A Failure of a High Elf (Book One)

1.4

New. The word new could only precede the more silent echo of "orders."

"My—my father," I whispered, clearing my throat grossly. "Does my father have new orders for me, sir?"

I wondered what was taking the elve this long. No way had he intended for his renowned Failure to actually finish university. It's not like I was going to inherit any part of the 11th Ring's throne. Once my brother, Niall, took over as Head of Transportation and Roads, he would need every bit of affluence and influence Father could provide him. No room for the failure of a High Elf.

Will he send me...to Mother?

Tears burned at my nose, but I was helpless to resist them as they puddled in the corners of my eyes. All these years, forcing me to endure school at every turn, forcing me to stay locked up in this cage that made no yewing sense...all for what? All just to ship me off to the rehabilitation retreat he'd hidden Mother away? Couldn't get much further away than the Western Sector unless it was the underwater palace of the Mermaids.

Why did I have to endure any of this at all, if that was always his plan? Why hadn't he sent me away after the first time I lost control? Or the eighth time? Or the twenty more times after that, before I finally realized I was the weird one? It really was just me.

The Loon of the East, coming into her own.

"Oh, Charlotte, don't tell me you've already heard about Rosetta?" The Headmaster's cool voice wasn't cruel. No. How could one be cruel when they didn't care one way or the other?

I sniffled, eyeing the Ice Elf in his loud robes. Then, I sniffled again. "What? What does my aunt have to do with sending me away?"

"So you don't know," Headmaster Ralph concluded, his lips puckering within his beard. "But you got the other half. I really shouldn't be surprised that news travels so fast these days, but I admit it. I am a bit shocked. I didn't think you had any friends who would tell you things heard through the grapevine."

I stayed silent, waiting for the elve to move on. Really, though, Headmaster Ralph was spot on, but he already knew that. So why bother? Harassment was a Loon's cross to bear.

"Please, Beckett." The Headmaster stood from leaning against the pearly-white ledge of his burdensome desk. He gestured to the loveseat, his tone gentler than I'd ever heard it. It didn't feel...cold, this time.

I shoved one foot in front of the other, balancing on my legs like they were made of putty. I hadn't worked with putty in years, but the wobbling was truly reminiscent of those memories. Shaping something one way, then the other. Shape it too hard and the whole thing toppled as if struck from a great gale of wind. So fragile, so weak.

Funny, my heart was pounding a rhythm in my ears. Why was it doing that? Were my senses kicked into overdrive again? But why?

I felt like I could hardly hear through the rushing of my blood moving throughout my body. I usually didn't focus inward when my senses exploded, so I didn't think my usual method of tossing off each noise like a ring would work. I wouldn't want to accidentally force my heart to stop moving, would I? My sensory control was such a mess, I couldn't say for sure I wasn't a harm to myself.

Yet another thing to thank Father for.

Headmaster Ralph sat in a plush, white chair across from the loveseat, the tiniest, flimsiest table sitting between the two pieces of furniture. Steepling his fingers in front of him, he leaned forward, bending in a way that the elverly really shouldn't do. What if he got stuck like that?

"You are leaving Elmhurst immediately, upon Head Carlisle's orders. Your father feels it is unnecessary for you to finish your final semester here at the university. You have demonstrated capabilities more than your original station, and your father is proud of this. He wishes to give you your first challenge, though it comes with more than a little weight. You see, Charlotte, a terrible tragedy has fallen upon your family, and your father has allocated you to deal with it."

I wet my lips, blood trickling back to me from cracks in their flesh I didn't know were there. The roaring, rushing inside my ears couldn't be quelled. I listened to the Headmaster as if a waterfall sat between us, but eventually, I realized I needed to speak. I needed to grant the Ice Elf permission to finish it.

"Go on."

Headmaster Ralph sighed, deflating a bit within the vibrant red robes like a party trick. Like a vanishing rabbit amidst a pile of scarves. The Ice Elf's crystal-colored eyes suddenly looked more wrinkled than the last time I'd been pulled into his office for a tongue-lashing. What had it been? Getting in trouble with some girls from my Warpology class? A small explosion, an unhappy father, and the Headmaster assigned to take care of it.

Yeah. That'd been, what, a month ago? How could Headmaster Ralph's face change so much in that short a time?

"It's Rosetta—your aunt, Rosetta," he clarified, as if we hadn't been talking about the only Aunt Rosetta in my life all this time. "There's been a terrible tragedy at her clinic. She's—she's been killed by robbers, it seems. Your father wishes for you to oversee finalizations of her property, will, and resources. And, of course, oversee the...arrangements...for her burial. You leave immediately. Take only what you can carry."