One wrong step, p.13
One Wrong Step, page 13
“I can tell you’d be good in a Goblin den.” Startling awake, I blinked to find Jade’s seat suddenly occupied by Briar, a sweet smile on her lips. “They love to gamble, and you’ve been shuffling those cards none stop since I came in.”
Glancing at the door as though it would give me a repeat of her arrival, I turned back with an open mouth. “What are you doing here? I didn’t think you were in this class?”
“I’m not.” She blushed, taking the stack of labels from me. “I should be in Enamour class but, well after what happened last year… Anyway, Mistress Lena said I had tarnished a picture of perfection, and she couldn’t undo the mess. So, I was told to volunteer as an aide in another class. I chose Herbology.”
“Oh,” I nodded, wondering how someone could ruin perfection, which didn’t exist, while Briar laid all the labels out on the table. “You’re good at herbology then?”
Briar grinned. “Oh, no. Terrible. But I like flowers.” She blushed at my gawking expression. “And I mean… after everything, I thought I’d best come to see if you were all right.”
“I’m fine,” I said automatically but faulted as I failed to back it up. Glancing around, I shuffled closer, not wanting anyone else to hear us. “I guess it hasn’t sunk in yet.”
“I know.” She breathed back, her nimble fingers tying a label around each bundle. “When I saw it was Cleo… I still can’t believe it.”
“You knew her?” I gasped, drawing a few heads, so I dropped my voice quickly. “Why didn’t you say?”
“I didn’t recognise her at first.” Briar shrugged, her fingers trembling. “She changed over the summer break, growing her hair, smoothing her skin. Magically enhancing her body. I just wish…” But she shook her head, biting back whatever she was going to say.
“When do you think they’ll tell the rest of the school?” I asked instead.
“Tell them? They already know?” Briar frowned at me. “Haven’t you heard everyone whispering?”
“Yes, but I thought…” I trailed off, looking around the room, noting how everyone had their heads together, including Essence, who spoke energetically with her assistant. “But everyone’s still in class. A student died. Shouldn’t they at least be suspending lessons or offering people the time to grieve?” I turned back, not bothering to keep my voice so low anymore.
Briar tilted her head at me, and I felt like I’d said something really stupid. “Zara, you know the Great Stories don’t wait for those unworthy.” She spoke like it was gospel and I almost choked on my tongue.
“What the devil does that mean? What’s a great story?”
Briar laughed, but quickly stopped as she saw my expression. “Wait, you don’t know? How can you not know?”
I feigned offence. “Ugh- probably because I grew up in the normal world where there is no magic, no fairies, and death isn’t an everyday occurrence, despite what the TV writers think.”
Briar blinked. “You… you mean you grew up in the mortal realm?” She paused, something coming together in her mind.
“I don’t know.” I released an exasperated sigh. “I guess. If that’s what it’s called…”
“You really don’t know anything, do you? Everyone’s saying it’s an act to distance yourself from your parents, but clearly…” She sucked in a breath.
Blinking a few times as if working out where to start, she spoke slowly, gaze on the bundles of herbs. “Okay, well, I guess you should know everyone here is preparing themselves, in hopes of a Great Story. For the Day Court, it’s for a tale of adventure or heroics, dashing rescues, or impossible feats. For the Night, they scheme to do vile and wicked things. To pillage homes and destroy lives. Everything we’re taught here will help us become renown, like those from previous Great Stories.”
“Are you’re talking about Cinderella and her glass slippers? Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf? Rumpel-fricking-stiltskin?”
Briar huffed a laugh, shaking her head. “I’ve never heard of those stories. But if you mean historical tales told in every home, remembered for years and decades to come, turned into movie adaptations and songs? Then yes, those are our stories, recorded in the Ever Books, all with the poetical to become Great.”
“And everyone wants to be one of these stories?” I recalled shoes of hot iron, people eaten by monsters, eyes plucked out, and bodies turned into sea foam. “Jesus - why?!”
“Because it’s the greatest achievement.” Briar shrugged like that was enough. “Our parents send us here because Chronicle Academy has had some of the Greatest Stories ever told and everyone hopes to be next. But not everyone will make it.” Briar’s voice dipped with a wobble. Her chin fall to her chest, her back curving as her fingers fiddled in her lap. “Those who stray from the path become unworthy. People forget their names. Their stories untold.”
“And because Cleo died, she’s considered unworthy?” I gasped, feeling an anger bubble in my gut. “Because she died, she’s not worth remembering?”
“It happens. Some people think it’s better to die in a tragedy than fade into nothingness.” Briar passed me a soft smile, before straightening, a shadow passing over our table.
“Miss Dupont. How lovely to see your aura in my class again. Always so calming.” Essence smiled. The charms in her hair, her ears, and on her fingers rang like bells as she reached for our work. “But really… mistaking Wolfsbane for Belladonna, girls? Boxwood for Scarlet Woundwart? And this, Miss Dupont?” Picking up a white flower, its petals were like a trumpet, the very centre purple. “Labelling Datura as Nightshade? Remind me to never have tea with either of you, or I shall sleep for a decade.”
“Sorry Essence,” Briar mumbled while I just stared, bewildered.
“Well, you have another year to get you better at it, don’t you?” She tutted. “Just try not to pass your ineptitude onto the new students, okay?”
Walking away, the professor started singing again, and I looked to see if there was anything I could throw at her. “What a cow.” I seethed, ripping off the wrong labels. “Maybe I will spill something extra in her tea.”
“No, she’s right.” Briar sighed, helping me but with less vigour. “I can try all I like, but there is no Great Story ahead of me. I will be an Ancillary and that will have to be okay.” The words came out like a chant, one that she’d repeated enough times it had lost all meaning.
But, before I could question her on what an Ancillary was, Essence brought the class to heel. Her voice rose, cutting off the whispers, telling us in extreme detail every plant’s attributes, feelings, and growing temperament. But even as I sat, pretending to listen, I could see a dark shadow in Briar’s eyes that wouldn’t go away, and I was determined to find out why.
◆◆◆
The snigger from Maverick’s bulbous nose reached me before his mozzarella ball did. Falling with a slick plop, it joined what I suspected was several grapes, a berry or two, as well as his own hairy balls, seeing as how juvenile he was acting. I, on the other hand, continued to ignore the prick.
“We can move?” Briar offered for the umpteenth time.
“No,” I growled, fighting to keep a slight note of pleasantry in my voice. “Really it’s fine.” After all, I had a whole clean uniform upstairs now.
“If you say so.”
Digging into our honey crisp, roasted mutton and butter rolled new potatoes with a delicate bite, I took a moment to look around the dining room again, finding its shine dulling since my first breakfast. Yesterday, breakfast had been a whirl, and for lunch I’d rushed in and out, eager to spend my lunch resting in solitude, but now I could really look.
Towering pillars held the rafters up like a cathedral, the stained glass windows showering bright colours everywhere. Green ivy and white roses grew on the ceiling, dropping petals that pointlessly disintegrated into gold glitter above our heads. Parallel banquet tables were covered in white and silver, while they piled glass platters with delicious food. Wolves snagged steaks off plates left and right, and I watched one guy with a crown of flowers create a small rain cloud. It drenched one girl who lay on the table like a tasty dish - fishy tail included.
It seemed lunches occurred at different periods throughout the day, thus different years could be in attendance, and explained Mav’s presence. There were at least five hundred students here, which could mean another five coming next lunch period and that was just the Day Court. Over two thousand students, all with magical powers, or an axe to grind… I shivered.
Suddenly, a fairy buzzed overhead, darting from table to table with gossip. Following the spectacle, my gaze lowered to a plain girl, her face twisting in scorn. Quickly turning to whisper to her friend, the vapid eyes of the entire group circled back to me.
“So, Briar, why does everyone hate me?”
She coughed on her sparkling water, covering it with a polite hand. “What? No one hates you.” Yet, at that moment, a bread roll sailed through the air past my head and hit the silver candelabra, shaking the candle flames. I raised a brow. “All right, they may not be fond of you, but it’s less you and more your parents.” She patted her lips with a napkin.
“I gathered,” But my thoughts swung to the two people who’d come to a home in pieces, drunks asleep everywhere and me, nowhere to be found. “But what did they do to make everyone despise them?”
Briar’s cheeks turned red, her lips disappearing as she licked them. “It’s less about what they did and more about what they represent.”
“Briar,” I growled. “Stop dancing around the point and tell me.”
“All right. I’m sorry. It’s just… There’s a reason people don’t talk about it, in case someone gets the wrong idea. But I guess… If you really don’t know.” She sighed. Pushing her plate aside, she folded her hands on the table, bending forwards until our heads were almost together.
“You remember what I said about Great Stories? Well, your parents were one of them, or they were going to be. He was a Prince, and she was just a scullery maid who’d gained a scholarship here.” She suddenly smiled, “According to my father, they both arrived on the same day, same dorm, same room - can you believe it! A filing mistake, they said, but everyone knew it was the Ever Books at work. Time would reveal how their fates were intertwined, and initially, they engaged in fierce fights, like cats. Bickering, pranks, competitions and even sabotage.”
It amused me how Briar whispered savagely, as though that were the worst thing possible. But she was finally on a roll, so I didn’t stop her as her eyes widened in the act of storyteller.
“Everyone swore they’d be Adversaries, set to duke it out until the end of days. But then, something just clicked. They went into the forest during the Amour Ball at the end of term and came out together. They were inseparable. Unbreakable. The kind of love people only dream about.”
“Wait. Time out.” I snapped out a ‘T’ with my hands, blinking to allow my brain to catch up. Ignoring my desire for more details, I focused on more important points, such as… “What do mean Adversary, what is an Amour and how do I avoid both?”
Briar sniggered. “You can’t, though it’s unlikely you’ll have either, let alone all three, as you already have Jade as your Ally. There are three balls through the first term; the first might give you an Ally. In the next, your arch nemesis, the last, the love of your life.” She must have seen my face – one of horror – as she chuckled again. “You’re not guaranteed an Adversary or an Amour. They’re picked for you in the Ever Book and, like I said, it’s likely you’ll get neither. But if you do, you’ll know them for life.”
“I’m stuck with Jade for life?” The air left my lungs, and yet… I wasn't surprised. What else could go wrong, really? “Fucking brilliant. So, if my parents were all… amorous. Is that why they’re hated?”
“No.” Briar looked squeamish again. “People were jealous of them, yes; they had a love so deep, so unwavering, it would transcend time. But it wasn’t that.”
Taking a breath, she rolled on. “Once you leave the Academy, all graduates are fair game; to every witch, vampire, summoner, necromancer – anyone from the Night Court. Your parents battled them all with the strength of their love. Their early tales were of heroics and triumphs. They made headlines, which only encouraged the Night Court to try to drag them down.” Briar was almost in tears as she whispered the next bit, glistening as her bottom lip trembled. “But then… They gave it all up. They joined the Rogues and just… turned.”
Silence hung between us, and I gave her a few beats more before realising she thought that was enough.
“And?” I screeched, jerking her head up. “What’s a Rogue? Turned into what?”
“Rogues.” Briar sniffed. “Those who fight against the order of things and wish to burn the Ever Books? Topple our world order. Allow chaos to reign. They are the rebellion.”
“My parents,” I scoffed. “Rebellious?” I shook my head. There was no way we were talking about the same people. Not a chance. An accountant and marketing assistant, two of the most boring people in the world who lived for their office jobs, could not have been dragon slayers and witch fighters.
“Your mother was seen casting the magic of a witch, speaking with a familiar. Your father summoned storms to help hide the Rogues as they fled. They were both caught and-”
“And what?” My stomach soured, but Briar shook her head.
“It doesn’t matter. The Rogues think everyone’s equal. Their quest is to end the Ever Books, which is dangerous to us all.”
“But… everyone should be equal.” I frowned, not liking the stubborn set to Briar’s jaw. “No one is above anyone else, not in any social standing.”
Briar gasped, her skin going white. “D-Don’t say that. You’ll get yourself in trouble.”
I huffed a laugh, not quite understanding how she couldn’t hear what she was saying. “But it’s true. Everyone should-”
“No.” It was the sharpest I’d heard the girl speak; her eyes were wide with fear. “If you respect your sanity, Zara, you won’t breathe another word and will understand this; Witches are not equal to a princess. Dragons do not match a prince. Knights will not bow to vampires. They are the rules, and they keep order.”
I opened my mouth, a spark of fury dancing across my gut when something wet and stinking slapped to the back of my head. Screaming to my feet, I whirled just as several other filleted fish collided with my shirt, smothering it in cold, spiced oils.
Mav howled, his posse joining. Teeth clenched, with a shout, I sent a white plate across the room like a frisbee. Unfortunately, the dog ducked, but it still smashed against the stone pillar behind him. Larc, who appeared suddenly, got pelted with shards.
The entire room held their breath. The pack looked to their alpha while his cold eyes lifted to mine. Suddenly, sickening uncertainty struck me. We’d spent the night curled around a dead girl together. That kind of trauma drew people together, forged understanding… but then his gaze dropped, taking in my oily shirt, and the bastard smirked. “And here I thought you’d be a girl who could swallow.”
“Keep your mut on a tighter leash, Larc.” I snarled jerking my chin at Mav. “Or next time, you’ll find a hairless mole rat in his place.”
Mav growled but made no move towards me. Not without his Alpha’s say-so. But Larc had turned stony, his eyes narrowing and lips pulling back in a snarl. Whatever we might have shared on the lake's edge, we officially extinguished it.
“Azariah Everly Heart!”
Flinching at the ridiculous name, I turned to find the same stoic man who’d collected Jade, his domineering gaze now pinned on me. “To Mistress Lopez’s office. Now.”
“What?” I yelled, throwing up an accusing finger. “What about them?”
The prick looked me over – seeing the oil - before glancing at the pack. His lips curled in a cruel smile. “What about them?”
“Are you fucking serious?” I snapped, and yes – damn it, I stamped my foot.
Expressionless, the guy didn’t so much as blink before pivoting on his heel. “If you would follow me. Now.”
Giving Briar a quick look of anguish, and steeling my gaze at Larc who chuckled, I stormed out of the dining hall after the towering hulk. Heat bloomed across the back of my neck as my teeth ground in my jaw. But despite the unfair situation, I dug deeper for the silver lining.
Finally, I was going to see Mistress Lopez’s fairy ass, and if luck was on my side – which it better damn-well be - I was finally getting the hell out of dodge county.
◆◆◆
Up several stairs and over more than one linking bridge, Hulk finally led me to an ornate door at the top of a tower, embossed with glass stars around a familiar golden sun and silver moon. Opening it, the guy ushered me into the room, as he smirked, darkness glinting in his deep eyes. “After you, little Princess.”
Frowning at his words, I took in the spacious round room. I had expected a crusty, dark, dusty study filled with books and scrolls, glowing potions and hissing shadows. Basically, a wizard’s tower. However, though there were still books and scrolls, both in towering shelves and over a wide, spacious desk, there was also a vast window. Looking over the academy’s grounds, warm, fresh light filled the space, the Persian rugs dappled in golden rays, while the rose wood furniture glowed. In the tower’s turret an astrolabe hovered, slowly turning in an ethereal glow, while blooming flowers covered every other surface.
One sweeping staircase curved to a second level behind me, which I could only assume was a bedroom, a study or my guess, a sex dungeon. The Mistress of Chronicle Academy descended the stairs on soft, black wings, expression sharp, a hugging red dress that looked like a second skin, and knowing this school, it probably was.
