Slaying Year Two (Grim Reaper Academy 2)

I shrugged. “It’s not like I’m paying.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Okay, then maybe a pair of classy dress pants, a sexy corset, and a blazer.”

“Whatever you think is best. Let’s get this over it, so I can catch up with work. Missing a whole day of school is no joke.”

She completely ignored me. “Blue eyes, blue hair… maybe sapphires are too much. We must find something to compliment this whole…” she flew in front of my face and waved her hands around, “... this whole thing you have going on. So much blue. And you’re sure you don’t want to go back to your natural color? I advise it.”

“I don’t care what you advise.” I shooed her away, and she flappity-flapped her wings. “It stays blue.”

“But you could be such a gorgeous blonde!” She sighed. “Alas. How about rubies? Yes, I think we can do rubies. A bit of contrast with your pale skin and blue… everything.” She scrunched up her nose.

Great! No one liked my blue hair. Not even my own personal pixie slave!

“Come on, Mistress, let’s try on some outfits!” She grabbed me by a lock of hair and pulled me toward the nearest clothes store. “Find a dressing room, I’ll bring you the stuff.”

“How will you bring me anything? You’re so tiny!”

She stuck her pointy nose in the air and huffed, offended. “Magic.”

Four hours of trying on clothes, shoes, perfumes, and jewelry, and I was exhausted. All I wanted was to eat something, anything, even a pretzel from one of those harpies, and then crash in my bed. I didn’t even want GC or Paz. But Corri wasn’t going to have it. She magically made our bags float behind us as we looked for a lingerie store. She found one, scrunched up her silly nose, and declared it had to be Victoria’s Secret or nothing.

“Go big or go home.”

“Home. Please, let’s go home.”

“No, Mistress. We’re going big.” She flew around my chest, rubbing her chin in deep thought. “What cup are you?”

“Frankly, I have no idea.”

She pulled at my blouse and stuck her head in my cleavage.

“What the hell?!”

“Just as I thought. You’re wearing the wrong size!” She was so angry with me, as if wearing the wrong bra was a direct offense to her very existence. “You’re lucky you have me, you know?”

“The luckiest girl alive,” I mumbled, displeased.

Victoria’s Secret it was! And then Sephora, and then the salon for a fresh dye and an improvement to my boring shade of blue, as she put it. By the time I was back at the Academy, it was dinner time, I was dead tired, and I didn’t want to deal with anything and anyone. I just wanted to be left alone. Since I had a pixie now, I figured I could just go up to my room, take a quick shower, and ask Corri to bring me some food. I didn’t want to treat her like a servant, but she kept insisting she was there to help me and grant me all my wishes – within reason, of course – and I thought asking her politely to bring me dinner didn’t make me the bad guy who took advantage of an unfair system that had decided pixies were creatures to be sold into slavery.

“We’ve made great progress today,” she chirped. She was sitting on my right shoulder now. It was the new place I’d assigned to her. “I’m proud of ourselves, Mistress. Starting this very instant…” She reconsidered. “Okay, you want to lock yourself up in your room tonight. Fine. Starting tomorrow, you will be the hottest, sexiest, most fashionably-dressed student at the Academy.”

“I wear a uniform,” I reminded her.

“In class. Yes, whatever. Those things look awful! But after class, the possibilities are endless.” She eyed the paper bags floating behind us. “Literally. Endless.” She’d made me buy so many things, and all expensive as fuck too, that I couldn’t believe my credit card hadn’t been rejected yet.

Most of the students were at dinner already, so we’d managed to sneak in. I walked past an MDC girl downstairs, and then two VDC guys in the north tower. They all looked at me with wide, curious eyes. Well, not at me, actually, but at Corri. She waved at them cheerfully.

“Poor things,” she cooed. “They don’t have pixies of their own. How do they even manage?”

“Just like I managed for nineteen years.”

She looked at me with big, compassionate, doe eyes. Sometimes, her eyes looked way too big for her tiny doll face. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. But I’m here now, and I will make it all better.”

I shook my head and didn’t say a thing. Arguing with her was pointless. I unlocked my door and switched on the light as I entered my room. What the hell?! Where are my things? It was empty. I slammed the door shut – which left the floating bags outside – and barged into the bathroom, which was empty of my toiletries and

my laundry basket, too, checked the mini fridge – empty! – the wardrobe – super empty! – and the bed. It was all gone.

“What the fuck? I don’t need this right now!”