Page 1 of Fortune Academy: Year One
It all started with a severed hand and a hot bounty hunter. For the record, I would never chop off the hand of a hot guy... unless he was being a total douchebag—which he was. Plus, it grew back, so it doesn’t even really count... not that I was aware bounty hunters could regrow appendages, but hey, no harm no foul.
Right, I tend to blather on without context so let me start from the beginning, right around the time when my memories restarted in the middle of the street with no idea who I was. Boy, was I in for a surprise when I figured that one out.
The first thing I remember was my clothes sticking to my skin and my hair plastered to my cheeks from the freezing rain. Everything was sore as if I’d been run over by a bulldozer. Raindrops hit my face like irritating little insects, but I couldn’t seem to find the strength to leave this particular doorstep. Something bad had happened to me and I must have run until I couldn’t run anymore. My legs trembled underneath me like jello and my heart wouldn’t stop thundering in my ears. All I could do was gulp in breaths of air and wait for someone to open that dull, red door lined with scratches.
The moonlight was too bright, but I peered up at the sky and pleaded for mercy anyway. I didn’t know what I needed mercy for, or why I was paralyzed in the freezing rain at this grimy doorstep, but I just knew that this was my last hope.I had to stay here until that door opened.
The streetlights blasted on and made me flinch, but I stared at the door until it opened and a woman in her late forties peered down at me with a disgusted scowl. She stared at me for a long time before she stepped aside. “Come on,” she said, then turned around and left the entranceway free.
That’s how I became Cindy’s newest waitress. Waiting like a drowned rat at the back of her bar to what was supposed to be her secret entrance reserved for smoke breaks. Well, that’s how all supernaturals found Cindy. Now when I walked outside I could spot the little ugly engraving in the corner of the doorway that drew people like me to the place. A little tiny skull etched there with a dumb grin on its face like it knew how many headaches it would bring Cindy. This was her punishment... to help people like me who had no memory of who they were or what they’d done. Ever since the Second Echo of Calamity apparently the world had gone to all sorts of shit and supernaturals had to start over with clean slates, memories included. What Cindy had done to deserve her fostering of looney supernaturals, I had no idea and she wasn’t about to admit it to me.
The thing was, Cindy attracted just that, supernaturals. Sure, something was off about me, but even I felt like I didn’t quite fit in with the supernatural crowd of misfits.I had a feeling that my memory loss didn’t have much to do with the whacky weirdness that was going on with the world. It was something more personal... but Cindy didn’t have to know that.
I liked Cindy. She never asked questions or gave me a hard time when I didn’t seem to know basic things. It felt like I had to learn how to live life all over again. Something fundamental had changed in me and I couldn’t put my finger on what. Without having any memory of my past, I wasn’t even going to try and figure it out. Let it come naturally, that’s what Cindy always said.
We had this weird kind of understanding that made our relationship work. I’d shown up on her doorstep in the middle of the night covered in blood and soaked with rain and she’d taken me in just like she’d done with so many before me.
That’s what the mother of monsters always did.
“Guy at table three has been ogling you for an hour,” Jess told me as she balanced a tray on her hip.
Jess was the closest thing I had to friend in the same way that Cindy was the closest thing I had to a mother. Jess had arrived only a few weeks before I did, but she was already well on her way to recovery. Cindy had set up a few interviews for Jess at various escort gigs. Normally I’d disapprove, but Jess seemed to love the attention, so I hoped she would be happy when it was time for her to go.
“Don’t be a bimbo,” I said, making a point to ignore the guy she’d pointed out. “No way he’s looking at me when you’re standing right here.” I gave her short skirt and halter top a raised brow. She already had big boobs and rounded ass enough to make a guy stop in his tracks, and that outfit made everything pop in just the right way. “I’m not a succubus like you.”
She grinned, showing off her pearly white teeth. “I’m serious, Lily, he’s checking you out!”
Dread washed over me. I had the good looks, sure. Long, blonde hair, legs that could kill in some heels, and plump lips that would be perfect for pouting... if I ever pouted, which I didn’t. I desperately hoped that I wasn’t a succubus.
I still didn’t know what I was yet, which was frustrating, but since being a succubus was still on the table Iscanned the bar just for good measure. Every guy in the place was drooling over Jess and making a fool of themselves... every guy except for the one at table three.
Our gazes matched long enough for a jolt of unfamiliar awareness to slam through me.
Okay, that was weird.
I tried to pretend I was fascinated with my phone. “I’m off duty, Jess,” I reminded her as I scrolled through a mindless social media thread. “Go give the guy a new beer. The one you gave him an hour ago looks flat and he’s probably just thirsty.”
“Yeah,” she snickered and waggled her eyebrows, “thirsty for some of your lo-ove,” she said, making sure to sing-song the last word.
Ignoring her, I continued to scroll through my phone. It wasn’t hard to pretend my fascination when the damn thing was so addictive. Cindy allowed me to use it as long as it was only for “research,” as she called it. I never called anyone or posted anything online. I loved to read about humans and see what kinds of things they shared with each other. Most of it involved vague statements I didn’t understand, pictures of kittens—which I always approved of—and snaps of perfectly arranged meals. Then there was the occasional political post about the emergence of supernaturals. Everyone had an opinion, especially when it came to Fortune Academy.A Place Where Supernaturals Belong.That was their slogan.
When I’d asked Cindy about it, she’d sneered and told me that if I was smart, I’d steer clear of anything related to that place.
I wasn’t about to tell Cindy my opinion, but she had to be wrong. An entire organization dedicated to helping lost supernaturals? Cindy was nice to take me in and all, but she didn’t have answers. Fortune Academy was the only place I had a chance at figuring out what I was. The only problem was that there were stringent perquisites to join, one of which was demonstrating a supernatural ability—which I hadn’t been able to do yet. The only reason I knew I was supernatural was because Cindy’s door rune had called to me and the fact that I’d lost my memories. I’d figure out what I was… but it wasn’t going to be easy.
Jess elbowed me in the ribs. “Hey, are you listening to me?”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re still here? I said I was busy.”
She leaned in and lowered her voice, not taking her eyes off the stranger. “I really think you should go talk to him, Lils. I can tell when a guy has the hots and while he definitely has the hots for you, something is off about him that I can’t really figure out. I don’t like it.”
I chuckled. “I’ll tell you what’s off about him. There’s a gorgeous succubus in the room and he’s staring at me.Clearly the guy’s missing some marbles.” And of course she didn’t like it. Jess needed to get all of the male attention—which was fine with me.
“Hey, hot cheeks!” A guy from across the bar yelled at Jess. “You bringing me those beers or what?”
Jess waved at him and giggled, which just pissed me off. “You should go kick that guy in the balls.”
Jess huffed and readjusted her tray. “That’s not how I get the good tips. Now go talk to the hottie at table three or I will.” She pursed her lips and gave me a you-better-go-talk-to-him-or-else look and then marched over to deliver the impatient human his beers.
