Labyrinth Academy 2: Wars: an Urban Fantasy academy romance

by JA Wren

  “Just tell me,” she said, her tone harsher than she’d meant. “Please. Would it contain me?”

  He sighed, a long, tired sound. “If you didn’t try to break out, it should hold your powers at bay.”

  “Should?”

  He shrugged. “Nothing can really hold a Primordial, Rayna.”

  Shit.

  But as long as she tried to control herself, it would hold her. Should hold her.

  It was better than nothing. And she was willing to try because she was scared shitless of what she was capable of after literally detonating back there.

  The darkness had felt too good. Too tempting.

  Too easy to get lost within.

  “I remembered something,” she whispered.

  His eyes widened and he took a step closer. “What?”

  She twisted her cold hands and tried to rub some warmth into them. “Earlier. When Kally and I—well, I remembered Nyx had said I was anointed by Thanatos. That I was the goddess of death. I didn’t understand what she meant, only that I’d cause the fucking apocalypse if I joined this war.”

  She took a deep breath to steady herself and Asher waited. Patiently.

  “And then when I went all nuclear on Kally and the darkness…exploded out of me?” She phrased it like a question, still not fully able to process it herself. “I wanted to let the darkness out. I wanted to drown the entire fucking world with it. Just like the damn vision thing Nyx showed me back in Hale’s office.

  “I could imagine it spreading and devouring everything. Until there was nothing left.” She shivered and wrapped her arms around her torso. “And it hit me. My powers. Those red lightning bolts inside the darkness. They’re death.”

  It terrified her, and she finally understood exactly why the gods wanted to use her as a weapon. Her dark abilities held a terrible secret, one bestowed on her by Thanatos himself—the god of death.

  He’d blessed her at her birth, given her a slice of his own power, and when combined with the abilities she’d inherited from Nyx and Erebos, they formed a dark and deadly gift. A curse.

  Darkness and Death.

  The black smoke, with its red electric currents, could kill anything on contact.

  Death didn’t discriminate.

  It took all souls without prejudice.

  Rayna clenched her fists still knotted against her sides. “Kally said she and whoever she’s working with want to cleanse the earth. Wipe everything out and start again. A fresh beginning.” She fought the sob creeping its way up her throat. “That makes me the perfect weapon in a war where the goal is to destroy everything.”

  Asher’s face softened. No trace of surprise anywhere.

  He knew.

  He’d likely always known.

  Tears gathered in her eyes as little things fell into place. Things she hadn’t understood until now. The darkness was only deadly when it crackled with red electricity. When the scent of ozone wrapped around her.

  The sheets she’d slept in back at her apartment. Her houseplants. Her kitty. All turned to tar while she slept. Gods, she was lucky she hadn’t done more harm when she was unconscious. What the hell had Nyx been thinking when she left her to roam free in New York, her powers simmering beneath the surface?

  At least she’d stepped in with the academy invite when it was obvious she was on the verge of losing it.

  The marble statue of Winged-Woman during her trials. Turned to a pile of dust when she’d let her powers fly without even knowing what she was doing.

  “The night Nissa burned my room.” She distinctly remembered Asher covering the young phoenix, his fire blazing around the girl. “You were shielding her. From me.”

  She’d thought he was keeping Nissa’s fire from bringing the building down. And maybe he had. At first.

  And then Kally had encouraged her to let her darkness out. To smother them. She’d been testing Rayna, wanting to grow her powers for all the wrong reasons.

  Asher nodded. “My fire is the only thing I know of that can withstand your darkness. The two seem to cancel each other out or something. Maybe because our souls are bound. Same way my fire can’t hurt you, your darkness can’t harm me.”

  But he hadn’t always been there when she lost control of her abilities. That’s what had cracked the Retention Chamber glass—the red sparks inside the darkness. Her power did more than kill people and living things. It destroyed everything in its path. Turned any matter into tar and soot.

  “I killed Kally back there, didn’t I?”

  He shook his head. “No. I saw her fly off right as you—”

  “Detonated?” she snapped.

  He winced but didn’t argue, only stood there unable to meet her gaze. More tears pooled in her eyes as she brushed past him to enter the quarantine room.

  “Rayna—”

  “You should’ve locked me in here the moment we arrived at the academy.” Maybe then Tink would still be alive and none of the attacks would’ve happened. “Better yet, Nyx should’ve left me in the heavens. Far out of reach. Where I couldn’t destroy the world and everyone in it.”

  Rayna didn’t say more than a few words to Asher for two days, only giving him short answers or asking if they’d found Tink.

  They hadn’t.

  But the battle on the academy campus had finally ended, leaving masses of damage that would take months to repair. Or so Asher said. She wouldn’t know, since she was confined to quarantine.

  By her own choice.

  If she stayed inside the oversized, and hopefully upgraded, Retention Chamber, maybe she’d eventually learn full control of her powers. At least this way she wouldn’t destroy everything.

  Besides, she’d run out of time. Her week was up. Soon, Nyx would return, trap her in a star, and send her into the heavens.

  She almost welcomed it.

  It wasn’t like she wanted to go all apocalyptic.

  Her temporary home was kitted out with the bare minimum. Like a prison cell. Bed with white sheets and a teeny bathroom. No windows. One door which remained sealed behind the magical version of an air-lock.

  She refused to see anyone except Asher, the only person she knew without a doubt she couldn’t accidentally hurt.

  The door hissed open and Asher stepped inside, closing up after himself. He’d only been gone a short while, never leaving her alone for longer than it took to get food she never ate. But he kept trying. Mostly, he sat with her or kept her warm with his body heat when she thought she’d freeze.

  He never tried to convince her to leave. Accepting this was something she felt she needed to do. Even if he didn’t agree.

  “Hey, I brought you something to eat. And coffee.”

  She shook her head despite the gnawing hunger that had slowly crept into her. She’d been too worried about Tink and everyone else she cared about to even consider eating. But her old hunger had slowly returned, an incessant pit in her belly.

  How could she eat when Tink was still missing?

  She couldn’t bring herself to fully accept the Wisp was dead, not after she’d woken last with a faint hum coming from the pendant in her necklace. Asher had held her and surrounded her with his warmth as she sobbed in his arms, desperately trying to hold onto the belief Tink was alive and out there somewhere.

  “You need to eat, Rayna.” He set a tray of delicious smelling ravioli on the bed in front of her. It made her gag and she turned away before she threw up all over the sheets. “At least the coffee, then.”

  “No, thank you.”

  A heavy sigh tore from him. “Rayna, please. I need you to get something into your system.”

  She wanted to snap, but she wasn’t really angry with him and it wasn’t fair to take out her frustrations on the man who didn’t deserve it. The man she loved. Who stood by her even when it was clear she was a massive threat to everyone and everything.

  So, she kept quiet, staring at the pale wall instead.

  When the silence grew unbearable, she asked, “Your
brothers?”

  He simply shook his head. She’d asked before and he’d given her the exact same answer, apparently unwilling to discuss them. She knew it had to be tearing him up inside and her heart broke for him. But clearly he wasn’t ready to talk about it, and she sure as hell wouldn’t push him.

  She clutched her necklace, the crystal pendant cold without the Wisp’s hum. “Tink?”

  “Still no sign of her. But I bet she’d want you to stay healthy—”

  “Don’t you dare use Tink to get me to do what you want,” she screamed, her pent up anger rolling off of her, little tendrils of smoke curling from her skin. Her eyes widened and she frantically tried to pull it back in. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

  She wedged herself up in the far corner of the bed, right by the wall, and brought her knees to her chest, clutching her arms around her legs.

  Asher reached out and tried to touch her, but she recoiled from him, making herself as small as possible.

  She gulped in a hard breath. “What if—what if I’m the one who killed her? What if Tink got caught in my darkness and it destroyed her?”

  “You know that’s not possible.” He spoke softly, gently. Always so careful with her. Like she might self-destruct any minute. “WillowWisps live in the darkness. It’s what draws her to you and you to her, what bonds you together as two sides of the same coin. Light and dark.”

  Light and dark.

  Rayna frowned, a spark igniting in her mind. During the chaos, she’d forgotten to tell Asher what she’d seen. “Kally.”

  “We haven’t found her, either. She must have—”

  “No. I mean I saw something the other night. On the sword she carried.” She glanced at her palm and the symbol Dave had drawn, the one that left a golden mark on her skin. It still sparkled, a simplified outline of a C and O, as she held it up for Asher to see. “This sigil. It glowed on her sword, but there was more to it. More complex, just like Delilah said.”

  “More?”

  She nodded, glancing around for something to draw on her hand with but coming up with nothing.

  The food!

  She grabbed the knife from the tray Asher had brought in and cut into her palm. Blood welled and dripped from her hand.

  “What the fuck, Rayna?” Asher clutched her hand, nicking himself with the knife in the process. He cradled her sliced palm, inspecting the wound she’d given herself.

  She stared at the tiny droplet of blood beading on his finger, swelling larger until it rolled down onto her skin. Rayna licked her lips as it slid along her hand. The moment their blood joined, curls of black, red, and orange smoke rose from her palm with little sparks of light.

  And then the golden veins of the symbol imbedded in her skin grew. They spread out to complete the engraving she’d seen on Kally’s blade. Stars snaked around the curve of the C—a crescent moon—along with three diamond shapes. And rays of light jutted out from the O in sharp spears.

  Asher stared with wide eyes as round as hers felt. “The sun and the moon,” he mumbled under his breath, then cursed.

  “What does it mean?”

  He dragged a hand roughly through his hair. “That we’re fucked.”

  Twenty-Eight

  A knock sounded on the door and interrupted Rayna before she could ask what the hell he meant by fucked.

  Hale stepped inside a moment later, her expression far more severe and ten times more serious than usual. Which really should’ve been impossible. “Right, this has gone on long enough, Miss Knox.”

  Not even a hello. Hale took uptight to a new level, but she’d always been—sorta—polite. The complete lack of greeting, mixed with her haggard appearance spoke volumes.

  The academy had taken a massive blow.

  “I understand why you’ve decided to quarantine yourself, and while I appreciate your concerns for the safety of my students,” Hale forged on. “We cannot have you wasting away in here. Asher assures me you have full control of your abilities and has promised to stay with you at all times should something go…wrong.”

  She shifted from one foot to the other, and if Rayna didn’t know any better, she’d think the Headmistress was nervous. “Now, I realize you’re likely skeptical—as am I, to be honest—so I’ve arranged an evaluation before you’re released.”

  Evaluation?

  As though Hale heard Rayna’s thoughts, she said, “You’ll be given a series of tests, and if you pass, you may return to your room. You will continue your training under strict supervision. However, you will not be permitted to use any of your abilities outside of your training sessions. Failure to adhere to these rules will result in you being returned to this quarantine facility. Do I make myself clear?”

  Rayna stared at the Headmistress, unsure how to answer. Yes, she wanted out of the tiny room, but what if she inadvertently hurt someone? A stranger or…someone she cared about. That was the reason she’d chosen to lock herself in here in the first place. Asher might be immune, but Delilah and Autumn were at high risk.

  But, if she was free, she could search for Tink.

  “What about Nyx?”

  Hale gave her what was almost a smile. “I believe your mother has plans to visit you sometime during the course of the day. Do you really wish for her to find you locked in quarantine?”

  Gods, if that wasn’t a sign that said, send me into the heavens, she didn’t know what was.

  “Miss Knox, I’d like your answer please.”

  “Yes,” she blurted quickly. “Run whatever tests you need to.”

  Hale twined her hands together and nodded. “Then it’s settled. Professor Bjerk will be administering your evaluation within the hour. I highly suggest you eat something to ensure you’re at your full strength.”

  With a sharp turn on her heel, Hale left the room. A strange emotion coiled inside Rayna. Gratitude mixed with…fondness. Was she actually growing to like the prim Headmistress?

  Rayna eyed the bowl of pasta, still reluctant to dig in. But if it meant evaluating her powers, avoiding eternity within a star, and getting closer to finding her Wisp, she’d force it down.

  Rayna hadn’t expected her evaluation to include the three cloaked hags and their needle from the start of her trials. But sure enough, that was her first stop. At Professor Bjerk’s request, Asher led her out of her quarantine box, through the infirmary, and out the main academy entrance.

  She waved at Dave as they passed Gorgon Fountain, and he dipped his head, a tiny smile appearing as he eyed the complete golden symbol on her palm. They stopped right before the end of the tunnel, where the stone altar stood surrounded by darkness since night had fallen.

  The triple moon symbol glowed above the hags, while red candles everywhere created pools of melted wax and torches lined the stone walls.

  It really was déjà vu.

  “Welcome to the Crimson Rites,” the woman in the middle rasped, little clouds of steam wafting from under her black hood. “Again.”

  Yeah, she wasn’t exactly happy about that either. “Hopefully you don’t need to slice my wrist open this time.”

  Asher tightened his hand around hers, squeezing as he added extra warmth. His way of wordlessly giving her support. At least he’d been right about the food. Once she managed to get it down her dry throat, she felt marginally better, but it was the coffee that truly sated her. Even barely warm, it was delicious.

  “Hand.”

  She knew the drill by now and held out her palm. The wicked needle appeared and with a tiny prick, a single droplet oozed from her finger. She swallowed as her ravioli and coffee threatened to come back up, the sight making her antsy and uncomfortable.

  Her blood rose into the air as the hags did those weird hand signals, but it stayed perfectly spherical this time. No wobbles or wavers. The droplet steadily lifted like a bubble on a light breeze until it hovered in the air, then expanded.

  When it was roughly the size of a beach ball, red sparks ignited in
side, flashes of lightning flickering along with plumes of black smoke. The hag in the middle of the trio hummed with approval, then waved her hand, and the blood balloon shrank back to a tiny droplet, falling onto the altar.

  “What?” Rayna asked when the cloaked hag said nothing. “Is it conclusive this time?”

  “Oh, yes.” Another wave of her hand and the altar vanished, the candles snuffing out and disappearing along with it, leaving only thin trails of smoke. “Without a doubt, you are the Primordial goddess of death, heir to the night, keeper of the darkness, and the last of the Keres.”

  After Crimson Rites, Rayna had a date with Bjerk in the gym to show off her powers. He and Asher were the only ones present. Safety and all. They drilled her for hours, getting her to release her darkness, tinge it with the red sparks of death, and then retract it like a set of kitty claws.

  Over and over.

  Different levels and different amounts. Conjuring her scythe and her wings, then infusing them with literal death and tearing through random objects that turned into tar and dust.

  Rinse and repeat.

  Eventually, she’d proven she had full control of her powers. Enough they officially released her from quarantine. More importantly, enough Rayna trusted herself again. Trusted she wasn’t a danger to those she loved, a bomb ready to go off any moment.

  And hopefully enough to convince Nyx to let her stay with Asher.

  “Okay, time to spill about this sun and moon sigil thing,” she said as she held up her palm and flopped onto his bed.

  The questions surrounding the golden symbol still glittering on her skin had been eating away at her all day. But it wasn’t like they could stop her evaluation so Asher could give her the details.

  He heaved out a sigh and dragged his hands through his hair, mussing it even further. She wanted to do the same. Then kiss him until she couldn’t breathe anymore, but they had more pressing things to talk about. At least for now.

  “The sun and the moon,” he started. “It symbolizes day and night. Light and dark.”