Alpha Academy: Misfit's Rise

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Retaliation

"I was beginning to think you'd lied about the bonfires," I said as I placed my hands next to the crackling ice-blue flame.

"Are you satisfied?" Thorin said from my left.

I grinned. "Very."

Lucian shifted on my other side. I didn't let myself look away from the fire. Lucian and I had barely spoken since he abandoned me yesterday. I still hadn't said anything about the attack either. I was standing by my decision to keep him out of it, but I wasn't sure my mediocre lying skills would be able to keep it from him if he asked me directly. Especially since Jumong was leering at me just a few rows in front of us.

Arthur had been right, at least in part, since I had a feeling Saranya would have done a lot worse if Thea and Iris hadn't come along when they did. I wasn't going to talk to Arthur either, though. It would only give him further evidence that I should back down, and that was the last thing I wanted to do.

At least the festival gave me plenty of distractions. People were gathered around fires of all sorts of colors all around the arena. But just as I got used to them, they all disappeared, throwing the arena into darkness. The only light came from the white orb we made on our first day. It had been there the entire festival.

"We thank you for your attendance," Mayor Tocitan said from her floating platform in the center of the arena. "On our final day, we honor the one thing that matters to us most; our life blood, our greatest blessing ... magic." Her platform floated away as a woman with silver skin entered the arena.

The woman began to grow until she was ten feet tall, and then twenty. By the time she was done, her eyes were level with mine, even though we were in the top tier of the arena. She smiled, revealing her filed teeth, like giant white stalagmites. She stomped her massive foot, and the entire arena shook.

A man, who's entire body was covered in scales, caused snakes to crawl out of everyone's pockets in the arena, inciting many screams.

A Faerie man and woman took the stage next. They joined hands and raised themselves in the air as a row of Fae, Elves, and Warriors moved in behind them. The Faerie woman began to sing an enchanting, harmonic note. Her voice grew, magically amplifying as it echoed around the arena. Like the last time a Faerie sang, my eyes began to droop at the sound of her voice. But this time, Lucian didn't snap me out of it.

The arena faded as my eyes closed.

Something soft pressed against my back and neck, and I sighed in contentment, my eyes still closed. Sunlight tickled my eyelids. I opened them and found myself surrounded by trees. Sunlight trickled through the leaves.

I sat up from my grassy bed, quickly glancing around. The arena was gone, replaced by a grove. Based on the vibrant technicolor of the trees I was still in the Realm, but that was all I had.

There was a soft melody of several different bird songs coming together, underscored by the sound of trickling water. I looked left, where a small pool and waterfall were situated under the broad green leaves. The water inside was clear and bright blue, though several other colors glimmered across the surface. It didn't matter that I didn't know where I was, not if everything was so peaceful.

High-pitched laughter cut through the serenity. I looked down as a human-ish creature floated to my feet. She had eyes like violets, with minty-green skin and pure-white hair braided with deep, red roses. She laughed again before flitting away from me. Soon there was another one like her, and then another one, until the pool was full of them. They danced around in time with the Faerie woman's song, flitting in and out of each other in a graceful pattern. They looked like the pictures I'd seen of Nymphs, the other species the Warlocks had driven to extinction.