The Brave & The Broken: Gifted Fae Academy - Year Two

by Brittni Chenelle

  “Professor,” I called, “can someone change their path? I mean… as far as you know, has Mr. Tuberose ever been wrong about a prediction?”

  “Once,” he said, and without another word, he was gone.

  10

  Kaito

  As a perpetual failure, there was nothing more bizarre than being at a party thrown in my honor. I was used to everyone trying to take me down a notch, and all this positive attention left me feeling out of my element. Each person I met was eager to tell me how The Fallen movement had impacted them or their family. The owl charm that brushed my chest with each small movement reminded me that The Fallen murdered the Fae, but that’s not what anyone was talking about. They all focused on the redistributed wealth and the families who desperately needed it. While I sympathized with their plight, I’d been present during a Fallen attack. I watched a friend die and knew that if I had become Fae, the very people toasting my contribution would be first in line to toast my death.

  I’d already worked up a nice buzz when I caught a whiff of something fried coming from the banquet table. I made my way over to it, thankful for the quick break in socializing, and eyed the trays loaded with finger foods. On the far end of the table, a young girl no older than eight grabbed a handful of cake and shoved it directly into her mouth. I bit back a laugh, but she caught me. She licked her fingers and grinned through missing front teeth. “Did you try the cake?” she asked with wide eyes.

  “I was going to, but it seems like you beat me to it.”

  Her hair was sandy brown and her features were a little familiar, but I couldn’t place them.

  “We never could afford cake,” she said, licking each finger and smearing her face with frosting. “I didn’t know it would taste this good.”

  “If you eat too much, you’ll get sick,” I warned as I began to fill my plate with savory foods.

  “Are you kidding? I’m never eating anything else again.”

  “Well, would you like me to cut you a slice? Or...” I eyed her slimy hands, “get you a plate?”

  “No thanks. I think if I take handfuls the other people won’t want any. This way it’s all mine.”

  I nodded. “Good plan. But you know, since it’s my party, it’s kinda mine.”

  Her mouth dropped open and a little cake fell out. “Are you Kaito?”

  I smirked. “You don’t recognize me from the news?”

  She shrugged. “Uh uh. No one lets me watch news stuff. I’m only seven. I just came for cake.”

  “Well have at it, kiddo,” I said. “Before your parents see you over here.”

  “I’m here with my brother,” she said, pointing a frosted finger to the far side of the room. I followed it to Zane.

  “Ah. Well, that actually makes a lot of sense. What’s your name, kid?”

  “Wendy Blaque.”

  “I know your brother.”

  “Don’t tell him about the cake,” she whispered.

  Across the room an icy gaze caught my eye.

  “Why don’t you bring a handful of cake to him,” I said to the girl. “I’m sure he’d love it.”

  “Great idea!” she squeaked. I took the opening to make my way over to DT.

  The crowd parted to let me pass. At the back of the room stood The Fallen’s mastermind, his stark-white suit rolled up to his elbows, exposing his lethal arms and hands. DT’s eyes brightened when he saw me approaching. He smiled, his teeth almost unnaturally white. He held out his beer. “Kaito,” he said.

  I tapped it with mine. “My friends call me Kai, actually.”

  His eyebrows raised. “Friends, huh. You want to be my friend?”

  I shrugged. “Why not?”

  He sipped his beer thoughtfully, an impish glint in his icy blue eyes. “What do I have to do?”

  I suppressed a laugh. “Uh... for friendship? I don’t know, what do you got? Let’s hear your sales pitch.”

  He scratched the back of his neck, then pushed a handful of white hair out of his eyes. “I… don’t know what to say.”

  I shook my head. “Well, what are your skills?”

  “Um… I’m pretty good at baking.”

  There was no way to suppress the laughter this time. “A baker, huh? Can you make something with coconut? It’s my favorite.”

  He grinned. “Is that it?”

  “That’ll do it.” I patted his shoulder and hyper focused on not touching his skin. He seemed taken aback by the gesture. I couldn’t imagine many people risking touching him. He always seemed to have at least a few feet around him even in a crowded room. He was a wild card, each interaction a game of Russian roulette—more so because he was unpredictable and unreadable.

  But I liked the uncertainty and welcomed it as I awaited his response. His gaze turned on me as he said, “Kai then.”

  It was a strange move to offer DT my friendship. He seemed satisfied with letting me stay at an arm's length from his organization as long as I kept my end of the bargain. Not to mention he asked very little. But I felt oddly drawn to him, like we were two oppositely charged magnets. His sweetness masked the monster inside, while I fought to prove that I wasn’t the devil everyone thought.

  The music changed and I winced. It was the same song that Reina had dragged me into dancing to. It felt like a lifetime ago but the embarrassment still felt fresh. “What is it?” he asked.

  I smirked. “This song.”

  “Not good? I kinda like it.”

  “Last year someone slipped me an infused confection and… I did a striptease for my whole school.”

  DT slipped his phone out of his pocket. “Looking it up.”

  “Don’t you fucking dare. I’ll kill you.”

  He looked up from his phone, a smile beaming from his every feature.

  It was ridiculous, like threatening the grim reaper, and there was no denying the immense pleasure it gave him. He nodded. “I better not look it up then.” He smirked. “You’re not really what I expected.”

  I took a swig of my drink. “You either.” He raised an eyebrow.

  “I’ve been thinking you look a little young to be the leader of a movement.”

  He nodded. “As do you.” He tilted his head in appraisal. “You’re not afraid of me,” he said matter of factly.

  Well, he was dead wrong about that, but it was a comfort that he couldn’t read me. I shrugged. “Should I be? We’re friends.”

  His sly gaze was enough to guess what he’d do next. He held out his hand for me to shake.

  “You sure?” I asked. “I’m pretty powerful.”

  He chuckled. “Why not? We’re friends. I trust you.”

  But that wasn’t why. He wanted to know for sure if I trusted him. I wasn’t sure that I did, but I wanted to give him what no one but Reina ever gave me—the benefit of the doubt.

  The moment his hand met mine, my gift awoke and I tossed him into the air.

  11

  Reina

  All I needed was a chance. If a famous seer like Maxim Tuberose could be wrong even once, I was sure Miranda could be too. As I walked along the maroon carpet that ran through the office hallway, I was surprised to see it so deserted. The professors must’ve all been in the meeting, as they would decide the fate of the school. I expected that Maxim Tuberose would also be in attendance and I was fine with that; I wasn’t sure what I wanted to ask him, or if there was even any merit to his gift at all. To my dismay, the door beside the name plaque that read Professor Maxim Tuberose was ajar, and I could tell from the shuffle of objects that he was inside.

  I took a deep breath.

  “I can’t help you,” a weathered voice said from behind the cracked door, “but I fear you’re going to come in anyway.”

  I wasn’t certain he was talking to me or if someone else was inside, but a glimmer of light on the other side of the door compelled me to push it open. I stopped in the doorway. There were a thousand mirrors of every shape and size packed into the small room. Some had golden frames and looked o
ld, some were simplistic and new. Some hung from the ceiling and walls, but most were packed into the small space, leaving only a small path to a wide redwood desk that sat at the center of the room.

  On the desk was a single picture frame turned towards the maroon armchair. Sitting motionless in the center of the desk was a snow-white rabbit.

  The back of the room had windows that tossed natural light off each of the mirrors. Mr. Tuberose arranged a mirror by his desk then sat. If I was a seer non-believer before, I was now convinced that the whole lot of them were mental cases. I took a step in and my reflection multiplied through the room.

  At the center of the dizzying display was Maxim Tuberose. He was white-bearded, his face heavy with wrinkles, his gaze tired and light blue in color. I started when the rabbit moved toward him, nuzzling beneath his hands. “Uhm... nice rabbit,” I said.

  He glared at me. “Badgering an old man for answers because you’re unable to see the thoughts in your own head. Typical… so painfully typical.”

  “I’m sorry. Should I come back?”

  He stroked the back of the tiny white fluffball, whose nose twitched at his touch. I stood awkwardly without an answer, trying to catch a glimpse of his framed picture.

  He looked up vacantly and sighed. “Rampant blindness,” he muttered.

  “Look,” I said, “I’m not sure if I even believe in seers or whatever, but—”

  “I wonder, then, why you bothered to come.”

  I stared blankly. For an old guy who looked so much like Santa, he was awfully harsh. “Did I do something to upset you?”

  He straightened. “Not at all. I just find humanity to be a disappointment in general.” He tapped on the far side of the desk and the rabbit scampered to his other hand. “So many wasted opportunities.”

  “Professor Greene said you’re the whole reason I even ended up at GFA.”

  His white eyebrow shot up. “And how’s that going so far?”

  I bit my lip, wincing from the soreness. He had a point. The rabbit moved toward the picture frame, knocking it over. My eyes widened as I stared down at the picture of Miranda.

  “She’s my mentee,” he said. “She’s quite talented.”

  “Well, she made a mistake. She thinks I’m going to take Kai’s side.”

  He adjusted the picture, placing it back upright. “Are you?”

  “That’s why I’m here.”

  “You want me to tell you how you feel?”

  Well, it did sound stupid when he said it like that. “Of course not. I know it’s not true.”

  He laced his fingers together. “Wonderful. Another satisfied customer.”

  As expected, this was a total waste of time. “Can I at least hold your rabbit?”

  “No.”

  But his rabbit didn’t seem to share his opinion and hopped over to my side of the desk. I reached, just in time to catch him and shoot the professor a victorious look.

  I felt my anxiety lift. “He’s so soft,” I said, feeling the warmth of him in my hands. Suddenly having a rabbit around didn’t seem so ridiculous. I eyed the cramped, mirror-riddled space. “So, what’s with the mirrors?”

  “What do you mean?”

  I bit back a smile. “Nevermind. Professor… did you know about the attack on the school beforehand?”

  He reached for the rabbit and I regretfully handed him off, my fingers brushing his.

  He stared into the mirror and said, “No.” The mirrors lit with reflections of my purple glow. Liar. I held my breath as I waited for an explanation. How could he do nothing knowing that Quan would die?

  His expression grew somber. "Everyone always thinks they're one tragedy away from destruction. Our greatest fears never actualize until we're ready to face them—we just never seem to think we are."

  “So you… you just let him die?”

  “There’s a bigger picture that most people are blind to. We’re only able to see the current moment, our vision halted by negative events. But the darkness of tragedy gives way to the brightest light, the painful links in life’s chain the strongest. Just as every good is necessary, so is every evil. Each a precious piece in the design too complex for mortal souls to comprehend.”

  I swallowed a lump in my throat. “So you let him die for the greater good.”

  My thoughts raced, straining to make sense of it. But it was senseless. “I… I think you did an awful thing.”

  His eyes glowed blue, the blue refracting like a webbed beam off every mirror. I squinted through it. A moment later, his light faded. “Miranda was correct. You’re going to choose Kai.”

  I felt anger swell inside me, the day’s events corrupting my sense of rational thought. “Then I’ll take pleasure in proving you both wrong. I’m going to be the one to kill Kaito.”

  “Careful, that doesn’t sound much like Fae.”

  I seethed. “Actually, I think it does.”

  12

  Kaito

  As I lowered DT gently to the ground and his face glowed with delight, he looked almost like a divine entity. Or an excited child.

  “That was amazing,” he said. “I mean, I heard your gift was levitation, but that was insane.”

  “I thought you might like that.”

  He shook his head. “I just… I never felt anyone’s gift besides my own. It’s so different from the feeling of mine.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  Wendy, the little girl from the buffet table, tore through the crowd, Zane following closely behind.

  “My turn!” she screamed. “I want to fly.”

  Zane grimaced. “Is it okay, Kai?”

  I held my hands out and the little girl high-fived them, smearing my hands with frosting. I lifted her and the entire party stopped to watch. I’d never thought to make a kid levitate before and it was a shame. In the course of three minutes, she’d been an astronaut walking on the moon, a mermaid swimming in the ocean, and an angel jumping from cloud to cloud. It was impossible not to smile while watching her.

  I realized that I was actually enjoying myself. It was almost unsettling how easily I fit in here. There was no fight, nothing to prove. For the first time, I felt like I was enough. My joy shattered as my attention was drawn to a muted TV screen behind Wendy’s imaginary castle. I lowered her and turned my attention to it, where Oden stood speaking into a microphone. “Unmute this,” I said to DT.

  DT spun before standing on the balls of his feet, waving a hand to get someone’s attention, and gesturing to the screen. Oden’s voice shot into the room, and shortly after, the music died down.

  “He was just the kind of person that you knew you couldn’t trust. There was like… a darkness in him. I mean, the dude’s first day he challenged me to a fight. What kind of person does that?”

  “Oden,” the reporter said, “I thought you welcomed him as one of GFA’s Nobles.”

  “I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt. I mean… I knew he was bad news but I never could have guessed that he...” His voice caught. “...that Quan could…”

  I swallowed a lump of guilt and washed it down with beer. He wasn’t wrong. I did have darkness in me. Everyone did when pushed far enough. But I cared about Quan; I cared about all of them. That was the reason I was here, why I’d trashed my own reputation. Oden had been my friend once upon a time. And now… it hurt to see how quickly they all forgot I fought beside them that night. How easily they believed I had joined The Fallen.

  I almost didn’t notice that DT had turned back to me, reading my reaction. His cobalt eyes glistened as if wet. “You and I are not so different,” he said with a sigh. “They say that same stuff about me. Glad we got you out of there.”

  I nodded. “Thanks, man.” But all the air knocked from my lungs when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Reina flash onto the screen. My body flooded with panic, but I kept my gaze fiercely locked on DT. I wanted nothing more than to see Reina’s face, even just for a moment, even if she was only there to malign my character,
but the smallest glance would be dangerous. She was the secret I’d die to keep. I clenched my jaw and raised my beer to DT to toast Oden’s unforgiving speech as I hyper focused on the audio.

  “Reina, can you tell us about your friendship with Kaito?”

  “Leave me alone,” she spat.

  My heart stopped. Reina. DT glared. “I’m curious why you’d want to protect the school. They seem like rather nasty people.”

  Was he onto me? “They’re just brainwashed and sad that their friend died. They’ll eventually start thinking for themselves.”

  “Does that mean you’ve had a change of heart? You’re glad to be on this side?”

  “I’m honestly not sure.” I took a deep breath. Across the room, I saw Carter saunter into the party. Now that the news had put a damper on my evening and Carter arrived, I knew the party was over for me.

  “I’m going to head out,” I said.

  DT gestured to the screen once more and it muted; the music turned back on a moment later. “Thanks for coming. I’m a little surprised you made it.”

  I shrugged. “Thank you. I actually had a good time.”

  “I don’t mean any offense by this, but you fit right in. Why are you so apprehensive to join The Fallen?”

  I sucked in a sharp breath, my gaze dragging over to Carter who was quickly approaching.

  “I don’t like feeling manipulated. The whole time I was learning about what The Fallen stood for, I had Carter in my ear.”

  His mouth rose on one side. “Ah. Makes sense.”

  I shrugged. “Later.” I managed to slip out of the room without speaking to Carter, but at the expense of not being able to thank Zane for forcing me to attend. I was sure he’d stop by later anyway. Maybe DT would too. I wasn’t about to start offing Fae, but it was kind of nice to be around people who understood and appreciated me.

  I was almost optimistic as I retreated to my apartment and sunk into my bed, blissfully unaware of my mistake. Someone was about to die, and it was entirely my fault.