Labyrinth Academy 2: Wars: an Urban Fantasy academy romance

by JA Wren

  The cloudiness in her head cleared further, faster when Evelyn stepped away. “So, you came in here to seduce and then insult me?”

  “Actually,” Evelyn drew out, sauntering over to the line of mirrors above the hand basins to stare at herself. “We came to extend an official invitation.”

  Another invitation? Yeah, because the last one had turned out so well.

  But there was a more pressing question.

  “We?” Rayna glanced around, but there was no sign of anyone else in the bathrooms.

  Evelyn raised her brows at her via the mirror as she primped her hair and ran a finger under each eye, neatening her already-perfect eyeliner. “Come on out, girls.”

  Oh, God. It was a scene from a teen movie.

  Or maybe a horror movie.

  Two girls emerged from behind the row of lockers. Rayna had seen them hanging around Evelyn, or more accurately, leaning on her every word. Maybe they were both trapped by the Siren and her seductive thrall, forced to follow her every step thanks to some power Evelyn possessed.

  It made weird sense.

  Especially after that almost-kiss Rayna definitely hadn’t wanted.

  One of the girls was a near replica of the Siren, her lavender hair just a few shades darker and sporting dark brown roots that suggested she dyed it to match, while her eyes were a deep indigo. She was several inches shorter, too, even with the sky-high heels she probably used to push her closer to Evelyn’s height.

  The second was the polar opposite, her deep bronze skin complimenting her pitch black hair and dark brown eyes. She was tall, with curves and hips Rayna would kill to possess.

  Daughter of an Egyptian goddess, perhaps?

  Or maybe South America?

  “Now you’re ganging up on me with your posse?” Rayna asked Evelyn as she folded her arms across her sweaty chest. Yeah, she really would’ve preferred facing this situation post-shower. She was a huge, smelly mess compared to the Siren and her perfectly put together minions.

  Evelyn applied a thin layer of clear lip-gloss, then finally turned from the mirror. “Where is all this hostility coming from, Rayna? I was the one to welcome you to Labyrinth Academy. I thought we could be friends.”

  Apparently, she’d secretly hoped to be more than friends. But Rayna kept that part to herself, going with the bigger issue at hand. “Until you were an elitist bitch to my friends and threatened to ruin me.”

  She waved a perfectly manicured hand through the air. “I was angry and who cares about a pair of Psychic Realm first years, anyway?”

  The two girls snickered before mini-Evelyn scoffed out, “Psychic Realm first years? That’s who she’s hanging out with? Oh, gods. Evelyn, are you sure about this?”

  Evelyn’s face hardened. “No one asked for your contribution, Marjorie. I’m president and I get the final say.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder. “Even if she does fraternize with Nature Mages.”

  Evelyn shuddered as she choked out the last two words. Honest to freaking God, shuddered. Like calling someone a Nature Mage was the biggest insult she could hurl out.

  “They’re my friends, Evelyn,” Rayna said between clenched teeth. “More than that, they’re students who deserve respect.”

  The Siren’s mouth twisted, but she rolled her eyes and groaned. “Ugh, fine.” Evelyn sighed as though the situation was the most exhausting thing she’d ever lived through. “If I promise to apologize and play nice with the Mages, will you listen to our very special invitation? It’s only placed on the table once. Deny it and there won’t be another one. Ever. Think hard about what you might be turning down purely because I upset two little human girls.”

  Her minions snickered again. Maybe that was their role here—laugh at Evelyn’s poor attempts at humor.

  Rayna wanted to yell hell no, but curiosity about this second invitation in as many months oozed through her. Just enough to push down her better judgment. “Tell me.”

  Evelyn beamed, a glimpse of the sparkling, effervescent girl she’d been when she first showed Rayna around the academy and up to her room. “First, you have to swear yourself to secrecy. You cannot ever repeat this.”

  The Egyptian goddess look-alike pulled a slim blade from behind her back and handed it to the Siren. Evelyn pressed it to the tip of her own finger, and a single droplet rose into the air—all too reminiscent of the blood thing she’d faced during her trials with the three old hags. That had ended with them slicing her wrist to spill more of her blood.

  She shuddered at the memory of Asher cauterizing the wound with his fire and hoped this vow of secrecy didn’t go in the same direction.

  The droplet hovered in the air above their heads, spinning slowly.

  “Your turn.” Evelyn approached with the wickedly sharp dagger. “One itty bitty prick to bind your oath of secrecy.”

  Rayna shook her head but held out her hand. “I don’t know what’s with this place and all the bloodletting.”

  “Relax. It’s just a tiny scratch. Didn’t figure you of all people would be so squeamish about a little blood.”

  Rayna had no clue what that was supposed to mean. But before she could ask, Evelyn took her hand.

  The Siren’s skin was uncomfortably hot as she gripped the back of Rayna’s palm and nicked the tip of her index finger. “There you go. All done. Now swear you’ll never repeat any of this. That you’ll keep your oath—”

  “Of secrecy,” Rayna interrupted. “Yada yada yada. I swear, I won’t tell another living soul about any of this creepy locker room ambush.”

  As Evelyn stepped away with a tut of disapproval, the droplet rose, quivering so badly Rayna worried it might burst and splatter them. But it held firm. The twin droplets hung side by side, both spinning gently as though guided by a soft breeze.

  “Rayna Knox,” Evelyn said, drawing her attention away from the blood. “You have been tapped to join the Sisterhood of Bones.”

  “The what?” she blurted.

  Evelyn’s eyes twitched. “Sisterhood of Bones. It’s an extremely exclusive society.”

  “Like a sorority?”

  The three girls laughed, but it was Evelyn’s replica who finally answered. “The Sisterhood of Bones is nothing like a sorority. It is reserved for only the most powerful Spiritual Realm students, those with the most promise and connections. Those who descend from the highest ranking deities. Once you join, you become one of us for life. And we can assure you, we take extremely good care of our members. You’d want for nothing in this life.”

  Wait, she’d seen this movie. A bunch of white dude-bros, sports cars, and hot women, privileges handed to you on a silver platter. Then ripped away with a murder or two.

  Yeah, no thanks.

  She started shaking her head and edged backwards, away from the trio.

  “Eternity is a long time,” the brunette said, slowly drawing out the words with her full lips and a rich accent Rayna couldn’t place. “You will need allies. Especially with the coming wars. You will be forced to choose a side and we can assist in deciding who to follow into battle.”

  There it was again. Wars and battles that made no freaking sense. She wanted no part in any of it, and clearly joining this society thing would put her one step closer, not further away from it all. “I think I’ll take my chances, but uh, thanks for the offer.”

  Evelyn’s face went full on Siren, cheekbones sharpening while dark circles lined her eyes. “You cannot refuse.”

  “Really? You should’ve mentioned that before the whole—” She pointed up to the hovering droplets, Evelyn’s now spinning rapidly while hers remained calm. “I agreed not to tell anyone about whatever the hell this Sisterhood is, but never agreed I’d accept your invitation.”

  Evelyn’s lip curled to reveal a perfect row of razor-like teeth. “The SOB doesn’t accept—”

  “SOB?” She couldn’t help the snort that came out of her. “Nice acronym. Was FU already taken?”

  She thought the Siren might actually
explode at that. Her veins bulged at her temples, teeth elongating into fangs while her hands shook at her sides, nails lengthening into claws. Her whole body seemed to sharpen, bones more pronounced and skin turning a weirdly gray color even as the roots of her hair morphed to black.

  The droplet above their heads went crazy, spinning so fast it was bobbing this way and that.

  Evelyn gritted her fangs, the points piercing into her bottom lip, her voice deep and guttural as she spoke. “No one refuses.”

  Four

  “I did.”

  Rayna turned at the sound of a new, unfamiliar voice. A girl with Nordically pale skin and hair so blonde it looked white under the fluorescent lights walked up to them, practically placing herself between Rayna and Evelyn. She wore a black sports bra and loose-fitting black sweatpants that rode low on her hips, exposing a ripped torso with muscles Rayna could only dream about.

  Her head was almost completely shaven on one side and braided in intricate patterns down the other, the ends brushing the waistband of her sweats. She placed a hand on her hip, emphasizing her tall stature and slender build as she met Evelyn face to face.

  “Granted it was three years ago,” the newcomer said. “But I distinctly remember turning you down. Well, technically your previous queen bee.” She glanced over her shoulder at Rayna, adding, “Who was an even bigger bitch, just FYI.”

  Evelyn sneered, her features almost normal again. “Livanna, you swore secrecy.”

  The blonde shrugged, drawing Rayna’s attention to the defined muscles in her back, particularly obvious around both of her shoulder blades where her bra crisscrossed. Tattoos decorated her back, unfamiliar symbols spreading out across her shoulders and down her waist.

  “True, but I’m not breaking that vow, just giving the little goddess over here some advice.” She turned impossibly light blue eyes towards Rayna. “Don’t trust the SOB.”

  “I wasn’t planning on it.”

  Livanna smiled and raised dark eyebrows that definitely did not match her hair. “Smart little goddess.”

  Rayna pressed her lips between her teeth, hating how everyone kept using that fucking diminutive modifier when referring to her.

  It was getting damn old.

  Evelyn groaned—or maybe it was more like a growl. “Death girls. You’re all the same. Just wait until the war hits the academy and you’re left all on your own. No allies. No back-up.” She stepped closer, her eyes flashing dark anger and smudges marring the skin under them. “Just a couple of lonely girls wishing they’d taken me up on my offer.”

  Livanna laughed. “Wow, you’re intense. Seriously. Maybe you should cut down on your caffeine intake, Evie.”

  Evelyn merely glared at her, that look sharpening even more until it could almost cut. Then she shifted to face Rayna and smoothed her features into her regular mask of false friendliness. “Last chance. Deny me again and you’re stuck with her, and your precious Nature Mages. See if they can come to your aid when shit hits the proverbial fan.”

  “Don’t forget her phoenix soulmate,” Livanna sing-songed. “Plus, I hear she befriended a WillowWisp, which is pretty fucking cool, if you ask me. I mean, those flame-creatures do not tame easily.”

  Evelyn sighed and dragged her eyes to the new girl. “Were you this obnoxious when we dated?”

  Dated?

  Was that where half the tension in the room was coming from?

  Livanna jerked one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “Maybe. But that was also three years ago so my memory might be iffy. Besides, I was young and stupid, and we were together for like a month. Barely even a blip on the radar.”

  Her shoulders tensed, muscles everywhere going rigid as she lost her care-free attitude. “For the record, you’re a death girl, too, Evie. You just decided to change teams halfway through the big game and bat for the other side. And that—” She stepped closer to the Siren and lowered her voice to a lethal tone. “I won’t forget so easily.”

  “Sorry about that,” Livanna said after Evelyn had stormed from the locker room in a huff, her minions hot on her heels. But not before they sent their own killer glares at Livanna. She held out her hand and Rayna noticed for the first time her nails were painted pitch black with white tips. “I’m Livanna, but my friends call me Liv.”

  Rayna took the taller girl’s hand, her skin calloused and grating. “Nice to meet you, Livanna.”

  “Liv.” She smiled. “I hope we can be friends. Us death girls gotta stick together. Especially in this place with the vultures lurking around every other corner.”

  “Death girls?”

  Liv nodded. “It’s what Evelyn and her little posse call us. Those of us girls who have power over death. I mean, Evie’s technically one of us, since she’s a Siren and they have a stellar rep for luring men to their deaths, but she turned her back on the rest of us when she joined up with the SOB.”

  “Oh.” Now that she spelled it out, it seemed pretty self-explanatory. “Probably should have figured that out.”

  “Hey, you’re still new.”

  “Wait, you said us death girls?”

  “Yep.” Liv walked over to a locker, slammed her fist into it until it popped open, then pulled out a roll of tape and started wrapping it around her left hand. “There aren’t many of us left. And no other Keres like you, that’s for fucking sure.”

  Keres.

  Kally, her BFF-recently-turned-professor, had mentioned that over a month ago during class. More memories had returned since, confirming Rayna was a Ker, along with visions of more sisters than she could ever count.

  A flash memory struck and she pictured a whole fleet of Keres, lined up for battle and dressed in beautiful silver and black armor. But there was no real context. She knew they’d all been hunted and killed during the thousand years she’d spent hidden in the night sky, safe from whoever had eradicated every last one of her sisters.

  Rayna swallowed against the lump in her throat, tramping down the sorrow that was real and yet still somehow distanced. Like she wasn’t really the one to lose all of her sisters. “So, if you’re not a Ker, what are you?”

  “Valkyrie.”

  A shiver rattled Rayna’s bones. She knew little about the Valkyries, only that they were a deathly force in battle. Looking at Liv, she could totally believe that. The girl was intimidating, even while technically coming to Rayna’s aid. She sure as hell wouldn’t want to go up against her in a hand-to-hand fight. Not with that packed muscle rippling as she taped up her other hand.

  If she had her powers under control, she’d feel differently.

  In that moment, she knew Asher had been right to push her, even if he had tricked her to do it. She needed to get combat fit—ASAP—if there were girls like Liv wandering the campus.

  And if Evelyn was gonna keep cornering her in the changing rooms to harass her.

  “How many Valkyries are there?” Rayna asked. “I mean, how many at the academy?”

  Liv might’ve helped her out with Evelyn, but she had no clue why. Maybe she had an ulterior motive for defending her. Worse, maybe the next Valkyrie she met wouldn’t be half as friendly.

  Liv glanced at her. “The academy? Me and my girl Torrey. There was one other—a second year—but she disappeared a few months ago.”

  “Disappeared?”

  Liv let out a heavy sigh as she finished with the tape around her hands and wrists, making her look like a boxer prepping for a big show in the ring. “Look, I don’t want to reveal shit I’m not supposed to. I mean, I could easily take down your phoenix soulmate, but I’d really rather not piss off the headmistress again. I’m already on thin ice here, and I’d like to finish up my final year without any more trouble.”

  Rayna edged closer, her curiosity piqued. How the hell did disappearing Valkyries relate to her? “They don’t have to know.”

  Liv laughed. “Oh, no. If I tell you and you freak out, they’ll be banging down—”

  “Please. I’ve had enough people lying to m
e.”

  Her pale eyes narrowed and she went eerily quiet for far too long. “Hm, can’t blame ‘em for keeping shit from you. But honestly, that would piss me the hell off, too.” She parked her butt down on the bench in front of the lockers. “Death girls have slowly been decreasing over the last thousand years. It started with your sisters—the Keres?”

  At Rayna’s nod to confirm she knew that much, Liv continued.

  “Once they were gone, the rest of us started thinning out. Valkyrie numbers are the lowest they’ve ever been. But unlike the Keres, they’re still alive. We can feel each other and I know for a damn fact my kind are out there. Just…missing.”

  Liv fiddled with the tape between her fingers. “We haven’t found any bodies. No traces of blood or any sign of a struggle or fight. Which is fucking weird because I’ve never heard of a Valkyrie who didn’t put up a fight when their life depended on it.” She shrugged. “All we’ve ever found is a dumbass symbol seared into the ground. Presumably where they were taken.”

  Rayna opened her mouth to say something, but she didn’t know what. Sympathy? At least Liv’s kind were alive. Rayna’s sisters had all been murdered. Mass slaughter to eradicate an entire species of powerful women.

  “Why?” was what she finally asked.

  Liv retied the laces of her shoes, though they seemed perfectly tight. “No one knows for sure, but my guess?” She rose to her full, imposing height. “Someone wants to use the Valkyries in the coming wars.”

  That made eerie sense. They sounded like badass warriors. Apollo had called Rayna a coveted weapon, and if the gods were in search of power that might help tip the scale in their favor, an army of Valkyries would definitely fit the bill.

  But so would an army of Keres.

  “Then why kill off all my sisters?” she asked through a tight throat, sadness threatening to bubble out of her.

  Liv shrugged, but it didn’t look as casual as she must have meant it. “Valkyries are powerful in battle. Useful. We’re warriors who decide who lives and who dies, and we do a damn good job of it.”