“Nope, but you’ve gotta get used to magical creatures like this if you’re going to spend the rest of your life in our world.”
Ah, so Drea was one of the other outlings in my class. I hadn’t had a chance to track them down.
She gulped and stared at the Cerberus, but let Nalli help her to her feet.
“Some know the Cerberus from Greek Mythology,” Professor Alean continued, fully in teacher mode. “But other than being a child of Typhon and Echidna, the rest of the legend is not true.”
“Little kids are told they have to behave or the Cerberus will get them,” Patty said from the corner of her mouth. “They used to guard the gates of the Underworld, making sure whoever entered never left, but they live in the forest now. My mom always said, ‘behave yourself, Patrice, or the Cerberus will take you to hell and you’ll never find your way back’.”
“They came with the original six when they split from the fae,” Donovan said, studying the beast. “I knew they existed, but…” He shook his head, and his voice rose in amazement. “I haven’t run into one yet.”
“While the woods, in general, are forbidden to all students,” Professor Alean said. “I also ask you to stay away from the eastern cave system. Our resident Cerberus has laid eggs and they will hatch soon.”
“Yes, our young will soon join us,” Gunner said. “We simply cannot wait.”
“The children will be hungry,” the Professor said. “While vegetarians, they may be tempted to take a bite.”
I shuddered.
Professor Alean extended her arms out to the sides. Her robe fluttered as she coasted off the boulder and onto the ground.
Wait. I thought Elites couldn’t fly.
“Remember,” Donovan said. “She’s an elf. They can fly.”
I growled and schooled my face.
“This way, now,” our professor said, striding toward the Academy. “We still have one more creature to meet today.”
Grottin called out, “Bye! It was lovely to meet you.” Turning, the Cerberus started lumbering toward the forest.
“Do remember, we only wish to be friends!” Gunner added.
“Friends about to hatch children that will bite us?” I said with raised eyebrows.
“They’re awesome. Once they take flight, we’ll see the young circling the forest,” Donovan said, gazing over his shoulder in wonder at the Cerberus.
They had wings? Somehow, I’d missed that component.
Donovan tapped my arm. “I’m going to watch for them every night. Why don’t you come with me?”
I assumed from the roof. Sure, let’s just hang out like bait. “We’ll see.”
We followed our teacher around to the front of the Academy, to the main entrance, but she stopped in the middle of the bridge spanning the moat rather than take us inside.
“Oh, Sirra,” Professor Alean said in a lilting tone, leaning over the iron rail. “Sirra? It’s time to welcome our new Earth Coven class.”
Dark water churned to our right and a sleek head poked above the rippling current. Strands of grass clung to her dark, seal-like hair, and her golden eyes—reptilian slits—blinked before narrowing in on us standing near Professor Alean.
Crap. I took a step backward. I’d been teasing myself earlier. There truly was a mer-like creature living here!
“Ahhhhh, children. I likesssss children,” Sirra’s melodic voice sang. Her four pale arms extended toward us, beckoning. “Come clossssser to Sssssirra.”
“No, no, no,” Professor Alean said with a laugh. She snatched the back of a student’s shirt before the boy could swing his leg over the rail and jump into the water. As the kid shook his head and then glared at the mer-creature, Professor Alean’s face sobered. “Now, Sirra, you know luring students into the water is forbidden.”
Sirra pouted and her long, thick, snakelike body—covered with dark blue scales—undulated behind her, slithering in and out of the water in agitation. “I knowsssss but I likesssss ssssstudents.”
Turning to face us, Professor leaned her back against the rail, seemingly oblivious to the creature gliding up out of the water to rear above her. Sirra had long teeth, too. Fangs. They curled down along her chin. “Sirra is the head guardian of the Academy. She keeps intruders at bay.”
I bet she did. She could rip them apart or strangle them with her body like a croc after snatching the intruder up off the shore. Did she hold whoever she captured beneath the inky surface until they drowned? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“Is she the only guardian in the moat?” I asked. Please, say yes.
“She’s a naiad,” Donovan said.
Oh, yes, tricksy. Beatrice had warned me about Sirra already. Note to self: Always listen to your brownie.
“Yes, she’s a naiad,” Professor Alean said. “And no, she isn’t the only guardian. We have many.”
In the moat? Moving over to the rail, I clutched it and sought ripples in the water that would suggest other mer-people approached, but the surface remained as depthless as a black mirror.
Professor Alean’s robes fluttered in the wind, sliding around her bare ankles like colorful serpents. “When the first families built the Academy, they diverted the river from the eastern side of the campus. It now flows around the main building and rejoins itself below. The naiad are our guests. In exchange for protection, we feed them power. Without it, their voices cannot lure.”
“Who do they lure?” Drea asked from behind me. “Please, not students?”
“Originally?” Professor Alean said, her voice tight. “Outlings, actually.”
While I reeled back, she held up her hand. “No fear. This happened ages ago, and only once, immediately after the first families settled here. Before our wards were solidly in place, some outlings ventured too close to the campus. Sirra’s people…Well, as I said, they’re our protection. They truly didn’t mean to cause harm.” Nodding as if to solidify her statement, her spine stiffened. She reached forward and patted my shoulder. “Outlings are our friends. You’re as welcome here as Sídhe children.”
This happened ages ago, huh? Any connection to the hints Ashton had shared about outlings being hunted?
“And that’s all for today, students,” Professor Alean said. “I’ll see everyone tomorrow for the next Magical Creatures class, here in the upper pasture.” She grinned and clapped her hands. “We have more friends for you to meet.”
Delightful. Not.
“Lunch?” Donovan asked as my fellow students dispersed, and I nodded.
“I’m going up to our room to nap,” Patty said. “I’ll grab something in one of the cafés. Catch up with you later?”
“Sure.”
After lunch, Donovan mentioned he wanted to talk to the Headmistress about Bryce.
This gave me the perfect opportunity to explore the library.
Leaving the cafeteria and striding down the hall, I paused inside the entrance. A cathedral ceiling spanned two-thirds of the room. The area below the open part was filled with wooden tables and chairs. And students. We didn’t have much to study yet since we were still in orientation, but kids were reading, hanging out, doing that ‘stay together or in pairs’ thing the Headmistress had asked for. Which I’d…oops, forgotten about when Donovan and I parted.
Along my left, stairs rose in tiers to the second and third floors, where long rows of stacks filled with books waited to be discovered. On the right, a wall of glass looked out over the eastern side of the campus, likely toward the caves where the Cerberus would hatch their young.
Ester’s library had been my quiet place. I could sneak inside the small room and run my fingers along the spines while dreaming of where the books might take me. While most had been dry tomes, I’d found a few hidden gems among them. I could curl up on the couch with it and sink into someone else’s life.
Leaving the main floor, I climbed all the way to the top of the stairs and scrolled through the stacks, sliding my fingertips along the endless spines.
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br /> Someone needed to dust. And bugs. Fluttery, wispy things that loved to eat paper abounded. Before dusting, they needed to call the magical exterminator, assuming that was also a skapti.
Ancient history. Myths and legends. Magic in a Modern Age. Oh, that sounded exciting! As I strolled through the stacks, my hand touched them all.
I was rounding the end of a stack when my fingers tingled. Stopping, I turned back. Had the plush carpet delivered a static shock?
A tiny wink of red from a worn black book—extinguished quicker than it flashed—pulled me near. Gnawing on my lower lip, I slid the book from the shelf and coughed when I inhaled the lung full of crud that came along with it.
How long had it been since anyone touched it?
Blowing on the front to clear the surface, I leaned closer, squinting. I traced my fingertip along the drawing of a dragon etched into the leather, eager to unlock this book’s secrets.
The Original Six.
Wait. I quickly flicked back the cover. Yes! A banner was displayed on the first page. Red, with a bird. And beneath the banner: One of two Fire Coven’s founding families, the O’haoehda Clan, a branch of the Jaessenach Fae Clan.
Cool.
Had I found a book that could tell me what no one else here seemed willing to reveal? Who needed a history teacher when I could research on my own? There was more than one way to discover information about Crystal Wing Academy.
The next page showed a banner with a dog. And, underneath, the second Fire Coven founding family’s crest, that of the Ha’Foaláin Clan, a second branch of the Jaessenach Fae Clan.
I’d turned the page and was tracing my finger across a banner showcasing a cat when someone came up behind me.
“What’s that?”
Jumping, I spun around fast, and the book flipped from my hands, into the air, and dropped on the carpet between us.
Alys picked it up and frowned at it. “Huh.”
“What?” Give it to me. Now! My fingers itched to snatch it from her grasp.
“My dad has this book in his personal library, too.” Her face twisted. “He doesn’t let many of us look at it, however. I imagine your father doesn’t have this book in his library, him being an outling,” she added snidely.
“Well, I don’t…” Do not share.
“Whoa, wait.” An eager meanness took over her face. “You don’t know who your father is?” Her nasty laughter burst out. “Isn’t this utterly perfect.”
“I know who my father is.” A complete lie. “He’s…” Think fast! “Dead. Yes, he’s been dead a long time.”
Surprisingly, Alys’s eyes dropped away from mine, and her shoulders curled forward. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She touched my arm in what felt like sympathy. Could Alys have a nice twin? Or maybe she’d been abducted by aliens when I blinked and returned a completely different girl. At the Academy, the notion wasn’t that impossible.
“Do you…know your mom?” she asked.
“Yes, I lived with her until I moved in with Ester.”
“Oh, yes, the sketar witch. My mom died when I was born.” Her voice grew sharp again, showing me that while Alys might soften on the rare occasion, her mean-girl persona ruled. “I killed her.”
Moira had told me about Alys’s mother’s death, but I wasn’t going to let on that I knew.
What I read as self-loathing took over Alys’s face. “Well, I mean spawning me killed her.”
“Spawning.” I felt like a parrot, repeating her words as if I couldn’t come up with an original thought on my own.
“Gave birth.” One of her shoulders lifted and fell. “You know what I mean.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Her fingertip traced the dragon on the book’s cover. “Dad doesn’t blame me. Not most of the time.”
While she was sharing the agony of her past, I doubted Alys would reveal this side of herself to me again.
Which would be better? Not knowing who your dad was like me, or believing your dad hated you?
That’s when I realized I might not completely hate Alys. It was hard to loathe someone when you also felt pity.
“I’m going to take the book,” she said, proving my momentary lapse into sympathy territory had been a mistake. “Dad only let me look at it once, and I want to read the whole thing.”
“I found it first.”
“And I found it last. Maybe I’ll let you look at it later. Like, two years from now, later.” Her gaze raked down my front. “It’s not for you, anyway. You’re not Elite.”
Like I’d forget that fact with her around?
“You don’t need to know family business.” Her fingers tightened on the spine.
“It’s the school’s history.”
“You can learn what they want you to know from the professors.”
Why wasn’t anyone willing to tell me the truth?
A sneer came through in her voice. “Curiosity can kill, you know.”
“Are you threatening me?” I growled out, clenching my hands into fists.
The huff she released might be meant to lull, but the look in her eyes was sharper than flint. “I’d never do anything like that!”
Sure.
Clutching the book to her chest, she wrinkled her nose. “Where did you find it, anyway? There’s no way it would be left lying around for an outling to pick up.”
“It was sitting on a shelf. I didn’t exactly stroll into a vault and steal it.”
One of her eyebrows quirked up as she studied my face. “Maybe I won’t share it with you at all.”
I stomped up into her face, ready to grab her shoulders and shake her until her teeth rattled. “It’s mine.” The words burst out of me, fueled by the rage that had built inside me in response to her ongoing taunts.
“Didn’t you just say it was sitting on a shelf, here in the library?” Her laughter pealed out. “No reason I can’t let the librarian know I’m borrowing it for a while. He’ll…let me have it as long as I like.” Tugging her backpack around to the front, she unzipped the top and tucked the book inside. “Thanks for finding it for me. You’re the best.”
I needed to be polite, not stir her up. My fingers itched to rip the book from her bag and bolt. I could hide it somewhere on campus, some place she’d never find it. “Give it back. I’ll let you read it when I’m done.” In about a hundred years.
“See ’ya later.” Pivoting, she strode toward the stairs.
My face must be redder than the banners in the lobby. I fumed, but what else could I do? I wasn’t supposed to use magic against her. If I did, I’d get into trouble. Bad enough I’d pulled power and shot fire to protect Moira, something I’d conveniently forgotten to mention to the Headmistress. But that had been a life or death situation. I’d had to act.
This was an argument about a book.
If only I knew of an elemental magic spell I could use against her instead.
But, wait…
I couldn’t flit into her bag, grab the book, and flit to my room, but was it possible to flit the book from her bag to mine?
Whirling around, I tugged a book off the shelf. A History of Trolls. That would do nicely.
Closing my eyes, I pictured the book about trolls lying in Alys’s bag and the Original Six tucked neatly inside my own bag. As if I’d been smacked by a brick in the head, I staggered, reaching out to grab onto the bookcase before I fell. My knees shook, and even my toes trembled.
When I opened my eyes, Alys had left, though her footsteps still echoed on the stairs below.
I staggered over to where I’d laid my backpack on a table and, with trembling hands, unzipped the top.
The Original Six lay inside.
Yessss. I snagged up my bag and fled the library, moving as fast as I could with my power-drained legs. I definitely needed to build my magical stamina.
After crossing the lobby and then the parlor, I entered the hall with the tall windows and dropped onto one of the squishy blue cushions.
Making sure no one else was around—no need to invite someone else to steal the book from me—I pulled it from my bag and laid it on my lap.
Finally, I’d learn the Academy’s secrets.
Anticipation made me shaky, and I took a few deep breaths before touching the cover.
But when I flipped it open, the pages were blank.
Chapter 27
Frustration overwhelmed me, and I slammed the book closed. Growling, I stared down at the cover. The Original Six. This was the right book. Alys couldn’t have known I’d switched them and somehow create a fake book to fool me.
Damn magical academy. Could a book close itself off from someone, refuse to let that person read it? I was an outling. Maybe Alys was right. Only Elites were allowed to read.
No, that couldn’t be true. I’d seen the first few pages in the library. I’d touched them.
“It must be a spell,” I whispered. Either the book could only be read in the library, which was unlikely, or I needed to do something before the book would let me read it again. What could that be?
Sighing, I dropped the book back into my bag. I pivoted on the cushion and stared out the window, my mind zoning out as late-day birds swooped down to snatch up insects. A deer crept out onto the front lawn, its spindly legs moving carefully, its head high as it studied the area for movement.
Another deer stood underneath a tree, hiding in the shadows.
No, wait. That wasn’t a deer. Sitting forward, I squinted, trying to make out what—or who—moved slowly within the dusk creeping across the lawn.
Donovan.
As if believing he wasn’t seen, he moved faster, leaving the shade and jogging down the path that passed the crystal dragon. Where was he going?
The sun slanted across the sky, heading toward the horizon, and long, gray, shadow fingers extended from the forest, reaching toward the Academy. Donovan clung to them, remaining nearly hidden.
When he paused and looked back as if he sensed someone watching, I leaped off the cushion and dropped to the floor. This would look interesting if someone entered the hall, but I remained alone. After taking three breaths, I peered up over the cushion and out the window.
Crystal Wing Academy: Book One: Outling Page 21