Page 116 of Pixie Problems

Ignoring the entire court, I shoved the boy backwards - because if he was going to act like this, he was merely a boy to me. Not a beautiful, impressive, or intelligent guy. Certainly not a real man, although his fae ass probably had never been exposed to that very human concept.

All I cared about was that he was of a size I could actually move. I shoved, he pushed back, so I shoved harder. All those years of combat training had given me more than merely sexy muscles. They were strong too, and I pushed them to my limit.

"I don't care why you can't control your magic," I informed him through gritted teeth. "If you act like a child, I will make sure you're treated like one!"

"Get your hands off me!" he roared.

But when he reached for me, I switched hands. Stories said a jevadu could drain with a touch. So long as I only held his shirt, I should be ok. Right? I fucking hoped so, but as I forced him back into the bathroom, we scrambled. He tried to dig in his feet and resist my force. I tried to keep my hands away from his.

Once we reached the threshold, Torian snapped. Wind slammed into me. Miniature lightning began to spark down towards me, looking more like impressive static than a Summer magic tempest. I pushed a shield around the pair of us, but Aspen didn't care. She forced her way through it and grabbed her brother's arm.

"Tor, stop! Please?" she begged. "Keir's our friend!"

"I can't!" he groaned, yanking his shoulder away from my clutches. "Just go, Keir!"

Instead, I slung him back, then called all the magic I had. A glaze of iridescence washed over the bathroom walls, hurrying into Torian's bedroom and the one Hawke had been using as well. As the color stained the walls, I kept pushing, holding the image of what I wanted as I let the power make it reality.

"You," I growled, allowing my rage to finally show, "will not destroy this school. Maybe you don't care, but for some of us, it's home! It's all we fucking have, Torian." I pushed his chest again, making sure he stayed well within the boundary of my shields. "And so you know, this has nothing to do with rumors. This?" I pointed at my chest. "I'm fucking pissed because of how you act! I am not trash to be walked on, do you hear me?"

"You - " he tried.

But I cut him off by yelling louder. "Do you hear me?!"

"Tor, just let it go," Hawke insisted, moving to Torian's side.

"It's ok," Aspen said. "I'm fine. You're fine. We're all ok. Just listen to me, Tor. C'mon. Listen."

"I hear you," he breathed, breaking our gaze to look at his sister.

But she didn't say anything. They simply stared at each other, and yet it seemed to be helping. That was all I'd wanted, so as soon as the tempest in the room faded to little more than a breeze, and when my shield had encircled everything in this suite, I shook my head in disappointment then turned away in disgust.

"And don't worry about me bothering the court again," I grumbled, snagging my coat before storming into the hall - and slamming the door behind me.

"Fucking fae!" I breathed, wishing I could yell it.

Because while they were dealing with that, I had one last thing to do. Heading to Hawke's room, I grabbed my things, not caring if it was orderly. Unfortunately, I had more than I could carry. Over the last two weeks, I'd ended up moving a lot from my room to Hawke's, and I hadn't even noticed. It had been too easy to do it.

Ok, fine. I'd make two trips.

With my arms full of my clothes, books, and everything else that had been within reach, I headed down the hall to my own room. Another push of magic unlocked the door, since I couldn't remember where I'd left my key, and I stepped in, dropping everything on the first empty spot I could find: my bed.

Then I just stood, trying to let go of this feeling. I was pissed. Livid, even. That all made sense, but it wasn't what was bothering me. It was the ache deep in my chest. I'd thought those four were my friends! I'd just started to relax, thinking we were finally getting along.

I should've known better, though. They were kids! I was pretty sure Torian was two years younger than me, so Aspen was as well. Hawke and Wilder had to be roughly the same age. Little high school idiots! They were still ruled by popularity contests and bragging rights - because I'd been that way at that age.

And yet it didn't make me feel better. This stillhurt. My whole life, I'd always been the odd one out: too fae for faelings, and too weird for humans. Rain had been right when she'd said I was drawn to the pure fae, and I hadn't even realized it until then. But I did recognize how easy it had been to hang out with the court.

To belong.

I sighed again, gathering up my resolve to get the rest of my things before trying to deal with the emotions this room brought - only to have Wilder show up in my open doorway holding an armload of my stuff.

"So I guess I'm evicted, huh?" I asked.

"Nope," he said, offering me a weak smile. "I went to look for you, saw you'd grabbed your shit, so I came to make an offer."

"Mhm?" I didn't trust it.

Wilder leaned until his shoulder met the frame, letting it hold him up. "Well, I'm more than willing to carry this back to Hawke's room. In exchange, I ask that you not notice when my bed isn't empty."