Chapter Twenty-One
“What the fuck!” Kai exclaims in the silence left behind.
“Little Queen? What does that mean?” He adds, “And over my fucking dead body will that fucker get anywhere fucking near you!” He growls, his human glamour dropping and flames appearing between his two horns, floating there.
His wings start to lift him off of the floor and he glares at them.
“Not now!” He snaps at them which has me raising my eyebrow in amusement, especially when they immediately drop him to the ground and the droop like they’re sad and sulking.
“We won’t let that happen.” Levi says firmly.
“You’ve got us too. We’ll show that fucker that he can’t mess with you!” Damon yells.
Ghost and Knot fly over to me and land on my shoulder Ghost very much solid and I can hear his breathing.
“What’s the deal with giant Raven that we saw get killed right in front of us and has some sort of mist for its body?” Erin asks sounding slightly hysterical, I glance at her and see that Nate and Kyle both have their arms wrapped around her.
“Nyx has given him to me as another familiar.” I explain and I’m greeted by shocked silence, “I have no idea about the mist thing, Cole?” I ask. He seems to be a fountain of knowledge.
“I can honestly say that I am completely stumped. It could have something to do with him dying I’d guess but shouldn’t we discuss this later though?” He asks, nodding towards the clearing and the decapitated corpse of the Director.
“Fuck!” Dash says scrubbing a hand over his head.
“I’m going to need some serious therapy after watching that.” Erin says and I nod in agreement.
“Fuck, me too. She was one of the fuckers loyal followers too. If he treats his own like that then what the fuck does he do to those that are his enemies. You know other than feast on their flesh.” I shudder in revolution.
“That’s not going to happen Sage!” Erin growls.
“Damn right it’s not!” I agree. That fucker will never get near me or more importantly my guys and friends that I now consider family.
Jax wraps his arm around me holding me close.
“We need to tell someone what happened, we can’t just leave her out here even if she is a backstabbing cow.” He says bluntly.
“I’m not sure whether we should tell them that there’s a very definitely supernatural behind the supposedly entirely human Order though.” Maverick frowns his voice distant as his brain works over time.
“The likelihood of someone believing us is pretty damn slim anyway. We’d get told we’re inexperienced and don’t know what we saw.” Dash says rolling his eyes.
“Who do we tell in the first place though?” Kyle asks, frowning.
“Well I’d be inclined to tell my dad’s since they supposedly run this place but I still haven’t been able to get hold of them or my mom.” I say frowning.
“Nicole would be my next suggestion but she seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. Although she must be around here somewhere because her Bonded are still here.” Hunter says.
“What about Rupert? He’s probably still at the stables and the only other option would be that Theo guy and he’s just plain odd.” Jett adds.
“Ok, Jett and Kai go and get Rupert, the rest of us will stay here and make sure nothing happens like it disappears or some shit.” Levi orders.
“On it boss.” Kai smirks and barely dodges the smack from Levi.
“Wait,” I say and they turn back to me, “don’t tell him what he said about me and the fates at the end. I think it might be best to keep that he acknowledged us at all to ourselves.”
“Fates?” Cole asks.
“I don’t really know, Nyx mentioned the fates preventing her from rescuing the Centres which was why she needed me. I think they are goddesses that control, well the fates. But I’m not entirely sure, something else for us to research.”
“What do we say?” Kai asks sounding confused.
“Tell him we followed a hooded figure out here because they were looking suspicious, we watched as they set up some sort of summoning ritual and then realised it was the Director. She admitted what she had done and then the thing she summoned killed her and disappeared. Try and keep it as close to the facts as possible.” Jett suggests and Levi nods in agreement.
The guys all turn back the way we came and start to make their way towards the stables to get Rupert.
I just hope he’s there. He’s more likely to believe that we had nothing to do with this and our explanation as to why we were out here in the first place.
Especially since the Director was successful in painting us in a bad light thanks to her whole scene in the dining hall earlier.
Everyone already suspects that we’ve had something to do with Rebecca and her teams disappearance.
“Guys!” Nate suddenly calls out to them, just before they disappear from view, “Kai your glamour!”
“Fuck, I hadn’t even realised!” Kai chuckles, pulling on his glamour again.
Once they’ve disappeared rushing to get Rupert I turn to the others.
“I feel like I’m not acting as I should be.
” I frown, “I’m not particularly upset. It’s horrifying don’t get me wrong but I’m more worried about who the fucker was and if he’s got more instructors or even students working for him.
Also, what the hell are the protections around the school doing if the Order is so easily being allowed in? ”
“Erin might be able to test the shields since that’s one of her gifts.
” Cole suggests, “We’ve got an extensive library back home and I know there’s a couple of books there that could help you work it out.
They aren’t going to teach you how to use it in the first year here.
” Cole says, “I’ll get one of my brothers to send them. ”
“Thank you,” Erin says gratefully.
“You’re welcome and as for the other thing Sage, it’s either a sign of shock or more likely it’s your supernatural nature.
Our world is brutal and although you weren’t raised in it you still have the same instincts as the rest of us.
I’d even be willing to say more so because your glamour is your human facade and not your supernatural facade like the majority of supernaturals. ” Cole adds.
“It’s the same for you as well isn’t it?” Jax asks.
“Yes, I am much more comfortable with my human glamour dropped but even within my own family I am the only one to feel this way.”
“It’s not like that in the other realms though is it?” I ask, thinking of my vision of him and his Bonded and earning a sharp look from Erin who’s already guessed where I’m going with it.
“No,” He says looking slightly perplexed at the question since we haven’t covered it in our realms lesson yet. “In the other realms and even in the academies it’s more odd to see someone with their glamour.”
I’m about to say something else about how he’d feel about attending one of those academies considering that in the vision he was very definitely wearing the school uniform of one of them. I’m interrupted though by a question from Maverick.
“Do you think we should go over there?” He asks, “There might be something we’ve missed or even something that would let on to his knowledge of you or his supernatural status.”
“Ok fair point. Let’s get it done quickly before Rupert gets here and we create more questions.” I say, taking a step into the clearing.
Ghost and Knot caw once each and take off into the sky, circling above us, which I’m taking to mean that they are keeping an eye on everything for us.
The air inside the clearing is heavy and oppressive, somehow a few degrees cooler than in the woods.
There’s a dark feeling in here. We quickly start scouring the area looking for anything that could contradict the story that we’ve told Rupert.
“Make sure you don’t touch or move any of the ritual things that she left behind or the body.” Levi orders.
We nod, and I wonder over closer to the gold bowl filled with now congealing blood and the head of the Director.
I try not to look in the direction of it though.
That scene will play on repeat in my mind for a while and although I’m not a blubbering mess or overwhelmed by the events I am not heartless or completely unaffected.
“The tide is turning little Queen,” the figure from the ritual’s voice growls out making me jump.
Everyone freezes, their eyes rapidly scanning the area to try to find where its coming from and how it’s come back without actually summoning it this time.
My eyes land on the Directors head and I let out a yelp as her eyes blink in my direction, her pale mouth drained of all colour thanks to blood loss kicks up at the side in a macabre smirk, as I stumble back a step.
“Tik Tok Little Queen. The end is coming. The supernaturals days of freedom are numbered and they need to be ruled as one once again.” The voice says ominously. “Tik Tok.” It repeats.
I back up further all of us moving out of the circle whilst never taking our eyes off of the Directors head. I barely hold back my urge to kick it far, far away. logically I know that would cause more harm than good in the long run. I’m not sure how we could explain that one.
The head starts to roll towards me.
“How the fuck is he making it move!” I exclaim watching it in horror.
“He’s possessed it!” Maverick shouts.
“We read about it when we did the research but didn’t think it was relevant at the time or worth mentioning!” Dash adds.
“Well what do we do?” I say as it starts laugh manically still rolling towards me, “I’m less than a second from fucking booting it!” I warn them.
Which earns me a startled laugh.
“I think there’s a chant. You’ve got to put your magic behind the words and it’s best of we all do it together.” Maverick says.
“You’re not strong enough for that spell Little Queen.” He scoffs, “Tik Tok.” He laughs manically. Still rolling the head in my direction even though I’m out of the circle now and reaching the edge of the woods.
I ignore him which makes it frown and sneer at me obviously not pleased with the lack of response.