Labyrinth Academy 2: Wars: an Urban Fantasy academy romance

by JA Wren

  “Uh, no. I already had to pee in front of Ash, thanks to Nyx and her Moon Thread. I think I’m about done with the bathroom audience thing.”

  Kally’s smile faltered. “Yeah, of course. I’ll leave you to it, then.”

  Shit. Not what she’d meant. “That wasn’t—I didn’t mean—” She broke off with a groan. “I hate that I feel like I can’t even talk to you anymore.”

  Kally stopped, her hand just shy of the doorknob. “Of course you can talk to me. You always have.”

  “But that was before I knew you were my babysitter or whatever you want to call it.” Rayna sighed, inwardly cursing Nyx for sending Kally to watch out for her these past twenty years. “I wish things could go back to how they were between us. When you were just my bestie, not my guardian.”

  “I’m still your bestie, Ray-Ray.” Kally stepped closer and leaned a hip against the counter. “I’ve always been your bestie. That’s why Nyx asked me to watch over you. We’re more than sisters. More than best friends.”

  “But I don’t even know who you are.”

  “I’m still the same person.”

  Rayna nodded. “Sure, Professor Kalyspo.” Even as she said it, she regretted her snarky tone. Kally’s expression fell even further and Rayna buried her face in her icy hands. “Ugh, I’m sorry. I just—I don’t know how to make this right.”

  A light touch rested on her shoulder. “Neither do I, Ray-Ray. But we can figure it out together. Right?”

  She wanted to say yes, but it was hard getting over two decades worth of lies. No matter how much she missed hanging out with her former bestie. “Okay,” she said after a while. “How about we start with you finally spilling the beans about what exactly you are? Because, honestly, it’s been killing me not knowing.”

  Kally laughed. “Aw, I thought you’d remembered that by now.” She twisted and then pushed herself up onto the counter beside Rayna, carefully wedging her butt into the narrow bit of space in front of the basin.

  “Good thing you’re so damn skinny or you wouldn’t fit,” Rayna snorted out.

  “Excuse me?” She turned wide green eyes on Rayna with a mock look of outrage. “You know what, I’m gonna let that kinda-sorta compliment slide since it’s your party.”

  Rayna pushed her elbow into Kally’s arm. “Okay, enough stalling. Out with it. What are you, woman?”

  “You know, I think I should be offended by all this what are—”

  “Out with it,” Rayna sing-songed, her lips twitching up with a smile because she’d missed hanging with Kally.

  Her BFF took a deep breath and released it slowly. Almost like she was nervous. Which just seemed utterly ridiculous. “I’m…a Fury.”

  She turned hesitant eyes on Rayna, a look she didn’t think she’d ever seen on Kally’s face in all the years she’d known her.

  “A Fury?”

  “Yep. Not the most beloved bunch around, but what can you do?”

  Rayna frowned, unsure what that really meant. She’d heard of Furies from mythology, but she didn’t know how much truth there was to any of it. “So…what does that mean?”

  “Well, for one thing, we really are sisters. Nyx created the Furies, so we’re technically daughters of the night, like you. But there are a lot more of us than there ever were of the Keres.”

  She was tempted to ask Kally if they shared a father—if she was also related to the Grim Reaper. But she wasn’t ready to talk about it. Not with Kally.

  “We also don’t have as many powers as you, Miss Primordial. Not even as much as the Keres, but as spirits of vengeance, we punish crimes and can drive people bat-shit cray-cray. Literally. Like, bottle your own urine and have thirty-two cats kind of crazy.”

  Rayna couldn’t stop the laugh from bubbling out of her. It was totally inappropriate, but the fact Kally dished all that out with a straight face was just too funny.

  “You laugh, but I’m serious,” Kally said, her own lips twitching.

  “I’m sorry,” Rayna choked out. “But, come on. No one really bottles their own urine.”

  “Oh, hell yes, they do.”

  Kally was so serious, so adamant Rayna laughed harder, until she was tearing and on the verge of hysteria. It was an unnatural laugh. Cathartic and also a little unstable. Not quite to the point she needed to stock up on glass jars, but definitely a few steps beyond normal.

  When she’d calmed herself enough she could breathe again, she leaned her head on Kally’s shoulder. “I’ve missed you.”

  Kally rested her chin on Rayna’s temple. “I’ve missed you, too, Ray-Ray.”

  Their quiet moment was broken by a loud noise from the other side of the bathroom door, followed by a piercing scream.

  Thirteen

  The moment Rayna burst through the bathroom door, she was hit by a cloud of smoke so thick she couldn’t see more than an inch in front of her. Or breathe, for that matter. She choked on the stuff and waved a hand through the air, hoping to get rid of it. Waves of heat crashed against her, hot enough it felt like her skin would melt right off.

  What the hell?

  “Ash?” she called through the dense smog, blinking as her eyes started to water. Had he somehow caught everything on fire? But how? And why? “Ash?”

  Kally cursed from beside her and a whooshing sound followed, along with a gust of air. It fanned the smoke out enough Rayna spotted a ball of fire blazing in the center of the room, so bright it was blinding.

  “Ash!” Rayna screamed.

  There was no sign of him, just the growing inferno.

  Was something wrong? Had something set him off?

  Was that fucking star messing with him now, too?

  Wait. Nissa. He wasn’t the only phoenix in the room. She’d spotted the marks inside the girl’s room.

  Rayna’s body vibrated. Nerves going into overdrive. She lurched closer, toward the fiery ball radiating so much heat it felt like the sun itself was inside her room. She had to do something.

  Kally pulled her back, clutching her in a vice-like grip and wrapping some sort of blanket around her. “Nick,” she yelled, gesturing to a trio of figures by the window with one arm. “Get them out of here. Now.”

  Rayna fought against her hold, clawing at her arm. At the leathery blanket draped around her. She had to get free, had to do something before Asher or Nissa brought the entire building down in an explosion. His fire wouldn’t hurt her. Thanks to their bond, she was protected, but everyone else would perish.

  “Let me go, Kally!” She was seconds away from punching her friend. Anything to get free.

  “And let you get yourself burned to a crisp? No way.” Her BFF’s voice had changed. More serious than she’d ever heard it. “Nick, why the hell aren’t you gone?”

  “Fire’s blocking the exit, Kal,” Nick yelled back.

  “Then use the damn window. Take them one at a time if you have to. Anything. Just get the kids out of here.”

  As Rayna doubled her efforts to get loose, free the confines of the blanket, she reached out with invisible fingers, teasing the darkness in the shadows. More desperate than ever to make it work.

  The flames grew larger, licking at the ceiling and wooden trusses. They scorched the stone floor. More heat rolled over her, like standing on a baking tar road in the midday sun. So hot it was sickening.

  Little embers danced through the air, the breeze from the window igniting them and setting the curtains alight.

  Shit.

  If they didn’t stop this, soon the whole building would burn.

  Rayna pulled on more of the darkness, feeling it coil through her hands. She wasn’t sure what to do with it, but maybe she could use it to contain the blaze. Her hands tingled and cooled, a stark contrast to all the heat.

  And then the familiar black seeped from her, oozing through the room to smother the flames and smoke.

  She pushed it out, willing it to surround the fiery ball, trap it from igniting anything else. The black cloud cocooned the fire, depriv
ing it of warmth and light. Of oxygen. Slowly, it receded, the inferno shrinking inside the dark bubble.

  “Nick,” Rayna shouted, not taking her eyes from the action to look at him. It was taking all her concentration to keep the darkness locked tight around the fire. If she glanced away, she feared it might slip free and set the whole room aflame. “The exit.”

  They needed to get out. She needed Delilah, Autumn, and Ethan out as soon as possible. In case she couldn’t hold the fire back. Her heart wouldn’t survive losing them to the flames.

  Nick understood her clipped words, rushing for the exit with her friends and leading them out the door.

  Safe.

  They were safe.

  For now.

  She just had to get through to Asher or Nissa. Or both of them. Bring them back from whatever had taken over them. They’d both seemed fine when they joined the party. More than fine.

  How had things turned to utter chaos so fast?

  “If I let you go,” Kally said in her ear. “Will you promise to stay back? Keep your distance from the fire?”

  “He won’t hurt me.” She said it with total conviction, knowing no matter what was going on, Asher’s fire could never harm her.

  “Not him. The girl.”

  That confirmed it. But it still didn’t explain what the hell had happened. Or where Asher was if the inferno wasn’t him.

  “Fine. I promise.”

  Kally eased away, untangling the arm she’d banded around Rayna, the blanket disappearing with her as she moved closer to the flames now encased in darkness. At least it was keeping the heavy waves of heat and smoke from crashing over her, acting like a cool balm so she didn’t feel like she was about to dissolve into a puddle.

  Kally stepped into view and Rayna gasped. A huge pair of bat-like wings sprouted from her back. The boning glinted dark red while the leathery webbing was pitch black. They were still mostly coiled close to her body, but even like that they looked huge.

  Like they belonged on a monstrous dragon, not her bestie.

  The outer edges were burned and raw, pink flesh stark against all the black. There hadn’t been a blanket at all. Kally had wrapped her wings around Rayna, shielding her from the flames even as they seared her.

  “What the—?”

  “No time, Ray-Ray. Can you expand that dark cloud of yours? Keep it as thick as you can, but pull it back to circle the edges of the room, okay?”

  “I—” Rayna shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m kinda winging this right now.”

  Poor choice of words. Kally snapped her wings back, then let them disappear into her body like it was perfectly natural. “Just try. We need to keep it contained inside this room.”

  She nodded, but it was easier said than done. Rayna tugged on the darkness, a faint hint of ozone teasing her nose. But instead of expanding, it contracted and sparked with a red electric current.

  A roar of pure agony spilled from inside the fiery bubble and Rayna flinched.

  “I can’t do this.”

  “Yes, you can,” Kally told her, voice firm but encouraging. “You’ve done it a million times before. Way harder stuff than this. You just don’t remember.”

  Yeah, that was kind of the problem. She didn’t know how to control the darkness. Not really.

  Another agonized howl came from the ball of fire and she splayed her hands at her sides. “Come on,” she mumbled, willing her powers to obey.

  She closed her eyes and concentrated, telling herself this was practice. A real life training session. She had to get this right, not just because the dorm would blow, but because her life with Asher—here in this realm—depended on it. If she did this, she’d be one step closer to avoiding being flung back into the night sky by Nyx.

  Better yet, she’d be one step closer to controlling her own fate.

  Black wisps of smoke rose from the sphere, loosening its tight grip on the fire. The red static faded, crackling once more before disappearing, seeping back into her wrists like it was part of her.

  Slowly, the darkness spanned out, curling away and hovering around the edges of the room.

  “That’s it, Ray-Ray,” Kally praised, glee coating her words. “You got this, honey.”

  Shit. She was actually doing it. Controlling the darkness.

  It passed through her, then clung to her back, surrounding her.

  The fiery ball before her shifted as it was freed. It absorbed the flames that had been climbing up her curtains and into the wooden trusses, then wavered in different directions. Morphing. Until she could make out two shapes crouched on the blackened stone floor.

  “Ash?”

  His neck twitched, but he didn’t turn towards her, instead focusing on the girl in his arms. Nissa lay unconscious, her bare skin pink and smudged with soot everywhere. Even in her ginger hair. The two were totally naked, their clothing clearly burned to nothing but little piles of dust beneath them.

  Asher’s beautiful wings blazed at his back, the flames licking around him and Nissa like an embrace. Or a shield. Almost as though he was protecting her.

  But from what?

  He clutched her closer to his chest, arms circling her back and under her knees, ready to lift her. A twinge swept through Rayna. Not exactly jealousy. But…something sharp and uncomfortable piercing her heart as she stared at her soulmate holding another woman.

  “Is she okay?” Rayna whispered, partly concerned for the girl and partly desperate for Asher to look her way. Acknowledge her somehow. He seemed to be pointedly avoiding her and it was starting to freak her the hell out. “Ash?”

  “She will be,” he finally said, voice low and tender. “But she’ll need rest.” He looked up at Kally, still not glancing at Rayna. “Could you get the window? I need to take Nissa to the infirmary to get checked out, and I don’t really want to flash the rest of the students on the way there.”

  “Sure.” Kally stepped over to the window and jerked it open. “Do you need a hand, hotness?”

  “No.” He rose from the floor with Nissa draped in his arms and headed for the window. “You stay with Rayna until I get back in case someone called a faculty member and you need to explain what happened.”

  “What did happen?” Rayna interjected, pissed off because he seemed to be ignoring her.

  Had she done something wrong?

  Had the darkness hurt him somehow?

  It shouldn’t be possible. If his fires couldn’t hurt her, how would her darkness harm him? How would the darkness hurt anyone?

  He half-turned in her direction, but still wouldn’t meet her gaze, instead focusing on the floor between them. “Can we talk about this when I get back?”

  She sighed. “Yeah. Of course.”

  His fiery wings grew, expanding without burning a single thing they touched. He stopped at the window threshold and spoke over his shoulder. “We can share my room tonight.”

  And then he launched himself out the open window, his wings carrying him and Nissa in a bright orange glow. Rayna darted after him, clutching the window frame that held her back as he soared through the sky towards the admin building.

  “Well, the nurses are about to get an eyeful,” Kally said with a snort.

  Rayna turned to glare at her—not that she was wrong—but she faltered as an image of Kally’s wings flashed in her head. “Okay, we need to talk about the bat woman thing you’ve got going on.”

  “Bat woman?” Kally propped her hands on her hips. “Please. These babies are nothing like bat wings.”

  Kally dove head-first into a rant about the difference in wing types and their various applications, but Rayna tuned her out for the most part. Largely because she might have been a tad bitter about the fact she desperately wanted her own pair of wings.

  She didn’t know why it was such a sore point, but it was.

  Besides, she was distracted wondering why Asher seemed pissed at her.

  It wasn’t like she’d been the one to burst into flames and almost explode th
e entire building.

  Was he angry because she’d used her powers on him? She didn’t exactly have a choice. And wouldn’t he be glad she was learning to control them? Happy she was making progress?

  “Ray-Ray?”

  She snapped her head up at Kally. “Yeah?”

  Kally narrowed green eyes at her. “You didn’t hear me, did you?”

  “Sure I did. Wing types, right? Feathered ones. Scaled ones. Those like Asher’s and made of fire.” She tried for a smile. “See? I was listening.”

  Kally shook her head. “Not exactly. I said I’ll organize a cleaning crew to fix this place up for you tomorrow.”

  “Oh.” Rayna glanced around at the burned curtains and scorch marks covering multiple surfaces.

  Her bed was basically a pile of cinders and the wardrobes were blackened beyond repair. It would take more than a cleaning crew to fix the place, but she wasn’t about to argue. Her mix and match boho décor was now rocking the arson victim vibe. Not a pretty look.

  Her gaze landed on the wooden box sitting near the door. Unburned. It didn’t even have a single scorch mark on it.

  Rayna.

  Apparently, the threat of an inferno hadn’t stopped the star from calling out to her. Tempting her anew.

  Fourteen

  Rayna waited hours for Asher to come home from his flight to the infirmary with Nissa.

  Kally stayed with her until Nick returned from getting Delilah, Autumn, and Ethan to safety. The couple had hovered, but Rayna ushered them out the door, then headed across the hall to Asher’s room. She climbed into one of his oversized tees and made herself comfy in his bed.

  But sleep wouldn’t come.

  She lay there, staring at the ceiling in the dark, pretending she wasn’t starving after missing dinner—she hadn’t even gotten a chance to taste the cake. And trying to ignore the star box calling her name over and over.

  She’d left it across the hall in her wardrobe and knew she’d have to take the plunge eventually—make that soon. But Nyx had also been clear about doing it when she was ready.