Chapter 14
Aurelia
Beak meets me on the animus roof the next night, settling his giant claws onto the wall and fluffing out his wings.
The academy is in complete lockdown, to the chagrin of many of the students.
But word has gotten around, whether from illicit phones or via the wolves, of what happened at Clawson House and everyone settles down quickly.
The eagles, falcons, and a few cockatoos—whichever avians Beak trusts—have been patrolling the main roads all day, as asked.
“Anything to report?” I ask, crossing my arms as I survey the night sky. There is a chill in the world that makes me want to rub my arms, but I can tell it’s the absence of my mates that has me feeling cold.
I can still feel the aftereffects of Xander’s significant presence inside me last night.
With his healing funnelling through me, my leg has not ached at all today.
The sight of his towering astral form sauntering through my door ignited me in a way bloodlust had not.
He had not been the first ghostly person I wanted to see.
I’d wanted to hear Savage’s singing voice or Scythe’s glinting eyes, or Lyle’s imposing stride.
But when I saw him, something in me realised he was the one I’d needed to see the most. That black mark…
those glowing eyes…the arrogant posture.
He understands what it means to be alone. He understood that, in that moment, I needed fire and brimstone. Scythe has always said that Xander and I are more alike than I think. We are mirrors, and it triggers both of us to see our reflections.
Presently, Beak shifts into human form to be able to speak. He keeps his front respectfully angled towards the grounds, so I don’t have to see all of him. “Nothing of note all day.” Those sharp eyes are dilated as they take in every inch of me under the sliver of the moon.
It’s dark tonight. A night for predators.
Something in him knows that about me now. Perhaps they’d always sensed it, but males have an awful habit of using what they see with their eyes over their good sense. Now that he’s seen what I can do, what I wilfully have done, he’s…enamoured.
“Keep away from me,” I warn, stretching out my shoulders and tugging off my stretchy mini dress. “I’m not in the mood for talking tonight. I’ll rest once every three hours. Who is my partner?”
“Me, my lady.”
I nod, and shift into dragon form. Beak explodes into his eagle form reflexively, getting out of the way by diving down.
I spear upwards and through the blue dome, leaving beak to use the avian guards’ exit in one of the watchtowers.
He’d told me the best way to patrol the academy was for two fliers to do that, one flying clockwise, and the other anticlockwise.
I’ll be flying a lot higher than him with my bigger size, but this way, we won’t get lazy-eyed by the unchanging landscape.
My nighttime vision as a dragon is superior to anything else.
I can see heat signatures in tiny specs below, so anyone in a moving car would flag my attention right away.
It takes me over an hour to settle into the patrol.
I’m hypervigilant and locked in from the get-go, and the agitation from the awareness of my possible oncoming enemies never fades.
With the lockdown, I can’t talk to my friends except by phone, and Minnie was in no mood to talk today.
Yeti graciously told Sabrina and Stacey about what had happened while I brooded in my room.
I don’t even get the comfort of Henry or Eugene for the next three days while I wait for the consequences of what Minnie and I had done.
The council had been all too keen to request my execution before.
They had been all too keen to take Savage to Blackwater Prison.
I’m sure my father will use this as a way to spin the story to make me look mad and in need of putting away or something worse, and they would surely come to the academy to confront me.
Rufus and Marduk rang me this morning and asked if I wanted to go into hiding somewhere else. Their voices had been cautious, as if already knowing the answer.
“I’ve done the passive thing,” I’d said. “I’ve tried hiding. I’ve tried waiting. I even gave myself to them. Enough of that.”
My phone had rung again after Marduk, the number unknown. I didn’t pick it up. Instead, I rang Hyacinth Dabu and asked her some more questions, then I consulted some of the serpent textbooks Beak had brought me from the library.
I’ve made observations. I’ve had…thoughts.
There are no Council of Beasts trucks blasting down the road for the rest of the night. It’s not until the 5 p.m. news the next night that my spoon halts five centimetres in the air above my microwave-ready meal. Beak sits straighter on the armchair next to me.
Minnie’s name flashes across my phone, and I pick up. “Turn on the news,” she says.
“Already watching it.”
My father is on the screen, his gaunt face covered in makeup to give his ashen complexion colour back. Darkness hovers around him, coiling like a cobra ready to strike.
Has struck. Because the headline reads:
NEWLY APPOINTED COUNCIL OF BEASTS AUDITOR HRH MACE NAGA SAYS CORRUPTION MUST BE STOPPED AND CHANGES MUST BE MADE.
My father smiles, and it gives me the feeling of being yanked under water.
“We’ve discovered several concerning things regarding the running of the council.
I’ll be conducting a full investigation.
Until then, I’ve been given full license to ensure everything continues to run smoothly.
The safety of the human population has never been a priority.
The event a few nights ago proves that this is out of hand.
Things need to change. We’re going to do it together. ”
He shakes hands with the human state premier, a woman with long brown hair, who smiles widely while everyone claps. Flashes from multiple cameras light up their faces and white teeth.
“He’s been given full authority,” Minnie says in disbelief. “Who authorised that?”
“He did,” I say simply, sitting back on the couch as venom suddenly burns in my gums. “He’s always wanted this.
Always planned it. This was his long game.
” I laugh, and even to me, it sounds cold.
“He actually fucking did it with our help, Min. He’s got the council members in a hole somewhere, using what we did as his excuse.
” And he’d twisted our carnage to his advantage. We’d accelerated his plans.
“I’ll find out what I can.” Marduk’s voice is faint on the line as he no doubt stares at the TV like we all do. “But I’ll need to leave.”
“They could be dead, for all we know,” I say. “Some of them, at least.” My mind wanders to my fifth mate.