by Cara Wylde
For a moment there, I felt like I’d lost him. In his vision of the universe, my logic was just gibberish, and he simply couldn’t process what I’d just said. I rolled my eyes and made to walk past him, but he reacted on instinct, grabbing me by the arm, his fingers digging so deep into my flesh that he left red marks. He’d stopped me not because he had a particularly good comeback, but because Sariel, the almighty archangel, had to have the last word.
“What do you know, kuchka?” And there it was again! “Nothing. You’re in over your head, you don’t know how our world works, and we will break you.”
“Who’s we? You and Lorna? You and the guys? You and the Violent Death Cabal?”
He grinned, rather pleased with himself. “You won’t see us coming.”
He released my arm so suddenly that I almost lost my balance. I rubbed the painful bruises as I watched him walk purposefully down the corridor, unlock his door and slam it behind him.
“Seriously, what’s your fucking deal?” I whispered when I was sure he couldn’t hear me. “Nutcase.”
I went into the supply closet, grabbed a bin and a mop, and proceeded to clean the mess he’d made of my dinner. It was a good thing the kitchens were open, basically, twenty-four seven.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Mabon. I walked with Klaus down the narrow path that led through the forest, and we could already see the red and orange flames of the campfires in the distance. There were four. Four Cabals, so four campfires. Klaus had been nice enough to ditch his friends for an hour and walk with me, so I wouldn’t enter the camp of torture alone. Not surprisingly, his friends didn’t want to be around me.
“It’s not because they don’t like you,” he said as he removed a fallen branch from our way with a flick of his wrist. “They’re scared. If the Mighty Jerks, as you call them, see them siding with you, they might take revenge on them.”
“And you? You’re not afraid?”
“Nah.”
Liar. If he hadn’t been afraid, he would have spent more time with me. Not just in class and at the library, but on the weekends, too. He went out and did all sorts of activities with the Merciful Death Cabal, while I stayed inside and studied my ass off. On the other hand, maybe not having friends was a good thing. Sure, I had Patricia and the rest of the staff, but they were always busy, so I got busy around them, too, reading extra books and doing extra research. The only fun activity I could do with Patty was to decorate cookies and cupcakes.
“Speaking of revenge,” I started in a low voice. “I need your help.”
“What for?” I could hear the alarm in his voice, and I knew that I could as well finish what I had to say, but it wouldn’t make any difference.
“I want to get back at Sariel. GC and Paz, too, maybe. But Sariel deserves it most.”
“Now, why would you do that? Why would you even think it? Do you want to make your life harder than it already is?”
“What do you mean harder? My life sucks right now. Because of them. I need to retaliate in some way, stand up to them, otherwise they’ll just bully me forever because I’m weak. I wouldn’t ask for your help if I could do it myself. I’m human, they’re freakin’ gods. Without you, I don’t stand a chance.”
“Technically, just one of them is a god.” He started walking faster, and I picked up the pace to keep up with him. What a lousy friend he was… The second I asked something of him, he didn’t know how to make a quicker run for it. “I can’t help you, sister, I’m sorry.”
“You’re a mage. I’m nothing.”
He stopped and turned to face me. The lights from the campfires reflected in his eyes, and I saw how sad he was when he spoke again. “You’re not nothing, Mila. Don’t ever say that. You’re better than them.” I smiled bitterly, and he insisted. “You are. Don’t stoop to their level.”
“You know what? Maybe you should stop calling me sister. I’m not your sister. I’m not even your friend. Because if I were, you wouldn’t treat me like you’ve been treating me lately.”
He looked hurt, but I didn’t care. I knew I was right.
“You know why…”
“Why you keep your distance when you don’t have to interact with me? Yeah. Because you’re scared shitless. Just like the others. At least, the MDC doesn’t pretend that they’re my friends. They’ve kept away from me since day one, so okay. Fine. I can deal with that. I can appreciate their honesty. But you? You keep saying you’re my friend, you keep calling me sister…” I shook my head to emphasize my point. “I don’t see it.”
“I’ve tried to help you. Remember how I teleported all those dead cockroaches out?”
“Yeah. I could have thrown them out myself. They were dead. No big deal.”
He ran a hand through his light-blond hair. “Mila, you have to understand…”
“That you’re a coward? That you’re a mage, and you have all these powers, and still… you’re a coward who won’t stand up for his friend,” I mimicked air quotes, “because he might get his own feathers ruffled?”
His jaw clenched as he looked straight into my eyes. “No, Mila, you have to understand that I can’t mess this up. I can’t risk losing worth points over some crazy shenanigans. I can’t risk enraging the Mighty Jerks, getting in trouble, drawing the professor’s attention to myself. The Headmaster’s attention… It’s not that I don’t want to help you or spend time with you. Because deep down, I do. But I can’t. If my parents find out, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“If they find out that you’re hanging out with a human?” He nodded, and I rolled my eyes. “Right. Your reputation.”
“Their reputation, not mine. They already have to deal with the fact that… well, I like boys. They haven’t gotten over it. When the invitation to apply to Grim Reaper Academy came in the mail, it literally saved me from being disowned. I make it through the end of year tree, I become a Grim Reaper in my own right, and they forgive my... “
“Gayness?”
“I wanted to say digression, but yeah. Sure. That.”
“I don’t believe this! Klaus, your parents are bullies! They’re bullying you just as much as the Mighty Jerks bully me. On a more emotional level, but it’s still so, so bad. Don’t let them do this to you!”
He shot me one last look, turned around, and walked straight to his Cabal. I blinked in confusion as I found myself alone in the middle of the road, but the confusion didn’t last long. Kitty and Sammy bumped into me from behind, their sharp elbows digging into my ribs.
“Good luck tonight, dumpster girl. We hope they’ll eat you alive. Put you out of your misery.”
They laughed, and I shuddered. I didn’t have any decent comeback in me, and it was probably better to keep my mouth shut, anyway. I straightened my back, took a deep breath, and headed to the VDC campfire. Mrs. Po was already there, hovering over the students as they roasted marshmallows, explaining the rules of her “little exercise”, as she liked to call it. I called it “death by public humiliation”, but that was just me. Francis was flanked by Sariel and GC, so I had no other good option but to sit between two boys that I hadn’t interacted with yet.
“The Academy is putting so much strain on you, kids,” Mrs. Po was saying. “I’ve seen how hard you work. You barely have time for yourselves, so it’s no wonder you haven’t bonded with your Cabal, yet.”
“Or, maybe, we haven’t bonded with our Cabal because the sorting was all kinds of fucked up this year,” I heard a guy whisper to the guy next to him. “Fucking Headmaster Colin.”
Everyone seemed to hate the Headmaster. I had no idea who’d been before him, but the students and parents alike loved to blame Mason Colin for all the things they didn’t agree with at the Academy. Seeing all the drama, maybe being an outsider wasn’t that bad, after all.
“But don’t worry,” Mrs. Po chirped. “Tonight is all about you and the Cabal you belong to. Forget about everything else and allow yourselves to see and be seen. I kno
w some of you think this exercise is useless. Yes, Mr. Gracewing, I’m looking at you.” Sariel rolled his eyes. “But if I may, I believe it’s crucial. You’re going to spend the next three years together, eating at the same table, living in the same tower, and starting with year two, attending the same classes, specifically designed for our future Violent Death Reapers. Yes, starting with year two, there will be less classes that you’ll share with the other Cabals. You will see the MDC, the RDC, and the NDC in Geography, and on the field in PE only. The rest of the subjects will be designed for the specific requirements of each Cabal. So, you see, my darlings…” She took a long moment to lock eyes with each of us, one by one. When our eyes met, I had the fleeting impression that she sighed right before looking away. “That’s why you have to start getting to know each other. You won’t be just classmates or members of the same Cabal. You’ll have to become friends to make it through the rigors of the next two years.”
Yeah. Her speech didn’t resonate with me at all. Apparently, it hadn’t resonated with the others, either. The minute she walked away and went to tell the RDC the same thing, the boys started laughing and making crude jokes. I felt sorry for Mrs. Po. She was such a nice lady. She deserved more respect from her students, but I wasn’t going to point that out to the Jerk Cabal.
“So, who wants to start?” a dark-haired guy asked.
Everyone ignored him at first, then Sariel spoke up. “Yes, someone! Anyone! Let’s get this over with, so we can move the fuck on with our lives.”
It was strange watching them. The only ones in the VDC who had some sort of connection were Sariel, Pazuzu, GC, and Francis. They sat next to each other most of the time and talked between themselves. That was… when the girls weren’t drooling all over them. It was easy to see they thought they were the only ones who belonged in the Violent Death Cabal.
“I’ll start!” GC moved closer to the fire. “But first, why the hell are we all drinking soda and light beer?”
He dug into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a flask. The guys cheered and held out their plastic cups. I made myself small, hoping GC would forget about me. No such luck. He leaned so close to the fire that the flames almost licked his cheeks, and I was forced to pass my cup to the guy next to me, who passed it along, too, until GC could pour a generous amount of whatever was in that flask into my soda. I shouldn’t have agreed. God knew what he was giving me, but the others were already drinking it, so if they were fine, I’d be fine too. He looked so gorgeous in the light of the campfire. This was the first time I saw him wearing something other than his school uniform or PE uniform. He had a pair of jeans on, a black T-shirt that showed off his lean muscles, and a leather jacket that made him look rather dangerous. Also, interesting. I took a sip of my soda as I looked straight into his eyes. It was as if he was waiting for my verdict. I nodded and took another sip. Not bad. What is this? Rum? Apparently, GC Apis knew how to make a decent Cuba Libre in a plastic cup.
“Okay, ya’ ready? Here’s what I have to share about me. It applies both to before the Academy and now, but who cares?” He laughed. “Mrs. Po thinks the Academy will change us.”
“I’m pretty sure she thinks it has already changed us,” Sariel snickered.
Well, it has changed me, I thought. It has changed my life. Not sure if for the better, but at least it’s different from living with my parents and scrubbing toilets. I wasn’t going to say any of that when, inevitably, my turn came.
“You all know me as GC. But do you know what it stands for?” It was a rhetorical question, obviously. “Golden Calf. Because I’m a god and a shifter, bitches!” He set his cup down and shrugged off his jacket. “And I’ll prove it to you. Right here and now.” He didn’t stop there. He grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it up over his head. I choked on my drink.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Paz said. “Sit down. I don’t want to see you naked.”
GC ignored him and went to work on the buttons of his pants. “Sorry, mate. I like these clothes, I don’t want to tear them to pieces.”
“Seriously? You’re going to shift into a bull?” My voice sounded strange to me. I couldn’t believe I’d broken my self-imposed silence! Sariel and Paz looked straight at me, as if they were surprised I was still there.
“At least someone is excited to see your dick,” Sariel said.
I shot him a death glare. Contradicting him would’ve been like putting gas on fire. I didn’t want to see GC’s dick. What the hell?! That was so rude and disgusting! I blushed involuntarily, which probably said a lot about how I was trying to lie to myself in my head. Anyway, I did want to see him shift into a bull. A golden calf, like his name said.
“You’re not the original Golden Calf, so stop making such a fuss about it,” Paz said. He sounded displeased. He shot me a glance, which I caught from the corner of my eye. I was too busy watching GC roll his jeans down his legs. “If you take off your underwear, I swear I’ll beat you up.” Was he jealous? He sounded pretty jealous.
“Why, Paz? Are you afraid that if our normie sees my dick, she’ll be ruined for you?”
I bit the inside of my cheek. Now, everyone was looking at me, waiting for my reaction. Even Francis seemed mildly interested. Sariel was having the time of his life, that much was obvious from the constant smirk he on his lips.
“I don’t want to see your dick,” I said. “But I admit I’d like to see you shift into a bull.”
“No, for real, normie. I’m not just any kind of bull. I’m a golden calf. Just like my grandfather and my father. I’m Golden Calf Apis the Third.”
“Your family has no inspiration for names,” Paz muttered.
“It’s tradition.”
“The first Golden Calf was your grandfather?” I asked, now thoroughly fascinated with GC. “That means… Oh my God, how old are you?” When it came to the year or general time period when something had taken place, the Old Testament was one of the most unreliable sources. What I knew for sure was that the false god who was supposed to be GC’s grandfather was born way, way before Christ. Like… way before!
“Wouldn’t you like to know, normie?”
He was standing in front of the fire now, only in his briefs and leather boots. Fuck, he was sexy! His changing hair caught the light of the dancing flames, and was blond for a moment, silver, then red the next, and his eyes did the same. Deep blue now, green the next second, then brown if a shadow fell over his face. A shifter. I wondered if all shifters were like that, their features changing constantly, fluidly, as if they had an intimate connection with the sky, the sun, the moon, and everything that created lights and shadows.
“I’m older than you, let’s just leave it at that.”
“Are you immortal?”
“You bet I am!”
“Fucking hell!” Paz stood up and kicked GC’s cup, spilling the remaining contents into the fire. The flames fizzled for a moment, then rose stronger and hotter. “You’re peacocking. What? Do you think she’ll fuck you just because you’re immortal? Flash news, idiot. You’re not the only immortal around here.”
That got my attention. My eyes snapped to Pazuzu. I didn’t have to ask the question. He already knew it. For a moment, we locked eyes, but the moment was lost when GC laughed out loud.
“You’re just jealous, mate. Jealous and petty.” He walked around the campfire and stopped in front of me. He leaned in, took my chin between his fingers, and gave me the most charming smile he could muster. “He’s not immortal, normie. Paz was just named after an ancient demon who bit the dust a long time ago.”
Pazuzu wasn’t happy with the situation. He rounded the fire, too, grabbed GC’s arm, and pulled him away from me.
“We share the same powers,” he growled into GC’s face. “I can bring famine, if I want to. I can burn the forest and the fields, drain the lakes, and leave you all for dead.”
And I believed him. His black hair had fallen over his eyes, but I c
ould still see his normally green irises had turned red. Red like the fires of hell. There was so much power boiling underneath his skin, that I was suddenly afraid for GC’s life. And mine. I made to stand up, but my reaction was too slow. GC laughed in Paz’s face and pushed him away, his biceps flexing mesmerizingly.
“Fuck off! You wanna tell normie about you? Wait for your turn.”
All the VDC guys started chanting “fight, fight, fight”. Silently, though, because no one wanted to attract Mrs. Po’s attention. GC couldn’t care less about fighting. The second he’d pushed Paz away, he moved fast and removed his briefs in one swift motion. My eyes almost bulged out of my head. Oh my God, he’s big. How can he be this big when he’s not even hard? I covered my eyes with my hands, but I’d seen all of it already. All there was to see. Now, everyone around me was laughing, having already forgotten they’d wanted to see GC and Paz fight just a second ago.
Then, they all gasped, and I couldn’t suppress my curiosity anymore. I opened my eyes just in time to see GC jump outside of the circle and turn into a golden bull midstride. He was, honest to God, golden. Like, he was made of pure gold, and his eyes were now two shining sapphires. I stood up slowly, in a stupor, my mouth agape, and my eyes as big as saucers. The golden calf pranced around for a minute, letting everyone admire him. Even the NDC and the RDC students stood up and marveled at how incredible he looked, and how elegantly he jumped, like a beautiful beast who’d been trapped in a body too small for him for a long time. The MDC were too far from us to understand what the fuss was about. Before they realized what was happening, GC lowered his head, shook it from side to side, his golden horns catching the moonlight, then disappeared into the forest.