Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne

by Caroline Peckham

  I was thrown to the ground and my Phoenix reared up to protect me from their power before they wound around my body and dragged me across the room. I was hauled forward and thrown into a seat.

  As the fog of darkness cleared, screams reached me that made my blood curdle.

  I twisted around in my seat which had been dragged forward away from any of my other classmates, finding all of the Pegasuses falling prey to the shadows, crying out and whinnying as they paid for what I’d done.

  “No!” I yelled, trying to get up, but the shadows were still wrapped around my waist, holding me in place.

  Highspell was smiling, delighting in the chaos and when the screams finally stopped, she turned to the board, ready to teach the class while I silently vowed to destroy her.

  ***

  I flew with Gabriel at my side, releasing all the tension of the day as we twisted through the clouds, flying up above them to watch the sun die. We weren’t allowed to do this, but technically Gabriel was teaching me how to fly, so if anyone asked he could cover for us.

  “Highspell gave me a week’s detention,” I said as we hovered side by side, my burning wings flapping behind me as his ebony ones beat in time with mine.

  I’d told him what she’d done, not that he could do anything about it, but maybe he’d had a vision that could give us some hope in this situation. I’d held off on asking until now, just wanting to fly and be free and forget all the bad shit that had happened today.

  “I despise that woman,” he snarled.

  “I don’t suppose you can see a way to get her fired, can you?” I asked, half joking, half serious.

  “I’m afraid she’s here to stay for now,” he sighed.

  “And what about Lionel? Is he here to stay?” I asked, my throat constricting as I turned to him.

  His grey eyes darkened. “I’ve been consulting the stars about that all day,” he admitted. “There is still hope. But it rests with the Imperial Star.”

  I nodded and he dove down through the clouds suddenly. I took chase, tucking my wings and swinging away from a herd of Griffins as they sailed beneath us.

  Gabriel kept ahead of me as we moved into view of the campus below and I followed at a distance before he flew through his office window. I circled the building once, making sure the coast was clear before doing the same, landing lightly inside. He might have been able to cover us to an extent, but I didn’t want anyone looking too closely at how much time we spent together. His connection to me and Tory was still a secret as far as I knew unless Tory had spilled it, but as she barely seemed to know who any of us were, we were hopeful that wasn’t the case.

  He pushed the window closed and cast a silencing bubble. His office was sparse and I didn’t think he spent a whole lot of time here. Gabriel went home most evenings by stardust to see his family and despite him saying I was welcome to go with him anytime, I knew I couldn’t leave Zodiac while my sister was here. She needed me, even if she didn’t know it. And I had to be around to help her if anything ever happened.

  Gabriel moved to his desk, taking a bottle from the top drawer with a few syringes. “Here’s the Order Suppressant antidote,” he said with a half smile.

  My heart lifted and I rushed to take it, but he shook his head. “You’re going to be stopped on your way back to Aer Tower, and if they find it, they’ll take it then Nova will put you in detention for the evening.”

  My lips parted on a demand to take it now and find some way to give it to Tory, but I stalled with a sigh. I trusted his gifts. I just had to fight the urge to snatch it, fly to Tory and try and inject her with it right this second.

  “If you follow that line of thought, you will still be stopped and searched before you take it – ah, but if you take that route, you will be unable to give it to her. No, it’s just not going to work tonight.” Gabriel shrugged sympathetically.

  I sighed and my wings dissolved away behind me. “I hate when you do that,” I said, but a smirk tugged at my lips.

  He chuckled. “You love it really.”

  “Yeah, I do,” I breathed a laugh but then my amusement fell away as the weight of this day fell over me again. He walked forward and wrapped me in his arms without a word, resting his chin on my head. For a moment the world paused and everything was okay. Just for a second. But what a perfect damn second it was.

  “So the Imperial Star…” I started as he released me.

  I sat on his desk and crossed my legs underneath me, toying with a lock of my hair. I’d changed into leggings and a crop top for the flight, but now my wings weren’t warming me, goosebumps spread across my arms so I urged fire into my veins to keep the cold out.

  Gabriel’s wings fell away and I examined the artwork of tattoos on his chest, wondering what secrets were hidden within them. Things that had come to pass, things that were yet to. His gift was written into his flesh, future, past and present. There was a ring of star signs over his heart that were joined together in a beautiful circle and he scratched that very spot as he dropped into a chair in front of me.

  “I can’t see where it is,” he said with a frown. “But I can see that Lance is the key to finding it.”

  I nodded slowly, biting on my lower lip. “You probably already know this but-”

  “You’re going to see him tonight?” he finished with a smirk. “He has something very important he needs to do. And you need to help him.”

  “I’m going to free him from the star vow we made to each other,” I said, my chest compressing and I suddenly couldn’t meet his gaze. Gabriel could see so much, could he see right through me to the hurt I worked so hard to hide these days too? The love that still lived on in me for Lance as fiercely as ever?

  “It’s more than that,” he said carefully, like he couldn’t say too much. “Just do whatever you can to help him.”

  I frowned. “What can you see?” I pushed, the secrets lurking in his eyes making my heart beat wildly.

  “So many paths,” he said with a pained expression that made me worry about how many of them were bad. “Just do your best, follow your heart and all that bullshit.”

  I laughed softly, but it died away in my throat as I rested my chin in my hand, my elbow propped on my knee. “Is any of it good? Has the future got anything to look forward to, Gabriel?”

  A crease formed between his eyes and he scooted his chair closer. “The future is just a roulette wheel, Darcy. Only every outcome is grey.”

  “That doesn’t sound so good,” I murmured.

  “It is good, and bad. That’s life. I guess that’s one thing The Sight makes me see clearer than anything else. It’s all about the choices you make, the actions you take. Cause and effect. If you do nothing, nothing will happen. If you do everything, everything will happen.”

  “That’s…weirdly comforting,” I said thoughtfully. “But what about the stars, surely they’re deciding all of this? Isn’t it all just fate and we’re slaves to whatever they desire?”

  “The stars will test us. And sometimes they may punish us or gift us for the choices we make, but they don’t make our fate. Only we can do that. So go make it, Darcy. You’ve got to get going if you want to be ready in time.”

  I slid off the desk with a sigh and he stood up, grabbing a lock of my hair and tugging on it teasingly. “He’s going to eat his heart out,” he murmured and I rolled my eyes. “I hope he does by the way. I’m still pissed he hurt my little sister. Kick him in the dick for me, okay?”

  I chuckled as I headed to the window, pushing it open and feeling him drop the silencing bubble.

  “Can you see a dick kick in his future?” I asked with a grin.

  “Definitely,” he said with a smirk.

  “Love you, Gabriel,” I told him, then dove out of the window, the rush of falling making my stomach spin before my wings burst from my back and I soared along, climbing toward the sky and taking a direct route to Aer Tower in the distance. I got stopped and searched by a bitchy K.U.N.T. of a Harpy when I flew to
o close to a Manticore, but she let me go with a warning. And I may have not so accidentally started a tiny fire in her hair which wouldn’t take root until I was far away and unable to be held responsible.

  I made it to my window, landing on the slim ledge before pushing open the tall pane that swung sideways to let me in. I dropped into my room, my flaming wings fizzling away behind me with a lasting crackle.

  My covers were suddenly thrown back and Geraldine sat bolt upright from under them.

  “My lady!” she cried. “I have been most sneaksome indeed to get in here. That wayward white Wolf let me in and snuck me upstairs under an illusion spell which disguised me as one of his pack. It was quite the thrill ride.”

  I grinned as I rushed over to her, pulling her into a hug as she stood up and I noticed a bag on the bed.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  She wheeled around, snatching it up and clutching it against her chest. “It is a gift from your most charming and devilishly handsome brother. He set me on this mission, a task I took as seriously as a cucumber on a bed of flotsam.”

  “What kind of gift?” I frowned and she handed me the bag with the brightest smile in the world.

  I opened it, finding a blue maxi dress inside the same colour as my hair and a velvet box sitting on top of it. I took the box out and flipped it open, gasping almost as dramatically as Geraldine did when I found a silver bracelet inside with a Gemini charm on it.

  “I have strict instructions to not allow you to wear anything else but these items, excluding bloomers and shoes of course.” She laughed and I did too as she grabbed the bracelet and clasped it onto my wrist. I touched the pendant, turning it between my fingers with a smile pulling at my mouth.

  I grabbed my Atlas, but before I could shoot him a text, one came from him.

  Gabriel:

  You’re welcome.

  I shook my head with a grin. Damn sight seeing bastard.

  Geraldine helped me do my makeup and practically forced the dress over my head when I said it was overkill for a trip to freaking prison.

  “You will wear it and have that buffoon of a Vampire see how perfectly perfect you are without him. He shall feast on his feelings and his heart shall die a thousand deaths when he sees you dressed up fit for a dinner with the stars.”

  “I don’t want his heart to die a thousand deaths, maybe just like, one death,” I reasoned, eyeing myself in the mirror. This is definitely too much.

  “Nonsense,” she chastised.

  I turned to face her as she finished arranging my hair over my shoulders. “I’m serious, Geraldine. I’m just going to break off the star vow. In and out. Five minutes.”

  Her eyes glittered with tears and her lower lip wobbled. “Oh fudge fancies on a Thursday, I promised myself I wouldn’t cry.” She dabbed at her eyes and waved me off when I tried to comfort her.

  “Is it the dress?” I frowned down at it. “It’s too much isn’t it?”

  “No, it’s not the dress, it’s forbidden love, doomed to never be. Honey pots in a haystack, as angry as I am at that pest of a professor, it still breaks my heart.”

  “It shouldn’t. I’m over it.” I pushed down the sharp lump in my throat, moving to my closet and grabbing out a leather coat before shrugging it on. Geraldine shrieked, ripping it from my shoulders before I could do it up.

  “No coat. You have your Phoenix to keep you warm!” She pushed me toward the door, twisting the key in the lock and shoving me out of it. “Now go, the dashing Dragon says he will meet you at you know where.”

  “Great. Thanks for helping me. Just don’t cry, okay?” I hugged her goodbye and she nodded several times.

  “I won’t,” she croaked and I headed off down the corridor, hearing her mournful sob following me.

  I jogged downstairs and walked outside, a swarm of butterflies in my stomach making me want to throw up. Five minutes, that’s it. I can face anything for five minutes.

  I ignored the yearning in me that wanted so much more than that. But I could never give in to that feeling. His betrayal ran too deep. And when I’d gone to him before and asked him for an explanation, he refused to give me one. It didn’t matter that Darius swore that what Orion had done was to protect me, to keep me at Zodiac. Even if that was true, he hadn’t had the right to make that choice the way he did. And he hadn’t even offered me an answer for that one desperate question I’d needed from him. Why? Why do this to us, why take everything from me, from himself?

  I’d opened a can of worms now and I couldn’t seem to close it as the bastards wriggled out and crawled through my head. I approached the outer fence, checking around to make sure no one was watching. Then I headed off of the path and hurried through the trees to where Darius was waiting. He took in my dress with his eyebrows raising and heat crawled up my neck.

  “This was not my choice,” I said firmly before he could open his mouth. “Gabriel and Geraldine are entirely to blame.”

  He laughed. “I’m saying nothing. Except that he’s going to lose his fucking mind.”

  I rolled my eyes, stepping back and we walked through the illusion Orion had cast here to hide the gap in the fence. He wouldn’t give a shit because he’d moved on just like I was supposed to have moved on. Which I was definitely working on. And most people were convinced of it anyway thanks to my newfound ability to stuff my emotions down so deep that they didn’t give me away. So I was calling it a win.

  Darius turned me to face him on the other side of the fence with a dark expression. “Since my father has now outlawed Orders socialising, I had to make a last minute change to our plans. I’m not even really supposed to be able to visit Lance because he’s a Vampire, but in light of my Guardian bond to him, Father decided to be generous.” His sneer gave away what he thought of that. “But obviously I can’t disguise you as Max. Oh, and fuck my father by the way.”

  “Yeah fuck him with a spiky dildo,” I agreed. “So what’s the new plan?”

  “Well it’s Gabriel’s plan actually. He foresaw this last night and spoke to Dante Oscura. The Storm Dragon’s given you permission to use his image to get into Darkmore.”

  I smiled. “Perfect.”

  Darius stepped forward and I held still as he carefully disguised me under an illusion spell. It wasn’t an awesome idea to risk this right now, but breaking off the star vow was important. And since Darius had told me about Orion showing up to his last visitation bloody and hurt, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I’d kind of compartmentalised it if I was being honest. Thinking about him was dangerous territory as it was, thinking about him suffering was unbearable.

  The illusion trickled over my skin and Darius stepped back, smirking at his own work. “Okay, let’s go.”

  He took a pouch of stardust from his pocket and I steeled myself as he threw a pinch of it over us. We were whisked away through a tunnel of stars and my head spun as we were spat out in another part of the world, my feet hitting solid ground. I managed not to stumble too hard, but Darius steadied me anyway as I gazed at the huge complex that housed Darkmore. Damn if I wasn’t getting better at those landings.

  A car came to take us in and it wasn’t long before we were heading underground in the large elevator that led us down into the prison’s depths.

  My heart rate wouldn’t rest and I wrung my fingers together as we descended.

  Darius shot me a taut frown. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine,” I said firmly, fiddling with the bracelet on my wrist. “It won’t be like last time. In and out Darius.”

  “Yeah, yeah five minutes right?” He smirked, turning to face the doors again and my heart thrashed harder against my ribcage.

  “Why are you smirking?” I narrowed my eyes at him and he shrugged innocently.

  “This is just my normal face,” he said, trying to flatten his smirk and failing.

  “No, your normal face suggests you’re deciding whether or not to eat the Fae in front of you,” I pointed out. “You onl
y smirk when you’ve decided you’re actually going to do it.”

  He released a low laugh. “Maybe I’m hungry.”

  “Well maybe you should have brought a snack.”

  “Maybe I did.” He gnashed his teeth at me and I snorted.

  “I’d cook your ass if you tried it.”

  “Hmm, that’s a point. How will I fry you up if you don’t burn?” he mused and I laughed.

  “Sucks to suck, Darius,” I said lightly. “I’m uncookable.”

  The doors opened and we stepped out into the waiting room. We were only sat down a couple of minutes before we were called, but those minutes felt like an eternity as my nails bit into my palms almost hard enough to break the skin. Darius tried to distract me with a few jokes about how he was going to eat me raw like sushi but I couldn’t focus enough to laugh this time.

  I followed Darius through the security doors and down the bland corridor, my instincts telling me to turn back, to not walk through that door and see the man waiting beyond it. Because this place was where I’d shattered before, and I couldn’t do that again. Not ever.

  I stopped in my tracks, frozen in place as doubts gripped me and a voice in the back of my head screamed at me to leave. But in the pit of my stomach, I knew that I couldn’t do that. For everyone I loved, I had to walk through that door and face Orion. For us to even stand a chance at finding the Imperial Star, we needed him. And regardless of that, he was suffering in here. Despite everything that had happened between us, I’d never wanted that for him. I couldn’t just leave him here to the wrath of the stars. If I didn’t help him, he could end up dead the next time some assholes attacked him.