things to do.”
He wouldn’t budge. His focus tunnelled. “There is nothing more important than your safety.”
A million girls would’ve died on the spot. But I kept thinking safety or containment? Damn these Terrans for getting into my head! It was that obstinate thought that had me spilling everything to him.
“Should they be trying to find this nutcase deity if she’s going to destroy everything when she’s released?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Maybe we’re nuts too.”
“You’d have to be. But for her to try and take away your power…” His hold on my hand grew tighter. Like he was afraid Gaia would show up and snatch me away. Behind his seemingly relaxed façade, something predatory suddenly lurked. A wave of sadness engulfed me. “That headmistress said your powers will likely come back, didn’t she?”
“Grand mistress,” I corrected. His face twisted. “I have a feeling they don’t really understand much about what’s happening. Nobody has ever bound a deity before.”
“Except the seraphim.”
“That’s different. Ariel and Uriel are guarding Lucifer. They’re not dead. Hedge magic isn’t supposed to last this long.”