I jerked back in surprise. Tonight? Why? A glance at my watch confirmed it was already heading toward dinnertime. And then we’d need to finish homework and get ready for the next day. I still had those three tests to cram for, too. As much as I never minded being near Ethel, a social call wasn’t a great idea tonight.
“She asked me to tell you that she and Marcy have decided to fill you in on some history.” Paige cleared her throat for attention she already had, to emphasize, “You know, since you’re some badass Early Pure who can protect us from escaped griffins.”
I gawked at her. Paige usually had an upper hand with gossip-mongering, especially when she’d spy on her mom’s emails. But I thought the truth of what happened at the stables was confined since Suthering deleted the surveillance video.
“Suthering told Mom what happened. He saw the griffins come at the horses and you and Flynn held them back.” She whistled. “Griffins. Man. I mean, that’s…badass, sister.”
I closed my mouth as the cold air was drying out my tongue. My heart hammered at the exposure her words signaled. The cat was out of the bag, and my nerves tensed at the idea of my secrets being revealed. Paige knew. Ethel knew. So many more people were on to me and my best friend was merely taking it in stride as though she was referencing the weather or the cafeteria’s menu for tomorrow.
“She said Suthering set you up to work in the Menagerie, too. Which I’m guessing is where you went during the afternoon classes.” She stepped ahead of me as we walked, adding a dance to her pace and spinning to face me, walking backward the rest of the way home. “The Menagerie.” With a slow shake of her head and an open-mouthed smile, she made a squee of excitement. “Is it cool? How big is it, really? And is Wolf actually your mentor?”
Whoa. Too much at once. Yet, the one thing that stood out to me the most was that I finally knew about something she didn’t. “You’ve never been there?” Paige had practically lived at Olde Earth all the years that Ethel was a librarian on campus.
“Nope. No underclassmen are. And even upperclassmen don’t go there unless they’re Mid or High Diluted. No point.”
So Wolf and all the other students working in there were powerful? It didn’t make me feel cozy.
“So? I mean, it’s gotta be huge, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I think it is. I didn’t get to see all of it.” And I wouldn’t. Not yet, at least, if Wolf was going to keep me from the ancient species wing.
“Just…wow. Badass.” She nodded, almost side to side like she was confirming something to herself. “I’ve heard stories, of course. Mom’s never wanted to talk about it much, and she’s never gone there herself. Like, I’ve always known it was here on campus, but I could only imagine how large of a zoo they have in it.”
“You heard stories from…your dad?”
Paige shut her lips and lost her smile. At least it was a soft frown on her face, not an angry scowl. She twisted to fall into step at my side again, instead of facing me.
“Yeah. Some. And other faculty who knew him would tell me stories about him there.”
“What did he do there?” I winced at the interrogative nature of my question. “Wolf said he named the grogs.”
That bright smile returned for a half of a second. “Grog. Griffin and dog.” She nodded. “He was the manager of the Menagerie, what Wolf is now.”
“What…what happened to him?” I grimaced again. I was a sucky friend, all about answers and satisfying my curiosity, no sympathy or condolences. “If you don’t mind me asking…”
She shrugged and gripped her messenger bag strap with both hands. “No, I don’t mind you asking. And the more you know, the safer you’ll be.”
Now there was a different take on sharing information. Everyone else at Olde Earth was about keeping secrets still.
“A moose hybrid went nuts and injured him during a breeding attempt. The former research guy—well, I think he was the headmaster before Suthering took the spot, he had them working on some inter-species crossover and it just went bad. The animals flipped out and reacted. Nobody saw it coming.”
Nobody? Sure, animals could be unpredictable, but… “Otis said your dad was an Early Pure, though.” Someone highly attuned to all creatures. “Wouldn’t he have been able to…to intercept the animal?”
Paige tilted her head at me. “I don’t know, but that’s definitely something I’m sure Wolf’s supposed to teach you.”
“I’m sorry for your loss, Paige.”
She reached out to pat my back and sling her arm around my shoulders. “Thank you.”
Silence claimed the rest of the walk and I hated every second of it. Such a somber topic, her father’s death. Such a frightening possibility, that even Pures could be maimed by animals thought to be under control.
“If he was an Early Pure…does that mean you’ll be a Pure too?” I already knew Flynn was, and an Early one like me. But it’d make me feel so much better if I could count on Paige to experience the same learning curve I was.
“I doubt it. Mom says his family’s power skipped generations. I’m figuring on being a Mid to Low Diluted, getting Mom’s powers instead.”
“Which are what?”
She grinned. “Expertise at Olde Earth. Translating the old texts. There’s a good reason Mom’s the head librarian.”
“Right up your alley, bookworm.”
“Don’t you know it.”
We came to the entrance to our dorms and headed to the second floor.
“Remember, don’t tell her I’ve been with Marcus. I think she’s been assuming I’m missing her texts and whatnot because I’m studying.”
I bet she was studying. Marcus, not texts. “Might want to shift your collar higher in that case.”
She whined a small groan and fought with her shirt to pull the fabric up. “Heck, I’ll button it all the way up.”
“Because that won’t make it obvious you’re hiding something.”
She smirked at me. “Coming from the princess of hiding everything, I guess I should take your word on that.”
Marcy and Ethel were already in our room when we arrived. It struck me as an act of violation, these two women letting themselves into the private sanctuary where Paige and I can relax and be comfortable. Marcy, well, she was always at the dorms, but she’d never had much reason to be inside my room. Ethel, she could be excused too. Kind of. Maybe. After all, this was her daughter’s room…
“Hey,” I said as a greeting since I’d entered the room first.
“How was your first day with him?” Marcy immediately asked after both women waved their greeting.
Him…Wolf? I chewed on the inside of my cheek. I bet they’d be alarmed that the jerk had tested me by ordering an attack. But I’d taken care of matters myself. Why tattle over something inconsequential? Because when it came down to it, I was the one who’d come out on top at that little “test.”
“Fun.” Seeing even a portion of the Menagerie was thrilling. “I think I’m really going to like being there.”
Marcy lolled her head back and then whipped it forward to face me. “I asked how it was with him. Not the place. Of course you’d fall in love with the Menagerie.”
“He was…blunt. But informative.”
Ethel’s sigh ended with a frown as Marcy raised her brows at the older woman.
“He wasn’t an ass?” she asked.
I choked on a laugh. “Well…”
Marcy groaned and sat forward to rest her elbows on her thighs. “Just…cut him some slack. It’s been a while since he’s had to work with someone, let alone supervise someone.”
“And that’s only half of the information you’ll need, Layla.” Ethel stood from her seat in my desk chair and gestured for Paige and me to enter the room more. “Please, sit. I know you girls have work to do, but this is the best way to begin our meetings.”
“Here?” I glanced around our room. It wasn’t a teeny cramped space like what Sabine and I had to share for a bedroom back i
n our trailer in Texas, but it wasn’t ideal for more than two people being seated.
“Here. Away from prying eyes and listening ears,” Marcy said. “Flynn will be joining us too, but not tonight.”
“In the light of recent incidents, Mr. Suthering has made it a priority to understand the extent of your powers and who you are, Layla. Wolf,” Ethel said and raised her arm and hand to gesture to the west, where the Menagerie would be, “is going to coach you how to use your powers.”
Yep, he told me.
“And I’m going to try to teach you and Flynn some background on your powers.”
I held back a smirk. “What, like those top-secret meetings everyone had during our freshman year? Those Wednesday night classes?”
Ethel cracked her knuckles and I cringed at the sound. “In a way, yes. What we’ll discuss is a watered-down version of those meetings. Specific to you.”
Paige huffed and rubbed her hands on her skirt-covered thighs. “That makes way more sense than learning about everybody else first.”
Are you sure about that? My abilities were nothing new for me. I’d tried to deny them before I came to the Academy, but now that I was here and had the freedom to accept myself for who I was, Early Pure and all, I was more concerned about what else existed in this elven world. Whether they’d be friend or foe.
Ethel shot a reprimanding look at Paige before she told me, “I’ve been researching you and your family, trying to understand what bloodlines you have.”
“Because the more we know,” she said with too serious of a face, “the more we can prepare you to stand up to the council.”
I crossed my arms. “Why?”
As Marcy headed to the door to exit, she said, “Because they’ll only want to exploit you.”
Chapter Fourteen
Wolf’s prediction that I would be spending more of my time at the Menagerie under his guidance came true. Or maybe he’d simply asked Suthering to make me more available. The next two weeks, I saw him every day for more than just a forty-minute chunk in the middle of the day. My classes were cut and shortened from my schedule, replaced with more reading and assignments to be done on my own—at night and the weekends. Good thing I was a dedicated student and had the initiative to keep up on my own. Felt more like college than high school.
Getting familiar with Wolf and his quirks wasn’t a hardship, but I was surprised at how much I almost missed my crowd from freshman year. Gone were the open-ended opportunities to study with Paige at the library or in the cafeteria. No more could I leisurely walk to our dorms with Lorcan and Flynn.
I would run, go to some classes, and work under Wolf at the Menagerie. Most of the people working within the cavern of animals were upperclassmen, at least moderately or very skilled upperclassmen. To be the only sophomore there, well, I felt small. Amateurish. Young.
The other faces I did see frequently were not completely welcome. Bateson strode down the halls sometimes, leading a small group of upperclassmen. Griswold also showed up in a rush to get somewhere deep within the maze of halls. Suthering had popped in a few times, typically when I was working with an animal. He and Wolf would stand back and speak in hushed tones. Glorian, however, was absent. I assumed Wolf steered clear of her at all costs, something I’d only gleaned from reading between the lines of what he’d say. The fact that Wolf seemed to only trust Suthering, out of all of the council, spoke volumes. He was aligned with the only man who’d so far looked out for me.
As much as I was molded into a workaholic-student-mentee, I was glad I didn’t suffer from a forced Flynn-cott. Okay, a Flynn-cott would mean I was boycotting him. It was more like he was separated from me by Suthering’s hand. So maybe it was more of a Flynn-bargo. Regardless of him going to work with Marcy every day in the greenhouse, I got to see him every morning on my—uh, our—run. He’d started joining me the day after we’d begun our mentorship arrangements. I wasn’t sure why he’d decided to join me, so two weeks after the fact, I finally blurted out the question.
“Why are you running with me?”
We were cooling down, jogging as we left the thicker part of the forest on my usual marked trail. When he didn’t answer, I thought he hadn’t heard me. Winter had come a bit early and we’d resorted to bringing warm headgear. His hat looked warm but not thick enough to muffle all sounds. “Flynn?”
“Because I miss you.”
I smiled into the collar of my hoodie. He missed me? He saw me every day. Despite the fact we were still close, a spreading warmth eased from inside out. He misses me?
“I miss being able to spend time with just you. I thought that when we’d gotten caught and Suthering set us up for this mentoring, that we’d be together. Like we had been.”
“Me too. I don’t get why they’re sticking you in the greenhouse.”
He slowed to a walk and I matched his speed. His breaths puffed in front of his shyly smiling face. “It’s, uh, pretty cool, actually.”
“You want to know what’s really cool? The Menagerie.” I gently smacked his upper arm. “You wouldn’t believe all the animals in there!”
“What does that guy have you doing?”
That guy. In the slips of time that we’d attempt conversation, usually at slower speeds during warmup and our cool-down walks back to the dorms, Flynn referred to Wolf as that guy. Like his name was too offensive to speak. If first impressions could linger, then Flynn’s initial time meeting Wolf wasn’t a fond memory. After all, my mentor hadn’t been charming or gentle with his words or attitude when he’d caught us trying to sneak into the Menagerie.
What did Wolf have me doing? Keeping me busy, that was for sure. I explained my duties. Grooming, training, feeding, bathing, exercising, and disciplining all kinds of animals. Mostly the dogs and cats, and I wondered if that was because he knew I’d worked in a shelter before coming to the Academy. Sometimes I helped with the horses that Otis leant to Wolf instead of keeping them in the stables. For a couple of days, I was in the reptile wing, tending to the feedings. Mostly, I tried to describe the true lessons Wolf was showing me.
How to pay attention to my moods, my thoughts, my energy. If it had been a conversation held in any other place, I would have scoffed and assumed Wolf was trying to channel an inner namaste-loving psychotherapist. Yet, the more he reminded me to “check myself” as I dealt with the animals, the more it made sense. Before the Academy, I knew of my connection to animals simply because it always happened. Now, being instructed on how to direct my connection to animals, the more I realized I had a lot of persuasive tricks to master. And I could. As I took stock of what kind of a vibe I put out, I could gauge how creatures would react to me.
Energy. It wasn’t just a term I’d learned in science classes. My energy, fueled by my thoughts, desires, moods, was a transient form that impacted animals.
“Same here,” Flynn said.
Marcy was emphasizing to Flynn how to control and be aware of his energy? In a huge stone and glass structure of plants?
“But there’s nothing in there!”
Flynn laughed once and broke eye contact, glancing away from me as we walked closer to the Green House.
Okay. From the couple of times I’d gone to the greenhouse in the summer, I knew that was false. Plants took up most of the space in the enormous greenhouse of many rooms and atriums, but there were some creatures. The horned butterflies we’d stumbled upon. A butterfly garden was in there, and some other rooms with more insects. They were a minority, though, in the plant building.
Suthering knew what Flynn could do. He’d invited him here because of his ease at calming a gorilla at a zoo. Then he’d seen surveillance feed of Flynn controlling horses. Flynn was a Teraine elf, with a wide range of Mammalian powers. And thank you, Ethel, for plugging all that jargon into my head. Why Suthering would waste Flynn’s time sticking him with Marcy and her plants made little sense.
“That’s not true.” Flynn stuck his hands in his hoodie pocket and shrugged. “Marcy’s
there.”
“Well…yeah.”
“She’s pretty cool.”
I frowned at the frost-laced path ahead of us. Marcy was cool. Nice. Seemingly on our side and not the rest of the council’s. He spent more time with her, just as I did with Wolf. Even though my guide seemed like he’d always have a stick up his behind and would never really comprehend the concept of patience and good manners, he was kind of, well, cool. He was like the badass older brother I’d never had. Sure, I was starting to look up to him. I’d begun to truly respect him and his intelligence the more he taught me how to wield my powers and check my energy.
So why did Flynn’s comment about Marcy rub me the wrong way? Because she was so pretty, a precious doll with a sassy woman trapped inside? Because she was older and Flynn might think too highly of her?
And why, why is this any of my concern? I should be happy for my friend, that he was enjoying his mentorship and learning valuable tricks. We’d both been isolated within ourselves, keeping our skills a secret. It was nice to finally have others to talk about it with.
A sneaking, itchy tingle spread up my spine as I rationalized my reaction to Flynn being okay with Suthering assigning him to the greenhouse with Marcy.
This wasn’t…
I can’t be jealous…
I didn’t have time to devote to playing what-if games and guessing at this boy’s interests. If he preferred spending time with Marcy in a building of stupid plants, then he could knock himself out.
I’ve got bigger things to worry about. But I will never forget that he can miss me when I’m still near.
Time passed over so many events, I should have felt rushed. The second and third quarterlies passed. Tests were taken. Paige and Marcus grew even steadier as a couple that I’d felt compelled to pass on Sabine’s condoms to her—which she blushed furiously at and insisted they weren’t that serious. Homework was turned in. Students celebrated their elven dates with a faster frequency. That winter and segue into spring held a host of elven dates, many of which I’d missed out on.
Discovery: Olde Earth Academy: Year Two Page 13