Chapter 2 Sage
Iguess I hadn’t realized how important Samhain was to the magical community.
The students weren’t the only people celebrating.
Our professors were either drunk or publicly fornicating.
The only one who wasn’t was Professor Adamastus, who was brooding by a tree and staring pretty hard at Morgana.
Morgana said he was one of hers, but he was being stupid about the age difference and that he was her professor.
He was doing a pretty shit job of hiding it if he didn’t want anyone to know.
Ivar was having a conversation with a shade while snuggling with Ari and Alexios. Iman was with them. She still hadn’t changed back from a cat and seemed to enjoy them spoiling her. They saw us leaving the bonfire and jumped up to join us. Ivar scooped Iman up and draped her over his shoulders.
“So, I just met the ghost of Odin. He told us who is actually doing this. He was going to bully the other shades into clearing our name, but they agreed to keep it secret because right now they don’t know we know. Lola is our best bet at finding who Apep is.”
“I met my birth father and found out the man who raised me murdered him. He also told us it was Apep. We’re trying to find Headmaster Mykene and Professor Gefn to tell them.”
Khalid started chattering again, and we really needed to figure out how to change him back. Liam was the only person who could understand him.
“Khalid says they already know. Professor Gefn knows more about the veil than we do. He’s surprised she didn’t already get the answer.”
“Didn’t she say the veil is vast and not everyone wants to talk?” I asked.
“Mate, just think it without the noises. It sounds like that time this girl at the hostel was a screamer, but made really fucked up noises.”
Khalid growled and nipped at Liam’s leg. Lucian started laughing when Khalid bit him and Liam flipped him off.
“Khalid said you are right. He just remembered she’s been trying to find someone willing to talk, but some of the people who were dead didn’t know about Harami or Hemlock in their previous life because it was kept such a secret and others didn’t know Apep was banished to Fairy to become Harami.
She said once you figure out how to get to the veil, it’s like breathing, but locating shades with the right information is complicated. ”
“Where do you think they are?” I asked.
“I know where Freya would be if the end of autumn festival falls on a full moon, and she’d probably stab you if you interrupted, but Professor Gefn might be with Headmaster Mykene waiting for a shade to help,” Ivar chuckled.
“They have the school app on their phones, so I can track their GPS. They are away from the main bonfires and built their own near the fairy gardens,” Lucian said.
“Mate, I think Headmaster Mykene is fine with you slithering electronically into other people’s devices because your intentions are good, but she might have her bird bite you again if you’re peeping on hers.”
I mean, yeah, probably. Something told me when the reincarnation of Athena wanted revenge, it was going to put what they did to Blaize to shame. But I also thought she’d understand if he was just using her GPS so we could share theories.
The academy grounds were pretty vast, and none of us could portal.
Morgana quickly became one of my best friends here, but we weren’t joined at the hip.
This was an important night for witches, and she was off with her people.
Saffron was another good friend, and she was with the fairies.
They didn’t call it Samhain, but they had their own end of Autumn celebration.
The majority of the various cultures here did.
So, we had to walk, which I didn’t usually have a problem with.
Most everyone was gathered around the bonfire, but I guess the full moon was also driving people a little crazy.
Some of the shifters had the zoomies, which would have been adorable if it was one of Liam’s corgis, but shifters were bigger than their animal counterparts.
Khalid seemed to be fighting the call of the moon while stuck as a jackal, but the rest of them practically mowed over us. Khalid was growling and snarling at them.
“He doesn’t want my help, but running under the full moon would burn off some of the adrenaline that’s keeping him stuck like that,” Mazen said.
It was an excellent suggestion. Mazen was fully on our side after what Lola tried to do to Liam.
We knew she was trying to baby-trap Mazen to keep him on their side because Mazen was immune to Apep’s gaze.
Khalid hadn’t come around yet, and I wasn’t sure how much of that was him being stuck as a jackal or him judging Mazen by a past that wasn’t his. Khalid just bared his teeth.
“He hears you, but Khalid claimed Sage as his mate. He’s up in his feelings and won’t leave her side, even if it helps him,” Liam said.
“Seriously? Because we could actually use your brilliant mind more than your brawn right now,” I said.
Mazen seemed to know a lot about Egyptian gods, but I’d bet if we combined his knowledge with Khalid's, we’d be pretty close to something.
“I think he’s all brawn right now,” Lucian said.
“We’re still us when we shift, but our animal instincts are stronger,” Mazen said.
“Lola wasn’t my mate, but I thought I needed to protect her.
That’s why I kept having those uncontrollable shifts and had to figure all of this out.
It’s harder when you think your animal needs to protect someone.
Running would help, but I get why he won’t leave Sage. ”
We were getting closer to the fairy gardens, and I could see a smaller bonfire up ahead. We picked up our pace and found several of our professors around that bonfire with Headmaster Mykene. They seemed utterly shocked to see us.
“A full moon, a festival, a bonfire, and plenty of orgies, and the Horned God is here instead of there?” Professor Gefn asked with an eyebrow raised.
“I think I’m into private orgies instead of the public ones in this life.
I don’t want anyone checking out my girl.
And the ghost of Sage’s Da showed up and said he and my Nana have been creeping on my private moments like any fornication that happens outside our dorm rooms and getting my sack waxed.
My Nana used to chase me with a wooden spoon and tell me to put my cock away, so it’s a sign of respect, see? ”
“Your father showed up?” Headmaster Mykene asked.
“Yes. Blue Matthews murdered him. He was passing a message from some of the reincarnations that we’re dealing with Apep and no one in the Veil knows how to kill him.”
“Yes, we were visited by the shade of Ra. It’s a little strange Apep is back and so many of the Egyptian pantheon and not Ra.
He said they killed Apep several times and he never stayed dead.
That was why they sent him to a different realm.
They wanted to trap him there until his life cycle ended.
None of them knew they’d be getting reincarnated and Apep would return. ”
“Well, we can’t do any of that this time,” Lucian said.
“No, but nothing is unkillable. Every reincarnation of Baldur is deathly allergic to mistletoe. There is a way to kill a void creature in a way that they don’t come back the next day.
We just have to figure out what it is, and we can only make our move when we are one hundred percent sure.
A witch’s binding is powerful, especially when it’s coming from a reincarnation of Hecate and her coven.
Morgana can make it stronger now that we know their true names, but they still aren’t meant for gods and can eventually be unbound,” Professor Gefn said.
“How does one do that?” Lucian asked.
“Well, it’s usually a highly kept witch secret.
It’s how they protect themselves if a hex is going to make things worse.
No one knows how to undo a binding except a witch.
A god can brute force their way through, but these two reincarnations are new.
Even awake and knowing the theory of how to do things doesn’t mean they can.
Spells require intention, but a lot of the magic you haven’t learned yet needs muscle memory.
They aren’t strong enough to blast through a binding yet, but they will be practicing. ”
“Secrets are only as good as the people who keep them. Torture never works. My Da still hasn’t learned that. People will spill anything over pillow talk. If I were the reincarnation of an ancient evil void god and I needed a witch secret, I’d just shag it out of one,” Liam said.
“You’d better not!” I snarled.
“Well, I’m not the reincarnation of an evil void god and I don’t think my dick works for anyone else, love.”
“I think magic dick is a you thing,” Mazen said. “I know how to take care of a woman, and Lola was still using me.”
“It’s probably because your dick is ugly and unpierced. Should I make you an appointment? I was thinking of doing my nipples,” Liam nodded.
“What?”
“Anyway,” Professor Gefn said, rolling her eyes. “It is possible to seduce secrets out of people, but it’s harder with certain supernaturals. Witches can see auras. That’s not to say some of them don’t like the bad boys. Apep and Hemlock might be connected differently in this life.”
“So, we’re pretty sure Hemlock is Lola. She tried to drug and rape Liam.
We stopped her, and Lucian caught her lying about being bad at potions and not knowing who she was.
Morgana said she used an illegal fairy potion.
I don’t think she could have known that unless she was Hemlock and awake,” I said.
“That potion has been banned since long before bookbinding was a thing. She wouldn’t have found it in any book, and it’s illegal to even post the recipe online. I don’t even think she could have gotten a fairy to teach it to her, even if she used what happened to her,” Headmaster Mykene said.
“Sorry, but wouldn’t the fairies be able to sense Lola?
” Lucian asked. “When the fairies attacked us during the trials, Saffron stole Sage away because she sensed she was kin and brought us food because she knew Sage had diabetes. The fairies haven’t rallied behind her and seem pretty annoyed with her.
Shouldn’t they be trying to help her if she’s kin? ”
Good question. Because I felt like Saffron and I had gotten pretty close and she seemed to take the secrets she’d been entrusted by her great-grandmother very seriously. She didn’t like Lola, but she hadn’t mentioned her as kin. Did we get it wrong?
“It’s complicated because no one alive has met an original, just their reincarnations.
Hemlock had the core of her being changed when she became an original.
I’m not sure there was anything left the fairies would recognize as kin.
Liam, do you need to talk to someone about what she tried to do to you? ” Headmaster Mykene asked.
“Stabbing rapists with Doris is loads better than therapy. We’ve also got some revenge plans against the man who raised Sage that should tide me over until we figure out how to kill her. Figuring out how to kill those two while snuggling with my woman is how I’m going to deal with it.”
Yeah, it was deeper than that, and Liam was going to have to deal with it. I just had to get him to open up. Lola could have just lied about what happened when they were alone in his dorm room. She didn’t know anything about us, so she had no way of knowing I’d burst in there to stop her.
So, why did she take it that far?