Labyrinth Academy 2: Wars: an Urban Fantasy academy romance

by JA Wren

  “I’d be happy to help, professor,” Xander called after Bjerk. The professor raised a hand to signal he’d heard but didn’t otherwise respond.

  He had officially lost his status as her favorite professor.

  Xander laughed as he stepped closer, leaning over to Asher. “Not giving it to her good enough, shifter?”

  Asher scowled, but Bjerk cut him off as he addressed all the students. “Remember, no powers during these combat sessions. Face your opponent.”

  Rayna awkwardly stood between Asher and Xander, the two men shooting each other deathly glares that made her wonder if she’d even need to fight them. Maybe she could duck out of the way as they approached and go for a coffee while they kicked each other’s butts.

  The idea was damn tempting.

  “Get into ready position,” Bjerk continued. “Feet planted firmly on the mats. Shoulder-width apart.”

  Rayna didn’t pay him much notice, still dreaming about the coffee she wouldn’t be able to drink for at least another hour. Probably better anyway. Her coffee had been tasting weird lately. Not bad, exactly. Just different. Maybe it was a magical academy thing. Like they roasted the beans differently.

  There was an overly acidic aftertaste. A coppery bite that coated her tongue and the back of her throat and made her want to chug the whole thing until there wasn’t a drop left. She licked her lips and swallowed as her mouth watered.

  “Rayna, focus,” Asher chided, voice low and grating. Not harsh, but firm enough to demand her attention.

  “Shit. Sorry.”

  Xander laughed even harder than before. “Wow, you really can’t keep your girl, can you?”

  Asher growled, taking a step forward, but Rayna’s hand on his chest stopped him.

  “He’s just goading you,” she whispered. “Ignore him. He does it all the time. He’s just trying to get a rise out of you and you’re playing into it.”

  Xander let out a deep grunt and Rayna closed her eyes as she realized her mistake. Dammit. Wrong choice of words.

  “Let me guess,” Xander drew out slowly. “That’s part of Ashy’s problem. Can’t get a rise out of the phoenix even if you try. No wonder Rayna’s wound so tight.”

  Asher blew past her, no more holding him back. He exploded at Xander with such fury Rayna was sure he’d unleash his fire. But he didn’t. Fists sailed through the air, the two men pummeling each other with equal blows. She cringed as the sounds of crunching bones and connecting flesh snapped through the gym.

  What the hell had gotten into Asher?

  He wasn’t usually this volatile.

  Bjerk was yelling at the duo. Students abandoned their positions to gawk at the show, cheering the boys on as the fight turned bloody.

  Stupid male testosterone. It fucked up even the most level-headed brain.

  She had to stop this.

  But how?

  If Tink was here, she could ask the Wisp, but she couldn’t wear her pendant during training sessions, so the fairy-like flame had flown off doing who-knew-what.

  Think, Knox!

  She was no use physically and definitely not strong enough to pull the guys off each other. But…maybe she could get that black smoke working. If nothing else, she could make the gym so dark they wouldn’t be able to see a damn thing.

  That oughta stop their pissing contest.

  Rayna shook her hands out, willing the darkness to leak from them. Nothing. Not even a single curl of smoke. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to get back in the same headspace she’d been in when she faced Apollo.

  That had jumpstarted her powers like nothing else.

  A shot of adrenaline straight to her heart.

  An icy breeze drifted over her palm and she glanced down, hope igniting in her chest. But still no sign of the black clouds.

  Shit.

  Pretend Apollo’s in the room. Picture him towering over you and harnessing the power of the freaking sun to blast you.

  To kill you for a second fucking time.

  She shuddered.

  Okay, that was helping. Kinda. But not fast enough.

  Only thin tendrils wisped around her fingers, the barest hint of darkness flowing from her. It wouldn’t even blind an ant, let alone two men crazed and distracted by attacking each other.

  More. She needed a whole lot more.

  Xander had Asher pinned to the ground now, his eyes snapping with what Rayna could have sworn looked like electric sparks. She’d never thought to ask what or who he was, how he fit into the Spiritual Realm. What powers he possessed. He’d pissed her off too much to even bother making polite conversation. Let alone ask personal questions.

  She’d just wanted him gone and the hell out of her space.

  A bolt of silver-blue electricity coiled around his arm. It started at his bare shoulder and traced the lines of his muscles, getting closer to Asher even as he struggled to get free. It snapped and sparked, casting a blue glow over both guys.

  Why wasn’t Asher fighting back with his fire? Had something gone wrong?

  Was Xander somehow preventing him from using it?

  Asher’s skin hadn’t even cracked the way it usually did right before the flames licked out.

  If she didn’t do something in the next three seconds, he’d be fried by that electric shock. She couldn’t let that happen. Not when she was the reason the guys got into it in the first place.

  Desperation pooled in her belly—

  No, not desperation. She could feel it. The darkness, both inside her and hiding in the corners of the gym. It hummed gently. Cold but not in a bad way. More like the vapor that wafts off of super cold ice cream on a warm day. Cool and tempting. Making you want to sink your teeth into the delicious dessert.

  She pulled it closer, drawing it into her, letting it flood her until she felt it seep into every molecule. Perfect. She reveled in it for just a moment, basking in how right it felt to be so filled with the darkness. How at home she felt.

  And then she willed it out to blanket the gym.

  A dark, heavy cloud descended and her body clenched at the loss, already missing the familiar coolness and grasping to pull more into her. Replace it.

  Faint redness tinged her vision, hints of crimson glow swirling at the outer edges of the black cloud. Rayna tilted her head and squinted as the sharp scent of ozone teased her nose.

  What was that?

  She instinctively reached for the red glow, warm compared to the freezing temperature of the darkness. It wove closer, drifting towards her until it touched the tips of her fingers. It snapped to life, crackling against her skin with bright sparks that tickled like a butterfly crawling across her hand.

  A ragged laugh escaped her as the mini-electric bolts coiled around her fingers and over her palm, then bled into the veins at her wrist. One, then the other. Like they belonged there. A part of her that had been missing for far too long. Her veins glowed as the red sparks wormed deeper, spreading up her arms and into her chest.

  Her entire body hummed and she closed her eyes, drowning in the sensation oozing through every part of her. Waking something that had been asleep for a thousand years.

  But the crowd of students gasped, whispered, and murmured, snapping Rayna’s attention back to the two guys hovering inside the darkness. She could still see them, dim figures within the pitch black cloud, the outlines of their bodies glowing silver like the curves of a full moon.

  They stumbled from each other, breaking apart before they sprawled with their backs flat on the mats. Lying side by side in the darkness, they raised their hands and fist-bumped. Actually freaking fist-bumped right there where they’d been at each other’s throats. Literally. Blood still splattered both of them, leaking from split lips and eyebrows, coating both of their fists.

  The very same ones that had bumped into each other.

  Like old fucking friends.

  Rayna scowled, then broke the cloud free, letting the inky black vapor disperse. The shadows returned to their corners, stil
l pulsing and ready to obey her, while the red glow vanished like it had never existed.

  Asher glanced over his shoulder, apparently noticing her pissed off expression. “Rayna—”

  She turned on her heel and headed for the locker rooms, refusing to listen. It was obvious they’d tricked her so they could—well, she didn’t know why the two had lied. But somehow they’d been in cahoots against her, and she didn’t feel like listening to whatever excuse Asher was about to dish out.

  Not when he’d teamed up against her with the second most annoying person at Labyrinth Academy.

  Three

  “Miss Knox—” Bjerk called after her, but she didn’t stick around to hear whatever lecture she was about to get after using her powers.

  With everyone gaping after her or too damn scared to follow her into the gender-neutral changing rooms, she should get a few moments of peace.

  Time to process what the hell those red sparks were. And why they’d melted into her veins.

  Even Bjerk didn’t seem all that keen to come after her, despite yelling at her. She’d thought she was helping Asher. Thought it warranted breaking the rules a little. How else was she supposed to protect him?

  She snorted at she pushed through the door. Yeah, turned out he didn’t need her to save his butt after all. Which meant she was going to get into some major shit with the professor for using her powers inside the gym. And it was all for nothing.

  Footsteps pounded behind her, so she quickened her pace. Of course Asher followed, catching up to her just as she headed down the hallway to the rows of lockers.

  “Rayna would you stop and let me explain?” he panted.

  “What’s there to explain?” She turned to find her locker and dug out her towel. Sweaty all over from the workout, she badly needed a shower. A solo one. “Apparently, you’re taking cues from Tink now on how to be all tricky.” She angled her head to glare at him around the locker door. “Unless this is some Halloween trick or treat bit, in which case, you’re a month late.”

  She slammed her locker closed and headed for the showers, Asher right on her tail.

  “Look, we had to figure out how to make your powers manifest.” He kept pace beside her, far too close for her current mood, his warmth radiating against her sensitive skin. “It’s been two months without any sign of them. What if my father attacks again, huh?”

  She didn’t like to think of Apollo. Avoided it as much as possible, in fact.

  Her memories had started returning soon after their little showdown in the labyrinth gardens, apparently triggered by the god of the sun. Asher’s father was a gigantic, godly asshole who not only tried to kill her—twice—and use Asher to do his dirty work, he was a selfish prick who wanted to take over the throne of Olympus.

  Maybe he was after even more than that.

  Headmistress Hale had spoken of a brewing war before Rayna had understood what that meant. Her memories were still spotty with gaping holes, but she recalled most of her past life. One she’d shared with Asher by her side. They’d made a powerful duo.

  Yet the powers she vaguely remembered possessing were still elusive.

  “I can handle your father.” She said it, trying to put as much steel into the words as she could, despite not truly believing it. Not after Tink and Artemis—Apollo’s sister—had saved her butt two months ago. She didn’t know if she could really take the god on by herself.

  The sensation of him slicing through her throat was still too fresh even if it had actually happened more than a thousand years ago. The memory was new to her. One of the few that really felt like her instead of a stranger who looked like her. Like she’d truly lived through it—or died through, if she was going for accuracy. Maybe that was one memory she couldn’t separate herself from.

  Dying was kind of a traumatic experience and tended to stick with a girl. Or at least it did in her experience so far.

  “You can’t defeat Apollo by yourself. Not without your abilities,” Asher whispered. His voice was soft and gentle, and she knew he didn’t say it to hurt her, but it tore a path through her chest. Probably because he was right, though she didn’t want to face the truth.

  “I’m sorry I tricked you. It wasn’t supposed to go that far, but I was desperate to trigger something, and I figured—hoped—seeing me in trouble might manifest your powers.” He stepped closer, resting his hand on her shoulder before moving it to cup the back of her sweaty neck. “I was right.”

  “Doesn’t mean I’m not pissed you lied.” She shrugged off his hand. “That’s what this boils down to, Ash. You lied to me. Again. After promising me you wouldn’t do that.”

  He flinched and took a step back, giving her some breathing room.

  “I get why you did it,” she said. “Both times.”

  He knew she was talking about how he’d lied when they first met—or, first met after she’d returned to earth after being hung up in the night sky for a thousand years. Nyx had saved her from Apollo after he’d slit her throat, whisked her away at the last second, and hidden her in the stars.

  Away from Asher. Away from everyone and everything she loved and cared about.

  But at least she’d survived.

  Too bad the experience had left her with amnesia she was still trying to overcome. It had tainted their reunion since Nyx ordered him to keep the truth from her.

  “This isn’t the same as trying to protect me from the memories. This was willfully lying to me.”

  Asher dipped his head, dark eyes going even darker until they were pools of black. “I did it to protect you from him.”

  She nodded, because she knew it was true. What he did came from a place of love, a need to keep her safe no matter the cost. But knowing didn’t calm the heat of anger inside her chest and right then she needed a little space. Time to let the anger cool within her. “I need to shower. Can we finish talking about this later?”

  His shoulders sagged and the corners of his lips tipped down as he clenched his teeth, jaw tightening. “I’ll wait outside for you.”

  She didn’t deny him that, knew it would only cause another argument and right then she longed for a few minutes alone. She didn’t want to be pissed at him. Didn’t want to fight with the person she loved the most in the whole damn world. Had loved for multiple lifetimes. Even through literal death.

  Multiple deaths, in his case.

  While she’d been obliviously hiding out in the stars, he’d been shackled inside a roaring volcano, dying every hundred years as the lava consumed him. She couldn’t imagine the pain he’d suffered. His phoenix side meant he couldn’t die. It brought him back to life, rising from his own ashes every time.

  But it didn’t mean he couldn’t suffer the agony of death. A pain she knew too well, even without the volcanic eruption.

  Asher edged away, taking a piece of her soul with him, and she realized it was their first real fight since being reunited. She wanted to call him back the moment he was gone, her heart already aching without him. They’d been gifted with a second chance and she wasn’t going to waste it.

  Definitely not for a stupid argument, even if he’d teamed up with Xander Brooks.

  And it had spurred on her powers.

  She stared down at her forearms, studying her veins for any sign of the red sparks that had seeped into them. There! Along her inner-wrist. She squinted and brought her arm up higher to get a better look. There was a faint red glow right where her palm met her wrist. So tiny, you wouldn’t see it unless you were looking for it.

  What the hell was it?

  And why had she welcomed it back in the gym?

  “Trouble in paradise already?” a saccharine sweet voice asked.

  Oh, for fuck’s sake.

  Was it asshole day at Labyrinth Academy?

  “What do you want, Evelyn?” Rayna turned to find the Siren stepping into view, creeping out from behind a row of lockers. “In fact, what are you even doing here? You’re a third year. This class is only for first years.�
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  She shrugged her slender shoulders, her sleek, pale lavender hair shifting over her white silk shirt. “I was hoping to catch you alone. Almost thought we wouldn’t get the chance to chat when your lover boy followed you in here. I expected a hot make-out session or even a quickie in one of the shower stalls.”

  Evelyn’s pink lips twitched. “Imagine my surprise when instead I hear the two of you arguing. And I thought you were the perfect couple. Promise rings and initials carved inside those cute little tree hearts.”

  “Wow, I didn’t know you were such a romantic,” Rayna drawled. “Why don’t you get to the point instead of boring me to death with your relationship goals?”

  Evelyn laughed, but there was a sharp note to it, a little too high-pitched to be real. She stepped closer, until there was only a couple inches separating them. “You know, we could have been so much better together. You deserve so much more than a lowly shifter.” Her slim finger trailed down Rayna’s arm in a slow caress.

  The Siren’s features flashed serious, less false sweetness and more…earnest. Like she was seeing the real Evelyn for a teensy moment. She dipped her head closer, so only a breath of space separated them. Close enough the tiniest move would seal their lips.

  “We could’ve been great together.” Evelyn’s voice lowered into a seductive tone, a whisper Rayna felt all the way to her soul. “An unstoppable power couple.”

  Rayna stood frozen in shock, locked in place even as she willed her muscles to move. She couldn’t even make them twitch. All she could focus on was Evelyn’s voice, the feel of her lips almost-but-not-quite brushing against hers, and her scent surrounding them. Sharp and sweet, a hint of citrus and vanilla.

  So very different from Asher.

  “And I wouldn’t have lied to you,” Evelyn vowed. “Ever.”

  When the Siren edged closer so their lips touched, Rayna jerked back, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. Everything had gone hazy. Her brain felt sluggish and her eyes struggled to blink to clear the smog filling the air. “I may be pissed at him right now, but I love Asher.”

  The Siren’s eyes narrowed for a split second before she masked her anger and a smile stretched her lips. “Please. As if I’d really lower my standards for you, anyway.”