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

by Caroline Peckham

  I pressed a hand to his chest, needing room to breathe but he wouldn’t give it to me. The scent of him was blended with Fran’s rose perfume and fury reared in me even sharper.

  “Diego kissed me. I was caught off guard. But you kissed her because you wanted to.”

  Do not cry, Darcy Vega. Do not fucking cry.

  His lips pressed into a tight line and a dangerous energy hummed between us. “You know why I did it.”

  “Don’t do that. You always turn it back on me, expecting me to read your damn mind,” I snarled, trying to push him back but if anything he shifted closer. His hand landed on my thigh and I snatched it away. “And don’t do that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because we’re done,” I said breathlessly. “It was a one night thing, let’s move on with our lives.”

  “Do we feel done to you?” he asked in a baritone voice that made my insides curl like burning paper. He lifted a hand to heal the bite mark which was throbbing on my neck and his gentle touch sent a delicious shiver along my spine. I despised myself for how good that felt and quickly swallowed the emotion away.

  The honest answer? No way in hell did this feel done. I was still so angry, but there was a part of me which couldn’t cut free from Orion. He was in my blood like poison. Or maybe more like sugar. It was hard to know which. Either way it was probably bad for my health.

  He waited for my answer and my heart thumped erratically, practically suffocating me.

  “I can’t believe you kissed her,” I hissed, those treacherous tears threatening to break free.

  We were nearly at the top of the Faerris Wheel now and I could see right across the fair. It was beautiful, a sea of lights which constantly flickered and danced. The laughter that carried from below spoke of how much fun everyone was having here and I so wanted to be one of them, instead of feeling like this.

  “You brought Diego here on a date to hurt me,” Orion said and the tone of his voice said he really was hurt. I mulled over whether that was true. Maybe it was.

  “You asked me to talk to him.”

  “You know I didn’t mean take him on a fucking date,” he snarled, two chasms of magma opening up in his eyes.

  I looked away and he caught my chin, drawing me back to look him in the eye. “When I saw you leaving campus with him, I called Francesca.”

  My heart thumped painfully hard, full of an ache, a desperate need to believe this was just some stupid game we’d both ravelled ourselves up in. “To get even?” I confirmed.

  He nodded. “Biggest fucking mistake of my life. I’d rather bleed than feel what I did when I saw his mouth on yours.”

  “So you kissed her to get back at me?” I bit at him, trying to mentally erase the image of his hands all over her like that.

  “Yes,” he said, drawing away a little, his brow furrowed.

  Silence passed between us.

  “I’ll ask you again. Are we done, Blue?” He clutched my arm so tight it almost hurt. We were walking the line of pain and I didn’t know if being with him or not being with him would hurt more.

  Slowly, I shook my head and his posture relaxed as if I’d told him the world wasn’t gonna end. “But maybe we should be. Part of me doesn’t want this to be done, but you hurt me.”

  “You hurt me first.” His jaw locked tight and I shook my head at him.

  “What I did was not on the same level.” I glanced away. Since when were we some exclusive couple anyway? Did I really have the right to tell him not to see other women when we’d spent one night together? Maybe I didn’t. But hell, maybe I wanted to.

  He sighed, reaching out to cup my cheek but I pushed his hand away. Desperation flashed through his eyes. “I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have kissed her.”

  The earnestness of his words made me almost give in. Maybe I could get over the Fran stuff but not what had happened to Tory. This whole argument had gotten out of hand. And at the root of it was what he’d done in that cave on the beach.

  I nodded stiffly.

  “If you want to hurt me in future, use your hands,” he said with a dark look. “I think physical pain would be preferable.”

  “Well I won’t stop wanting to hurt you until you apologise for what happened with Darius and Tory,” I said. “You never said sorry and that’s what breaks me the most. You don’t care about what you did.” Tears burned my eyes but I blinked them back, cursing myself when I was sure he’d seen them.

  “You need an apology, Blue? Fine. I’ll give you the best one I can think up.” He kissed the corner of my mouth and it burned with promises before he stood, climbed over the gate and jumped.

  “Oh shit,” I gasped, lurching forward and spotting him landing on the ground below with the aid of his air magic. He headed off into the crowd like he hadn’t just action-manned his way off a fifty foot metal wheel and I gazed after him, feeling like I was standing in the wake of a natural disaster.

  When the wheel finally descended, I found Diego waiting for me with a scowl on his face. “That vampiro is a rude piece of shit,” he muttered. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine. And he’s not a piece of shit,” I said on instinct.

  He arched a brow at me. “Oh please tell me you don’t have some pathetic crush on him, Darcy. That would be tragic.”

  Heat raced under my skin. My pulse was spiking and a blaze of fire was building in my chest. I bit down on my tongue nearly hard enough to draw blood.

  Just say no. Tell him you don’t.

  Why was it so hard to force the words out? It was just a simple lie. But the way Diego spoke about him made a tigress sit up inside me and lick her lips. I wanted to destroy him for talking about Orion that way. I might have been mad at him, but Diego didn’t have the right to talk about him like that. It was as if I had no control over myself for a second. Like a beast really did live in me.

  I managed to rein in my anger enough to speak rationally. “I know you don’t like him, Diego, but-”

  “No buts,” he cut me off, his eyes flashing. “I don’t just dislike him. I despise him. I wish a plague of fucking death on him. In fact, I wish he hadn’t survived the battle at the Pitball stadium.”

  I slapped him so hard I was as stunned as he was as I withdrew my hand. My palm print remained flaring on his cheek and he stared at me with a murderous glint in his eyes. He stepped forward and I stumbled back a step before remembering I was ten times as strong as him. But for half a second, it didn’t feel like that, power seeming to radiate from him.

  “I thought you were different,” he said slowly. “But you’re just like your whore of a sister, pining after bastardos who treat you like dirt and who only give you a second look because you’d drop onto your knees for them any time they liked. Es patético.” He turned his back on me and walked away into the crowd, seeming to trample on my heart as he left.

  My lower lip quivered with rage and it took a long moment for me to pull myself back together. How dare he say that to me?

  I took out my Atlas, desperate to message Tory so I could find her, but I hesitated. She was probably having a good time with Caleb and I didn’t want to ruin that for her. At least one of us should enjoy the fair.

  My throat was tight as I walked mindlessly through the crowd, figuring I should probably just catch the shuttle back to Zodiac.

  “Pretty laddddy,” a woman sang and I spotted her outside a House of Mirrors, the orange walls tall with oddly shaped windows. “Come inside and find out who you truly are,” she said enticingly. She wore nothing but a sparkly pink crop top and tiny shorts, a veil covering her mouth and her eyes painted with elaborate make-up. An ethereal tune called from inside the house and she shook her hips in time with it, beckoning me in.

  “How much?” I asked, figuring, why not? Might as well try and get my mind off of the shitstorm that was this night.

  “For you? Two auras,” she said, holding out her hand.

  I fished a couple of coins out of my purse, handing them over and
she waved a finger at the silver curtain covering the door, drawing it back with a gust of air.

  I stepped inside and as the curtain fell behind me, the sound of the fair was completely blocked out. That strange music hung around me as I moved down a dark corridor lit by red lights. At the far end of it was a large mirror with a glowing blue frame. Above it, a word sparkled in silver. Past.

  As I drew closer, my heart beat harder. I was me before I’d come to Zodiac, standing in my foster father’s kitchen. Pete was sitting at the table doing a scratchcard, ferociously rubbing off the silver coating. I stood before the coffee machine, anxiously waiting for it to finish pouring so I could leave. I remembered this day and I almost wanted to walk away before Pete’s next words. I couldn’t remember them exactly, only the lasting sting they’d caused.

  “Fucking lost. Again. Guess I’m stuck with you and your sister a while longer.”

  Stuck with us. I frowned bitterly. We’d never been wanted anywhere, but this was the hurt of my past. I didn’t live there anymore. And that seemed clearer than ever now as I stared at the girl in that memory, clutching the counter with a hopeless expression. I wasn’t her anymore. I had hope. I had people who wanted me and I wanted them back.

  I turned into the next corridor and the image faded away. I travelled up a ramp, the walls seeming to turn around me in a tunnel, blue lights flashing as I headed toward the next doorway.

  I stepped into another corridor, passing a long line of mirrors on the wall. Above them were the words, who do you want to be?

  Each mirror showed me as something different. I was still me, but my clothes, hair and makeup changed as I passed each one. A laugh fell from my throat as I paused in front of one showing me as a clown. In the next, I twisted through the air and morphed into a beautiful white Griffin. In others I had red hair, black, silver. I was a stripper swinging on a pole, then a warrior with a sword. Finally, I stepped in front of the last mirror and the word present glowed above it. I was just me. And I was good with that.

  I headed through another curtain and found myself in a room made from mirrored glass. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, all of it was perfectly polished and reflected me endlessly in every direction. I hurried across it, slipping into the next room and finding one final mirror waiting for me. The corridor was lit by low blue lighting and the mirror at the end seemed to be entirely blank.

  I walked toward it, eyeing the word future above it.

  I frowned as flames erupted at the bottom of it, a tangle of blue and red fire. Above, I realised the mirror wasn’t blank at all. It pictured the night sky and at the heart of it was a shadowy moon which seemed to burn like embers. The words from the Devil card Astrum had sent to us came to mind.

  The answer to your question will be revealed on the Lunar Eclipse.

  I had a thousand questions, but I hoped one of the most important ones would come to light tomorrow.

  The mirror suddenly shifted into a door and the light brightened. I turned the handle and found myself back outside, the fresh air blowing against my cheeks.

  I smiled at the woman attending the attraction and she waved a little creepily as I walked away. Weird.

  I shivered as I headed along, feeling better after the distraction and deciding to stay a while longer. Who says I can’t have fun on my own?

  I grabbed a hot cocoa from a bar and soaked in the atmosphere, perusing the stands full of trinkets and crystals. That sonuvabitch Diego. How could he say that about me and my sister?

  My Atlas pinged and I took it out, half hoping Tory fancied meeting up but the message was from Orion.

  Lance:

  I’m ready to make my apology.

  Come to the circus tent in five minutes.

  I stuffed my Atlas away with a frown and located a sign pointing toward the tent. I wondered if I should go, but I was too curious not to.

  I followed the signs, twisting through the labyrinth of paths toward the circus tent. It loomed on the edge of the fair, a huge dome of purple and red with flashing lights ringing the roof. Fire breathers were gathered outside, shooting colourful displays of flames up toward the sky.

  I followed a queue inside and found a ring of stages circling the interior. On each of them was a strange act, from contortionists who wrapped themselves into actual knots, to illusion acts and beautiful dancers who leapt through rings of fire of their own creation.

  At the back of the tent, a crowd was gathering and I frowned as I headed that way, searching for Orion. I moved through the throng of bodies, finding a stage with two huge metal chairs beside one another with manacles on the arms and legs.

  Above the stage hung a sign reading The Numb Man and beneath it was a sparkling crown suspended in a glass box.

  A man in a long black coat and nothing but shiny blue shorts underneath it leapt onto the stage, twirling a cane. “Welcome to the Cirque de Sol-Fae! I am your host, Rusty Star. Gather around, we have a daring contestant backstage who wishes to take on The Numb Man!” he cried and a cheer went up from the crowd. At his words, a huge man the size of a small elephant stepped onto the stage, bare chested with his enormous belly hanging over his waistband. His eyes were hollow and his face blank as he took a seat in the metal chair on the left.

  A beautiful woman in a gemstone encrusted bikini with a huge pink feather pluming up from the back of her bottoms leapt onto the stage. She tethered the man into the chair with the manacles, locking his wrists and ankles in place with flourishing movements.

  “Please give a warm welcome to our fearless contestant, Lance Orion!” Rusty gestured with his cane to the other side of the stage and my mouth fell open as Orion walked onto the platform shirtless with a smirk on his face.

  He took a seat in the remaining chair and the girl locked him in place with a wicked smile. He searched the crowd, his gaze latching onto mine and he seemed to relax despite his current situation. I gave him a questioning look but he just smiled wider as the girl stepped away and moved between them to where a huge red lever jutted out of the stage.

  “If our contestant can outlast The Numb Man in this dangerous game, he will win our incredible prize. The crown of glory!” Rusty pointed to the glass box above and it lit up in a shower of golden sparks. “The Numb Man has a pain threshold higher than anyone who has ever stepped on this stage. No one has ever won the crown, so will our latest contestant be any different?”

  Pain threshold?? I looked to Orion, shaking my head, asking, what the hell are you doing? with my eyes.

  “Are you ready, Diamond?” Rusty asked his assistant and she nodded, taking hold of the lever. He turned back to us with a manic gleam in his gaze. “Each chair is hooked up to an increasing flow of electricity. Whoever taps out first will lose the game.”

  Wait - what???

  “All you need to do is raise your hand and the electrocution will stop,” Rusty said and laughter filled the air as Orion flexed his muscles against the restraints holding him down.

  Rusty tittered. “Alright, you can just say the words, Mr Orion.”

  “You’re assuming I’ll tap out first,” Orion said with a dark grin.

  An oooh went up from the crowd.

  “Don't,” I mouthed to him, shaking my head but he ignored me, settling back in his chair like he was about to get a spa treatment.

  “We have a very confident competitor, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s see how long his confidence lasts,” Rusty said with a vicious smile, gesturing to Diamond. “Pull the lever!”

  She yanked it back and my heart lurched. Orion winced, his hands curling into fists as the sound of zapping and crackling energy filled the air alongside thundering music.

  The Numb Man smiled broadly, having no reaction to the electricity at all.

  “Higher!” Rusty commanded and Diamond drew the lever back further.

  Orion’s jaw tightened and his eyes spoke of pain, but he didn’t shout out.

  This is crazy!

  “Higher!” Rusty called again and Orion
finally released a gasp of pain, but still he didn’t break. He looked straight at me as his muscles hardened and his shoulders began to shudder.

  “You’ve proved your point!” I yelled, but he didn’t call it off.

  The Numb Man remained sitting there without even a flicker of pain on his face. Orion was going to damn well die out of sheer stubbornness.

  “They don’t even hook up the numb guy. It’s all a scam,” someone said behind me and my heart tumbled in my chest.

  “Higher!” Rusty commanded.

  Orion roared in pain and panic seized me as I wheeled around to look at the person who’d spoken behind me. A couple of the bikini-clad girls had gathered there to watch. Which meant they worked here, which also meant they goddamn knew that numb guy wasn’t hooked up.

  “Higher!”

  “No!” I shouted, turning back to the stage. Veins were shining in Orion’s arms and his chest gleamed with sweat. The Numb Man glanced over at him with a frown like he’d never seen anyone take the game this far. I knew in my heart Orion wasn’t going to stop. So I had to do something.

  I pushed my way through the crowd, slipping around the back of the stage into the shadows and heading through a curtain. There was no one there so I quickly hunted for a plug to pull so I could stop this madness.

  I found what I was looking for and sucked in air as I spotted the plug for the chair which wasn’t hooked up.

  Numb Man, my ass.

  In a moment of madness, I plugged it in. A bellow of pain sounded from the stage and I sprinted back out from behind the curtain, hurrying into the crowd.

  “STOP STOP!” The ‘Numb’ Man cried and Rusty looked around at him in alarm.

  “Diamond!” he snapped and she pushed the lever to turn off the electricity. Orion took in a lungful of air, slumping forward, his hands balled up into tight fists.

  Diamond hurried to untether The Numb Man and he barged past her off the stage, trembling as he went. She moved to help Orion and I looked around, desperate to go to him, but knowing I couldn’t with a whole crowd of people watching.