Victory: Year Four

by Amabel Daniels

  Just like before, the plants hardly helped. I couldn’t bind a form that could piece apart and reshape into something bigger.

  “Gerry, get someone from the aquarium.” Alwin must have been speaking into his phone. “Wolf what— Oh, yes. Yes. Someone Aquine in the formal gardens.”

  I bit my lip and tried harder, called to the roses to completely blanket the umibaza, to wrap vines around Flynn and pull him out of its grasp. Something.

  “Layla!” Flynn choked out. I looked up at his face twisted into a grimace as he grappled with the umibaza’s arm around his neck.

  “I…lo—” He grunted for air as the umibaza wrapped another arm around him.

  No. He wasn’t giving me last words. Not that I wasn’t thrilled—despite the adrenaline rush of facing a monster and the fear of Flynn being wounded. Love? We hadn’t gotten to the L word yet. There was plenty of time to let our relationship mature to those kinds of permanent sentiments. Yeah, I wanted to hear him say it. But not like this. Not now—

  The vines ceased spiraling up. I frowned and realized I’d truly lost my focus. Dammit. I couldn’t fail him.

  If my thoughts were wandering and rambling at his cut-off confession, then I wasn’t as scared as I had been in the past when encountering this oozy sea monster that could be delivered from the sky.

  “Come on, Layla.”

  I was terrified because I knew this thing could be defeated. If I could just hold it off long enough before it suffocated him, Wolf would come with the oil-tipped arrows.

  Arthur! Knightley! Come! “Someone freaking help me.”

  I wasn’t weak.

  But plants weren’t going to restrain this beast.

  I couldn’t climb up there and knee it in the nuts.

  I could try to use some help from my friends, next.

  With barks ripping the air as they bounded toward us, I took a breath of relief that the grogs arrived. They jumped up and dove at the umibaza’s legs and did nothing more than sail through the wall of water that made up its body.

  Overhead, a screeching war call sounded and two chrajanas flew at the monster like kamikazes. They too shot right through the watery figure.

  “You’re not winning yet.” I sucked in a deep breath through my nose and stepped up to balance on the stone edge of the fountain pool.

  “Let him go!” I yelled, and the neala between my thumb and finger blared such a bright teal light, it almost hurt my eyes.

  It erupted in a thunderous gurgle and swiped at me with a tentacle arm. Talons just missed my shoulder, near where I still bore the scars of a similar struggle. I slipped and teetered, correcting my stance before I fell off. Instead, I over-calculated and pitched toward it. My left arm shot out first, the elbow flinging into the slimy, rubbery flesh. My fingers still clutched the stone and I face-planted into its body.

  As soon as I made impact, it stilled.

  Froze.

  Like I’d glued to its flesh, we were paralyzed together.

  Sounds ceased, but maybe that was just because the rush of blood in my ears was too fierce.

  Then, I felt it.

  Between my fingers, heat grew. A piercing, gripping fire built from the stone and my hand began to shake. I wasn’t trembling, but the neala was vibrating.

  A flood of power like a tsunami shoved at me, at the stone, pushing me back in my step. The umibaza roared a head-splitting groan and then the water lit up the same hue as what came from the neala. Like it was activating a bomb.

  Before I could blink, the water lit up in a firework of green and blue. With a sonic-force wave of air, the umibaza exploded into a fine mist. The implosion shot up into the air and sprayed a verdant cloud of fog around me. A swirling whistle screamed on the wind, churning the mist into a tornado. It spun and wound around so fast, my hair covered and then flew from my eyes in stinging whips of brown.

  I struggled to stay standing and refused to let go of the neala in my hand. The spiral of greenish haze dove toward the stone and the gem absorbed the current of what was once the umibaza.

  Cloudy skies returned. The quiet of spring sounded again. I blinked and faced forward. Tinkling notes of water cascaded from Poseidon’s fish. Flynn sat slumped in the water, panting, clutching the bottom of the staff the god had set to the ground.

  I heaved for breaths and surveyed our surroundings. Other than some flower blossoms that had been beheaded from the wind, the only evidence that something otherworldly had happened were our classmates’ wide eyes, gaping mouths, and tousled hair.

  Past the class stood Suthering and Wolf. They stared at me and Flynn in the fountain. Speechless. Slack-jawed and bewildered.

  Wolf’s arm was limp, like he’d dropped the crossbow that was clearly not needed. He flinched and then dunked the flame-tipped arrow into a puddle at his feet to extinguish it.

  A splash came from behind me and I startled. Turning to see what had caused the movement of water, I held my breath.

  Arthur had jumped back into the water and was swimming toward me, a happy smile stretching his mouth.

  “Flynn?”

  We both turned to the instructor as he spoke cautiously.

  “Are you…okay?” Alwin slid his glasses up his nose. His short, graying hair stuck up like he’d been electrified.

  Flynn coughed and cleared his throat. Rubbing at his neck, he nodded. Then he faced me. After staring at me for a long moment as we caught our breath, he huffed. “Any more secrets you’ve been hiding?”

  I barked a laugh. Then another. Hysterical amusement followed the adrenaline rush and I sat in the pool of clear water. “I hope not.”

  Alwin stepped up to the edge of the fountain and leaned his forearm to the stone. “You just couldn’t resist ending your schooling here without a bang, huh?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Alwin had referred to the end of the school year. Technically, he was right. More than half of my final grades had already been posted before his final was administered in the formal gardens. The rest of them were due to follow, and for all intents and purposes, the year was done. I’d gotten an email about the graduation ceremony agenda, a grand production that was supposed to be held in the Main Hall’s primary auditorium. I hadn’t planned to go. What was the point? My diploma was all that mattered. I wanted summer to begin.

  First, though, I had to survive my final assessment. This morning, I thought it would be just me and Suthering in his office, like all the other times. His cozy space of dark browns where Bella would nap on his desk. A comfortable chat where I’d feel free to ask him questions about my power or about my family. He’d share some stories about his travels and unusual ancients he’d seen or worked with.

  This time was unlike any other. I wasn’t even in his office anymore. For the last two hours, I’d been in his office, back out in the hallway where I sat currently, then over to Ethel’s office, back to Suthering’s, and even into Glorian’s workspace.

  We hadn’t even begun any kind of an assessment or talked about my future. Since I destroyed the umibaza, I’d been dragged through a collective interrogation.

  Suffice it to say, none of the faculty here had ever heard of or witnessed a neala blowing up and absorbing any kind of a being—ancient or not. I gathered that it was an unexpected event by Suthering’s and Wolf’s expression of WTH.

  Flynn was checked out by a medic—and declared fine—and after that, we sat here or there. Answering question after question, many of them the same but worded slightly different. I didn’t know why I had to repeat the story so many times. Repetition wouldn’t change it. The most that they concluded was that the neala opposed Aquine powers and turned into a token or was calling the umibaza to it—and disposing of it.

  I picked it up from my necklace again and eyed it in the warm lighting of the hallway. It swirled magenta and then a rich mossy-brown. Ever-changing, it never remained the same color no matter when I peered at it.

  Are you in there? I closed one eye, as though trying to
see if I could spot something inside.

  “I don’t think it’s going to come out and get you,” Flynn said.

  I smiled and slumped my head on his shoulder. We sat on the floor, waiting to be dismissed while Glorian, Suthering, Marcy, Wolf, Ethel, Ethel’s assistant, the manager from the aquarium, and a Diluted elven marine biologist conferred in Suthering’s office.

  “No. I doubt it.” Flynn was right. The umibaza wasn’t going to launch out of my neala. It had exploded into a fine dust and lit bright green—just like the mold had done when Nevis drew it from my body. I was sure the umibaza was destroyed. How, exactly, I wasn’t sure. And by the muffled sounds of arguing in the headmaster’s office, it seemed they weren’t sure either.

  “What a day,” he said on a sigh.

  A day and now we were already into the evening. If this had been a normal day, Flynn and I would have been heading out to our picnic where I’d tell him my decision. The danger and crazy excitement of today only strengthened my resolve to stick to my decision.

  “Hey, did you have your assessment meeting yet?”

  He nodded. “You can’t graduate until they sign off on you one last time…”

  “When?”

  “This morning, before the Botany final.”

  “With Suthering?”

  “No. Marcy. Since she’s a councilmember now, she thought she’d do the honors. You were supposed to have yours with him after Alwin’s final, right?”

  I laughed. “Yeah.”

  He fell silent and I took his hand between mine.

  “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

  His voice was so quiet and sad, I hated that I’d put him through the unknowing and wondering. I hadn’t done it to hurt him. I simply needed to decide and it wasn’t a hasty choice to make.

  “I’m—”

  “Why are you sitting out here like that?”

  I leaned forward to look past Flynn at who had called out. Footsteps sounded from down the hall, heralding Nevis’s approach.

  “Um…” I glanced at Suthering’s closed office door. “She’s in there…”

  He lifted and dropped one shoulder as he strode toward us. “I imagined she would be. You still have your neala?”

  I nodded, blinking at him. He was willingly bringing himself closer to Glorian? He wasn’t going to tiptoe?

  Flynn squeezed my hand and I shook my head a little. Right. Introductions.

  “Nevis—” I frowned. Should I call him uncle? “Uh, Uncle Nevis—”

  “I like that. A title.” He grinned.

  “This is Flynn. Flynn, this is my uncle. Nevis Mason.”

  Flynn pushed to stand. Once he was on his feet, the guys shook hands.

  “Heard a lot about you,” Nevis said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do.”

  That sounded an awful lot like he was staying. First, I had to get over the confusion that he was here. Again. And apparently not interested in hiding from Glorian.

  “Nice to meet you,” Flynn said.

  “What brings you here?” I asked, standing as well.

  Nevis sighed and then stuck his hands in the pockets of his khakis. The movement drew my attention to the rest of his attire. Before, he’d been casually dressed—which made sense if he was riding on the back of a gigantic harpy eagle for personal transport. Now, he sported clean, unwrinkled clothes, a button-down shirt beneath a gray sports jacket. Almost…professional.

  “Accepting my new job.”

  I felt my jaw drop. “Here?”

  He nodded. “Gerry’s been trying to get me to come back for years. I didn’t have any reason to. Now…” He pulled one hand out and gestured toward me. “I do.”

  “Me?”

  “You and Sabine. I have…family again.”

  Such a simple yet powerful reason.

  “But she’s leaving,” Flynn said, bitterness and sadness teasing his tone.

  Nevis quirked a brow at me. “Copying my style?” He laughed once. “Are you leaving?” He held up his hand and briefly closed his eyes for a moment. “Never mind. That’s none of my business. You are free to do whatever suits your soul. I’m impressed you’ve stayed so far. Your mom…couldn’t. And I’ll never be able to forgive myself for that. If I had helped her accept her elven powers, could’ve been there for her when she doubted herself, perhaps she wouldn’t have fled. It’s part of the reason why I’ve felt the need to return. Who knows how many other elves struggle with their powers, especially Pures.”

  I raised my hand. “Especially when the headmistress hates you.”

  “She’ll be…handled.”

  Someone would have control over her? How? Nevis? No way!

  “How?” Flynn asked. “Is she being…fired?”

  Nevis smirked. “No. She, the Andeas family in general, have too many ties. Government, schools, PR… They’ve held a lot of clout for many years. They are too involved with keeping things manageable for elves in the real world. We can’t simply remove her from her position.”

  “Then what?” I asked.

  “They’ve voted to demote her. She can’t challenge the vote.”

  I pointed to the closed door. “Did she know a vote was being held?”

  “Gerry was to tell her at the end of the year. So not yet. But with you exposing a new and volatile facet of your neala, he probably had to tell her earlier than intended.”

  “Why?” Flynn asked.

  “Because she’ll want it,” Nevis and I said in unison.

  Nevis nodded. “She’ll claim it’s for safety that Layla surrender the neala to the Academy.”

  “Not happening.” I closed my fist around it. This wasn’t a taste of power becoming addictive. It was for safety purposes that I keep it from her greedy hands.

  “Has this ever happened when you still had it?”

  “No. But then again, I’ve never had to battle an umibaza either.”

  I gave him an open-mouthed frown. “Never?” I faced four of those things now!

  He shook his head. “They’re typically random, except for when they’ve marked you.”

  “How do they do that?” Flynn asked. He shared a worried glance with me before facing Nevis again.

  “By scar. If they’ve tried to get you once, and they’ve wounded you, they’ll try until they succeed.”

  I flapped my arms out and to my thighs. “That’s just awesome.”

  “Which is why Gerry, I, and your other friends are not going to let Glorian or anyone try to take that thing from you.” He brushed back some of the hair that had fallen back over his face. “Only…I hope you’ll help us figure out that specific property. How it worked the way it did.”

  I shrugged. I was a fan of science. As long as they didn’t try to take it away from me, that was cool.

  “What’s your new position here?” Flynn asked, changing the subject and slanting his head.

  “I’ve been voted in as a councilmember. Gerry wants to eventually hand over the headmaster role to me, but I’m not there just yet.” He shrugged. “I’ll…see how one year back goes, first.”

  I closed the distance between us and hugged him. “Welcome back.”

  He wrapped one arm around me and patted my back. “Thank you.”

  “You’re saying that as if you’re staying…” Flynn said.

  I backed up from Nevis but he kept me under his arm. Niece and uncle faced him. I bit my lower lip from grinning wide. “I kind of am…”

  “Meaning…” Flynn started to smile.

  Nevis released me and I reached for Flynn’s hand. “I’m going to enroll in an affiliate program. Vet tech.”

  “So you’re not staying here?” he asked, dropping his hand from taking mine.

  “Not on this campus. But with Olde Earth.”

  Nevis said, “Students in affiliate programs still visit and study here, though. Sometimes. It varies, and that’s part of the allure of such a setup.”

  I took Flynn’s hand and hope returned when he squeeze
d back. The uncertainty and, well, hurt in his eyes wounded me. This didn’t have to be so awful. He’d said we’d figure it out, no matter what. Was he going back on his word so soon?

  “In our first year, I was so excited to come here to escape Coltin. Then being here, with Glorian, the whole council, Stu…” I rolled my hand to gesture at the enormity of the last four years. “I felt just as stuck here, even more so because I didn’t matter, my power did. If I were to go to vet school, I’d be trapped to the same location again—for at least six years.”

  I stepped closer and he softened his frown. “I haven’t even seen anything yet. I haven’t relocated and traveled like you have. I want to…see it all. And the affiliate program seems like the best compromise. Taking a step out of here yet still being involved.”

  “So, you’re not just taking off,” he reaffirmed.

  I shook my head. “How could I?” That was the sticking point. If I’d wanted to truly forge my own path, heck, even apply to a last-resort or inferior college for veterinary medicine, I could have. But I’d still be a Pure elf. And working with animals, and having to hide an important part of me…that seemed to me another limitation to my future. A happy one, at least.

  He whooshed out a deep exhale and then smiled, like he’d been holding his breath for this moment. “Thank God.” I giggled as he pulled me in for a lung-squishing hug. “I mean, I’m going to miss you, but at least you won’t be…far. You can visit. And we’ll stay in touch.”

  I kissed his cheek and repeated his own words to him. “We’ll make it work.”

  His arms wrapped tighter around me and I squeaked. As he released me a little, maybe thinking I might need oxygen, another squeak sounded.

  Suthering’s door opened.

  Glorian marched out, her pencil skirt and jacket hardly even seeming to bend with her fast exit. She stilled, rearing back at the sight of us.

  First, she stared pure hatred toward Nevis. He simply sighed and kept his hands in his pockets. Then, she slid her glare to me. I chanced a smile. Okay. Maybe it was a smirk. I didn’t care if she’d just been demoted. It was about time for some comeuppance.