Victory: Year Four

by Amabel Daniels

  “About what?” Paige asked.

  “Well, mostly about Griswold being unaccounted for.”

  Sabine nodded. “Me too. We all do. When we weren’t having luck finding Stu at his campsites, Wolf called Suthering and asked if we could go after Griswold instead.”

  “How come you didn’t do that?” Paige asked.

  “Oh…” Sabine waved dismissively. “He didn’t want us ‘kids’ going after a madman.”

  I scratched at the back of my neck. I was due for a cut. There was long hair and then there was a dead carcass of hotness draping over your shoulders. “Isn’t Stu kind of a madman as well?” And weren’t we close enough to adults to be counted as them?

  “Well, yeah. But he’s more like a free agent. He was working for Bateson, and then Griswold…” Sabine shrugged. “Suthering said Wolf could go after Griswold another time if his employers didn’t find him first. If you ask me, he seems to think whoever wanted the mold results might be mad they didn’t get their answers. And if they were mad enough…maybe they’d take that failure up with Griswold.”

  It all sounded so…grisly.

  I snorted at my own pun. Grisly Griswold.

  “What I’m worried about is Aura,” Sabine said. She looked at me now. Paige nodded.

  “She’s playing the innocent, I-didn’t-know-any-better act with Glorian, that’s for sure.” I crossed my arms and slumped back against the chair. “And she’s definitely trying to worm her way into good graces by buddying up with Ren…”

  “Our cousin.” Sabine said it with a grimace. “God. I can’t picture him as a relative.”

  I didn’t want to.

  “If she’s getting cozy with Ren,” Sabine said, “that means Flynn won’t have to put up with her or worry about having to pay attention to her.”

  I nodded. And it was something I looked forward to. With one day back, I could tell my mood for this year was going to be one of wanting to be done. The desire to graduate and get out of the Academy’s drama was only going to grow. While I was here though, I could at least have the freedom to date Flynn.

  If he still wants me. Sure, we’d texted nonstop over break, but what if absence didn’t always make the heart grow fonder?

  I’d invited him to join us for dinner tonight in Sabine’s room, and she’d pretended to not get excited that Flynn being there meant Lorcan would be too. Both boys turned us down, though. Flynn said he’d already had plans to chat about something with Wolf at the Menagerie, so I had to wait until tomorrow to catch up with him.

  What was one more day, anyway?

  “Now that’s a good one.” Sabine reclined onto her bed. “You’ll have a boyfriend when I won’t.”

  “What about Lor?” Paige teased.

  “Don’t even.” Sabine growled. “Don’t even go there. He drives me insane.”

  I shared a raised-brow glance with Paige and she could hardly hold in her giggles.

  “And I won’t be the only one. What’s going on with Marcus?”

  Paige shrugged and found the carpet particularly interesting. When she wouldn’t meet my gaze and silence spanned, Sabine spoke up. “Word is he hooked up with some sophomore over break. Someone his family knew.”

  Paige flicked a hand. “It’s not a big deal.”

  If she’d been crushing on the boy for years in a row, it had to be the biggest of deals. I’d guessed things might be cooling between them, since she didn’t text about him nonstop over summer, but maybe it was more of a freezer burn than a chill.

  “Well, you’ll be too busy for boys this year anyway,” I said as brightly as I could, hoping to snap her out of a sad funk.

  Chapter Nine

  Even though I’d seen Flynn in class yesterday, this would be the first time seeing him in private. Or relative privacy— Knightley likely wouldn’t mind if I saw my first crush. Boyfriend?

  Is he my boyfriend?

  We’d “declared” our…commitment to each other last year, but Aura stood in the way of us being able to act on it other than in stolen moments alone at the Menagerie. He’d seen me off before break, and it couldn’t have just been normal, old friendship that had him so concerned about me. Yeah, he was my buddy. But so was Paige. Yet, he had been the one Suthering had to warn away from me so Nevis could cure me.

  Then again, not for the first time, I wondered if Flynn was only so wrapped up in my rescue because it was indirectly his fault that I’d needed a savior. I’d endangered myself in the act of saving him, so perhaps a guilt trip fueled his relationship with me.

  Knightley yipped at the door and I rolled my eyes. I stood from tying my running shoes—a gift partly from the boy who had me confused—and sighed. “Yeah, yeah.”

  This was the first morning run of my last year here. Nothing too sentimental about that. What had me flustered was the fact Flynn would be downstairs waiting for me. It would’ve helped if I could calm the butterflies in my stomach—but how could I when I wasn’t sure where Flynn really stood with me?

  I had to face him one way or another, and as I dashed down the steps, my mini-sized grog at my heels, I realized I might have gone home over break to delay the inevitable.

  Because if he’s changed his mind about me…

  I wasn’t sure how to handle that.

  I pushed open the foyer door and smiled when I saw him stretching his quad. It didn’t matter that I was confused—about him, about figuring out what a boy thought about me, about how to tell him what he meant to me, preferably after I could manage a way to articulate that…

  He grinned and lowered his foot. In a flash, he ran to me and gathered me in a fierce hug.

  Immediately, Knightley growled.

  Flynn must have directed his energy to the grog, telling my new pet that he wasn’t a threat. I was too excited to be in his arms again to concentrate. Being embraced by the one and only Flynn Madsen was a unique and all-consuming warmth I’d never want to give up.

  “Pick up a stray?” he asked as he reared back, keeping me in his arms but away enough so he could eye the grog.

  “That sums it up.”

  He brought his gaze back to me, likely mentally telling the creature to calm down. “God, I missed you.” Again, he hauled me in for a tight hug. Giggles, uncharacteristic of me, slipped out at his enthusiasm.

  “We texted every day.” And called on others.

  “But we haven’t been able to do this.” His arms squeezed even tighter and my heart raced faster. With his hold, he’d ended up picking me off my feet.

  So he got buffer and taller…

  Smiling like a fool, I dragged in a deep breath of the piney scent that belonged to him. I snaked my arms closer around his neck and returned his hug the best I could. “Missed you too.”

  He let me down and gave me a shy, smirkish smile. “Really?”

  Dear Lord. Flynn, vulnerable? This wasn’t the first time he’d been less-than-confident around me. I didn’t want it to get to my head so I playfully swatted at his shoulder and nodded toward the path we’d always used for runs. “Of course.” Despite my constant reassurances that I’d needed to go home for break for a chance to relax, it seemed he’d really thought my decision was some way of avoiding him.

  “So, the grog?” he asked as we began our run.

  “His name is Knightley.”

  He shook his head and I couldn’t help but notice how much longer his dark brown hair was now. Maybe he was trying for a Wolf look? It wasn’t shaggy, though, and it fit him in a rugged, punkish way.

  “Layla?”

  I blinked as I fully faced forward yet again. I’d been glancing at him every other breath, but I hadn’t been listening at all.

  His laugh was deeper. How could I have not noticed that over the phone? Or maybe it was just the overwhelming excitement of being near him again. “I asked where he came from. Home?”

  Happy for the neutral ground of discussing Knightley, I hoped it’d help abate the awkward, internal ramble of observations about Flynn. I
refuse to entertain the idea I could be ga-ga.

  “I’m glad you found him then,” he said after my recounting of my trip to Creek View.

  “Imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t.”

  He didn’t reply right away.

  “No one would have seen him. He would have suffered even more.” I glanced at the terrier-sized ancient dog and hated the mere idea of him being alone and injured out there.

  “Makes you wonder what else might be out there.”

  I nodded. “I’ve seen some ancients. Before I came here. But back then, I was convinced I was insane—or everyone else tried to tell me I was.”

  “What’d you see? Do you remember?”

  “Not much. We never traveled and Coltin’s a small dink-hole in the middle of nowhere. If any ancient species were to straggle their way there, it’d be a long journey and not a worthwhile destination.” I described the fleeting glimpses I’d had over the years, spotting unicorns, horn-headed chipmunks, freakish chickens… And of course, the umibaza in that watering hole. I didn’t need to mention that one—it was too tender of a topic for him.

  “What about you?”

  He shrugged. “Same. And some more. Mostly rodents. Odd birds. There were less in the bigger cities, but sometimes my foster families would do road trips and such, so I saw more out and about. Not many, compared to normal animals, but they’re out there.”

  I recalled all the places Flynn had lived before Suthering found him to bring him to the Academy. He’d hopped around a lot, over state and country borders. “No matter where you were, there was always something?”

  “Yep. I doubt ancient species in the wild care about geographic jurisdiction.”

  Smartass.

  It got me thinking, though, about what else was out there. It was so easy to assume most ancient species were here, on campus, cared for in the Menagerie. Yet, the longmas had gone off to assist another of their kind in Brazil, when the rainforests were on fire. Nevis rode a monster harpy eagle—surely they were all over the world. The unknown of a secret kingdom of life was pretty thrilling to consider.

  We ran in silence for a while and then he asked, “Are you going to keep practicing your martial arts stuff?”

  I almost smiled. How could I? Hazel was back in Texas, and I was here.

  “I asked Wolf about how I could train. That’s what I wanted to see him for last night.”

  “You?”

  He grunted. “What does that mean?”

  “Nothing. I just… Well, why?”

  “Because it’s not a bad idea. I know you haven’t forgotten about the test we foiled in Mooresboro. And Sabine told us about you and Stu fighting… If I hadn’t been knocked out, I would’ve fought him.”

  “For me?” I tried to keep the snark out of my voice.

  “No…” He drawled it out, like he’d anticipated I’d take that statement the wrong way.

  And if he predicted I wouldn’t like his words, why did he say them that way to begin with?

  “Next to you. With you. At your side. I’m looking at it this way. If I hadn’t been knocked out, and I’d been able to help you, what good would I have done?”

  I didn’t reply, unsure where he was going.

  “I’m proud of the street smarts I have, but I’m no fighter.”

  “That’s not a bad thing.”

  “But I’d like to be confident that I can hold my own.”

  I couldn’t argue that. My eagerness for Hazel to train me was because of the same concept. I’d loathed how weak I was, and now, I had a little more faith in myself.

  “Besides, watching you do that arm-flinging and twisting thing with Ren yesterday was kinda badass.”

  “Call me Xena.” I tried to roar around my fast breaths.

  He laughed, tugging on my sleeve to slow me down. We’d reached our cool-down area. Already? I didn’t want to end my solo time with Flynn yet. Today was a hands-on day, a full one with classes and lessons in the Menagerie. Fewer chances for us to hang out.

  “So, what did Wolf say?”

  I wasn’t surprised Flynn thought to ask him. The manager of the Menagerie had attempted to show us some basic defense concepts back at the end of sophomore year, when he worried we’d be facing trouble on a tracking exercise. And even if he hadn’t, he was one of the few men we trusted at Olde Earth. It didn’t hurt that the guy was built and dangerous-looking anyway.

  “He’d be glad to. Of course, Lorcan wants in on it too.”

  “Then sign me up.” I hadn’t thought up a plan to continue practicing what Hazel had started, but I’d figured I could repeat the moves she’d shown me when I had downtime.

  “He said he’d talk with Suthering about our schedules. I guess Mr. Souza’s partner is an instructor who’d just lost his job in Tennessee. He’s just moved to campus and he might be able to really train us.”

  “Mr. Souza, as in Latin class Mr. Souza?”

  He nodded.

  “Train us like…in a gym class?”

  “Kind of. Wolf said they used to have all students take a couple levels of defense and martial arts.”

  The dorms loomed ahead, the sunrise already fully shining on the tall, stony walls, thawing out the rock. I slowed to a walk and wiped my forehead off. “Used to?”

  “Suthering wanted it in the curriculum and Glorian stopped it.”

  I raised my brows and pursed my lips. No surprise there. If it wasn’t something that would “advance” elves and their oh-so-special gifts of powers, then she wouldn’t see a purpose for it.

  “It’ll be nice to get away from her, won’t it?”

  Flynn bumped his shoulder to mine and asked, “Glorian?”

  “Yeah. She tries to control…everything.”

  Now he shrugged. “She’s never really done anything directly to me.” He reached for the hem of his t-shirt and yanked it off.

  Wh-oa. I’d only seen Flynn once without a shirt—by accident. This time… I strained my eyes trying to stare at him while not turning my head.

  “Ow!” I bent over and rubbed my knee from where I’d walked into a tree trunk.

  “You okay?” he asked, a teasing smile on his lips while he wiped sweat from his neck with his shirt.

  “Uh-huh.”

  Holy…hotness. He wasn’t that muscular last year. And tan. And—

  He cleared his throat and I narrowed my eyes, returning my focus to the path back to the dorms.

  “I’m not surprised.”

  I whipped around to face him. “Cocky much?”

  He reached out one of those manly-not-so-much-a-teenager’s arms toward me and looped me into a hug. It—we—were sweaty, but I’d never say no to a Flynn hug. We walked side by side and he explained, “I meant, I’m not surprised you think she’s controlling. You’re her niece. Who has lots of powers her son doesn’t. And that whole jealousy thing over your real dad… It makes sense she’d be extra…”

  “Bitchy?”

  “I was going to say demanding with you.”

  I nodded. That was a much nicer way to phrase it. And Flynn was no jerk.

  “Do you plan to? Get away from here?” he asked. He stopped walking and with his arm still around my shoulders, I was roped into doubling back and landing in another hug. I set my hands on his chest and could feel his heart racing.

  Skin to skin? With a boy? My heart was torpedoing even faster.

  “Do you want to get away from Olde Earth?” he asked, quieter.

  “Well, it’s inevitable, isn’t it? We’ll graduate this year. And then…”

  I couldn’t tell him I’d filled out the early applications to those colleges. Not when he was staring at me with such a gripping intensity. I’d mentioned which institutions I was considering, telling him the pros and cons I was debating between their programs. The way he eyed me now, though… I could tell he wouldn’t want to hear of me acting on leaving.

  “But some people stay for college. And look at Wolf and Marcy. They came back to wo
rk here,” he said.

  I’d considered doing something like that too, trying to be hired as a vet for the Menagerie. If I did that, though, what about the Knightleys out there? The ancient who had no one in a whole world of unseeing and unknowing humans?

  “Is that what you want to do?”

  My heart ached at the notion. Flynn staying here, and me taking off for vet school?

  Being apart from Flynn for the two months of summer break was doable. We’d texted and called. I’d known we’d see each other again for the start of classes—albeit my tardy arrival to campus.

  But now that we were seniors, soon to be adults, I’d imagined we’d be able to figure out how to actually be a couple. I knew nothing about how to be a girlfriend, but if I wanted to try out that role, I wanted to with him, with a steep learning curve, of course.

  Considering a separation, though? It hadn’t fit into my head. In Coltin, I’d been so certain of filling out the forms and declaring my desire to be a vet school candidate. I hadn’t given an ounce of thought to Flynn or what that might mean for us.

  If there even is an us.

  After graduation…

  I took in every detail of his face so close to mine, like committing him to memory, suddenly afraid he might not always be here to stare at and to wait for one of those mischievous smiles.

  Would I be saying goodbye to him after this year? I swallowed past the lump of dread that thought raised.

  After graduation, what would Flynn do? Or where would he go? In a week, when he would turn eighteen, his foster family would officially be free of their responsibility over him—a family he hadn’t seen since he’d come to Olde Earth. He had no identifiable home.

  Except, I bet, here. The Academy had become his home and I was willing to put my savings on his desire to stay here.

  “I don’t know,” he finally said after a heavy moment of silence, like he’d been staring at me and trying to dig into my brain for my thoughts. He and I were so often on the same page, the same idea, it felt strange to know he might not have the same goals as me. “I’ve been thinking about it.”

  I stepped out of his hug and lowered my arms. I couldn’t stand being so close to him with the threat of being so far from him in the future. It was a turbulent toss of emotions: loving his touch and the happiness he always lit in me, versus the gaping hole of depressive fear he’d be gone.