Zodiac Academy: The Awakening

THE DAY OF the dance arrived and Tory and I headed down to The Orb in our new outfits. Tory had ordered us dresses last minute and I was amused by the way she kept spending our inheritance like we already owned it. We still had to pass The Reckoning to even earn a place here at Zodiac. And if we wanted to see a dime more than our stipend, we had to graduate as well.

My dress was navy with lacy sleeves and fell down to my knees in a fan of silky material; Tory wore a plunging black maxi-dress which showed off her curves and a push-up bra that enhanced them even more. My hair was pulled up in a loose chignon bun while Tory’s was curled and hung down her back.

The sky was an artist’s palette of pastel tones, the clouds perfectly still as they sat in the endless pool of the heavens. Ahead, The Orb loomed, appearing a deep bronze under the hazy evening light. Students were arriving from every direction dressed in beautiful gowns and suits, an air of anticipation seeping through the atmosphere. I was caught up in it, too, enthralled by the buzz.

I spotted Sofia up ahead in a pale blue dress which danced around her calves. Her arm was linked through Diego’s who wore a smart suit and I smiled at the sight of them chatting and laughing together.

Tory and I quickened our pace to catch up, but a hand caught my arm from behind and I was wheeled around into Seth’s body. He brushed the tip of his nose against my temple and curled a finger around a loose lock at the nape of my neck, tugging gently to incite a deep shiver in me. “Hey, babe.”

A deep, musky scent rolled from his neck and I fought away the inviting allure of it, pressing a hand to his firm bicep and stepping back. His hair was pulled up into a topknot which gave him a sort of preppy vibe. Especially paired with the fitted white shirt that was pulled taut over his muscular frame and dark pants hanging low on his hips. He looked good enough to eat and the grin on his face said he felt the same about me.

I cleared my throat. “Hi.”

I felt Tory’s eyes on me from behind but she didn’t intervene and I vaguely wondered why.

“I had planned to walk you all the way from your room, but you weren’t there.” He cocked a brow as if that was a total mystery. “It’s almost as if you weren’t expecting me.”

I rolled my eyes but a playful smile pulled at my mouth. The excitement on campus tonight was too addictive to ignore and I didn’t see the harm in sharing a bit of banter with one of the Heirs for five seconds.

“I never accepted your offer,” I said, then threw a glance over his shoulder, pretending to look for someone. “I thought that note must have been meant for your girlfriend and somehow ended up in my pocket instead.”

He grinned darkly, stepping forward and I shot a look behind me, finding Tory had joined Sofia and Diego, the three of them waiting for me at the end of the path.

My stomach seemed to hover and I knew I should just end this conversation and walk away.

Seth shifted closer, his fingers winding around my wrist and sending a flare of heat into my veins. He leaned forward, moving his mouth to my ear. “I think she’s got the message now. It’s over.”

“I thought you were polyamorous.” I stepped back again, his closeness overly familiar as usual.

“I’m definitely the amorous part.” He grinned widely and held his arm out for me to take.

I snorted a laugh. “No, Seth. I’m going with my sister.”

“Ooh twincest,” he said brightly.

I wrinkled my nose but couldn’t fight a laugh. “You’re twisted.”

“Real twisted,” he growled. “You wanna find out how much back in my room?”

“No thanks.” I turned away from him and tried to pull off the cool stroll away, only I stumbled on my heels and muttered a curse as I joined my friends.

So smooth.

Tory raised an eyebrow and I gave her a not now expression that she surprisingly accepted without complaint.

Diego moved into the middle of our group and draped his arms around all three of us. For once, he wasn’t wearing his hat and I was kinda surprised to find his dark curls fell down almost to his shoulders. “Can we pretend you’re all my dates tonight? Make every guy in Zodiac think I’m er – cómo se dice? – the shit.”

“Na you’re good.” Tory ducked out of his hold with a teasing grin.

“Hey!” he laughed and I slipped away too, giggling as he wrapped his arms around Sofia to hold onto her. She turned bright pink as he tucked her nearer and made no effort to leave.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he murmured and she smiled wider than I’d ever seen.

“Then you’d better make sure you don’t drink so much and have to duck out early again,” I teased.

“I can handle my drink!” Sofia protested, flushing red. “There was something wrong with those shots.”

“Like the fact that you couldn’t handle so many of them?” Tory asked with a laugh. 

“No! Like they were too strong or there was something else in them or-”

“C’mon guys let’s stop teasing her and just enjoy our night,” Diego said, interrupting her mid-rant.

Tory and I exchanged a grin as we let the subject drop but Sofia continued to look a little annoyed about it.

As we closed in on The Orb, my Atlas pinged in my bag. I frowned, sliding it out and eyeing the notification on the screen.

Falling Star:

Our stars are finally in alignment.

It’s time we meet.

I’m waiting in Venus Library.

I stopped walking abruptly, staring at the message in shock. Tory moved closer, noticing my reaction.

“What’s up?”

In answer, I thrust my Atlas under her nose.

She read the message and her eyes rounded. Diego and Sofia grouped closer, a question in their eyes.

“Falling Star wants to meet,” I told them and Sofia bobbed up and down in excitement.

“You have to tell us everything when you get back,” she said.

I nodded, my heart hammering as I glanced over at Venus Library to the east of The Orb. The huge red brick walls rose up several floors, the deepening sunset casting them in blood-red light.

I made a move but Diego caught my hand. “Wait, is this a good idea? It might not be safe.”

“It’s fine,” I promised. “Falling Star has helped us. Why would they hurt us?”

He seemed concerned, sharing a look with Sofia.

Tory rolled her eyes then started walking away. “It’s happening Diego, get over it.”

I gave him an apologetic shrug and hurried after my sister, my limbs fuelled with adrenaline as we quickened our pace toward the library.

“Do you think Diego had a point?” I asked when he was out of earshot.

Tory shook her head, her features set. “I wanna know who it is, don’t you?”

“Of course,” I agreed. “I just dunno if we should be bringing some backup…”

“Too late now,” Tory shrugged as she opened the door to the library and jabbed me in the ribs to encourage me inside.

I gave up my protests, too curious to turn back anyway. I didn’t want Falling Star to run off again if we hesitated too long. And it was time we found out who the hell had been messaging us.

What’s the worst that can happen in a library anyway?

Tell that to the guy who was killed by Colonel Mustard with the candlestick.

The library curved around in a wide circle, the floor painted to resemble the night sky in tones of silver and deepest blue. Above us, an incredible globe hung from a silver chain, built in the image of Venus. A light glowed within it, changing from time to time and casting a hazy glow of green then blue, purple, red, pink.

At the back of the room was high a balcony above which were smaller silvery orbs hanging from the ceiling to light the place.

We crept through the first row of bookcases, the scent of old parchment tingling my senses. The library had plenty of shadowy corners to hide in and the thought sent goosebumps fluttering across my skin.

“Where are they?” I whispered, the place seeming to require silence.

“Here,” a deep voice answered and a man stepped into the aisle in front of us.

My heart raced as I stared upon the face of Falling Star. He smoothed down his long grey moustache, taking a step forward out of the thick shadows.

Professor Astrum, our tarot teacher looked a little pale as he glanced between us. “Girls,” he said softly. “I’m sorry for not revealing myself sooner.” He smiled warmly and my thundering heart began to slow. “I was a good friend of your mother’s,” he said, pausing to let that sink in. “Merissa loved you both very dearly.”

Tory folded her arms. “Is that why she dumped us in the mortal world to fend for ourselves?”

Astrum frowned deeply. “You don’t understand, dear Roxanya.”

“Tory,” she corrected sharply. “Don’t use that name. It isn’t mine.”

I pressed a hand to Tory’s arm, giving her a pleading look. If we angered him now, he might not tell us anything. And I seriously wanted to hear what he had to say.

Tory gave me a nod that said she’d hold her tongue and I turned back to Astrum.

“Go on,” I urged.

“Those times were dark. Your birth father, King Vega…The Savage King, he was the cruelest of rulers, barely a day went by without a public execution in the capital. Merissa was trying to protect you from him, from the way the world was too.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, my heart pounding at the idea of being related to someone with such a terrible reputation.

“Nymph attacks rose every year and King Vega grew panicked, lashing out at his own people in response. He was deeply afraid of them. And in the end, that fear was valid. They murdered him, as you know, and the rest of his family.”

My throat closed up as I thought of the two human twins who’d taken the fate that was meant for us. And that made me feel all kinds of uncomfortable things towards my birth mother.

How can we be related to people like that?

“And you think Darius’s family is involved in that somehow?” Tory asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“There is much evidence to suggest it, yes. And the stars…they give me clues.” He took a Tarot deck from inside his tan blazer, rubbing his fingers across them. “I consult with the heavens using these…they were your mother’s. She was adept at reading the stars and we often consulted over them together. When she died…this pack arrived on my desk. She must have bound them to me.” He sighed heavily, the pain of her loss clear in his eyes.

“What was she like?” I asked and felt Tory stiffening in my periphery.

Astrum gazed between us with a dark grief in his eyes. “Strong, beautiful, powerful. Her death still haunts me. For many years I tried to deduce from her cards what occurred before the night your parents were murdered. My instincts tell me the answers to my questions lies amongst them but they have only revealed some to me.”

“So what have they told you?” Tory asked.

“They told me a dark conspirator was pulling the strings behind the murders. That the Nymphs were just pawns in a much bigger game,” he said, his voice dripping with fear. His eyes flicked over our shoulders and I could sense he was getting jittery. “No Nymph would have gotten into the royal palace without help. And though they receive Fae power when they kill, rarely do they learn to harness it well enough to attack our kind with skill.” He started thumbing through the cards in his hand, doing it so smoothly I imagined it was a habit he was accustomed to. “They were trained by Fae,” he whispered and icy water seemed to spill through me. “And now that you have returned, I believe whoever controlled the Nymphs before is doing so again. I have long suspected Lord Acrux and now I think his son has taken up the torch too. With the help of Orion, a man whose family has deep roots in dark magic.”

“Dark magic?” I breathed and Astrum nodded.

He looked over his shoulder, his thumb brushing through the Tarot deck at an increased speed. “The attacks are starting again and both Darius and Orion are linked to every scene. And each death is occurring frighteningly near to you both. If they are somehow controlling the Nymphs to try and-”

A creak sounded somewhere deep within the shelves and I stiffened.

Sweat beaded on Astrum’s brow and his thumb suddenly halted on a card. He flipped it out of the deck, his eyes whipping across it back and forth. When he looked back at us, his face was as white as a sheet.

“Someone is listening to us,” Astrum said so deathly quiet I almost didn’t hear it.

My heart crashed against my ribcage and my breathing hitched as Astrum backed away.

He shook his head, seeming frantic as he continued to thumb through his deck. “Go now. I’ll find you again another day. There is much more to be said.” He darted into the shadows and Tory grabbed my arm, pulling me into a fast walk then a jog, then a run.

We fled through the library and out onto the path, my breathing ragged as we hurried away from the building.

I didn’t relax until we were closing in on The Orb and the creeping feeling from the library finally started to wear off.

“What do you think?” I asked Tory as we stopped outside the huge golden dome. Laughter and music sailed from inside, the noise comforting after what had just occurred.

“I think he’s one loose screw away from crazy, but he also has a point.”

“But if Darius and Orion are after us, why do it this way?” I questioned. “They could have killed us a hundred times by now. Orion said himself students dying in accidents on campus is regular enough.”

Tory shook her head, frowning as she tried to provide an answer. “Maybe they don’t wanna risk getting caught, so they want a Nymph to do it instead?”

“Maybe,” I said, thinking back to the night I’d confronted Orion. It might have been stupid, but I’d believed him when he’d told me he didn’t want to hurt Tory and I. But what if I was just being naive? The guy wasn’t exactly a moral martyr. He could be a pro liar and a seasoned killer. I didn’t know him enough to judge.

I sighed, my insides in knots as I tried to figure out the answer. Because it felt like we were missing something vital.

“Come on,” Tory sighed. “Let’s enjoy the party at least. I’d rather not dwell on the fact that our father was some psycho king.”

“And our mother swapped us for two random human kids who died in our place?” I added.

“And that,” she agreed with a grim smile.

Someone shoved their way past us and I stumbled into Tory, spotting Marguerite heading up to The Orb, her arm linked with a gorilla-sized guy I recognised as a junior.

I straightened my dress, lifting my chin as I headed inside with Tory, irritation sparking through my gut. All thoughts of Marguerite were forgotten as I took in the incredible decorations laid out inside The Orb.

The lounge had been transformed into a ballroom that embodied the season of Fall. Golden leaves swept across the light wooden floor in an endless magical breeze. They dropped from a mass of beautiful vines which sprawled across the ceiling, turning green then orange, red, gold, finally falling to join those dancing on the floor. The process started all over again and I gazed up at the vines in fascination as we moved deeper into the throng of students.

I spotted Sofia chatting with a couple of girls with silvery hair and bright smiles. Something about the Pegasus Order held a calming kind of aura that made them stand out as what they were. The longer I spent at Zodiac, the easier it was becoming to recognise the differences in each one. But there were still so many I was yet to even learn about. And I was lost as to where we fit in.

I searched for Diego but before I located him, someone brushed my elbow as they stepped up behind me. My breathing hitched as the scent of cinnamon rolled under my nose.

“Evening,” a deep voice murmured in my ear and I didn’t have to look up to know who it was.

Orion moved past me and disappeared into the crowd before I could say a word in greeting. I was left with the lasting impression of his quarterback body fitted into a nice shirt and ebony slacks that clung to his ass and practically forced me to stare at it.

Great, now I’m eyeing up a potential serial killer.

If there was one final ass I had to stare at though…

Tory snatched a couple of shots from a waiter’s tray and planted one in my hand with a devilish grin. I wasn’t sure it was the best idea after what had happened last Friday. But then again, when had I ever said no to a free shot of tequila?