Zodiac Academy 8.5: Beyond The Veil

“Run like the fires of frangle hill are burning up your Harriot hole, Felisia!” Wilbur Grus called to me, throwing a wayward blast of fire over his shoulder.

I squeaked in alarm, feigning left and hearing a crackle as the fire bloomed and singed a couple of golden hairs on my head.

“Wilbur!” I roared, patting my beautiful hair as he poured a stream of apologies my way. But I had bigger problems to deal with as the rush of paws sounded behind me. One glance back showed Cyrus La Ghast chasing us into the trees of The Wailing Wood with his Lion Shifter pride at his back, all of them golden and beautiful, their huge claws tearing through the mud. Cyrus had an enormous cobalt blue snake wrapped around his neck, and I recognised Isla Draconis with a sickening feeling in my stomach.

My friends were ahead of me as I focused on casting blocks in the path of the Lions pursuing us with my earth magic, and my heart hammered up into my throat.

“Felisia!” Birdie Cain yelled, throwing out a shield of earth at my back and my breathing hitched as I heard a Lion slam into it.

I raced on, my flowing mane fluttering out behind me and glinting in the sunlight that cut through the trees above, my sneakers pounding against the mud. I put on a burst of speed as I rounded a turn in the path, but came crashing into the solid, muscular back of Ren Imai.

He twisted around, his deep brown eyes full of worry as he caught my hand, keeping me from crashing into the mud.

“I got you, Fee.” He pulled me against him, and I took in the line of Lions who must have carved a path through the woods to cut us off. The rest of the pride drew in at our back and I glanced between my four friends, the Fae I’d bonded with time and again in this situation. Always the target of the assholes who ruled Zodiac Academy.

My friends drew closer, Marigold Kipling closing in on my left while Wilbur and Birdie kept close to Ren’s other side.

Cyrus La Ghast shifted among the Lions, the biggest of them all even in his Fae form. He toyed with the beautiful gold signet ring on his thumb which held his family crest, the sunlight bouncing off of it and capturing my attention. He was tall, tanned, and athletic in a way that said he spent all his free time working out. He was sickeningly good looking, with too-bright teeth and green eyes that glittered like jade.

He pushed his hand through his flowing chestnut mane, then stroked the giant snake that was draped around his body, concealing his cock until the creature dropped to the ground. She shifted into her Fae form, revealing a girl with jet black hair and sharp features which were twisted with cruelty. She was venomous in her Basilisk form, but even more so like this. Isla Draconis was a nightmare made to haunt me, and sometimes I didn’t know if I’d ever escape her.

A couple more of the Lion pride shifted and someone passed a pair of uniform pants to Cyrus which he tugged on, taking his time as the Lions closed in around us. Isla pulled on an oversized shirt and strode toward us on bare feet, a smirk pulling at her mouth.

“So? No one’s going to fight?” she asked. “Have you all finally learned where you belong? Because if that’s so, you should get right down on your knees in the dirt this second.”

None of us moved, but Ren’s hand curled around mine, squeezing in reassurance.

“How about you, Wee Willy Wilbur?” Cyrus strode towards the dark-haired Grus, shoving my friend in the chest.

Wilbur staggered back. “I, er, er, beg your pudding, but I do not appreciate that n-n-nilly nickname.” He thrust up his chin and Cyrus laughed coldly, the sound echoed by his pride in grunts and roars.

“D’ya hear that?” Cyrus crowed. “He doesn’t like my n-n-n-n-nilly nickname for him,” he mocked.

Anger rose in my chest, and I stepped forward, making Ren curse under his breath as my hand left his.

“What do you want?” I demanded of them, but as Cyrus and Isla’s eyes flashed onto me, I suddenly didn’t feel so brave.

“Don’t do it,” Birdie whispered frantically, fisting a hand in her short brown hair.

“Oh look, it’s the Lioness who’s got shift fright.” Cyrus sneered at me, and Isla wetted her lips, watching Cyrus as he drew closer to me.

“Hurt her, Cyrus,” she urged him. “Let me feel it.”

The bitch recharged her power by feeling other’s pain, and she never let us go before some blood had been spilled. She was a psycho, and she gave me the heebiest of jeebies on the best days.

Cyrus angled his head down at me, glaring in a way that told me to submit. A powerful Lion demanding a cub to bow. But I didn’t respect this asshole, and I wasn’t going to let him see me cower.

“Come on, shift for me, little cub,” he commanded, reaching out and grabbing a fistful of my hair, his signet ring digging hard into my scalp.

I growled in fury, swiping a hand at him with my nails set to draw blood. No one touched a Lion Shifter’s hair except those they allowed; people they deemed worthy. And it was the biggest insult Cyrus could offer me by acting as if he could touch me like that.

My nails struck home, swiping down the golden skin of his cheek and tearing it open.

Isla hummed her approval at the first taint of pain in the air, even if it was her ally’s.

“Make her pay for that,” she encouraged. “Or step aside and I will.”

“This can be resolved reasonably,” Marigold Kipling said professionally, like we were at a meeting instead of a brawl. “We can write out a formal agreement. You stay in one territory, and we’ll stay in another. I can have it formatted by eight o’clock this evening.”

Cyrus yanked my hair tighter in his fist, dragging me by it to Marigold and keeping me close. “What did you say to me, freak?” he spat at her.

Marigold cleared her throat, back straightening and face neutral as if she was entirely unaware of the danger surrounding her. “I said, we can write out a formal agreement. You stay in one territory, and we’ll stay-”

Cyrus sent a blast of air at her so fast that it both knocked her to the ground and sealed her lips tightly shut, binding her limbs to her side at once.

“This doesn’t need t-t-to descend into a donder jig,” Wilbur tried. “We can go on our merry way and head to the bambercrooks of the academy, far out of sight, as invisible as gnarly wobs on a dinghy. What say you, fine fellow?”

“Yeah, what say you, fine fellow?” Isla taunted, looking to Cyrus with excitement flashing through her expression.

“I say, let’s find out how wee Wee Willy’ Wilbur’s willy is,” Cyrus said, nodding to someone over Wilbur’s shoulder and I gasped a warning before one of his lackies yanked Wilbur’s pants and boxers down around his ankles.

“Holy shit,” Isla gasped, and Cyrus gaped down at Wilbur’s very not small dick which hung out in plain sight for all to see, practically hitting his damn knee.

“Why do you always shift in private then, freak?” Cyrus asked in dismay, his fingers knotting tighter in my hair.

“Bless my bottom berry,” Wilbur murmured. “I get a case of the ginger goblins sometimes, the Harry happenings, the hobbly wobbles-”

“In a language we can all understand, freak?” Cyrus demanded.

“Oh my, I-I-I simply don’t know how to say it any clearer,” Wilbur stammered.

“He gets nervous,” Ren supplied for him in a dark voice, drawing everyone’s attention to him. He was the biggest of our group, muscles stacked on muscles, a Senior who had once been top of his game in the academy Speed Flying team and House Captain for Terra. But then he’d fallen from grace after his father had been Power Shamed for forging his FIB suitability test results and the whole school had turned on him too. His confidence had been knocked to shit, and he’d ended up with us sorry lot who had been targeted the second we arrived at Zodiac Academy.

“Shift fright, just like my pathetic excuse for a cub here has.” Cyrus yanked on my hair and made me mewl in pain while Isla stepped closer to feed on it.

“Shift, little cub,” Cyrus urged, getting his face close to mine.

“Get off of me,” I snarled.

“Leave her alone,” Birdie said in a high-pitched voice and Cyrus whipped towards her.

“Birdie Cain,” he said with a snigger. “The Vampire who has to suck the cocks and clits of her friends to get a blood donation.”

“I do not,” Birdie hissed, fangs flashing at Cyrus. “They give it willingly.”

Cyrus hollered a laugh and his pride joined in again, all of them stepping nearer, their sharp teeth aimed our way.

“You’re meant to claim power, not ask nicely for it,” Cyrus spat, then rounded on me again. “You could be a good little cub for me. I’ll let you rise from this pit of losers and maybe even join my pride one day. But you’ve got to do what I say. Anything I say.” He smiled viciously and I swiped at him again, but he caught my wrist this time in an iron grip that made me wince.

“I’ll never be your bitch,” I said in disgust and my Lioness roared inside my chest.

“Make her bleed,” Isla demanded. “Come on, Cyrus. Hurt her and I’ll pick another one.”

“Fight me as a true Lioness would,” he demanded. “Shift.”

He shoved me into the dirt, and I called on my Lioness, willing her to come to me, burst from my flesh and tear this bastard to pieces. But it wouldn’t come, a barrier seeming to form between my skin and the Order part of me that was so crucial, yet so impossible to reach sometimes.

Please, please, please come to me.

“I want the big one,” Isla purred, closing in on Ren, weaving a path towards him like she was still slithering along in her Basilisk form. “I want him screaming.”

She captured Ren’s gaze and locked him in a vision which he clearly didn’t fight because his knees hit the ground in an instant, his lips parting with the horrors of what Isla was showing him inside his head.

Birdie trembled as a huge Lion closed in at her back while Marigold continued to thrash against her air binds on the ground, and Wilbur just stood there with his cock out, his hands raised and shaking as if he was trying to get his magic to work.

Cyrus kicked me in the side, and I coughed out a breath. “Shift!” he barked.

I shut my eyes, trying to focus, to force my Lioness from my skin and fight this asshole Fae on Fae. My fingers clawed into the dirt, and I gritted my teeth, begging my Order to listen.

Cyrus stamped his heel down on my fingers and magic shot from my palms, rocking the ground violently at his feet.

He stumbled back with a curse and my eyes whipped open, my head ducking as he blasted air at me. The power of it snared my limbs, throwing me onto my back and pinning me there as Cyrus leered over me.

“Shift, you piece of trash. Or are you not Fae enough?” His foot pressed to my knee, his weight shoving down and making me scream. “Shift!”

“Shit, Professor Major is coming,” someone called, and Cyrus growled, tossing his mane over one shoulder as he looked over at Isla.

“One more second,” she breathed, in obvious bliss as she fed on Ren’s pain inside his mind.

“Come on,” Cyrus said. “We can find them later.”

Isla sighed, pulling away from Ren and leaving him sagging forward, panting and resting his hands on the ground. The air magic released Marigold as Cyrus and Isla went running off into the trees with the Lion pride racing after them.

Birdie was nursing a bite mark on her arm and Ren got to his feet, wordlessly moving forward to heal her. The rest of us were freshmen, and we hadn’t even learned how to do that kind of magic yet, but Ren always looked out for us on that front.

Marigold wordlessly pulled up Wilbur’s pants for him and Wilbur finally snapped out of the shock he had been frozen in.

“Shameful shoals,” he muttered. “I didn’t know whether to hither or to blither and I ended up in a dither.”

“It’s alright, Wilbur,” Marigold said. “Next time, we will have a ten-stage plan, and a contract written up for them to sign.”

“They’re not going to sign some fucking contract, Marigold,” Birdie huffed, shoving past Ren as he finished healing her.

I pushed myself up to sit in the mud, my head falling forward and golden hair spilling around me to shield the world from view.

“Good day,” Professor Major said and we all muttered our acknowledgement of him as he passed by.

“Perhaps if we provide a presentation first and lay out all the positives in coming to a treaty,” Marigold suggested practically, not even seeming fazed by having been tied up in the mud and forced into silence.

“Golly grouts,” Wilbur muttered. “A treaty is a fig of an idea. They’ll never agree.”

“Fee,” Ren said as he crouched down before me and I looked up at him, taking in his familiar face, the masculine line of his jaw, his straight, strong nose and his wavy brown hair that was always just a little wild. “Are you hurt?”

“Just my pride,” I muttered, and he reached out to push my hair away from my face, one of the few people in this world I allowed to do that. Ren was my best friend in many ways; me and him had this wordless connection, both of us on the same wavelength in life. Marigold kept stating he was my Nebula Ally like it was a fact, and I wondered if she had a point about that.

Ren took my hand, pulling me from the mud and placing me on my feet. I looked up at him, giant that he was, and he knocked his knuckles against my cheek. “Forget them. I’ve seen you shifted, your Lioness is huge and damn powerful too.”

“But why can’t I shift when I need my Lioness most?” I whispered, emotion burning the back of my throat. “I can never get it to happen when I need it, so what kind of Fae does that make me?”

I turned from him, striding off down the path and Birdie shot to my side with a flash of her Vampire speed. “I wish we were stronger. I wish we could fight. I’d make them bleed, make them pay.”

“Mm,” I grumbled.

“It is not our strength that is the problem,” Marigold said, striding along to walk on my other side while Wilbur and Ren followed at our backs. “I have carefully analysed all of our powers, our Elemental gradings, our Order sizes, and compared them with the opposition. Cyrus La Ghast and Isla Draconis are superior to us in some ways, but not all. Most of us are quite above average, in fact. Though one of us is very weak by comparison.”

“Which one?” Birdie clipped.

“You, Birdie Cain,” Marigold said simply, no tact at all. But she never did have any of that.

“What?” she hissed, rounding on Marigold, her grey eyes flaring with murder and fangs bared. “That’s bullshit.”

“It is fact,” Marigold shrugged. “As the sky is blue and the grass is green.”

Birdie spat a snarl then shot away from us into the woodland, disappearing out of sight.

“Now you’ve gone and dallied with her dinger,” Wilbur said, moving swiftly into Birdie’s place while Ren stepped closer to me. “Did you really have to deliver the blow like a filliper’s axe, dear Marigold?”

“How else am I to speak the truth? It comes plainly from my mouth. If Birdie does not like the truth, should I seek to lie to her?” Marigold frowned, not understanding.

“Lies can be daisies balanced upon a crown of thorns,” Wilbur said.

“When you looked into Cyrus and Isla, did you find anything that could help us deal with them?” I asked Marigold, knowing Wilbur was never going to convince her to understand white lies, especially with his way of explaining things. He and Marigold were at odds with each other, but they cared for each other all the same.

“Yes, I have analysed the data thoroughly,” Marigold said. “Cyrus La Ghast and Isla Draconis have few weaknesses, but upon accessing their private files in the academy system, I discovered two things of note. Cyrus La Ghast is deathly allergic to whittle grass and Isla Draconis has ties to a rather terrible street gang in Alestria that could sully her name, should it happen to come out.”

“So what? No one would believe us about Isla, and we’re not exactly going to kill Cyrus,” I said, pressing my lips together.

“Of course,” Marigold said. “I forecast the outcome of each path, and neither reap ideal rewards. But I believe I have found another answer all the same.”

“You have?” Ren asked in surprise.

“The Guild Stones,” Marigold said.

Ren groaned, pressing his fingers into his eyes. “Not this shit again.”

“Shh,” I hushed him, my ears pricking up. “I love this shit.”

“I do so love to ponder upon the randy rocks of the lost circle,” Wilbur said excitedly.

“I believe I have pinpointed the location of four stones,” Marigold said.

“What?” I blurted, running around to grab hold of her by the lapels of her uniform blazer. “Why didn’t you say this sooner?”

“She hasn’t found four Guild Stones, don’t you see how ridiculous this is?” Ren said in frustration. “The best thing you lot could do would be to work on honing your power, study more, build your confidence-”

“Says the guy who stopped fighting back after his fall from grace,” I shot at him and hurt coloured his features, making me almost regret the comment, but it was the truth.

“What have I got to fight for? The only thing waiting for me upon graduation is a bunch of doors slamming in my face. My father’s shame will follow me everywhere now.”

“So prove you’re different,” I said fiercely. “Make a splash. Seize some Guild Stones with us and make a new name for yourself.”

“That’s crazy and you know it. I just need a fresh start,” Ren murmured. “Solaria is never going to accept me, and my father has gone into hiding. He won’t answer any of my letters, our house is becoming a ruin. The rest of my family has turned their backs on me, so there’s nothing left for me beyond this academy.”

“You have us,” I said passionately, hating the words falling from his lips.

Ren frowned at me. “Not forever, Fee.”

“Yes, forever,” I insisted. “I don’t care how anyone treats you, we’ve got your back. Just like you’ve always had ours. That’s what holds us all together.”

“We still need to decide on a group name,” Wilbur said keenly. “Perhaps the Dashing Outcast Nerds Group.”

“The Dong?” I deadpanned and Ren snorted.

“Pull my walloper,” Wilbur gasped, clapping a hand to his mouth. “Minds of filth, the lot of you.” He laughed and the tension fell away between us, though my heart twisted as Birdie reappeared, stalking back to us through the boughs.

“Hey,” she muttered.

“I did not mean to hurt your feelings,” Marigold said with the least emotion imaginable.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Birdie kicked the ground.

“Marigold has found four Guild Stones,” I told her and her eyes immediately brightened.

“Seriously?” she gasped. “Where?”

“I have not found them. I have located them,” Marigold corrected.

“So where are they?” I pushed.

“This is ridiculous,” Ren said.

“Oh, do stop being such a whelk on the bump of a barnacle,” Wilbur pleaded. “If we were to claim the stones of power, we could ascend to greatness. We could flap those uncomely blunderbins with a whomp and a flomp of our own. Then they would see.” His shoulders pressed back and Birdie bit her lip, her eyes shining with the idea.

“Come on then, Marigold, tell us what you found out,” I urged.

“The old Guild was made up of the twelve power families, as you know,” Marigold said. “The balance was set, each of them made equally as powerful as the others. Alphard, Vega, Acrux, Capella, Altair, Pollux, Rigel, Andromeda, Denebola, Castor, Betelgeuse, and Pleiades.”

“Yeah, then one of them stole a stone from the other and upset the power. The story says it was Alphard from Altair, but some versions of it say it was Acrux from Vega,” I said, caught up in the story.

“And that set out an unending chain of destruction,” Ren added. “Powerful assholes fighting powerful assholes for their stones, each seeking to become the one ruling power.”

“The stones were hidden,” Marigold said with a nod. “Far and wide, each family fighting to keep the power from their enemies. And just yesterday Queen Leondra Vega made a comment in an interview that alluded to her still possessing four of the stones.” Marigold whipped out a folded piece of newspaper from her pocket and unfolded it, showing us the article.

I took it from her, and Ren leaned over my shoulder to see while Wilbur leaned over my other to read the passage Marigold had highlighted.

“-still four priceless artefacts in my keeping which ensures the Vega line will thrive on regardless of any challenge that ever comes to our door-”

“That doesn’t prove anything,” Ren said. “She could be referring to all kinds of artefacts.”

“Of course, it is a guess, but to make such a statement is quite telling. I could list them all, but I assure you I would be wasting breath when we could simply plan how to seize the stones,” Marigold said.

“This is insanity,” Ren said, and my chest deflated. “You’re freshman, for one. You’re talking about stealing from the most highly guarded place in the entire kingdom for two, not to mention the layers of magic that are protecting that place, or the fact that you couldn’t pinpoint those Guild Stones inside it even if you did somehow find your way in. Which you wouldn’t. There is no chance of it happening.”

“On the contrary, I believe we have a chance. Not a great one, but a chance all the same,” Marigold said.

“It’s not only stupid, it’s a death sentence. And for what?” Ren scoffed.

“Power,” I said darkly, and Ren stepped forward, his eyes darkening as he assessed me.

“Don’t be an idiot, Fee. This shit won’t last forever. You will rise up. You’re more powerful than you think, or you wouldn’t even have made it into this academy.”

“I can’t even shift when I need to, Ren,” I said in anger. “My family are embarrassed by me. They think I don’t have the Night spirit. They think I’m a dud. And you know what Lion prides do with the cubs that don’t make the cut? They cast them out.”

“Then don’t let that happen, prove them wrong,” Ren said forcefully.

I nodded, a frown creasing my brow as I thought on all the times I’d been pushed in the dirt by Cyrus, the times he had broken into my room in Terra House to torture me in front of an audience. Then I thought of my parents shaking their heads at me, shame colouring their faces and their backs turning on me. “Maybe I will.”

My hand slipped into the pockets of the students swarming around me as I walked into Venus Library, seizing little tokens, quills, crystals, auras. It wasn’t about the prize; it was about the game. And the more I practised, the better I got.

I’d taken Ren’s advice and worked my ass off for months now. Sophomore year was looming, and my grades were rising. I barely slept, forgot to eat. Every morning, I raced the sun and won, following the dark paths from Terra House to Venus Library or to the hills in Earth Territory to study. And I wasn’t alone. My friends and I rose together, met at the entranceway to Terra House to slip away into the dark.

And then, we practised. Ren taught us skills he had perfected, and I always demanded to know about the concealment spells and anything that could make my new hobby thrive. I was getting damn good at thieving, but Ren insisted I stopped focusing on thievery and worked to hone other skills.

“You still can’t shift whenever Cyrus or Isla corners you,” he growled at me while we stood under the light of the moon on our favoured hilltop. “What good is picking pockets if you can’t defend yourself?”

His chest was bare, muscles on show and there was a grit about him that said he was hungering for the shift. He was a Manticore, so he understood the Lioness part of me more than the others. Though his Order wasn’t nearly as pride orientated as mine. He didn’t need all these people around him, but I did. I needed them more than I’d ever admit. Him most of all.

Birdie raised her head from Wilbur’s wrist, her fangs glinting wetly with his blood before she swallowed. “Ren’s right, you should practise attack spells like I am. I want to be strong enough to rip Isla’s head from her scaly body the next time she comes for me.”

She said it with such hatred that I could have sworn she meant it.

“Wilbur gets it, don’t you?” I pushed.

“Does a pygmy gumble know the ways of its snout?” he laughed, and I frowned in confusion. “Yes indeed! My knees knock and my heart flambles. Shifting in front of those blasted barracudas is a challenge indeed.”

“See,” I said pointedly to Ren, and he folded his arms across his chest, staring at me in concern.

“You’re going to get hurt again and again. I’m not going to be here soon to teach you. I graduate next month. And then…well you know what I’m planning.”

My heart clenched and I turned away from him, unable to bear it. “Don’t remind me.”

“The Waning Lands,” Marigold said bluntly, sitting cross legged on the ground in orange dungarees. “You’re less likely to get into that place than we are to get into The Palace of Souls.”

“You cannot seriously still be planning that,” Ren sighed.

“So you don’t believe we can steal the Guild Stones, but you can take a boat to The Waning Lands and find a way into a kingdom that’s war torn and full of death? Why would you even want to go there anyway, Ren?” I demanded.

“Because no one will know me there, and I can actually make something of myself,” he barked.

I growled deep in my throat. “It’s crazy.”

“Oh, I’m crazy?” he laughed. “At least I have a plan. You talk of those four Guild Stones as if they’re already yours. You think picking pockets and breaking concealment spells is enough to get you in there? You’ll be dead before you reach the front door.”

“Actually, taking the front door would be wildly foolish,” Marigold said unhelpfully.

“All thieves have to start somewhere,” I said firmly.

“You’re not a thief, Fee,” Ren said furiously. “You’re a freshman Lioness who can’t even shift when danger calls.”

“Ouch, Ren,” Birdie hissed as my heart crumpled in my chest, my confidence shattering just like that.

“Wandering stars, that was a little harsh,” Wilbur muttered, tugging his pants a bit higher.

“Of all the people who don’t have faith in me, I never thought you would be one of them,” I said, pain coating my words as I turned my back on him and moved to sit beside Marigold on the ground.

“Fee,” he said sadly, and I felt his eyes on me, but I ignored him, hurt still blossoming in my chest.

I’d prove him wrong. I’d prove all of them fucking wrong.

“Any luck on locating the stones more precisely?” I murmured to Marigold.

“Nothing yet, but I am scouring articles old and new on the Vegas. Perhaps a snippet of truth will find its way to us soon.”

Birdie cursed as she tried to break a concealment spell that Wilbur had cast and failed. “I just can’t get it, what am I doing wrong?”

“Nothing, I believe,” Marigold said. “You are simply the weakest of our group. There is no way you can break a spell cast by Wilbur for he is greater in power, and skill for that matter.”

Birdie turned to her with blazing cheeks. “I’m not weaker.”

“Oh but you are, by quite a stretch,” she said. “You will likely need to stay behind when the time comes for the heist.”

“What?” Birdie gasped, fury tearing across her face. “I’m not staying behind. I’m a part of this.”

“She is,” I said firmly. “We all are. Except Ren apparently.”

“I’m just trying to protect you,” he said in frustration, but I still didn’t look at him.

I slid my hand into my pocket, taking out a crystal I’d stolen from Professor Quartex’s pocket yesterday. I was good. Better than good. But I needed a real challenge to test out how good I truly was, something that would push me to my limits and prove I could achieve things no one would ever believe I could do.

So I made a decision that set fear burning in my veins, but that was what made me certain I had to do it. Because if I could pull it off, maybe I could pull off a real heist. And then Ren would see what I was capable of. They all would.

I was going to break into Cyrus’s room and steal his family ring.

My hands grasped the gaps between the bricks, the cold air fluttering at my back, tugging the black cloak I wore and reminding me of the immense drop which lay below me. But I wasn’t letting go of Aer Tower.

I grew a vine from the wall, wrapping it around my hand, securing me in place before I reached up and grew another, pulling myself higher and creating a stone foothold for my boot to land on. This was easier than I’d imagined. I’d been practising my climbing skills all across campus, but Aer Tower was the highest building at Zodiac Academy, and I’d been saving it for this very moment. Because almost at the very top of this tower was an asshole sleeping soundly in his cosy House Captain’s room with a ring on his finger that was mine for the taking.

I heaved myself higher, my black hood not shifting from my head thanks to the sticking spell I’d cast to keep it there, hiding my golden hair. It was the middle of the night, but that didn’t mean students wouldn’t be out in the grounds, and as that thought crossed my mind, a Werewolf pack howled to the moon. It was a dusky crescent tonight, veiled by grey clouds, so the light wasn’t bright enough to pick me out on the side of the tower. I had plenty of concealment spells hugging me too, shadows drawn closer by my power and losing me among them. I was capable of spells even seniors struggled with, the amount of time I’d practised them amassing a number of hours that didn’t even bear thinking about. But my dedication would pay off if I could just secure myself that ring.

Finally, I made it to one of the tall windows that lined Cyrus’s curved bedroom wall and tucked myself into one side of the sill, squinting in at the dark room. There was a gap in the curtains that let me see the shadowy shape of a bed, but I could make out little else in the gloom.

I pushed the glass, my hand not leaving a single print on the pane thanks to the slithening juice I’d dipped my hands in earlier. Professor Gonder made us use it in Potions class sometimes as it worked as a barrier against particularly dangerous chemicals. It effectively created a second skin, and I’d realised it left no mark at all after touching something, no fingerprints. Nothing. It made me a ghost so long as no one ever saw me, and it didn’t even affect the use of magic; it let my power slide on through it like it was permeable on the side that touched my palm.

The window was locked, but it had been worth a shot. Undeterred, I ran my hand over the place the lock sat and focused on creating a soft piece of metal between my fingers, willing it to grow and extend into the keyhole. I closed my eyes, letting the metal expand and feeling all the parts of the mechanism inside. Foreign magic fluttered against the edges of my own and I acted fast, sending a bubble of power out around it and crushing it away with a growl of effort. The magical lock dissolved, and I smiled as I let the silver form into a key that perfectly fit that hole, twisting it with a light click.

And then…I was in.

The pane swung outwards on a hinge, the thing designed to let the flying Orders dive out of their windows anytime they liked. And it made it especially easy for me to walk quietly into the room, my movements muffled by a silencing bubble that I cast against the edges of my body.

I gently shut the window behind me, not wanting the wind to stir Cyrus from sleep. As I stepped down off the sill, my eyes adjusted to the dark and my heart stalled.

Fuck.

Lions. Everywhere. All in their shifted forms, lazing on the floor, stretched out, legs in the air, huge jaws wide and teeth pointing at me from every angle. In the middle of them was a giant bed where Cyrus lay in his Fae form, naked with a sheet twisted around his muscular body. The king of his domain.

I took a quiet breath and started forward, weaving my way between giant paws and beasts that growled in their sleep, setting my pulse racing in my ears.

Keep moving.

Don’t stop.

You’ve got this.

The simplest route to the bed was blocked by two Lionesses who were curled up together, one of their tails swishing like she wasn’t as deeply asleep as I would have preferred.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, pushing away thoughts of what would happen if the pride woke up. I’d be ripped to pieces most likely. And no one would ever remember my name.

My fingers tightened into a fist in anger at that thought, and I found my resolve within it.

I was Felisia Night, and one day, everyone was going to know my name.

I cast my eyes to the ceiling, letting four vines grow down towards me, reaching for my body then wrapping under my arms, around my waist and hips. With a surge of magic, I willed those vines to lift me higher and carry me silently over the two giant beasts at the side of Cyrus’s bed, moving me to hover right over the sinful creature below.

Cyrus La Ghast. A Fae who had been the reason for my suffering right alongside Isla Draconis, the two of them having made me an act in their horror show one too many times.

I steeled myself as the vines lowered me down and my fingers rubbed together in preparation of the act I was about to commit. I’d practised a thousand times on a skeleton hand in the library, the thing enchanted to grab me any time my fingers touched it. So if I could slide a ring off the finger of that creepy thing without disturbing it, then I could do it for real now.

I made the vines hold me half a foot above Cyrus then reached for his hand which was resting on his broad chest, slowly rising and falling with his even breaths. His dark mane spilled out around him on the bed, practically glistening even in the dim light of the room, and his roguishly handsome face was almost boyish in sleep.

I slid my hand down my hoody, taking out the heliotrope crystal stashed in my bra which could give some numbing effects and held it close to the intended finger, the kiss of its magic rolling over him.

Then I stashed the crystal again and took hold of the ring, biting my lip hard as I twisted it up to his knuckle, sliding it along, then-

My magic faltered, all of it abandoning me at once and I came crashing down as my vines vanished. I trapped a scream in my throat before I hit the bed on top of him, landing softly like a cat as my knees and hands took the brunt of the fall either side of him on the mattress, but my body brushed his and he groaned, his hand sliding around me and grasping my ass.

His right hand brushed my arm, and I felt the power of the signet ring on his finger affecting my magic, keeping it at bay.

“Isla?” he purred, his mouth finding my jaw and grazing along it.

A hiss sounded somewhere near my feet, and I glanced back in horror to find the bedsheets writhing between his legs. There was something under there. Something that hissed and slithered, and there was only one fucking person it could be.

Cyrus’s hand clamped harder on my ass, drawing me flush against him and rutting the hard length of his cock against my thigh.

Holy fucking fuck.

I did the only thing I could think of and grabbed his right hand, and ground down on his cock, making him groan. And while my fingers threaded between his, I worked that damn ring right off into my fist and felt my power wash back into me as the anti-magic spell shattered in my grip. I knew there was only one thing left for me to do as Isla wriggled out of the sheet, and I found myself one second from being a dead bitch. I swung my leg over Cyrus, launching myself off the bed and casting a vine from the ceiling.

A roar came from behind me that made my heart leap into my throat.

“Hey!” Cyrus yelled and every Lion Shifter in the room woke up.

I caught the vine in my grip, swinging like a wild monkey over the heads of the beasts below as they stirred. One swiped at my legs and another snapped their jaws at me, but it was the big motherfucker who was pouncing from my left that was the real problem.

I let go of the vine, hitting the floor hard to avoid the collision and the Lion sailed overhead.

A blast of air magic slammed into me, but I was already on my feet again close to the window. The air sent me flying but I was ready, riding the wave of it and kicking the pane so it swung outward and let me escape.

Suddenly I was falling, the campus stretching away ahead of me and Aer Tower whipping past me as the ground rose to meet me. I threw out my palms, softening the earth with moss and mud before slamming into it, rolling and rolling over the slope as pain tore up my left arm and knee.

Blasts of air magic came from above, tearing the earth to pieces around me. It was carnage, and one step forward had me slamming into an air shield, proving me trapped.

Or so they thought.

I turned my gaze to the ground and carved it apart, tearing a hole into the earth and tumbling down into it. I scored a tunnel through the rock and rubble around me, forcing it back as I gained my feet and ran into the pitch blackness with a whoop tearing from my throat.

I was pretty sure I’d done some decent damage to my left arm, and I was limping between steps, but I didn’t slow down, casting a Faelight ahead of me as I worked on my tunnel, filling it in at my back and sprinting away towards the safety of Terra House.

Cyrus and his pride would be hunting for me long into the night, but they hadn’t seen my face, I was sure. And I was banking on the fact that they’d never suspect one of their daily torture victims as the culprit.

When I made it back to Terra House, I hurried through the winding tunnels, seeking out Ren’s room and bashing my fist on it. After the tenth knock, he answered, shirtless and bleary eyed, his hands raised defensively as if he expected me to be an enemy, but I quickly dropped the concealment spells and let him see my face.

“Fee?” he gasped, looking me over, covered in mud and moss.

I smiled from ear to ear, holding up my hand and unfurling it to reveal the golden signet ring within.

“Is that Cyrus La Ghast’s ring?” he asked in shock.

“The one and only,” I said, then squealed and threw myself at him.

He crushed me in his powerful arms automatically, reminding me that I was injured as hell and I crumpled against him with a mewl of pain.

“Shit, come inside.”

Ren carried me into his room, kicking the door shut and placing me down on his bed, carefully pulling off my muddy cloak and tossing it on the floor, leaving me in a thin shirt beneath. He eyed the swelling that was blooming around my elbow with a taut frown and his fingers brushed my skin, healing away the damage and making me sigh in relief.

“Anywhere else?” he asked.

“My left knee,” I admitted and without a word, he peeled off my dirty pants to reveal my undergarments. I’d stitched a little red paw into the silk and Ren’s eyes immediately fell to it.

“Cute,” he remarked with a snort then knelt down, drawing my leg into his lap and skating his thumb over my reddened knee.

I shivered a little at his touch and he glanced up at me while he healed the wound away.

“Did he see you? Is he coming?” he asked.

“No and no. He’ll be running all across campus looking for the thief, but he’ll never suspect me. Are you impressed?”

He sat back a little, assessing me for a moment then smiling. “I’m impressed.”

“Good,” I said with a smirk, thumbing the ring in my hand with a thrill dancing in my chest. “If you look this shocked now, I can’t wait to see what you look like when I steal the Guild Stones.”

“Fee,” he warned.

“Ren,” I tossed back, prodding his stomach with my toes. He caught hold of my ankle, his large hand wrapping around it tight.

“I graduate next week,” he said, sullying my mood just like that.

“And then?” I pushed, thinking of his constant declarations of leaving Solaria for a new life.

“You know what then,” he said.

“Stay,” I said, the word coming out huskily.

He met my eyes and I knew he felt the depths of that request, the unspoken reason for why I couldn’t bear for him to leave which neither of us voiced or dared act upon.

“I can’t stay forever,” he said finally.

“Stay a while longer at least,” I pleaded. “Don’t just take the first boat to anywhere.”

“The longer I stay, the harder it’ll be to leave in the end,” he said darkly, his brows drawing low as his gaze tracked the length of my leg.

“Then don’t go at all,” I said, a smile quirking up the corner of my lips.

“There’s no fate in which I don’t go, Fee,” he said seriously. “I will always be no one here.”

“Not to me,” I said passionately, my victory bolstering my confidence, making me speak the words which had been waiting on my tongue for too long. “You’re the best kind of someone to me.”

His thumb circled my ankle bone and a wicked heat burned between my thighs, telling me what perhaps I’d known for a while now about us I. But if we went there, it didn’t change anything. Ren would still go, and I wasn’t sure I could bear the heartbreak of following that path to its bitter end.

I slid my foot from his grip and rose to my feet, picking up my muddy clothes from the floor. “Night, Ren.”

“I’ll stay until the end of fall,” he said, and I glanced back at him, smiling sadly as I nodded.

“Better,” I said, and he smiled back, this heavy goodbye hanging between us that I knew was going to rip my heart out and destroy it.

Fall. Of course it was fall. Because when Ren left, it would feel like the first bite of winter, the leaves of our friendship turning gold then brown, only to fall and turn to dust.

Ren graduated. But it only started hurting when I returned to Zodiac as a sophomore and Ren didn’t return with us.

The summer had been long, hot and spent with my friends as much as possible. We spent the last couple of weeks in Sunshine Bay and my hair was a brighter gold than ever by the time we came back to the cooler air of Tucana. Though it was by no means cold yet, even if the leaves on the trees were threatening to change and steal Ren away with them when they fell.

Cyrus had been on a rampage the last time I’d seen him before the academy broke up for the summer, days and days of him questioning students, beating down anyone he suspected. But he never found his ring. Because it belonged to me now, and while he and his vile friends were busy hunting for a perpetrator they deemed capable of pulling off the theft, they had left us alone for once.

My gut told me that wasn’t going to last, but I’d also been working hard on both defensive spells and shifting under pressure over the summer.

Marigold and Birdie had tried blasting magic at Wilbur and I, threatening to crack and crumble the ground beneath our feet while I was on a time limit to shift.

Ren had gone for the more aggressive approach of carrying me or Wilbur into the air while in his Manticore form then dropping us from a decent height. The idea was that we’d shift and land on all four paws, and it worked like a charm. Time and again, no matter what my friends threw at me, I managed to shift even when my mind scrambled, and Wilbur got the hang of it too, shifting into his Cerberus form and barking excitedly at the achievement.

So I was at least returning to the academy with some newfound confidence, and Wilbur had a skip in his step that said he was ready to take on the whole world. But our little group didn’t feel whole without Ren in it as we walked into The Orb together to get breakfast on the first day of term.

My eyes immediately locked on Cyrus where he sat up on a table in the middle of the room, speaking loudly to a gathered crowd around him while Isla sat beside him looking like a dark princess, the only one of their group who wasn’t fawning all over Cyrus.

“Turns out, no one stole my ring after all,” he said.

“But I was there, and I saw-” one of his pride started but Cyrus’s foot shot out, his shiny shoe slamming into the boy’s face and silencing him.

“Anyway, seems it had gotten lost down the back of my bed. The cleaners found it over the summer.” He held up his hand, twisting the gleaming golden ring on his finger to prove his story.

My upper lip peeled back, and a growl rumbled up my throat. I was stepping forward before I could stop myself and Birdie gasped, grabbing my arm, trying to pull me back.

“Don’t,” she begged, but my hand was already sliding into my pocket, taking hold of the ring I’d been carrying everywhere with me ever since I’d pulled off the theft.

I slid it onto my middle finger and lifted it into the air, aiming it right at Cyrus. “I call bullshit, Cyrus La Ass-ed,” I shouted loud enough to draw the attention of everyone in the Orb, the insult not my best, and kind of spoiling the drama of my moment. But still.

“Galloping grapes,” Wilbur cursed, sweeping closer to my side as Cyrus’s gaze locked on me and Isla cocked her head with interest.

“I scaled Aer Tower, broke the magical lock on your window and crept through a hoard of sleeping Lions to claim this, and you never once suspected me.” I twirled a lock of my golden hair around my finger, smiling like it had been so very easy, playing up to the onlooking crowd. I found I quite liked attention when it wasn’t because I was being used as a Fae punching bag.

Mutters and gasps broke out, and Cyrus’s tanned cheeks turned red as he glared at me, a look of disbelief in his eyes.

“By the stars, did you really let that little shift fright freak get one over on you, Cy?” one of his pride laughed, and Cyrus roared in anger, leaping to his feet on the table while Isla spat a hiss.

“Make her hurt,” Isla whispered, her eyes glinting.

“Oh, I’m planning on it,” Cyrus snarled, pouncing off the table, the crowd of Fae parting for him as he came charging my way.

My heart stumbled, but I didn’t back down. Call me vain, but I was not going to let Cyrus sweep my victory under the rug, even if it cost me a beating now. At least everyone would know what I’d achieved, and if he wanted his ring back, I wasn’t going to let him take it without a fight.

“Now you’ve done it,” Birdie snapped.

“I want the trembling royalist,” Isla decided as she hurried along at Cyrus’s side, her gaze pinned on Wilbur.

“Wallabies on a waterslide,” Wilbur gasped, raising his hands in alarm.

“I do believe we are about to be humiliated,” Marigold stated. “But perhaps it is time to make a stand, even if we end up on our backsides.” She raised her hands, expression blank as a couple of Cyrus’s lackies joined him, ready to take her and Birdie on.

“My cousin married an Acrux you know!” Birdie cried as if that would save her, but one of the Lionesses descended on her regardless.

Cyrus threw a fist my way, a blast of air bursting from it and I cast a rough metal shield on my arm, lifting it just in time to deflect the blow.

Cyrus roared, tearing his shirt clean off and leaping forward as he shifted, sending Fae running for their lives, breakfast trays and food flying everywhere as his huge Lion form landed right in front of us.

He towered over me, one huge paw already wheeling my way with glinting claws ready to rip the flesh from my bones.

I tugged the shield from my arm, throwing it at his face and he mewled as it smacked him dead between the eyes, his swipe missing me narrowly as a result.

I darted away, pulling off my blazer and tossing it aside, trying to focus on everything I’d practised over the summer. A battle cry to my right made my eyes wheel towards Wilbur and I found him wielding a chair, swinging it hard into the side of Isla’s head.

She shivered while her own pain fed her power, then her face twisted viciously, and her uniform slumped to the floor as her body vanished, replaced instead by a large blue snake twisting within her clothes. Before she could make it out of the pile, Wilbur bundled it up in his arms, running across the room still crying out like he was charging into battle. He stuffed Isla in the trash can and slammed the lid shut, carving a hole in the ground beneath it with his power and sending her tumbling away into the dark chasm. A riot of laughter sounded out from the onlooking crowd, and my heart lifted at his victory.

But I was forced to focus on Cyrus again as he leapt at me, jaws wide and deadly. I dropped to the floor, skidding under the nearest table as more students made a dash for safety. I scrambled along on my hands and knees, trying to get my head together as a huge paw swiped under the table. Cyrus’s claws caught in my shirt, tearing it off of me and leaving me in my thin camisole and skirt as I hurried along on my knees.

“Shift fright, shift fright, shift fright,” Cyrus’s pride started chanting, and more and more students joined them until my whole head was ringing with it.

Birdie was screaming as she went rolling along the floor, wrapped up in streams of toilet paper while someone tossed jelly covered toast at her.

Chaos was reigning and my heart was hammering wildly, my thoughts scattering as fear took root. Another swipe of Cyrus’s giant paws sent the table flying into the air, revealing me beneath him.

I cried out, trying to get up, raising a hand to defend myself but his paw slammed against my chest, pinning me down and making my ribs scream under the pressure.

I grasped his golden fur as his other paw slammed down on my arm, pinning it there, his jaws closing around my hand which held his ring, and terror took hold of me as I realised he intended to bite it off.

“No!” I cried, thinking of all the times this bastard had forced me beneath him, how he’d belittled and abused me. How this entire school had outcast me because he was the king of this place, and they did everything he said. But I was done. So fucking done, and the ring I’d taken from him was mine. Proof of my power over him.

A roar spilled form my lips and the shift rippled through me, my Lioness bursting free of my skin. I slammed my paw into Cyrus’s face, claws tearing into his skin and making him rear back in pain.

I was on my paws in the next second, not quite as large as him in size, but I was big enough and full of fury right down to the pit of me. I leapt at him with claws and teeth ready to do their worst and I came down on him so hard that he collapsed beneath me.

In the next second, my teeth were in his neck, ripping in hard as I shoved my paws down on his shoulders and kept him there. I growled a warning, demanding he submit to me. But he rolled, throwing me with him and kicking me with his back feet as he went, his claws tearing along my belly. I barely felt the pain as adrenaline took over, and I forced us to keep rolling before he could get me beneath him once more.

I took no prisoners this time, catching his neck between my jaws again and biting hard enough to taste blood until a noise left him like an injured kitten. He went limp beneath me, submitting to my power and when he went fully still, I released him, standing up on top of him and raising my head as I released an almighty roar.

Cheers collided around me, students calling my name – some getting it wrong altogether, but dammit they were trying. It felt like I’d just changed the course of fate, like the stars were peering my way just for a moment, long enough to acknowledge what I’d done. What I had made of myself.

I dropped my head, baring bloody teeth in a cat’s smile as I hunted for my friends, and the members of Cyrus’s pride backed away from Birdie who was in a nest of toilet paper on the floor.

Marigold stood victoriously over a girl trapped in a net of vines and Wilbur was playing whack-a-mole with Isla’s serpentine head as she tried to get out of the muddy earth at his feet, using his damn shoe as he tried to beat her back underground.

It was carnage. But we’d won. We’d shown them what we were made of. Or at least, Wilbur, Marigold and I had, and for now that seemed to be enough.

Cyrus backed off, but Isla went from a level ten psychopath to a level one hundred. We were getting far better at defending ourselves, but Isla’s attacks were cunning and vicious, and she fast proved herself more powerful than Cyrus. So it wasn’t long before the shine of our victory wore off.

If Isla wasn’t cornering us and forcing us into one of her violent hypnoses where she dismembered us in slow, torturous detail, she was slipping Griffin shit in our food or laying traps for us all across campus.

Wherever we went, there could be hidden pitfalls with star damned spikes at the bottom, or flesh eating lugger worms, or a pissed off nest of norian wasps.

If there was one thing that was positive about it, it was like being trained for war. I got really good at catching myself the moment the ground gave out beneath me, my mental shields grew tenfold with constant training, and Isla’s hypnosis traps took longer and longer to break into my head. I’d learned to heal myself from all kinds of maladies as well as my friends, and though Isla was a determined bitch of a serpent with the unholy wrath of a scorned goddess, I had to be grateful for the way my grades were rising and my gifts were being crafted in ways that I shouldn’t have even known about until senior year. And with that, my thievery skills got better too.

It was Night tradition to cut your cubs off from their inheritance until they proved themselves a worthy member of the family pride. I was, to put it bluntly, the horrifying failure of my family. News of my constant bullying didn’t make my parents sympathise with me, no, they saw it as weakness. A runt of the litter who was never going to bring glory to the family name.

Since I’d started at the academy, I was denied everything until I earned it. Birthday presents, Christmas presents, family vacations. My father had promised to buy me this beautiful music box made by my favourite jewellery designer Amber Tulandia for my first Christmas at Zodiac Academy, to celebrate how proud he was of me. But I hadn’t made him proud. So instead, he had let me watch while he melted it before my eyes, my entire family staring on as we gathered around the Christmas tree, and the cruellest of words left his lips. “Nights make their pride proud. Failure is not family.”

Meanwhile my three brothers and two sisters had all graduated Zodiac Academy with gleaming grades, Pitball trophies, and the kind of reputation that made me look even worse by association. Even when I’d written home about my recent victory over Cyrus, I’d only received a response that said, ‘That’s nice, darling. Do let us know when you achieve something worth wasting parchment for.’

So I had to do something bigger, better, greater. Something my parents and siblings could choke on over their morning hog roast.

The weekend was my favourite part of the week, because I packed a bag, took the bus to Tucana and walked to Ren’s new apartment. And there I’d stay until early Monday morning. The others joined us sometimes, and this was one of those times, which I was extra pleased about because I had a plan stacked on a dream today, and I was ready to pull it off.

“Fee.” Ren’s face lit up as he opened the door in a casual pair of pants and a grey shirt, and I lunged at him, nearly knocking him off his feet as I hugged him.

A laugh rumbled through his chest as I nuzzled him, breathing in his familiar scent of freshly cut grass. He looped an arm around my shoulders, drawing me up the narrow stairway that creaked beneath my feet. We passed by a scowling neighbour who shrank from Ren and muttered something about shame under his breath, making my heart clench in my chest.

“Aren’t you going to say something?” I prodded Ren.

“No point,” he muttered. “Come on.”

He led me into his apartment which was more of a glorified box really. A single bed shared a room with a carved coffee table and a tiny kitchen. Ren had made it nice though, casting ivy up the walls and a little jungle canopy on the ceiling, huge green leaves masking the worn paint.

Wilbur, Marigold, and Birdie were already there on the couch, having taken Wilbur’s car earlier on. But I’d had to finalise my plans in the library, ready to present to them once and for all.

“I have a proposition,” I announced, whipping the folded plans from inside my long brown coat and waving them at my friends.

“I do love a proposition,” Marigold sat up straighter, ironing out a crease in the bright red trousers she wore.

“Ding my dongler, I do as well,” Wilbur said brightly. He was working on growing one hell of a moustache lately, and it was really something. It suited him to be fair, especially with the way he kept twisting up the ends and making them all curly like his hair.

“If it’s not a plan to rid the world of Isla Draconis forever, I don’t want to hear it,” Birdie said, pursing her lips. “Maybe I can get my cousin’s wife to eat her. She’s a Dragon, you know? An Acrux.”

“Yeah, we know,” Ren said. She’d only told us a thousand times.

Birdie had cut her short brown hair even shorter over the summer, giving her a quirky kind of look that really suited her.

“We are going to destroy Isla though, right?” she pushed.

“Well…not quite. But this could help us with her long term,” I said keenly, and Birdie perked up at that.

“This best not be what I think it is,” Ren growled low in my ear, making me jump as he leaned over my shoulder to try and look at my plans.

I slapped him in the face with them and wafted him over to the couch. “Go sit down. And prepare to be wowed.”

“This is rather the dalliance of the day, isn’t it?” Wilbur said with a smile, clasping his hands together and waiting for me to go on. “Let’s hear it then! And when it is done, I have a spiffing pot of news to share.”

“Well now you’ve got me all curious, Wilbur,” I said, folding my arms. “What is it?”

His chest puffed up and everyone looked to him as he plucked the lapels of his brown jacket. “The Queen’s Jubilee is coming up like a goose upon a gander stool, as I am sure you are well aware, and as is tradition, she has offered one family the glorious honour of serving her at The Palace of Souls for the ceremony. Furthermore, if that family pleases her, she will offer them quarters of residence and an official position serving beneath the royal Vegas.” He was practically gushing as he went on. “And that family is my family, can you believe it? The Gruses. I am as exulted as a slug in a soaking sack.” His eyes watered. “The honour! The prestige! The veneration! And as you know well, my family has fallen upon hard times of late, so this could truly not come at a better time. It is a pecan in the beak of a skeletal jaybird.” He broke down sobbing and Birdie patted his back while Marigold stared at him in mild surprise.

“That’s perfect,” I gasped, throwing my plans down on the coffee table. “Wilbur, that means you’ll be there on the day of the Jubilee. It’s the only hole in my plan. I need an in, and you’re it. This must be fate!” I squealed, turning to Ren but finding him cocking a brow at me, arms folded.

“You can’t be thinking what I know you’re thinking,” he said in frustration.

“I found the Guild Stones,” I said, grinning wide.

“You did?” Marigold asked, intrigued.

“Holy halibut,” Wilbur gasped.

“Where are they?” Birdie demanded.

I unfolded my plans and took out a newspaper cutting from within it about the Jubilee. “Queen Leondra wears this crown for special occasions only,” I said. “It comes out of the treasury so rarely because it’s damn precious. And I figured out why.” I pointed to the four beautiful gemstones that sat in the clasps at the front of it. An opal, topaz, a ruby and a turquoise stone. “They have to be Guild Stones.”

I passed the photo to Ren and when he gave it a flat look, I snatched it away again and passed it to Wilbur.

“By the rising moon over the land of our great fortune,” Wilbur breathed. “These indeed match the descriptions of the lost stones.”

“What do you think, Marigold?” Birdie took the newspaper cutting and handed it to her, looking hopeful.

Marigold had done more research than all of us, she’d even made twelve binders, each one detailing a Guild Stone and all the history she could find while poring over ancient texts. She never had much emotion about her, but as she looked at that image, I swear her face lit up. “How could I have missed this? They were there in plain sight all along.”

“So it’s them?” I pressed, everything riding on my guess being true.

“I believe so. Opal for Libra, topaz for Scorpio, ruby for Cancer, and turquoise for Sagittarius,” Marigold said. “Unless these are simply beautiful gemstones of superior quality, and not, in fact, Guild Stones-”

“Which they could be. Easily,” Ren said. “The Vegas love to brag about their wealth. And it would be simple for them to pretend they possess four Guild Stones. But if anyone looked close enough at their fancy fucking crown, I bet they would find they are not the real deal.”

“Why are you getting so angry?” I clipped.

“Because I know what you’re thinking, Fee. And if you attempt to get anywhere near that crown, you’ll be arrested and sent to Darkmore in the best-case scenario. Worst? They’ll kill you during your wildly stupid attempt to steal from the queen of Solaria.”

“The best-case scenario is me walking out of that palace with four fat Guild Stones in my pocket, actually,” I said haughtily, and Ren gave me a cool look.

“This is insanity,” he muttered.

“It isn’t. Look.” I rolled out my plans to show a blueprint of the palace. It wasn’t complete by any means, but I’d managed to get a lot of detail down by studying. “That crown isn’t going to be worn for the entire day. It’ll be held here after the morning celebrations because it is only worn for the ceremony – she said so to the press when she wore it for her uncle’s funeral two years ago.” I tapped on the room where the crown would be held. “Not only that, but it will be on display in a glass box because chosen members of the public are going to be given access to the palace for a walkthrough tour. Between two and four pm, the crown will be right here-”

“Protected by the fiercest kind of magic and surrounded by guards, no doubt,” Ren cut in.

“Ren’s got a point,” Birdie frowned.

“The crown itself won’t be protected,” I said excitedly. “The glass box will have a magical lock, admittedly a powerful one, but there are no traps on the crown because of this.” I folded out another newspaper clipping, this one from twenty five years ago. “There was a fire in The Palace of Souls during Queen Leondra’s coronation. This crown was on display along with many of the Vega jewels and the guards had to disable the locks on the cabinets and take the treasures to safety. But there were such powerful defensive spells on the jewels, that a guard ended up dying trying to move them to safety. So, since then, I’ll bet my ass the only spells protecting them while they’re on display are on the cabinets, and the guards have to be able to open them. Which means they need a touch signature. So-”

“That’s a lot of guesswork, Fee,” Ren growled, and I shot him a dark look.

“It stands to reason,” Marigold cut in before I could go to bat for myself. “That a death in the palace would change the policies on such things. I would also, as you say, bet my ass on a touch signature activation of the cabinets being introduced. They will be alarmed though.”

“Of course,” I said. “Which is why my plan is so genius, because-”

“Fee.”

“Ren,” I snapped. “Stop cutting over me.”

“Stop saying insane things then.”

I growled and he growled back at me, the two beasts in us rising to the surface.

“What do you want the stones for anyway?” he demanded. “You beat Cyrus. You can beat Isla in time too, you just need to train harder.”

“It’s not enough,” I said passionately. “I’m never going to be enough unless I prove I’m worthy of my family name. If I seized the Guild Stones from the Vegas, how could they ever question my power again?”

“You don’t need to prove your worth to them,” he said in a low tone. “You’re worth everything to us. To me.”

My throat thickened at his words, and I looked to the others, finding them nodding. All but Birdie who was still staring at the crown in that photograph.

“I think you can do it,” she said slowly. “I’ve seen how good you’ve gotten at stealing, Fee. We all have.” She looked to Wilbur and Marigold for backup and my heart lifted.

“You have the light fingers of a fancy fairy, dear Felisia,” Wilbur agreed. “But…I…” He pushed his hand into his thick curls. “Oh my dandelions, I fear now that my family has been bestowed this great honour to serve the royals, I am caught between a canary and a cantaloupe.”

“You’re in the perfect position to help us get those stones, Wilbur,” I pressed, hurrying forward to perch on the coffee table in front of him. “All I need is one ticket, and a couple of other teeny tiny favours. And that’s it! I’ll do the rest.”

“Blast my blubber,” Wilbur said, tugging at his collar as if he was getting hot.

“Pretty please?” I asked. “I swear I won’t get you or your family into trouble. Double, triple swear.”

Marigold thumbed through my plans, looking to us and Wilbur caught her eye.

“Is it a flan of a plan? Or is it a clotted cream of a pipe dream?”

“It is, as you would say Wilbur, a chocolate dot of a clever plot,” Marigold said frankly. “Infallible, if all goes well.”

“If all goes well,” Ren echoed with a humourless laugh. “This is insanity.”

“I think she can do it. How can I help, Felisia?” Birdie asked excitedly, wetting her lips. “Give me a role. I’ll do whatever I can to help us get those stones.”

“She does not need you,” Marigold said. “You are not factored into the plan.”

“Why not? I can help,” Birdie insisted, hurt crossing her face.

“It’s not personal, I just don’t want to get any of you in trouble,” I said seriously. “If Wilbur can get me in, and do a couple of completely minor tasks, then I can do the rest. And I’ll bring us home the reward.”

“Who says you won’t just keep the stones for yourself?” Birdie accused and my heart twisted.

“Because we’re friends,” I said. “And I’m doing this for us, not just me. We’ve all tasted enough shit at the bottom of the barrel already. These stones…they could change everything.”

I glanced back at Ren, hoping beyond hope that they could help him prove himself in society once more too. Then he wouldn’t have to leave. They were the answer to all of our problems, and I was more than happy to put my neck on the line for a chance at a better future for us all.

“Wilbur?” I asked hopefully. “Can you get me the ticket?”

He swallowed visibly, then nodded and took my hand in his, shaking it firmly. “We are but flowers that bloomed in the shade together, dear Felisia. All of us are. We formed the Dashing Outcast Nerds Group. And I shall never, upon my nelly, forget the bond we have forged in the dark valley of the D.O.N.G.”

“Yeah, we really need to talk about that name again,” Birdie said irritably, and I laughed.

“I’ll bring them home,” I promised, looking to Ren. “I’ll change our fates, I swear it.”

My mind was yanked out of the memory and I found myself standing before the mirror in Felisia’s ship once more where she gave me a smirk.

“That’s all for today. Half now, half when you’ve paid your share, old king,” she said.

“Is this even going anywhere?” I demanded. “So far, all you have shared is some bullshit origin story.”

“Oh, it’s going somewhere alright. A big bad everywhere in fact,” Felisia purred. “Now be on your way. I’ll come fetch my price when I’m ready.”

I scowled, looking to Azriel who gave me a nod, assuring me force wasn’t the best course of action here. Felisia’s pride herded us upstairs, and it was only when I stepped out into the corridor with the door swinging shut at my back that I realised Marcel wasn’t with us. And neither was the piece of amethyst crystal that had been clasped in my fist.

Oh well. C’est la vie.

I headed towards the stairwell, talking in low voices with Azriel about what we’d seen, but he had gone into analyst mode, a notebook propped against his forearm as he scribbled down whole paragraphs in between speaking with me.

“Do you really think this is going to help?” I sighed, still reliving the rough shove of Cyrus’s hands and the way the dirt had felt beneath me. I had never been at the bottom of the food chain, and not once had I felt so powerless in the face of opponents at Zodiac Academy. I had always come out on top, but Felisia and her friends had been crushed into the mud time and again, and it left me feeling uncomfortable.

“I know so. The Guild Stones are vital to the twins being able to win the war. If we can track them down, then somehow help our children find the stones in the living realm, it could tip fate in their favour at last.” Azriel looked up at me, a half grin on his face as we moved downstairs side by side. “I’m going to write everything down before it fades. I’ll come find you soon.”

I nodded to him, and he split away into the hall that led to his rooms while I continued on towards the ground floor, wanting to check on my family in The Room of Knowledge. I didn’t know how much real time had passed while I’d been captured by those memories, and I feared how long my mind had been turned from my loved ones.

“Lost…is it this way or that? Where can I find him?” Marcel’s voice carried up the stairs and I slowed as I found him nearly drifting out an open window towards the night sky.

I almost let him float off like a lost balloon, but at the last moment, I caught his arm and tugged him down to stand in front of me.

He blinked slowly, hardly seeming to perceive me at all.

“Where did you go? You were in Felisia’s memory with us,” I said.

“I was, and then I wasn’t. I remembered somewhere I had to be…” he trailed away towards the window again and the frame twisted as the silent chasm of the door to the beyond crawled into existence, beckoning Marcel closer.

My fingers were still locked around his arm, but I considered letting go and denying all knowledge of ever witnessing this. Merissa would eventually notice he was missing and realise he had moved on, then that would be that.

“Gabriel?” Marcel croaked, looking to that door as if it held a way to his son, and by the stars, it was hard not to feel something in the face of his desperation. “Perhaps he is there, waiting just beyond the dark…”

I ground my teeth then turned my mind towards Gabriel, feeling out his presence in the living realm and that longing he felt for me, however faint. It was enough of a connection to find my way to him, and I dragged Marcel along with me, guiding him there to stand before my boy.

Gabriel was sleeping, his head resting back against the Seer’s chair and his chest rising then falling slowly. He was still restrained, and he didn’t look much at peace while he slept, but he was still breathing, fighting for another day.

I released Marcel and he staggered forward, brushing his fingers against Gabriel’s cheek with a look of adoration on his face.

“I know you,” he whispered. “Even if you will never know me. And I am so very proud, my darling boy. I have loved you from beyond The Veil for so many years, watching you whenever I was deemed lucky enough by the stars. I am sorry I could not be there, that I am not here now. Death is wicked like that. A partition of souls that yearn for one another, how cruel. But please know that I do yearn for you, Gabriel. My son, my wonder. And I will never stop.” He laid a kiss upon his brow and Gabriel’s features relaxed a little, his fingers flexing against the arm rest as if reaching for Marcel. I watched as my son’s biological father grew a little clearer, his edges sharpening, features brightening, unsure what to feel on the matter. Though perhaps I felt a touch relieved.

Marcel turned to me, tears wet on his cheeks and no arrogance or superiority about him as he closed in on me. He held out a hand as The Veil drew us back into its embrace and we lost sight of the boy we both loved, and for once I didn’t question whether his love was truly founded.

I let him take my hand, shaking it before we shared tight lipped smiles and our palms parted.

“Thank you,” he exhaled. “You have bought me a little more time with him, and though I feel it waning already, it is more than the stars would have offered me.”

I nodded stiffly and he moved past me up the stairs, leaving me with a strange pull in my gut that felt all too close to empathy for my liking.

I continued downstairs then out into the golden light beyond the Eternal Palace, wishing to check on my daughters in turn.

When I stepped into The Room of Knowledge, I hurried to the great orb, knocking past some disgruntled souls who were grumbling about someone as they exited.

The place was suspiciously quiet, the final souls drifting out of the room, while a couple of remnants remained way up in their seats, glimmering a little then fading once more, their features barely intact, some reduced to just vague globes of light.

My gaze fell on one sorry soul who sat alone with his head in his hands, elbows rested on his knees and a look of utter woe about him.

My lips twitched and I closed in on the great orb, ignoring him as I rested my hands on the rail and sought out Roxanya and Gwendalina, my heart aching for them. Each were safe for now, if not in the best of circumstances, and their fates weighed heavily on me as I moved around the room to find a place to perch. I continued walking, finding myself taking a seat two along from Darius.

“Did something happen that I should be aware of?” I asked sternly and he lifted his head from his hands, his eyes finding mine with no bravado or malice, just purest pain.

“Oh,” I breathed, knowing that feeling to the root of me and beyond.

“Just fuck off if you’re going to sit there judging me,” he muttered.

He sat back in his seat, destitute and forlorn, and I bit back the retort that came to my lips.

“Look, I cannot imagine what it’s like to come here alone, to leave behind the one person you…love.”

He frowned at me as if waiting for my words to turn sour.

“I am only so harsh on you because I love her too, and when someone hurts my family, I tend to get murderous. The fact that I have not dragged you to the cursed river and tossed you in for the demons to claim beyond the Harrowed Gate is a testament to how much I do think of you.”

“Trust me, if I could go back to the moment I trapped Roxy in that swimming pool, I’d bring down a world of wrath on the man I was that day. There are so many things I’d change. But how am I to destroy a monster who is me?” he asked bitterly, hatred glossing his eyes.

I sighed heavily, knowing that feeling too. “Your father Dark Coerced you in many ways, perhaps not so many as I, but I assure you I know the bitter taste of regret for the things I did under his influence. And I believe I have seen enough of your love for Roxanya to know that you are a changed man. You are free of your father’s taint, and I believe, had you stayed in the realm of the living, you would have made an…adequate husband to her.”

“Had to cut me down at the last moment there, didn’t you, relic?” he smirked.

“I cannot have you growing a bigger head than you already have, poor choice,” I said, my lips hooking up at the corner. “So, what happened?”

“Roxy’s going down a dangerous path. I’m just…worried,” he said tightly, though I suspected there was more to it than that.

“My daughters seem to like dangerous paths.” I frowned. “They tread them far too often. But perhaps that makes them experts in the matter.”

“Hm,” he breathed a laugh. “You might be right there.”

“I’m not often wrong, but when I am…I do attempt to admit it.” I didn’t say anything more, but perhaps he knew what I meant, even if I didn’t quite have the words to voice it.

Darius Acrux was not all bad, I supposed. And if there was one thing we had in common that neither of us could deny, it was that we were both pining for more time with a girl who had been lost to us. My little love, who was not so little anymore.