“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 cloud 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?
