The Terrible Gift (Empath Found Book 1)

by Colette Rhodes

  My strange, blissful stasis lasted for what felt like minutes but could have been hours. By the time my head cleared enough for me to convince my feet to move, the sky had darkened and the temperature had dropped. Wrapping my arms tightly around my waist, I hurried back to my cabin wondering what the hell had just happened to me.

  ◆◆◆

  I waited until there were no stragglers around the stairs leading up to my cabin and dashed up as quickly and quietly as possible, sneaking in the door and breathing a sigh of relief when no knock followed. Marlen had been hanging around the stairs and rope bridges near my cabin over the past couple of days, presumably waiting for me. My relief was short-lived. Walking further into the room, I found my beautiful wooden wardrobe defiled in burn marks that spelled:

  GO HOME

  Heart pounding, I walked backward until I was leaning against the front door. Crap. What do I do now? I guess I should tell someone…? I’d spent my whole life avoiding authority figures, it felt weird to ask for help now.

  At the same time, someone sneaking in here was a gross violation of my privacy and I didn’t want to stay in this room a second longer.

  The decision was made for me with a loud knock right next to where my head was resting against the door. My breath caught, fear coursing through my veins. Get it together, Fi. It's not like whoever left this message was going to come back and politely knock on my door.

  Shaking myself out of my terrified stupor, I focused on the visitor's emotions rather than my own. Nothing alarming.

  “Ffion?” Gwyneira called through the wood, knocking again. “I was hoping I could speak to you.”

  I took a deep breath, keeping my head as clear as possible so I could focus on her intentions. Just in case.

  Pulling the door open, I found that Gwyneira wasn’t alone. A tall, distinguished man with salt and pepper hair and deep frown lines stood at her side. His hands were clasped behind his back, the picture of a gentleman. His strongest emotion was mild curiosity, nothing too concerning.

  “Ffion, this is my mate, Mawrth,” Gwyneira told me. “We were just leaving the campus for the evening and I thought I would drop by. I wanted to request you attend another mentoring session tomorrow after your last class.”

  I nodded and made an affirmative noise in the back of my throat. My eyes flicked to the rope bridge behind Gwyneira and Mawrth, though I didn’t know what I was looking for. An escape route, perhaps?

  “May we come in, Ffion?” Gwyneira asked, her gaze narrowed on my face. I hesitated for a second but I couldn’t really think of a reasonable excuse to turn the dean away.

  “Of course,” I murmured, stepping back and pulling the door open wider for them to come in.

  Gwyneira strode purposefully into the cabin while Mawrth hung back in the doorway. She immediately spotted the message on the wardrobe.

  “Ffion, when did this appear?”

  “I found it a couple of minutes before you knocked on the door. It wasn’t there this morning and I’ve been out all day.”

  “Were you planning on mentioning it to me?” Gwyneira asked, her voice far lighter than her emotions.

  “Um, probably? I was just thinking about what I should do,” I answered honestly, wishing for the millionth time that I could just outright lie. Gwyneira and Mawrth’s concern was swirling around me which wasn’t helping; I really needed a dose of happiness to perk me up.

  “Mawrth,” Gwyneira said, turning to her mate, “please fetch Bryn. Hopefully, there is enough of a signature here for him to track their magic. I will stay with Ffion. I do not wish to leave her alone right now.”

  My stomach dropped. I could hardly say no, but I also had no desire to see Bryn. For all I know, he could have been the one who left the message, he knew where I was from, which cabin was mine, and he loathed me.

  It hadn’t escaped my notice that the message was burned into my wardrobe. The only two people who knew the secret of my gift happened to have fire affinities.

  As we waited for Bryn, I contemplated whether the message related to the weird sensation that rooted me to the ground surrounded by those slabs of marble? Was it some kind of a magical ruse to give someone time to get into my room and do this? That didn’t feel right somehow, but I wasn’t going to be heading back to those weird rocks any time soon.

  After a few minutes, a magnetic tug in my chest let me know that Bryn was nearby. He stormed into the room with a face like thunder, his anger pulsing through my veins stronger than I’d ever felt, but it didn’t seem like it was directed at me. Bryn didn’t acknowledge me while he moved around the wardrobe, running his hands through the air as if feeling for magic. It left a beautiful trail of glittering gold floating in his wake. It was hypnotizing.

  Bryn continued throughout the whole cabin, and I could feel his frustration growing. “The only signature here is hers,” he growled, still not looking at me. “But there is a… disturbance of some kind. Whoever did this must have masked themselves somehow, perhaps an illusionist amulet.” I felt my eyebrows scrunching, amulets? I didn’t realize magic artifacts were in play too. More things to look out for.

  “Natural crystals can be imbued with a small amount of someone’s gifted ability. Someone with an illusionist gift could transfer it to a crystal and sell it, for example. It is somewhat frowned upon to sell one’s magic, but it is fairly commonplace.” Bryn snorted quietly at Gwyneira’s explanation and I guessed she was downplaying the whole selling magic thing.

  It didn’t sound so bad to me. Why shouldn’t others benefit from useful magic like Marlen’s healing gift if he was willing to share it? If I had a gift worth sharing, I wouldn’t be averse to selling it, but I'd always been poor. It was becoming increasingly evident that the fae at the Academy were massive elitists.

  As Gwyneira and Mawrth quietly discussed the possibilities between themselves, Bryn finally deigned to make eye contact, walking up until he was standing just a few inches in front of me.

  “You okay, scout?”

  I felt his concern swirling in my gut, very much directed at me, as well as the familiar heavy weight of Bryn’s resentment. I again envied humans their ability to lie. He may be acting civil now but I still had no interest in baring my soul to Bryn.

  “Not yet.” I chuckled weakly. “Thank you for trying to track them,” I added awkwardly.

  “Gwyneira asked me to,” Bryn grumbled. I could almost see his walls coming back up. Confirming with Gwyneira that he was no longer needed, he turned on his heel and left without another word.

  “Ffion, dear, I think it would be best if we moved you to another cabin. There is one at the other end of this cluster, currently unoccupied. Let us gather your things and move you there tonight. Please be assured that we will continue to investigate this. I am so sorry this happened.”

  I packed my things silently and followed Gwyneira to my new cabin which was nearly a carbon copy of the last one. She left me to rest, but my mind was churning through tonight’s events on warp speed. Between the weird moment with the rocks and the threatening message, I doubted I’d be getting any sleep tonight.

  I sat cross-legged on my bed and attempted to study for my upcoming earth magic quiz. I’m not sure how much information I was actually retaining but anything was better than tossing and turning in bed, being left with my own thoughts. A soft knock on the door nearly startled me out of my skin.

  “Fi? It’s Marlen…” he trailed off and I waited to see if he’d say anything else. How had he even found my new room?

  “Maybe you’re asleep. I know you’ve been avoiding me, foxglove. I get it. I just heard what happened tonight and wanted to check that you were doing okay.”

  The barrier I had been putting up between Marlen and I cracked a little at hearing the sadness in his voice and feeling his genuine care and concern. I crossed the room and opened the door, wishing I was wearing a bit more than a plain sage linen shift and matching kimono-style robe.

  “Do you want to come in?”
I asked tiredly.

  “Gods yes,” he answered, already reverting back to his usual playful self.

  I rolled my eyes affectionately and let him in. We sat down at the two-person table and I was grateful for the physical barrier between us. Right now I was vulnerable and in the mood to tempt fate.

  “Bryn told me about the message in your room. That’s fucked up, foxglove. Any ideas who wrote it? Made any enemies in the past couple of weeks?”

  “Bryn told you?” My eyebrows shot up. Bryn and Marlen weren’t friendly as far as I knew. “Honestly, I thought it might have been him who wrote it. I don’t think anyone hates me more than he does.”

  Marlen snorted. “Bryn’s an asshole, but he’d never do that to you. Why do you think he stormed over to my cabin in a huff? He was pissed I hadn’t been looking out for you.”

  Awkward.

  “I don’t expect you or anyone to look out for me Marlen, I’ve been looking out for myself my whole life. I’m sorry that he said that to you, that was totally out of order.”

  “It really wasn’t,” Marlen gave me a small smile. “If I was officially your suitor, then I would absolutely be responsible for looking out for you, and it would be my honor to do it. And I’d like nothing more. I know you’re new to all of this, Fi, but I promise you there’s no rush. We can keep things friendly, get to know one another.”

  I was finding it really hard to stick to my guns when Marlen was right there in front of me, looking all rumpled and delicious, smelling like fresh pine and heaven. “Just friends,” I said cautiously.

  “Absolutely! Whatever I can do to be there for you, I want to do it.” His eagerness brushed up against my skin like an overexcited puppy and I cracked a small smile.

  Marlen insisted on making tea for us and we sat at the table talking about nice, light topics for an hour. I had been so keyed up before he arrived, I thought I’d be up all night. A cup of tea and Marlen’s safe, relaxing presence had my eyelids drooping.

  I walked Marlen to the door, and he opened his arms to give me a hug.

  “Friends hug,” he said with a playful wink.

  I didn’t fight the mating pull as it drew me into his arms, burying my face in the crook of his neck and inhaling his soothing, woodsy scent. He was doing the same in my hair, arms wrapped tightly around my back as if he would never let me go.

  I looked up into his eyes, and the pull between us was so pure and magnetic, I could barely have stopped myself if I wanted to. I leaned forward and gently pressed my lips to his — aware that friends absolutely did not kiss each other — and I was giving Marlen all kinds of mixed signals right now.

  I was ready and very willing to take this kiss to the next level but Marlen’s lips stayed determinedly soft against me, tasting me gently with his tongue as his hands moved up to cup my face. It was sweet and romantic and a huge freaking tease but I appreciated him not letting me carried away 56 minutes after I said I only wanted to be his friend.

  “Don’t overthink it. It doesn’t have to happen again until you’re ready,” he murmured softly in my ear as he pulled away, smiling at me with so much adoration my breath caught in my throat.

  He gently stroked my face with his thumbs, gazing at me like I was something precious instead of the total imposter I felt like. “I’ll wait for you, foxglove. Sleep well.”

  ◆◆◆

  The next couple of days went smoothly. I went back to sitting with Marlen, Leigh and Briallen at mealtimes, and they politely didn’t bring up the fact that I’d been avoiding them like the plague for the past week.

  I hadn’t forgotten about the message on my wardrobe, but without any leads to go on, I’d pushed it to the back of my mind so I could focus on mastering my magic. It felt like a screw you to whoever had left the message — I was here to stay because I had magic to learn. I wasn’t going to be scared away.

  My bubble of peace popped when I went to leave my cabin for breakfast one morning and noticed a piece of paper that must have been slipped under the door.

  GO HOME was written above a sketch of a woman with a mass of curly hair just like mine, curled up in the fetal position in a barred cage. My hands trembled as I stared at it. Not only did the messenger know where my new cabin was, but they’d also been right outside as I’d been sleeping and vulnerable.

  Was it a student? How easy is it for someone outside the Academy to get on campus? There were male students on guard duty 24 hours a day, it seemed unlikely that someone could sneak in twice without being noticed. I really didn’t want to believe it was Bryn leaving me these messages, but a student seemed like the most likely suspect.

  Gwyneira was the only other person who knew. Surely she wouldn’t sell me out? She was the one who had warned me if word got out about my empath abilities, there would be people who would try to keep me captive and use my magic for their own gain.

  And then there was the picture. Was it a threat or a warning? Go home or be imprisoned? Or go home to avoid being imprisoned?

  There were many reasons I hated my empath abilities, but they had given me good instincts about people and their intentions. Things were different in Avalon though, there was other magic at play. This was a whole new game and I didn’t know all the rules.

  For the first time, I ignored the instincts that told me that Bryn and Gwyneira were trustworthy and decided not to mention the note to either of them. I hadn’t grown up in foster care only to come out of it and rely on other people as an adult. I was the only person who truly had my best interests at heart.

  Pulling myself together, I hid the note in my satchel. Out of sight, out of mind. Taking several deep breaths, I headed straight for class, skipping breakfast so Marlen wouldn’t see through my fragile facade. I wasn’t going to let whoever was sending me these messages get to me. This was the first time in my life I felt like I’d belonged somewhere. No one would take it away from me.

  Fi

  Having avoided Marlen all day, I was looking forward to seeing him at dinner in a couple of hours. I went back to my cabin to shower and had a mini-heart attack when I saw yet another note slid under my door. I picked it up, heart in my throat, then breathed a sigh of relief when it was Gwyneira asking me to go to her cabin for another mentoring session. I didn't know how I felt about Gwyneira yet but at least it wasn’t another drawing of me in a cage.

  I made my way to her cabin, already uncomfortable with the secret I was keeping. My gut told me she was trustworthy and that she would definitely want to know about the note, but she was also a powerful, 400-year-old fae. Who knew what she was really capable of doing? Maybe she had one of those freaky amulet things? Or maybe one of her three mates knew about my abilities? I chewed on my lower lip and talked myself into keeping quiet for the millionth time since I’d started down the route to her cabin.

  “Ffion,” she smiled at me warmly. “Come in, let us have tea. Today is an important day, you know, your two-week trial run is at an end.”

  With everything that had happened in the past few days, I had completely forgotten that this milestone was coming up. It didn’t really matter. After one week of seeing all the cool things I could do with air magic and eating three square meals a day, I was convinced that staying in Avalon was the right call.

  I still really missed meat though. If I ever got my fae ass back to Albion, I planned to eat my body weight in fried chicken and beef burritos.

  “I’m staying,” I announced. “I’m really enjoying learning about my magic. I feel more... myself here than I ever did in Albion.”

  “Understandable. Your diet and environment here are much more conducive to your needs as a fae. Avalon will always be a much more comfortable place for you to reside.” She smiled kindly.

  “Now you are officially a student, I will be able to ensure you receive a small stipend that all students get during their studies. I am sure you would appreciate the opportunity to add to your wardrobe if nothing else,” Gwyneira said as she passed me a small leather pouch that ji
ngled with coins. “You’ll be able to pick your stipend every Monday at the administration building.”

  “Oh! That’s cool. I didn’t know the stipend was a thing. Are there shops here? I’ve never seen one.” The idea of shopping lifted me out of my funk. I had gotten accustomed to all the linen and wool in my wardrobe, but I could definitely use a few brighter colors.

  “There are market towns around an hour’s carriage ride or a short griffin flight. In a few weeks, the Avalon Fair will be held on a field within walking distance of the campus. Merchants travel from all over the realm, it is a two-week event, and many fae look forward to it. Myself included,” she said with a wink. Sometimes it was easy to forget she was 400-freaking-years old.

  “Now, unfortunately, we must turn our attention to a less pleasant subject matter — extracting magic to create amulets. There is nothing wrong with choosing to imbue crystals with your magic, but those with rare gifts are at risk of their magic being taken against their will.” My face fell. It had been a nice break from my funk while it lasted.

  “I wish I did not have to tell you about this,” Gwyneira said softly, giving me an apologetic look. “Hunting others for their magic and stealing it for themselves is the worst of the fae.”

  “How exactly do they steal magic?” I asked with dread, not entirely sure I wanted to hear the answer.

  “Blood. Crystals can be imbued with blood, creating an amulet that temporarily allows someone to use that fae’s gift. Some fae choose to imbue the crystals themselves and sell the amulets. Unfortunately, those with rare gifts are more likely to be hunted and kept captive so their blood can be drained regularly.”

  I was pretty confident the blood had already drained from my face. It was the first time I’d really given any thought to what would happen if I’d been captured. The goal was to just never be caught in the first place.