Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates

Before I could do anything to save my sister, Lionel transformed into his enormous green Dragon form, tearing down the ceiling and grabbing Tory and Clara in his claws.

I screamed as the world literally came crashing down around us and didn’t have the strength to shield, my heart pounding a desperate, broken tune as I tried to run after my sister.

Darius ran to me amongst the falling roof and it took me a moment to realise that Max and Seth were shielding us as the whole house collapsed.

The walls crumbled around us and my heart crumbled along with them as Lionel stole my sister away and seemed to steal all hope along with her. We were buried beneath a ton of rubble and darkness descended as we were trapped in a bubble of a safety.

I turned my hands to the roof, looking to the Heirs. “Open the top of the shield, I’ll blast through the rubble,” I demanded and they did as I said, trusting me as they opened the shield enough to let my air magic blast a hole in the debris. I didn’t waste a second, casting air beneath me to propel myself out onto the broken roof and Darius was thrown after me by one of the others.

“Darcy,” he growled, but I ignored him, getting to my feet and racing up the shattered pieces of the roof as I searched the sky, agony spilling through me at the loss of Tory to the shadows and Lionel’s clutches.

Please come back. I can’t bear to be without you.

Darius stayed beside me as I scrambled up the bricks and mortar and the Heirs hurried close behind us as we made it onto the top of the rubble. Nymphs were clawing their way up the debris towards us, but I didn’t care. I kept my gaze on the sky as I finally spotted Lionel in the distance, his dark green form nearly camouflaged against the night sky.

I gritted my teeth as I tried to force my wings from my body, fighting against the Order Suppressant even though it was futile. But I had to get Tory back. I couldn’t just abandon her to this fate.

Darius caught my arm with a growl. “We have to get back to the academy, I promised to protect you.”

“Screw you, let me go,” I snarled as Max, Seth and Caleb formed a triangle around us, blasting magic at the Nymphs to keep them back.

“I’ve broken the wards around the house so we can stardust the fuck out of here,” Max called.

Darius took a pouch of stardust from his pocket and I tried to snatch it from his grip, desperate to go after her, but he held it out of reach.

“Take us to Acrux Manor,” I demanded, clawing at his arm and nearly drawing blood. My heart had been obliterated, a full half of it torn out and taken when she’d sacrificed herself for us, giving me no choice. But I refused to accept it.

“We can’t fight him like this. We have to regroup. And I promised to keep you safe so I’m taking you back to Zodiac,” Darius snarled, dragging me against him as tears burned heated trails down my cheeks.

“It’s not your choice to make!” I screamed, shoving him in the chest as he struggled to hold onto me and try to open the pouch of stardust at the same time.

“We have to fucking go,” Caleb barked, wheeling around and snatching the stardust from him.

“No!” I yelled, trying to pull free as he tossed a handful into the air and we were yanked into a galaxy of stars, my heart shattering, feeling as fragmented as the universe spreading out around me in splinters of light. But the pieces of my heart didn’t glow, they were dark and jagged and full of pain.

My feet hit the ground and Darius yanked me into his chest, his arms crushing me in a fierce embrace as we landed beyond the fence ringing campus. And I finally gave in, falling apart in his arms.

“We can head to the Hollow, we’ll make a plan,” Seth whimpered, running his hand over my back as my tears flowed free. For my sister, for Diego. For everything I’d lost.

I ached for Orion with every part of my being, needing to crawl into his arms and seek the comfort of his words. He would have known what to do. He would have found a way to fix this. But he was gone. He’d cut me from his life and now Tory was gone too and I didn’t think I could handle the loss of them both. It was too much to bear.

“I can’t just leave her with him,” I hissed, trying to pull myself together as a frantic energy crashed through my limbs. I stepped out of Darius’s arms, wiping my tears away as I willed my heart to turn to iron, needing to focus. To fight.

“We won’t,” Darius agreed fiercely. “I’ll tear the world down for her, but we can’t win tonight.”

I hated to accept those words, but I knew he wouldn’t say them unless it was absolutely true. We were all tired, weakened and we had no idea what Lionel’s next move would be.

But I had to rescue her. I would rescue her. If it cost me every broken piece of my soul to do it.

“This isn’t over,” I growled as the Heirs gathered around me in a circle. I looked between them, finding resilience in their eyes, their nods promising me they would fight for her too. I met Darius’s dark-ringed gaze last and his head dipped.

I caught his chin, yanking it up so he looked me in the eye. “You don’t give up on her.”

“Never,” he vowed with a dark growl that promised bloodshed. “But I fear my father is going to take the throne, Darcy. And there’s nothing we can do to stop him now he has her.”

I swallowed the sharp lump slicing into my throat as I clenched my jaw. “Then we make an oath. Right here. That we’ll find the Imperial Star before he does. It’s the only chance we have against him.”

I held out my hand, wondering if they’d really do this, but they all moved forward without hesitation, laying their hands over mine.

“I vow on the stars that we’ll find the Imperial Star before Lionel does,” I breathed. “No matter what it takes.”

They all spoke in unison, a clap of magic binding all five of us together in a star-bound promise that echoed through the universe. “No matter what it takes.”