THE BURNING IN my lungs eased away as Orion’s warm hands pressed against my skin. As I came back to myself, I started shivering, my teeth chattering as I curled my legs up to my chest.
Darcy was holding my hand, her olive eyes wide with concern as she looked at me and a lock of hair not even long enough to reach her chin fell towards me. I frowned at it, reaching out for the jagged ends of her hair and noticing the tear tracks which ran through her makeup.
“Draw on your fire magic,” Orion muttered. “It’ll help warm you up.”
My gaze slid to him for a moment and I shifted away from him a little but he didn’t release me.
“I’m just making sure all of the water is out of your lungs and healing any damage it did,” he explained, his tone oddly flat.
“What happened to you?” I asked Darcy, my voice rasping through my raw throat. Drowning and screaming obviously went hand in hand.
Darcy’s lips parted then closed again and her gaze flicked beyond me. I turned that way and found Seth, Caleb and Max still standing against the wall though they’d turned to look at us now that Orion’s attention was off of them. Their faces were written with displeasure at the turn of events. The only one looking back at me was Caleb. His jaw was tight and his eyes full of secrets that I couldn’t begin to fathom.
My heart leapt with another jolt of fear and I quickly looked away again as Orion released his hold on me. I took a deep breath and found it pain free at last. I knew I should have been thanking him but I couldn’t quite bring myself to say the words. I dragged my knees closer to my body, aiming to cover myself as much as I could and hide my lacy underwear from view to the best of my ability.
I felt small, pathetic, laid bare for all of these assholes and stripped of every cocky, fiery part of me until all that was left was the girl who had never had any parents and always wondered what that kind of love would have felt like.
I was still shivering. Each time I reached for my fire, it slipped away from me again. I couldn’t focus on it. It hadn’t saved me when I’d needed it to. Being powerful hadn’t helped me one bit. But it was the reason for this situation. It was why the Heirs had done this to me. If I didn’t have my magic then they wouldn’t have been interested in me at all.
“Caleb, take off your shirt and give it to Miss Vega,” Orion snapped.
Caleb hesitated a moment before he started to unhook his buttons and I finally found my voice.
“I don’t want anything from him,” I said, my voice low, empty, but certain.
Caleb paused and Orion let out a low growl like this whole thing was a huge pain in the ass. Perhaps he’d like to be the one trapped underwater next time and see what he thought about accepting charity from the people responsible.
Orion shrugged out of his own jacket and handed it to me instead. Darcy guided my arms through the sleeves and I tugged my wet hair out of the collar as I got to my feet and buttoned it. The dark material swamped me, hanging to my thighs as I wrapped my arms around myself again.
I wanted to lift my chin, throw a scowl at the Heirs and their stupid followers but instead I knew I was doing a good impression of a kicked puppy.
I pursed my lips but failed to drag my gaze up from my toes all the same.
They’d wanted to break me. And maybe they had.
Orion looked at me and Darcy. “I’ll walk you back to-”
A high-pitched scream filled with terror punctuated the air from somewhere outside the building and a shiver of fear raced through me.
“What now?” Orion growled as he turned and started jogging towards the exit.
Darcy snatched my arm and dragged me after him, clearly not wanting to get left behind with the Heirs and their fan club.
I forced my numb feet into motion, passing Caleb and the others without looking at them again.
Darcy yanked me into a run and I followed her lead as we caught up to Orion just before he reached the double doors which led out of the building.
There was more screaming now, people yelling for help and crying out.
Orion didn’t slow, shoving the doors open and heading out into the night.
A huge crowd had gathered close to The Orb and beyond them, a flickering orange light reflected off of the shimmering gold wall of the building.
“Move aside!” Orion commanded and the crowd parted like a tide to admit him.
Darcy kept us right on his heels as we carved through the press of bodies. Everyone was twitchy, people were still crying out and the occasional scream cut the air apart.
“Who is it?” a boy muttered to my right.
“Do you think it was a Nymph?” a girl whispered fearfully.
We kept going until we reached the centre of the crowd and the heat of a fire brushed against my skin alongside a sickly smell that caught in my throat and made me gag.
“What the hell is that?” Darcy whispered in fear.
We fell still at the front of the crowd but Orion moved forward with a curse.
The fire blazed brightly right before us and my heart pounded a warning I didn’t understand.
“I’ve only ever seen Dragon Fire burn like that,” Diego’s voice came from my left and I turned to find him beside me in the crowd of bodies.
His gaze was set on the blaze before us, his lips parted in shock and he didn’t seem to have noticed the state of my sister and I. Before I could ask him what was going on, Orion raised his arms and directed a torrent of water to douse the flames.
Several of the surrounding students summoned orbs of silvery light to hang above us as we were plunged into darkness and I inched forward as a dark shape was revealed on the ground before Orion.
My bare feet pressed down on the cold path and a warning shiver raced along my spine but I didn’t stop. Something drew me closer. I needed to know what that shape was.
Darcy stayed beside me as we moved into the ring of empty space left by the crowd and sidestepped Orion to get a better look.
“Holy shit,” I breathed and Darcy clapped a hand to her mouth.
A body was curled on the ground before us, their flesh burned to a blackened crisp and their limbs coiled up in a foetal position.
Orion straightened and started yelling at the students to disburse, commanding any witnesses to come forward and directing someone to fetch Principal Nova.
I stood transfixed by the gruesome sight, my limbs locked into place and my eyes wide.
“We should get out of here,” Darcy breathed but my feet were rooted to the spot as though I had some reason to stay.
“Wait,” I breathed, not really knowing why as I took a hesitant step forward.
The ground ringing the body was blackened with soot and wet from Orion’s magic. My bare foot pressed down in the muck and I shuddered.
I could feel a strange kind of tug on my magic right in the centre of my chest and as I focused on it, a faint tingling came to my fingertips.
“Do you feel that?” I asked, my voice low.
Darcy nodded warily and that was all the confirmation I needed.
I gave in to the pull of my magic and let it slip into my fingers as I set it loose.
The corpse before us twitched, its arm shifting as its charred fingers fell open. I almost screamed, staggering back and bumping into Darcy as horror gripped me. But before the sound could make it from my lips, something flew from the corpse’s fist and shot straight towards us.
The dark card slapped against my chest and I gripped it automatically, glancing down in surprise. It was smooth and firm in my grip, miraculously undamaged by the flames which had destroyed its owner’s body.
Students still lingered despite Orion’s attempts to disperse them and more than one camera flashed.
“IN FIVE SECONDS I’M DOUSING ANYONE STILL HERE WITH ENOUGH WATER TO WASH YOU RIGHT OUT OF THE GROUNDS!” he bellowed and the lingering students hurried to comply, a few releasing squeals of fright.
“What are you two still doing here?” Orion barked and I spun towards the sound of his voice, instinctively shifting the card into the pocket of the large jacket I wore.
“We were just…” Darcy began, trailing off as she failed to come up with an appropriate excuse.
Orion’s hard gaze was punctuated by his ticking jaw.
“Get the hell out of here!” he snapped, all echoes of his compassion towards us banished.
Darcy flinched as if he’d hit her and we stumbled away from him, scrambling back along the cold path.
We followed the dispersing crowd until we’d rounded a corner and I stopped to pull the card from my pocket.
Darcy gasped as her eyes fell on the picture of a cloaked skeleton riding a horse, its empty eyes were staring up at us in warning. At the bottom of the card was a single word: Death.
Darcy reached forward to take it and as her fingers brushed the card, the warmth emanating from it flared to a burn. I almost dropped it in surprise but a set of pale eyes seemed to blink at me on the edges of my consciousness and for a second it was as though Professor Astrum was standing before us. The image was gone as soon as it had come and I frowned at Darcy in confusion as I flipped the card over.
On the back of it were words written in a swirling silver script and as I read them, my heart plummeted into the pit of my stomach.
I made a mistake and now my time is up.
The Shadow has discovered me and there is no hope for me to escape their wrath.
The answers you seek are hidden between Leo and Libra.
Don’t trust the flames.
Claim your throne.
– Falling Star
Fear took hold of me in taloned hands and it squeezed until I couldn’t breathe. Professor Astrum had been murdered. The only person who’d tried to help us in this screwed up Academy was gone. He’d been so afraid, as if he’d known something terrible was going to happen. And now it was too late to do anything about it.
We were alone against the Heirs.
And I was beginning to think we were destined to fall at their mercy.
