The Claddagh Academy

The Unseelie King

Kodiak

            Shh. Be silent…For once, go back to your cage and stay there.

            No, can’t do. She is different, she is ours. She is mine.

            Go back and stay in the darkness.

            You are the darkness. You are me. I’m you. She is ours.

            STAY IN THE f*****g CAGE.

            Fine.

            For now.

                                                                            ~~~~                                                                                                                                                 

            Blaise

                        It couldn’t be. I’ve read about the first look between soul mates, the moment when fate decided they would be joined forever. I’ve heard some Fae sharing stories about their personal experiences when encountering their soul mates. Some said they felt as if their old self died the moment they looked at their soul mates, and they were reborn through their mate’s eyes, ready to start a new life together. Other’s said that lust like no other invaded them and the only thing they were able to do was coupling like animals. Other’s said that the moment one looked into their mate’s eyes they were pulled into their mate’s body and stayed there forever. I didn’t experience nothing like that. The moment I looked into those amber eyes I felt a hot bond knot itself around my heart. I wavered, like some stupid damsel in distress, but mercifully he didn’t step in trying to help me. I would probably kick him in his nuts if he tried to help me.

            “You could try, but you will be too slow,” said the jackass that kept moving in my direction with the grace of a tiger. His steps were silent but firm, not a movement out of place and pure elegance. The roots of the trees seemed to move away from him in terror, the air opened a curtain to let him pass without touching him. Even the fat principal that had just expelled me from Claddagh moved away, purposely looking anywhere but at the tall boy that was coming my way.

            The boy walking in my direction was tall and lean, two heads taller than me, with long limbs that were equally strong and muscular. He was dressed in a black suit and black converse, his jacket’s sleeves tugged by his elbows in a rebellious air. From his neck hanged two strange pendants, one was a thick silver chain with a closed lock hanging from it and the other one was a long leather string with an old single blade razor as a pendant. Up closer I had to hold my breath after I stole a look from his perfect chiseled face. He had a mischievous little boy face, the kind that would always get him what he wanted only because it was impossible to decline the thrill of looking at it. I studied his golden skin, which was perfectly even, his mouth, that rested in a constant smirk and two almond shaped eyes that were as golden as the sun. He smiled when he stopped right in front of me and two cute dimples formed on each cheek. His black hair was the best case of bed hair I’ve ever seen, tousled and messy with a little braid hanging longer than the rest of his dark tips. It was only then I realized he had answered my thoughts aloud.

            “It took you longer than the average to realize I read minds. I guess that pretty face doesn’t come attached to a smart brain,” he clicked his tongue and shook his head at me, “Pity, you would have been a cliché breaker.”

            “Do you really want to insult my brain when I’m dripping Banshee’s blood from my thumbs?” I asked him, pushing my thumbs up and smiling saccharinely at him. “For a pretty boy you are unusually dense.”

            “Oh right, you think my dimples are cute and I have a little boy face,” he said, rolling his hands as if he were reciting my thoughts by memory when I’d only have them. I blushed, which was a first. I never blushed. He stopped walking, c*****g his head to a side while all his midnight blue hair moved with him. His golden eyes seemed to smile at me, but his soft lips were smirking. He turned to the fat man at his side, the one I was betting was principal Cauldron. In response to his nearness the fat man moved his neck to a side, trying to distance himself all he could from the boy, “The girl doesn’t seem to be bright, but she did hold down a Banshee longer than any Fae I’ve met. It is for the best if you give her another chance Mr. Cauldron.”

            “I respect your opinion, your Highness, but we can’t ignore the fact that other students were endangered because Mss. Darkholme brought upon us a Banshee. She is a liability for this school, its students and this land,” said the principal, which by now was sporting a red face that really extended to his second chin. Principal Cauldron was a small man, with a bald head, a plain face and a large mouth. His uncanny resemblance to Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars almost made me laugh under my breath, but the moment I pictured the image in my mind I saw the boy in front of him tightening his lips, as if he was holding his own laughter. Ew, I wasn’t planning on making him laugh. Don’t you find me amusing? I thought, looking at the boy with a frown. The boy nodded slowly, only for me to see, while he kept looking at the principal. What a pretentious prick. This time the boy actually smiled, but ignored me completely.

            “This land gives birth to monsters that put Banshees to shame,” said the boy, staring at the principal with a seriousness in his voice that sobered me right away. It was true what he was saying, it pained me to admit it, but he was right. Claddagh academy was located inside the Unseelie Court and everyone knew about the monsters that lurked in this land. There where dark territories inside Unseelie where the sun never shined. Some said that the old Unseelie King lived in a castle surrounded by darkness and that no one, not even his most trusted advisors could get inside his castle. The boy started speaking again and this time I made sure to follow the entire conversation, “You wanted to teach our young generations to be more prepared to live inside Faerie, that’s the reason why Claddagh is located in the most dangerous territory of them all. Isn’t it?”

            “Well, yes, your Highness, but…” murmured principal Cauldron looking down and searching for the right words to answer the boy’s sounded speech. The boy smirked, staring at me with an air of triumph in his golden irises. I wondered if he ever lost at his own games. One look at his winning expression had me thinking he didn’t even know what the concept of losing entitled. “I believe she…”

            “Then it is decided, the pretty girl without a brain can stay,” said the boy, interrupting the principal. I squinted at him while a sly smile lightened his whole face.  I felt the siren inside of me steer in anger. He was so…so insulting! Give me five minutes with him in a boxing ring and I would beat that smile out of place. In response the boy only smiled bigger. Cocky bastard.

            “Fine, she can stay!” Said principal Cauldron, pushing his hands up as in surrender. Then he turned around and walked a couple of steps away. The other students and professor Cicerone where now surrounding us. The queen bee was standing right in front of the mass of students, her arms crossed while she batted her eyelashes at the boy in front of me as if tomorrow might never come. What a perfect match those two would make. Barbie and the Punk. She could have him, although, I didn’t believe she would be able to please the dark S&M side I sensed coming from him. The boy frowned and looked up until he was holding my eyes with his alluring golden irises. Right then the principal turned around, as if he had just remembered something very important and pointed a finger at me, “I would be watching you Mss. Darkholme. Your days as the Darkling are over! If you do anything, just one more thing to disrupt the peace inside of Claddagh, I would have you expelled!

            There was a general commotion after the principal’s last threat. I rolled my eyes, ready to just grab my backpack and leave. I could take the next train and return to the human realm in time to hunt down some trolls with Amadeus. The other students were already whispering their own judgements about me. Thanks to Cauldron, now everyone knew I was the Darkling and some were having fun roasting me. That’s the Darkling? No way, the Darkling must be a boy! She is too pretty to be a Bounty Hunter! Isn’t she afraid some monster will break one of her nails? Hahahaha…

            “Silence,” spoke the boy in front of me and everyone grew quiet right away. I frowned, staring at him while the boy lifted one of his large hands. The crowd of students gasped in general horror at that simple gesture, even one of the students turned around and started running after principal Cauldron. Why everybody was so afraid of the boy who had rescued me from principal Cauldron? He was probably a prince, I will give him that. Principal Cauldron had called him Highness, but there were probably a dozen of princes and princesses in attendance. No, there was something different about him. Something that everyone was afraid of. Could it be his reading minds gift? It was impressive. Only very strong Fae could manage to read other Fae’s minds and it was mostly an Unseelie gift. Neither the Blood, the Wind, the Water, the Earth nor the Fire court of Fae possessed that gift. I was missing something, but I wasn’t sure of the what. The boy smiled, looking impish and scratching the back of his neck in a relaxed manner that had everyone sighing in relief, “Everyone follow professor Cicerone inside the school grounds. You, come with me.”

            “And why would I do that?” I asked him, pushing my backpack’s straps on my shoulders while the other students started to walk away, following professor Cicerone right as the boy had ordered. What a bunch of followers.

            “I figured you would want to wash your hands first, Banshee’s blood reeks,” he said making a face of disgust that would have been comical if it wasn’t because he was right again. I was starting to get tired of recognizing he was right. I looked down at my hands covered in blue blood and then at Molly, who was laying on the floor with her long tongue hanging from her open mouth. No visible wound scarred her. How had she died? Did Cauldron kill her with some Fae incantation? Could it had been professor Cicerone? I made a mental note to ask them later and looked around us. We shouldn’t leave Molly’s body out like that. The smell of the blood oozing from her eyes would attract some other beast and that could represent a threat for the students at Claddagh. I needed to bury her. The boy spoke again, proving me he hadn’t stop invading my mind for a second since we met, “It’s alright. I will dispose the Banshee’s body at night. You don’t have anything to worry about, since the only creature that actually represents a threat is you and the smell of your hands. I swear you will be biohazard if you don’t clean yourself.”

            “Aren’t you charming?” I sarcastically joked, following his wide back to a small stream of water by the side of the trail. I put my hands on the water and let them rest for a moment. Banshee’s blood was thick and dried fast. I’ve let it on my skin too long and now it would take a while to clean my hands from the blue resin. It would probably take a whole week before I managed to clean my nails completely from the residual. Then I clean my bloodied ears, it didn’t hurt, not really, I took this pain over a Banshee’s scream a thousand of times.

            “You seem to know a frightening amount of details about Banshee’s blood,” said the boy, pinching his strong chin while he looked at the stream’s current. I could tell by his playful expression he was toying with me right before he started talking again, “Is that because of a tragic upbringing with that man you call Amadeus, or because you are just fascinated about Banshee’s stinky rubbish?”

            “Didn’t your mother ever teach you that spying other people’s heads was disrespectful?”  I asked him, staring at his perfect, mischievous face, “Don’t you have a life of your own to take care of?”

            “I do,” he said, shrugging and standing in his long legs. He towered over me, looking at my hands one second and then moving fast to my side. He was fast! Probably as super-fast as I was. I frowned when he paused his head over my shoulder, staring at me terribly close. This boy had never learned what personal space entitled. This close I could smell his scent. The siren inside of me steered again, probably memorizing that divine scent he exhaled. He smelled earthy, like wood and the smell of ozone right before it rained. I’ve never smelled anything like him and bothered I felt my heart beat harder, loud enough for him to listen to. He smirked, showing me a set of fangs that gave him a wild look, “But intruding your life is so much fun. Your name is Blaise Darkholme, also known as the Darkling, your bounty hunter nickname. You are half Blood Fae, half siren. Neither of your parents are alive, so you were raised by your godfather, Amadeus. By the way, you should let him know that sideburns are no longer a thing. They were a hit back in the twentieth century, but he is pushing that Wolverine look too hard. Ahh, of course, I almost forget about the fact you don’t want to be here. Poor little thing, throwing a pity party and trying to flee before things can get too hard.”

            I rushed to him, dripping water everywhere but moving fast enough that I would have surprised a werewolf if my intention was to kill it. For my surprise the boy moved to a side before I could connect my fist with his perfect Roman nose. He jumped to a side, dodging my kick to his throat and reappeared at my back, resting his chin on my shoulder as if we were old friends.

            “You forget, siren, that I can read your next move before you even take the conscious decision of moving,” He sighed, taking a step back while I turned around, fisting my hands to contain my rage. He smirked again, scratching the back of his neck in that boyish gesture that made him look utterly adorable. Man, I hated him.

            “You might think you know me, but you don’t. Stay out of my mind Fae, or do I need to use some crayons to make you understand there would be consequences?” At that he laughed, he actually laughed and to be honest, his laughter was a soothing balm for my tensed body. I liked the sound of his laughter, honest and deep, but rusty, as if he hadn’t laughed in a very long time.

            “Is that a threat?” He asked me, his eyes sparkling mischievously.

            “No, is a promise,” I told him, and the boy smiled at me, showing me straight, white teeth and a pair of canines that were more elongated than the rest.

            “You need to toughen a little bit more if you want to survive in Faerie. All I can see when I look at you is a girl spiraling down without any control. You can’t control your siren’s half and you don’t even know how to claim your Fae blood. Wake up little girl, and open your eyes. If you are not in control, then I will control you.”

            And just like that he shifted. I’ve never known any Fae who could shift. Not even Amadeus could shift from one location to another one. It required a lot of will power to change one’s body from one location to another. And magic, lots and lots of magic. That boy, whoever he was, was definitely strong. I took a long breath and walked back to the stream, cleaning my hands one last time and taking my backpack with me. I followed the other student’s tracks while I tried very hard to imagine how much could it take to make my day even worse. At this point nothing could beat being attacked by a Banshee, almost getting expelled during my first day of school. And being psychoanalyzed by one of the strongest Fae I’ve ever crossed paths with, whom was also my same age, which by osmosis gave me a bad case of low self-esteem. How the hell could he be so strong and so young? For such a young Fae to read minds so easily and also shift…how it was even possible? It only made me feel worse to recognize he had been right.

            I’d been throwing a pity party since I’d arrived at Faerie. I didn’t like changes and if I was honest I was afraid of being judged because of my half siren side. The boy had been right-once again apparently- I wasn’t in control and if I wanted to become stronger and pass Transition I needed to grow up some balls and learn how to invoke my Fae heritage and control the siren inside of me. Something told me the boy hadn’t been joking when he threatened on controlling me. Who did that? Who threatened another person by promising them they will control them? That was crazy. He was crazy… I haven’t even learned his name, neither what kind of Fae he was. And why was I using so many healthy neurons thinking about him? I’d been wrong on believing we were soul mates. We simply couldn’t be. Soul mates loved each other right away. We had experienced hate at first sight instead, and I was thankful for it. There was simply no way I would endure an infinite existence at the side of such an arrogant bastard.

            I made my way through the forest, passing first a rock bridge and then a large wall covered in climbing ivy. Inside the stone walls was a large castle, protected by a portcullis and large iron gates. Further ahead I could see the inside of the plaza where all the other students were gathered. Everybody was showing different states of excitement. The other Fae around me looked equally excited and nervous. I couldn’t blame them, this school was huge and…terrifying.  I studied the gray stones that formed the foundation of the castle, and the large plaza with a fountain in the middle. The moment I walked in every boy stopped whatever they were doing and bluntly stared at me. I walked to the far right and rested a shoulder on the cold wall, ignoring everyone while studying my surroundings. I took my time to look for the boy with the midnight blue hair. I found him right in front of the crowd, surrounded by a large group of twelve guys that looked more like bodyguards than fellow students. Right at the side of the boy was a petite girl with the same black, bluish hair. Their resemblance was too pronounced to make them anything else but brother and sister. She was breathtaking beautiful, with her hair styled short in a pixie cut and big, circular golden eyes that stared at me right then. We shared one long look before the older students from upper courses arrived, welcoming First year as if they were our mentors and knew better than us about life. I smirked at them, while principal Cauldron walked over the large terrace that hanged from the largest tower of the castle. He had changed his previous brown suit for another brown suit. This one was pinstriped at least, but equally brown and equally plain. I was ready to bet my left arm principal Cauldron had an entire closet full of the same boring outfit.

            “Welcome all of you, to another schoolyear at Claddagh academy!” said principal Cauldron and everyone started screaming in excitement, some started applauding, others like me and the boy with the golden eyes just stared ahead, uninvolved and distanced from the general elation, “This year I’m pleased to announce we are receiving into our school very prominent, young Fae of our community. Before I personally present you each one of them I would remind you some new rules to follow. This year curfew had been shortened to nine at night. Every student would be accounted for inside the dorms by that time. Girls, we have a zero-tolerance policy about the modification of our uniforms. If I found out that some of you have shortened your skirts I would personally escort them outside the schoolgrounds. No fights inside Claddagh and not escaping the schoolgrounds. Students can only leave Claddagh if they are escorted by their family or their professors. Oh yes, professor Olympus is looking for a learning assistant to help her design this year Winter Ball. Anyone who is interested just let her know. And now, changing topics, let me present you Aella, princess of the Blood court.”

            The queen bee that have made fun of me squeaked and waved her hand like a contestant in a Miss Universe reality show. I could swear the boy with the golden eyes smiled the minute I thought that last idea. I was clearly giving him too much attention. I shook my head, looking ahead to the platform in which Aella was now standing, waving her hand to the other students that were cheering for her.

            “Prince Gallagher from the Water Court!” Announced principal Cauldron and a thin boy with blonde hair stood right next to Aella. Over and over principal Cauldron called for prince this and princess that and the same thing happened. Applauses, cheering, curtsies, waving of hands. Boring. Until it wasn’t boring any longer. Principal Cauldron cleared his throat and made one last announcement, “It’s my pleasure to receive among us the twelve crowned princes of the Unseelie Court, the princess Karoo and her brother, the Unseelie King, Kodiak.”

            Everyone stood respectfully silent while the twelve boys I’ve seen by the first row walked to the platform, followed by the beautiful petite girl with the pixie cut, and then it was him. The boy with the golden eyes. No, it couldn’t be. Not him. Right then Kodiak looked at me and winked, confirming everything I needed to know. The boy with the golden eyes was the Unseelie King.