Chapter 5

5

Ibarely made it through the first day of school without keeling over. It didn’t help when I was forced to keep a smile on my face when dealing with Mike’s “friends.” They brought new meaning to the term fake.

The rest of the afternoon I didn’t fare much better and I spent way too much time standing in front of my locker, vision blurry, trying to decide which books to take back to my room. Which ones would I need?

All of them.

Groaning, I let my forehead drop until it landed on the locker door. Tonight would be my first meeting with the tutor and I’d be lying if I said I weren’t dreading it with every fiber of my being. I had three major homework assignments due by Friday. Friday! Plus I had to work in the kitchen every day this week, I had transfiguration tutoring with Onyx Wednesday and Friday, and my academy tutoring literally every other day for the rest of my life.

Not to mention Bronwen and I started our patrol route this week. Yup. For two hours we walked the streets of Eahsea like we had nothing else to do, pretending we weren’t out there looking for a murderer.

No wonder I couldn’t think. Couldn’t focus. Couldn’t concentrate. My mind turned to mush from day one, and although my eyes were open, I didn’t see a damn thing. I stood frozen, like my body decided it was done listening to me, done trying to do everything at once. Exhaustion already weighed heavily on my shoulders.

Maybe marrying Kendrick Grimaldi would have been easier than this.

My eyes popped wide at the thought. Had I really just considered a lifetime with a monster as an acceptable alternative? My workload gave a whole new meaning to full plate, true, but still!

How much longer would it be necessary to jump through these hoops? To always do more and always for someone else? Mental fog was no joke. Then I remembered a bright spot and smiled. At least Mike and I were getting along—sort of—but I knew it was a tentative peace.

I had no idea what to expect from any of this. And no idea when things would get better.

“Hey. You. Woo-hoo!”

Fingers snapped next to my face and I shook off my stupor. I knew the voice and disliked the girl it belonged to, one of the snotty upperclassmen who was always up Mike’s ass. She sauntered wherever she walked, and stared at me like I was nothing but a bug under her shoe. In desperate need of stomping.

Now she stood too close, invading my personal space. She reminded me of Persephone.

“Yes, you. I’m sure you’re busy with your own important thoughts, Tavi, but I have a favor to ask of you.” A pause, slightly uncomfortable. “Please.”

Coral Ferenze stared down her long, straight, perfect nose at me. Copper-colored hair flowed past her shoulders to curl lightly near her breasts. She filled out her school uniform to perfection, slender and curvy at the same time. Coral magicked her lips a bright red that, instead of looking stupid with her hair color, brought out the rich shades in a way mortal makeup could not.

I blinked at her. She knew my name? I didn’t think I’d heard her say it before. “Pardon me?”

Coral cocked her hip, head going in the opposite direction and her hazel eyes wide. “I did say please. I need a favor.”

In other words, keep up when I’m talking to you.

I knew the act. The bitch trying to cover up her real personality because she wanted something from me. At least Coral was completely one hundred percent in the open about how she felt about me. And that she wanted something.

She folded her arms across her chest. “I’m having a party this weekend for my birthday and I invited Michael Thornwood to attend. Things simply won’t be the same without him there.”

That was another thing. I hated how all the people in school called Mike by his full name: Michael Thornwood. The name didn’t fit his warm personality the way simple Mike did.

“A party? I hadn’t heard,” I threw back at her, selecting one of the books I needed and putting it in my bag.

“Anyway,” Coral continued, her voice sweet and pleasant. All phony baloney. “Michael turned me down because he has plans with you. If the prince doesn’t come to my party then I’ll obviously be the laughingstock of the academy. We can’t allow that to happen.”

I sighed and selected a second book to take home. Coral wanted me to cancel on Mike? “Aw, too bad. Aren’t you already the laughingstock?”

She continued as though I hadn’t spoken. “You need to let him off the hook for your little plans.” Coral held her fingers up in air quotes. “He has more important things to do with more important people. I’m sure you understand.”

“Um, no. I don’t understand and I won’t cancel on him.” Absolutely not. I stood my ground. “But tell you what, Coral. I’ll bring him to your party. We’ll be there together, stop in for a little bit and make the rounds, then we’ll leave. It’s the best I can do and a real compromise, if you want my honest opinion.”

Coral looked as though I’d suggested she shave her head and donate her hair to needy children. “Excuse me?”

I slid my backpack over my shoulder, instantly weighed down from the books. “You heard me,” I told her. “I’ll bring Mike to the party but we’ll be there together and we won’t stay long. I would consider it a win if I were you. I don’t plan on changing my mind, no matter what kind of party you have in mind.” My plans were just as important as hers, birthday or no. I refused to let her bring me down.

I closed my locker and turned to face her, the two of us similar in height. She thought about it, she honestly did. I could practically see the gears turning in her head. Coral was considering her options for one reason alone: she wanted Mike for herself. She knew I wasn’t about to back down.

Apparently neither was she.

My expression hardened as I watched her sort through her mental dilemma.

At last she said, “Fine.” Short, simple, to the point. She flipped her hair and spoke as if it were her idea. “I’ll see him Saturday, then. My place at twenty bells. He knows where it is. Don’t be late. It’s rude.”

I rolled my eyes at her retreating back, pointedly ignoring the sway of her hips although every other person in the hallway was caught like a tractor beam. I was the only one able to look away. Coral was a piece of work, for sure, but I’d stood for what I wanted without compromise. At least I could be proud of something.

Hiking my book bag higher to distribute the weight without crushing my bones, I walked toward the exit. Time for me to meet with my new tutor, to try and get my grades up. Yippee.

Did I seem excited? No. If anything, I looked like I’d stepped in a pile of—well, something unpleasant to say the least.

The sun shone down on the snow and I shielded my eyes against the glare. It was only a short walk to the Fae Academy for Halflings sister school in Faerie, down a long curving stone staircase hugging the hillside. It was the school I’d thought I’d be attending when I crossed through the portal into Faerie for the first time.

Until King Tywin sprang his surprise on me. He claimed it was because I’d shown great promise at my old school. Really, deep down I think he wanted to punish me.

I took the winding lane down from the Elite Academy, no wider than a sidewalk in the mortal realm, although here there were no cars. The hills were blissfully free of any sort of traffic, vehicle or foot. The residents of town used a series of magic-powered trains or portals to get from here to there, not to mention using their natural magical abilities.

I needed the walk. I needed a moment to breathe and gather myself.

Buildings were constructed along the sloping valley walls and every road led down toward the village center and the castle beyond. An ancient forest surrounded us on all sides, with flatland and farms scattered throughout.

Shivering with a strange cold that felt more inside my body than out, I kicked the snow off of my boots the moment I pushed through the wide double doors of the school ten minutes later. Glancing around, I saw that the entrance foyer looked nearly identical to the one at the mortal academy. Until I turned to the right, where the staff offices used to be, and found myself in a classroom. Okay, not so similar.

“Are you lost? You look a little confused.”

I turned at the female voice.

“Do you need some help?” the girl continued.

Not used to the kindness, I blinked at her, struggling to catch up. “I’m looking for the school counselor’s office. I’m sorry, I don’t have a name. I was told to come here to meet my tutor.”

The girl walked closer, a smile on her face, and I was surprised to see that instead of white teeth she had little green nubs, like someone had taken pieces of clover and made them thick and solid. “It’s fine! I know exactly where you need to go. Come on, follow me. We’ll get you set up.”

I followed the stranger up the curving staircase toward the second floor, gas lamps lining the corridor and illuminating the way. Why couldn’t the students at the Elite Academy be this nice and friendly? It had been nothing but a struggle since I started there.

“By the way, I’m—” The girl let out a low screech followed by several clicks. “I know, it’s hard to say. They call me Flora here.”

I smiled at the nickname. “Flora I can pronounce.”

She smiled over her shoulder. “I know. It’s an elf thing. I’m half earth elf, and a lot of our dialect is only spoken in the outer isles of Faerie. Those in the inner villages haven’t heard it spoken in years. Flora is a rough translation of my elvish name. It makes it easier to communicate with other students.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Tavi.”

I wondered if people were as cynical toward Flora as they’d been toward me when I first applied for the mortal academy. Did her being half elf somehow set her apart from her peers the way being half human did for me? Or at least they perceived me as half human. If they knew the truth—that I was really half wolf shifter—I doubted they’d tolerate me at all.

She seemed happy, though, like a person who’d found her place in the world and settled in nicely.

I looked everywhere except at Flora, nerves eating at me as I fought the urge to fidget. Fidgeting would show how nervous I really felt and I didn’t want anyone to think me weak even though that’s how I really felt. And frustrated. And super confused.

Flora’s pace quickened and I did my best to keep up with her. I expected a hush to fall when I passed the other students. I expected them to stare and mutter under their breath about the halfling human in their midst. But that wasn’t the case. No matter where we went, up two flights of old stone stairs and along light-drenched corridors, everyone we passed offered me a smile or a kind word. Everyone had something nice to say to Flora and extended the kindness to me.

I couldn’t believe it.

The next corner she turned, I knew. This wasn’t a mirror image of the school I knew. The flooring on the third floor was a mix of wood and stone, with the walls made up of some kind of luminescent stone that caught the light from outside. Wooden beams were exposed on the ceiling above and massive iron chandeliers hung down at regular intervals. The building pulsed with magic, and the chilly draft I used to feel at the mortal academy in winter did not exist here.

Flora led me directly down a narrow hall leading back toward the professors’ offices, then pressed her hand onto the stone to the left and right of the alcove. A pulse of yellow light flashed. Like a welcome. Or a warning.

She cast a final wide grin my way, my gaze focused on those odd green teeth. “Good luck with whatever it is you are doing, Tavi. And don’t be a stranger! You are one of us even though you are at the Elite Academy.”

“One of you?”

She nodded. “A halfling, yes. I can sense it about you.”

“How did you know I came from the Elite Academy?”

“Your jacket.” She pointed to the emblem on the breast pocket of my blazer. “It doesn’t matter. We are all in this together, yes? Halflings unite! If you need anything, we are here. Come back and see me sometime, new friend.”

Then she left and I stood staring after her, fighting the urge to shake my head. Definitely friendly. And I’d gotten so used to the bullying and backstabbing that I found her kindness weird and out of place.

The moment I turned back toward the professors’ rooms, another student barreled out of the nearest doorway and damn near ran me over.

Red-faced, looking pissed as all get out, the boy slammed into my shoulder and sent me spinning into the wall.

I hissed when bone came into contact with stone and a flash of pain shot through me. “Watch where you’re going, buddy!” I called out after him. “Can you not see there’s a person standing here? Flesh and blood and not exactly invisible.”

It had been a hot minute since I needed my old potions to hide my shifter nature. Because of the very nature of Faerie, I was able to tap into the magic of the land to cast a glamour to hide my wolf without having to take a nasty potion to mask my essential nature. It also meant I was able to sense other half-shifters with ease.

And the angry red-faced teen? Definitely half wolf.

He whirled around and growled at me, baring straight white teeth. “What are you going to do about it?” he barked out.

Oh, a bully. I hated those. My eyes narrowed as we measured each other. “I’m going to wait until you apologize for nearly running through me.”

“I’ll rip your arms from their sockets if you get in my way.” His threat froze something inside of me before he stalked off. “And you can count on that, little halfling!”