A Faerie's Revenge

Chapter 2

Two

I glance away quickly, my hand tightening around the banister. No one can know that Zed and I are connected in any way. It would make things worse for him, and it wouldn’t exactly help me either. He’ll be in enough trouble for never having given up his guardian weapons without adding the fact that he’s secretly been training someone for the past several years.

From the corner of my eye, I watch as the two guardians drag him across the foyer and into a corridor I’ve entered only twice. There’s a well-guarded gate not far along that corridor, and then a glass elevator that drops down, down, down. Then another gate, and then rows of cells separated by thick bars.

How did he get caught? How, after years of staying far from the Guild, did he wind up in the clutches of two guardians? And what will his punishment be?

Knowing there’s nothing I can do for him right now, and fully aware that I’m late to meet my mentor, I hurry up the stairs toward her office. I expect to find her ready to spit fire at me, but instead she raises her gaze from the unfurled scroll in her hands and fixes me with an expressionless stare. “What are you here for?”

“Uh, the assignment you said you had for me?”

“Oh.” She returns her attention to the scroll, her thumb running along the broken edge of the red wax seal. “I gave that to Ling.”

I stand in the doorway, wondering whether I should dare ask why she gave my assignment to the other fifth-year trainee she mentors. “Um—”

“She’s been asking for extra assignments. She was here on time. You weren’t.” Olive’s eyes scan the reed paper, never glancing up at me.

I fiddle with the strap on my bag and try to figure out whether I’ve been dismissed or not. “So …”

“No, you don’t have the night off.” Olive rolls up the scroll and throws it into a drawer, which she slams shut before standing. She combs her fingers through her short hair as she watches me, probably deciding what training exercise I’m least likely to enjoy. She lowers her hands to her sides. “You’ll run laps around the old Guild ruins for the next two hours, and you’ll wear your tracker band so I know you’re not skipping a single second of it.”

Terrific. So instead of sitting at home trying not to think of what Chase is doing, I’ll be running in circles trying not to think of what Chase is doing. Wondering whether he’s been cooking up evil plans since his fall. Pondering what reason he might have had for helping me. Trying to figure out how someone so terrible could seem so … caring.

STOP. IT.

“Not impressed, I see,” Olive says. She sifts through the untidiness of her desk until she finds the box that contains her trainees’ tracker bands. “Does the idea of improving your fitness seem like a waste of time to you?”

I carefully arrange my features into what I hope is a pleasant expression. “Of course not. None of this is a waste of time. I appreciate all the extra training you give me.”

“I see. Well, since you’re so appreciative of the extra training, let’s add in some more. You’ll do thirty minutes of running and spend the remainder of the time on the obstacle course. The one set up on the ruins. I want it completed perfectly five times in a row before you’re allowed to leave.”

I nod, relieved that I won’t have to spend two hours doing something so mindless. “Thank you.” My smile is closer to being genuine this time, which only seems to annoy Olive further.

“You’d better—” A crease forms between her eyebrows as she focuses on something behind me. An annoyed puff of breath escapes her lips. “That time of year again,” she mutters.

I look over my shoulder and see two first-year trainees practicing their levitating skills on a large sign that reads Liberation Day. The sick feeling I’ve been trying to escape rises up once more. In trying so hard to forget about Chase, it seems I’ve forgotten Liberation Day is coming up this week. Now I won’t be able to forget either of them.

I turn back to Olive. “Don’t you enjoy celebrating our freedom?” I ask quietly.

She tosses my tracker band to me. “I celebrate my freedom every day by simply being free. I think it’s entirely unnecessary for the Guild to go to such great expense every year to commemorate the day Draven’s reign ended.”

I’ve heard about the magnificent balls hosted by the Guilds every year on Liberation Day. I used to dream of attending, but Mom would never have let me, even if I’d been fortunate enough to receive an invitation from a Guild member. This is the first year I’m allowed to attend. This is also the first year I’d rather be anywhere else.

“Am I dismissed now?” I ask as I secure the leather tracker band around my wrist.

“Yes. And don’t be late tomorrow night. We’ve scheduled an assignment race for the fifth years. You’ll all begin at the same time and extra points are awarded based on the order in which you complete the assignment and return to the Guild. Now go. You’ve already wasted enough time this afternoon.”

I enjoy the outdoor obstacle course: vines and broken stone walls and stumps of wood placed strategically by mentors over the years. A still pool of water—formed by rain gathering in the crater left behind from the explosion that destroyed the old Guild—marks the end of the course.

I’ve just swung across the pool for the second time when I hear the sound. I drop onto my feet, release the rope-like vine, and squint into the dim blueish light. It was the snap of a branch, as if someone—or something—was moving through the trees nearby.

Of course my first thought is of Chase. It always is these days. Is he hiding amongst the trees, watching me? Has he been waiting for me to show up so he can speak to me? After all, he knows I train on the ruins sometimes.

Then it strikes me, with sickening abruptness, that he was the one who created these ruins. He is the sole reason this Guild no longer exists. I bend over and breathe deeply, willing the nausea away. How is it that I stood beside, that I spoke to and laughed with—that I touched—someone of such evil intent and never realized it? Is he so good at hiding that part of himself?

I straighten and peer between the trees once more. They sway ever so slightly in the chilly breeze, their tangled branches reaching for one another like spindly-fingered arms. But I see no other movement. Then, with a sudden rush of wings and a squawk, a large bird detaches itself from the dark outline of the trees and swoops overhead. With each flap of its wings, bright spots of luminous color light up its feathers. I breathe out sharply in relief, one hand against my chest as adrenaline subsides and the pulsing light of the bird disappears into the forest on the other side of the clearing.

When I’ve completed my five perfect rounds on the obstacle course, it’s almost too dark to see clearly. Of course, it’s never completely dark in Creepy Hollow, not with the glow-bugs and various other night creatures that produce some form of illumination. Or the giant mushrooms that soak up the moon’s rays, or the plants that light up if you stand on them. I head back to the Guild, thinking of Zed. We may have exchanged a few heated words lately, but I still care what happens to him. He’s done so much for me over the past few years, and now he’s locked up in a cell. I doubt there’s any way I can help him, but I should at least try to find out what’s going on.

As I cross the Guild foyer, I glance at the corridor he disappeared into earlier. Last week, after returning from an assignment with a pyromaniacal, graffiti-loving elf in tow, I stood uncertainly at the base of the main stairway while Olive pointed to that corridor as if she expected me to know what was down there. “Well?” she said. “What are you waiting for?”

The guards didn’t stop me when I walked into that corridor. They opened the gate without question. Another guard at the bottom of the elevator shaft took note of my assignment details, then gestured to the gate of solid bars behind him. Not boring vertical bars like those filling Velazar Prison, but bars twisting elegantly into curling spirals, joined by shapes that looked like roses and leaves. As I stared at the closed gate, wondering how I was supposed to get through it, the guard asked, “First time down here?”

I nodded, then frowned at the elf as he rolled his eyes and muttered, “Amateur.”

“What year are you in?” the guard asked.

“Fifth.”

“Cool. Hold your pendant up to the gate. That’ll open it. All guardians and fifth-year trainees have access down here.”

So I held my pendant close to the gate, and the metal pieces curled away and disappeared into the walls on either side. It was easy. And four days later, when I went back to deliver the papers detailing the elf’s release and community service requirements, no one questioned my right to be there.

Will they question me now?

Without hesitation, I veer toward the corridor as if that’s where I intended to go all along. I doubt anyone’s watching me, but for those who might be, I’d like to appear confident rather than undecided. Casually, I pull my trainee pendant from beneath my T-shirt and leave it resting against my chest where it’s visible. My footsteps sound louder than normal against the marble floor as I leave the expansive foyer behind me and head along the corridor. I tell myself it’s only my imagination. You have every right to be here, remember? “Evening,” I say to the first two guards, stopping in front of them and waiting expectantly.

They nod and open the gate without a word. I walk through, managing to keep my expression neutral instead of smiling jubilantly. The corridor ends with an elevator of glass. Glass walls, glass ceiling, even a glass floor. The view beyond is enchanted to look like soil, as if the elevator shaft has been dug into the earth. As the glass box drops smoothly down, I see glow-bugs and worms and tiny tunnels with minuscule creatures crawling along them. It’s rather eerie, and I wonder who decided on this particular enchantment.

At the embellished gate outside the bottom of the elevator, I greet the guard with a smile. “Hey, I’m here to get some extra information from one of my recent assignments.”

“Sure, can I see your trainee pendant?” he asks. I hold it up. He reads my name off the back, then checks his amber tablet. “I don’t see any—oh, yes. You’ve still got someone in here.” He steps to the side and nods to the gate.

Trying not to look too relieved, I hold my pendant up a second time and watch the gate uncurl itself and disappear into the wall. I had no idea whether that elf had been processed yet or not. I would have had to act ditzy and apologetic if it turned out he wasn’t here anymore.

I walk along the main passageway, glancing into every cell I pass to see if Zed is in one of them. It’s a far more pleasant place than Velazar Prison, with cells that are larger and brighter. But then, this isn’t technically a prison. Olive called it a detainment area. Fae are detained in these cells before their hearing takes place.

A man throws himself at his bars and sticks his arm through, attempting to clutch the sleeve of my jacket as I pass. I shrug away from him and continue quickly. Fortunately no magic can pass beyond these bars.

I throw a quick look over my shoulder as I approach the first side corridor. The guard isn’t watching me, so I turn into it to have a look. Four cells along on the right, I see a pacing man with turquoise-streaked blond hair. Zed. I hurry toward him and come to a stop outside his bars as he turns.

“Calla.” His eyes widen in alarm, his gaze darting over my shoulder before returning to rest on me. “What … what are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? What are you doing here? How did you get yourself caught?”

“I was …” He crosses the cell and grips the bars, looking past me once more. “Careless. I was careless. Just a stupid mistake. But you …” He frowns and shakes his head slightly. “I forgot you were here. At this Guild.”

I blink. “You forgot?” Joining a Guild is the only thing I’ve ever wanted, and Zed knows that. It seems impossible he could have forgotten.

“I know, I know, I remember now. It’s just … a lot’s been happening … and you … well, you haven’t exactly been on my mind. I started a new job, and all my focus has been on that. Everything else has faded into the background.”

There was a time when it would have hurt to hear that I don’t feature in Zed’s thoughts, but I’m long past those days. “What job? What’s going on with you? What stupid mistake caused you to wind up here?”

“I …” Zed scratches his head, looking rather sheepish. “I was at one of the Underground bars that never closes. I had a bit too much to drink, ended up offending a pair of reptiscillas, and got into a brawl. I was the only one who didn’t get away in time when the guardians showed up.”

I shake my head, wrapping my hands around the bars as I step closer. “What were you doing in Creepy Hollow? You used to stay far away from any area that has a Guild.”

“I have some friends here,” he says, looking away. “But it doesn’t matter how I wound up getting caught. The fact is that I’m here and they’ve seen my markings now. They’ll look me up, and they’ll soon find out that I’m supposed to be dead. They might even find out that I’m Griffin Gifted. And you know what else, Cal?” He places his hands around mine. “They’re going to find out about you too. You know that. You won’t be able to hide what you can do forever.”

A familiar pang clutches my insides as I’m reminded—suddenly, painfully—of the loss of my Griffin Ability. I often reach for it still, automatically, only to find that it’s gone. “They’re not going to find out,” I say quietly.

“They will,” Zed insists. “Eventually you’ll slip up, and then everyone in the Guild will know you have a Griffin Ability.”

I shake my head, readying myself to explain to him that that part of me is gone, but the sound of slow footsteps freezes my tongue. I whip my head around, but I don’t see anyone yet.

Zed’s grip on my hands tightens. “You have to get out of here,” he whispers fiercely.

“I know. I’m—”

“No, I mean permanently. Leave the Guild. You don’t want to become like these guardians, arrogant and superior, tangled up in laws and protocols, unable to help those that really need to be helped.”

The footsteps move closer, and I can’t believe what Zed is asking me. “Zed, this is everything I’ve ever wanted. I’m not giving it up simply because you have a grudge against a Guild Council that doesn’t exist anymore.”

“It’s not just that Council, it’s every Council. There will always be—”

“No.” I pull my hands free of his clutch and step back. “If there’s anything I can do to help you, Zed, I will. But I’m not leaving the Guild.” And with that, I walk away. My footsteps carry me to the end of the row of cells and into the main passageway. I nod to the guard as I pass him. He doesn’t stop me.