Zodiac Academy: The Awakening As Told By The Boys

I stood under a tree near The Orb, dusk colouring the sky deepest blue and the first glint of the stars appearing within the murky sea of the heavens. I had a concealment spell around me so students didn’t notice me as they walked by and I took some pleasure in tripping up any asshole who was wearing their uniform wrong. Duck-tailed shirt? You’re on your ass. Blazer sleeves rolled up? Straight in a ditch. Not wearing a uniform at all? It’s after hours, but fuck it, you can fall flat on your face.

“Whhhy?” wailed Tyler Corbin as I sent him spiralling down the path on a furious breeze and crashing into a bush. Because you’re an irksome little shit, that’s why. If you can’t handle that, wait until you reach Hell Week.

“That Washer guy is gross,” Tory Vega’s voice caught my attention and my head snapped sideways as I spotted her and Darcy walking down the path with Geraldine Grus in tow.

“He’s the most bothersome babbalumbaduke I ever saw,” Geraldine agreed.

Tory rolled her eyes, looking away from her, clearly not enjoying the girl’s company nor in any mood to indulge it. And I knew exactly why. Darcy on the other hand, gave Geraldine a polite smile and answered her. Ever the sweetheart. You won’t be so sweet when you embrace your inner Fae, Blue.

“What’s a babbalumba-thing?” Darcy frowned and Geraldine flapped her arms and gasped like someone had just dropped dead in front of her.

“You haven’t heard of a babbalumbaduke!? My queen-”

“Darcy,” she interjected and my brows arched at her dismissal of the royalist’s bullshit.

“Pish-posh!” Geraldine waved a hand. “A babbalumbaduke is the most creepsome creature you can imagine. It crawls from sewers and pulls unsuspecting virgins into its grasp, never to let go. The legend says it feasts upon their innocent flesh with nothing but its two-pronged armensprout.”

“To be fair, that does sound like Washer,” Tory said with a smirk.

“Yeah, but what’s an armensprout?” Darcy wrinkled her nose and my lips twitched up at the corner at how fucking cute she looked. Then I murdered that lip twitch and gritted my jaw, replacing the curiosity within me about her with a healthy dose of hatred. She was a Vega. Their name alone was a curse on this land.

“My good lady!” Geraldine wailed. They were close now, about to pass me by on the path as they circled The Orb, probably headed for dinner. “An armensprout is a dilly dongle. A war-willy wingle. A goblin of the grouse. A terrible Leroy.”

“A dick?” Tory guessed and a snort escaped my lips that made Darcy’s head snap around to look into the trees. My heart bolted up into my throat even though I knew she couldn’t see me. But I swear her eyes found my fucking soul anyway.

“Wait, that monster thing eats people with its dick?” Darcy snorted.

“Why yes! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” Geraldine guffawed.

Darcy suddenly tripped over her own feet and almost went flying to the ground, but my fingers flicked and I cast air magic before I knew what I was even doing, catching her so she didn’t hit the ground. She looked confused as hell and Tory chuckled, linking her arm through hers and pulling her along.

What the fuck did I just do?

I’d just spent the past ten minutes tripping up students and Darcy hadn’t even had her shirt tucked in. So why hadn’t I taken the opportunity to send her flying into the mud?

“Come on, clumsy butt,” Tory said and Darcy laughed.

“Are you okay, my sweet lady?” Geraldine gasped, hovering around her and Darcy’s cheeks pinked as she waved her away.

“Yup, just hungry,” she said brightly and the only way I could describe Geraldine’s next movement was a high-kneed gallop as she beckoned the girls after her down the path.

“Make way – make way!” she cried at the other students, blasting some of them off the path with her water magic. “The true queens are coming through!”

Tory whispered in Darcy’s ear and I tuned my senses on them to catch it. “Do you think we can outrun her if we turn back and skip dinner?”

“No chance. Look at those legs go,” Darcy said and they both fell into silent laughter, leaning on each other, their bond shining clearly between them.

My heart tugged violently as I stared after them, remembering having that bond with my sister Clara before she’d died. Before Lionel had killed her. My throat tightened and suddenly I couldn’t breathe all that well as I shut my eyes and felt darkness licking at the edges of my flesh.

My ears hummed with energy and it felt like the stars were peeling back a layer of the world for me. I lived in that sensation for a moment, feeling closer to Clara like she was standing at the edges of my consciousness.

The scales are tipping, Libra. You must soon choose.

A howl cut through the whispers in my mind and my eyes snapped open, leaving me unsure if I’d really heard those words. The stars spoke so rarely to people, I’d only ever experienced it a couple of times in my life. The first time being when my father had died and the words, claim his place had echoed in my head. Since then, it seemed like they were always more present, like they were watching me. And it made every one of my choices seem far more important than I liked them to be.

But I hardly thought I had some important role to play here. And I wasn’t sure what their messages even meant. You must choose? What choice could there be to make? I couldn’t understand it, just like I hadn’t understood the message they’d sent when my father died. But I’d tried to do my best to embody everything he was all the same.

I taught an Acrux dark magic, which had been a big part of his life work, though I wasn’t as adept as he was at creating dark spells. Experimenting with dark magic always seemed like a dangerous idea to me. And risking Darius’s life with something untested was unthinkable. So I stuck to what my father had taught me and hoped it was enough to give Darius the edge he would need against his father in future, putting them on a more level playing ground. Because Lionel Acrux would not be above using dirty tactics to beat his son if it came down to it. And dark magic could be very subtle, undetectable.

My father had warned me away from using some kinds of it, not even teaching me anything that could cause me permanent harm. Like Dark Coercion. Unlike normal Coercion, it couldn’t be fought off with mental shields or any spell I knew. It was as binding as a death vow and that made it terrifying. It took a soul sacrifice to achieve such high levels of dark magic. If your soul wasn’t intact when you died, it could forfeit your place among the stars, they could cast you into eternal damnation and suffering. And nothing that happened in this life was worth being cursed for eternity by our celestial rulers.

I focused back on the reason I was waiting here and the heaviness lifted from me a little as I stared at the curving golden wall of The Orb ahead of me. At the end of last term Darius had stolen all of the diamonds that were embedded in the constellations marked on the outer walls of The Orb. Lionel had funded them like a prime asshole and yeah, I’d helped Darius gather them all up for his little treasure stash in the dead of night to piss Lionel off.

I smirked at the memory, but sadly new gemstones now filled their places, cast there by the Earth Elemental Professor Rockford this afternoon. And as Darius was definitely going to be distracted by those twinkly stones, I was planning a surprise attack. It was my way of teaching him to always keep his guard up, and it fed my inner Vampire as I enjoyed hunting one of the most powerful Fae in the kingdom. Though real hunting was strictly forbidden, I indulged in this little game, walking the line of what was really acceptable. But I wouldn’t bite him. If I did, I could get a taste for the hunt and then I really would be in trouble.

The source of the howl that had drawn my attention belonged to Seth Capella as he walked down the path among the other Heirs. People were leaping out of their way or gathering at their backs as they fangirled over the four of them and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at their kiss ass bullshit.

Seth was loudly telling anyone who’d listen that he’d just been awarded Wolf of the year in Make You Howl Magazine, waving the thing in everyone’s faces to point out his photograph.

“You think that’s good? I got awarded hottest water Elemental of the year twice in a row. You might be hottest of your Order, but I’m hottest out of an entire Element,” Max said smugly and a few girls around them giggled and tried to catch his eye.

“Well it’s bullshit I didn’t get hottest air Elemental anyway,” Seth said with a growl. “Why would someone pick a washed up professor who tossed away his Pitball career as the winner, even if he is hot?”

“Don’t talk about him like that,” Darius snarled.

“Oh come on, let’s just all admit Orion isn’t me hot. Look at my hair.” Seth shook his head so it rippled in the sunlight. “Look at that gleam. He doesn’t have a gleam like that.”

“I dunno, he’s pretty gleamy,” Caleb taunted and Seth lunged at him, the two of them instantly starting to wrestle.

I clenched my jaw. I did not read bullshit magazines like that. I had however, had my entire classroom plastered with photos of me hitting the number one spot in Elemental Weekly last term after I’d won that stupid title and with the skill they’d been stuck to my wall, I had to suspect an Heir. Or all of them. When they banded together, they got up to so many pranks, we practically had to have a team at Zodiac Academy employed entirely to rectify the chaos they caused. And because of their status, no one was allowed to give them any kind of decent time in detention. Even me. Elaine Nova was very clear about that. Suck up.

Darius seemed distracted and I smirked as I realised why. His eyes were fixed on the gemstones in the Capricorn constellation near to me and he trailed to a halt while the others all kept walking.

“I’ll catch you later,” he muttered to them and they waved goodbye, heading off down the path and taking most of their fan club with them.

Darius chased off the few who remained by baring his teeth at them and the path cleared out as he stood there, glancing around for any teachers before creeping closer to the wall. I supressed a snigger as he reached out to stroke his fingers over the lowest gemstone, his head cocking left and right as he examined it.

“Mine,” he said, the word low and I only caught it because of my Order gifts.

I took the pouch of stardust from my pocket and shot forward with the speed of my Vampire, a grin splitting over my face as he didn’t move a single muscle. Then I slammed into him, throwing stardust at the same time and we were torn away into the ether, a surprised yell escaping him as my laughter echoed around us.

We landed in a woodland and went tumbling down a steep bank among the fallen leaves as Darius started punching me, a Dragon’s roar leaving his throat. I cast a solid air shield against my flesh to stop his blows from touching me and I landed on my back beneath the bulk of him, his hair falling into his eyes and his face twisted in a vicious snarl that reminded me all too much of his father for a second.

“It’s me,” I said quickly, my heart hammering, the game suddenly not so funny anymore.

His brows drew together as he took in the culprit and his whole body sagged with relief.

“What the fuck, Lance?” He shoved off of me, getting to his feet.

“You’ve gotta stop leaving your guard down on campus,” I warned as he offered me a hand and pulled me to my feet.

“No one on campus can challenge me but the Heirs, and they’re hardly gonna do that,” he said, brushing some leaves from his hair.

“Don’t get cocky,” I said, shoving his arm. “Skill can outmatch power.”

He released a breath that was tangled with smoke then he lurched forward and wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him back, sensing something was troubling him, but then again something was always troubling him lately. And I knew the feeling.

The bond between us thrived and the relief I got from being this close to him helped soothe the worst of my anxiety, and I guessed it helped him too.

He started chuckling and I joined him as we broke apart.

“You fucking asshole,” he said, a smirk pulling at his lips.

I gave him a mocking shrug. “You’re just salty because you know you’d be dead right now if I was your enemy.”

“Lucky you’re on my side then,” he said with a grin. “And speaking of sides, how’s the Vega watch going?”

I frowned. “Nothing really to report. They’re still vulnerable. But it’s not gonna last forever.”

He nodded seriously. “Do you think they’re cracking? Should we push harder?”

I eyed him closely. “What exactly are you and the Heirs planning to do them?”

“Whatever it takes,” he growled. “Father’s been threatening Xavier again and I just…”

I rested a hand on his shoulder, feeling his pain over that as it mixed with my own. “We’ll figure this out. I swear.”

“Any ideas on their Orders?” he asked.

“I think Darcy might be a Siren,” I said and his brows arched.

“Oh yeah? Why do you think that?” he asked.

“It’s just a vibe. Like she’s trying to manipulate my feelings or something,” I muttered and he nodded slowly.

“Yeah now you say it, Roxy could be one too,” he said thoughtfully.

“Really? You felt it from her as well?” I asked hopefully, latching onto this explanation with both hands.

“Yeah, like a sort of pull…”

“Exactly,” I agreed and relief fell between us.

The heaviness lifted from his expression. “So where’s my hatchet?” he asked like a kid asking for candy and I smirked.

I took out the sun steel sword I’d concealed as a switch blade in my pocket along with Darius’s hatchet which currently looked like a tiny green Dragon keyring with a dick for a head. I may have gotten carried away with the concealment spell on that one, but my last lesson had been a senior class who’d spent the hour practising levitation, so I’d had time to work on it.

I tossed it to Darius and he snorted as he looked at it. “Nice.”

“Do you think your father would approve?” I asked with a grin.

“He’d probably roast you in the kitchen fireplace and eat you for a snack,” he said with a laugh.

“Worth it,” I murmured and he released a note of laughter.

“What’s the plan then?”

“I think we have a lead,” I said with a grin. There was nothing like the thrill of the hunt to make me forget the rest of my shitty life. I lived for this, defying Lionel, battling monsters. It was about the only thing that reminded me I still had a beating heart in my chest these days. “There was a Nymph sighting near here reported to the FIB and I think it might belong to the group we were tracking.”

Darius’s face brightened at those words and my chest warmed at being able to give him some good news for once. I took out my Atlas, checking the coordinates Francesca had sent me. She was strictly not allowed to give me any locations for Nymph sightings, but she still did, risking her job for the sake of knowing more Nymphs were being dealt with by us. The FIB were stretched too thin to deal with the mounting problem of Nymph attacks, but they wouldn’t admit there was a problem and build a bigger taskforce to fight them.

They were afraid to scare the public by announcing there was a crisis going on in the kingdom, so Francesca sent me the reports that came in whenever they were ignored. It was hard, bloody work but I relished every second of it. Teaching all day wasn’t natural to me. I needed a purpose and this gave me one. And I knew Darius needed it too. It was an outlet that also made us feel useful in this world, like we were actually making a difference. Would I have gotten in serious trouble with Lionel if he knew I was bringing his son out on dangerous, illegal Nymph hunts? Absolutely. Did I give one Tiberian Rat dropping of a shit? Not one.

Especially because this Nymph sighting had occurred here in Tucana, only a stone’s throw away from Zodiac Academy. And that was not to be taken lightly.

“Come on, this way.” I slid the concealment spell off the switch knife with my thumb and it expanded into a full sized sword.

We delved deeper into the woods and clouds drew in as we walked, rain soon drizzling down from the canopy above. I cast an air shield around us to keep us dry, but it made sounds more difficult to catch as I listened to a million drops of rain slapping against leaves and branches, sending my senses into overdrive.

We reached the edge of a large property where the Nymph had been sighted by some old guy who lived in the ancient farmhouse surrounded by grassy fields. Ferris Pike had made the report, but according to Francesca he was an unreliable witness due to his drinking habit. He cried wolf down in a local bar and had been laughed out of there. The only reason Francesca had taken it seriously was because of the photograph he’d managed to take.

I checked that very picture now on my Atlas and showed it to Darius. It was of this exact spot, though the angle was too low to see any of the Nymph’s upper body. It was hard to distinguish, but between the two trees where we stood now, there were long, barky legs that melded in with the woodland. It could easily be dismissed as part of the trees, but standing here confirmed what it was. Because there was no sign of them now.

“You see that scar on its right leg,” I said, pointing to it and a grin split across Darius’s face.

“That could be the one that had a limp. The chances of a Fae having an unhealed injury is pretty damn unlikely,” he said excitedly. We’d only seen the group we’d been tracking out of their Nymph forms, so we couldn’t be one hundred percent sure they weren’t Fae. But one of them had had a bad leg, and this Nymph seemed to have an old injury in the same place. It was really possible that this could prove those people we’d tracked were Nymphs who were part of a nest. And if we could figure it out once and for all tonight, we could go after them.

“My thoughts exactly,” I said darkly, but then Darius’s face fell as he realised what that meant.

“You think the nest is this close to Tucana?”

“Could be,” I muttered, not liking the idea of that. We’d suspected the nest was further out based on the sightings we’d had of the group, but maybe we were wrong.

I dropped down to the ground and as I pushed away some of the fallen leaves, I found large footprints in the mud.

“Which way do you think it went?” Darius asked as he dropped down to a crouch too, pushing more leaves away around us to hunt for more footprints.

“There.” I pointed as my keener eyesight locked on more prints just beyond where he was looking.

He stood up, following the prints along the wooden fence that circled Ferris’s property and I headed after him, keeping my ears trained on the woodland in case anything approached us from the dark.

The rain was picking up in ferocity and I cursed as it became even more difficult to distinguish sounds among the pattering raindrops that filled the world. But one thing cut through it at last that sent a shiver of dread racing up my spine. A scream, the blood-curdling, terror-filled kind.

My head snapped around to look at the farmhouse where it had come from and in an instant, I grabbed Darius, throwing him over my shoulder and leaping the fence. I shot at full pelt towards the house and reached the front door just before it exploded off its hinges and fire magic bloomed in my vision.

I threw out an air shield as we were knocked to the ground and Darius gained his feet before I did, releasing a battle cry as the keyring in his hand shifted into a hatchet and he leapt at the giant Nymph as it stepped out of the house. My gaze locked onto a pendant on a chain around its neck, the black gemstone swirling with shadow and exuding a power so dark it sent a dagger of fear into my chest.

His hatchet sank into its arm as it tried to shield itself and I leapt up to help, shooting forward and slashing at one of its legs.

It shrieked in fury then stolen earth magic exploded from its body in a furious blast that tore the ground apart beneath us.

I fell with a gasp of panic and Darius fell with me, my air magic catching us before we hit the rocky ground at the bottom of the pit.

The Nymph leapt over the hole above us and I flew us up there as fast as I could with a storm of air beneath us.

“I’m gonna shift!” Darius cried as we landed on the muddy ground outside the house and my gaze locked on the Nymph as it fled in the direction of the trees, a slight limp to its gait that made me almost sure it was one of the people we’d been tracking. But unless we could get hold of it and force it to shift, there was no way of proving it.

“No, we’re too close to town, you’ll be seen,” I barked, grabbing Darius’s arm to halt him as he went to pull his shirt off. The Nymph leapt the fence and immediately melded into the woodland as it disappeared between the dark boughs.

“Then run us over there!” he demanded, but a wave of heat behind me made me turn to look back at the house. Fire was blooming within it, consuming it fast.

A siren rang out somewhere in town and my heart leapt as I realised we were in trouble.

“We have to go,” I growled, reaching for the stardust, but Darius shook his head.

“Are you crazy? We need to chase it. Destroy it.” His face twisted in rage, his need for this kill clear.

“It’s too late,” I snapped. “We have to go.”

“Then you go.” He ran off across the grass and I swore, running after him as I refused to leave him behind.

The Nymph made it into the trees and my Atlas started buzzing in my pocket.

Darius was almost at the fence when ten FIB agents appeared there via stardust, looking directly at him and making my stomach clench.

I acted in an instant, shooting away with the speed of my Order and jumping the fence further up the field. I darted into the cover of the trees, watching as Darius raised his hands in surrender, the hatchet no longer in sight.

“Stay where you are!” a large male agent boomed.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I snatched out my Atlas, finding a message from Francesca that said nothing but RUN.

I noticed her among the agents as they climbed the fence and surrounded Darius, all of them wearing their black jumpsuits.

I trained my ears on them as my pulse jerked violently in my chest.

“A man’s been attacked by a Nymph,” Darius said loudly, pointing to the house. “He needs help.”

A few of the agents ran that way, quickly dousing the flames and heading inside. It wasn’t long before they reappeared carrying a body behind them on air magic and laid him on the grass.

“He’s been killed. Could have been the fire, it’s hard to tell without a proper examination,” one of the agents called.

“Dragon fire?” another asked sharply. Shit.

“It was a Nymph,” Darius said firmly, but no one seemed to be listening.

Francesca gave him a look that told him to be quiet and he locked his jaw tight.

An agent quickly pulled Darius’s hands behind him and snapped magic blocking cuffs onto his wrists, making my panic go from a hundred to a thousand.

I did the only thing I could do, because this was bad. Like going to prison bad.

So I called the one person in the world who could smooth this shit over, tasting bile in my mouth as I did it. The call rang and rang and I cursed him with every name under the sun as I waited for him to pick up.

“Yes?” Lionel answered curtly.

“Darius is being arrested for a crime he didn’t commit,” I let the axe fall all at once and a stretch of furious silence followed.

“Send me your location.” He hung up and I texted him the coordinates, praying Darius wouldn’t fucking hate me for this.

But I had to protect him, and this was the only way to do it. Because if the FIB took him in, they’d find that hatchet, they’d use a Cyclops to search his memories. They’d see everything we’d been up to, and not just the Nymph hunts, they could see that I’d been teaching him dark magic too, that he was planning to take on his father. And I couldn’t let that happen.

I took a moment to conceal my sword once more, sliding it into my pocket in the form of the switch knife.

Lionel stardusted into existence just beyond the agents and one of them got such a fright that he fell right onto his ass.

“What in the stars’ names are you doing to my son?!” he boomed and Francesca rushed forward to answer.

“Lord Acrux, sir, he was found at the scene of a crime,” she said hurriedly. “We need to bring him in for questioning. But not to worry, I’ll interrogate him myself and I’m sure that will clear everything up.”

I could see what she was doing. She was a Cyclops, and if she conducted the interrogation then maybe she really could protect him. But if she was questioned, or if someone higher than her ordered someone else to do the interrogation…

“You will do no such thing,” Lionel snapped, his eyes two pits of hellfire. “My son is not a criminal, are you boy? So explain to the FIB agents what exactly it is you are doing here.” He stared at Darius, clearly curious as to why he was here too and fuck if we could ever let him find out.

“I was out flying and I saw the fire,” Darius said confidently. “I landed here to check what was going on.”

“Then why are you wearing clothes?” some helpful little bastard of an agent demanded.

“Ever heard of a Pegobag, dipshit?” Darius growled. “I left it over there.” He pointed in the vaguest direction across the field. “Want me to go get it?”

“Ye-” the guy started but Lionel cut over him.

“Of course you won’t ask him to do such a thing. You aren’t really suggesting my son could be responsible for this house fire?” he demanded and the agent looked uncertain, glancing at his colleagues for backup, but they were all looking pretty sheepish now.

“It’s our job,” the guy piped up.

“He is to be a High Lord of the Celestial Council,” Lionel scoffed. “So do you really believe he is responsible for this?”

“Of course not,” the agent backtracked. “But it’s protocol. We must take him in for questioning. Once we’ve confirmed his story we’ll-”

“Agent Blakely,” Lionel said coldly, his eyes dipping to the FIB badge on the guy’s chest and I swear I saw him trembling. “I suggest you think very carefully about your next move. If you arrest my boy, you are ensuring the whole kingdom hears about it in the newspapers. You will be soiling the grand name of Acrux, one of the rulers who ensure the FIB are so well provided for.”

Blakely slowly nodded, anxiously running his fingers through his hair. “Well I…perhaps this once we could…alter protocol considering…the circumstances.”

“Yes, yes,” Lionel said brightly, clapping Blakely on the shoulder so hard I swear he sank an inch into the mud. “That’s more like it. A little respect. I appreciate that, I truly do. Your division will be handsomely rewarded for your hard work here tonight. I will see to it myself.”

By the stars, I hated that asshole. But hell did he have the sway of a god when I needed his help.

“We’ll get out of your hair and leave you to your investigation. And I expect my son’s name to remain anonymous in all this, hm?”

“Of course, your Highness, I mean my Lord, I mean-” Blakely babbled and Lionel knocked him out of his way as he approached his son.

Francesca took the cuffs off of Darius and Lionel caught hold of his arm as the agents all headed over to the body and the crime scene awaiting them. Lionel spoke in a low voice that was meant for my ears.

“I shall escort you both to the academy.” Then he stardusted away with Darius and I rubbed a hand over my eyes before doing the same.

I was pulled through the endless spiral of stars and landed on the tarmac outside the huge gates of Zodiac Academy.

Lionel had a deadly air of rage about him that made my skin prickle and I glanced at Darius, an apology on my lips, but he shook his head, his eyes telling me he didn’t blame me for what I’d done.

Lionel flicked up a silencing bubble around us, a sneer pulling at his mouth.

“Explain. Now. And do not dare lie to me.”

“It was like I said,” Darius said firmly. “I was out flying and I saw the fire.”

“Then explain your clothes to me, because my son does not wear a Pegobag. Dragons do not fly with clothes stashed in some disgusting backpack created for lesser Fae,” Lionel spat.

“I was running along beneath him,” I said. “I had his clothes. I gave them to him when he landed. Then when the FIB showed up, I ran off so I had time to call you.”

Lionel fell silent, looking between us, hunting for the lie. Fear rippled up and down my spine, but I didn’t let an ounce of it show on my face.

“Tell me the truth, boy,” he said as he fixed his gaze on Darius. “Did you set that house fire? Did you use your Dragon fire? Because there are tell-tale signs of Dragon fire which will be harder to keep under wraps if you did.” There was a glitter in his eyes that gave me a horrible, gut-churning feeling that Lionel was hoping his son would say yes. That he had killed that man in cold blood.

“I didn’t,” Darius swore, his brows pulling tight together.

“I won’t be angry,” Lionel said, his voice softening to a tone I had never heard from him before. “Ferris Pike was a powerful Fae, but he was also a vile Sphinx. A hoarder of knowledge. Did he offend you somehow? Because there is honour in such a kill.”

“No,” Darius snapped. “I didn’t kill him.”

Lionel sighed, looking disappointed. “Fine,” he bit out. “Well you’re going to pay the price of what I just did for you. It will cost me a substantial contribution to the FIB to keep your name out of the press.”

“Okay,” Darius agreed, jutting his chin out as he waited for the punishment. But Lionel wasn’t going to lay into his son right here at the gates of Zodiac Academy. “Get it over with.”

“No, boy.” Lionel stepped closer to him. “I will punish you when I see fit.”

He snapped his fingers at me like I was some obedient guard dog. “Take my son back to his room, Lance.”

“Yes, Uncle,” I said, my tone dry as usual, but he didn’t seem to notice.

He threw stardust over himself, disappearing from sight and a breath of relief left my lungs. Darius stalked through the gates and I headed after him, watching him in my periphery as I cast a silencing bubble around us.

“We’ll have to lay low for a while. Stop the Nymph hunts,” I muttered.

“What?” he snarled, rounding on me. “I was about to suggest the exact opposite.”

“It’s too risky,” I hissed. “Don’t you understand what would have happened if the FIB had taken you in for questioning? They could have found out everything we’re planning, not to mention all the illegal shit we’ve been up to.”

“But they didn’t,” Darius snapped. “And we can’t stop hunting the Nymphs just because of the risks. We knew the risks before we started and they’re worth taking if we can stop the Nymphs before they pose a real threat to the kingdom.”

“I’m not saying we stop forever. But for now-”

“No,” he gritted out stubbornly. “You don’t get to tell me what to do. You’re not my father, Lance.”

“No, but I am your friend,” I pushed.

“Because he made you be,” he sniped. “This is your Guardian bond speaking, not you.”

“Fuck you,” I grunted, his words stinging more than I liked. “It’s not the bond.”

“It is. You can’t even differentiate it from your real feelings, that’s how it works. Because the real Lance Orion would stand at my side fighting Nymphs until the end of time, but this guy demanding I stay out of trouble was put in you by my father,” he said and before I could contradict him, he took a right fork in the path and murmured goodnight to me, heading in the direction of his House.

I stood there for a long moment, tempted to go after him, the bond urging me to. But his words were circling in my head and I forced down the lump of pain burning in my chest over leaving him when he clearly needed me and made my feet walk in the opposite direction. Because maybe he had a point. Maybe I was just a dog on a leash when it came down to it. And I didn’t want to do what the bond begged of me even though it felt like my ribcage was being cleaved apart.

I looked to the stars, needing direction but finding them sparkling quietly, having nothing to say. So I’d turn to a darker source for my knowledge tonight and read the ancient bones I kept hidden in my closet. They’d give me something to go on, a path to take, and confirm if it was a good idea to stop the hunts for a while or not.

But as I walked further and further away from Darius Acrux and the Guardian bond flared so hot it burned, I had a feeling protecting him was going to be my choice no matter what fortunes I could read. Because Darius was right, my choices were made for me when it came to his safety. And there was nothing I could do to fight it, even if it put the entire kingdom at risk.