Preorder Edition Bonus Chapters from Zodiac Academy #5
“We’ll dispatch a unit immediately,” the officer said, and I hung up, pushing my Atlas into my pocket and meeting my gaze in the mirror as I released the magic on my voice.
“Asshole,” I muttered at myself, then shoved the door open and returned to Francesca.
“Rollercoaster. Now,” she demanded, grabbing my hand.
Her Atlas started ringing and she pulled it out of her bag, a frown forming on her brow before a professional mask slipped over her features.
“Dammit, it’s work,” she said, then wandered away as she answered the call, and I wondered if I should just have been more straight with her rather than sending her off on a wild goose chase. But here we were.
I stood there alone, watching Fae hurl coconuts at a magical box that kept vanishing within the nearest stall, lifting a hand to my mouth and wiping my lips on the back of my hand, trying to get any lasting feel of Francesca off of me.
It wasn’t her fault. Everything just felt wrong with her lately.
Maybe I needed a vacation, but with Lionel always keeping tabs on my attendance at Zodiac so I could be close to Darius, I wouldn’t get a chance for one of those for a long time.
No, I was fucked. A damned man possessed with the need to dig his own grave.
Put down the shovel, dammit. You can still get out of this.
“Hey, Professor!” someone called, and my gaze slid reluctantly in that direction, finding Seth Capella strolling along with a large polar bear plushie tucked under his arm.
Max and Darius walked on either side of him, and the crowd parted for them like a repellent enchantment was radiating from their bodies.
But I knew better. It was their fame, drawing attention from all around, people gasping and pointing them out while they acted like they hadn’t noticed.
Or maybe they were so used to it that they really hadn’t.
“Did you come here all alone?” Seth asked as they approached me.
“Hey, man,” Darius said, and I took a step forward the same time he did, the two of us drawn to embrace as the Guardian Bond hummed keenly between us. But we both realised it at the same moment and pulled up short instead.
“Woah, you taste like heartbreak and jealousy, man,” Max commented, smoothing a hand over his red mohawk, and I slammed my mental shields up hard, forcing him out. “Who gutted you and left you here like an unwanted fish?”
“No one,” I growled.
“So you did come here with someone?” Seth pushed, taking a lollipop out of his pocket, unwrapping it and stuffing it into his mouth. “But then they dumped you?”
“I didn’t get dumped,” I sniped, trying to keep a level head while Max prodded at me with his Siren powers.
“Who are you here with?” Darius asked, the tight lines on his brow telling me he wasn’t in the best of moods himself tonight. I wished Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dipshit would piss off so we could have a moment alone to talk about it.
“Francesca,” I said. “She’s just taking a call.”
“Riiiiiiight,” Seth said sarcastically, swirling the lollipop between his teeth.
“ Sure she is, sir. Hey, why don’t we all go on the log ride together?
Darius can’t wait to go on it, can you, bro?
” He looked over at Darius, who seemed about as excited to go on a log ride as he would be to take a shit in public.
“He’s a barrel of laughs today, I can feel how much he’s dying to get on the teacup ride too,” Max said with a chuckle, and Darius casually flicked a hand, setting fire to the grass around his friend’s feet. Max doused it with a blast of water, laughing harder.
“So where’s the fourth Ninja Turtle?” I looked around for Caleb, and Darius spewed smoke between his lips, making me arch a brow at him. “You haven’t had a fight with Michelangelo, have you?”
“Pfft,” Seth cut in. “Excuse me, but I’d be Michelangelo.
Caleb’s Leonardo. Darius is Raphael, and Max is Donatello.
Oh, and I guess that makes you the mutant rat, sir.
Master Splinter.” He and Max started laughing, and I gave them a dry look before stepping closer to Darius and pressing a hand to his shoulder, casting a silencing bubble around us and cutting out the two assholes who had hijacked my TMNT analogy.
“You good?” I asked seriously.
“No, you?” he tossed back, and I frowned.
“No,” I admitted.
“Wanna talk about it?” he asked.
“Nope. You?”
“Not even a little bit,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets, and I nodded, figuring this was just some Heir drama he didn’t need me for.
I wished I could be honest about what was really killing me inside, but Darius would feel so damn betrayed by me if he knew I’d been seeing a Vega. It was all just so…fucked.
I thought about mentioning the Fable Curse scroll that Gabriel had brought me but figured it could wait until we were alone to discuss it properly.
I released the silencing bubble, and Seth sauntered closer. “What are you two whispering about?” The scent of blueberries carried from his lollipop as he rolled it between his teeth again.
“I was just telling Darius how well your mom took it last night,” I said, goading Seth, and he snarled, tossing his polar bear plushie into Max’s arms.
“You motherfucker,” he hissed, lunging at me, and I shot out of his way so he went crashing into the stall behind me.
“Yeah, that’s me,” I said, and he spun around in fury.
I thought he was going to launch himself at me again, but instead he recomposed himself and a vicious little smile pulled at his mouth.
“You know, it’s kind of pathetic how you trail around after Darius everywhere.
Just because no one wanted to go to the Fairy Fair with you, doesn’t mean you have the right to creepily follow us around, Professor . ”
“Shut your mouth, Capella,” I warned.
“Or what?” He opened his arms wide. “Are you gonna attack an Heir in public?” He strode up to me, butting his chest to mine, and I bared my fangs in a threat.
“You sure you wanna get your ass handed to you like that? I can see the headlines now, ‘Seth Capella forces washed-up Pitball star to put his head up his own ass’.”
I stepped forward with the challenge, more than happy to engage in this fight.
“That’s enough, Seth,” Darius warned, the deep rumble of his Dragon lacing his voice.
Seth glanced his way with his jaw pulsing, like he was deciding whether he was going to listen to his friend.
“Come on, man,” Max encouraged, sending calming vibes into the air. “Leave it.”
Seth’s gaze slid back to me as he took his polar bear plushie from Max and slowly draped it around his shoulders, like that was supposed to be sinister.
“Watch your back, sir .” He shouldered past me, and magic burned against my fingers with the need to destroy that asshole and put him back in his place, but Darius moved toward me, giving me a look that urged me to drop it.
I released a heavy breath, backing down and nodding to him in goodbye, but as they headed away from me towards the rollercoaster, I couldn’t resist weaving some subtle air magic that sent Seth’s lollipop rocketing to the back of his throat.
I pushed a hand into my hair, casual as fuck as he began choking on it, a smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth.
Francesca reappeared, walking over to me with a frown on her brow. “Sorry, Lance. I’ve got to go into work,” she said as she reached me. “There’s been a Nymph sighting in Tucana.”
“No worries, I’ll head home,” I said, relief spilling through my chest. “This night is a shitshow anyway.”
“It is?” she asked, a touch of surprise in her voice and maybe a fleck of hurt too.
“Not with you, I just mean… it’s too crowded here,” I backtracked. Sure, I hated people, and being this close to so many people at once wasn’t exactly my favourite way to spend an evening, but it wasn’t the real reason I was having a shit night.
She cracked a smile. “You’re such an introvert.”
I shrugged. “Guilty.”
She moved in close, tiptoeing up with the clear intention to kiss me, and I moved my head fast enough that she just brushed the corner of my lips. “Goodnight.”
“Night,” I said, and she pulled away, leaving me there alone.
I started walking, winding my way back toward the parking lot, feeling the weight of the night hanging over me. It didn’t feel right, all of this shit between Darcy and I. Everything had been so perfect for a heartbeat, how had it all crumbled to dust so easily?
As if the stars had guided my feet to her, I spotted her at the front of the line to the Faerris Wheel with Diego at her side. I found myself slowing to a halt, watching her with blood thundering through my veins.
My head said it was time to walk away, but my heart was begging me to do something. And I got the sudden ominous feeling that if I walked away from her now, things would fracture irreparably between us.
Maybe I had to make a stand, one last attempt at fixing us before it was too late. If I didn’t, I might just regret it forever.
She climbed into the carriage as a couple vacated it, and as Diego moved to follow, I shot forward with a burst of speed that brought me to his back in a flash. I knocked him onto his ass and climbed smoothly into the carriage beside Darcy.
“I need my Source,” I barked at Diego as he scrambled upright, needing an excuse that everyone around me would swallow.
“Hey – no!” Darcy shouted, fury lining her tone, but it was too late.
She jumped forward to get out of the carriage, but I snatched the back of her dress, tugging her firmly down into her seat and locking her in place with one arm.
I knocked her head to one side with my chin, inhaling the strawberry scent of her and driving my fangs into her throat.
I didn’t mind sticking to my story for being here as I tasted the perfection of her, stealing away her power and connecting the two of us through this instinctual act of my kind.