Whirl (Ondine Quartet Book 1) (4 page)

All elementals kept under the radar of
regular society. Humans had a hard enough time believing in magic,
much less an ongoing war with immortal demons. I couldn't believe a
community as huge as Haverleau wasn't being noticed.

"It's protected by Mist," Tristan replied.
"Any human who passes by only sees empty woods. If they come near
it, they're suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to avoid the area.
The Mist also protects the community from satellite photography.
Magical wards along the entire border keep the Aquidae out."

The road crossed through the center of
Haverleau and wound east, leading toward a cluster of large
buildings that were constructed in grand French Baroque style with
towering wings and tall windows. The complex was nestled along the
edge of Haverleau and surrounded by a border of well-manicured
gardens and thick woods.

Tristan drove the car around the back of one
of the buildings to a parking lot. Without another word, he turned
off the engine and got out.

Suspicion shot through me. "Where are
we?"

The briefest hint of amusement flickered in
his dark eyes.

"Welcome to Lumiére Academy. Your
school."

THREE

He headed toward the building and I ran
to catch up. Being five-four, my legs had to work a lot harder to
match his long strides.

"School? Are you kidding me, gardinel?"

Tristan kept walking without turning around
to look at me. "You'll be attending classes and staying in the
dormitory until you graduate. We're meeting the headmaster. He'll
tell you the rest."

I'd imagined myself with my own place in
Haverleau, free to do as I pleased. Nowhere in my fantasies had
school come into play.

Tristan opened a large set of entrance doors
and we were met by a broad, muscular man who looked like he should
be playing professional football. His smooth skin was the color of
dark chocolate, and his hair was cropped close to his head in
military style. He wore grey sweats and a navy blue gym shirt that
had "Lumiére Academy" printed on it in white, elegant script.
Beneath it was a symbol of interlocking water swirls enclosed
within a diamond.

Huge arms bulged under the short sleeves. On
his left bicep, a large tattoo of a golden eagle glared menacingly
at me, its outstretched wings circling around his arm.

But I was far more interested in his other
tattoo — the outline of a small, black
kouperet
on his inner
right arm, just below the wrist. The chevalier mark.

My father had the same tattoo in every
photograph I had of him. Before leaving Haverleau, he'd been the
head of the chevaliers, a corps of demillir knights who worked
together with the gardinels to protect ondines.

Selkie gardinels were like the human military
and secret service. Their primary jobs were in security,
protection, and large-scale offense. Demillir chevaliers were more
like local law enforcement. They went out on daily patrols,
searching and targeting Aquidae cells to take out.

Mom once told me that Dad received the tattoo
when he was officially inducted. She'd learned everything about
fighting Aquidae from him.

The chevalier scrutinized me with light brown
eyes. A combination of stoic and piercing awareness defined his
expression.

"And she's really…" His voice was a deep,
rumbling bass.

Tristan nodded. "Yes."

His eyes widened slightly in surprise. With a
gruff nod, he headed towards an ornately carved staircase. Tristan
and I followed.

No one spoke. The interior walls had wood
paneling and the parquet floor extended down two hallways on either
side of the entrance. The hum of copy machines, clicking keyboards,
and murmured conversations drifted out from the many smaller
administrative offices lining the corridors.

At the top of the stairs, the chevalier
turned down a hallway that led to huge double-doors. He knocked
once before opening it, ushering us into a large office with plush,
beige carpeting and walls full of bookcases and filing cabinets. A
floor-to-ceiling window dominated the far side of the room.

Dressed in a conservative suit and with grey
hair slicked back like a helmet, the headmaster sat behind the
mahogany desk in front of the window. His tie was knotted so high
up on his neck, I was amazed he could still breathe.

Two ondines sat on a small, leather sofa
beside the desk. The first was an older woman with a sharp, hawkish
face. Her body was so rigid and still, I almost mistook her for a
statue. The other was a young, pretty woman with raven hair that
flowed like a waterfall down to her waist.

Tristan and the chevalier went to stand
beside the two ondines, hands clasped behind their backs like
imposing sentinels.

I settled into the uncomfortable wooden chair
in front of the headmaster's desk, resentment pouring out of every
cell in my body. I was never much for confined spaces and the idea
of being stuck in a boarding school for another year was like my
worst nightmare come to life.

The headmaster's eyes flickered over me, and
I realized that the Aquidae encounter had probably left some dried
blood and bruising. It seemed to make him nervous.

Good. I wasn't planning on making it any
easier.

"Kendra Irisavie." It took me a moment to
realize he was addressing me.

Every few moves, Mom had changed our last
name for precautionary reasons. For the past three years, we'd been
using the name Durrand and I hadn't heard anyone call me by my real
name in…well, forever.

"I'm Headmaster Pelletier and we're here to
discuss the arrangements for you to be a student at Lumiére."

He opened a file on his desk that had my name
written on it in bold, black letters. "You've been Rogue and living
among humans your entire life." I heard the undertone of disdain
and my dislike of him grew exponentially. "The human education
system is very different from the schooling for water elementals.
Your case is a first for us."

"What can I say? I'm an original." His
pompousness was irritating.

He gave me a reproving look. "According to
your records, you haven't exactly been a diligent student." He took
out a sheet that looked like a school report and read aloud. "Shows
academic potential and leadership skills amongst her peers. But has
frequent behavioral problems and an inability to respect authority.
Confrontational, quick to get into fights, skips class on a
frequent basis, shows a lack of concern for rules."

I shrugged. I'd heard the same thing said
about me in the fourteen different schools I'd attended.

"Because you're entering near the end of the
school year, we expect you to have difficulty with your course
work. A tutor will be assigned to you. We expect you to try your
best to catch up on your elemental education, difficult though that
may be." His tone implied that he thought I was probably a lost
cause.

"I assume you've had no magical
training."

I frowned. "My mother taught me enough."

The atmosphere in the room shifted. Pelletier
leaned forward and gave me a speculative look. "As Naida Irisavie's
first born ondine, I assume you have a Virtue?"

"Empath."

The pretty ondine inhaled sharply and
Pelletier raised his shaggy brows. "Ah…" he cleared his throat.
"Yes. But I'm sure you have yet to learn how to use it — "

"I can use it," I interrupted through gritted
teeth. Did he think I was an idiot?

"She can," said Tristan. "It's still raw and
undisciplined, but I felt her use it."

So he had noticed when I used it on him in
the alley. And who the hell was he calling undisciplined?

"Well…" Pelletier seemed flustered. "This
is…unexpected." He turned his head to look at the old ondine. She
gave a barely perceptible nod.

Pelletier cleared his throat again and his
voice resumed its stiff formality. "Then we will also arrange for
you to continue your Virtue studies with a specialized tutor, whom
you'll work with outside of your classes."

I stifled a groan. Great, more studying.

He took out another sheet and passed it over
to me. "This will be your schedule for the rest of the year. You
begin classes tomorrow."

First Period: Elemental Politics and
Culture

Second Period: Hydrophysics

Third Period: Weather Alchemy

Fourth Period: French Language and
Literature

Lunch

Fifth Period: Elemental Conservation and
Balance

Sixth Period: Ondine Magical History

I studied the schedule closely. The most
important part of my education was missing.

"When do I have the physical training
classes?"

"Excuse me?"

I glanced up. "Fighting skills, battle
maneuvers. There's no class on combat technique."

Tristan's eyes bored into me. The chevalier
had a confused expression and Pelletier looked speechless.

I nodded at the file on his desk. "Your
little file has my complete life info so you know my mother trained
me. I've achieved the highest levels in multiple martial art
forms." I knew he put very little value in my education outside of
Haverleau. "But that was in the human world, so I'll need more
training with the chevaliers under the elemental system."

They'd assigned me tutors for my academic and
magical studies, so they could certainly designate someone to catch
me up on the necessary physical skills. If there was one thing I'd
learned from the Aquidae in San Aurelio, it was that I needed to
continue my training.

Pelletier's lips were so pinched, his words
barely made it out. "You are an ondine."

I frowned, not understanding his point.

"An ondine's education does not include
combat training." He spoke as if he thought I wasn't quite all
there in the head. "Your focus should be on developing the
potential of your magical abilities and —"

"Why not?" My voice rose. "How do ondines
learn to defend themselves?"

Pelletier flushed, clearly not liking my
interruption. "Ondines are not capable of fighting. They have the
chevaliers and gardinels for that."

"Yeah, right." I snorted, remembering my
mother's brutal fierceness during our training sessions.

A thick silence enveloped the office.
Everyone stared at me.

My eyes widened. "Are you
serious
?"

Ondines were a powerful and magical race,
one-fourth of the powers protecting the water elemental world.
Sitting back and letting others fight for them? It didn't make any
sense.

"But…" I was so astonished, I almost didn't
know what to say.

Almost.

"That's stupid," I finally bit out and
Pelletier's face got redder.

"Ms. Irisavie," Pelletier hissed. "In our
world, everyone has a role. Ondines are not warriors or knights.
The duty of protecting ondines lies with the chevaliers and
gardinels. It has always been that way."

I leaned forward and my voice was ice cold.
"Am I missing something here? I'm sorry, but I thought we were at
war with homicidal demons whose sole purpose is to eliminate all
water elementals. I assumed all hands would be on deck."

Pelletier opened his mouth to respond.

"Enough."

The command from the old ondine cut through
the heavy tension. Chilly, hazel eyes looked into mine.

"The social and cultural rules that govern
the distribution of responsibilities among the four races are
ancient ones." Her voice was laced with steel authority. "And it
has kept us safe for centuries. Naida was often impractical in her
ideas and she has clearly passed those bad habits on to you. The
fact that you know nothing about your own heritage shows how badly
she has handled your education."

The judgmental, familiar tone with which this
hag spoke about my mother was the last straw. My hands clenched and
I jumped out of my chair.

"I know nothing? Hypocrite much?" I snarled.
"You don't know
anything
about me or my mother. Who the hell
are you, anyway?" The last part came out in a shout. Tristan and
the chevalier winced, but the pretty ondine bit her lip, trying to
suppress a smile.

"Young lady!" Pelletier jumped up, his face
now a deep red that bordered on purple. "You are completely out of
line —"

"It's alright, William." The hag slightly
raised her hand. "Proper introductions have not been made yet."

Her unyielding face was carved into sharp,
tight angles vaguely reminding me of someone, but I couldn't think
of who.

"You're right. I don't know you. But I did
know Naida very well." Her eyes flashed. "I'm Rhian Irisavie,
Governor of Haverleau. Naida's mother and your grandmother."

My anger completely dried up.
"I…uh…what?"

I have a grandmother
.

The thought was so alien that I wasn't sure I
heard her right. Dad's parents were killed by Aquidae before I was
born. Mom never spoke about her family, so I'd assumed they were
gone, too.

I knew we were Redavi, which is kind of like
nobility in ondine society. But that was only because we both had
Virtues. Only Redavi family lines carried that type of specialized
magical ability. Non-Redavi ondines had a simpler form of elemental
magic that allowed them to manipulate and control water.

Not only was my mom Redavi, but she was the
daughter of the official political leader of Haverleau.

"This is Marcella Irisavie," Rhian continued,
gesturing toward the woman with wicked hair. "She's also my
daughter and Naida's younger sister."

Marcella gave a broad, warm smile that I
didn't return. A kind of numbing incredulity slowly took over
me.

"And of course, you've met Prince Tristan
Belicoux."

Prince
?