by Cara Wylde
I cocked an eyebrow and popped my hip. I knew my demeanor screamed sarcasm, but I didn’t care by that point. He was pushing all my buttons.
“If you were so concerned I didn’t have a pixie, then why did you wait for over a year to come see me?”
There it was again. The discomfort caused by my direct question made him avert his gaze and study the steel door with interest, as if he was suddenly wondering whether it was solid enough to keep possible intruders out.
“Nevermind,” I sighed.
“We will have this conversation one day, I promise,” he said in a low, thoughtful voice. “And then, you will understand.”
“Can’t wait.”
The blade of his scythe couldn’t have found a better moment to start glowing eerily. The faded red light coming off it danced on the walls and bathed the steel doors of the vaults in bloody shades of scarlet.
He sighed. “Duty calls. I must leave you now, but I will do my best to see you at dinner.” He looked at the pixie. “Corri, do me a favor and take her shopping. Help her choose clothes, accessories, bags… anything she wants.” He winked at me. “Promise me you won’t go easy on that new card of yours. Make me proud, Mila Morningstar.”
With that, he swung the scythe in front of him and was gone in a cloud of black smoke. The smoke dissipated, and the spot where he’d been a moment before was empty.
“How did he…”
Celine looked at me, confused. “He teleported. He is needed for a reaping, of course. I’m frankly surprised he found the time to stop by. Mr. Morningstar is the busiest Violent Reaper I know. Now come on, darling. Let’s get out of this hell hole.” She headed out of the room and toward the stone bridge, constantly chatting over her shoulder. “I mean, it’s not a hell hole. Don’t tell anyone I said that. I love my job, you see,” she giggled mischievously. “But it’s quite damp and stuffy down here, don’t you think? It makes my hair frizzy.”
CHAPTER TEN
Corri. My arm was starting to ache, which meant I had to find her a better place to sit or get used to the incessant flapping of her wings. We were in front of the bank now, and Morningstar’s car was still there. I figured he was probably going to come get it later. Or send his pixie to do it. For sure, he had to have a pixie. Right? Since he was such a huge promoter of tiny, winged slaves…
“What am I supposed to do with you?” I asked. I started walking toward the boulevard. Shopping or no shopping, there was no point in lingering about.
“What do you mean, Mistress? I am here to help you with anything you might need. Anything.”
“Yeah. Don’t call me Mistress. How about we start with that? My name is Mila. Call me Mila.”
“I couldn’t possibly…”
“You can, and you will.”
“But I can’t!” She was beginning to panic. Her big, almond eyes grew wide with fear, her chin started trembling, and her tiny hands went to sink into her short brown hair and pull at the roots mercilessly.
“Okay, okay! Oh my God, okay. But why?”
She let out a long sigh of relief. “Because they’ll penalize me if they find out.”
“Who will?”
“The Supernatural Council, of course. I mean, not the Council itself, but the department that oversees my kind.”
“Hm.” I didn’t know what to say. There was a department that oversaw pixie slavery. I’d have to meditate on that later and see how I felt about it. “Wait. Do you, like, get paid for this job?”
She looked up at me like I was the silliest person in the world. After a moment’s thought, she giggled. “You’re funny, Mistress.”
Well, that answers my question.
“For what it’s worth, Corri, I promise I will treat you well. In fact, I will never ask anything of you. I’ve managed on my own so far, so here’s my proposition: let’s be friends.” For some reason, I felt like I couldn’t convince Morningstar to return her. And if I did, what would become of her? A pixie who’d been returned by her Mistress. It couldn’t have ended well. The last thing I wanted was to get this cute, tiny creature in trouble.
The effect of my words was the opposite of what I expected. She turned all panicky and agitated again.
“No, no, no! But you have to ask for things. I am here to help you! I have magic, you see?” She snapped her fingers, and a cab stopped right in front of me as I was about to cross the street. Its wheels screeched, and I yelped. “Time for shopping!”
“I want to go back to the Academy,” I protested. The driver opened the door and patiently waited for me to get in. What was I supposed to do now? I got in.
“Where should it be, Miss?” He flashed me a smile, and his two elongated canines made me think: Vampire!
“Uh… err… Grim Reaper Academy?”
Corri jumped off my arm, flapped her wings twice, and landed in the cup holder. “To the mall!” she declared.
“What? No. I want to go back. I have classes.”
“But your father said…”
“I don’t care what he said.”
“But you need new clothes, Mistress.” She crossed her tiny arms over her flat chest and gave me a once-over. “I can help you find your style.”
“I don’t need a style!”
She pointed her finger at me. “I beg to differ.” She turned to the vampire driver, and he nodded. We were off to the mall. Apparently, I had no say in it. If Morningstar had decided I needed new clothes, then I needed new clothes. And Corri was going to follow his orders over mine. After all, I was her Mistress, but he’d acquired her for me. Wasn’t this just fun?
We got off at the mall, and I paid the driver with my brand-new card. It felt strange… Spending someone else’s money. Money I hadn’t earned, money my mother hadn’t given me. My father had. But not the father I’d always known. At least, with Stepan Lazarov I knew where I stood. Valentine Morningstar was an enigma.
We went through the sliding doors, and that was when I realized this was not the mall Klaus and I had gone to when he’d bought me the dress for Yule Ball. In fact, I’d had no idea this mall existed, and after one year at the Academy and a bunch of trips down to Salem, I had come to know the town quite well. As we entered the wide gallery and I got a better look at the stores and people, I realized this was a mall for supernaturals. Sexy succubi sold lingerie, a vampire girl was doing a makeup demonstration at Sephora, a demon and a mage girl were behind the counter at Guess, and harpies flew around selling drinks and pretzels.
What. In the actual. Fuck. Oh my God! This is insane! I couldn’t help the smile that kept growing and growing on my face. It all made sense. Of course it did! The world of the supernaturals was just a smaller entity within the bigger entity that was the world of humans. They had their own places, their own banks, their own malls, their own… everything!
“I’m thinking… eclectic,” Corri yappity-yapped as we moved from one store to another and checked the brands. Her little voice was starting to get on my nerves, to be honest, but it wasn’t like she could do anything about it. It was fitted to her unique stature. “With your body shape, you can pull anything off. We can go for a frilly, feminine skirt, some leather boots, and T-shirt that looks casual but not quite, and maybe a leather jacket? One of the fancy ones, no studs and zippers. What do you think?”
I shrugged. “It’s not like I’m paying.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Okay, then maybe a pair of classy dress pants, a sexy corset, and a blazer.”
“Whatever you think is best. Let’s get this over it, so I can catch up with work. Missing a whole day of school is no joke.”
She completely ignored me. “Blue eyes, blue hair… maybe sapphires are too much. We must find something to compliment this whole…” she flew in front of my face and waved her hands around, “... this whole thing you have going on. So much blue. And you’re sure you don’t want to go back to your natural color? I advise it.”
“I don’t care
what you advise.” I shooed her away, and she flappity-flapped her wings. “It stays blue.”
“But you could be such a gorgeous blonde!” She sighed. “Alas. How about rubies? Yes, I think we can do rubies. A bit of contrast with your pale skin and blue… everything.” She scrunched up her nose.
Great! No one liked my blue hair. Not even my own personal pixie slave!
“Come on, Mistress, let’s try on some outfits!” She grabbed me by a lock of hair and pulled me toward the nearest clothes store. “Find a dressing room, I’ll bring you the stuff.”
“How will you bring me anything? You’re so tiny!”
She stuck her pointy nose in the air and huffed, offended. “Magic.”
Four hours of trying on clothes, shoes, perfumes, and jewelry, and I was exhausted. All I wanted was to eat something, anything, even a pretzel from one of those harpies, and then crash in my bed. I didn’t even want GC or Paz. But Corri wasn’t going to have it. She magically made our bags float behind us as we looked for a lingerie store. She found one, scrunched up her silly nose, and declared it had to be Victoria’s Secret or nothing.
“Go big or go home.”
“Home. Please, let’s go home.”
“No, Mistress. We’re going big.” She flew around my chest, rubbing her chin in deep thought. “What cup are you?”
“Frankly, I have no idea.”
She pulled at my blouse and stuck her head in my cleavage.
“What the hell?!”
“Just as I thought. You’re wearing the wrong size!” She was so angry with me, as if wearing the wrong bra was a direct offense to her very existence. “You’re lucky you have me, you know?”
“The luckiest girl alive,” I mumbled, displeased.
Victoria’s Secret it was! And then Sephora, and then the salon for a fresh dye and an improvement to my boring shade of blue, as she put it. By the time I was back at the Academy, it was dinner time, I was dead tired, and I didn’t want to deal with anything and anyone. I just wanted to be left alone. Since I had a pixie now, I figured I could just go up to my room, take a quick shower, and ask Corri to bring me some food. I didn’t want to treat her like a servant, but she kept insisting she was there to help me and grant me all my wishes – within reason, of course – and I thought asking her politely to bring me dinner didn’t make me the bad guy who took advantage of an unfair system that had decided pixies were creatures to be sold into slavery.
“We’ve made great progress today,” she chirped. She was sitting on my right shoulder now. It was the new place I’d assigned to her. “I’m proud of ourselves, Mistress. Starting this very instant…” She reconsidered. “Okay, you want to lock yourself up in your room tonight. Fine. Starting tomorrow, you will be the hottest, sexiest, most fashionably-dressed student at the Academy.”
“I wear a uniform,” I reminded her.
“In class. Yes, whatever. Those things look awful! But after class, the possibilities are endless.” She eyed the paper bags floating behind us. “Literally. Endless.” She’d made me buy so many things, and all expensive as fuck too, that I couldn’t believe my credit card hadn’t been rejected yet.
Most of the students were at dinner already, so we’d managed to sneak in. I walked past an MDC girl downstairs, and then two VDC guys in the north tower. They all looked at me with wide, curious eyes. Well, not at me, actually, but at Corri. She waved at them cheerfully.
“Poor things,” she cooed. “They don’t have pixies of their own. How do they even manage?”
“Just like I managed for nineteen years.”
She looked at me with big, compassionate, doe eyes. Sometimes, her eyes looked way too big for her tiny doll face. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. But I’m here now, and I will make it all better.”
I shook my head and didn’t say a thing. Arguing with her was pointless. I unlocked my door and switched on the light as I entered my room. What the hell?! Where are my things? It was empty. I slammed the door shut – which left the floating bags outside – and barged into the bathroom, which was empty of my toiletries and my laundry basket, too, checked the mini fridge – empty! – the wardrobe – super empty! – and the bed. It was all gone.
“What the fuck? I don’t need this right now!”
Corri rubbed her pointy chin. “I believe you got the wrong room, Mistress.”
“It’s not the wrong room. It’s my room! I’ve been living here since year one!”
“Do you want me to find your room?”
I rubbed my aching temples. “Do what you will, I don’t care. I just want to wash, eat, and sleep. Is that too much to ask for? I’ll just go to Paz’s or GC’s.”
“No need! I found it.” She flew off my shoulder. “Follow me.”
I bumped into the floating bags as I rushed out of the dorm, cursed under my breath, and followed Corri toward the corridor of the elite. We went past Pazuzu’s room, then GC’s. She didn’t stop. She guided me to the spiral staircase, then up another flight of stairs. I’d never been there before, and I knew other students had no business there either, since there were no dorms in the attic. At least, I’d always thought it was an attic.
“Here it is.” She pointed at a tall oak door that was beautifully embellished with golden leaf models, then snapped her fingers and made a key appear out of thin air. I hurried to catch it. “Your new room. I hear the maids brought all your stuff here while you were out.”
“This can’t be,” I whispered. I looked around and couldn’t believe my eyes. Why had I never thought of going up the last flight of stairs to explore what I’d believed was the attic of the north tower? Oh, because I was always too busy running from my bullies and hiding in my room. That made sense.
The corridor here was well-lit, the floor was covered in a soft, red and gold carpet, and there were paintings on the walls, depicting all kinds of mythical beasts. A silvery unicorn here, a mighty sphinx there, three mermaids dancing in the depths of the ocean… There was only one door I could see so far, and it was mine. Allegedly. I looked at the key in my hand and shrugged. Might as well give it a try.
The door opened to reveal what looked… not like a room, not like an apartment, but like a bloody palace! Okay, like one floor of a palace. I stepped inside, and Corri followed me with the floating bags in tow. With a flick of her wrist, she finally set them down on the floor.
“Oh my God! Corri, this can’t be my room.”
“I believe it is. You know, I might be here with you, but my ears are super sensitive. I can hear conversations happening at the opposite end of the building. Believe me, this is your new room. Two maids are just talking about it. Headmaster Colin asked them to prepare it for you this morning.”
“And the key?”
“I grabbed it from one of the maids.” She wiggled her short fingers at me, beaming. “Magic.”
“You’re one hell of a pickpocket.”
“You said it, not me.”
I walked around the room, touching the armchairs, the long, velvety sofa, nudging the big floor pillows with my toe. The living room was huge. There was an open space kitchen that was way bigger than what GC and Paz had, two bathrooms, one bedroom with a humongous four-poster, and an office that also served as a personal library. The shelves were already stocked with various books. Seriously?! Who thought I needed that much space? Headmaster Colin? No. Valentine Morningstar. I knew he was behind this.
I walked to the coffee table, where a red envelope was waiting for me. Inside, a simple paper with one line written on it.
You deserve better than my old room.
Dad
Dad. He’d signed himself Dad. Wasn’t it just lovely?
“You wanted to take a shower?” Corri flappity-flapped her hyperactive wings into the master bathroom. “How about a hot bath?”
I moaned at the thought of hot water enveloping me whole, the scented bubbles soothing my sore muscles. I followed her into the b
athroom but couldn’t get father than the doorframe. I stood there, shocked and awed at the same time. Marble from floor to ceiling. The tub was round and large, positioned right in the middle of the room. It was so tall that it was accessible via three stone steps. The taps seemed to be made of pure gold, which was so over the top that I didn’t even know what to think, let alone how to react. There were two sinks on one of the walls, with huge mirrors around them. In fact, that wall was covered in mirrors almost entirely. There was a fancy toilet, too, along with a bidet, but frankly, if I was going to live here, I was pretty sure I wanted to use the other bathroom for my other needs. This one was just not made for peeing and pooping. Hell no!
“So, should I run you a bath? Or… do you want dinner first?” Corri was flying around, all nervous and fidgety. If too much time passed without me asking her to do something, she started panicking.
“I can run my own bath,” I whispered, still in a daze. All my bath products, bath salts, and essential oils were there. “Go see what’s for dinner.”
“Oh, but I can’t possibly let you…” She flapped her wings faster and harder, flying around the tub like a nervy, buzzy nuisance. If she was going to stick around, then oh my God, she needed to chill! “Here, I’ll help.” She launched her tiny body at the two gold taps and opened them both. The hot and cold water hit the bottom of the tub with a splashing sound. She looked at the water with sheer dread in her eyes. “This will take forever! It won’t do! I can…”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “Corri, it’s fine! I don’t care. Please go and see what’s for dinner. I’ll just call my mom while the tub fills.”
She nodded quickly and rushed out of the bathroom. I sat down on the edge of the tub and pulled out my phone. Since I’d visited my parents before the beginning of the school year, I’d stayed in touch with my mom via texts and short calls. After the day I’d had, I needed to talk to someone normal, someone who could tether me back down to reality. She answered on the second ring. Five minutes into the conversation, and I found myself telling her about classes, my friends, and how everything was starting to look up for me. The urge to tell her the truth was killing me. She couldn’t offer me the comfort I needed if she didn’t know about Morningstar, about my fat bank account and even fatter vault, about Corri and how my life had changed in a matter of hours. If not minutes. But I couldn’t tell her.