Chapter Twenty-Seven
Farren
“A lright, no. Stop,” Loki suddenly says into the silence, pulling me to a stop. “Farren, please explain.”
“Now?” I ask.
“Yes, I don’t want something to distract us when we get back, and I think we all want to know what we just saw.”
I take a deep breath, “Okay, I owe you that much. Just remember that whatever I say next, you can’t let go of me, or you’ll be lost in here.”
“Alright,” Storm is the one to reply, and it shocks me when I feel a squeeze on my other hand and look up to find him holding it.
“The weapon is mine. I have several, and they’re made specifically for me.”
“So, no one else could possibly own one of these?” Mayhem clarifies.
“No, and I’m sure you know what that means.
You all know my father was an absolute bastard, but it goes a bit deeper.
He trained me from when I could walk to be the ultimate killing machine for him.
He’s always had his own agendas and people he wants dealt with without going through the proper channels.
I guess he assumed what better way to ensure obedience than to train and torture your own daughter into compliance.
No one would believe that such a kind and generous man could ever treat his beloved daughter that way, and he had enough guards and staff that would vow on their deathbeds that he was an amazing father, that I couldn’t tell anyone even if he hadn’t tortured me into compliance due to fear of worse,” I pause, studying their horrified faces.
“When I was fifteen, he sent me out on my first kill job. I succeeded barely, after that, it was more training and more assassinations. I’ve lost count of the people I’ve killed, and I know that sounds callous.
I can tell you the number of all the innocents I saved from him though.
New identities, locations, and he still, to this day, he thought they were dead. ”
“How many?” Rival asks gently.
“One-hundred and fifty-nine.”
“Holy fuck,” Killian exclaims, his tail for once dead still as if he’s in shock.
“Something happened three years ago, something that I can’t talk about yet. I’m sorry. But when I was finally found, a few months before I came here, it did something to my father, and he finally allowed my uncle to enrol me at the academy.”
“Farren, look at me,” Killian asks, his voice soft.
“Look at us, please?” Storm adds his tone the same as his brothers.
I look around at them all, and my heart stops. There’s no judgement, no hatred, nothing but understanding.
“Love,” Loki starts gaining my attention, and my eyes drift to him, “we’ve all been fucked over by our families. We’ve all been made to do things we shouldn’t have had to do. There will be no judgement from us.”
“Even though I’m insanely curious, I’m not going to ask how you managed to save that many people on such a large scale.
It’s fucking impressive,” Mayhem adds, surprising me when he leans forward and kisses my forehead.
“We’ve got you, and we aren’t going anywhere.
You fit, remember? The last piece of the puzzle. ”
“Well said, mate,” Rival agrees, slapping him on the back and looking at me meaningfully.
“Couldn’t agree more,” Loki adds.
Reaper just nods firmly once and looks like he’s trying to stop himself from reaching for me, Killian and Storm just stare at me, and when I raise my eyebrow in question, they roll their eyes and give me the same duh look, making them look more like the brothers they are than they ever have.
“Thank you,” I whisper and then turn to look at Mayhem, “I’ll tell you all about it one day, but for now I can tell you that I’m very good at illusions.”
They look confused, so with the Void fuelling my magic, I create an illusion of a dead body on the floor by our feet.
“Whoa, that almost looks real,” Rival mutters, creeping closer.
“Touch him,” I suggest.
“What?”
“Touch him. There’s no point having an illusion to hide the fact that someone is actually alive unless it can be verified by officials,” I explain.
Somewhat sceptically, Mayhem reaches forward and then almost immediately jerks his hand back and looks up at me in awe, which prompts the rest of them to reach down and touch it, too, being careful not to let go of each other and subsequently me.
“Holy fucking shit balls, batman,” Loki exclaims as he keeps prodding the body.
“Farren, that is truly amazing. How much scrutiny can it withstand?” Mayhem asks curiously.
I’m well aware that we’re completely off track from the original conversation, but it feels good to share, and there’s nothing particularly pressing we have to get back to. It took much less time than I thought it would.
“Almost all, but if something gets someone curious, then it will dissipate with absolutely no magical trace, and by that point, the original is alive, and everyone assumes it was a delayed ashing.”
“Wow,” Rival mutters as they all stare at me like I’ve done something truly remarkable.
Mayhem clears his throat and nods down to the body. “That isn’t an illusion. I’m not sure what it is, but it's far too complex and real to be an illusion. Even a strong one wouldn’t be able to be touched without the magical strands breaking down and revealing it to be an illusion.”
“What?” I ask, dumbfounded and trying to process what he’s telling me.
“It’s most likely something to do with your Weaver abilities. There hasn’t been one for such a long time that we don’t really know what your abilities are,” Rival adds, making Mayhem nod along.
“We can help you find out when we get a chance back at the academy if you’d like?” Mayhem asks.
“Yes, please, any information would be helpful. I’m flying blind when it comes to that gift.”
“How do you get rid of it if it doesn’t dissipate by itself?” Rival asks the others listening to the conversation intently.
“I thank it,” I reply.
“You what?” Loki asks, his nose wrinkling in the cutest way.
“Like this,” I gesture to the body, “thank you for your service. You may depart, friend.”
The body disappears in a fog of black glitter, like always, and I look up to grin at the guys. I’ve never shown anyone that trick, and I’m pretty damn proud of it. I met with white faces, silence and pure shock.
“What?”
“You can take this one, brother,” Storm mutters, slapping Killian on the shoulder.
“You weren’t speaking Fae, you weren’t speaking any language I’ve ever heard, and your eyes were completely black, your pupils glowing gold,” he tells me bluntly.
I stare and try to comprehend what they’ re telling me. I was speaking English.
“I said, thank you for your service. You may depart, friend,” I repeat.
“Still not any language we know, Love,” Loki says, looking part fascinated and also slightly freaked.
“Well, fuck,” I curse and then add, “please tell me that was Fae?”
“Yes, Darlin’, it was. Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out,” Killian reassures me.
“Come on, let's get back. I want my bed,” Storm says, effectively ending the conversation, and I start forward, my mind spinning.
My thoughts should probably be on the fact that I just murdered my father, but I’m unaffected by that.
The man made my life and countless others hell.
He is a murderer of so many that he deserves his fate.
No, my thoughts are on the revelations that have just occurred and the fact that the guys are staying and treating me the same so far.
As we approach the doorway back to our room, I can’t help but think that things are starting to look up.
The main threat to my life is gone, the Headmaster is going to be replaced by Uncle Magnus, and I’ve got the guys.
As we step through the door though, I curse myself for being so optimistic. I should’ve known better.
“Is that what I think it is?” Loki asks, staring at the purple flames hanging in the middle of the lounge and spelling out the words. Your first trial starts now.
“Grab your bags now!” Storm orders.
We all rush to grab our go bags, and I’m grateful that we’re already in our fighting gear, thanks to our middle of the night excursion.
At least that’s going to cut down on the time it takes to grab everything.
I pull my bag on and grab a couple more weapons just in case.
Just as I turn back to the door to meet the others, I feel a sucking sensation take over my whole body and find a portal, the edges glowing green, just behind me.
It pulls me towards it, and I go willingly, not bothering to fight it since, from what we were told, we will all get pulled into the same place anyway.
As I move over the threshold, there’s a flash of green that completely takes over my vision, and I can feel that the ground beneath my feet has some give in it, which makes me think I must be standing on grass.
I keep my other senses alert as I wait for the green to fade from my eyes so that I can see again.
Hearing a thump next to me, I tense, preparing to fight without my sight, but thankfully the green quickly starts to recede from the edges of my vision, and I can just make out a crouching Loki.
I instantly relax but stay ready just in case something decides to attack while we’re vulnerable from the portal.
We’re going to have to be careful about that.
It wouldn’t surprise me if one of the levels were based on something like that.
After all the Fae Realm is testing our skills, I wonder how well the others can fight with one of their senses taken.
Something to think about when we get back.
We seem to be on the edge of a forest with a dirt track set out in front of us, and nothing looks particularly unusual, so I assume that we’re still in the Fae Realm. After I’ve checked the surrounding area is safe, I turn back to Loki.
“You okay?” I ask, walking over to him.
“Yeah, fuck, that first step is a doozy.” He replies, his eyes scanning the area like mine just did. “Where are the others?”