The Fae & The Fallen: Gifted Fae Academy - Year One

  The Fae & The Fallen

  Gifted Fae Academy: Year One

  Brittni Chenelle

  Copyright © 2019 by Brittni Chenelle

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  For my brother, Trey.

  (Even if I mostly hated him <3)

  Contents

  1. Reina

  2. Kaito

  3. Reina

  4. Kaito

  5. Reina

  6. Kaito

  7. Reina

  8. Kaito

  9. Reina

  10. Kaito

  11. Reina

  12. Kaito

  13. Reina

  14. Kaito

  15. Reina

  16. Kaito

  17. Reina

  18. Kaito

  19. Reina

  20. Kaito

  21. Reina

  22. Kaito

  23. Reina

  24. Kaito

  25. Reina

  26. Kaito

  27. Reina

  28. Kaito

  29. Reina

  30. Kaito

  31. Reina

  32. Kaito

  33. Reina

  34. Kaito

  35. Reina

  36. Kaito

  37. Reina

  38. Kaito

  39. Reina

  40. Kaito

  41. Reina

  42. Kaito

  43. Reina

  44. Reina

  The Brave & The Broken

  Author’s Note

  Also by Brittni Chenelle

  Acknowledgments

  1

  Reina

  My first kiss nearly killed me—literally.

  We had just entered middle school and most of our class had already received their gifts. It was the year that most people came into their abilities and the ones who didn’t—like me—were mercilessly tortured.

  I wish I could say there had been strength in numbers, that by banding together, we ungifted Serfs could make it through the day in peace. The reality was that the Commons, those with useful but not extraordinary gifts, could still hurt us. The Elites were worst of all, but there were only a few of them around. They could knock all five Serfs out of school for a week with a touch, and as classmates, we were kept in frighteningly close proximity.

  Still, we suffered together. But of the five companions I made, I grew closest to one boy in particular, Kaito. He was a transfer student from overseas, a couple of inches shorter than me and a little more than chubby, but every time it looked like I’d be targeted by the Elites, he’d do something to provoke them and draw their attention so I’d be spared their cruelty.

  One day after school, we sat at our usual spot on the pier. The sun was setting, and the bright orange light splashed across the clouds. “You didn’t have to do that,” I said, eyeing the sling that cradled Kai’s right arm. “I could’ve kicked his ass.”

  He grinned. “If you’re missing the rest of your friends, you can always just visit them in the infirmary.”

  I laughed. “It’s faster just to let them knock me out.” I turned away and absently watched the pink hues flicker on top of the waves.

  “If only we had Fae at school.”

  I tilted my head. “Can you imagine the great Yemoja Roux cornering Westly in the hallway?” I laughed. “I’m sure she has bigger fish to fry than a few middle school bullies. She’s out there with the rest of the Fae, holding this whole world together.”

  He nodded. “Things will be better once our gifts come in… if they come in.”

  I punched his shoulder, forgetting his sling. He winced.

  “I’m getting my gift,” I said. “And when I do, I’m going to Gifted Fae Academy just like Yemoja Roux.”

  I let my thoughts drift to the rhythm of the waves as I recalled my few encounters with the Fae. Sure, they were all over the news, using their powers to stop the criminal Elites from tearing society apart, but seeing them in person was like seeing the ocean for the first time. They were more than beautiful. They were infinite. Only the greatest and most morally incorruptible Gifted were selected by the government to become Fae and protect the rest of us. They were like celebrities, worshipped by the public and paid crazy amounts of money with tax dollars for their services. And from the moment I caught a glimpse of Yemoja Roux fearlessly dashing into harm's way, I knew I would follow in her footsteps someday.

  “Don’t move,” Kai said, lifting his phone to take a picture of me. “The light is perfect.” He smiled down at the screen. Without looking away from it, he said, “Don’t forget about me when you go to GFA.”

  I tucked a curl behind my ear. “I’ll never forget about you.”

  He looked up, his serious expression stirring a torrent of nerves and butterflies inside me. He looked down at my lips. Is he going to kiss me? I’d never kissed anyone before. Had he? I felt panicked as my mind raced my heart for top speed.

  I looked down at his lips, trying to decide if I’d imagined the whole thing, but he leaned closer. I froze, squeezing my eyes shut with the hopes that he’d do the rest. His lips were soft against mine, but looking back, it was more like our lips bumped together than an actual kiss. Still, I felt a tingling sensation rush through my body and stop at the tips of my fingers. A feeling of weightlessness overcame me like I was floating through the air.

  “Reina!” Kai shouted.

  My eyes snapped open to the distant voice, fear tearing through me. Stunned, I looked down—way down at Kai—reaching out to grab something. Anything. Too afraid to even scream, I floated twenty feet above the pier for twelve seconds before I plummeted down, my leg buckling under me with a snap. I was rushed to the infirmary, and after they put a cast on I was sent back home. Kai came to visit once, asking how I was, sounding very sorry. That was the last I saw of him.

  It took eight weeks for the bone to heal and, by the time the cast came off, I realized Kai was no longer friends with us Serfs. He’d unlocked his gift, a rare power that allowed him to make what he touched weightless and, in a matter of weeks, teachers and students alike were tossing around words like “genius” and “prodigy”. He may not have bullied us himself, but he certainly didn’t stop his new friends, either.

  I was very certain my time would come someday. With eighty percent of the population possessing some uncanny ability, odds were high I would at least become a Common, but then the year passed. And the next. And the next. When the time came to begin high school and I was still a Serf, I started to lose hope.

  Foolishly, my crush on Kai lingered for too many of those years before I got my head on straight. I was finally over him… At least I thought so until I returned to school for our sophomore year. In one short summer, he’d sprouted up to six feet tall, was lean and muscular, and with his high cheekbones, dark eyes, and brooding good looks, he made my heart stop. He’d gone from a genius to a high school god and inevitably, as the last remnants of our friendship died, and the new semester began, he became a bully.

  2

  Kaito

  I nearly killed the first girl I ever kissed, literally.

  But that was the moment when my gift awakened. It was like I was suddenly someone new, someone with a gift, someone who was Elite. Reina was just a Serf and still talking about going to the Gifted Fae Academy like it was a foregone conclusion. It drove me crazy. Life wasn’t fair a
nd you couldn’t get where you wanted in life by believing you would. You had to be destined for it, so I made new friends among the Elite who were more like me and when they tormented her, I just stepped back. I figured maybe that was the way for her to learn and to accept that she was never getting a gift.

  But no matter how many beatings she took, she never learned. Before I knew it, I was starting to hate her. Mob mentality. Why didn’t she get it? She was lesser. Lesser than Elites, lesser than Fae, lesser than me. The way she provoked us was just begging to get seriously hurt. I might’ve started out wanting her to accept her fate and stop pushing, to protect her and to shatter those delusions of hers. But, after awhile, I found that I enjoyed tormenting her. I had new friends, a new life. She was on her own.

  It was our sophomore year and we had a little less than three years of high school left. I couldn’t believe Reina was still walking around telling people that when she got her ability, she’d transfer to Gifted Fae Academy. But that was the least of my worries. I was more worried about getting myself into the Academy. If anyone at our school deserved to get in, it was me, our school’s most Elite student. But I’d failed the Academy’s brutal entrance exam: twice.

  I strode through the hallways, feeling the pull of every female gaze I passed. It had been that way since my power had come in, but this year the look in their eyes was different. I wasn’t sure if it was my sudden growth spurt, or that my private combat training had turned me lean and muscular, but the looks I got now were far more pointed than just from my power, and I planned to enjoy this level of attention. Attention was one of the reasons I wanted to become Fae. To be as respected and loved as Yemoja Roux. Bathe in the glory and wealth that came with the job. Bigger pay days for taking down high-level criminal Elites meant there was no dispute who was the strongest among them. Yemoja Roux had held the title my whole life and I wanted to be just like her. There was no other job worth having.

  Across the hall, I could see Westly looming over a terrified freshman girl. I heard the crackle of ice beneath her feet, and with a gentle shove to her shoulder, her legs flew out from under her and she landed hard on her ass. I smirked, but it quickly faded as Westly stumbled back.

  Reina shoved him back with two hands. “You don’t have to be such a dickhead,” she fumed, helping the girl to her feet. The freshman backed away and took off down the hall, leaving Reina to square off with Wes alone.

  Fuck. Why did she always have to get involved?

  I tried to hide my increased pace as I rushed over to them throwing my arm around Wes before he could freeze her solid on the spot. “What do we have here?”

  “The Serf is back for more,” he said, pushing a handful of sandy brown hair out of his eyes. “I was just going to teach her a lesson.”

  I looked up at Reina. Her skin was rich and dark in color, kissed a few shades darker, from her summer exploits no doubt. Her curls had grown out to reach her lower back and today she wore a plaid skirt that stopped just above her knees. My gaze lingered over her curves. I guess I wasn’t the only one who changed over the summer. I’d hoped to intimidate her with my appraisal, but she looked unfazed.

  I rolled my eyes. “What, you think if we hit you enough times with magic you’ll get some?”

  “Reina!” a red-headed girl said, pushing through the crowd. She stepped between us and dropped forward in a deep bow. “She’s very sorry,” the girl said. “Please, just let it go this one time.”

  Wes grinned and shoved me. “Oh look, two for one.” He raised his hand to attack, but I stopped him.

  I spoke slowly, “If we let you go now, you’ll think this kind of shit’s ok.”

  The girl straightened, fear pooling in her eyes. She dropped to her knees. “Please,” she begged, her face nearly at my feet. “That’s better,” I said, moving my gaze to Reina. “Your turn.”

  “Fuck you, Kai,” she spat, helping Red to her feet.

  I nodded. “Thought so.” I reached out and brushed Reina’s face. She slapped my hand away but it was too late. The moment my skin touched hers, I felt her weight slide in range of my gift. It passed through my body, mimicking the sensation just before pins and needles and she began to rise into the air.

  Wes craned to get a better look as Reina scrambled to cover herself, her skirt already rising up along with her body from my magical energy. Wes shot me a wicked look. I nodded and, with a turn of my wrist, I flipped her upside down, exposing her black lacy underwear to the crowded hallway. Within seconds, there was a huge crowd, snapping pictures and video.

  I wanted her to scream, to beg me to let her down and end the humiliation, but she hung there, silently, glaring at me defiantly. So I left her there.

  3

  Reina

  I dangled in the hallway for an hour and a half before Kaito’s magic finally wore off and I came crashing down. Thankfully, it was during a class and there was no one to watch me cry on the floor while I waited for my body to recover. I let my limbs go limp as my blood evened out, taking deep breaths. When I was up there, all I could think about was the pressure on my lungs. I was certain I’d suffocate—a corpse suspended in the hallway as teachers and students passed below, occasionally snapping pictures of my bare ass. An unfortunate end to a ridiculous life. At least I’d saved that girl and, more importantly, I’d worn good underwear.

  I didn’t have long before the bell sounded and I didn’t want to be in the hall when the students made their way through. I peeled myself from the floor and pushed open the front doors of the school. I was sure they wouldn’t miss me, at least for my first few classes. I needed to pull myself together. There was only one place that cheered me up when I felt this bad. I headed out into the streets, my home whenever I sprung myself from the orphanage.

  An elderly lady crouched on the street near the bus stop raised her tired gaze to me. “For eight dollars, I’ll change your hair color to a lovely shade of orange. Lasts almost twenty minutes.”

  Things were getting worse. If even Commons like her were having trouble finding work, what chance did I have as an orphan Serf? Of course, orphan and Serf went hand in hand as any kid with a gift was quickly adopted. I waited at the bus stop for the 747 bus to take me to the edge of Ancetol City. Only Serfs took the bus; there were more efficient ways for the rich and Gifted to travel, but I didn’t mind it. I felt safe there, unlike at school.

  An hour later, I exited the bus. When it pulled away I found myself outside the large gated lawn of Gifted Fae Academy. This had always been my go-to place to imagine a better life, but the competition to get into GFA went from regional to international two years ago when Yemoja Roux took a first-year from GFA as her personal apprentice for the summer: a green-eyed heartthrob named Oden Gates. He appeared beside Yemoja Roux in several of her interviews that summer, and ever since, my spot had become overrun with fangirls vying to get a look at him—not that I blamed them. Regardless of your type, chances were you were into Oden Gates. He was on track to become a Gold Tier Fae, just like Yemoja Roux, and he was just a sophomore like me. Talk about putting life into perspective. Luckily, with school starting up again, the coast seemed clear.

  I ran my fingers over the iron crest, the owl insignia on each side, framing the letters GFA, as I’d done so many times.

  “Please,” I whispered, tears springing to my eyes. I wasn’t sure if I was still upset from the incident or if I was just worn out from fighting for my life day in and day out.

  “Back again, Miss Reina?” a voice called from behind me. I spun. Professor Greene had his gray hair pulled into a bun. I wiped my face quickly. “Yes,” I said. “Just getting ready for when my gift comes in.”

  His smile faded. “You’ve been crying.”

  “No, no, no. I just have… I just…”

  “Have allergies?” He grinned. He opened his briefcase and pulled out a small bag. As he held it out, I could see there was a small piece of candy inside. “Did you know that I’m a confections professor?”

&nbs
p; GFA was the home I’d never had. My dream of going there was the only thing I had left after my parents died last year. I’d stood outside that beautiful gate and traced the lines of it with my fingers so many times I could draw the crest with my eyes closed. I’d never been inside though—only the gifted were permitted to enter and only the staff and students who’d passed their notoriously rigorous entrance exam. But everyone knew the subjects taught in the top magic schools and the names of the retired Fae who taught there. I nodded. “Of course.”

  From my frequent visits, I’d met at least five of the professors, but the students rarely left campus. I’d never been fortunate enough to see Oden Gates in person.

  “Give this little treat to whoever… gave you allergies.”

  Drug someone? I shook my head. “No thank you, professor,” I said. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

  He motioned to the gate. “Do you see the F on the crest? Do you know what it stands for?”

  I nodded.

  “Fae deliver justice. All this one does is suppress hatred for a short time.”

  I hesitated but, unwilling to insult him, I took the bag with the morsel. “Thank you, professor.”