Zodiac Academy 2: Ruthless Fae

I WATCHED THE game with wide eyes and laughter bubbling in my throat. As if watching the Heirs completely fall apart wasn’t enough to make my day, I had a front row seat to Lionel Acrux and the rest of the Celestial Council falling prey to humiliation too. It was just too damn good. Too damn poetic.

Ah sweet justice.

And even though this mild form of torture only really came down to embarrassment, it still went a good way to making me feel powerful again. After what they’d put me and Darcy through, this was the very least of what these jerk-offs deserved and I hoped they were enjoying the dish of karma they were tasting.

Laughter fell from Darcy’s lips and I followed her gaze to see Seth scratching at his ass like he’d lost a ferret up there. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing too and I could feel the death stares it was earning me from the Councillors in response. Their faces were the perfect masks of the well-to-do proud parents they were embodying here today but the tension in their posture told the true story. They were mortified by the display that was being put on here. Reputation was everything to people like them and right before a whole swathe of cameramen and reporters, their precious Heirs were losing the plot.

Swift footsteps drew my attention to the row behind me and I turned my head from the game for a moment to see Washer squeezing between the crowd, calling Principal Nova’s name.

The Principal turned irritably as he reached her and he shouted to be heard over the crowd, allowing his words to carry to me.

“The cards gave me a vision, Headmistress!” he said urgently, the usual lecherous tone to his voice missing for once as his eyes bulged, revealing way too much of the whites.

I elbowed Darcy to draw her attention to him and she tilted her head to listen too.

“Not now, Washer,” Nova said, trying to wave him off as the Starlight Academy Principal looked around curiously.

“But there was terror and fire and death!” Washer insisted, his voice trembling on the last word. “It isn’t safe here, this place has been marked-”

“Trying to find a way to forfeit the game?” The Starlight Academy Principal mocked as Nova’s brows dipped with concern. “Just because you can see that Starlight is going to win?”

Washer’s eyes were wild with fear but Nova’s cheeks flared at the implication from the other Principal. “Certainly not,” she snapped. “No other predictions have been made like this about today and let’s be honest, you have made very inaccurate predictions in the past, haven’t you Professor Washer? Remember the time you were convinced your nephew was going to be eaten by a Nemean Lion on his birthday?”

“That was different,” Washer implored.

“Or the time you told Professor Perseus he was going to catch the Faeonic Plague? He wouldn’t come to work for a week!”

“I know but-”

“I will discuss this with you after the match has concluded, Professor Washer,” she said firmly.

“But I-”

“Enough, I’ll have no further distractions from the game,” she commanded.

Washer backed up like she’d struck him and his gaze landed on my sister and I as he started to move away. Before the crowd could swallow him, he mouthed one, single word to us, sending a shiver tracking down my spine.

Run.

I exchanged a loaded glance with Darcy. “Do you think he really does know something?” I breathed, looking around for some sign that something was about to go horribly wrong here.

“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “But it sounds like he often makes wrong predictions.”

I shrugged at her. We both knew I was the more skeptical of the two of us and if Nova didn’t feel the immediate need to flee then maybe there was nothing to worry about. What were the chances of something happening while we were surrounded by so many people anyway?

Before I could give it too much thought, my attention snagged on Darius as he charged across the pitch like a stampeding rhino, tackling a member of the other team so hard that I heard something crack.

My breath caught in my throat as the Starlight player groaned on the ground while Darius snatched the ball from him and launched it across the pitch with the force of a torpedo.

A timer was counting down as the Starlight player failed to get up and Darius raced away from him without a backwards glance. I knew it was part of the game but it was insanely brutal. Although if I was being totally honest, watching all of them brawl like that and seeing the power they exuded even while they were losing, was totally hot too.

Darius’s muscles pumped fiercely as he sprinted away from me and I found myself staring at his legs which were splattered with mud and somehow looked even better because of it.

“Olef you’re Out!” Prestos yelled but the Starlight player still didn’t move. A pair of medics jogged onto the pitch and gave him a quick inspection.

“Broken back!” one of them yelled. “This is a long heal, call in a sub once his time out is up.”

My lips parted, I stared on in shock and I couldn’t quite believe what I’d heard.

“Did he just say that Darius broke that guy’s back?” I asked in disbelief.

“That’s the risk you take when you play,” Orion said darkly as he walked past me to regain his seat.

Darcy raised her eyebrows at me and I returned my gaze to the match just as Geraldine tore up the pitch with a rumble of writhing earth magic, knocking the Starlight Waterguard off of her feet and forcing her to drop the ball. A huge -5 flashed into place on the Starlight scoreboard and I leapt from my seat in excitement to applaud my friend.

“Go Geraldine!” I screamed and she flashed me a smile as she somehow managed to hear me.

Seth almost missed the ball as it was thrown to him next while he was distracted by scratching his head. He managed to wrangle it with a gust of air magic and started sprinting for the Pit as the timer above us ticked down to ten seconds.

The crowd started counting down, “Nine! Eight! Seven-”

Seth leapt into the air, propelling himself forward with his magic but the two air Elementals on the opposing team threw their own magic up to counter him.

“Three! Two-”

Seth gritted his teeth as he threw even more power into his propulsion but he was out of time.

The ball in his arms exploded in a blast of pure air which snapped his head back and sent him tumbling out of the sky. He hit the ground hard as the crowd oooohed in disappointment. For three whole seconds my heart didn’t beat at all as I stared at his prone body in the mud, wondering if he was dead.

Seth coughed, pushing himself into a sitting position just as Darius appeared to offer him a hand up. He shook his head to clear it and my eyebrows rose all the way into my hairline.

“This game is crazy,” Darcy breathed, her eyes wide with the thrill of it.

“I think I love it,” I agreed.