Midnight Fae Academy #3 by Lexi C. Foss

Stars twinkled overhead,each one tied to an invisible strand that I sensed more than saw.

I studied them, searching for a pattern or some reason for the madness. Zakkai had locked me inside this riddled web, his power potent and breathtakingly beautiful. I wanted to roll in his essence and absorb all of it into my senses.

But I refused the inclination.

He’d put me here for a purpose, one I intended to decipher.

I’d successfully removed the invisible ropes suffocating my torso, allowing me to breathe. And I nearly fell into the trap of thinking that was it. But then the blinking had started. It was subtle yet potent. He’d meant for me to find this puzzle. I suspected ignoring it would have left me in a worse state than before.

So I lay absolutely still, my breathing steady as I considered each potential route.

Some stars were brighter than the others. They felt too obvious, so I went for the lackluster orbs, only they gave off a hot sensation, their invisible strands shedding energy that caused the hairs along my arms to rise.

I bit my lip. Which one? I returned to the star boasting the most light and gently prodded it. A zap traversed my spine, causing me to jolt on the bed.

Not that one, I decided, moving on to the next and experiencing the same sensation.

I growled.

Zakkai would pay for this insanity. He’d created a land mine in my head! What kind of monster did that? And to his mate, no less.

Not that I intended to remain bonded to him.

No, I’d find a way to undo that. Just as soon as I figured out this maze in my head.

Each star possessed a heat signature that sang to the dark magic inside me. Zakkai’s magic. He was the source of my Quandary skills. But how? When had we bonded? And why didn’t I remember?

I’d been operating under the assumption that my parents had lied to me about my birthright, that I was some sort of abomination. However, it was his power running through my veins. It felt so deeply rooted, similar to my affinity for earth.

Which made no sense.

I could feel Shade’s power, too, younger in origin. Same with Zeph’s Warrior Blood.

But Zakkai’s essence seemed to be braided to mine, as though our lives were connected by a single thread.

My eyes narrowed as one of the stars glimmered brighter for half a second, as if beckoning me forward with that thought.

It was probably a trap.

Or maybe a clue.

I prodded it inside my mind and braced for the electric zap, only to be sucked into a very real image of my bedroom from my childhood—the one I lived in before my parents disappeared.

What in the fae…?

“Aflora?” a young male voice called, causing me to spin toward the door. Silver-blue eyes met mine, set in a frame of boyish features with long white hair tied back into a low ponytail. “Are you hiding?” he asked.

I frowned. “Zakkai?”

His brow furrowed. “Am I in trouble?”

“Uh, yes?” He’d crafted a land mine in my head… and sent me back in time?

“Because of the bite?” His lips pinched to the side. “I already told you that I don’t want to do it. But Dad said I have to. It’s the best way to protect you in case something happens.”

“I don’t understand.”

He blew out a breath and entered my room with a shuffle of his feet, the movement clumsy. Probably because he was pretending to be a child.

Except, as he moved past a mirror, I caught a glimpse of myself and gasped at my young appearance. Holy fae! He’d turned me into a kid, too! “How old am I?”

“Huh?” He looked at me and scratched his head. “Seven?”

My eyes widened. “What?” This was the year my parents died. Did he intend to torment me by making me relive it with this kid version of himself at my side?

“Look, I know. This sucks so bad. But Dad says it’s only temporary. And I’ll protect you, Flora. I always do.” He flashed me a boyish grin with dimples on the sides, and a giggle clawed at my chest. Not one I wanted to release, but the body I possessed was apparently amused.

His smile grew as the giggle escaped. What is happening to me? And why is he calling me Flora?

“See, I knew you weren’t really upset,” he teased. “Do you want to go play with the flowers outside before dinner?”

My mom’s garden.

I looked at the door, then at the mirror again, and back at Zakkai.

We were in some sort of memory loop. Except he’d morphed it somehow by being here. I wanted to hate him for it, but it’d been so long since I’d dreamt of my mother’s flowers and their beautiful scents.

I could indulge in just a few minutes, right?

It was my head—therefore, my rules.

I nodded. “Yes.”

His grin seemed to reach his ears as he hopped around to lead me through the halls of my old home. My parents stood in the kitchen, their tones hushed as we entered. A man who resembled an older Zakkai stood with them, his expression emotionless.

“Aflora,” my mother said, frowning at my dress. “That’s not the outfit I laid out for you this morning.”

Her words nagged at me, a memory forming unbidden in my mind. She’d said this to me before… but when?

“Carmella,” my father murmured. “She can wear whatever she wants for tonight.”

My mother glanced at him, then sighed. “Yes, yes, of course.”

“We’re going outside to play with flowers,” Zakkai announced, sounding proud.

His father—or I assumed the older Zakkai look-alike was his dad—grunted. “You’re not an Earth Fae, Kai.”

“I know, but Flora is. And she likes flowers.” He beamed at me. “And stars.”

Why did this all feel so familiar? I’d never lived this moment before, and yet, I knew what my mother was about to say.

“There’s no time for playing in the garden tonight,” she said, right on cue. “We’ve talked about this.”

Some of the light seemed to die in Zakkai’s eyes. “I just thought… maybe… we could play first.”

“We’re not here to play, Kai,” his father said, the sternness in his voice making me flinch.

“Easy, Laki,” my dad murmured, walking up to place a hand on my head. “They’re just kids.”

“Who are about to bond like adults,” my mother added under her breath.

“Temporarily,” Laki corrected. “He’ll protect her until she’s of age, then he’ll reverse the bond. I’ll show him how.”

I frowned. “Bond?” I knew what they meant, but I was having trouble accepting this version of events.

“Yes, sweetheart. Zakkai is going to bond with you to keep you safe,” my dad said, his voice soft. “It’s just a security measure in case anything happens to me and your mom, okay?”

“Why would something happen to you?” The words fell from my lips before I could hold them back, my mind falling into my seven-year-old form and repeating the question I recalled asking that day.

“Because life is full of unexpected events,” my dad replied, then pressed his lips to my temple. “This is just our way of adding some protection.”

“But you already protect me,” I pointed out in my childlike voice. “And so does Kai.”

Kai?I thought, repeating the nickname. Why did I call him that? Because that was what my memory required.

Or was this all just a lie? Another twisted test?

“I’ll always protect you,” Zakkai agreed, sounding proud. “But this will, like, bond us more. So that way I can sense if you’re in danger.”

Laki nodded. “Yes. And he’ll be able to help you even if he’s in another kingdom.”

Yes, I knew all this. Mom and Dad had explained it last week.

I frowned. Last week? I shook my head. This experience was starting to feel a little too real, like I was seven again.

Everything slowed around me, my parents freezing in place as my father began to speak. Laki stilled as well, his face void of expression, but Zakkai merely smiled at me, his dimples flashing proudly.

“I don’t understand what’s happening,” I said.

“It’s a memory spell, Flora.” His eyes sparkled as he used my nickname again. “It’s so you can remember.”

“Remember what?”

“Me,” he replied as everything dissolved around us into a new image of real stars and the two of us lying on our backs outside, his hand in mine. “I don’t want to go,” he said, his gaze on the sky above. “But Dad says I have to.”

“I don’t want you to go either,” I replied, the childlike voice one I remembered but the phrase foreign. I hadn’t even thought to speak those words; they just left my mouth without permission.

“He says you have to forget me, too,” he added, frowning. “I don’t want to do it.”

“Then don’t.”

“But I have to protect you, Flora.” He squeezed my hand. “You’re my best friend, and that’s what best friends do.”

“Mom and Dad will protect me.” My mouth just kept moving without my permission, saying things before I could process the reaction. “I don’t want to forget you, Kai.”

He sighed. “I know. But I’ll make you remember one day.”

“When?”

“I don’t know. Dad says it might be a while. We have to go hide in a new kingdom.” The way his lips twisted to the side told me how he felt about that.

“A new kingdom?” I repeated.

“Yeah.”

“So you’re leaving me?”

“I have to, Flora. The bad fae are getting too close.” He finally looked at me, his eyes misted with tears. “I don’t want to go, but Dad says it’s the only way to be safe.”

“What about me?” I asked, my voice small.

He reached over to place his hand over my heart. “I’ll always be here, Flora. ’Cause of the bond.”

I felt the connection pulsate in response, the strand tying us together as one. It tingled a little, warming my skin. “You’re my best friend, Kai.”

“I know,” he whispered. “You’re mine, too, Flora. I’m sorry you won’t remember me.”

“I’m sorry, too,” I replied softly, his sadness weaving an inky sensation through our link. It wrapped around me like a cloak of despair, his eyes clouding over as magic sprang to life between us. “What are you…?”

“I have to,” he said, his throat working as foreign energy slithered across my skin. “Dad said we have to leave tonight.”

“But you didn’t…?” I trailed off, not remembering what I wanted to say. The snakelike sensation writhed through me, confusing my intentions and my mind. I couldn’t tell reality from fiction, memory from trickery.

Was this all part of the game in my mind?

Zakkai, I recalled, thinking of the blinking lights and the web of power he’d tossed over me.

But then an image of him as a young boy flashed again, his eyes filled with tears as his father grabbed him by the shoulders and told him to be a man and finish it. Zakkai shook his head, refusing to lose his only friend. He kept saying he couldn’t do it, that he couldn’t make me forget.

Everything went white.

Then black.

And I blinked my eyes open to see his bedroom once more.

Silk sheets caressed my skin, the hint of the ocean teasing my senses.

Memories flooded my thoughts of summer nights with Zakkai, playing beneath the stars. Growing flowers for him to collect. Building toy castles out of small rocks. Chasing each other in endless games of tag. Magical games of earth blending with Quandary skills.

The final night played through my mind. The night when he bit me three times, then spelled me to forget him. He’d put blocks in place so I wouldn’t sense him, but he could feel me… and the pain that had followed.

Zakkai hadn’t wanted to finish it, but his father made him. The little boy had collapsed to the ground on a scream, the agony unlike any I’d ever witnessed.

My parents had been concerned, but Laki had insisted his son was fine. “Rewriting the magic to cut her off and forcing her to forget requires the utmost discipline and skill. It hurts. But he’ll grow from the pain.” He’d held out a hand to Zakkai. “Let’s go.”

The young boy had looked at me with heartbreak in his eyes, his face wet from tears.

And then he’d vanished.

My chest ached with the memory, my mind conflicted on whether or not to believe it. Is it true? I demanded through our newly restored link. Is what you just showed me real?

Come join me and find out,he taunted into my mind. Your robe is still on the bed.