Zodiac Academy 8: Sorrow and Starlight

Tension lined every inch of my posture, a bead of sweat rolling down my temple as I sat up straight and looked dead ahead.

The Orb was deathly quiet as the entire school sat to attention, a hum of concern settling over us while we waited, the only sound the ticking of the large clock hanging on the wall. I glanced at it, specifically at the minute hand which had just shifted past the six-minute marker, all of us still waiting, and no one daring to say a word.

My eyes met Gary’s across the room, a flicker of concern and determination passing between us. It was too late to back out now. Everything was in place, the magic cast to hide the involvement of the Undercover A.S.S. and nothing left besides the time between now and our strike landing.

Lionel Acrux was here. We’d been told at dinner last night that our esteemed king was coming to speak with us, to rally us in this time of unease and reassure us about the threat posed by the rebels.

We were just one stop on a long list of press appointments he had today, political posturing designed to make everyone believe he was this kind, magnanimous leader, concerned about the citizens of his kingdom. I’d already caught a couple of minutes from the live stream of him visiting a hospital this morning, kissing babies on the head, and claiming to bless them. If it had been my baby he’d come to kiss, I think I would have hurled myself and the child out of the window before allowing his poisonous mouth anywhere near it.

Seven minutes past ten.

If this went on much longer, then our plan might execute itself before he even arrived to feel the effects of it.

Bernice shifted in her seat a little way from me, biting her bottom lip as she felt my attention on her.

We hadn’t sat together. None of us were very close to each other, keeping our distance and maintaining the ruse that we were sticking to our Order segregation. I was positioned at the far back of the room, surrounded by the other Minotaurs as we waited on the false king’s tardy arrival. The Tiberian Rats sat to our right, a line of division set between our seats and theirs, no one daring to so much as look at it while we continued our silent waiting game.

Eight minutes past.

I resisted the urge to wipe my sweaty palms on my trousers, remaining utterly still as my gaze tracked towards the door, the one most likely to be Lionel’s entry point to this room, and I found Marguerite Helebor watching me with stern interest from her position standing beside it.

She had a shiny K.U.N.T. badge pinned to her lapel, her red hair tumbling down around her face in that overly styled way she always preferred, and her uniform clung to her figure in crisp perfection. The epitome of student piety and a devoted servant to the king.

Except she wasn’t. Nothing had come of the hunt for us when she’d warned us to flee. Whatever had happened which had led to the K.U.N.T. raid on our meeting place, she’d hidden us from discovery. I had so many questions for her, more than I could count, which had been keeping me up at night ever since that brief moment where she’d saved our asses.

Like how had she known I was there? Had anyone tipped them off to our whereabouts, or had one of the other K.U.N.T.s like Mildred been the one to figure it out and decide to come after us?

We hadn’t all met up since that night, too spooked to risk it, instead swapping information and making plans one on one, passing notes in the corridors or simply exchanging looks of solidarity.

I had managed to send footage and information out to Portia using the phone she’d given me though. We’d evaded suspicion so far too, the K.U.N.Ts hunting us all over the academy but not once coming close to discovering who we were.

We were still here. We were still fighting.

And now a real opportunity had dropped in our laps, and we were risking our damn lives to see it come to fruition – I just hoped to fuck that it did so while the Dragon asshole was in the room because if he didn’t turn up within the next minute, the entire thing would go off without him here.

We could die for this. I knew it. All of us knew it. If we were caught, we’d be taken to one of his Nebular Inquisition Centres and tortured or executed or at the very least, left to rot away inside it. And I really didn’t want to be risking my life over a plan that didn’t actually manage to come together.

Marguerite continued to stare at me, her pretty features a still pond, vacant of expression, but her eyes burned. I thought over my horoscope from that morning and couldn’t help but wonder if it had been referring to her.

Good morning, Sagittarius.

The stars have spoken about your day!

Your fate balances on a knife’s edge today, your plans lost in the roiling sea of destiny which is too murky to fully enlighten. But take heart, for success is not impossible and if you can find it in you to trust in an unlikely ally, then many truths may be revealed to you.

Marguerite Helebor was nothing if not an unlikely ally.

Nine minutes past.

I swallowed a lump in my throat as several students dared to start up whispered conversations, Professor Highspell striding into the open space at the centre of the room and glaring out at the perpetrators as she handed out a round of detentions and they all hissed their disapproval.

My heart began to sink as my gaze dared stray to the clock again, the seconds ticking by far too quickly, our carefully laid trap about to go off with only our abhorrent Cardinal Magic teacher to take the strike.

Not that I would feel bad watching Honey Highspell get knocked down a peg or two. But nothing that happened to her would be live broadcasted across the kingdom, it wouldn’t become a beacon showing solidarity with all the others out there who were facing this persecution and were unable to fight back like striking Lionel Acrux would.

I fought the urge to glance at Gary again, not wanting anyone to notice my interactions today. I couldn’t give anyone a reason to look at me for this. We’d covered our tracks, our magical signatures removed from what we’d done and all of us retaining strong alibies. This could work. It would work. Assuming the man who now called himself king-

Relief splintered through me, quickly followed by the urge to vomit with nerves as the doors swung open and Lionel Acrux strode into The Orb, flanked by a camera crew and Principal Nova. A camera-ready smile sat on his face as he looked out at his subjects and we all dropped from our chairs, falling to our knees as we bowed for him.

Bile rolled up the back of my throat as I lowered my head among the rest of my kind, every student in the academy showing – or at the very least feigning – subservience to that ungodly piece of shit as he strolled in like he owned the fucking place.

“Rise,” Lionel cooed, beckoning with two fingers like a puppet master tugging on our strings, and everyone in the room pushed themselves up from the floor, returning to their seats.

I watched in disgusted fascination as Lionel paused there, smiling serenely, hardly even seeming to breathe while the camera crews circled him, and he waited for them to get into position before he went on. Everything about him was so fucking fake, the smiles, the charm, the promises to protect our kingdom from Orders he didn’t like while making up lies about us. It was bullshit. And we planned on reminding the world that not all of us bought into it.

“Education,” Lionel began, pressing a fist to his heart as he gazed around the room. “Is the epitome of the modern world. The greatest legacy any Fae can leave behind, and the one thing all those gifted with true and willing hearts will always find waiting for them. I myself, am a true believer in education, the revelation of facts and the adjustment of the world to best benefit those facts.”

I stiffened at his words, the contempt lying beneath them as he addressed the supposed higher Orders on the other side of the room, his gaze refusing to lift towards those of us segregated at the back.

I curled my fingers into fists in my lap, hiding the small tremor running through me as I dared another glance at the clock.

Thirty seconds to go.

“As a true believer in the rise of the greatest to the top, I have come here today to offer up a grant to this most prestigious academy, one which will be used to supply a-”

A series of bangs exploded all around the central part of the room where the false king stood, both from the ground and the ceiling, balloons filled with glue and Pegasus glitter erupting as they were revealed from within the concealment spells that had been hiding them.

Lionel threw an arm up to shield himself, but he was too late, the thick white glue splattering him from head to foot, the iridescent glitter sparkling in the lights as he bellowed a furious roar.

A screen at the back of the room started playing that sex tape of him fucking a Pegasus girl in her shifted form, the sound of him groaning in pleasure while she whinnied, bouncing back and forth on a loop while everyone in the room cried out in surprise. Another video cut in of Lionel talking to the press outside the Court of Solaria, his words all edited together from his speeches over the years to create a song. The beat was damn good too, and I hoped this song did its job to remind everyone that this was a rebellion not an insurgence, and we weren’t going to just take Lionel’s shit.

I sang along in my head, fighting a smile or any kind of expression that could admit guilt and praising Gary for his remix skills and the DJ software his Mom had bought him last Christmas. Each word was trimmed from a different speech, but together, Gary had woven it to the rhythm, so it flowed into one seamlessly.

“I’m not here to save you,

No, I’m here to break you.

I’m just a lizard who wants it allll.

I’ve lied and spewed a load of shit,

I can’t believe anyone buys it.

It’s time to rise and make a staaand.”

The video cut in intermittently with old clips of Hail Vega with the Councillors, smiling and laughing alongside Lionel’s brother Radcliff. There were clips of the Vega twins too, hugging each other, their love for one another clear in their eyes.

Bernice and I had spent a lot of time gathering all the videos, and it had been her idea to include ones of our allies. Gary had done a beautiful job of making a graphic of a Phoenix bird fly around and leave a blazing trail behind it with the words ‘join the rebellion!’ in the flames.

“I’m lame and my friends all knew it.

Don’t swallow my Orderist bullshit.

The Vega twins will return before too lonnng.”

Videos of the Heirs were shown, all four of them standing united, the people cheering them, and the Vegas waving to an adoring crowd. The blazing graphic of the Phoenix burned through it all, giving way to a shining symbol of the bird with outstretched wings, the words Long Live the Vega Queens blazing beneath it.

Laughter cut through the air, but then another bang made people scream as the song came to an end, some of them racing for the doors in a frantic bid for freedom. The final balloon exploded right in front of the motherfucker, and Lionel threw an air shield up before him just like we’d expected.

The blood red paint inside the balloon hit his shield, the magic woven into it making it form words against the shell of hardened air.

All hail the king of bestiality who’s been fucking so-called lesser Orders in the ass since long before his reign began.

“Arrest them!” Lionel bellowed from within his shield, trying to banish it and the words now emblazoned across it. But he found new air magic taking its place, the cast a mimic of his own which Bernice had designed herself. The magic had been triggered by him using his own power, and nothing in it would reveal the Fae who had cast the original spell but he couldn’t banish it either, leaving those words hanging there before him while countless cameras caught every moment.

Mildred stepped forward with a furious cry, her beady eyes scouring the Fae at the back of the room as she hunted for prey amongst us, and more students leapt to their feet and ran.

I held my ground for a few more seconds, my excitement contained in my chest as I waited just long enough for the crowd to break in its entirety. And as a Dragon’s roar rattled the ceiling, I got my wish.

Fae of all Orders sprang to their feet, carnage unfolding as everyone turned and fled, the cameras still rolling and every second of this latest humiliation and rebellion broadcasted live to the entire kingdom.

I finally gave in to the swell of the crowd, shoving to my feet and turning to escape with everyone else.

Adrenaline broke through my body like a dam, a wild laugh barely stifled in my throat as I sprinted towards Bernice, snatching her hand in mine, and running with her.

A gleeful moo parted my lips as we sprinted for the door, the stampede awakening the beast in me as we ran.

We didn’t dare so much as look at one another as we raced from The Orb, refusing to give away the slightest indication of our involvement until we were far from here and alone. Then I was going to steal that kiss from her. Fuck the consequences. We could die for taking part in that stunt. We’d covered ourselves as best we could, but we could still die for it. There were no guarantees, and putting off tomorrow because I was afraid of today made no fucking sense to me anymore.

We sprinted down the path, my feet tripping over themselves as a pair of K.U.N.T.s stepped into our path, Kylie Major smiling cruelly as she raised her hands in warning.

“Why are you running?” she demanded, and the group of students stumbled and faltered, unsure what to do in the face of the two servants of the crown.

“Who said that?” someone called, and I had to fight a laugh as Kylie’s face turned purple with rage. Even now, many of us still acted like she didn’t exist.

“Because there were bombs going off in there!” a girl near the front of the group wailed dramatically, clutching onto her friend who started sobbing too.

Two assholes weren’t exactly enough to stop the swarm of Fae trying to head down this path, but we all knew better than to attack a K.U.N.T.

I tugged on Bernice’s hand as some more students began begging to get by, turning us towards Jupiter Hall where more of the spooked Fae were sprinting away from The Orb.

Kylie yelled a command for us to stop but we’d started a tide of movement, and I let the rest of the students sweep us along with them as we ran from her too. We just needed to lay low, to get out of sight and keep away until the false king had gone, and his minions stopped asking questions.

There would be an investigation, no doubt, but I didn’t plan on being anywhere near it.

Bernice gave me a fearful look, but I only smiled in return.

We’d done it. Cast a blow against the tyrant who had taken our freedoms and civil liberties from us. It may not have been the end of him, but it was something, a sign to all the others out there who were being forced into oppression because of Lionel Acrux that we hadn’t forgotten them. That our time would come.

I dragged Bernice off the main path, heading for a side door which led into the enormous gothic building that made up Jupiter Hall.

We ducked inside and sprinted along the bottom floor, aiming for one of the rear exits and escape beyond.

But just as we turned a corner and I spied one of the doors at the far end of the long corridor, a bang sounded behind us and Lionel Acrux’s furious snarls filled the space.

“I cannot apologise enough, my King,” Principal Nova was saying and my heart free fell into my ass as I realised they were heading right for us. A tyrant on a rampage about to come face to face with two lowly Minotaurs. I didn’t like the sound of that one bit.

Pounding footsteps drew closer and I hurled a silencing bubble over us as I raced for the closest door, my heart pounding in alarm as I found it locked.

More footsteps closed in on us and I glanced across the long hall towards Nova’s office, the only other door close enough for us to reach before they turned that corner, and undoubtably their motherfucking destination.

“Shit,” I hissed as I dragged Bernice towards it, left with no option but to hope for an open window inside so we could escape.

“You will bring me the Fae responsible for this act,” Lionel snarled, his voice sending fear tumbling down my spine as I yanked the door open, and we spilled into Nova’s large office.

I sprinted for the window, but my heart plunged with despair as I spied the bars over it, no doubt put there to stop any little assholes from gaining access from outside and trying to change their grades, but that left us up shit creak without a fucking paddle.

“Here,” Bernice hissed as those footsteps closed in on the door outside and I whirled towards her as she pulled open a closet, the space inside barely big enough for one of us, let alone two. It was also the only viable hiding place in the entire room.

“Fuck,” I bit out as I gave in and ran to her, pushing her into the dim space between some of Nova’s coats and cloaks and forcing myself in right behind her.

I tugged the door shut half a breath before the door to the room opened behind us and I held my breath, despite the silencing bubble protecting us as those footsteps thumped into the room.

“Search it,” Lionel barked. “I won’t be taken unawares for a second time today.”

“Yes, my King,” Mildred’s ragged voice came in reply.

I pushed Bernice behind me as I began fumbling with a concealment spell, shadows growing around us, more coats seeming to appear to hide us from sight.

Fear made me cast slower than I needed to, and my heart raced to an uneven beat as I heard those footsteps thumping closer still, our deaths waiting just beyond that door, a cruel and bloody end which my stupidity had brought on not only me but Bernice as well. We wouldn’t be able to talk our way out of this. We likely wouldn’t have a chance to plead our innocence at all.

As someone gripped the knob of the closet door from the other side, I said a silent goodbye to my family, hoping they knew how much I loved them and understood why I’d had to fight back against the man who would now be my end, even if it was only in that one, small way.

The door was drawn wide, and I didn’t so much as summon my power, knowing it was hopeless anyway, that my fate was sealed.

But as I blinked into the startled face of the girl who had come to check our hiding place, I didn’t find a moustache or undercut jaw, no humungous, Faeroid-addicted warrior of the Dragon Guild. Instead, the pretty redhead blinked at me in utter shock, her face paling as her eyes flicked to Bernice where she peered around me, taking in everything in a split second.

Over Marguerite’s shoulder, I could see Lionel standing with his back to me in the centre of the room, the scent of smoke a toxic tang in the air as it coiled beneath my nose.

Marguerite’s shock lasted no more than a blink, her face returning to that unbreakable mask as she made a show of ruffling some of the coats beside me then drew back.

“All clear,” she said blandly before swinging the door closed on us once more, saving my fucking ass for the second time and risking her own life with that treasonous lie.

Bernice gripped my arm tightly, her shock as clear as my own while we held the silence and waited.

“All clear behind the curtains and beneath the desk too, Your Highness,” Mildred added gruffly.

“Good. Then be gone. I need a private word with my head of staff here at the academy,” Lionel snarled.

The sound of the K.U.N.T.s leaving was followed by the sharp snap of the door, and I had to fight against the trembling of my own limbs as I felt a silencing bubble slide over us, Lionel’s magic encompassing the room while Nova remained quiet.

“What was it I said that I required of you the last time I was here?” Lionel asked, his voice a deadly purr, and despite my better judgement, I leaned forward, pressing my eye to the small crack running along the edge of the door so I could look out.

The false king dropped into the chair behind the wide mahogany desk, a wind billowing around him which sent the carefully stacked paperwork on the surface flying to all corners of the room.

“I was to enforce your rule among the students, take precautions against the lesser Orders, and bring pride to your legacy as I nurtured the students within the new regime and prepared them for the new, greater world you are building for them to reside in,” Nova replied almost robotically, and I angled my head to look at her where she stood before him, her head bowed.

“So why,” Lionel snarled. “If my commands were so abundantly clear, have I found myself the butt of some joke, some…prank, set to undermine all I had come here to achieve?”

Nova began to apologise but Lionel released a Dragon’s growl, shoving to his feet suddenly, his domineering presence clouding the entire room.

I took Bernice’s hand in mine as his gaze turned murderous, his wrath a potent thing.

He raised a hand, and for a moment I thought he might blast our principal out of existence entirely, burning her to ash for not stopping our attack before it could begin. But instead of striking at her, he prowled around the desk and gripped her upper arms as he made her look into his eyes.

“You will hunt for the rebels hiding within this school,” he commanded and the Coercion he laced his tone with was beyond thick, the power in it rough and brutal, undeniable. I almost succumbed to the desire to follow that command myself, and I wasn’t even the one he had aimed the order at.

“Holy shit,” Bernice breathed, her voice concealed within my silencing bubble. “Is he using Dark Coercion?”

We knew the stories, had read the articles put out by Catalina Acrux about the power her abusive husband had wielded over her. But seeing it here and now, watching as Nova was forced to submit to him, her mind not even her own as she nodded, made me sick to my stomach.

“I will,” she agreed.

“You will, what?” Lionel hissed, shaking her so hard that a few strands of the dark hair contained in her bun fell free.

“I will, my King.” She bowed her head in submission and he nodded in satisfaction at last, releasing her as suddenly as he’d gripped her, his hands leaving a trail of sticky glue and glitter behind on her clothes.

“The next time I hear about any form of rebellion in this school of yours, I will set hell upon the very walls of this place and watch all those who defy me burn,” he purred wickedly, running a finger along the line of her jaw while she stood before him, a vessel awaiting orders.

That certainly explained her very sudden and very firm stance on her allegiance to the king and he alone. She’d once shown more than a little interest in the Vegas. I’d been there when she’d hinted to Tory that she was excited to see what they would do with their power once they learned to control it. It all made sense now, why the shift, why the sudden adoration of a tyrant who wanted nothing more than to toy with the people of this kingdom and force them to conform.

“I’ll hunt down the perpetrators and make sure they are punished,” Nova swore, but Lionel just clucked his tongue.

“No. You’ll hunt them down, then hand them to me. I will deal with this personally. Is that clear?”

“Yes, my King,” she agreed instantly, and he nodded once before shoving her away from him and striding for the door.

The bang it made as he hurled it against the wall made a flinch shatter through every piece of my body, but I didn’t dare move as Nova lingered there a moment longer.

Thankfully, she only waited another second, her hand fisting at her side, some emotion flashing though her eyes which I couldn’t quite untangle as she looked my way, making me fear that she might open the closet. But she turned and left instead, her footsteps fading into the distance as we waited there, terrified, furious, and somehow victorious too.

I exchanged a look with Bernice before we slipped from the closet and quickly exited the office.

“So, Nova is corrupted, Marguerite is on our side and…we just got away with that?” Bernice breathed in disbelief as we ran for the door at the far end of the hall.

I nodded almost robotically, glancing over my shoulder just in case everything was about to fall to shit after all. But no one appeared there, no Dragon leapt out to devour us and no K.U.N.T.s showed up to haul us away.

We’d made it. But I had the feeling that this wasn’t an end at all, because if Nova really was under Lionel’s control, then this game had just gotten a whole lot more dangerous, and we were nowhere near safe yet.