Page 35 of Faerie Gift

Maybe they secretly liked it.

The professor in the middle—older than the rest with curling white hair in a cascade down to her shoulders and a kind expression—offered a hand to me. Not to shake, but to help me advance to the spot where Nitliffe still pointed. I hadn’t actually moved.

Swallowing over a desert-dry throat, I stepped forward and stopped in front of them, trying not to quake under their scrutiny. “Miss Alderidge,” the white-haired lady said, “the test today is very straightforward. You must make the four of us see something incredible. Not only incredible, but we must trust what we see with absolute certainty. There are criteria upon which you will be judged while your peers watch on. The strength of the image, for one. Believability. And your ability to maintain the illusion.”

“What do you want to see?” I asked.

The professor on the end, wearing a black felt fedora over his ears, spoke for the first time. “Anything. It is entirely up to you. However, the one stipulation we require is that it has to be fantastic. Nothing ordinary. This is a test to see how your studies have been coming along coupled with your natural abilities.”

I wrung my hands in front of me, nodding at them. Why hadn’t I prepared something? I should have realized what they’d want, based on the core principles of my power. Something incredible, huh?

I could show them Mike and me making out, because the two of us together would be prettyfrickin’incredible. Something no one would ever believe, the Crown Prince of Faerie and a nobody like me. I had to suppress a smile at the thought.

What to show them…?

There were four gazes staring expectantly at me from in front and three behind me. I hated going first. Going first was literally the worst and I hated the attention.

I racked my brain for something to show them and finally settled on an outlandish and somewhat strange sight.

Pointing to a desk pressed against the wall on the opposite side of the room, I muttered a spell under my breath. Something designed to hone my focus. I held a picture of what I wanted to see in my head, down to the very tiniest of details. Sight, smells, sounds, textures. I had to take all those things into consideration if I wanted them tosee.

Then I reached out for their minds, tapping into the energy of the four professors, but not the monitor who still held the sheet of paper with our names on it. I blocked out the rest of the room, uncaring what Cassady, Ryan, and Tyler made of this. I debated briefly reaching for their minds as well and decided against it. For this first trick, I wanted the bulk of the power to be on the people who mattered.

And boy, would they appreciate this.

Thanks to the spell, I saw their energy signatures clearly, pulsing in rainbow-like auras around their bodies. Then I grabbed their minds, accompanying it with a pulse of magic.

“Those desks?” I said to the teachers finally. Closing my eyes. “The ones pushed against the far wall? They are actually transfigured lions. They’re prowling around the classroom with large fangs and angry eyes. Saliva dripping from their jaws, claws clicking against the floor. Large manes and large paws. They’re hungry.” Another push. They had to be afraid for this to be believable. “You should be careful. They have you in their sights.”

I didn’t see the lions myself—at least, not in reality—but whatIsaw didn’t matter. The teachers had to believe what I told them. They had toperceivewhat I told them to be true.

“Watch out for the lions! They are going on the attack!” At last I opened my eyes and focused on the middle teacher, the one with the kind expression and white hair. And watched as her own eyes widened in terror.

The professor next to her went so far as to scramble up onto the table, his arms around his knees, staring at the desks in abject horror. Nitliffe screeched.

“Someone do something!” the teacher on the far left screamed.

Another push, I told myself, sending a wave of magic against their minds. There were no barriers for me to encounter. Nothing to keep me out. Then again, the teachers didn’t want to keep me out. They were open books. I could have pressed further if I wanted to—

I wasn’t equipped for it and stopped at the sudden drain in my energy. I kept my intrusion to a minimum as the magic seeped out of me. Holding four minds at once…

“Lions,” I said again with a gasp.

All four professors were screaming now, from wailing sobs to keening shrieks, backing away toward the other end of the room and Nitliffe edging for the door.

Good. Yes.

But Nitliffe…oops. I hadn’t meant to include her in the demonstration. I hoped she wouldn’t hold this against me in class.

Behind me, my peers scrutinized what I’d done. I swiveled around to see Cassady dividing her attention between the desks and the teachers preparing to bolt.

Bloodthirsty lions? Maybe I should have gone for wolves.

No, wolves would hit a little too close to home for me and I couldn’t chance my own feelings introducing any doubt in others. I wasn’t sure it would work but one should not take unnecessary risks.

Nitliffe stood by the door, with a ward sizzling in the air around her head. Something to block the effects of my magic on the way out of the room, no doubt. The fear seeped out of her. Turning to me, she inclined her head, the clinical mask back in place. Then she snapped her fingers and the rest of her coworkers settled down.

The desks were desks again.

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