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“But they’re already started,” I said even more confused than ever. Alara was buzzing around, her violet wings flapping at ten-thousand miles a minute. Zephyr was hovering, monitoring the others and every once in a while stopping to show them a technique.
“Most of them came early when they heard it was going to be a flying day.” She got closer, a smile on her face. “Some of them even skipped other classes to be here...because my class is that badass.” Badass...seemed to be a theme today.
“Oh.”
“But don’t worry, I’ve got something just for you. Follow me.”
I rose on my toes, excited for what she had for me. Maybe something to help my wings come out, or perhaps Zephyr would come down and fly me around. I walked next to the teacher but focused on watching my fellow students whoosh through the air as though they weighed nothing.
“I wish my wings would come out,” I mumbled.
“They will. Until then, you can practice your bow skills and your knife-throwing skills. That way, once you actually get into the air, you will be a pro.”
Bow? Knife skills?
Maeve pointed at a huge target made of leather, a blue, black, and yellow bull’s-eye in the middle. It stood off to the side, on an easel.
“Fine.”
Maeve whisked away, already yelling at someone for almost slicing a fellow student open. I kicked at the bow and cursed its existence before picking it up. I was insistent on not looking like a complete loser by talking to the weapons instead of actually practicing with them.
My first arrow spliced through the side of the target and barely nicked the material.
No wonder she wanted me to practice. If I was this sucky with my feet planted on the ground, no doubt I would suck the life out of the atmosphere if I tried to fly and shoot at the same time.
I might take someone’s eye out.
With the bow drawn, the string touching my cheek, I tried this time, focusing my every attention on the bull’s-eye. Breathing out one long, drawn-out breath, I let the arrow go and sent a tiny prayer up to the fairy gods, whoever they were.
Another thing I should look up at the library.
The arrowhead pierced the target this time but landed on the third outer ring away from the bull’s-eye, not where I wanted it to go at all.
Still, it had landed. That had to count for something.
My attention was grabbed by a whooshing sound right above me. With my hand up to shield my eyes from the sun, I looked at Zephyr as he whizzed through the air. He was dodging another student’s sword and meeting the strokes with his own, one by one.
He had jeans on today with a tight, black T-shirt that made his biceps look like they were about to pop right through the fabric. As though he could hear me, he looked down with a smirk and landed on the ground.
“Good afternoon,” he said and maybe it was just the heat, but his voice sounded all breathy and gods above, he should use that for a sexy podcast or something. He would make a killing, that much I knew.
“Having fun?” I asked, pointing to the sky.
“It would be more fun if you were with me.” He winked and my knees went weak. Yeah, adding falling to my already failure of a class would be perfect.
“Yeah, if only these damned wings would decide to come out and work.” I shrugged. Someone called to Zephyr from above, taunting him.
“Gotta go. But I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something. See you later?” he asked and then zipped away without waiting for my answer. Of course my answer was going to be yes, I mean, who could resist that brooding stare and that pouty mouth? Not me.
By the time class was over, I’d mentally beaten myself up several times and then started over just for the hell of it.
Maeve stood nearby as I picked up all of my strewn arrows, along with the knives, all of which had missed the target by a mile, and I was being kind.
She waited until we were alone on the field. “It will get better, Endy.”
“Well,” I laughed, piling my things into a somewhat neat mess. “It can’t get any worse, that much is for sure.”
Maeve glanced at the target. “Endymion, you come from a long line of fairy warriors. Trust in that. Trust in your lineage. Your true nature has been quelled for eighteen years. It’s going to take some time before it emerges completely.”
