Light Fae Academy: Year Three Read online

  Light Fae Academy Year Three

  Nala Kingsley

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Other Books By Nala Kinglsey

  About the Author

  Voodoo Sector © 2020 Nala Kingsley

  Cover Art © 2020 Ryn Katryn, Digital Art

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Chapter 1

  Classes for our third and final year at Light Fae Academy will start in two days, and I am ready to burst out of my wings. Last year had been a bit crazy, even crazier than our first year, and I really hope things will calm down this year but also heat up in one certain aspect.

  My love life.

  My twin bursts into my room. Our parents insist that we live with them in the treehouse for the duration of the two-month hiatus between years at the academy. It's a bit annoying considering Mom breathes down our necks and tries to get us to do everything her way. She acts like just because we live under her roof, we have to obey her every rule, including a curfew. After living on campus for ten months, having such stringent rules to follow is no fun whatsoever.

  “Guess what came?” Bay announces as she tosses an envelope at me.

  It falls short, and I fly off my bed, where I was lounging, and snatch the envelope off the ground.

  “About time,” I grumble. “We should’ve had our class list long before now.”

  Bay shrugs and rips into her envelope.

  I open mine more carefully. “Illumination! About time! I was so bummed I didn’t have it last year.”

  “I have it too,” Bay says.

  I slowly grin. “That’s awesome! Maybe if there’s a group project, we can be partners.”

  “Maybe. I’ve noticed that the professors tend to assign partners instead of allowing us to pick.”

  “I noticed that too. I do miss learning beside you.”

  “You mean cheating off me.” Bay winks and nudges her shoulder into mine.

  “Hey!” I protest. “I never cheated. If anything, you cheated off of me!”

  “Never,” Bay says coolly.

  I blink a few times and gape at her. “Never?” I ask suspiciously.

  “You know I can’t lie.” Bay smirks.

  I narrow my eyes suspiciously. “You honestly never cheated off of me?”

  “Not for a test. You really think Mom wouldn’t have noticed if I had.”

  “True.” I shrug. “No offense to Mom, and she did teach us a lot, but I’m so glad we’re going to the academy and that she isn’t homeschooling us anymore.”

  “Mesmerization,” Bay says.

  I flinch. “You have to take it?”

  “You do.” She points to my schedule.

  My eyes widen, and I swallow hard. “No.”

  “What do you mean no?”

  “I won’t take it.”

  Bay makes a face. “Why not? Mesmerization would be great for you. You could learn to influence people with more than just your pretty face, wings, and voice.”

  I shake my head emphatically. “It’s wrong.”

  “It’s not wrong. It’s magic.”

  “You can use magic for ill.”

  My stomach twists and turns. I know all about how terrible magic can be. Last year had been a disaster. The year before had a dark spell too, but that hadn’t been from magic but drugs.

  “How you use mesmerization can be for the light or for the dark,” Bay argues. “You know you won’t use it for the dark, so what’s the big deal?”

  “I just… I’m not comfortable with the idea of using my magic to mesmerize a person to be under my influence enough to become my slave. It’s wrong. Always wrong.”

  She shrugs. “I would take it in a heartbeat.” Her black translucent wings flutter as she hovers in place. “What do you think about our swapping a class? I’ll take your Mesmerization, and you can take my Oneirokinesis.”

  “Oneirokinesis,” I murmur. “Dream infiltration. I have always wanted to take that.”

  “See?” Bay beams. “I knew you would like that. Even if you don’t want to mesmerize people.”

  “It’s different,” I protest. With dream infiltration, you can turn nightmares into pleasant dreams!”

  “Like I said, I’m sure you can use mesmerization for the light.”

  I shake my head and wave my hand. “It’s not happening. I’m going to drop it and take Oneirokinesis instead.”

  “Just take my class,” she presses.

  “Bay, your wings.”

  She bites her lower lip and then nods. “Yeah, yeah. Light, clear wings. Dark, black wings.”

  I hesitate. It’s been on the tip of my tongue all summer long to ask her why her wings changed color. Before, we were identical with our super long white hair, super long, purple eyes, and clear translucent wings. Over the past year, her wings have changed to be as dark as our dad’s.

  “You aren’t dark,” I murmur.

  “Yeah, well, what else do you have?”

  “Healing.”

  “Boring.”

  She isn’t wrong.

  “Nature,” I continue.

  “Boring,” we both say, and we giggle.

  “Shapeshifting should be fun.”

  “I had that last year,” Bay says.

  “You never even told me all of your courses last year,” I say. “Turn into something!”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “A cat.”

  “A cat? Come on, Rosemary.” Bay rolls her eyes. “Have a little imagination!”

  “Fine. A dragon.”

  Bay smacks her palm against her forehead. “Seriously? How about a real animal?”

  “Why?” I whine. “You can’t turn into anything? Can you turn into a chair?”

  “Why would I want people to sit on me? And besides, some people have sex on chairs. No thank you.”

  “Well, that sounds uncomfortable.”

  “Depends on the chair.” She winks.

  “I do not want to know about your sex life,” I groan as I flop onto my bed before rolling over to eye her. “Can you only turn into real animals? Not inanimate?”

  Bay grins and bats her eyelashes. “You’ll just have to take the course to see what you can and can’t do.”

  “You’re no fun?”

  "Oh, I'm plenty of fun." Bay's form shimmers, covered in an opaque clear cloud. When the cloud dissipates, my sister isn't herself anymore. Instead, she's a beautiful black unicorn.

  “Oh!” I fly over to her side and pet her hair. “So soft! Can I ride you?”

  She paws the floor and then tries to stab me with her horn. I shriek and shove her head aside. Bay tries again and almost nicks me before the cl
oud returns, and a second later, she’s herself again.

  “How did you like that?” she asks.

  “Amazing!” I clap my hands, positively giddy at the thought of what this year will bring.

  “Yeah, I enjoyed the course. One of the only ones I have.”

  “You don’t like the academy?” I ask.

  She shrugs and sinks to sit on the edge of my bed. "It just seems a bit random, you know? We aren't given much counsel or advice on what we should do once we graduate. They pick our courses for us based on a test we did before we ever set foot on academy soil. I just… Wouldn't it have been nicer if we could have picked our classes?"

  “Well, yes, but that’s not how it works.”

  “I know. Life isn’t as simple as picking this course or that course, and I get it. The future is just a big, vast space looming in front of us at warp speed, and I have no idea what I want to do.”

  I sit beside her. “I know exactly how you feel.”

  “You do?”

  “Why do you sound so surprised?”

  She lays her head on my shoulder. “Maybe because you’re so light and perfect.”

  I laugh and laugh. “I am so not perfect!”

  “Everyone treats you differently than they do me.”

  "I know. Wanting some of the attention they give you is why I made a mess of things with Sage during our first year." I bite my lower lip.

  Bay doesn’t say anything.

  I rest my head on hers. “If you’re scared or worried about the future, you can always talk to me.”

  Bay pulls away. “I’m not scared or worried. Just uncertain. There’s a difference.”

  “Well, I’m scared.”

  “Pshaw.” She waves her hand. “You have nothing to be scared about.”

  “That’s not true,” I protest.

  “Anything you pick, you’ll be able to do with grace and aplomb. You always do. You’re, like, the lightest fairy to ever fly.”

  “So not true.” I just shake my head.

  “You’re so light that it’s amazing that you can even walk on the ground,” Bay teases.

  “You’re so dark it’s amazing the sun doesn’t burn you alive.”

  “Vampires aren’t real,” she says crossly.

  “Oh, come off it. I was just easing.”

  Bay giggles. “Do you really think you can hurt my feelings? I have the stone skin of a dragon.”

  And she holds up her arm. Her flesh slowly turns to the scales of a dragon.

  I gape at her. She just winks, wiggles her fingers, and leaves the room.

  I can’t wait for my final year at Light Fae Academy to start!

  Chapter 2

  Not two minutes later, Mom calls us for dinner. Bay and I bump and jostle against each other as we fly through the treehouse to the dining room.

  Mom takes one look at us and just shakes her head. She’s smiling, though, so that’s a good sign. Sometimes, she’s almost too sad about us going to school. I can understand that to some extent. She did use to homeschool us, but it took up so much of her time that could’ve been used in her business. Mom is crazy good at potions. She’s so good that she can make a living selling them to other fairies who could make their own potions.

  The table’s already set, and Dad is sitting at the head of the table like he always does. Mom’s beside him, and it almost makes me wonder if she has some kind of announcement to make, but once Bay and I sit, Mom does too.

  She waits until we serve ourselves our honey nectar, glazed ham, vegetables, and buttery rolls to ask, “You girls haven’t ever told us much at all about any of the boys at your school. You can’t tell me two beautiful young fairies such as yourselves haven’t turned the heads of any of the boy fairies there.”

  I tap Bay’s foot beneath the table, waiting for her to mention her boyfriend. Bay just shoots me a look that screams Stop!

  Confused, I falter and slowly close my gaping jaw. It’s only now that I realize Bay’s never told our parents that she’s been dating anyone, let alone a demon.

  “I have some guy friends,” I finally say.

  “Friends.” Dad snorts. “Like that one last year who tried to kill you?”

  I stare at my plate, my hands dropping to my lap.

  “Do you have to mention that,” Mom whispers loudly. “It’s bad enough that she had to go through and experience that. Don’t bring it up before she has to leave to return there!”

  “She finished the year just fine,” Dad says calmly. “I see no reason to think she’ll want to drop out and have you continue to teach her.”

  “It’s fine. I’m fine. Thistle was… He wasn’t a typical fairy,” I say.

  “It happens more than you think,” Mom says sadly. “Some fairies just go mad. They’re touched in the head.”

  “We don’t need to continue to discuss him,” Dad says in a tone that almost sounds like a warning.

  “Touched by darkness,” Mom continues.”

  Dad lowers his silverware to the table and stares at Mom hard. She ignores him, eating calmly as if nothing is remiss.

  They make a handsome couple, Mom and Dad. Whereas she has short white hair and blue eyes, Dad has black hair and blue eyes. Mom has the same kind of wings as I do, but Bay favors Dad even though originally, she looked exactly like me, with Mom appearing more like an older sister.

  “We all have light and dark in us,” I say, hoping to diffuse the tension Mom’s so easily ignoring.

  “Hmm. Dark. Is that what the kids call it nowadays?” Bay asks.

  I lift my eyebrows, and she wiggles hers.

  My cheeks grow hot, and I look away, trying to hide my embarrassment. She can't be referring to my losing my virginity, is she? In front of Mom and Dad? They shouldn't be able to figure out her meaning, but still. I didn't even lose it during our second year but our first.

  “There are two boys who are vying for Rosemary’s attention,” Bay says.

  I glower at her.

  “Who? That Sage boy you mentioned a few times?” Mom asks.

  “Let them continue to vie for your attention,” Dad advises. “You’ll see their true nature if you make them wait long enough. A healthy competition can’t hurt them any.”

  “Unless they’re touched in the head like Thistle,” Bay says.

  I grimace. That’s precisely the wrong thing to say after Mom’s addendum to that.

  “Then they might kill each other over her. That’s how devoted they are to her,” Bay continues.

  “Devotion is lovely.” Mom beams.

  Dad purses his lips. “Why don’t you have something to say about all of this, Rosemary?”

  “Because I… I don’t know what to think.” I bite my lower lip. “After everything with Thistle, I decided to spend the rest of my second year focusing on my studies.”

  “Good.” Mom’s smile grows even larger.

  “I just…” I shrug. “Is it too much to think that they might only like me because of the competition between them?”

  Bay bursts out laughing. “Sage is an idiot. You might be right. He might only still be interested because he wants to keep you from Damon.”

  I scowl. “Sage isn’t an idiot,” I say hotly.

  Dad looks back and forth between us. “Why do you prefer this Damon character for Rosemary, Bay?”

  “Because.” Bay says nothing more, but I remember what she told me last year.

  “Because you pulled me out of some darkness, and if he needs that, who better to help him than the lightest fairy here?”

  Damon’s half fairy, half demon. His mom’s the demon. His fairy dad used to supply fairy dust, a drug that Bay used to deal our first year. I don’t like to think about that, but I did ask Damon about it once, shortly before the end of the school year.

  “You know about Bay and your dad, don’t you?”

  “Yes.” He eyed me, his eyes darker than ever. “What about it?”

  “You never…”

  “No.” His nostrils
flare. “My dad and I don’t get along.”

  “No?”

  “He wanted me to deal here. That’s some of the reason why he sent me here, but I refused, and he…” Damon wouldn’t say another word about it, and I almost caved and hugged him.

  Why didn’t I hug him? Because I was afraid.

  Not so much about Damon but because of me.

  I’m worried that I’m the kind of person who likes to fix things. If I think Damon is broken, I’ll want to fix him, to change him. My heart will get all twisted up for all the wrong reasons, and I might use love as an excuse. If I decide to be with Damon, I want it to be because I accept him for who he is.

  Which means accepting a half-demon into my life… and my heart.

  Bay has no issues doing that with a flipping full-blooded demon. I don’t know how she does it.

  “Damon’s a good guy. So is Sage,” I say easily.

  Bay snorts. “Sage isn’t as good as you think.”

  I glower at her. “Oh, and a—”

  “But if you love Sage, you love Sage. Do you?” she asks pointedly.

  I scowl. She’s refusing to tell them about her boyfriend, yet she’s grilling me about my guys? So not fair.

  “I don’t know if we’ve flapped our wings long enough for us to know what love is,” I say sweetly. “They say love is blind, don’t they?”

  “Oh, I see things clearly enough,” she says, her tone taking on an edge.

  “Clearly enough because you’re single?” I ask.

  “Single as a bud blooms.”

  I gape at her. Does that mean she broke up with Zoth? Or did he break up with her?

  Dad clears his throat. “So, what courses are you taking this year?”

  I’m grateful for the change in topic, but as soon as dinner is over and we cleared off the table, I loop my arm through Bay’s and guide her into my room.