Adjusting Course, page 1
Table of Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Find A New Series To Love…
About the Author
Other Titles by Erin R Flynn
A Supernatural Script Inc. Book
If you bought your copy, thank you. OR if you used your Kindle Unlimited, thank you. OR if you read this from Kindle lending, thank you. Any legal means, thank you. Thank you for respecting me and other authors for their hard work, understanding this is our job, and while we love it, we do deserve to be compensated for all the hours, and hours, and hours we put into it.
If you did not… Go buy one! You are a thief and your parents and grandparents and cute animals all around the world are ashamed of you. There is no justification for committing this crime because it is a crime, no different than walking into a physical bookstore, taking a print copy off the shelf, and walking out of the store without paying for it.
There is no such thing as a victimless crime. If you truly believe that, you’ve never been a victim. And the victims aren’t only the authors, but the fans who lose authors that quit over our constantly being stolen from and mistreatment. Mistreating the authors that write the books you like or read—not liking them isn’t an excuse for theft, it’s just extra weird then—that’s not a fan. Fans leave reviews to support. Fans send messages of love. Fans… Well fans are nice. Be nice.
There are lots of ways to fight eBook piracy, reporting the site even if you’re not the copyright holder is always a good option. If you want to help in the fight, Google it and you can see there are many ways.
My name is Tamsin Vale and… Uuuuggghhhh! I’m so tired of saying the same things over and over again without enough changing. I get the dirty councils out of the way, and new villains pop up in the form of fairy elders and ancients.
I get them handled and the commanders are the problem.
I smack them into line and the nobles are my issue.
I catch a bunch of them red-handed trying to commit treason, and people are still listening to the lies of the remaining ones.
Why do I even bother? Every time they push me too far, the line of what I’ll suffer just gets further and further from what is acceptable. I yell and they don’t listen. I plead with them and they are unmoved. I rationally lay things out and it falls on deaf ears.
So if they’re going to keep acting like children who push their limits and throw fits, I’m going to punish them like a parent should. It’s time to show everyone that they have no chance to control me and the game we’re playing is mine. Maybe then we can actually fix our society and world before we implode.
Artemis University is an ongoing, hot burning reverse harem, university-age paranormal academy series with darker elements, strong language, violence, and a heroine who follows her own moral compass of what is right… And who she ends up giving her heart to.
1
I was angry.
I was so fucking angry I couldn’t contain what I was feeling. Hell, I was seeing red I was so fucking angry.
I was so angry I wanted to bring pain and make others hurt, be as angry as I was.
And I had no fucking clue what to do about it.
The day after my livestream I went back to training. Dalyor didn’t show up, not knowing I was going to, and I didn’t livestream it. It was about me. What I needed… And apparently getting out a lot of fucking anger.
When I had to take a break and I was dripping with sweat, panting even as I used healing runes, I knew what to do. I set up my phone and played Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff.” I rapped and shouted the words, full out in the zone of the song and not holding back.
My stomach was obnoxious when I finished, and I knew I had to fuel up. I uploaded the video to Marisol on the server she had set up for this. I didn’t want to be around people right then so that was easier, but my stomach ruled me, and I believed Irma that she would cut me off if I didn’t check in.
Plus, I knew her well enough that she would make it easy on me.
The facility I’d set up was in Colorado. I’d figured that if people competing in the Olympics trained there because of the mountains and to push themselves, that was the best place for me too. But the time difference with Italy was a problem, and it wasn’t even where I was staying right then.
So, yeah, things were a mess.
Which was actually my normal.
My life was shit.
Teleporting to Italy, I saw a bunch of containers on the counter for me. I went over and kissed Irma on the head and grabbed them. Then I realized Darby was there eating dinner and with a cloud of worry surrounding him. I kissed him and was about to invite him to come study while I trained when Taeral came hurrying through the back door.
“Your Highness, we’ve all been—”
“Back off!” I blasted, horror filling me when my magic lashed out and shocked him with an electricity rune when I didn’t even think to.
Or did I?
He went down hard, unconscious before he hit the floor, but alive. I backed away as my blood thundered in my ears. This was what I’d been afraid of. I was a mess, and I couldn’t get control. Everyone was so worried about Faerie and me behaving as they wanted, they never worried about me or heard me that I was breaking.
I grabbed the food and teleported to my studio. I opened the much larger, divided paint container and let out my wings before screaming and allowing my magic to do what I needed. I wasn’t surprised when the canvases had the faces of the nobles who had attacked me to try and take over.
But there was one that surprised me. I blinked at the painting of me. It was of me in my full Faerie Guardian uniform holding fae fire. I realized I must have caught the image from someone else’s mind, and it was coming out now.
And I looked damn good. I looked powerful and beautifully terrifying if I was honest.
I cloaked my wings and let the camera over my shoulder see the canvases since Marisol now had access to that footage too. I was pretty sure she also had set something up to be motion-censored and let her know when I was there. She’d had me switch out the cameras I’d mounted, and that was the only thing I could think of.
A portal opened in the kitchen, and only one person could do that. I moved over there and saw Katrina with worry in her eyes.
“I hurt Taeral,” I rasped.
“He’s fine,” she promised. “And don’t be mad at your friend Marisol. She’s worried. Izzy and I are the only ones who know when you set off certain cameras.”
“Thank you.” I nodded when she seemed shocked. They were worried about me, not trying to hover to be jerks. “I think some hobgoblins should live here. I can pay them to help handle all of this, and they can keep track of the dogs.”
She opened her mouth but then closed it. “It is so fucking sad you can’t hire fairies to help you and can only rely on fair folk, but I understand that too.”
Except maybe I could. “I don’t know, Katrina. I just don’t know what to do anymore.”
“I know you don’t. Right now, you need to eat.”
I agreed with that and went over to the kitchen table that was now there. I snorted. Of course, she’d put some actual furniture in the place and was making it useful. I stuffed my face and came to a decision. “Can you see if there are any orphaned fairies? Like my age? Maybe a few could manage this place with hobgoblins and keep them busy in their grief.”
“Perfect. That’s perfect, darling.” She cleared her throat and started cleaning up after me. “I know this is therapy for you, but I would like to suggest you also go to the groves and let this out too. That’s also productive towards your end goals. I think taking the negative and turning it into a positive that helps your people will work well too.”
I snorted. “Yeah, my people. Those people who hate me, want to overthrow me, and think I belong to them. Yeah, I should do more for them.”
“You love fair folk even if you’re pissed at fairies. You love a lot of fairies. You know you do.”
I nodded but then let out a dark laugh. “I can’t. I don’t fucking know how. I had to skip that part of botany because I was on lockdown, or the healers were listening to the ancients or nobles and they didn’t want me doing more.”
“Or getting cleansed with nature,” she sighed. “And I can’t teach you as a witch because I bet it’s different for fairies.”
I tapped my nose in between stuffing my face. I got angrier the more I thought about it until thunder and lightning exploded in the sky. I muttered a thanks to Katrina when I finished.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m gonna handle the shit with my education before I hurt someone else,” I answered before teleporting to Professor Sontar. He was the dark fairy that had been “teaching” me supplementary lessons. It was all book stuff, and I was over that. I could learn that too. The only subject that I had learned to skip ahead as fairies did was Latin and that was only because I’d thrown a fit.
“Your Highness,” he gasped as he jumped to his feet, people reacting all over the packed cafeteria that I was there.
I put up a barrier around just us and ignored the others. “Do you know th
He swallowed loudly. “I’ve heard rumors, but no one has confirmed it.”
I studied him as I turned on my telepathy. “Why do you want to teach me?”
His eyes filled with shock but then he focused. “I want to help our world recover. You will be queen of all Faerie, and there is lots you need to learn if that is to happen.”
“Do you want me to lead?”
“Yes.” His answer was firm and immediate, even in his mind. “At first I thought it insanity, but what happened to us was insane, so we need an unconventional option to fix centuries-old problems and move past what we have suffered.”
I bobbed my head, listening to his thoughts spinning out. Then I told him my deal with Dalyor. “I’m offering you the same. I think it’s important that I allow—visibly trust—a dark fairy to handle such crucial matters. So if you want to teach me, then no more fucking training wheels. No more holding back, and you worry about me. Me first. That’s it. Nothing else.”
“I don’t know how that will be possible, Your Highness.”
“It’s worked for Dalyor. I will make it work.” I waited until he nodded. “But if I do, you are all in. You betray me, and I will not only strip you of your position, but ban you and your family from Faerie.”
Shock rocked me when his thoughts weren’t worried about that, not one bit. He was very much on my team, but he hadn’t been allowed to do what he thought was right.
“Good. Pack your family up, Professor, because you will be moving to the house some of the nobles just vacated. I will have the hobgoblins there help you in your sole goal of teaching me as much as you can as fast as you can. That means allowing me to download whatever I can to leap ahead instead of always being the idiot running behind.”
“It will take me a bit to get everything set up as you need, but we can handle pressing matters.” It was his turn to study me. “What made you focus on this when you have too much else burdening you, Your Highness?”
I answered by opening a portal and pulling him along with me so we came out by the groves. “Katrina told me to use my rolling energy and upset out on nature. I had to admit I have no fucking clue how to do that. I’ve only been destructive in my magic, not anything else. I’m tired of that always being the answer because people are keeping me ignorant.”
“Okay, then let’s get started here,” he agreed. He moved closer to a tree and knelt down in front of it, waving me to do the same. He smiled and put his hands on the tree. “You know how to scan magic.”
“It’s just a tree, there’s no magic,” I muttered.
“There is magic in everything, Your Highness,” he corrected. “You learned how we see portals now, right?” He waited until I nodded. “It’s a matter of seeing the magic in the world and simply touching it. Other supes have to use magic to access that. We don’t as fairies.” He gave me a moment with that. “Scan the tree and feel the magic of life.”
I nodded, closing my eyes and touching the trunk of the tree. I listened to his calm guidance and finally, I felt it. I felt the life of that tree, the spark of it that made that seed turn into a tree when others wouldn’t. The energy of that tree thrummed through it and touched my fingers.
“Excellent, Your Highness. Now slowly give it more energy. Let out a tiny bit of what roars in you into this life. Just as you would charge up a person but think something much more fragile.”
I nodded again, visualizing just a trickle from my left pinky. Only that.
“Well done, Your Highness!” he praised. “Well done indeed.”
I blinked my eyes open and then they went bug wide as I saw the tree that had been harvested recently was now full of fruit. And bigger. I wasn’t kneeling at the base of it, but my knees were moved up and against the trunk.
“Holy fucking shit,” I whispered as I jumped to stand and moved away to see it all. I was in awe with what I’d done.
And I wanted to do more.
Holding out my hands in front of me, I closed my eyes and searched for that energy of the tree even if I wasn’t touching it. I got it easy, but then I went through the tree to the roots. From there I let my searching spread to other trees since their roots were all in the ground. I jumped from tree to tree until I had a few dozen linked.
Opening my eyes so I could see it this time, I slowly let out that trickle of power into all of them. I swallowed a squeal as I saw them grow and explode with fruit.
“I did it,” I gasped when I finished. I beamed at Professor Sontar. “I did it. I can do growing magic. I mean, that’s it, right?” I squealed when he nodded. “I gotta show Darby.”
“Apparently, you really wanted to because you teleported me here, agra,” he chuckled from behind me.
I spun around and raced to him, hugging him with all I had. “Did you see what I did? Oh my gods, that was so fucking cool!”
“It was,” he agreed, lifting me up and twirling me around. “You’re amazing, my mate.”
I let out another squeal before he set me on my feet and pulled him to the first tree. “How many could this feed? I mean, that’s a lot of breakfast and juice, right? Even for the fae dogs. I can’t believe I did this!”
“You did well, Your Highness,” Shael praised from behind me.
I turned, and my good mood was instantly lost when I saw a bunch of the commanders were standing there. I flinched when I saw Taeral. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Tamsin,” he whispered, smiling when everyone made disbelieving noises. “I’ve gotten worse in training. You are not the only one who has accidents like this.” He gestured to the trees. “And this will feed lots. It’s amazing.”
“Too bad no one would have taught it to me sooner, huh?” I said, chuckling darkly.
“We all need to get on the same fucking page because I absolutely thought you knew this, and I’m fucking teaching at Artemis,” Iolas seethed.
“We said no new magic so she didn’t explode,” Shael grumbled. “This wasn’t what we meant.” She waited until I looked at her. “This is our fault. We—your training with school was supposed to be full access to keep you on a controlled path instead of trying to cram twenty fucking years into your head immediately.”
“It is your fault,” I accepted, trying to chill out a bit. “There are too many cooks in the kitchen. It ends.”
“It has to,” Onas of all people agreed, his arms crossed over his chest and staring at his feet. “We already learned the nobles were involved with your studies and we didn’t see it.”
“Glad you guys finally caught up on that,” I drawled, trying to control my anger.
But I couldn’t. My head felt ready to explode.
“Let it out, Your Highness,” Stefanie worried. “Yell at us. We can take it. We deserve it.”
“I yelled a lot and no one listened,” I snapped. “Even I’m tired of my own fucking voice because of it.” I agreed I had to let it out though. I turned back to the grove and formed that energy to grow like a barrier. I kept it a soft one but then pushed it out from me for as far as I could. Basically, it was as if it had a full tank but crumbled when the power I put into it gave out.
“How—you—that’s—” Stefanie stuttered as all the other commanders tried to find their voices.
“Your Highness, how did you just do that?” Professor Sontar finally asked so I could understand instead of everyone tripping over their words.
I growled at them. “No, no more freaking out when I do something weird. I’m tired of that! No more fucking handicapping me and keeping me fucking stupid!”
Just to make me feel better, thunder and lightning crackled overhead.
Awesome. Seriously, just fucking awesome.
“Wait, agra,” Darby cut in, hugging me before I could teleport. He turned me to face him. “Focus on me. Ignore them, okay? Stay with me and we will handle this.”
“I can’t keep doing this, Darby.”
“Then tell me. Tell me what you just pictured and did. I think it’s awesome and I’m not scared. I want to know.”
I let out a slow breath and bobbed my head, leaning my forehead to his even and gathering strength. Leaning back, I kept his hands. “Have you ever seen those huge irrigation systems for crops? They’re on wheels and go down the lines of crops?”
