30
Zachariah
I sent out a message and canceled my next class. I can’t fucking sit here and pretend that everything is alright. I don’t think I am ever going to get that sight out of my head for the rest of my life. After I checked on the student, who indeed needed to be transferred, I walked into the door of my classroom and Farlen was trying to claw the skin off of her face. She looked like she was stuck in a silent scream as her nails dug into her skin. There was blood and pieces of her skin all over the ground near her. All the females in the back of the class were losing their shit. A few of the guys had puked.
I had tried so hard to get through to her, but she couldn’t hear me. Like she was meditating and decided to just fucking rip her face off. I pace around out in the trees; I had to get out of there and away from that scene. I am going to fucking see it every time I close my eyes or walk into that damn classroom; I know it. There are a few fallen trees from me, taking my anger out on them. I shouldn’t have fucking left her by herself. Every student I talked to about it said it looked like she was trying to find her magic once I left and then started ripping her face off. Some of them tried to yell at her to stop, but no one tried to go up to her to stop her. Some of them started talking about how her scars were probably from more shit like that. That she did to herself. I couldn’t focus on the fuckers who said that. I was still trying to get through to her. I had called Connor and he couldn’t even get through to her.
I tried singing, and the entire fucking classroom started to shut the fuck up when I did that, but not even that worked. Connor said he was at the clinic getting Healer Daniel, and he was on his way. Wait, he had something about magic. I pull out my phone and give him a call.
He picks up on the second ring. “Ah, Zachariah, I was wondering when you’d be getting in touch with me.”
“What the fuck did you say about magic earlier? I was too fucking lost in my thoughts and don’t remember it correctly.”
“There was an air of heavy mind magic on her when I got there. Like someone wanted to attack her, this wasn’t something she did to herself. She said she was looking for her magic the entire time you were gone. As soon as the door shut, she started looking. She stopped looking as soon as she came to.”
FUCKING MIND MAGIC?!?! “I need to go,” I say through clenched teeth.
“You know you can’t hurt her, Zachariah. Think about what that would do to Farlen to have you ripped away from her and sent to a prison cell to live the rest of your long life. All she could ask me when I took her to the clinic is why you were sad. We also have no proof that it was Sarah who did this to her.”
“How do you know I think it was, Sarah?”
“Farlen described her, said she was a very pretty lady, with not pretty yellow eyes. There’s only one female teacher on the roster in the entire academy that matches that description. You need to teach her how to shield her mind. It may not stop Sarah fully, especially because we don’t know how strong Farlens' magic is going to be, but it should help somewhat.”
“Fuck, thank you Daniel.”
“Don’t thank me yet, old friend. I remember feeling some similar things at one point in time, but this isn’t your fault. You can’t protect her from every dangerous situation that gets thrown at her, no matter how badly you want to. All any of us can do is give her the tools to protect herself if any of you aren’t around her. And because of that, we are all failing her. We need to take off the little kid gloves around her. She is a fully legal adult and has the thoughts and feelings of one. She may not know what everything she is feeling is, but she was quite clear in her vocabulary with me today, though a bit slow. You all are helping her more than you know, but you can’t fucking fall to pieces every time she is hurt. She is stronger than any of you give her credit for. And one day, you will all see it.”
“I know she is strong, Daniel. Look at all the shit she’s been through and she still finds a way to smile and laugh.”
“Yes, a way because of what you all are giving to her. But that is not what I am talking about, and as I told Connor, I am not going to discuss this hunch until I know more. Now why don’t you go find your center and see how she is doing? I hear Payne is fawning over her like she is one of our own younglings.”
“Thanks Daniel, sorry for being an ass when you answered.”
“No need to apologize, Zachariah. You forget, I am also here as a counselor to all the students and staff. If you ever need to talk, just give me a call.” He hangs up the phone. Fuck, I forgot about that part. Though he is pretty good at what he does. I look around at the destruction I caused in the forest. There is going to be a very upset druid when they walk into here. Fuck it, better the trees than some random person. No need to give Daniel anymore work because of me.
I push off from the ground and run towards the training field. I get close enough so I can see them all, but I don’t want to come out of the trees yet. I see Connor and Vashu across the field. They are watching Farlen. Payne is standing there watching her lift a five-pound weight, and anytime her arm starts to wobble he lurches forward but she keeps lifting it. Daniel was right. I don’t think Payne has even noticed his class isn’t running their laps; they are just sitting around talking.
Farlen rubs the top part of her stomach and starts looking around. She isn’t wearing her sunglasses. Fuck, why didn’t they get her any from the house? She broke the ones she was wearing in class. I pull out my phone and send Connor a text.
Me: Where the fuck are her sunglasses?
Connor: Healer Daniel says she doesn’t need them. How do you know she isn’t wearing them ?
Me: I can see her. I canceled my class. I couldn’t fucking think straight. What do you mean she doesn’t need them?
Connor: I’ll tell you tonight. She is doing amazing. Do you think Payne has noticed the rest of his class yet?
Me: Nope, I think one of them just fell asleep though. What is Farlen looking for?
Connor: Not sure. She’s a little far for me to hear her, and Payne will have my ass if I move from this spot. She just started looking around a bit ago though.
Farlen is still looking around and rubbing the top part of her stomach. It is hard for me to see the look on her face from here. It’s not the first time in my life, I wish I had a shifter’s eyesight or hearing. Payne looks down at where she is rubbing her stomach. He grabs his phone and sends a message. Connor grabs his phone a second later. My phone vibrates next.
Connor: Payne says she’s fine, her beast is making itself known right now. Says she’s acting like something has her agitated.
I put my phone down and go back to watching Farlen. What has her agitated? Was it what happened earlier? She is still looking around. Payne starts looking around too and notices everyone slacking off. He starts yelling at everyone and they get up and get to running. I chuckle at that. Farlen looks over my way. I should be too far for her to hear me. She starts to move and Payne tries to stop her. She fucking throws him across the field and roars to the sky. Connor starts to move towards her, but she is walking straight to me.
Me: She’s headed my way, I’m in the tree line, get your ass back in place before Payne sees you.
Connor: What the fuck just happened?
Me: Can’t talk right now, she’s almost here.
As Farlen gets closer to the edge of the trees, she begins looking around. At first, she was walking right to where I was standing. Now that I can see her, she looks sad. She starts rubbing her stomach again. She looks into the trees and a single tear falls down her cheek. I rush towards her and brush it away from her face. I can’t just stand there while she’s hurting.
“Why are you crying, gorgeous?”
“Rhi?” she says so quietly.
“I’m here. Why are you crying?”
It takes her a little while, but she manages to say, “You were sad, and no one would tell me why. Did I do something bad?”
This fucking girl. She just threw a fucking instructor across the training yard, but she’s worried about me. I take a deep breath.
“You didn’t do anything wrong Farlen, I was sad because you got hurt, and I wasn’t there to protect you. I felt like I did something bad.”
Again, it takes her a few minutes, but damn if Daniel wasn’t right again.
“Wasn’t your fault. I didn’t know I was hurt, couldn’t feel anything. How can you protect me from something I can’t feel?” She wraps her tiny arms around me. “You can’t be sad if I get hurt. I stopped feeling the pain many, many uhhhhhhhh years? Ago. You being sad made my heart hurt, in a way it never has before.”
I pick her up and wrap her up in my arms. She is still too fucking skinny. It feels like I’ve been trying to get her to put on weight for ages, though; I think it’s only been like three or four days? She needs to eat more. I take a deep breath of her hair. She still smells of her blood, but she also just smells like Farlen. Her perfect snowy scent. I brush that spot on her back she can feel us at. She makes a small moan and smiles at me.
I give her a quick kiss, because if I linger I am going to end up showing her just how wrong she is about sex.
I set her down, and she looked at her stomach. I can almost feel herself yelling at her stomach in her head about no sex. Connor loses his shit anytime she does that. One day, she is going to say yes to sex, and she is going to regret every time she has told herself no. Fuck, I can’t be thinking about this right now. I’m already half-mast as it is. Think about the nasally bitch’s voice. Just thinking about her talking about her “Daddy.” has my boner soft.
“I think you should apologize to Payne. You threw him pretty far when you walked over here.” She looks up at me and her face scrunches up.
“He told me if my feelings got too strong to throw him like I did before, so I didn’t hurt anyone. And sometimes my body does things I can’t stop.”
“Wait before. You’ve thrown him before this?”
She nods her head at me and I can’t fucking stop laughing. I can’t wait to see what her beast is, and what her magic can do when she can finally find it. I give her a quick kiss on the head.
“Why don’t you go back out there and finish your class, and I will go to my next class, and I will see you when I’m done with it, okay?”
Her big white eyes look up at me, well I’m pretty sure they are looking at me, anyway. She has to lift her head to see me.
“You’re not sad anymore?”
“No gorgeous, I’m not sad. I’m angry you got hurt, but not angry at you. Now go get your perfect ass back out there and show them how strong you are.”
She smiles at me and turns and walks back to the training field. The people that are running on the track wait until she is across before they run past. Good, looks like people are finally getting the fucking hint about her. My phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out. One new message from Connor. I open it.
Connor: She looks much happier now. What did you say to her?
Making sure I don’t walk into a tree, because it fucking happens when you don’t pay attention when you are walking and texting.
Me: She was worried she did something bad because I was sad and no one would really tell her why I was sad.
Connor: Hey, I did try to tell her why I thought you were sad. Maybe she just needed to hear it from you?
Me: Yeah, maybe, I need to get to my next class, but we have to talk about what happened today. We also need to clue in the shifters. Vashu looks like he is going to stick around.
Connor: Alright, I’m going to order some steak and lobster for dinner tonight. See if we can get Farlen full, so she’ll fall asleep early and we can talk to them.
Me: Rare for me, please!
Connor: Alright brother!
Brother. Man, that is a nice thing to hear. I head to my next class in a good mood. As I open the door, the smell of cleaner permeates the air. My fourth semester class, which is fucking tiny, all stop talking. Kramylor, a demon whose magic we haven’t been able to figure out yet, yells at me, “Hey sir, we heard your match almost tried to kill herself. Are you guys alright?”
I rub my face. Word travels so fucking fast in this place, and most of it is lies.
“Thanks for your concern, but she didn’t try to kill herself, she was attacked. She is fine, though. Now why don’t you all sit your asses down and let’s get started?”
Once my fourth semester class clears out, I have a few minutes until my only night class this semester starts. There are a few of the magical races that prefer the night time, which is something we thought Farlen was going to be, but she seems to love the feeling of the sun on her skin, and we know she is a shifter, so no worries about her magical race. I send Farlen a message.
Me: Hello Gorgeous. I hope you enjoy the food Connor is getting for you tonight. I have a night class so when I get home it will be late. I will see you in the morning, okay?
The little bubbles pop up to let me know she is writing. Well, in Farlens' case, she is saying what she wants to say.
Farlen: No, I want to see you before I go to sleep. Once I know you aren’t sad again, I will go to sleep.
A few of my students have started walking into the class, so far no one is all over each other, so maybe I will be lucky and not have any match groups in here. And because I swear the Gods hate me, a small female, who is maybe just a bit taller than Farlen with bright blue hair and facial piercings, walks into the room. The men that walked in before her all sit up straighter in their chairs and look at her. She rolls her eyes at them and walks to a seat in the middle of the room. I look at my attendance sheet. Only one female is listed. Her name is Faith. Well, this one doesn’t seem like all she wants is the attention of every male in her immediate vicinity. Maybe Farlen would be up for having a female friend around her age? My last three students walk in together, laughing and pushing each other in a brotherly way. They see Faith sitting in the middle of the room and they start to walk towards her.
“No, fuck no, go find somewhere else to sit. Just because I have a vagina doesn’t mean I am going to spread my legs and let you fuck me. That’s it, nice and slowly back away. Good, now I’m going to say this once, no. Can’t any of you men see how much I am freaking out? I met the smallest person I have ever seen before and she seemed so Gods damn innocent and she was hurt, and they said her heart stopped beating, and I haven’t been able to find out if she is okay! So no, until one of you can find out where she is and if she is okay, I will not suck one of your cocks. First one who can tell me where she is so I can talk to her. I will suck your cock, cup your balls, and swallow every drop you want to put in my mouth. Until then, NO.”
Midway through her rant, I send Connor a message.
Me: Does Farlen know someone named Faith?
Connor: Yeah, she was in her first physical class, but Faith got transferred out to the night physical class so she could be more functional.
“Farlen is fine Faith. And no, you will not even attempt to suck my cock because that is going to hurt her. After class, talk to me.”
The guys all in the class seem to deflate. Sorry boys to take away a free blow job from you, but none of you are getting near Farlen. Faith glares at me the entire class. There’s too much animosity in the air to really get anyone to focus and try to find their magic. I try to walk them through breathing exercises, but it seems like everyone is holding their breath. As the boys leave the room and amble around in the hallway, Faith walks down to my desk.
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Good, at least one female in this place doesn’t just trust everything someone says to them. I describe Farlen to her. She is nodding at the end of it, and her eyes look like they are swimming in tears.
“Did you mean it when you said she’s okay?”
“Abso-fucking-lutley. I am her second match, and she has met two others since then. We are still missing three more, but she is coming more out of her shell and is talking a lot more. She isn’t wearing her sunglasses anymore.”
Faith falls down on the ground and starts to cry. It feels so wrong for me to touch another female, but she seems relieved to hear the good news about her. I pat her on the back. It’s the most I can do or I’m going to puke on her.
“Can you give her my number? I haven’t been able to find anyone who knows who she is. I looked all around the night student’s area and no one seems to know who she was.”
“Sure, write it down. She’s not a night student though, so that would be why you couldn’t find her. She’s a shifter.”
“Alright, I’m even more confused here. Please tell her to message me as soon as she can?” I nod to her. She leaves the room and I do one last, make sure no one left anything in here, and head to my girl.
When I walk in the door, Connor, Xander, and Vashu are sitting around the table. As I shut the door they all go “shhhhhhh”. I look at them, confused. Farlen isn’t out here. Connor points to the couch near the door. Farlen is curled up in a ball, still in her day clothes. At least they got her something besides the blood-soaked clothes. I raise my eyebrow at them. Connor grabs his phone and sends me a message.
Connor: She refused to go to her room until you were home. She started growling at everyone and had Xander and Vashu submitting and showing her their necks. I tried music and offered her bacon. Nothing worked.
It’s so hard to contain the laugh. I bite my fist to stop it from coming out. All three of them roll their eyes at me. I bend down and pick her up. Her eyes are still closed and she nuzzles into my chest. “Mmmm Rhi, you’re here.” I kiss her hair and take her to her room. “I’m here gorgeous and not sad at all. I met your friend Faith, she was worried about you, she gave me her number so I could give it to you, I’m going to put it next to your phone so you can text her tomorrow okay, now why don’t you go back to sleep?”
She’s already asleep again before I finish laying her down. I check the clock on my phone on the way out of her room. At least, my first class tomorrow doesn’t start until 10, so I have some time to kill tonight. Connor has a plate of food out for me. Vashu and Xander look like they are about to jump on top of my steak. I pick it up and lick it. Vashu looks like he’s going to be sick and Xander just shrugs his shoulders. Fucking wolves.
I eat a few bites and everyone just watches me. Not the greatest feeling in the world, though I am tempted to eat slower just to piss them off more, but I would like to get some good sleep tonight.
“Alright, before we tell you a fucking thing more about Farlen, you need to tell us, are you planning on accepting the match?”
Both have looks of outrage on their faces. Vashu just says “Mine.” Which I guess is par for the course for most shifters when they meet their match, and he’s a dragon. They tend to be a little protective of shit they view as theirs.
Xander places his elbows on his table and folds together his hands like a fucking old school villain. All he is missing is a mustache, so he can twirl it around his fingers. “I’m not going anywhere. I already love her, and she makes people piss their pants when they are around her. Everyone is terrified of her, and she seems to have no clue about it. When she threw Payne during shifter class, I already knew that was it for me.”
I look over at Connor. He was supposed to be listening to their thoughts to see if they were being truthful. He nods his head at me. That’s the only sign I need.
“If either of you two lose your shit and wake her up from what I’m going to tell you, I will tell her to tell her beast you threatened to hit Connor, and we will see who is left standing when that is over.” Both of them audibly swallow. Good, so they are afraid of her beast.
“I am not going to spare you the gory details of this. I didn’t want them spared for me when Connor told me. If you need a minute to go outside and knock some trees down, do it. We will continue when you’re back.” So I tell them everything we know about Farlen, even the things she doesn’t understand about herself yet. When I get to her rape, Vashu loses it, and almost shifts in the house. I hear him shift outside and he flies away. Hopefully that will cool him down. Xander is just whimpering, looking down the hallway to her door.