Zodiac Academy 4: Shadow Princess

I woke up in a cold sweat with my heart pounding and darkness coiling around me. Someone had been calling to me in my sleep. Her voice echoed in my memory like she’d really been there with me instead of a figment of my imagination.

I chewed my lip as I sat up and scrambled for my Atlas to check the time. Classes were resuming today and now that we’d passed The Reckoning, things were due to get a lot harder. The gaps in our timetables had been filled with new lessons and we were expected to really pick up the pace in our other classes too.

It was five to six and I cursed my luck. I hated waking up earlier than necessary, but with the fear that nightmare had roused in me, I knew I’d never get back to sleep now.

My horoscope arrived just as I was about to put my Atlas down and I read over it quickly.

Good morning Gemini.

The stars have spoken about your day!

Beware the wrath of the scorned. Today could be a tipping point for you in a far greater journey. Think carefully about where your anger is directed. Some things can be cast in stone without you even realising when it happened.

Another day, another confusing as fuck prediction. One day I’d open up my Atlas and the horoscope would say: avoid the eggs today or you’ll get the shits and I’d know exactly where I stood for once.

Until that day, I was going to do as I always did and spend zero time trying to work out the ridiculously convoluted message from the stars and focus on what was important. Namely running until I burned this nagging fear out of my limbs and eating until I soaked up the last dregs of the alcohol I consumed before I went to bed last night. Because, fuck my life had flipped on its axis fast and the only way I’d managed to sleep at all was by chasing oblivion with a bottle of tequila. Bad call Tory. But better that than me ending up knocking on the door of the Dragon upstairs and admitting that Darcy and I had the shadows too and it fucking terrified me. Because in the cold light of day it was much easier to remember that said Dragon could not be trusted. Which meant I was fucked, because I had no one else to turn to aside from Orion whose head was so far up the Dragon’s asshole that I was sure he could taste his meals for him from a distance.

I sighed. Why did everything always have to be so complicated? There was an itch trailing along my shoulder blades and I just knew it was my Order form begging to be set loose. And yet I couldn’t risk anyone seeing me while I was transformed yet because Lionel Acrux couldn’t find out what we were. So even after all this waiting, I still couldn’t explore the part of me that had been hidden for so many years. I couldn’t find out any more about my powers or test my hand at flying. Nothing. Not until we got permission from Darius’s pet teacher anyway.

I huffed my irritation and shoved the blankets off of me before heading for a quick shower.

By the time I’d run a circuit of the academy grounds and the fire in my muscles was sharp enough to burn out the stress of the shadows that had haunted my dreams, it was nearly half seven.

I jogged to The Orb, cooling down slowly as I used my water magic to clean the sweat and mud from my body.

I paused outside the doors, resting a hand against the curving golden wall of the building as I stretched my calves out and caught my breath.

“Did you miss me during the Eclipse, sweetheart?” Caleb breathed in my ear and I flinched away from him in surprise.

“Fuck, Caleb don’t do that sneaky Vampire shit to me, how many fucking times?” I snapped, my frayed nerves surfacing again as he pouted at me mockingly.

“Jeez, Tory, who shit on your shoes this morning?” he joked.

Anger bubbled beneath my skin and for a moment darkness pushed across my vision. I blinked furiously to clear the shadows from my mind and managed to force them back through pure strength of will. Where did that come from?

“What the hell was that?” Caleb asked, tipping his head as he peered into my eyes.

“What?” I asked innocently, although it was obvious he’d seen the shadows.

“For a second your eyes went all dark…”

I cast about for an explanation, landing on the only one that made sense at all. “My Order Emerged on the Eclipse,” I admitted.

“Oh?” he asked curiously though it wasn’t very convincing. Darius obviously would have filled him in already, and I guessed he must have thought I was a Fire Harpy.

“Yeah so, sorry but in answer to your first question, the answer is no. I was not thinking about you during the Eclipse. I was busy.”

“So the moon didn’t drive you towards anyone else?” he pressed, pinning me in his gaze.

I shrugged, brushing past him as I headed into The Orb and he fell into step beside me. “I didn’t hook up with anyone else if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“That wasn’t what I asked though,” he pushed. “I asked if you were drawn towards anyone?”

I took a deep breath as I turned to look up at him. “Yeah. If you wanna know, it pushed me towards Darius.”

A bit of irritation and jealously flashed through his expression, but then Caleb actually smirked. “But you didn’t act on it? You resisted the full weight of the moon driving you together?”

“Not exactly,” I said, but I couldn’t tell him about Lionel and all the other shit that went down. “Like I said, mine and Darcy’s Orders Emerged and my mind wasn’t really on hooking up with anyone after that.”

He thought on that for a second and I headed inside for the coffee machine with purposeful strides.

Caleb caught up to me again as I stuffed a cup into the machine and he leaned against the table so that he could look at me.

“So hypothetically, if your Order hadn’t Emerged and nothing like that had gotten in your way. Do you think you would have ended up with Darius that night?” he asked.

I watched the coffee trickle into my cup with an ache in my chest which spoke far too strongly about my caffeine addiction.

“Honestly?” I hesitated, not really wanting to admit the answer to myself, but if I was going to have insane urges about Darius then the least I could do was own it. I took a deep breath. “I imagine so, yeah. I don’t know what it is with me and him, but we just keep ending up in these situations where it’s like the tension between us is unbearable. So yeah I’m drawn to him but I can only think I’m insane for feeling that way because all he ever does is piss me off or hurt me.”

Caleb looked at me for a long moment. “You know, you could have just lied to me,” he pointed out, pushing his tongue into his cheek like he was trying to stop himself from saying something else.

I snorted a laugh. “Yeah. Seems like a bit of an asshole move though and I think you and Darius have that covered so I thought I’d just go with honesty.”

“Okay…”

I raised an eyebrow at him as I waited for him to think about that and he frowned.

“So. Basically you think Darius is hot?”

I smirked at him tauntingly and nodded because the guy was fucking irritating as all hell, but he was also practically a demigod and trying to deny it was ridiculous.

“But you think I’m hot too…?”

I made a show of running my eyes over him, taking in the way his muscles pressed against his shirt and the perfectly mussed up way his curly hair sat.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I agreed casually.

Caleb smirked.

“And you think I’m funny?” he pushed, shifting closer to me so that he could pin me against the table, forming a cage with his arms.

“Sometimes,” I hedged.

“Is Darius funny?”

I rolled my eyes. “He hasn’t graced me with much opportunity to find out. He’s usually more concerned with shoving me in the mud or trying to drown me…”

“Both things I haven’t done.”

“You stood and watched which is arguably just as bad.”

Caleb huffed before carrying on. “You and me have other things in common too.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“We had fun at the Fairy Fair.”

“I could have had fun at that with anyone.”

“We both…like…”

I waited for him to figure out an end to that sentence and he grinned as he thought of something.

“We both like it when I hunt you.”

I laughed. “Nice save dude, but that’s more about sex than having things in common.”

“Well you don’t have anything in common with Darius either,” he pointed out.

I shrugged because that wasn’t true, but I didn’t really want to start listing reasons why I was compatible with Darius Acrux. It was something I tried not to think about much on account of him being a total dickwad.

“What’s that look for?” Caleb asked, realising I was holding back.

“It’s just not strictly true. We have the same hobbies and we both grew up having to deal with shitty parental figures…”

His jaw tightened and I decided not to add anything else.

“Fine. But you know the sex with me is fucking amazing,” he said triumphantly.

“Sure,” I said, shrugging like I wasn’t really sure and drawing a growl of frustration from him as he pressed even closer to me, my heart beating faster at his proximity.

“Darius could be awful in bed for all you know,” he breathed against my ear.

“He could,” I agreed.

“And when you had the chance to test that theory during the Eclipse, you passed on it,” Caleb pressed.

“Well, lucky for me I went poof at midnight and turned into a pumpkin like Cinderella before I could make that lapse in judgment,” I agreed because it was damn lucky. Moon Tory absolutely wouldn’t have said no to Darius if we’d spent even another moment alone down on the beach.

“That’s…not how that story goes. Cinderella isn’t the pumpkin. How can you even get it that wrong?” Caleb asked, frowning at me. I tiptoed up to speak in his ear and he stilled to listen to my answer.

“I’m not really a Princess kind of girl,” I whispered.

Caleb’s eyes lit at the double meaning to my words and I offered him a teasing smile before slipping out of the cage he’d created with his arms.

I pulled my coffee out of the machine and started adding sugar and he moved close behind me again.

“Okay, so what’s your Order?” he asked.

“I don’t believe for one second that your little buddy hasn’t already sent you all the information you could ever want on my Order,” I deadpanned.

Caleb laugh. “Alright, you caught me. I know you’re a Fire Harpy. That’s pretty cool, right? You know Harpies can fly almost as fast as I can run?”

“Maybe I’ll race you one day then,” I taunted, though as the words left my lips I instantly wondered if they shouldn’t have. I wasn’t actually a Harpy and I had no fucking idea how fast a Phoenix could fly.

“I’d win, sweetheart,” he assured me. “I always do.”

“So why did you ask me all those questions about Darius if you aren’t going to react to my answers?” I asked, switching the subject back off of my Order because I didn’t even know what lies to tell yet.

“I’m deciding how to feel about it,” he said, his jaw ticking and giving away his irritation over the issue even if he was trying to hide it.

“That’s not how feelings tend to go,” I pointed out. “You usually just get lumped with whatever emotion your subconscious wants to kick you in the teeth with on any given day. Look at me for example, every day I go to bed deciding to wake up perky and peppy, making friends with everyone and anyone I meet. And yet when the morning swings around, I’m still the same mean bitch I was last night.”

Caleb laughed like I was joking and maybe I fucking was. I didn’t even know.

“Alright then. It pisses me off,” he admitted in a low tone.

“What are you gonna do about it then?” I asked, the look in his eyes making my heart beat a little harder.

Caleb reached out and took my coffee from my hands, placing it down on the table beside us before moving so close to me that our bodies were pressed flush together.

“I’m gonna prove to you that I’m the better choice. You’ll fall for me so hard you’ll break bones.”

I scoffed lightly but he caught my chin and pressed a kiss to my lips to make his point. My stomach flipped over and I caught his blazer in my grip, tugging him closer as he pressed his tongue into my mouth.

Caleb might not have been the best choice for me, but he made a lot of damn good points. Besides, if he succeeded in making me forget about Darius I was all for it because that asshole had hurt me too many times for me to be looking at him the way I did sometimes.

He pulled away and I smirked at him before pushing him back a step. We were in the corner of the room but it was fast filling up with students who had come for their breakfast and I didn’t really want a photo of us making out splashed all over FaeBook.

I retrieved my coffee from the table beside us and started walking towards the Ass Club on the far side of the room.

“Aren’t you interested in who the moon pushed me towards?” Caleb asked as he hounded after me.

“Not really. But I’m getting the feeling this conversation won’t end until you’ve told me. So…”

Caleb smiled knowingly but didn’t say anything.

“Oh so this is one of those situations where you insinuate something then leave me hanging, desperate for the answer, right?” I asked, taking a sip of coffee which tasted like heaven and made me groan beneath my breath.

“Right,” Caleb agreed, baiting me. The problem was, I wasn’t going to bite.

I turned away from him and weaved through the crowd towards the Ass Club and felt him following a second later.

I got half way through the crowd before Caleb shot around me using his speed and came to a halt, blocking my way.

“Fine. The moon was just making me think about you all night. And the idea of you hooking up with someone else drives me a little bit insane,” he said. “Especially Darius.”

“Why especially him? Because he’s your friend?” I asked.

“He’s more like my brother than my friend and that’s not what the issue is. The issue is that all of our lives, people have tried to pit us against each other because we’re equals. They’re always trying to figure out if one of us is stronger even though they know we’re evenly matched. So when they can’t differentiate us because of our power, they try to divide us because of our other strengths or weaknesses. And nothing anyone has ever tried, said or suggested has ever even come close to dividing us. So there’s no chance in hell I’m going to fall out with him over a girl.”

“Okay.” I shrugged, trying to step around him but he still barred my way. “Am I missing the point of your whole speech here or something?” I asked. “Because it kinda feels like you’re trying to break up with me even though we aren’t together. If you wanna stop screwing me then just stop, you don’t owe me some elaborate explanation. It’s fine.”

Caleb groaned like I was the one confusing him even though I really didn’t know what was wrong with him.

He stepped forward with intent, catching my cheek in his grasp and looking into my eyes.

“What if I asked you to be mine. Just mine?” he offered and I laughed.

“And what would your mom think of that?” I asked.

“I’m not inviting you to meet my family any time soon,” he countered.

“But that’s where this path leads, isn’t it? If you expect me to commit to you then you’re making your own kind of promise. You’re saying you see this becoming something that might last and if you’re saying that, then there’s no expiry date on it. Assuming everything goes well, you’re saying you’d want to be with me long term. So is that what you’re asking me or not?”

Caleb frowned. “You know I’m not,” he said slowly. “No matter how I might feel or not feel about you, I obviously couldn’t ever marry you and put you in a position of power like that. The combination of our genes would create a child more powerful than the other Heirs’ children because we inherit our most powerful parent’s power. It would disrupt the balance of the Celestial Council and-”

“See?” I interrupted. “That wasn’t that hard, was it? You don’t want me long term, so why would I commit to you short term? We have fun Caleb but I’m not your girl. If you can’t handle the idea of me meeting other people, maybe even hooking up with them, then we can just call time on this thing between us. Because I’m not ever going to put my life on hold for a man. Especially one who doesn’t think I’m good enough to make the cut long term.”

I stepped around him but he caught my arm, whirling me back and almost sloshing coffee all over me. I managed to stop the liquid from hitting me at the last minute with my water magic and I directed it back into the cup with a scowl aimed at him.

“I never said I didn’t think you were good enough,” he growled. “But my situation is complicated. Being in a position of power means taking on certain responsibilities and-”

“And that’s exactly why I never wanted the stupid throne in the first place! Who wants to be shackled to some chair when you could be free? Fuck that.” I rolled my eyes at him and he almost smiled.

“So you’re telling me you’re not willing to be exclusive?” he confirmed, his lips twitching with amusement like he’d expected that anyway.

“No, idiot. Now can I go get my breakfast?”

“Do you wanna hang out later?” he asked, still blocking my way.

“If I say maybe, will you let me leave?”

“You’re busy later, Roxy,” Darius said from right behind me and I jerked around, scowling up at him and wondering how much of our conversation he’d been eavesdropping on.

“No I’m not,” I replied, wondering what he was going on about.

“Well as you just found out your Order bursts into flames when you coax it to break free of your flesh and heightened emotional experiences can cause inexperienced Fae to lose control of their Order form, it seems like a bad idea for you to be hooking up with anyone for a while,” he pointed out.

“That’s obviously not the real reason you don’t want her hooking up with me,” Caleb scoffed and Darius’s gaze darkened.

“I’m just looking out for you, Cal. I wouldn’t want to risk her setting my dick alight,” Darius replied tauntingly.

“Good thing I’m not offering then,” I snapped.

Caleb bit down on a smile and Darius looked between me and him for a moment then shrugged. “Well don’t come crying to me when she melts it.” He laughed tauntingly and strolled away from us to join Seth and Max on their couch. The three of them looked our way as we continued to loiter. He was talking shit anyway. At least I hoped he was…

I glanced down at Caleb’s fly for a moment and shuddered at the thought of bursting into flames while we were in the middle of something… Dammit.

Caleb looked like he had something else to say, but the protests of my stomach wouldn’t be silenced any longer and I took off towards my sister and our friends again, refusing to think about melting his junk off by accident.

“Wait,” Caleb caught my arm, his gaze shifting to the other Heirs and back to me again. “You haven’t given me a proper goodbye.”

“Don’t,” I warned as he shifted towards me, his eyes on my mouth. “I’m not a lamppost to be pissed on. If you try and kiss me here in front of all these people I’ll launch you across the room.”

“That’s a bit dramatic, sweetheart,” he complained.

“Yeah, well you’re the one asking me about the Eclipse then trying to stamp your mouth all over me the second Darius shows up. I suggest you go and talk to him if you’ve got some issue going on between you two because I’m not playing piggy in the middle with your insecurities. I just want to eat my breakfast.”

This time I finally managed to escape him and I made it to the Ass Club with a sigh of relief. Angelica greeted me warmly, waving a hand at the mounds of food that had been gathered on the tables the group dominated and I snagged myself a few slices of toast before piling scrambled eggs on top. I dropped down opposite Darcy and Sofia with a word of greeting and fell on my food like a savage.

“Is Caleb back in the running then?” Darcy asked teasingly.

I tsked around a mouthful of food, swallowing before I replied. “Maybe I should swear off the Heirs altogether and find myself a nice, normal bad boy. You know, the kind who hangs out in biker bars and beats people up for fun. Your run of the mill psycho like I usually go for. There would be so much less drama involved.”

Darcy smirked into her coffee and Sofia laughed.

“I’ve just been reading an article in the Celestial Times about Aurora Academy which is down in Alestria,” Sofia piped up. “They’re saying if any more students die there, they’re going to have to think about closing it. Perhaps you could find a nice, normal psycho there? We have a Pitball match against them coming up.”

“Perfect,” I agreed. “I’ll be sure to get a seat on their side of the stands for the match.”

Sofia grinned but Darcy didn’t, her lips pursing as she looked across the room at something over my shoulder.

I raised an eyebrow at her, following her gaze until I spotted Diego taking a seat at a table in the corner on his own.

He looked our way and I caught his eye, pursing my lips slightly as he tugged his beanie hat a little lower over his ears.

“I still can’t believe he called you both whores,” Sofia whispered as if he might hear her from across the room.

“I know,” Darcy agreed. “I thought he was our friend…”

My gaze darkened at the hint of hurt in her voice and for a moment the shadows rose to dance across my vision.

Diego straightened in his chair, his gaze sharpening as he stared at me, his lips parting like he’d noticed the dark magic which came alive with my anger.

I blinked, turning away from him and looking down at my food as I fought them back beneath my skin. A little ache rose in my chest as they faded away and a part of me longed to call them back. I was afraid of what might happen if I gave in to their call though. The shadows weren’t like the rest of my magic. They were an invading force, part of me and separate at the same time. Where I was sure my magic would never hurt me, I could only feel mistrust of the shadows. They weren’t mine. But they lived in me now all the same.

“Well slap my toosh and call me Molly, I’ve had a most frustrating morning!” Geraldine exclaimed as she arrived and fell into the seat beside me.

I snorted a laugh and looked up at her in surprise.

“What happened?” Darcy asked.

“Well. I’ve been working on some T-shirts for the A.S.S. which we’ve all been most excited to receive-” She reached into her satchel and pulled out a royal blue T-shirt, offering it up for us to look at.

The words Princess Power were emblazoned across the front of it in shimmering pink glitter. Geraldine gave it a shake and the words blurred together for a moment before reforming to say Vegas for the Throne. I raised an eyebrow at Darcy and she bit down on a laugh.

“So what’s the problem?” Darcy asked kindly.

“Aside from the fact that we don’t want the throne,” I muttered.

“Pish posh, Tory Vega!” Geraldine scalded. “One day when you’re ruling over Solaria, I will remind you of this day and you shall have to eat your words!”

“Well I’ll concentrate on eating my breakfast for now and see how we get on,” I offered. I’d basically come to an unofficial agreement with Geraldine that I wouldn’t shout too loudly about my lack of interest in the throne, so long as she didn’t push too hard for me to sit my ass on it. We both let the subject drop as the attention returned to her T-shirt.

“The back is supposed to say A.S.S. Forever!” Geraldine lamented.

“Well do you really want to wear something that says ass forever on it?” Max Rigel’s voice made us all look up in surprise and I lay down my knife and fork as I finished eating, wondering what the hell he wanted.

His attention wasn’t on me or my sister though, it was firmly planted on Geraldine.

“It doesn’t say ass forever,” she replied, giving him a flat look. “It’s A – S – S.”

“Hmm. Well if I was walking behind you and your shirt said ass forever I’d be thinking that’s where you’d like me to stick my-”

“Is there a reason you’ve come to ruin a perfectly adequate breakfast or are you just looking to take some more of my buttery bagels?” Geraldine demanded.

Max pursed his lips and I caught a hint of lust coiling from him as if he was trying to push it at us. Or more accurately, push it at Geraldine.

“Your breakfast looks pretty fucking earth shattering to me. But I guess you like to call things adequate even when they blow your mind, right? And if you’re offering me your buttery bagels I won’t say no to having a taste of them again.”

Geraldine laughed and scooped up a couple of bagels from the pile beside Justin Masters. She tossed them at him and Max caught them with a frown as she smiled sweetly.

“Actually, my breakfast is rather unsatisfying now I come to think of it. But feel free to gorge yourself on it, it seems you’ve got a taste for things that have been taken off the menu anyway.”

Max bit his tongue and looked between all of us for a long second like he was trying to figure out how to respond to that.

He placed the bagels back down on the end of the table and brushed crumbs from his shirt. “Well, maybe…I’ll just see you in Water Elemental later.”

“It’s highly likely as we will both be there,” Geraldine agreed dismissively, reaching out to snag a muffin and picking a cherry out of it before placing it in her mouth. Her eyes were on her food and Max lingered for another long second before turning and strolling away. The taste of lust spilling from him increased as he walked and heads turned in his direction as girls all around The Orb got caught in the sway of his gifts. By the time he sat back down on the Heirs’ couch, a swarm of hopeful girls were surrounding him.

Geraldine didn’t even glance his way as she continued to pick at her muffin and a slow smile pulled at my lips as I watched her.

“Geraldine…” I said slowly. “Did you get lucky during the Eclipse?”

Darcy inhaled excitedly, her eyes widening as she looked to Geraldine too and Sofia sat up straighter in her chair.

Geraldine’s cheeks pinked as she looked between all of us. Her lips parted and for a moment I thought she wasn’t going to admit to anything then she fell back in her chair dramatically, laying her hand over her brow.

“I’m afraid to admit I did,” she groaned. “My Lady Petunia set her gaze on a rather virile Siren and he fell prey to her amorous adventures.”

Angelica spat out a mouthful of coffee as a bark of laughter fell from my lips.

“Did you just call your vagina Lady Petunia?” I choked.

Darcy covered her mouth to hold back her laughter and Sofia was actually crying real tears.

“Alas I did. And she’s a real predator when she sets her gaze on a tempting piece of banana drama,” Geraldine admitted.

“Holy shit,” I gasped as my laughter made it hard for me to breathe.

Darcy was laughing so loud that people were starting to look our way and Angelica was gaping at Geraldine like she was looking at a stranger.

“An Heir?” she asked, a little bit horrified, a little bit impressed.

“He is pretty hot,” Sofia added in Geraldine’s defence.

“You have to tell us how it was,” I pushed, my smile widening as I managed to calm my laughter.

Geraldine cracked a smile too, lowering her voice as we leaned together conspiratorially.

“Well…I will admit he knows how to water the lawn,” she said.

“Fuck me, how is that a description?” I asked.

“Okay, he was very thorough,” Geraldine added. “He pulled out the old buckaroo and whirl.”

“What the hell is that?” Darcy demanded.

Geraldine smirked and I could tell that whatever the fuck it was had been pretty damn good.

“Are you going to see him again?” Sofia asked with a grin.

For a moment, Geraldine’s gaze darkened with the memory of the banana drama she’d shared with the Water Heir, but she shook her head dismissively.

“I wrangled that cheeky chappy,” she said slowly. “And I’ve put Lady Petunia back in her cage. She doesn’t need another bite of that apple.”

“So that’s it?” Angelica asked.

“Yes. I’m afraid the scallywag will just have to accept I hit it and quit it. No need to go riding the same horse again, there are plenty more fillies to break in.”

“Fuck yes, Geraldine!” I exclaimed, offering her a high five.

She slapped my hand with a shit eating grin on her face and my love for that girl grew tenfold. She was a goddamn savage and she’d caught Max Rigel in her net before tossing him aside like last week’s trash.

I got to my feet with laughter still brimming in my throat. I was still wearing my running gear and I needed to get changed before class started.

“I’ll see you in Tarot class,” I said to Darcy and Sofia and my friends waved goodbye as I jogged away.

***

I was five minutes late by the time I made it back to Mercury Chambers and I ran down to the basement room before throwing the door open and spilling inside.

Professor Nox was perched on the desk at the back of the room, his long legs crossed as he looked around at the class. His black hair was messed up like he’d been running his hands through it or maybe like he’d been flying now I came to think of it. He wore a pair of black trousers and a white shirt, though he hadn’t bothered with a tie like a lot of the staff did and the few open buttons revealed tattoos marking his chest. Even more ink peeked out beneath the cuffs around his wrists, the words We Fall Together catching my attention for a moment. He didn’t really look like a teacher, he was too young and too cool to be spending his days in stuffy classrooms. But then again here he was, so what did I know?

I muttered an apology for my late arrival which he ignored and slipped around the room to join my sister and Sofia in their usual spots. Diego was still sitting on Sofia’s other side too, but he’d inched his chair away from her and was looking straight ahead.

“Um, sir? Professor Nox?” Kylie called out as he paused whatever he’d been saying to wait while I sat down.

“Yes, Miss…”

“Major,” she supplied for him with a bright smile, leaning forward to offer a view down her shirt which was unbuttoned enough for me to see her red bra from across the room. “It’s just that tardiness usually results in lost House Points,” she said, giving me a pointed look as I dropped into my seat.

“Uhuh. Five points from Aer,” he said casually.

“That’s Tory actually,” Kylie put in as I scowled at her. “Darcy has the obnoxiously coloured hair.”

“I happen to like obnoxiously coloured hair,” Nox replied dryly. “And I’m aware which Vega arrived late. I was taking five points from Aer because I can’t stand a snitch.”

“But sir!” Kylie whined indignantly.

“Five more because I can’t stand a moaner,” he added with a cold smirk. “Oh and ten more for what you were just about to say about me to your little friend beside you.”

“What? I wasn’t going to say-”

“You were about to say that I might be just as hot as Professor Orion, but I’m obviously just as big of a dick too. And thanks for the compliment but you’re not my type and I’m taken.” He pointed to his eyes and my lips parted as I noticed the silver band ringing his dark irises. I didn’t know how I’d managed to miss it before but now that I’d seen it, I couldn’t look away. I’d begun to think the Elysian Mate thing was bullshit, but now I was looking at the evidence of its existence for myself. He’d met his one true love and had been gifted a life with them. My lips twitched at the thought of it, a small, hidden, romantic part of me secretly loving that idea. Not that I’d ever admit to it. But who wouldn’t like the idea of knowing you’d found your perfect match in every way?

“I didn’t…I wasn’t…are you a psychic Order or something?” Kylie spluttered.

“Nope. But I do have The Sight so I get flashes of the future. Some of which are more important than others. So if you’d all like to start dealing your cards, I’ll come around and see if anyone else here does too.”

I exchanged a grin with my sister and we started shuffling our cards.

Before we’d cut the deck, Professor Nox came to stand in front of us. His strong features were set into a serious expression and he leaned forward slowly, pushing a card across the desk to sit between us.

He lifted a hand and cast a silencing bubble around us and I looked up in surprise as I felt it close around us.

“I’ve actually had a few strange readings recently,” he said in a low voice. “Which is the reason I’ve joined the staff here at Zodiac. And I believe you might be able to help me find some of the answers I’m searching for.”

“Us?” Darcy asked curiously.

“Why?” I added.

He withdrew his hand from the card he’d pushed towards us and my heart leapt as I felt the familiar taste of magic flowing from it. The image on it was of a naked woman leaning over a pool and pouring water from a jar. Several white stars and one large, yellow star hung in the sky above her.

“Is that…” Darcy began.

“Where did you get it?” I asked at the same time.

“I received this card a few weeks ago from someone known as Falling Star. The message attached to it led me to you.” Professor Nox flipped the card over and my eyes widened as I read the message.

The Vega twins will lead you to the answers you’ve always sought.

He flipped the card over again and looked between us. “The Star card is a sign of peace and hope, of coming together and reunion, joy after heartache… For some reason, Falling Star wants to bring us together. And I’m hoping you’ll want to figure out why with me?”

My heart started beating a little faster as I looked up at him. I didn’t know where the hell he’d come from or why on Earth I wanted to trust him so badly, but I did. It felt like Falling Star was finally sending us something useful, someone who might really be able to help us figure out what all of these cards meant. Gabriel Nox could see the future, he was strong and capable and even better than that, determination shone in his gaze. For some reason he wanted these answers as much as we did. And I was pretty sure that with his help we’d be able to get them.

I looked at Darcy and she grinned as we both turned to accept Gabriel’s help.

“We’ve been getting these cards too,” Darcy said.

“But we never know what they mean until it’s too late,” I added. “Astrum really left us with a mind fuck when he up and died.”

“Astrum? The Professor I’ve replaced as Tarot teacher?” he asked. “What’s he got to do with this?”

“I thought you said you knew Falling Star?” Darcy asked hesitantly.

“I do. Well, I don’t. I’ve been receiving messages and money from them for all of my life. Or at least for as long as I can remember anyway. But I don’t know their real identity.”

I pursed my lips and exchanged another look with Darcy. “Okay well, don’t go getting your hopes up about meeting him then,” I said.

“Why?” Gabriel asked, the intensity in his gaze making me wonder how he’d react to the answer.

“Because Astrum was Falling Star. He was trying to help us. Warning us about someone who was trying to hurt us and they killed him for it.”

“What?” Gabriel gasped, his gaze travelling away from us and I was seized with the knowledge that he was having a vision. After a few minutes he shook his head to clear it and a deep frown creased his brow.

“Is everything okay?” Darcy asked him tentatively.

“Yes,” he said dismissively. “It was nothing important. Just a possibility too far away to be certain. I’m sure that by being here The Sight will give me more answers in time. I think that the stars have brought us together so that we can figure this out. And I have the greatest sense that this is something truly important. We need to make sure the information we discover is kept between us until we know what to do with it.”

“Sure,” I replied, his intensity rattling me a bit as Darcy nodded her head in agreement too.

“I’ll consult the stars about the details and let you know if I discover anything,” Nox said.

“Okay,” we agreed.

He gave us a tight smile and dropped the silencing bubble before striding away to talk to some of the other students about their cards.

“So what do you think?” Darcy asked me in a whisper as he moved away.

“That we might just be about to get some goddamn answers,” I replied. And the look in her eyes told me she was hoping that was true just as fiercely as I was.