Zodiac Academy 3: The Reckoning: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts)

by Caroline Peckham

  He may have been strangely nice to me for one night but it didn’t change anything between us. The past spoke for itself. And there wasn’t anything that he could say to me to justify that.

  I just wished my racing heart would agree.

  I locked my door, then dragged my nightstand in front of it too, needing a solid barrier between me and the outside world.

  “Fuck,” I breathed as my pounding heart finally began to settle. Why did I let myself get into these situations? I could only be grateful that nothing else had happened between us because that would have been goddamn catastrophic.

  I grabbed my Atlas from my satchel then dropped the bag on the floor. I tapped the device but found it dead and sighed as I plugged it in to charge before heading for a shower.

  The bright lights in the bathroom drove more daggers through my skull and I groaned. It had been a goddamn school night, what had I been thinking getting wasted like that? I’d wanted to have a drink but the stars only knew what had pushed me to have so much. I could remember feeling buzzed and then it just went black. How had I managed to hop from tipsy to blackout without seeing it coming?

  I set the water running in the shower and looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was a mess of curls and eyeliner had smudged beneath my eyes a little but the most horrendous thing in the reflection was the look in my eyes. It wasn’t even shame. My eyes were alight with the thrill of Darius’s magic.

  “Hopeless,” I mocked myself before pulling his t-shirt over my head. The scent of cedar and smoke coiled around me like a caress and for half a second I was back in his arms.

  I tossed the shirt away from me with disgust at myself and it landed back in my bedroom. My underwear quickly followed and I dove into the shower to wash Darius Acrux off of my flesh. I cranked the heat up to scalding for good measure and washed my hair twice. The feeling of his hands on my skin didn’t wash off though and eventually I had to leave the imprints there.

  I dried myself quickly, dressing in a fresh uniform before realising my shoes were missing. I cursed Darius and applied makeup while squinting against the harsh lights of my bedroom. Cardinal Magic with Orion was gonna be a goddamn nightmare with this hangover.

  My Atlas started pinging like crazy as it came back to life and I reached for it with a groan, needing that noise to stop. The first thing to flash up was my horoscope.

  Good morning Gemini.

  The stars have spoken about your day!

  After a turbulent start, you may begin to see things in a new light today. Sometimes things aren’t just black and white and though you may be tempted to stick to original assumptions about certain situations, if you open your mind to the possibility of change you might be pleasantly surprised.

  A Libra and Pisces will work to dampen your flame today but keep heart, if you can make it through the hard part, you may just find your luck changing as the day wears on.

  Well if a Libra was going to dampen my flame then I had a fair idea that that would be Orion. Peachy.

  As I closed down my horoscope I found multiple messages from Sofia, Diego and Darcy all in a panic about Darius Acrux kidnapping me and wanting to know I was alright.

  I sent a quick reassuring message to our group chat telling them I’d survived the Dragon and would fill them in on everything over multiple coffees in The Orb ASAP. The one thing I did know was that I wanted to get the hell out of Ignis House before I ended up running into Darius again.

  I snagged a pair of black stilettos from my wardrobe, cursing the fact that I’d left my shoes in Darius’s room. But I’d sooner spend the day in the ridiculous heels than have to go knocking on his door in search of my pumps. The mere thought of that made me want to curl up in a ball and scream. Nope. Crippled feet from heels were far preferable to the agony of that interaction.

  Why had I let myself begin to forget all the things the Heirs had done to us? We hadn’t even made anymore moves against them since the Pitball match.

  Time to change that.

  I grabbed the bag I’d hidden in the bottom of my closet and stuffed it into my satchel with a surge of determination.

  I slid the nightstand away from the door and wrapped a thick jacket around myself before opening the door.

  I almost tripped over the pile of folded clothes sitting outside my door and my heart pitter-pattered as I snatched them up. I quickly switched out the stilettos for my pumps, trying not to think too much about the Dragon who’d returned my things. Perhaps Darius was five percent not an asshole. Still ninety five percent a dickwad who’d tried to murder me though so I wasn’t going to be sending him a thank you card.

  I pulled my headphones on but my pounding head couldn’t take the hell of music so I didn’t turn any on. I just wanted to discourage anyone who might want to talk to me from doing so.

  I needed coffee, Darcy and coffee in that order. My stomach was churning and just the thought of all the food at The Orb made me feel like I might puke but I had to get out of here.

  The common room was filling up as I crossed it and I spotted Darius instantly, sitting in his usual spot, surrounded by his fan club. His hair was wet and he’d dressed in his uniform with one of those black robes over it already. His eyes followed me as I crossed the room but I pulled my hood up, withdrawing into the darkness within it as I tried to banish the painful light which wanted to split my head in two.

  “Fresh meat!” The sound of approaching footsteps followed the yells as I was spotted and my gut dropped dramatically.

  Fuck no! Do not mess with me right now!

  I threw my hands up, automatically sending a shockwave of air magic tearing away from me in every direction. People and furniture went flying everywhere as I threw way too much force into the attack and only Darius and the people around him were spared the hit as he shielded them just in time.

  Half a smile tugged at his lips but I looked away from him, jogging straight for the stairs to escape before the Hell Week assholes could come at me again.

  “Let her go,” Darius’s voice followed me out and heat raced down my spine but I refused to even wonder why he’d done that. Probably just didn’t want me to puke on the carpet.

  The day was beautiful, the sky pale blue and clear of clouds as the sun rose to fill it and birds cried out joyfully. I scowled at it.

  Stupid sun.

  I needed a grey day to go with my grey mood and all of that bright light was going to cause me serious issues. I fished a pair of sunglasses out of my satchel and placed them on with a groan.

  Why did I have to drink so much? Why did he have to be the one to find me? Why did he have to look so damn good in the mornings with his hair all mussed up and his shirt off...

  As I finally made it into The Orb, I paused in surprise, looking around at the flowers which covered every available surface in every colour imaginable. As I looked closer, I realised they were growing through a thick layer of ice which sparkled in the shimmering lights which burned around the curved walls. I guessed that this was the result of my out of control magic and I marvelled a little at what I’d managed to create.

  My lips parted and awe almost drove my headache away until the smell of food sent my stomach tumbling over itself instead.

  There weren’t many students here yet but a couple of teachers were looking at the ice and flowers and discussing them in low voices.

  “I say we leave the decorations up for a while, enjoy the change!” Washer said, rubbing his hands together enthusiastically.

  “The choice is really between burning the whole thing away or trying to encourage the ice to melt and the plants to wither,” Pyro disagreed. “We can’t leave the place covered in ice and flowers. But the magic is so damn strong that it doesn’t want to budge. I’m guessing this prank is courtesy of the Heirs, we should figure out which of them did it and dock House Points. At the least they should have to clean it up.”

  “Oh those rascals would never admit to it even if it was them,” Washer said, waggling a finger.
“Do you want me to give melting it a go then? I might get everyone wet though...”

  I passed them by before hearing Pyro’s response and glanced around to check no one was paying me any attention before casting the spell Sofia had taught me last night. My skin tingled as the glamour fell over me and I was hidden from the sight of anyone looking my way. It worked by simply making people look past me and could be broken if someone concentrated hard enough so I needed to hurry.

  I crossed the room straight towards the red couch where the Heirs always held court and smiled to myself as I pulled the bag from my satchel. I grabbed a glittering purple Pegasus horn vibrator out first and quickly wedged it between the cushions. Next, I pulled out a riding whip which we’d gotten personalised so that Caleb Altair stood out in silver letters along the length of it and laid it at the edge of his usual spot with my heart pumping adrenaline into my limbs.

  I headed straight for the coffee machine with a smirk playing around my lips and dropped the glamour again as I looked around to make sure no one had seen through my spell. I grabbed a tray and quickly made six coffees before carrying them to a set of curved couches in the corner where we’d have a good view when the Heirs arrived.

  I shot Darcy a message to let her know what I’d done so that I wouldn’t have to risk telling her while people might overhear us then reached for my coffee in desperation.

  The first mouthful of my hot drink drew me a little closer to feeling human again and I released a soft moan as I drank it down.

  “Holy shit, Tor, what the hell happened to you last night?” Darcy demanded as she jogged towards me. I barely managed to deposit my coffee on the table before she wrapped her arms around me. “Diego practically broke my door down looking for me and then Sofia called me and told me Darius Acrux had kidnapped you but there was a teacher lurking outside the exit to Aer House because of the curfew and I couldn’t leave to find you!”

  “It’s alright, he didn’t do anything bad,” I reassured her. “The reason I look like shit is purely self inflicted.”

  Darcy plopped down into the soft armchair opposite me and claimed her coffee as I started on my second. I still had my sunglasses on like a total douchebag but I couldn’t bear to lower them.

  “I can’t believe you got wasted on a school night,” she said, rolling her eyes at me.

  “Well you ditched us so I had to have your drinks too,” I joked.

  “So what happened with Darius?” she pressed.

  I let out a heavy breath. What the hell had happened with Darius? I filled her in on all of it and she gave me a report of what Sofia and Diego had told her too. By the end of it I still didn’t really know what to make of the Fire Heir’s behaviour.

  When she told me what had happened with Seth, my eyebrows practically got lost in my hairline.

  “Maybe the stars are doing something weird at the moment,” I said eventually. “Because that now means all four Heirs have managed to behave in less than asshole like ways in the last twenty-four hours. And that sure as shit isn’t natural.”

  Darcy barked a laugh and relaxed back into her chair with a shake of her head. “You’re right. Maybe Neptune is twisting their personalities into those of non-jerks for a while.”

  “Long may it last,” I murmured over my third coffee.

  “Well I’ll drink to that,” she agreed.

  We clinked coffee cups and I winced at the sharp sound. Whatever the hell was going on with the Heirs, I just hoped it was going to stay this way.

  As that thought occurred to me, the four assholes in question appeared. I raised an eyebrow at Darcy to draw her attention and she slid from her seat to take a place in the chair beside mine which offered her a better view of them as they drew closer to their couch.

  “Maybe pissing them off again wasn’t the best idea,” I muttered, though it was too late to back out now.

  “Pfft, this is nothing compared to what they did to us,” Darcy replied, taking a long drink from her mug.

  Seth dropped down into his seat, tipping his head back and howling in that way he did to make sure everyone noticed he’d arrived. Like his ego just needed the hit of having all eyes on him for two seconds every morning or he’d self combust.

  Darius looked my way as he took his seat but I didn’t react, knowing he couldn’t tell I was looking back at him with my sunglasses shielding my eyes.

  Darcy busied herself with pretending to scroll through something on her Atlas as she watched them through a veil of her hair and I had to fight to keep the preemptive smirk off of my face.

  Max dropped into his seat the same moment Caleb did and he instantly shifted to yank the horn vibrator out from under his cushion. Geraldine was walking past them and stopped to point, calling out loudly as she spotted what Max was holding.

  “For the love of sanitary sausages, please tell me you aren’t bringing your depraved hobbies in here where we all eat our meals!” she cried. “It’s bad enough you paid a griffin to take a dump on your chest without bringing your randy rocket out with you for breakfast!”

  Darcy and I nearly choked on our laughter at what she’d accused him of - it was goddamn genius.

  Silence fell as everyone looked at Max whose mouth had fallen open in shock. In the seconds it took him to scramble for a response, Geraldine swept away, heading for us with mischief glimmering in her eyes as laughter broke out around us.

  “This isn’t mine!” Max shouted, getting to his feet.

  “No, that looks like it must be Caleb’s!” someone called from the back of the room and the rest of the Heirs were suddenly on their feet too.

  A laugh burst from my mouth and Darcy gripped my arm as she fought to hold her own laughter back. Geraldine dropped down opposite us, a restrained smile on her lips as she took a coffee from the table.

  As Caleb got up, he knocked the whip with his knee and it fell to the floor with a clatter.

  Darius bent down to retrieve it, his grip tightening on it as he held it up for the others to see.

  “What the fuck is this?” Darius growled, his eyes shooting around the room though thankfully not lingering on us.

  “Did you really pay a griffin to take a dump on your chest, Max?” a girl shouted. “Because I’d do it for free!”

  Max’s face turned a violent shade of purple and a wave of anger slammed through The Orb from him a second before he launched the horn vibrator across the room. It hit the metal wall with a dull thunk then fell to the ground where it promptly started vibrating and bouncing all over the place.

  “When we find out who’s behind this shit, you’re going to wish you were never born!” Caleb bellowed as he snatched the whip from Darius’s hands and snapped it in half with a loud crack.

  My chest was hurting as I fought against my laughter, biting down on my lip almost hard enough to draw blood but it was a losing battle. There were more than a few sniggers breaking out from all around the room and I clutched onto Darcy as I lost control.

  The Heirs stormed from the room and a cascade of laughter followed them as they went.

  “Galloping gargoyles, that might have been the best one yet,” Geraldine gushed and even though the laughter was definitely making my headache worse, I was pretty sure I had to agree.

  Orion arrived at Cardinal Magic with bags under his eyes and a pale look that said he was running low on magic. He shot toward me in a blur and two thoughts collided in my head. One: that I kind of wanted to give him the energy he needed and two: that I was Fae and I needed to start fighting back.

  He dragged me out of my seat and my heart stuttered as I made my decision and slammed the heel of my palm into his chin to throw his bite off.

  Tory whooped and Orion laughed as he locked his arm around my waist, tugging me close. Adrenaline scored through my blood as I flexed my fingers to cast fire but he snatched my wrist at speed, sinking his fangs into my skin, his venom immobilising my magic in an instant. Damn.

  His heated mouth on my flesh and the way I was
pressed right into the arc of his body sent electricity skittering through my veins. A noise left my lips that was bordering on sexual and I was just glad the whole class were still chattering loud enough not to hear it. My free hand lay flat against his chest and the solid thumping of his heartbeat drummed against my palm.

  He didn't take as much magic as I expected, extracting his fangs and brushing his thumb over the wound to heal it. Without a word, he sped away from me toward the head of the classroom, stripping off his suit jacket and tossing it over the back of his desk chair. I sank back into my seat, my emotions all over the place as I came down from the high of his hands and mouth all over me.

  Orion cleared his throat, a mischievous grin pulling at his lips as he wrote today's inspirational quote on the board.

  YOU ARE ALL A BUNCH OF HORNY TEENAGERS.

  My eyes widened and it sounded like someone actually spat out their drink behind me.

  “Yes!” Tyler bashed his palm on the table excitedly as Orion turned to look at us all with a smirk on his face.

  I sank lower in my chair, glancing at Tory as she gaped at what he'd written.

  “Please tell me this isn't a sex ed class,” I said under my breath.

  “This is sexual education for Fae,” Orion announced and I sank lower, wishing I could use my air magic to turn myself into a breeze and slip out the window.

  Of all the professors to teach this, why did it have to be him?

  I thought of my horoscope this morning and a line in it suddenly made perfect sense, but not in the way I'd hoped. A Libra will make you blush harder than you ever have before today. I’d maybe spent an extra ten minutes in bed daydreaming about how said Libra might achieve that. But not like this. Why did it have to be this?