Chapter 4

Amoment ago, the amethyst dragon had been a fledgling coming out of her shell.

Now, she was a bossy faerie giving me more questions than answers.

Solstice nibbled behind my ear, occasionally preening the loose strands of my hair just like she used to when she had been a fledgling.

Are you okay? I thought at her paired with an emotion of my worry.

Solstice didn’t seem very concerned and that ramped up my anxiety even more. What kind of spell had this queen worked on her?

A wave of peace washed over me as Solstice keened and then nestled against my neck for a nap, her tail locking around me to keep her steady while she rested.

An image of Violet flashed into my mind, one of her transforming into dragon form before converting back to a faerie with wings. Then another image flashed of Lily doing the same thing.

She was trying to tell me that Violet was familiar, but I sent her back an image of another dragon shifter female who had wronged us. This didn’t mean she was safe.

Solstice huffed against my neck and pushed another wave of emotion, this one of sated hunger, quenched thirst, and soothed wounds.

Being in this form was healing, somehow. Solstice appreciated it.

And now Solstice trusted her for helping her renew her strength, but that didn’t mean I did. It didn’t mean we were safe.

I frowned, then followed Kai and Violet into the tower.

“Did you pick up your schedule yet? I could give you a tour,” Kai said—not to me, but to Violet.

She gave him a friendly smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “My sisters used to attend this Academy, so I’m quite familiar with it,” she said casually as she took the lead. “The treatment room was this way, wasn’t it?” she asked, then turned the corner without waiting for an answer and ventured into a room three doors down as if to prove her point.

Her sisters? Was she spinning a story, or did she mean the other queens?

I couldn’t ask because I had to struggle to keep up, and so did Kai.

Kai seemed deflated when we entered an area with beds and magical pools that glittered with the clearest water I’d ever seen. It sparkled from the sunlight pouring in from the windows, but some of its shine seemed to come from within itself.

Two faeries were in the room, both with little flying squirrels on their shoulders. They hadn’t noticed us yet as they flitted around, arguing about something to do with toadstools while one wielded a spoon and the other rolled her eyes.

The squirrels seemed to notice us first. The animals chirped happily at Solstice, making her open one eye to check out the source of the noise, before she shut it again.

“Illy, Tilly, this is Vivienne,” Kai began, trying to introduce me before Violet cut in.

“She’s a new student,” she said, smiling, “and I’m afraid she suffered a bump to the head,” Violet added before ushering me toward a bed.

Kai frowned, but didn’t say anything else. If Violet had known the way, I wasn’t sure what he had been doing with us in the first place other than to flirt with the purple-haired beauty.

Or, maybe new students were just as interesting here as they were at Dragonrider Academy.

Illy and Tilly must have been twin sisters, because they looked eerily alike. Except one had pink hair and the other had blue, maybe to help others differentiate them better.

“Oh, poor dear!” the blue-haired one said, fussing over me while the other gathered up supplies.

I raised a brow at her tray as she added strange items.

A mushroom rolled around in its own wooden cup.

A leaf with white powder in it curled around the softly glowing substance.

And to top it off, the blue-haired faerie plucked a pretty teacup and dunked it into the sparkly water, then added it to the set. Her squirrel bounded from her shoulder to grab a spoon from the other side of the room before returning it to her.

“Thank you,” she said as her eyes lit up and her lips tilted into an easy smile. “This will fix you right up,” the faerie with blue curls said as she flitted her translucent wings, gliding over to me.

Kai cleared his throat. “Well, I’ll let you ladies get to work. I have fencing practice. Can’t be late or the Maestro will dock me for floral points again.”

I glanced at him, having perked up at the mention of fencing. As many questions as I had about floral points, the mention of a blade took precedence.

So, there are weapons in this place, after all?

Illy and Tilly had their backs to him and the pink-haired one waved him off. “Yes, yes. You have the most floral points in the Academy as a third-year, we know.”

Violent smirked while the other faerie covered her laughter with her dainty hand.

“Can first-years take fencing?” I asked, making him pause halfway out the door.

He blinked at me a few times and a look I couldn’t place crossed his face. It was gone far too quickly for me to analyze, and then he burst out laughing a bit louder than necessary. “Never mind first-years. You, a girl? Take fencing? Now I know you hit your head enough to rattle around that faerie dust in there. No, love.” His reddish wings flicked backward as he chuckled again. “A female fencing. Truly. That’s comical.”

He continued laughing as he exited, the door closing softly behind him.

I must have been turning red, because one of the faeries patted my hand. “Don’t listen to Kai. He’s from a village that still follows the rules of the old world, one where females aren’t Maestros and the men told us what to do.”

“What’s a Maestro?” I asked her.

Violet gave me a glare that seemed to say “Stop asking questions” as Illy and Tilly shared a look.

“I’ll… add some extra unicorn horn powder,” the one with blue hair offered nervously, dipping the spoon into the powder and adding it to the cup, then doing it again before stirring it with the stem of the mushroom. When I continued to stare at her, she added, “The Maestro is in charge of the Academy. I’m sure once your memories start returning, it’ll make more sense. And you’ll meet her soon if you haven’t picked up your schedule yet.”

“I was just about to take her,” Violet said cheerfully. “But she was misplaced on the way here. I made the portal and I’m afraid my skills aren’t up to par and sent her off course. Our village is a bit remote and past the ruins, so it’s not just her memory that was impacted. She isn’t as well-versed in main-realm policies as I am. Our village was communal, meaning no Maestro. Just Elders.”

I stared at her, surprised that she had a whole story ready and clearly knew this realm intimately well.

“Oh, poor dears,” said the pink-haired faerie as she offered me the cup.

She stared at me expectantly as if I was supposed to drink it. When I glanced at Violet, she didn’t seem intent on stopping me.

Unicorn powder, mushrooms, and glowing water, what could go wrong?

Bringing the cup to my lips, I dipped my tongue into it and focused on my goddess magic. I couldn’t sense anything dangerous or poisonous, so it was probably safe.

And it tasted sweet, like fruity coconut water. Warmth settled into my chest and aches that had been running throughout my body began to fade.

After taking a generous sip, the faerie took the cup back and soaked a cloth into it.

“Elders, huh?” she asked me.

I glanced at Violet again who wasn’t showing anything on her face, not even instructions on what I was supposed to say.

“Uh, yeah. Those Elders, always telling us what to do,” I added with a nervous laugh.

The faerie watched me for a moment, then dabbed the damp cloth on my forehead. I flinched, expecting a sharp sting, but the pain vanished almost immediately. “I can’t say I’ve heard of a village in recent history with Elders. That must be very remote,” she offered and Violet went still.

Well, however versed she was with this realm, it was entirely possible that her information was dated.

But she did know about the Academy and even the location of specific buildings, so I was left confused how she knew so much.

“It can be tricky portaling over the ruins,” the pink-haired faerie continued as she finished her work and grabbed a bezel. She began grinding the mushroom before dipping the empty cup into the water again, then adding the refined mixture she’d just made.

She glanced at me as if deciding something, then added another dose of the unicorn powder to it. “We usually have seniors make those. I’m sure the Maestro is impressed you made one yourselves.”

Violent nodded. “Well, our village… We’re the last survivors, you see.”

Tilly gave her a mournful look. “These attacks are just terrible, aren’t they? Don’t you worry. Faeries like you are the reason the Maestro made this Academy in the first place.”

I pondered that while the pink-hair faerie’s squirrel jumped down onto my lap, then looked up at me expectantly as it tilted its head.

“Aww, Illy, look. Puff likes her,” the blue haired one said, helping me put together who was who. Her own squirrel seemed to have grown bored because it was now asleep on top of one of the glass jars.

The pink haired faerie, Illy, smiled as she put away the cloth, then pulled out the tiniest harp I had ever seen. “Puff is a good judge of character. Kai, not so much.”

“What’s up with him, anyway?” I asked as I accepted the new teacup from Tilly.

Now that I knew it was safe, I poked it under Solstice’s nose, feeling waves of fatigue from her that seemed to be getting worse. She felt cold around my neck, and that wasn’t a good sign.

Even if I wasn’t sure what to think about Violet transforming Solstice into a fledging again, I knew that the Shadow Realm had done a number on the both of us. Without the anchor, my soul had been detaching from my body. It was my goddess blood that had kept me intact, but Solstice would have felt the effects.

And given how tired she was, it had done a number on her.

I tried to get her to drink, but she turned her nose away and sighed into my neck.

“Poor dear,” Illy said with a pinched frown. “The portal did a number on her too, huh? She’ll recover; just give her time. The healing concoction wouldn’t do much for her anyway.”

Since Solstice wouldn’t drink it, I sipped the contents of the cup, then licked my lips at the sweet, deliciously smooth taste that followed. “I wish she would. It’s probably the most incredible water I’ve ever had,” I admitted. “And I feel much better.”

Illy beamed as if I’d given her a compliment and the little animal began cleaning its tail. “Puff convinced the unicorn to sit for us for that batch. Didn’t you, girl?” she asked the creature in my lap who cheerfully chirped in response.

Solstice huffed in annoyance as she shifted.

“And the mushroom is from Tuff’s very own fertilizer,” Tilly added, making me gag. “He was very proud of it.”

Tuff opened one eye to regard us, chirped in agreement, then went back to sleep.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Don’t tell me I just ate a mushroom grown from magical flying squirrel feces.

When I opened my eyes again, I found Tilly smirking as if she knew exactly what she was doing. “Kai can be a little much sometimes,” she said, changing the topic as her voice softened. “Don’t mind him. All the third-years are like that.”

The faeries sparked up a new conversation about boys—leaving me wondering how nothing seemed to change no matter what reality I was in.

I quietly listened and learned that some faeries had familiars, spirits that took animal form and guided them in their brand of magic.

There were different types of faeries within this realm, something I found fascinating, as Illy proudly told me that being a Companion Faerie was a rare and blessed sign from the gods.

If she only knew, I mused, glad she didn’t know I had literal goddess blood in my veins.

While I liked the pair, I was glad when they finally left with their squirrels to “prepare tea,” leaving me alone with Violet.

It was time for some answers.