stumbles to the downstairs bathroom. A few seconds later, I hear her scream, followed by Ruby’s maniacal laugh.
“Ruby?” I narrow my eyes and try to look stern. “What did you do?”
The sprite has the balls to look indignant, tossing her hair back and throwing her nose in the air. “Nothing.”
“Ruby!”
Mack stomps into the living room, and I finally understand the scream. Her face is shiny moss green. Two slits take the place of her adorable nose. Her once blue eyes are the huge buggy things of nightmares. She squishes her cheeks in shock.
“I’m a . . . a . . .”
“Frog?” Ruby offers helpfully. God, she is in so much trouble.
Mack’s amphibian face twists with fury. “You did this, you tiny little freak!”
Ruby streaks to the golden chandelier shaped like trumpet flowers over the dining room table and alights on the top. “I only spelled what’s mine against greedy sticky-fingered thieves.”
“Yours?” Mack’s voice is nearing a shriek. “That’s rich coming from klepto Tinker Bell. The fireball probably isn’t even yours!”
“I stole it fair and square!”
“Well isn’t that just the epitome of irony.”
“I have no idea what that means, Frog Face.”
Mack opens her mouth to shout something but a croak comes out instead. Her eyes widen in distress, and then she takes one of the shot glasses and chucks it at Ruby. Luckily her aim is shit even when she’s sober, and the glass shatters against the wall ten feet away.
The front door slams open and Eclipsa enters. Curiosity lights up her eyes as she looks at Mack’s poor face, the fireball bottle clenched in her hand ready to throw, and then Ruby dancing above with her tongue stuck out.
Eclipsa strolls around the scene and into the kitchen, calling over her shoulder, “Do I even want to know?”
“Nope.”
Eclipsa pours herself a glass of water from a decanter that’s somehow always full of chilled spring water. “Need help disciplining the children?”
A crash booms from the dining room, and I nod, happy for the help. When Mack and Ruby fight, they always ask me to choose sides. Which is like picking your favorite child.
I tackle Ruby while Eclipsa works on changing Mack’s face back. After we get Mack to bed and Ruby receives a very stern talking to, I drag my tired body to the shower.
I’m stepping out, eyes already half closed as I imagine how wonderful my bed will feel, when an idea comes. Maybe I don’t need to take Inara down. Maybe I just have to embarrass her somehow, freak her out the way Ruby did Mack.
If I can show the others that she’s not a god, they’ll realize she can be beaten just like any other bully.
24
On Monday morning, I meet with the headmistress to discuss my “mistake” during the Selection. I’m expecting her usual speech about my not belonging. Instead, she spends the time going over how important it is not to talk publicly about the deaths.
My offer to write to the parents of the students who died is rejected. Her excuse about lawyers and bad press sours my stomach, but I can tell she hates it too.
The sad truth is the headmistress has no real authority here. She’s a figurehead. A puppet.
The ones pulling all the strings are the powerful royals like the Winter King and Spring Queen, and their only concern is protecting the reputation of the school. When mortal students die here, they use every bit of their power and influence to cover up those deaths.
Just as they use that power to let their own children get away with everything.
It’s not until a week later that I learn how they spin it this time. I find an article online on one of the Fae sites. The article claims the students snuck into one of the enclosures in the menagerie Friday night after drinking heavily and were mauled by a minotaur.
I might be infuriated by the lie, but I’m not surprised.
What happens in Evermore Academy stays in Evermore Academy, and the full truth rarely makes it past those magical gates. Even the Council for the Mistreatment of Mortals has taken their resources out of the academy.
If the world knew the truth about the Fae, they would never be allowed back into our realm.
My days are split into thirds. The first third is my favorite. Mack and I get to hang out, the classes are all mortal, and even if some of them—okay, most of them—still stare at me like I’m a freak, they don’t mess with me.
I