Holy crap we really do belong here.
“Rogo vim aeris!” Professor Zenith called out and a strong wind gusted through my hair. I looked to Tory, finding her hair moving in the same powerful breeze. Another fifty or so of the group seemed to be in the depths of the maelstrom but everyone else in the circle were clearly unaffected. My gut swirled and a fluttering feeling filled my stomach and sailed through my veins. It felt so natural, like my body had a whole other channel inside me alongside my veins and now it was flowing with the magic of two Elements.
“Raise your right arm if you feel the power of the wind!” Zenith commanded.
Tory and I raised our arms along with another random selection of the circle. A couple of which had raised their arms for water.
Eyes fell on us and a few words were exchanged which I didn't catch. Zenith faced us, her brows lifting with delight. “You are of air and water girls. Your powers will be great indeed just like your parents’.”
I nodded but Tory gazed down at her hands, turning them over as if expecting to find something more tangible there.
“Is this really happening?” she asked me under her breath.
“I think so,” I whispered. “Either that or that dodgy Professor slipped us something in his fairy dust.”
Tory snorted a laugh and Zenith fixed us with a glare. “Quiet! Eyes to the sky. You may be done here, but everyone else is not.”
We nodded, looking up again.
Air and water...could we really use magic related to those Elements? I could hardly wait to try it.
“Rogo vim terrae!” Zenith cried and I glanced down at the other students, wondering what would happen to those who had the next power. The edges of the grass tickled my knees and I searched the circle for signs of the next Element taking effect.
A deep well seemed to open inside me, filled with a pulsing kind of energy. It tingled and then coiled and rippled like an ever-changing being that lived within me.
Something brushed against my arm then curled around it. I glanced down, frowning as I found the grass growing up and spiralling around my wrist, as gentle as a caress. More of the fronds wrapped around my arms and I spotted the same happening to Tory.
She looked to me with her brows arched. “I thought it was rare to get two?”
I shrugged, confused as I spotted the other pupils in the circle who also had the grass hugging in around them. It took me a moment to realise everyone was staring at us, Zenith included.
“I- oh my...” she breathed, clapping a hand to her mouth. When she dropped it, she was smiling widely. “My dears, how wonderful. You have Earth as well. Three Elements is very rarely heard of. You will be amongst the most powerful students at Zodiac.”
A lump formed in my throat as that news settled over me. I supposed that was a good thing, but it all felt too surreal to really hit home. The other students were muttering and I caught strange words like 'Celestial Heirs' and 'Vega Twins'.
“Eyes to the sky!” Zenith commanded once more and I looked up again with my heart pounding an uncomfortable tune. Why was everyone looking at us like that? Was it really that unheard of to have three Elements?
“Invoco virtutem ignis!” Zenith yelled.
Heat flared at my feet instantaneously and fire scored through the ground around me in a tight circle. The fire flickered out into embers, leaving a glowing red ring in the grass around my Converses. The exact same thing shone around Tory's boots too.
My heart stalled as I stared down at the sight in confusion.
Four Elements? But Zenith said...
“By the stars!” Zenith cried and my head snapped up.
Everyone was staring. Hard. And not in a good way. Nearly a quarter of the circle had the same rings around their feet too but no one seemed to care about them.
“You hold every Element,” Zenith gasped, shaking her head as if she couldn't believe it were true.
“Is that...bad?” I asked.
“Seems like it,” Tory whispered so only I could hear.
Zenith recomposed herself, clearing her throat while mutters broke out around us, loud and unavoidable.
“Of course not,” Zenith finally answered me.
“Looks like my boyfriend has competition,” one girl said, throwing a sharp glare in our direction. Her hair was a rich gold colour and perfectly straight, her face the kind of pretty you usually found in a make-up commercial.
The girl beside her narrowed her eyes. “Are you really dating one of the Heirs, Kylie?”
“Yeah we've been together since forever, he texts me like every other week.” Kylie tossed her hair over her shoulder with an expression that said that was something to be proud of.
The chatter grew louder and Professor Zenith finally seemed to notice it. “Enough! Quiet! Your Awakening is over. If you have two – or more- powers you will choose between them and pick an Elemental house to join. Your head of year will now take you to The Orb where you'll join the rest of the students and make that decision.”
I spotted Orion emerging from the shadows at her words, beckoning us to follow him. As the students moved in a tide toward him, his eyes locked on me. His gaze drank me in for an endless second, then he turned and looked away toward the dark line of trees at the edge of the meadow.
Tory moved to my side and I stepped close to her, biting my lip. “Why does everyone seem pissed at us?”
She shrugged one shoulder as if it didn't remotely affect her but her eyes told a different story. “Guess we're about to find out.”
THE AWAKENING HAD left me reeling, trapped within my own body as I tried to adjust to the sudden onslaught of power which had filled a void I’d never known I had. For the first time in my life, I was struck speechless. This power had crept up on me, whispered sweet nothings in my ear then slapped my face so hard it was left pink and stinging for the whole world to see.
My veins were alive with the force of what I was now. And I could no longer deny the truth of everything Orion had said to us since he’d turned up at our front door.
How could this have happened? How could it be happening? Everything I thought I knew about the world had just been flipped on its axis and I should have been left floundering in its wake and yet... I wasn’t.
Yes, my newfound power had overwhelmed me but I couldn’t deny just how good it felt as it writhed beneath my skin. It made me feel fearless, powerful, unstoppable. Every dream I’d ever had suddenly seemed irrelevant. The world held so much more than it ever had. And it was ready for Darcy and I to take our places amongst it.
In my power-drunk daze, I hadn’t noticed everyone filing away across the meadow but a sharp cough drew my attention to the fact. Orion raised an eyebrow at me, pointing me towards the line of freshmen who had already headed away. Only Darcy remained, taking a few hesitant steps before waiting for me while her eyes lit from within with the same writhing power I could feel harnessing itself to my soul.
I moved to her side at a quick jog, falling into step with her as we hurried after the group of our peers.
The path was winding beneath the dark sky and I was sure that under any other circumstances I would have tripped. But with the miracle of magic flowing through me, I managed to stay true to my course without upsetting so much as a lonely pebble.
The path led into a thick forest and we stepped beneath its branches where flaming torches sprang to life to guide the way on.
We caught up to some of the other students and they eyed us with interest. A short girl with a blonde pixie cut and freckles dotted across her nose offered us a friendly smile.
“I’m Sofia,” she breathed, casting a glance behind us at the teachers before obviously deciding they didn’t mind if we talked. “I’ve never met a Changeling before,” she gushed, looking between my sister and I.
“Hi,” Darcy replied with a smile.
“I’m Tory, that’s Darcy,” I supplied.
“I guess this whole place is super confusing to you?” she asked sympathetical
ly. “I could be your walking, talking info source if you like?”
“Oh,” I said in surprise. It wasn’t really programmed in me to expect help from people I didn’t know. Or those who I did know for that matter. Where we’d grown up, people didn’t just do something for nothing, but as I looked at Sofia’s earnest expression, I couldn’t help but think her offer was just that. “That would be... great. Thanks,” I said, trying out a warm smile while wondering if I was managing to pull it off. I probably looked like a hyena on crack but Sofia seemed satisfied with my attempt.
The path beneath my feet turned from dirt to gravel to shining gold. I tore my mind away from the caress of my energy and looked up at the building we were approaching instead.
It was a huge, golden dome, so big that I couldn’t see anything else aside from it. Carved all over its surface were swirling decorations which looked almost like living flames, especially as the clouds shifted over the moon and shadows danced along the whorls in the metal. The gold markings which we were walking on shimmered too and I realised what the building was designed to mimic. It was a giant model of the sun, the ground beneath us decorated to look like beams of light reaching away from it.
“The Orb is where we’ll take all our meals and gather for announcements like this one to declare the start of term,” Sofia supplied as she noticed my widening eyes. “It’s designed to look that way because the zodiac is directed by the sun. Without it, we would have nothing. Everything begins and ends with it.”
“Poetic,” I muttered, still not completely buying in to the whole horoscope idea, though I had to admit that the arrival of my magic was throwing my assumptions into confused overdrive.
“It’s... amazing,” Darcy said, her mouth falling open with awe.
We moved inside the double doors lined with symbols depicting each sign of the zodiac. We found ourselves standing before a whole crowd of students so big that I could hardly distinguish one face from the next. I only knew there were hundreds of them. And they were all looking our way.
At the centre of the room, beside a roaring fire pit which was surrounded by a ring of water, a curving red couch stood out amongst all the others. Its four occupants all looked deliciously bored, barely sparing a glance at the new additions to their ranks as the rest of the freshmen began to file into the huge room, taking whatever chairs were left available in the circular space. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen a group of guys who were quite as alluring as them. It was like I could feel a deep hum of power emanating from them and the hairs on the back of my neck raised accordingly.
They hadn’t looked our way yet and I found myself glad to have the opportunity to study them without being noticed.
Each of them held a deep aura which set them apart from the rest of the people in the room. I would have thought they were siblings except that they looked so different that I knew it couldn’t be the case. Something bonded them together though, something so clear that I could almost see it.
They were all tall and strongly built with muscles in a way that made my gaze roam over them a little inappropriately. They oozed power, wearing it as comfortably as the designer clothes they’d clad themselves in.
On the left was a guy with skin as dark as coffee, his black hair shaved into a mohawk which should have made him look like a total douchebag and yet somehow made me want to run my fingers over it instead.
He said something to the guy beside him who tossed his head back in laughter so loud that I wished I’d heard the joke too. The smile which accompanied that laugh drew my gaze for just long enough to rouse its owner’s attention.
My heart raced a little like I was a kid caught taking candy as his dark blue eyes trailed over me. He pushed a hand through his curling golden hair, drawing my gaze to his broad shoulders for a moment before I looked away without studying the other two so closely.
My gaze trailed over the curved roof above our heads and I noticed a set of elaborate carvings cut into the gold ceiling which depicted constellations and planets. There were too many for me to even begin to count but my gaze roamed over them hungrily and I knew I’d be compelled to look up at them every time I entered this room.
Darcy moved closer to me as we began to follow the others and I raised an eyebrow at her as I tried to gauge her reaction to this. We hadn’t exactly had time to discuss the life-altering, mind-crushing, new reality we’d found ourselves dumped in but the smile she was trying to hide let me know that she was just as energised about this place as me. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was, but something about Zodiac Academy just felt right. It was like coming home after months abroad. Except for the fact that I’d never been abroad or ever really felt like I had a home in my entire life so that couldn’t be right.
Home was where my ass landed. But I was glad to find that that was here for now.
I glanced down at my feet and paused as I realised that the ground which I’d thought was decorated with tiles was actually carved stone. It was as if someone had spent years etching spirals and images into a giant slab of rock; the length of time it would have taken to do such a thing blew my mind.
Before I could take another step, a hand clamped around my elbow and I turned to look at the owner of it with a frown. The woman was tall, with long black hair twisted into a bun on the back of her head and her skin pale and glimmering like starlight. Her gaze roamed over my sister and I hungrily as she drank in every detail on display and I found myself wishing I’d opted to change out of the low-cut red vest. After seeing the rest of the students it was abundantly clear that this was supposed to be a dressy affair and my efforts at biker girl on a night out weren’t really meeting the bar. Then again, I’d started this night with the sole intention of stealing a motorcycle, not joining a mystical species in a realm I never knew existed… Even thinking that made my brain wrestle against the reality of this situation once more.
“I’m Principal Nova, your guiding star here at Zodiac Academy,” she said warmly. “I hear we have two things to celebrate with you both tonight.”
“You do?” Darcy asked, glancing at me with a small shrug.
“Of course!” Nova gasped. “When Orion informed me that the girls he’d been tracking were indeed the lost Vega Twins I couldn’t have been more delighted to welcome you back into the fold and return you to your people! But to then discover that the two of you hold all four Elements within your grasp... it’s unheard of. Your return will be the talk of the entire Fae population, not just the school. Your every move will be watched and assessed as we all clamour to find out if you can truly reclaim the throne and-”
“Throne?” Darcy squeaked.
“Yes, didn’t Professor Orion explain your heritage to you?” Principal Nova asked, looking around as if she hoped to spot the man in question.
I glanced over my shoulder and noticed him slipping away through the crowd as if he’d overheard her and didn’t want to be caught.
“He just broke into our apartment and forced us to come here,” I said.
“He told us our parents weren’t who we thought they were,” Darcy added. “And that we had to come here to claim our inheritance.”
“That’s… a very brief overview,” Nova said, her lips pressing to a firm line that told me she wasn’t pleased with Orion. “Your parents were the last King and Queen of Solaria, you return here as joint Heirs to the throne.”
My lips parted but no words came out. I caught Darcy’s eye, almost laughed then looked back at Nova and found I couldn’t actually come up with a response at all.
“You mean we’re like… princesses?” Darcy asked and the disbelief in her tone was punctuated by my scoff of laughter.
“Well, yes. Which is why you've caused quite a stir. Since the demise of your mother and father, the four Celestial families have held the power of the throne between them equally. They had intended to keep hold of that power with their own Heirs in the knowledge that the royal line had fallen. But with your return, everything could be abou
t to change once more.”
Nova seemed excited by that idea as her eyes whipped between Darcy and me but in my head all I could think was hell no. We didn’t know the first thing about this place, let alone the family we’d supposedly been born into. How could she be standing there like Prince Charming with a glass slipper expecting us to shove our feet straight in?
“I really don’t think-” I began but Nova cut me off.
“Of course, the throne won't just be handed to you. You will have to graduate from the Academy and prove your worth before that could ever happen. And you’ll soon learn that Fae have to claim their own power if they want it. You have a lot of catching up to do if you want to reclaim the throne from the Celestial Heirs.”
I stared at her in a weird non-blinking way for several seconds too long before my mind snagged on the one part of her announcement that my brain could process with ease.
“So if our parents were royal, does that mean they left us a load of crown jewels and a castle in their will?” I asked.
Darcy’s eyes twinkled at the idea of that and a smile hooked the corner of my mouth.
Nova tittered a laugh. “Well of course your inheritance is quite sizeable - presuming you graduate and become eligible to claim it. And in the meantime you can acquaint yourselves with everything you will need to know to live up to your birthrights. And of course there will be interviews and exclusives, I’ve even heard talk of a documentary being made to detail your return and-”
“We don’t want any attention like that,” I said firmly, not knowing what the hell she was going on about and not really wanting to either. “We’re here because that Orion dude said we had to come to claim our inheritance. That’s it.” I didn’t mention the fact that since my magic had been Awakened I’d begun to think coming to this school could give me so much more than just money because it didn’t matter. Whatever way I looked at it, I knew neither my sister or I would want the kind of attention she was suggesting.
Zodiac Academy: The Awakening: An Academy Bullymance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts Book 1) Page 4