Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky

I lay in the pool of water in the bathhouse, using my hold on the Element to help me float on the surface of it. I was shifted into my full Siren form, navy blue scales coating my skin and quivers of pleasure tracing through them at the contact with the water.

I drew in a deep breath, working to close my mind and shut myself off from the incessant press of everyone’s emotions which were working to alter my own feelings. It was exhausting being down here, so close to countless Fae at all times. 

In truth, I had to work fairly hard to keep my mind clear of others’ emotions at the best of times, and at Zodiac Academy I’d often struggled with this issue, the call of so many emotions drawing me from sleep or making it hard for me to concentrate as they brushed against my senses.

But down here was worse. At the academy I’d had King’s Hollow to escape to, and my room in Aqua House was surrounded by water which dulled the press of external emotions far better than earth or air. Here I felt like I was suffocating with the pain of stubbed toes, indignance over portion sizes, unsatisfied lust and general frustration. 

It had been a long time for so many rebels to hide beneath the ground, and the victories we won against Lionel as we tore down his Nebular Inquisition Centres only provided a small respite from the monotony of life hidden away from the world. I had it far better than most in the royal quarters, our space bigger and freedom greater but there was such a pressure of boredom and frustration coming from the rest of the rebels that it was growing harder and harder for me to block it all out effectively.

“I just heard from my mom,” Caleb’s voice interrupted my little haven of tranquillity, and I banished the flash of irritation that passed through me in favour of opening my eyes and looking to him in hopes of hearing some news from my family.

“Anything to worry about?” I asked, rolling over and swimming through the water towards him as he sat down on the edge of the pool.

“No. She says Lionel is still making sure they’re busy with menial tasks, keeping his plans for the rest of the kingdom to himself while sending the FIB out on wild goose chases to search for information stolen by Sphinxes and Minotaurs even though no solid evidence of that has actually been presented. Oh and there was some bullshit party they all had to attend to celebrate his wedding to the shadow bitch.”

“He’s up to something,” I muttered, feeling it in my soul and hating that we couldn’t figure out what that something was.

“Yeah. Mom is going to keep trying to find out more, but I worry about her being so close to him. She said Hadley and the rest of the Spares have been put in special classes at Zodiac with that fucking troll Highspell. No one is allowed to question what they’re learning but I can only imagine there is a whole lot of Lionel loving bullshit involved in it.”

“I’d guess Ellis doesn’t much mind that,” I muttered bitterly, knowing my bratty little sister would be loving every minute of being treated as the Heir to my seat on the Celestial Council. But if she seriously thought she was going to be able to claim it from me without a fight then she was kidding herself.

“Yeah.” Caleb sighed, sitting back and leaning on his hands as he looked out across the pool of water.

“What’s up?” I asked, automatically pushing out to feel for his emotions, but he had them locked down just like he always did recently, and I couldn’t help but frown at that. “You’ve been keeping me out a lot.”

Caleb’s brow dipped and he looked at me, seeming unsure if he wanted to speak about whatever was on his mind before throwing a silencing bubble up around us and leaning closer to where I sat within the pool of water.

“You know how I’ve been hunting Seth a lot recently?” he asked, dropping his voice even though it was unnecessary with the silencing bubble in place.

“Sure.” The excitement Seth gave off whenever he came rushing past me running for his life from Caleb’s fangs put a smile on my face every damn time I felt it.

“Well, I’m thinking about it a lot. Like, any time I’m not actively doing something else, my mind will wander and I’ll start thinking about the rush I get when I’m chasing him, the way it feels to fight for the chance to sink my fangs into his skin and how good it feels to pin him beneath me and just take what I fucking want from him as roughly as I like. And I…I’m beginning to wonder if there’s something more to that…”

“Oh yeah?” I’d caught more than the odd whiff of lust coming from Seth when he and Cal played those games, and I guessed I could see how the thrill of it could be getting the two of them all worked up. Especially seeing as we had all been trapped down here night after night listening to Darius and Tory practically break the fucking walls down with their passion while having very little outlet for our own needs. I’d managed to spend a single night worshipping Gerry’s body after her father’s wedding, but since then I was back living on blue balls mountain while she made me work my ass off for every scrap of attention I gained from her.

“Yeah and I’m getting kinda worried that maybe my mom was right.”

“Your mom?” I asked in confusion.

“Yeah. I mean, I almost killed Tory by playing this stupid game. And sometimes when I’m in the hunt it’s seriously hard for me to keep my head. I go all in with my bloodlust and I feel like it urges me to act in ways I wouldn’t. Or…maybe that’s just a load of shit and all it’s really doing is revealing what I want the most, making it easier for me to see exactly what my deepest desire is.” He frowned, glancing away again and I scrubbed at my chin.

“And you think that desire is Seth’s blood?”

Caleb’s lips parted like he’d been going to agree then he leaned in a little more. “Not just his blood. I want to own him. Like make him mine in some primal way that can’t be questioned by anyone or anything. I felt a little like this when Tory was my Source, but it’s so much more intense with him. Like just the thought of anyone else biting him or laying some kind of claim on him makes my fucking blood boil. I have to fight against the urge to just grab him and lock him away where no one can find him. The other night he went and ran beneath the moon with Rosalie Oscura and her pack and I paced my fucking room for two hours before snapping and shooting out there to find him. He was in full Wolf mode so the fight we had was epic, but when I finally managed to force him beneath me and sank my teeth into his neck, I swear I hit nirvana. And I thought that was all I needed but when Rosalie called Seth back out to run with her again once I was sated, it was all I could do not to attack her. I just can’t cope with the idea of anyone trying to have him in any way, it’s driving me nuts.” Caleb’s fangs snapped out and a snarl escaped him as he considered that and I raised my hands in surrender.

“Calm down, man, I have no interest in biting your precious Source.”

He breathed a laugh and I smiled back.

“It sounds like Vampire stuff. Maybe just talk to Orion about it? It could be to do with your Vampire coven thing?” I suggested.

“Yeah,” he agreed, looking up like he was hoping his new little pal might appear at any moment and I shook my head at the total one eighty they’d taken in their relationship. They’d gone from bitter rivals to fucking besties with no more than a little love bite shared between them, and I couldn’t even doubt their new bond because I could feel it humming between them as if they’d been best friends since they were kids. It was kinda weird, but they seemed happy enough and it wasn’t like anything all that terrifying had happened to them – they’d just lost the urge to constantly compete with one another for blood sources and had found a way to bond over all things Vampy in doing so. 

Caleb looked around, cocking his head as he listened to something I couldn’t hear and he got to his feet. 

“Gabriel just arrived at the dining hall and he has some plan to help us get the shadow eye,” he said, beckoning for me to get out of the water.

I sighed, pulling myself out of the pool and shifting back into my Fae form before using my water magic to dry myself off and dressing quickly.

We hurried down the sweeping tunnels towards the dining hall and found Gabriel surrounded by a group of rebels who were all listening to him with rapt attention, their excitement spilling through the air and brushing against my skin.

Cal nudged me to point out our group and we slipped through the crowd towards them as Gabriel gave the rebels his instructions.

“I need each and every one of you to make a plot to assassinate the false king’s Seer Vard over the coming month,” he was saying. “You can choose any time to strike and come up with the darkest and most gruesome methods of attack that you can manage. It is imperative that you make this your priority. We need him dead, and we need it to happen as soon as possible.”

Murmurs broke out between the crowd as their moods turned bloodthirsty, hungry and determined. I exchanged a surprised look with Caleb as we made it over to our group and Gabriel came to join us.

“Won’t Vard see all of them coming?” I asked in confusion and Gabriel grinned demonically.

“Oh I’m counting on him seeing endless versions of his death in his very near future,” he agreed.

“If he can see them coming then how do you expect them to succeed?” I pushed.

“I don’t,” he replied simply. “I only wish for him to be so distracted by all of the death threats he sees coming his way that he doesn’t see us coming when we strike at him tonight.”

“So we’re going to kill him?” Darius asked, sounded all too ready for that idea.

“No,” Gabriel barked. “And don’t you for one second plan to either.”

“Oh good golly, I think I get it!” Geraldine cried, bouncing in her seat and drawing my attention to her tits. “This is an old fashioned distract and dongle move, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Gabriel agreed.

“What the fuck is that when it’s at home?” Orion asked flatly.

“It’s when you tell someone to expect a slap to the face, but surprise them with a Long Sherman up their begonia instead!” she explained like she was talking to a child and Xavier neighed a laugh.

“Exactly that. But instead of getting anywhere near Vard’s rotten begonia, we’re going to sneak up on him and steal the shadow eye right out of his sub-standard Seer’s face,” Gabriel said proudly. 

“So you want us to steal his eye without killing him?” Seth asked like he thought that was an impossible task.

“Oh Seth Capella, anyone would think you have never plucked an eye from a conniving little Roger before,” Geraldine chastised. “Sometimes, I think you boys are as wet as a kipper in the morn.”

“Are you saying you have experience of plucking people’s eyes out?” I asked her, half grossed out and half turned on by the idea of that. Geraldine in badass warrior mode was pretty much my ultimate wet dream – and I had it really damn often.

“Lavinia and Lionel will need to be drawn away from the palace to give you the best chance of striking at him. Vard will no doubt lock himself away in his chambers the moment he starts getting visions about all of these death threats against him, so he should be simple enough to find.”

“And I can get us into The Palace of Souls thanks to the ring Tory made me which gives access to the king’s secret passages,” Orion said, his eyes brightening at the idea of striking at them right at the heart of their power.

“Precisely. I think you, Darius and Geraldine should head after Vard and the rest of us will attack the new Nebular Inquisition Centre that Lionel just opened to the west of Tucana,” Gabriel said.

“Have you seen a way for us to take it down then?” I asked because we’d been trying to figure out how to rip that place apart since it had been built.

Lionel had clearly grown tired of us destroying his detainment facilities and had built this latest place with so much magic that the rebels had yet to come up with a viable plan for destroying it and freeing the prisoners he was holding inside without triggering the defences which would kill all of them instead.

“Yeah, with the help of my family, I’m confident that we can get the prisoners out of there,” Gabriel confirmed and my blood started to pump faster at the thought of heading into the fight once again.

‘Oh I do love a good showdown,” Geraldine squealed, clapping her hands.

“Geraldine will be in charge when you get to the palace,” Gabriel ordered, making both Darius and Orion’s bloodthirsty grins turn to scowls. 

“Why?” Darius demanded.

“Because she is the most unpredictable. Besides, I know that she understands the plan – you can’t change your minds and decide to kill him or he’s going to see you coming. He has to be so overwhelmed by all the death threats that he can’t see a simple injury so you can only plan to take his eye.”

“We have to leave him alive?” Darius asked, looking pissed as all hell about that. “Do you know what that sick fuck did to Roxy?”

Xavier whinnied sadly, looking to his brother with an ache in his eyes.

“Believe me, I know,” Gabriel growled, his brotherly love for her clear in his tone but he stayed firm in his decision. “His day will come, but it can’t be today. We need his eye more than we need his death. I can’t see the shadows and it’s the only thing that will be able to lead us to the rifts, and I can see a future where we have used that eye to find them and have succeeded. I’ve had my family testing the holes in his capabilities with non-lethal attacks and I can confirm that he never sees them coming. He’s not fucking fit to put his ass on the Royal Seer’s chair and I’m looking forward to proving it when you pluck that fuck ugly eye from its socket.”

“So that’s why your little gang of hooligans have been slapping Lionel with shit pies to the face, making him trip and fall into questionable puddles and throwing Dragon dick dildos at his head during his public appearances?” Seth asked, his eyes filling with understanding. “You were figuring out the limits to Vard’s abilities.”

“Exactly,” Gabriel replied proudly. “And when I sat watching the slow-motion replay of that big, glittering, plastic pegasex doll dick slapping him around the face at the official coronation for his shadow queen last night, I knew it was time.”

“I provided the extra glitter for that,” Xavier said proudly and I snorted a laugh as he puffed up his chest.

“Anyway, point is, we need his eye and we absolutely can’t kill him. Got it?” Gabriel pushed, looking around the group to make sure we were onboard with his plan.

Darius didn’t look happy about it, but he nodded once in agreement and Geraldine leapt to her feet.

“Oh joyous day! I’ll go get my great grandmama’s eye scoop and meet up with you dastardly fellows by the boundary in a jiffy.” She took off without giving any of us the chance to question her on the eye scoop thing, but I had to assume that was just some weird turn of phrase.

“I guess we’re going to destroy a psycho king’s holding cells then,” I said conversationally as we headed away to our rooms to grab our weapons.

“And oh, what a night it will be,” Seth sang happily as he bounded ahead, and I couldn’t help but grin at the challenge we were facing.