AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No,” she says immediately, although her voice wavers, and her gaze keeps flicking to the tunnel.
“Go!” I insist, sagging against the door, which is now completely under water. My mind spins wildly, my heart smashing against my ribcage as I do the same, throwing myself at the iron bars.
I’m trapped. I’m trapped. I’m trapped. The words swirl around my skull, a mantra of panic. This is my worst nightmare. Trapped in a cage. A cage that’s slowly filling with water. otices me looking and says, “I ordered my outfit from Barneys. Dressing like the Evermore is all the rage in Manhattan. We follow their seasons and everything, and winter fashion is my favorite.” I must be making a face because she adds, “I mean, it’s a bit overdone, in my opinion . . . but when in Everwilde . . .”
“Right.” I grin, her peppy mood contagious. “We don’t have a Barney’s in Amarillo.”
She laughs, a hearty sound that lifts my spirits. “You know, Dallas Cowboys, I think I’m going to like you. Depending on who chooses you at the Shadow Selection, maybe we can be bunk mates.”
“Shadow Selection?” Could there be a more ominous sounding name?
“Yeah,” Mack answers, sounding way less panicky than I feel. “The ceremony where basically our entire next four years are decided.” I must look confused because she adds, “Each Fae chooses a human shadow to train under them at school. I mean, we also fetch them things a lot and do trivial errands and stuff. Especially first year.”
Oh—that’s what the headmistress was talking about. The thought brings to mind cattle yards and auctioneers, but it also explains why the Evermore have drawn around our cage. They’re assessing us like bugs under a microscope. And most eyes seem to be on me.
Before I can question her further, the dais begins to move.
We’re sinking. Fast. Another round of panic lodges deep in my chest, and I clamp the iron bars of my cage, flexing my hands over the cool metal and spreading my legs for balance.
“Mack,” I call. “Which part of the ceremony is this?”
Her eyes go wide. “Did no one prepare you for this?” There’s incredulity in her voice, along with pity, an emotion I despise.
“I think you should just assume I know nothing.” The last few words come out two octaves higher as the floor lurches faster and faster into the ground. I barely have time to glimpse the Fae cheer, hooting and jeering, before the dais sinks into the earth.
Into the earth, for frack’s sake. This is totally how I die.
Mack sweeps a concerned look over me. “I don’t have time to explain all of it . . . you know how to swim, right?”
“Swim?” Dear Lord, my voice is squeaky. Why do I have to hate tight, enclosed spaces? ”Sure. Why?”
I used to love it, but swimming requires enormous amounts of calories . . .
“They’re dropping us into a river system below the academy. We have to make it to the lake of sorrows.” Of course it’s called the lake of sorrows. “We’re supposed to be scared of the selkies that live there, but my parents told me they secretly feed the selkies a huge meal right beforehand and then drug them with magic.”
Selkies . . . what are those again? My brain supplies endless images of mermaid creatures with rows of pointy teeth.
Killer mermaids. They’re throwing us into water with killer mermaids. “So they’re . . . harmless?”
“Supposedly.” She shrugs. “The biggest threat, of course, is drowning. There were two during my parents’ Selection.” She shrugs again, but the conditioned response is unable to hide the way her mouth puckers at the corners. “Other than making sure we don’t die, we just have to be one of the first fifty to arrive.”
This just keeps getting better. “What happens if we’re not?”
“We lose our spot in the academy.”
A spark of hope blossoms inside my chest. So there’s a way to get kicked out of this place? “Is that a . . . bad thing?”
Her eyes widen, and she shakes her head. “I still cannot get over how little you know about how this all works. Yes, that’s a bad thing. A very bad thing. Once we entered Everwilde, we belong to them. Any human who loses their spot at Evermore Academy goes to work as a slave in the Unseelie Courts, or worse . . . fighting the darklings in the scourge.”
An image of those poor souls trudging mindlessly behind Magus flashes in my mind, and newfound fear pierces my core. I cannot let that happen. God only knows what life in the Unseelie Courts would be like.
And the scourge . . .
My hands clench the bars as we’re plunged lower. The Fae students peer down at us. Inara’s face is gleeful as she calls out, “Watch out for the hungry selkies, little humans.” Her cruel gaze flicks to me. “I hear they eat the ugly mortals first.”
I can’t quite catch my breath. I should have expected something like this in the beginning—the Fae are vicious jerks—but still, I’m caught off guard, and I hate the feeling.
Someone is crying—a tall girl with lavender -dyed hair wrangled into a tight knot. In between sobs she blurts out that she can’t swim.
