Fallen University: Year Three

“Green things bask,” Hannah pointed out. “Snakes, lizards, dragons…”

“Okay, junior encyclopedia, I get the picture.” My shifter mate crossed his legs and sighed. “It’s not like that was a fun trip for me.”

“I bet you went on a lot of fun trips in your day though,” Xero said, eyeing a cupboard which looked as if it could house an entire bar. “What kind of parties do you rich kids throw in these planes?”

“It’s not a party plane.” Despite his faux-grumpy demeanor, Kingston seemed to be enjoying himself. “Those are bigger, and have stripper poles all down the middle.”

“Wait, for real?” Jayce looked way too excited about that. I poked his side, and he grinned, grabbing my finger and biting it gently.

“No, you idiot.” Kingston arched a brow at him. “Who’s going to pole dance in a jet? One bad bout of turbulence, and you’ve got a dead stripper.”

“Plenty of storage space,” Kai said, glancing at the cupboards which lined the high ceiling.

Hannah gave him a wary look. “You can’t store dead strippers in the overhead bins, Kai.”

He did a double take, laughed once, then frowned. “What the fuck, Hannah?”

“Oh, were you not responding to Kingston?”

“I wasn’t even listening to Kingston.” He narrowed his eyes, turning a little in his seat. “Kingston, how many dead strippers do you store in here? Is that like rich kid carpooling or something?”

The dragon shifter groaned and buried his face in his hands. “You guys all suck.”

I laughed. “Yup. And some of us are pretty damn good at it.”

His ears turned red again, which got me giggling. It was going to be a fun ride. I felt giddy and almost weightless. Jayce was right; being back on earth was amazing.

“You know, even though we’re flying in what appears to be the annual salary of a small country, it still feels almost—quaint,” I said, drawing in a deep, contented breath. I gazed out the window and watched the clouds roll by.

“I know what you mean.” Hannah pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “My grandma took me to thi

s Amish town once, and it felt like this. Like I’ve gotten so used to doing things faster, faster, faster—and going back to the old fashioned way is sort of a novelty.”

“It’s a nice break,” Jayce said. “Honestly, I’ve never gotten used to portals. I like to see where I am when I’m going where I’m going. All that jumping through space seems like a waste of a trip, you know? It was always the best part of traveling for me—to see the way the world flowed into different parts of itself so seamlessly. Well… mostly seamlessly.”

I cocked my head at him. “Mostly?”

He shook his head and gave me a slightly haunted look. “Utah’s weird, man.” He turned to Kingston, his eyes wide. “We aren’t going to Utah, are we?”

“No. We’re going to my place in Toronto.”

“Whoa! Toronto?” Xero looked at Kingston sideways.

“Toronto is in Canada,” Jayce said, sounding legitimately confused.

“Yes, very good. Next week, we’ll teach you where Washington, DC, is,” Kingston shot back.

“You’re telling me that you, Capitalist Scroogerton the Third, are Canadian?” Kai tried and failed to hide a grin.

“What about it? What’s wrong with Canada?”

“Nothing at all,” Hannah said around a cascade of giggles. “Canada is precious. We’re in shock that you hail from there, is all.”

“Why, because I don’t drink maple syrup or say ‘eh’ after everything? Damn, you guys. Damn. And you got on my case for asking what Xero’s parents did for a living. Double standards much?”

Nobody could answer him. We were all laughing too hard. When I finally recovered myself, I shook my head at him. “Pretty sure it’s because Canada has that polite, nice, stereotype thing going for it. You, babe, are neither polite nor nice.”

“I’m nice to people who deserve it.” He huffed a breath. “Besides, Toronto is like a minute from the border. It’s practically New York. The attitude is bound to seep.”