"Fast-paced and full of quirky, fantastical creatures, this is a fun read with enough action and intrigue to keep those pages turning until the end. [...] There is romance, but this is more like a pixie dust coating on the darker magical adventure." Tonja Drecker, Goodreads
Published: November 15th, 2019
I survived Orientation at Crystal Wing Academy–barely–and now it’s time to learn how to control my power.
After destroying a power-sucking slake before he killed my friends, I’m feeling stronger and more confident than ever.
Donovan and I are together, I’m pulling in more threads than before, and I have new abilities I’m excited to master… So, I might be flunking Magical Creatures & How to Tame Them. Not everything comes easy, right?
When I stumble over a dead girl–one of eight Outlings at the Academy–and she’s marked with an O and a #7, it’s clear someone’s copycatting the Outling murders that took place one-hundred years ago.
With the clock ticking down and more Outlings turning up dead, I’ll soon be next. Last time, every Outling at the Academy was murdered.
But the killer is about to learn this Outling wizard won’t go down without a fight.
An exciting new world for Potter fans, filled with magic, suspense, a badass heroine, and flirty romance. Dragonsworn is the second book in the young adult Crystal Wing Academy series. The third and final book in the series will be released late this year or early next year.
Crystal Wing Academy (Outling #1)
Welcome to CrystalWing Academy, where the magical Elite reign...and Outlings are an endangered species.
Magic doesn't exist in the human world. As far as I know. But when I fling a fireball at a bully, my horrified Mom dumps me at CrystalWing Academy, a place straight out of my favorite fantasy books.
They tell me I'm an Outling, a wizard born from non-magical parents. Mom's human. Dad? I don't exactly know who he is....
One thing I do know is I'm not an Elite--descendants of the original six families who split from the Fae ages ago. At seventeen, their children and despised Outlings like me attend the Academy to learn to control our power.
I'm barely on campus when I'm targeted by a mean girl. Figures. Thankfully, the Academy's not all bad. My pixie roommate's awesome. I score a coveted moonstone during Stone Selection. And let's not forget Donovan, a cute guy who seems to like me, not the mean Elite girl who's determined to win him.
Except something's luring students into the forest and draining their power, leaving only shriveled husks behind.
The Headmistress warns me not to investigate, but the killer’s after my friends. Big mistake there. My magical skills may be untrained and wild, but if a power-sucking vamp thinks he can harm people I care about, he’s about to discover I’m a wizard unlike any other.
EXCERPT
TOUR SCHEDULE
CHAPTER ONE
Two Weeks Later
Oh, yeah, the dragon I’d met in the forest. Might be
nice to learn ways to communicate with him. Although, dragons weren’t on the
syllabus.
Unfortunately, I was barely passing my class, which
didn’t speak well for my ability to cozy up to the dragon.
First test? Ride the aldakor. A.K.A., a giant
wolf. Sort of a wolf if you ignored the huge curly horns on their heads and
their long, spiky tail. Other than that, they would fit in with mythical giant
wolves with their four clawed paws and lush black fur. And canines too close to
that of a Siberian tiger. The better to
eat wizards with, my dear.
Really needed to ditch the fairytales.
“Riding aldakors is an Academy tradition,”
Professor Trarion had said on our first day of class. “The original six used
aldakors for transportation instead of flitting, an elemental magic they
learned later.” Frankly, I’d rather wear myself out with a flit than wrangle
one of these beasts. But I also needed to pass this test.
“Okay, here they come,” Professor Trarion
shouted. She tugged her dark blue teacher’s tunic down over her snug leggings.
Ten students around me did the same with their Academy-emblazoned riding
outfits. Sheepishly, I did, as well.
Only a few kids had signed up for this class. Everyone
else had wisely chosen the other First Year course offered for this period. Magical Foods: From Exquisite Cuisine to
Poison. Just think, I could’ve been discovering ways to poison Alys instead
of swan diving across the backs of aldakors. I meant, riding aldakors, something I’d yet to master.
“As the herd passes beneath us,” our teacher said.
“Crouch and spring, and think ride to
activate your elemental magic.”
Drea, another outling in my class who lived on my
floor at Earth Coven, send me a wan smile. After fainting at the sight of the
three-headed Cerberus, one would think she’d avoid anything to do with beasts.
During our first class, she’d confided to me that her skapti involved working
with animals. Magical Creatures was her Academy major.
I’d yet to pick a major. Throwing fire and feeding
power into another person seemed to be my only skaptis. And I wasn’t sure what
purpose they’d serve in my future. Could someone major in tossing fireballs?
“Here they come,” a guy squealed. “Get ready!”
Hard to miss them since their grunts and bellows
echoed around us.
We stood on a platform on the edge of the for-now,
not-forbidden northern forest. A well-used trail stretched below and on either
side of us, snaking down from the mountains. Behind us, the copper rooftops of
the Academy gleamed in the fading sunlight.
Each day at dusk, herds of aldakors streamed en masse
to the upper pasture to graze. No clue how I’d missed them while slinking
around campus during orientation. These beasties were huge.
Their hooves thundered on the ground. Dust rose into
the air, thick enough to make the girl standing next to me cough.
My heart flailed in my chest, and my belly already
cringed from the upcoming impact with the trail.
Two weeks into this three-times-a-week class, and I
only had two more opportunities after today to pass this test. Failure meant I
couldn’t advance to the next creature.
Which might not be a bad thing, after all.
“You can do it, Fleur,” Drea said, hip-checking me
with a smile. “I know you can.” Only certainty came through in her voice.
The other students unanimously scowled.
“Better do
it this time.” This ‘support’ came from Vik, Ashton’s younger brother, a guy
who had kept with his family’s tradition of being equally unpleasant to
outlings.
I couldn’t blame him for feeling irritated. None of
them would advance to the next lesson until all of us had ridden an aldakor. I
was the one holding everyone else back. Well, unless I flunked out. Then they’d
move on without me.
One week until add-drop period ended. Should I quit
now? Surely, they could squeeze me into Poisons.
“Lean forward, sight, and spring,” Professor
Trarion said in a lilting voice. An elf—and a sister to Professor Alean—she
stood two feet taller than me and had long, bright purple dreadlocks. Was she
worried about imps making off with her hair overnight?
She patted my shoulder, doling out encouragement.
I needed it. The beasts plunged nearer, the lead animal
huffing as it bounded around a corner in the trail, leaped over a rock, and
approached us.
“Ready…Set…” the Professor said as the animals grunted
and snorted beneath us in a stream of black fur and gnashing horns, rushing
toward the pasture. “Now!”
Around me, students leaped gracefully off the
platform, landing solidly on aldakors. Their fingers wove into the creature’s
dense manes as they swung their legs up and across the animals’ backs. From
past experience, I knew they’d ride the aldakor all the way to the pasture,
after which they’d hop onto the ground, give the aldakor a decent grooming in
exchange for the ride, then meet up to congratulate each other on mastering
this skill.
While I’d troop down the trail behind the last aldakor
and stand in the shadows, feeling useless.
“Do it,” one of the other students yelled over his
shoulder as the beast he rode galloped away. “Come on, Fleur!”
I jumped as the last, straggling aldakor bellowed and
thrashed its hooves on the ground beneath me.
Smack. My belly hit the creature. Nice backbone,
there, buddy. Nearly cut off my wind. My fingers scrambled through fur,
latching on. I was going to do it this time!
My legs bounced on the aldakor’s hips as I struggled
to drag one up and across the animal’s back.
Closer…
Something hit my right foot—a bush or tree—and my leg
scissored out. Silky mane slipped through my fingers.
No!
I tumbled backward off the aldakor, who kicked and I
swore burst into beastie laughter. He kept going, his golden hooves winking in
the sunlight.
With a teeth-jarring impact, my butt hit the trail.
The squishy trail.
“Aw, shit,” I said, grimacing.
Because…literally…shit.
***
Syncing to the City’s sundial, I realized I was late.
I hadn’t intended to stop in my room to clean up and
change before my meeting, but I’d never live it down if I showed up in the
library with aldakor doo stuck to my ass.
Tonight, I was meeting up with an exclusive—their
term, not mine—club.
Outling Club.
With so few members, exclusive had to pushing it.
Eight outlings total at the Academy, including me.
Climbing the stairs to the third floor of the library,
I puffed as I rushed past the long rows of stacks to the small sitting area in
the back set up with an oval wooden table, a few chairs, and a recliner and two
sofas. I arrived winded and too sweaty, which told me it was past time to get
some regular exercise.
Not on an aldakor.
“Sorry I’m late, guys,” I said weakly.
Eben, a Second Year student and our self-appointed
Club president, lifted his arm and scrutinized his watch. So far, he’d been
unable to harness enough energy to sync with the sundial.
“Two minutes
late,” he said with a scowl.
Whoa. Thank the Fae it wasn’t three. Who knew what
would happen then? Maybe I’d turn into a pumpkin.
I dropped down onto the sofa beside Jenny, another
First Year outling like me, though she was in Wind Coven. Her bright smile
cheered me up. She fingered the pendant she wore, a citrine, a decent stone.
Leaning close, she whispered, “Ignore him. Jerk. He’s
just jealous.”
I lifted my eyebrows and her gaze fell to my dagger,
my moonstone. So, okay, I possessed the stone that ruled them all. At least I
wasn’t being asked to throw it into the fiery pits of Mordor.
My gaze skimmed over the outlings present.
Sarah, short and with chestnut hair, sat with her feet up in the recliner. The
other Second Year students included Eben, Carly, and Eli.
An even split, me, Manuel, Drea, and Jenny made up the
First Year outlings.
“We’ll give Drea three more minutes. I’m confident
she’ll be here by then.” Eben stared down his nose, his gaze focused beyond the
stacks as if he expected her to appear this second, upon command. “But after
three minutes, we’re starting without her.”
We kinda all stared at each other for those three
minutes before Eben stood and passed around papers.
“Agenda,” he said. “First up, elemental magic.” His
gaze swept over us. “Who needs more practice with mindspeak?”
Skimming the list, I didn’t miss the lack of
sundial-syncing on the agenda. Honestly, I’d leave it off if it was my
weakness, too.
We outlings had met together once since the Second
Year students arrived, to commensurate and help each other acclimate to magical
life at the Academy.
Fingering my dragonfly pendant, I wondered what my
fellow outlings would think if I called Alex? I’d only spoken to him once since
the Ball. Grilled him, actually, about the sixth family and the fact that
they’d had a dragonfly companion. As usual, he’d turned into the king of vague.
So far, my history class had not revealed any details about the horrible thing
the sixth family had done. We were still stuck in the background leading up to
the original split from the fae. What could the sixth have done to be banished?
Sarah raised her hand. “I still can’t hear a mindspeak
ping.”
“Okay,” Eben said. “Come on over, and we’ll practice.”
He tapped the back of the chair beside him. “I believe it’s easier to when
you’re close to the person pinging you.”
We spent the next fifteen minutes taking turns pinging
Sarah without much success.
“It’ll come,” I said when she sighed out defeat. “Give
it time.”
She raised a hesitant smile. “You think so? I’m
beginning to wonder.”
“Sure. Keep at it.” I wasn’t sure, actually. And I was
beyond grateful for Donovan’s teaching.
“Next on the agenda is flitting,” Eben said. “Anyone
having problems with that?”
“I traveled ten feet yesterday,” Carly said with a
grin.
Cool, go you,
and wonderful, the others cried out,
cheering her on until she blushed.
While I did like feeling as if I belonged somewhere, I hated seeing Ashton’s
comment about an outling’s poor magical skills confirmed. My abilities had to
be an anomaly. Even the Elites displayed varying degrees of aptitude, from
Donovan, who was neck and neck with me in most of my classes, to Alys, who
could still only pull in one thread. That latter fact provided me endless
satisfaction in Cloven’s classes.
“Anyone else have a flitting update?” Eben asked.
“Still working on it,” Manuel said. He scratched his
dark hair, leaving a few strands standing on-end. “But I was able to flit from
my dorm room to the ground floor this morning.”
Eben high-fived Manuel. “You’re doing fantastic.” Eben
may be a bit anal but he was supportive. Maybe he wasn’t that bad a Club President.
“I, um, can flit from my bathroom to my main dorm
room,” I said. Flitting came easy for me but mentioning the fact felt too much
like bragging.
Everyone smiled, and Jenny patted my arm.
“Okay, then,” Eben said. “Next on the agenda is
enhancing skapti.”
I sat forward.
“We’re all pulling in at least one thread, correct?”
Eben asked.
Everyone nodded, but none of us would’ve made it
through Stone Selection if we didn’t have the potential to pull in power.
“Keep at it. You’ll find it easier and easier to draw
in multiple threads before you know it.”
“Fantastic,” Sarah said with a grin.
“Last item on the agenda is the most vital.” Eben
stared down at the paper on the table in front of him. “Fitting in at the
Academy.” His solemn gaze met each of ours, one-by-one, and our moods dropped
at least three notches. “Who’s dealing with bullies? Which, unfortunately, will
be a common occurrence, I’m afraid.”
Sarah raised her hand. “Only one so far.”
Protectiveness rose inside me, and I stroked my
dagger. “Who?” I asked. “I’ll speak to the Headmistress about them, if you
want.”
“Right now, I’d rather not say.”
“How do you want to handle it, then?” I asked, my
fingers gliding across my stone.
As her eyes drifted to my hand, she released a soft
smile. “Not that way, but thanks.” Her chin lifted, and she tucked a long
strand of hair behind her ear. “Instead of getting pissed off—or crying—I’m
answering each of his taunts with pure kindness. I’m hoping that’ll smooth out
his rough edges.” She blushed. “Because, he’s kinda cute.”
“It’s hard to be mean to someone who is unfailingly
nice,” Eben said, ignoring the cute comment. “Good thought on your part.” He
made a note on his agenda. “Let me know if we need to intervene.” His brown
eyes darkened. “It won’t be the first time I’ve had to handle something like
this.”
Sarah dipped her head. “I will.”
“Anyone else?” Eben asked. When we all shrugged, he
said, “Okay. That’s it for tonight, then. Let’s meet up here again next week at
the same time?”
Agreeing, we rose and took the stairs to the ground
floor, then walked out of the library together.
“Anyone want to get an iced coffee?” Manuel asked.
“Not me, but thanks,” I said. It was getting late, and
my body ached from my repeated tumbles off random aldakors.
We split up, me walking right after a soft goodbye,
the others turning left, going either to Wind or Fire Coven or to the coffee
shop. Me and Drea were the only outlings in Earth Coven.
Weird that Drea hadn’t shown up for the meeting.
My footsteps echoed around me as I passed the Clinic
entrance. I waved to a few kids in the mall but only one responded. Second Year
students were almost universally snooty, as if we First Year kids deserved a
trial by scowl, their version of a mini-initiation before acceptance. Or maybe
they didn’t want to bother getting to know us until it was clear we wouldn’t
flunk out.
Definitely needed to master riding an aldakor. And
discover my other skapti. Because flunking out of the Academy was not an
option.
I’d gone to Justine after things settled and shared my
ability with fire and feeding power into Cloven, but she’d only smiled and
said, “Wonderful. Keep exploring.”
Whatever that meant.
Leaving the mall, I bumped into Ashton coming from the
other direction.
“Outling,” he said snidely, smoothing his hair and
jacket. Rather messy, considering how flawless he always kept his prefect
appearance.
“Elite,” I said just as snidely but I knew the taunt
had no kick.
He huffed and crossed the mall to join a bunch of guys
sitting at a table outside the ice cream shop. He should get an ice cream. It
might sweeten him up.
Shaking my head, I continued, taking the stairs
leading to the skywalk spanning across to Earth Coven. I loved how they’d built
it completely of clear crystal. A lot of kids avoided it because, as you walked
across, vertigo hit, giving you the feeling you were about to plunge to the
ground.
After a few more excursions on the roof with Donovan,
I’d become addicted to heights.
As well as Donovan.
I walked across the span, staring through the clear
glass, taking in the stars and moon overhead, the trees at eye level at my
sides, and the statues below.
A slithering, scraping sound behind me made me pause.
Frowning, I peered back, into darkness that swallowed the entrance.
“Hello?” I called out. My heart tripped when the sound
was repeated, but I didn’t see a thing. Not a speck of movement, either.
Had I imagined it?
I couldn’t quite convince myself it had been nothing.
Okay, so the skywalk wasn’t as much fun as I’d
thought. Not when night had fallen and I was traveling alone.
Ignoring the prickles lifting along my spine, I turned
back and continued toward Earth Coven, my pace quicker than before. I wasn’t
scared. Not too much, that is.
When the scraping grew louder, as if something was
creeping up on me, my mouth flashed dry and I bolted.
I hit the far side of the skywalk at a dead run, my
breathing raging in my chest, my veins on fire. My fingers scrambled on the
doorknob. Fear sobbing out of me, I wrenched the panel open and dashed forward.
I tripped over something solid lying on the floor on
the landing.
Falling onto my knees beyond whatever it was, I
flipped onto my butt and then scrambled backward, abrading my palms on the
tiles with the frantic movement.
“Drea?” I whispered, squinting in the low light.
Lying on her back, she’d clasped her hands on her
chest like she’d decided the stairway floor was an awesome place to take a nap.
Or like she was lying in a casket.
Not a good thought, there.
Green leaves lay around her body, tossed there by
someone or scattered by the wind. Plump and full, they looked freshly picked.
When I inched forward, my gasp burst from my lips.
Drea stared at the ceiling, glassy-eyed. I checked,
but she had no pulse. She wasn’t breathing either.
“Dead?” I stuttered out in horror.
At the base of her throat where her school uniform was
unbuttoned to expose her pale skin, something drew my eye. I leaned forward, my
pulse hammering in my ears loud enough to eclipse everything else.
A circle had been carved into her flesh, and beaded
blood had dried in the outline.
What…?” Inside the circle…No, not a circle. An O. For Outling? And in the middle,
someone had carved a number.
With Drea dead, there were no longer eight outlings at
Crystal Wing Academy
The clock had just ticked down to seven.
About the author:
MARTY MAYBERRY writes young adult fiction and infuses it with suspense, romance, and a touch of humor. When she’s not dreaming up ways to mess with her character’s lives, she works as an RN/Clinical Documentation Specialist. She lives in New England with her husband, three children, three geriatric cats, and a spunky Yorkie pup who keeps her on her toes.
Marty is a member of YARWA and a PAN member of RWA, as well a four-year PitchWars mentor.
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