Zodiac Academy 8: Sorrow and Starlight

Orion had fallen asleep with his head resting in my lap and I mindlessly brushed my fingers through his hair, my gaze fixed on the movements of the flames in the fireplace dancing this way and that. I was in a trance, lost to the heat of that enchanting fire while my magic reserves practically overflowed with how long I’d sat in it.

Gabriel had barely come out of The Sight since we’d arrived here, moving outside at dawn to refuel his magic only to return with vague murmurings about how he was yet to find something tangible. I’d managed to make him eat some fruit I’d grown with earth magic before he’d let The Sight take him again, his exhaustion clear. But he was determined to find a way back to the others, a firm path or clue to lead us to their door.

Orion had been trying to make a connection with Caleb’s mind again too, focusing for hours at a time to see if he could re-establish it. But he’d had no luck yet.

Now, night had come once more and Gabriel lay on one of the beds we’d made, the old stone hut restored to something much more liveable. Though we would likely move on tomorrow if Gabriel got no leads by the morning. We’d have to move every couple of days after that in case Vard managed to see us, but I didn’t like the idea of aimlessly travelling around the kingdom in hopes of one day striking lucky with a vision of our friends. There had to be a way we could find them, a message we could send somehow…

Gabriel rubbed his eyes, pushing to his feet as he came out of the depths of some vision. He was wearing new jeans, a blue shirt tucked into the back of them as he kept his wings out. Orion had disappeared off yesterday with a pinch of stardust to fetch us the clothes and I was now wearing a fitted black jumpsuit and some boots, while he wore jeans and a white t-shirt. It was such a small thing, and yet it felt seriously good to have my own clothes again. But the shine was wearing off of eating food I could easily grow with my earth magic. I wanted chocolate dammit.

“Anything?” I asked as Gabriel walked over to me, but he shook his head, looking dejected.

“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “They’ve hidden themselves too well.”

“That’s a good thing. If the greatest Seer alive can’t find them, then at least that means Lionel can’t find them either,” I said encouragingly and he cocked his head, looking down at Orion sleeping.

My gaze followed his and my brows pulled together as I painted a little circle over Orion’s temple.

“I’m never going to be able to repay him for what he did for me,” I whispered, my heart caught in a vice.

Gabriel shifted closer and I glanced up at him, finding his arms folded and an intense look about him. The tattoos on his bare chest seemed to shimmer in the firelight, like they were imbued with a power far greater than I understood.

“You will,” he said with complete certainty. “You would go to the sun and back for him. So long as he is with you, he is where he wants to be. Only you have the power to make him happy beyond all imagination.”

“But what if the curse of this broken promise stays with me always? What if we can’t figure out what it is? Then we’ll never be free of the darkness that haunts my every move.”

Gabriel’s eyes glazed suddenly, and I held my breath the entire time he was stolen away, hoping he might see something that could help us.

He blinked, coming back to me and when his eyes met mine again, they were gilded with war. But that flash of darkness in him gave way to a whoop of joy that made my heart lift.

Orion leapt to his feet with a shot of Vampire speed, his fangs bared and his arms swinging before he’d even found an enemy to strike.

Gabriel saw it all coming, darting out of Orion’s way with ease before wheeling around to look at us with a big smile.

I jumped up onto the couch, heart rioting and adrenaline thundering. “What is it? Did you see them?”

“I saw the Heirs,” Gabriel said excitedly, and I squealed in joy, lunging toward the bag of stardust I’d left on the couch and looking around for our weapons. “Not so fast, little warrior.” Gabriel caught me by the arm as I went to run past him towards our gear, and Orion moved closer.

“What is it, Noxy?” Orion asked, his expression becoming serious.

Gabriel’s smile dropped too. “I saw them fighting a monster at Zodiac Academy in Aer Tower.”

“What?” I balked, twisting out of his hold and running for the weapons again. I strapped my mother’s Harpy sword at my hip and looked over at the others, finding Gabriel latching the Hydra sword to his belt and Orion casually tossing the garnet gemstone dagger in his hand, clearly waiting for me. Damn speedy bastards.

“Ready yet, Blue?” Orion asked with a teasing smirk.

“Lemme just check my Shadow Beast ring.” I twisted it around on my middle finger then raised it to swear at him as I joined them. “Yup. All good.”

“You’re gonna be in trouble for that,” Orion growled in my ear as Gabriel took a pinch of stardust from the pouch.

“Ready?” Gabriel asked and Phoenix fire swum in my veins, the heat of it making my heart sing. I was starting to get a taste for battle that seemed wholly Fae, fighting for freedom, justice and vengeance, the sweetest forms of chaos.

“Ready,” Orion and I confirmed, and Gabriel tossed the stardust into the air.

A thrill shot through me at the thought of seeing the Heirs again, tangling with my confusion and fear over why there would be a monster at Zodiac Academy.

The stars gleamed around us, whispering together in a language I couldn’t understand, like they were conspiring. I didn’t like the way their stares pressed into me, as if I was at the heart of their plans, and they had some imminent fate headed my way.

My feet hit solid ground and the three of us shared a fervid look, confirming they had felt the change in the stars too. But we couldn’t waste time when the Heirs might need us, or if their fight was already done and they were about to stardust out of here again.

Orion stepped closer to the fence, finding a spot where two bars had been bent apart. “The wards are down. They came this way.”

He ducked through onto campus and I followed with my brother at my back, the sound of screams spiralling up into the night. I exhaled slow and a puff of air fogged before me, my fire Element skipping out into my veins to banish the cold.

“We’ll fly, and Orion, you run,” I directed, letting my wings unfurl from my back, the soft bronze feathers brushing my skin.

Gabriel let his wings out too and we took off while Orion remained below us, shooting across Air Territory, the vast plane of land stretching out around us towards the sea cliffs.

I flew with Gabriel at my back, my gaze fixing on Aer Tower up ahead, highlighted in the lambent moonlight, and happy memories tumbled through me at the sight of my old House. This was the only place that had ever felt like home to me, and now it was under attack, I was damn well going to fight for it.

The sea air flooded over me, bringing the taste of brine to my tongue as I tucked my wings and dropped like a bullet from the sky.

I landed at the door, finding Orion there waiting for us, dagger drawn and danger in his eyes. Gabriel swept down behind me, his eyes glazing for a second before he came back to us.

“They’re in the common room,” he said, and I raised a hand, casting air at the triangular Elemental symbol above the door, anxious to keep moving.

It opened for us, and I pushed my way inside, running for the stairs. A guttural yowl cut the air apart somewhere above us and my magic tingled against my palms, the three of us staying together as we raced up the spiralling stone stairway towards the fight raging in the common room.

My boots beat against the floor, and sparks of fire snapped against my skin as my Phoenix hungered to come out. My breaths came heavier, but I didn’t slow, if anything running faster as I thought of my friends waiting above. Of seeing them again, even if it was right in the midst of battle.

We made it to the top of the stairs and my heart felt like it was going to burst as I threw the door to the common room open, finding a giant creature in the centre of it. It was beetle-like with hardened plates of yellow armour over its hunched back, its six legs ending in taloned feet.

Max was hovering on a gust of air, his bow raised, and all of his arrows but one were already embedded deep in the creature’s shell, proving how difficult this horrid creature was to kill. He released his final arrow, aiming true and it flew right between the eyes of the monster, making it slump down dead.

Caleb and Seth were revealed beyond it, panting from the fight, Caleb’s twin daggers wet with blood and Seth’s metal claws tainted with it too.

I staggered to a halt, the air going out of me and my heart nearly bursting out of my chest at the sight of them.

Seth spotted me first as Gabriel and Orion drew closer at my back, and my friend’s jaw dropped, his hand reaching for Caleb’s sleeve and tugging insistently.

“No fucking way,” Max said as he spotted us and Caleb looked up too, his navy gaze settling on us at last.

“It’s Darcy,” Seth gasped. “Look. It’s Darcy!”

“I see that,” Caleb laughed, and Seth broke into a run, leapfrogging over the dead monster and slamming into me so hard that I fell on my ass. He howled his joy, licking my face and laughter tumbled from my throat as I drew him into a tight hug, his earthy scent surrounding me.

“How are you here? What about the curse?” he whimpered.

“It’s broken. I’m free,” I said earnestly, and he howled with all the happiness in the world vibrating through that single noise. Hell, I’d missed him. I’d missed all of them.

I looked up through the curtain of Seth’s hair that had fallen over me, seeing Caleb collide with Orion at full Vampire speed, sending him flying back into a wall and a crack exploded up the middle of it.

“The Death bond?” Caleb begged of him, nose to nose with my mate.

“Gone, brother,” Orion said with relief in his voice. “I’ll tell you everything soon.”

Max came running over, purest joy leaving his body and making my happiness grow and grow. It didn’t feel real, but I was damn well gonna claim this moment and brand it to the inside of my mind.

Seth howled again, jumping to his feet and Max swept down on me, picking me up into his strong arms, my feet not even touching the floor as he gave me a bone-crushing hug.

“How?” he asked.

“Long story,” I wheezed, but I didn’t even care that it felt like my ribs were about to pop; it was so, so good to see him again.

When he released me, I found Caleb hugging Gabriel and Orion tried to escape as Seth sprinted for him with his arms outstretched.

“My moon friend!” he cried, and Orion tried to bat him off as Seth collided with him and licked him straight on the forehead.

Seth whimpered like a dog who hadn’t seen his owner for a year and Orion relented, letting Seth clamber onto him like a limpet and hug him tight, nuzzling his face while Orion twitched a grin and clapped Seth on the shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah.” Orion pushed him off at last and Seth came hurtling back towards me. “Oh my stars!” he yelled, but instead of slamming into me, he went flying past me, then started circling us all as fast as he could. “By the moon – awooooooo!”

“What’s he doing?” I laughed.

“I think he’s got the zoomies,” Caleb said with a smirk, and Seth continued to race around us until he was panting and pulling Gabriel into a firm hug.

“Oh I missed you so much, Gabriel,” Seth said with a choked sob.

“We don’t really hang out, like ever,” Gabriel said, patting him on the back.

“We’re gonna,” Seth said, releasing him and giving him an intent look. “Every day. Morning, noon and night.”

“O…kay,” Gabriel said with a chuckle then Seth took another dive at Orion, but he shot away this time instead of being trapped in second hug.

“How did you get free?” Max asked and Gabriel started answering, but everything else in the world stopped existing to me as the sound of a warbling yodel carried from the floor below us.

I took off without thought, sprinting into the stairwell, taking the steps two at a time. It was impossible. There was no way, no damn way this could be real. But I knew that voice, knew it from every desperate dream I’d had about that girl each night, missing her with all my heart.

I ran like the hounds of hell were at my heels, turning down the first corridor off the stairs and finding Geraldine there in all her armoured glory, spinning her flail like a mad thing. A boy with a K.U.N.T. badge pinned to his shirt went running from her with a scream in his throat.

He staggered past me, flying down the stairs before I could even think to stop him because my mind couldn’t move from anything except this implausible reality right in front of me.

“Come back here, you scallywag!” she shrieked, turning my way and I fell totally still.

“Geraldine?” I rasped, shaking my head. Because surely the stars were playing tricks on me. I’d killed her, felt her armour crack beneath the claws of the Shadow Beast, seen her bloody and broken on the ground, so pale that life couldn’t have lived on in her. Yet here she was, battle bound and sublime.

A noise left her that was somewhere between a gurgling sink and a baby dolphin, then she fell to her knees, tossing her flail aside and crawling towards me, sobbing and choking out words as she went. “My eyes deceive me! It cannot be, for I have wished upon a waning moon and all the phases fore and after for this very dream to materialise. I have cracked like a pebble in a stone lopper, and this truly cannot be!” She made it to me, grabbing my boot and shrieking, rolling onto her back and staring up at me in wide eyed wonder. “Nay! The stars play tricks upon my eyeballs! My dear lady Darcy lays in chains within the Palace of Souls, captive to the cretin of shadows and her lame Dragoon! Nay – nay!”

I leaned down, gripping her arms and hauling her upright, and she looked at me with tears racing down her cheeks. I realised my own tears were falling and my heart was floating in my chest. “It’s me. I got away and my curse is broken. I’ve missed you so, so much.”

Geraldine reached two trembling hands towards my face, feeling my features then throwing her head back with an almighty wail. “Stars, planets, sun and moon! My plea has been answered, my lady of bluest hair and heart of flame has returned!” She fell apart into sobs and I dragged her into the tightest hug I had in me, burying my face against her shoulder. She broke apart, releasing violent hiccups between every sob.

“It-hic-can-hic-not-hic-beeeee!” She shuddered in my arms, and I cried too, the wound of losing her healing over at long last.

“I thought I killed you,” I said in horror as we managed to part enough to look at each other again. “I thought the Shadow Beast-”

“Nay,” she croaked. “It did not. I rose like a dandelion in a quarry of doom, but do not concern yourself of such a long-ago deed. No blame falls upon your brow, my Queen.” She staggered to her knees, bowing her head to me and I caught hold of her shoulders, dragging her back up again.

“Don’t do that,” I begged, cupping her cheek, and blinking through my tears. “I’m so glad you’re okay. And I’m so sorry for what I did.”

My heart hurt with the weight of guilt I’d been carrying over her death, but it was easing at finding her alive. It just didn’t seem real.

“Do not tangle your tongue on such words, dear Darcy,” she said, sniffing heavily. “I do not blame you for the whims of that beast any more than I blame the moon for chasing the sun. It is not your doing. It is a force outside of you and your virtuous soul.”

I nodded, needing to hear those words like I needed air to breathe. The door to one of the rooms opened at her back and Xavier, Tyler and Sofia stepped out, dragging a couple of K.U.N.T.s with them and tossing them onto the floor unconscious.

My lips parted and Sofia neighed wildly as she spotted me, charging over, and slamming into me.

“Oh my god, it’s so good to see you,” I gasped, squeezing her tight and Tyler drove into me next, my legs nearly buckling at the weight of them falling against me.

“Where the hell did you come from?” Tyler cried.

“I got away,” I said. “I’ll explain everything soon.”

“We got away too,” Gabriel’s voice sounded at my back.

“Look it’s Orion and Gabriel!” Seth shouted as they all appeared in the stairwell and Geraldine let out another shriek that almost burst my ear drums.

“Your Orry man and your wing-ed brother,” Geraldine screeched, slamming into them, and pulling them both under her arms in a violent sort of hug, knocking their heads together as they gave in to her brutal affection.

Sofia and Tyler released me, and my gaze fell on Xavier, pain racing through my core at the echo of darkness in his eyes. I moved towards him, shaking my head as all words failed me, my legs feeling leaden. Darius, his mom…everything he must have suffered through in the wake of their loss.

“I know,” he said before I spoke, tears welling in my eyes again. “You don’t have to say it.”

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat, and just drawing him into a firm hug, thinking of all he’d had taken from him.

“I’m so glad you’re alright,” I said.

“Ditto,” he agreed, and as I released him, he gave me a slanted smile that didn’t quite touch his eyes.

“Where’s Tory?” I looked around, suddenly aching for my twin with the blazing intensity of every star in the sky, and wondering if she might be in one of these rooms or – or –

“She’s not here,” Caleb answered, dashing my hope to pieces. “She left a few days ago and didn’t tell anyone where she was going.”

My heart twisted sharply at that news, and sadness washed over me.

“She’ll come back. She always comes back,” Seth said encouragingly. “Sometimes she’s frownier when she returns, and sometimes she does crazy shit like sending her soul out of her body but-”

“What?” I gasped, horrified at the idea of that.

Seth elbowed Caleb. “Tell her, Cal. Tell her how Tory does weird, dark magic stuff now, but it’s okay because her soul did come back that time. And if she’s off soul-walking again it’s probably completely fine, because…because…” He ran out of steam on that train of thought, whining as he nudged Caleb again.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine,” Caleb assured us.

Seth looked over my shoulder and I glanced back, finding Frank and a few more of his pack peeking out of a room at the far end of the corridor. “Is it safe now, Alpha?” he asked.

“Just stay there and lock the door tight until it’s over. I’ll make sure the tower is clear,” Seth said with authority and Frank nodded, his eyes darting onto me.

“Oh my stars, it’s you,” he gasped then snapped the door shut, a tumult of chatter breaking out.

“We should move,” Max said, wincing as screams carried across campus.

I drew my sword again as my friends closed in around me, ready to dive into the fray.

“What’s happening here?” I asked, the current situation stealing my attention. “What are those monsters and why are they here?”

“It would seem that the false king has sent them, my lady. Here on some gruesome mission to hunt down the rebels who had been working against him from within these fine walls,” Geraldine explained.

“They’re killing people who stood up to him?” I gasped in disgust and the others nodded in confirmation. “Then we have to help them.”

“Yes – it is time to unite as a legion of justice!” Geraldine bellowed, wiping her damp cheeks and stepping closer. “Point me at your enemies, my lady. For I am your weapon forged of havoc and punishment. We shall carve the heads of a thousand monsters from their bodies this very night, and the whole world will shudder with the knowledge of their queen’s return. For the night is deep and the dawn is yonder. And between the now and the rising sun, blood waits to be spilled and enemies wait to be slain. We are the knights of the Vega Court, and we are at your service.” She spun around on her heel, facing the others. “Listen close and listen well. The stars have returned our queen to us, and it is our duty to fight like the soldiers of the Perrypot and slay the ganderghouls who have come to spread peril across the precious lands of our academy. It is time to take up arms and sing our song of slaughter and misery into the flapping ears of our assailants! There shall not be a single soul in Solaria who does not know of our victory by dawn! Long live the true Queens!”