Zodiac Academy: The Awakening

THE SIREN ORDER Enhancement class was held on the edge of the expansive lake in Water Territory. The sun was glimmering beyond the clouds, making a good effort at breaking through as we strode up the path to where around fifty students were gathering together for the class. Aqua House was far out at the centre of the lake, a group of beautiful domes, its sea green exterior sparkling in the morning light.

We hurried forward so we weren’t the last ones to arrive and the Professor looked to us with a welcoming smile. “Good morning girls, I’m Professor Undine,” she said, beckoning us closer. She was young with large blue eyes the colour of the ocean. Her hair was a rich crimson, braided down her spine and almost reaching her ass. She looked like a cross between Lara Croft and The Little Mermaid in her tank top and shorts. An outfit that it wasn’t nearly warm enough for. 

“Come on everyone, get in the circle,” she called.

Everyone sat down in the grass and we dropped into a space between two guys, looking toward Undine at the heart of the group.

My gaze snagged on Max Rigel on the other side of the circle and my heart juddered. His arms were locked around his knees and his muscles were on show in the tight t-shirt he wore. Everything about him screamed Alpha male and I couldn’t help but appreciate his masculine shape for half a second. 

A slim blonde guy beside him muttered something in his ear and Max started grinning. He somehow looked even less approachable now he was smiling.

Undine took something from her pocket and I eyed the strange contraption with interest. A silver ball hung in a nest of wire and as she flicked a finger at it, the ball inside started spinning.

She tossed it at a girl across the circle who caught it out of the air.

“Happy,” the girl announced, reading something off of the ball as it stopped spinning.

“Great,” Undine said. “Who wants to start?”

Max groaned, seeming annoyed and I tried to work out what the hell was going on. “Can’t we do fear again, miss?”

“We did fear last week,” Undine said firmly. “And besides, you spend enough of your time terrorising the other students at Zodiac to get your fix, Mr Rigel. You don’t need to get it here every week too.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Max growled.

“Language, Mr Rigel. That’s five points from Aqua,” Undine shot at him. “You know how much I hate the Fs and the Ss.”

“What about the Cs?” Max asked with a smirk.

Undine ignored him, glancing around the circle until her eyes landed on Tory and I. “Ah, this is a good opportunity to introduce you to our Order, girls. Come and stand up here with me.”

We rose to our feet and my skin tingled uncomfortably as I felt everyone’s eyes on us. We joined Undine and she gave us an encouraging smile.

“Think of a happy memory you’ve had this week,” she instructed and I shared a look with Tory.

Happy? We hadn’t had much time to be happy with everything that had gone on in the past few days.

“Er…” Tory frowned and I chewed my lip.

A couple of giggles sounded around us and a blush crept into my cheeks.

“You must have something that’s made you happy in the last seven days? Or the last fourteen perhaps?” She raised her brows, seeming concerned as she glanced between us.

With slightly more leeway it was easier. Before Geraldine had been attacked, our night with Diego and Sofia had been a lot of fun. I tried to focus on only the good parts and nodded to Undine. “Got one.”

Tory nodded as well with a grin.

“Okay.” Undine pointed out ten people in the circle and they all rushed forward like dogs eager for a meal.

I shrank as five of them surrounded me and the other five ringed Tory.

“Take your coat off,” a girl with dark ringlets urged and someone pulled it from my shoulders, tossing it on the grass.

“Hey!” I went to grab it but the five of them closed ranks.

“Hold that happy memory in your heads,” Undine instructed.

Were we about to fly off to Neverland right now? Because I was pretty sure we needed fairy dust for that.

I tried to relax, knowing this was just the way of the Siren Order. And if I belonged to it, I had to try and fit in.

I conjured the happy memory again and the group around me pressed their hands to my bare arms. One even cupped my cheek.

The Sirens shifted in nearer, starting to smile. I realised one of them was the blonde boy who’d been sitting with Max and my stomach knotted.

“Tell us about your memory,” a girl said and a wave of calm washed over my heart.

“I was out in town drinking with friends,” I said, recalling how Sofia had consumed all four of Diego’s shots before any of us had had a chance to grab one. A snort of laughter escaped me and the Sirens chuckled along with me.

“What else?” Max’s friend asked, seeming less affected by my laughter. “I can sense something else in you, tell us about the rest of your evening.” His eyes were hopeful as he brushed his fingers over my wrist. My tongue loosened under his influence and I felt myself drifting toward the later events that evening. “I saw Professor Orion.”

One girl gasped then grinned keenly as she held onto my arm.

I frowned, but the blonde guy squeezed my flesh, a wave of their power calling me to keep going and my words kept flowing. “He was angry…he’s so hot when he’s angry.”

Some of the group moaned and Undine suddenly clapped her hands. “Enough. We’re not doing lust today.”

Everyone released me and the reality of what I’d just said slammed into me. My cheeks burned as the Sirens headed away and I blew out a breath of annoyance at Max’s friend.

I turned toward Tory but found she was still entranced by her group and I could almost see them feeding on whatever happy story she was telling.

Undine split the rest of the Sirens up into groups and they started recounting happy memories while their classmates drank in the power of their emotions. Max laid down in the grass, cupping his head with his hands, clearly not interested in participating.

The Professor moved to my side, giving me an apologetic smile. “You’ve got to keep your wits about you, Darcy. You can build shields and control which emotions Sirens can access.” She rubbed my arm, leaning closer. “Orion is on your mind, huh?” She nudged me and I nodded as I recalled the way his dominating aura made me feel sometimes. Completely powerless and yet at the same time like I wanted to reach out and feel the graze of his stubble on my hands, run my fingers around the back of his neck and press my lips against his. He was intimidating as hell but there was also something about him that just…drew me in. And I’d maybe once or twice daydreamed about being spread across his desk under the full keenness of his rage.

Professor Undine sighed and I jerked away from her, realising what she’d done. “Hey,” I snapped, furious.

Why is everyone after those emotions?!

And why am I even turned on by Lord Voldemort’s hotter, younger cousin?

“Sorry,” she said, but the smile pulling at her lips told me she didn’t really mean it.

Leeches. All of them. In a way, I disliked this power more than the Vampires’. At least with them they only took magic, the Sirens could pull my darkest thoughts from my lips and feed on my feelings about them while draining my power.

Max suddenly pounced on Undine from behind, grabbing her shoulders. She squeaked in alarm and Max smiled keenly as he kept his hands on her to absorb her frightened reaction.

“We’re not doing fear, Rigel,” she snarled, throwing up a hand so a gust of air shoved him away from her. She stalked away, checking on the other students and Max hounded off after a couple of girls, looking like he wasn’t done playing games.

I relaxed a little as I spotted Tory moving to join me, wondering if we could somehow ditch this class before any more of my thoughts on Orion were offered out like candy.

“I am not a Siren,” she announced, seeming as pissed off as me as she arrived.

I nodded my agreement then noticed Max watching us as he stood with the blonde guy and some pretty girls. He stared at us for a few hard seconds then turned to his friends and started talking in a low voice.

“I don’t like the look of that,” Tory whispered as she scowled at them.

“Maybe Undine will just let us skip the rest of this?” I suggested hopefully. “We’re obviously not part of this Order.”

Tory nodded firmly. “I barely like hugging people let alone having heart to hearts.”

Before we could broach the subject with Undine, she broke up the groups and gathered everyone to the lake’s edge. She pulled off her shirt and I gazed at her in bafflement, leaning closer to Tory. “Does every Order have to get naked before they turn?”

She snorted a laugh. “Apparently.”

She’d told me about Darius’s dragon form and how he’d gotten butt naked in front of her before leaping out of a window. Everyone in Zodiac seemed to be body confident and ready to strip off at any given moment. But I just couldn’t see myself doing it no matter what Order I was a part of.

As Undine tossed her shirt on the ground, my brows raised at the sight of her skin rippling and changing. Dark red scales glittered across her flesh, fanning out across her body, shimmering like oil in the hazy sunlight. They reached up to her chin and went no further so she appeared to be wrapped in a skin-tight suit made from a mermaid’s tale. She ran toward the lake, diving in and disappearing under the waves with incredible grace.

“I’m not going in there,” Tory announced and I nodded as we drew away from the shore and the deep water.

The rest of the students followed, their scales an array of colours from richest pinks, to pebble grey-blues and darkest green. I stared in wonder as nearly all of them jumped in and none returned to the surface.

My heart stalled as I found Max remaining on the shore with his friends, his shirt removed and his huge chest glimmering with deep navy scales. I was injected with an Aqua Man infused fantasy and caught myself before it got out of control.

Why were these Heirs all so devastatingly beautiful? At least one of them should have had skinny arms and a tuba for a nose. I could only imagine their parents were all gods from the heavens themselves.

Max grinned at us, stalking nearer until the weight of his power fell over us.

He took both of our hands, winding his fingers between ours. Calm rippled through my chest and guided my anxious thoughts away on swift wings.

“Hi,” Tory whispered and Max smiled keenly at her.

“How’re my favourite twins?” he asked, a conspiratorial note to his voice. His friends laughed, but none of them approached, respecting Max’s boundaries as he held onto us for himself.

“Come sit with me,” he said, his voice lilting and soft. He guided us toward the edge of the lake and we sat either side of him. His skin never parted from mine and I was vaguely aware that all the time he was touching me I was under his spell. But I couldn’t seem to make myself pull away.

He wrapped an arm around each of our shoulders and the heavy fog over my mind thickened.

“What’s your greatest fear, Tory?” he breathed in her ear and she gazed up at him, her eyes widening with the worst memory of her life. My throat constricted as I recalled that night a few years ago, the slicing terror of almost losing my sister.

Max sighed softly, his thumb caressing my shoulder as he kept his eyes on Tory.

I could see her fighting the draw he had over her and for a second I almost managed to tug away from him in a bid to help her. His influence pushed against my heart again, soothing me and I fell against him, resting my head on his shoulder. The scent of sea salt sailed over me and I listened quietly as Tory recounted that awful evening.

“My ex-boyfriend was driving me home late one night. We’d been fighting and he kept shouting at me. I told him to shut up and watch the road. He was driving like a maniac.” Max rubbed her arm, pulling her closer. “We were heading back from a weekend in Wisconsin. The roads were so dark but he wouldn’t slow down. He took a turning too fast and…” Her eyes glimmered with tears and I reached out to take her hand. 

“We veered off a bridge and crashed into the river below. The car sank so fast and my ex…he got out. He left me. Just swam to the river bank. I couldn’t get my seatbelt undone and I panicked. The air was running out and it was so, so dark.” Tears ran down her cheeks and my heart strummed with sympathy. “I couldn’t feel my fingers through the cold. And when the water went over my head I just thought that was it. I was going to die stuck in that shitty car while my even shittier boyfriend sat on the riverbank and didn’t try to help me.” She swallowed deeply and my own tears fell free as my heart squeezed tightly. “Luckily a farmer had seen us swerve off of the road. He swam out and cut the belt. He saved me. But since then I just can’t go in deep water. It frightens the hell out of me.” She shivered and Max soothed her, rubbing her arm.

He turned to me and I felt his power sinking deep into my bones, sucking out everything he wanted. “And you? What’s your worst fear Darcy?” His voice was a deadly purr and my deepest fear rose in me the second he requested it.

“Every foster family we ever had got rid of us. We were barely in one home for more than a year. We caused trouble. Sometimes I regret some of the things I did so much. If I’d treated those families better, maybe they would have wanted me. That was almost bearable. I knew I was difficult to love but I didn’t think I was entirely unlovable not until…” I fought against his power, my heart squeezing with the memory that had ended with my hair blue and my trust in humanity gone forever. It was mine and I didn’t want to share it. I didn’t even want to relive it in my own head.

“Go on,” Max whispered, a hunger in his voice as his power wrapped around my tongue and pulled the words from my rebelling lips.

“This guy started pursuing me in school last year. I never really spent much time making friends with people but he was nice and it felt good to talk to someone who cared. We dated for around three months and I thought for one idiotic second I was actually falling for him.” I shook my head at myself, sucking in a breath as I went on. “I lost my virginity to him at a party and afterwards he was so cold with me. He would barely look at me and I knew something was terribly wrong. The way the air changes just before a storm, that was how it felt. He’d gotten what he wanted and he just left me there after feeding me some bullshit excuse about how he wasn’t ready for a relationship.”

“Darcy,” Tory whispered, as if trying to rouse herself from Max’s power to stop me, but it was too late. He had this memory in his grasp and he was going to reel it in like a fish on a hook.

“He dumped me five seconds after he’d gotten what he wanted. I got out of there as fast as I could. And on my way home, I was crying and couldn’t see properly. I tripped over on the sidewalk and bashed my right knee like the clumsy idiot I am. That night I sat in bed just staring at that bruise, wondering how a physical wound could look so bright and angry but emotional wounds stayed entirely invisible. I wanted my hurt branded on me, to remind me never to trust anyone again. So I dyed my hair the colour of that bruise. Black and blue. My own personal wound.” My heart twisted and knotted as tears collected in my eyes. I turned away, a flow of shame running through my blood. I’d never voiced that part of the story to my sister, let alone Max who was feeding on every word of if. But my tongue kept moving, giving him everything he wanted. “My deepest fear is being cast aside, my heart crushed by trusting blindly again. So I’ll never let anyone in again.”

Silence descended and I could feel the tug of Max’s power, draining me emotionally and magically. The tears had dried on my cheeks and the contact between us suddenly felt colder.

Max stood, leaving us on the ground as he stepped away. “Thanks for the meal Vegas. See ya.” He dove into the lake and my thoughts slammed back into realignment. His friends laughed heartily as they jumped in after him with hollers of excitement.

Neither Tory or I looked at each other for a long time. We stared across the lake. And I decided Sirens were my least favourite Order of them all.

I was still feeling magically drained by the time Tory and I arrived at lunch in The Orb and I wondered how I was going to refuel the power the Sirens had taken. We’d barely acknowledged what Max had done to us and I felt sure she didn’t want to talk about her fear as much I didn’t want to talk about mine.

I spotted Diego and Sofia in a corner of the room and we headed towards them. I was quietly glad Geraldine wasn’t here to lay out a table at the heart of the lounge for once, though I immediately felt guilty for it. The Nymph attack had apparently left her unable to heal as quickly as usual and her power was only just starting to restore.

The four Heirs were sitting on their usual couch and a hard wall built up in my chest as I surveyed them. Seth caught my eye and raised a hand to wave. I turned away, not trusting him one bit especially after one of his best friends had sucked my inner secrets out of me earlier. He’d probably heard all about what I’d told Max by now and the thought made me sick.

“Fuck them,” Tory hissed as we headed over to join our friends.

We sat side by side and I relaxed a little, glad when Sofia took over the conversation and started telling us about her own Order class. Diego had spent his class with the Harpies and it sounded like he’d had more fun than we had, riding around on their backs through the sky.

“You didn’t just ignore me did you, babe?” Seth dropped into the seat beside mine, wrapping his arm around my waist and sending a bolt of electricity through my heart.

“Go away,” I said, scooting down the seat to try and escape him.

“What’s up?” he asked as Diego and Sofia stared at him like the Loch Ness Monster had just joined our table.

“As if you don’t know,” Tory said dryly. “And can you stop pretending to like Darcy? No one’s falling for it.”

My heart stung at her words even though I knew she hadn’t mean it the way I’d taken it. But after revealing my inner fear to Max, that old wound felt thoroughly picked open right then.

“I didn’t mean that,” she said quickly and Seth pulled me against his hip, leaning around me to glare at my sister.

“Well what did you mean, Tor?” he asked.

“Don’t try that bullshit. We’re twins, nothing gets between us,” she snapped at him and I shoved him away again, shuffling back up to Tory’s side in a show of unity.

Seth frowned, playing with something in his hand. He glanced around at the icy stares he was receiving from everyone at the table then stood up with a snort of irritation.

Before he left he leant over my shoulder, his mouth brushing my ear. “Read it when you’re on your own.” I felt him slip something into my pocket and he turned, marching back to his friends who were watching us with unconcealed scowls.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, still looking over my shoulder at Seth as he rejoined his friends.

Diego snapped his fingers by my ear. “Earth to Darcy, please tell me you’re not interested in that perro?”

I didn’t answer. Partly because I didn’t know what perro meant, but also because I didn’t know what the answer was. The note Seth had put in my pocket seemed to be burning a hole there, begging me to run away somewhere and read it.

“You can’t!” Marguerite’s voice suddenly filled the entire Orb and everyone fell silent.

I wheeled around, spotting her standing above Darius as he gazed up at her from his position on the couch, seeming annoyed that she was causing such a scene.

“It’s over, move on,” he said coolly, turning his cheek to try and dismiss her.

“Darius, baby, how can you throw away everything we have?” She clutched his hand and he prised her fingers off of him, attempting to continue ignoring her.

“Darius!” she shrieked, fire bursting to life in her palms.

The Heirs were suddenly on their feet and Darius practically snarled at Marguerite as he glared down at her, almost nose to nose. The flames in her hands extinguished and she backed up, muttering an apology and bowing her head. Several of her friends ran forward to group around her and I spotted Kylie amongst them. My tongue thickened as the tension in the room weighed down on me.

“This is about them.” Marguerite suddenly pointed at Tory and I all the way across the room and my heart rammed into my throat. “Ever since they arrived you’ve been acting different.”

“Stop embarrassing yourself,” Caleb shot at her, rolling his eyes. “You just can’t deal with the fact that Darius got bored with you months ago. Move on, find someone else to screw. From what I’ve heard, it sounds like you need the practice.”

Marguerite looked to Darius in horror. “But you love me.”

Silence rang out and Darius glanced at his friends with a smirk. “Love you?” he laughed, turning back to her. “At what point in our once a week bed parties did you get that idea?”

She turned scarlet and her friends tried to pull her away, one of them petting her back.

Seth barked a laugh and Kylie shot him a death glare. “You’re no better. I saw that video of you and Darcy fucking Vega at the bar last Friday.”

Seth held his heart, faking a wound. “Sorry, babe, did I forget to ask your permission? You know I’m totally polyamorous right?”

She huffed at him, her hands balling into fists. “No Seth, you have never told me that.”

“No?” he questioned airily, leaning his shoulder against Max’s. “Well you can’t go poly-shaming me now can you?”

She glared at him coldly. “You’re a liar.”

The four Heirs fell deathly still and my heart seemed to freeze with them. Max stepped forward, cracking his neck. “Wanna say that again, peaches?”

Kylie backed up, a glimmer of fear entering her gaze. “He’s not polyamorous, Max, he’s just cheating on me.”

My brows raised and my stomach knotted. I had to give it to her. The girl was fighting her corner and she wasn’t going to let Seth get away with anything. 

Darius tried to walk around Marguerite and she grabbed his arm, holding on for dear life. “Please,” she begged and dark clouds drew over his eyes.

“Let go,” he said calmly, but nothing about him said calm.

She flinched back as if he’d been more abrupt and the other Heirs filed through the crowd of girls after him. They exited The Orb and the moment the door swung shut, mutters broke out throughout the whole lounge.

Marguerite wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve and I realised I should stop staring a moment too late. She and Kylie locked sights on us like a missile and my heart jolted hard.

“Bitches incoming,” Tory hissed as she tugged on my sleeve to get my attention.

My heart beat in time with their furious footfalls as they closed in on us. Sofia turned pale and Diego rested a hand on her arm, his jaw set as his eyes fell on the group of pissed off tigresses breathing down my neck.

Tory’s fists were clenched and I could tell she was preparing to defend herself with her power. There was no sign of the A.S.S and most of the girls in Kylie and Marguerite’s vengeance squad were sophomores or older. So that meant relying on our own poorly harnessed powers.

I turned, hoping to try and explain our way out of this before a fight erupted when the entire table flipped up into the air. I was thrown to the floor beside Tory and Sofia yelped as she and Diego were tossed aside too. The table shot up above us at speed and screams broke out as it burst into flames.

I threw up a hand to shield myself, panic flowing through me as glasses and plates cascaded from the fireball and smashed on the hard floor around us.

I rolled onto my knees in a bid to escape and Tory cast a rogue fireball from her hand. It flew too high, missing her target as it soared over the heads of our attackers and hit the far wall.

The table smashed back down to the floor behind us and I stumbled to my feet to escape the blast. I steadied myself and gazed back at the devastation, checking my friends were okay as my heart battered against my ribcage.

“What did he give you?” Kylie demanded, shooting forward and thrusting her hand into my blazer pocket.

I gasped as she clutched Seth’s note between her fingers before unfolding it and staring at whatever it said for a painfully long second. With a choked sob, she threw it at me and ran away into the crowd.

“Get out of Zodiac, Vega sluts,” Marguerite spat, her eyes spewing acid. She stormed away with her crew and my eyes fell to the note as it landed at my feet. Seth’s words were written in a scrawling handwriting and what they said made my heart pound like crazy.

Be my date for the dance.

I heard the group of girls make it out of The Orb, slamming the door behind them. My heart shuddered and nausea gripped my stomach. Because I knew without a doubt, this was far from over.