Never Date a Siren Read online

  Never Date a Siren

  College Fae, Volume 1

  Byrd Nash

  Published by Rook and Castle Press, 2019.

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Books by Byrd Nash

  Title

  Room Needed

  Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

  Balancing Act

  Bought Loyalty

  Clean Sweep

  Moving Day

  Pony Express

  Setting Boundaries

  Sudden Death Chukker

  Freefall

  Meet the Parents

  The Wager

  As the Crow Flies

  Double Trouble

  Coffee Talk

  Stormy Weather

  Secret Decoder Ring

  Life's Flower

  Epilogue

  Author Notes

  Glossary

  A Study in Spirits preview

  Kinght of Cups preview

  Acknowledegments

  License Notes

  Copyright © 2019 Byrd Nash

  http://www.byrdnash.com

  Cover Art by Original Book Cover Design

  https://www.originalbookcoverdesigns.com/

  Publisher: Rook & Castle Press

  All Rights Reserved.

  ISBN 978-1-7334566-7-8

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places or persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental.

  Byrd Nash

  Publisher's Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  provided by Five Rainbows Cataloging Services

  Names: Nash, Byrd, author.

  Title: Never date a siren : a college fae magic series #1 / Byrd Nash.

  Description: Tulsa, OK : Rook and Castle Press, 2019. | Series: College fae, bk. 1.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019916273 (print) | ISBN 978-1-7334566-4-7 (paperback) | ISBN 978-1-7334566-3-0 (paperback) | ISBN 978-1-7334566-0-9 (ebook) | ISBN 978-1-7334566-7-8 (ebook)

  Subjects: LCSH: College students--Fiction. | Magic--Fiction. | Fairies--Fiction. | Sirens (Mythology)--Fiction. | Fantasy fiction. | Bildungsromans. | BISAC: FICTION / Fantasy / Contemporary. | FICTION / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology. | FICTION / Coming of Age. | GSAFD: Fantasy fiction. | Bildungsromans.

  Classification: LCC PS3614.A724 N48 2019 (print) | LCC PS3614.A724 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6--dc23.

  You can make anything by writing

  C.S. Lewis

  Dedications

  To my Honey Bee

  La vie est une fleur dont l’amour est le miel.

  Victor Hugo

  To my Eldest

  who inspired much of Logan

  Other Books by Byrd Nash

  The Wicked Wolves of Windsor and other Fairytales

  College Fae Series

  #1 Never Date a Siren

  #2 A Study in Spirits ebook available FREE

  #3 Coming in Summer 2020

  #4 Coming in Fall 2020

  Fae Magic Adventure Series

  #1 Knight of Cups

  Freshmen Year, Spring Semester

  Leopold-Ottos-Universität

  Geheimetür

  Bewachterberg

  Room Needed

  Brigit lost her apartment a week after midterms in the spring semester. It didn’t help her grades or her mood.

  “Look on the bright side,” said Celia, “at least you won’t have to deal with Sam’s messes anymore.”

  “I’ll be glad not to live with a pig, but he had no right to throw me out.” At her angry statement, Celia reminded Brigit of her warning about getting involved with the temperamental Sam in the first place.

  “I told you when you refused to sign that lease you’d have no recourse if things went poorly. And with Sam, they were bound to go poorly.”

  Brigit didn’t tell Celia the reason she hadn’t signed the lease was it required a background check. As it was, the freshman had already lied about several things on the college application she had submitted last fall to the Leopold Otto University in Geheimetür.

  Leopold Otto was the only higher learning institution in the human lands even willing to admit the troublesome fae to their program. Indeed, the country of Bewachterberg was friendly to her kind because of the Treaty of Sigismund. But Brigit, with the suspicious and skeptical traits native to the fae, knew welcomes could be withdrawn.

  Not willing to discuss the apartment lease any further, Brigit dipped a spoon into some of the cheesy Spätzle from Celia’s plate and ate it while looking about the hall. The two students were seated in the university’s main cafeteria, a building over 400 years old which once had been the infirmary of the original monastery building complex. Brigit loved the soaring ceilings, the exposed ancient wooden beams, and the floor-to-ceiling coffered wall paneling.

  The aged wood gave the dryad pleasant shivers.

  “You’ll just have to find another roommate,” scolded Celia. “Before you ask, you can’t sleep on my couch. I already have three squatting in a two-bed apartment with only one bathroom. As it is I’m about ready to kick out Katey’s free-loading boyfriend.”

  Brigit sighed and ran a hand over her forehead, causing tight black curls to briefly pull back from her face, revealing deep brown, almost black eyes. Like many of the fae, she was thin. It gave her a deceptive appearance of frailty; in reality, she was twice as strong as a human of the same outward appearance.

  “I can’t sleep in the library one more night with those ghosts. I guess after you die, you give up any sort of decency.”

  Celia pursed her lips, leaning back into her chair, as she considered Brigit’s problem. She was a curvy woman with long, curly chestnut hair, a friendly countenance that held sea-green-blue eyes, and a mild smile.

  The two fae had met during the last semester and had bonded over several things: they were both of the fae Sept, or clan, of naturals as Brigit was a dryad and Celia a naiad, and they had despised the biology professor teaching the class they shared.

  The dining tables in the hall were filling up with students. Celia’s eyes found a target, and she leaned over to tell Brigit, “What about that guy? Stop. Don’t look yet. Yeah, he’s seated now.”

  The nursing student dropped a napkin off the side of the table and gave an expressive sideways glance to where it fell to her friend. Brigit pushed her seat back and bent to pick it up, taking a casual look under her arm in the direction where her companion had indicated.

  A male human with dark hair was seated two tables over by himself. He was looking through a textbook while ignoring the Gulasch before him.

  “Him? What about him?”

  “I hear he has a two-bed apartment. Very nice. One of those new downtown lofts. Roomy. I bet it has lots of windows, unlike Sam’s cave dwelling.”

  “How would you know about it? Been inside?”

  “He visited the dispensary during my rotation, and we chatted. He’s here as an exchange student. The university is so desperate for money they let him bend the rules and room off-campus. The grapevine says he’s from a stinking rich American family, so I bet there’s no week’s worth of instant noodles in his pantry cabinet.”

  “But he’s a human, Ceel,” protested Brigit. Last fall was the first time she had been around humans since leaving the Perilous Realm. They still disconcerted her; their energy fields weren’t exactly unpleasant, just strange. Brigit had not struck up any relationships with them yet and wasn’t sure she would.

  “It’d be weird. I’ve never shared with a human before.”

  “At least go look it over. Never hurts to know what’s out there.”

  When the young man finished his meal and left his table, Celia made hand gestures encouraging Brigit to follow him. Without an alternative solution, Brigit grabbed her backpack and swung it over her shoulder.

  Tracking him, Brigit was careful to stay far enough back, blending into clusters of human and fae students as she traversed the quad of the university. This part of the campus was the oldest area of Leopold Otto. The ancient buildings from the original monastery stood almost untouched, and the grand oaks made for a majestic parkland.

  It was her favorite part of the campus despite the disconcerting habit of humans unaware they were walking through the ethereal bodies of Benedictine monks. You’d think they would give their own people respect. But it was just one of many things that Brigit found confusing about her fellow students.

  Even though she lost sight of the human, Brigit had no fear she’d miss him. Like all beings from the Perilous Realm, she had the ability, now that she had marked him, to feel his energy trail. He wouldn’t be able to escape as long as she kept her intent focused.

  At the corner of the campus, she found him standing at the bus stop for a downtown route. The buses were the best way to travel throughout Geheimetür. The city restricted motor vehicle access, permitting only electric trolleys, scooters, and bicycles to enter the historic market center area.

  When the electric bus quietly rolled up, it was easy for her to become part of the crowd. Flashing her student ID at the driver, Brigit quickly made her way down the aisle. She passed him without making eye contact and grabbed a seat near
a window.

  The bus doors shut and the vehicle pulled forward. From behind the shelter of her book, the dryad surreptitiously observed her target: he wore a button-down, long-sleeved shirt, and khaki slacks. A bit formal for college life. Tall and lean, like a long-distance marathoner. He had thick, dark brown hair, almost black, that stood up like a haystack over his forehead.

  The bus started to enter the old market town area of Geheimetür. Here Gothic and Baroque architecture stood side by side, acting as a physical timeline of Bewachterberg’s past. As they continued the route, students, shoppers, and commuters got off the coach while Brigit’s target remained seated.

  Passing through the town center, they traveled through the former industrial area. Here the derelict factories, their purposes long extinct, were being converted under a strictly monitored urban renewal plan. Bit by bit, a swanky modern district with planned restaurants, shops, and apartments was emerging. Like anything that might disrupt the city’s calm, Geheimetür tried to hide the construction by erecting fake temporary storefronts.

  The student finally got off the bus, and Brigit watched him pass her window, seeing his face in profile before the bus pulled forward again. She waited for two more stops before hopping off herself. Circling the block, she came across the street to observe him mounting steps into a flat-faced, red brick building. While it was new, it mimicked the older construction on either side of it.

  Brigit lightly touched the flowers and trees in the planters on the sidewalk. She greeted the plants as she edged herself closer to where the young man had entered.

  “Beetle dung, a keypad,” the dryad muttered under her breath as she saw her first real obstacle. “What do I do now?”

  Generally, the fae weren’t compatible with technology, though most managed to exist with it. However, Brigit’s problem with communication tech was so significant the university had given her a disability waiver. Instead of a computer, she pounded out her class papers on an antique typewriter in the basement of the library. Lacking a mobile phone in the human lands was a big inconvenience, but it was a fact that cell phone batteries died if she touched them.

  Brigit saw someone inside come to the front glass door, so she quickly skipped up the steps and grabbed the door before the guy exiting could shut it. Not looking back, Brigit made her way to the bank of elevators and made a show of pushing an “up” button.

  By the time the elevator doors opened, the resident was no longer in view. Ignoring the elevator’s open doors, she walked over to the end of the lobby. Standing in front of a row of mailboxes she dug into a pocket on her backpack.

  She retrieved a pendulum with a stone carved from moss agate held on a silver chain. She let the stone warm up in her palm while she told it what was needed. Feeling its readiness to assist her, Brigit held the pendulum up to the row of numbers, moving it slowly in front of the mailboxes one at a time.

  She had a bit of Finder in her fae bloodline, and the pendulum didn’t fail her. It swayed harder in front of one particular box, indicating the apartment she wanted was on the third floor.

  Knowing how lazy humans were, and disliking technology herself, the fae took the stairs to lessen the possibility of meeting someone. At each landing were small, narrow windows providing a bit of light and a potted plant squeezed into the corner. Brigit took a moment to give each plant a spark of her dryad energy. In her experience, indoor plants could always use a bit extra to keep them well.

  She found apartment 305 at the end of the hall. In front of the door was a coco fiber welcome mat and since no one was in view, she knelt, and asked it, “Would you like to help me?”

  I welcome people! Welcome. Hi! How are you?

  It had a coarse, grating kind of voice in her head. Brigit’s abilities let her communicate with organic material, whether it was living or not. She stroked the fibers with her fingers and palm, causing it to shiver under her hand.

  “I need inside.”

  Help you! I’m a Helper! Wipe feet!

  The palm situated at the dead-end of the hallway, just a few steps away, interrupted their conversation with a slight furry cough.

  The man will leave in a moment with his laundry basket. I’ve heard the laundry is in the basement. I’ve never been there personally.

  “Thanks.”

  Brigit formulated a quick plan, and after giving them instructions, she slipped back down the hall to the stairs. There she cracked the door slightly and took a seat on the top step in the stairwell. The freshman spent the time reading and highlighting a textbook to prepare for her chemistry test.

  Engrossed in her work, Brigit missed the click of the apartment door. Luckily, the palm plant called out to her in its sonorous voice: There he goes on schedule. I’m never wrong about my people.

  Peering through the slit between door and frame, she saw the human was waiting at the elevator, holding a basket of clothes against his hip. He had changed to a more casual outfit, now wearing a dark blue t-shirt and shorts. He seemed preoccupied as he at first didn’t respond to the elevator ding. Only when the elevator doors started to close did he put out his hand to stop their motion and finally entered the lift.

  Seeing him gone, Brigit crept out into the hallway and hustled back to his apartment door.

  Welcome! Come in! Greetings!

  Like she had requested, the doormat had edged itself over the threshold, a corner of it preventing the front door from closing and thus stopping the lock from engaging.

  “What a good welcoming mat you are.”

  She wiped her feet across its rough fibers as thanks, and it wriggled in pleasure. Not forgetting to thank the palm plant, her fingertips stroked it, giving the chlorophyll cells in its waxy leaves a burst of stimulating, tingling energy.

  At first hesitant to cross the threshold, when Brigit felt no barrier to admitting her kind, she stepped boldly into the apartment.

  A short entry hall brought her past the galley kitchen. Curious, she stopped and poked her head into kitchen cabinets, where she found fast-food packets for salt, pepper, and a few bags of packaged noodles.

  “So much for Celia’s theory,” Brigit huffed under her breath. Rich or not, he hadn’t learned how to stock his shelves. She’d change that.

  From the kitchen, she entered a living room with a sectional sofa, large screen television, and a sound system. The decor was masculine, with a lot of black, gray, and chrome. It was very trendy in a cold, impersonal way, but it was a style Brigit did not admire. That too would need to be improved.

  “Needs plants. Rugs too.”

  The only thing of color or warmth was an open violin case sitting on a side table. Drawn to the beautiful lacquered wood, Brigit’s hands hovered over it as she bent down to examine it more closely. The aged finish of the instrument had a beautiful patina that called for a caress, but the vibration emanating from it made Brigit hesitate. It felt like an ancient protection.

  It was the only thing in the room she had encountered yet that had any protective shielding.

  Not a good idea to be sticking your hand into a trap. Brigit did not begin a conversation with it, leaving the violin to continue her investigation.

  The layout of the apartment included two bedrooms, each located on opposite sides of the living area. One bedroom had only a bed. Stacked on the mattress was a suitcase, unused sporting equipment, an ironing board, some clothes, and a pair of shoes.

  The room had a connected bathroom with a sink, toilet, and a shower that looked to have been unused for some time. Imagining a shower all to herself, Brigit did a dancing jig of excitement thinking of not having to use the changing rooms at the university’s gym. Not only was the place cold, but the showers were often subject to sudden unpleasant changes in water pressure.

  A sliding glass door led to its own screened patio. Looking through the glass doors, she saw a small apartment park with trees and a few benches.

  Brigit sighed. This was just too good to be true. Why didn’t this guy already have a roommate?

  From the spare bedroom, the fae student crossed to the other side of the apartment. This bedroom suite had the same layout and a private bathroom. But this one was clearly in active use. The bed was unmade, the sheets rumpled, and the pillow showed that a head had rested there recently. At the night table was an alarm clock, a stack of spy thrillers, and a cell phone that Brigit avoided.