Chapter 20 Rune
rune
. . .
It was term two of year three, and I had no idea how time had passed by so quickly.
A new term meant new classes and new missions to shadow.
We only had two assignments this time: our shadow missions and a live mission simulation course called House Cooperation.
Today, we would be placed in a squad of third years only to complete simulated missions.
I stared up at the holographic words in the air inside the auditorium and walked toward where my name was.
“Thank Fates,” Dimitri breathed out as relief flooded our bond.
“I’m relieved too,” I whispered as we walked under Squad One, where we were placed under Jarvins.
I couldn’t be happier with our squad as I scanned the names.
RUNE BLOODWYNE – SPY
DIMITRI NOCTURNUS – SPY
IVY BENSON – ENFORCER
SOLON RYK – ENFORCER
SYLVER SEAVYRN – MAGICAL SPECIALIST
KATIE MORNWICK – INTELLIGENCE ANALYST
SLATER HAVOC – TECH SPECIALIST
ZUKO VYRE – TORTURE EXPERT
ELEANOR FAWNMERE – DIPLOMAT
KOA ASHBOURNE – HEALER
My heart thudded harder as I noticed my mates’ names.
“Look at us,” Slater whistled low as he moved beside me, and his daisies and jasmine scent flooded my senses. “We’re clearly the best squad.”
“You’re always the best, Havoc baby,” I giggled.
“Nah, venom baby.” He stole a quick kiss. “You’re the best.”
A woman stared at us as she walked up. “Oh, lovely. I’m on a squad with mates, then?”
Slater slung his arm around me and grinned. “Sure are, but my venom baby has more mates than just me on the squad with her, so get prepared, uh…”
“Katie,” she answered softly. That meant she would be our intelligence analyst. She had a notebook already in her hand with her blonde hair pulled into a messy bun, brown eyes sharp behind round frames. “I don’t mean to be rude. It’s just that romance always seems to be a distraction.”
I shrugged. “We all have our opinions, but we’re damn good agents, even when we’re all over each other.”
She made a meek noise and blushed. “Of course. I don’t mean to imply otherwise.”
Behind us, the hall was busy with footsteps and chatter; other squads were clustering around their own boards. The walls here were lined with etched steel plates bearing past mission names, polished until they caught the light of the floating crystal globes overhead.
Koa stepped up on my other side, smelling like firewood. “We have a great squad,” he said proudly, scanning the roster.
“Right.” Zuko strolled over, orange-sunset hair pulled into a low knot. His orange eyes flicked down the list and narrowed in satisfaction. “Most importantly, I’m with my pretty little poison. I approve.”
Professor Jarvins stepped in front of us, chewing absently on a twig. Beside him was a witch, and I recognized her immediately. She was one of the last known necromancers in existence, Kian and Wren’s daughter. Her name was Haelynn.
Drecken’s replacement for House of Arcane.
She was pretty, with rich brown curls piled into a loose bun and bright blue eyes.
I swallowed against the sudden ache in my throat.
Haelynn seemed like a better fit as a professor, but I missed my mate.
“Squad One,” Jarvins called us. “We will be in Apex Simulator 2.0. The rest of you, wait for your time slot.”
“Squad Two, come with me to Simulator 1.6,” Haelynn gestured for her squad to follow her.
Dimitri’s hand brushed the small of my back as we walked to the simulator. “You’re thinking about Drecken,” he murmured.
My matebond tugged toward Drecken with longing. “I’m not that obvious.”
“Only to people who are in love with you,” he said dryly.
My face heated as we filed into the largest simulator on campus. Faint runes pulsed with magic around us.
“Welcome to House Cooperation,” Jarvins announced, twig dancing between his teeth. “You’re Squad One. My squad. Don’t embarrass me.”
“Reassuring,” Solon muttered under his breath. I’d seen him before but never spoken to him. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with shaggy black hair that fell into his ice-blue eyes.
Beside him, was his housemate, Ivy. She shifted her weight from foot to foot as if she were ready to sprint. Her hair was a glossy, vivid red, braided into a high ponytail that made her green eyes pop.
She caught me looking at her and grinned. “I have heard a lot about you, Rune Bloodwyne.”
“Oh?” I arched an eyebrow. “All terrifying, I hope.”
“Terribly so.” Ivy smiled.
Zuko snorted. “She’s terrifyingly hot.”
Sylver shot me a smile, her blonde bob cut perfectly, blue eyes bright with happiness. Sylver, her two sisters, and my brother had become a mini-family already, and I was loving the fact that Tibby had settled down.
I’d tired of making girls shit themselves for hanging around him.
“A reminder,” Jarvins said, his voice bored. “House Cooperation simulations are designed to test your ability to function as a full squad. This is so we can test how well you perform, not just your own strengths, but how well you know and use each other’s. This isn’t a solo mission.”
Koa stood behind me, and his heat warmed my back. Slater and Zuko stood on either side of me, while Dimitri stood next to Koa.
Eleanor stood next to us, but we hadn’t had a chance to talk.
“Today’s scenario,” Jarvins continued, “is a dark magic ritual clean up in the outskirts of Cursinia. A witch attempted a dark ritual in the forest. It went badly. There’s residue.
There’s an infected subject. There are possible witnesses.
Your job is to contain, purge, stabilize, and debrief.
I will be your squad leader, but I will help remotely. ”
Slater raised a hand. “What do we not do?”
Jarvins sighed. “Try not to kill anyone you’re not authorized to kill.”
Slater gave him a thumbs-up. Snakey flicked his tongue curiously from around his neck.
“Are we authorized to kill the subject?” Solon asked.
“No, and dark magic is very serious. Even though this is a simulation, the dark magic is very real. Do remember that if you are injured, infected, or killed in the simulation, you will be in real life.”
Anticipation sank in my gut.
Dimitri’s fingers brushed my arm; Koa touched my lower back; Zuko and Slater squeezed my hands.
The simulator hummed before the temperature dropped drastically. The hard simulator floor turned to soft, mossy earth under my feet seamlessly. Above us, Cursinia’s ghastly trees rose like cathedral pillars. The sky between the branches was overcast.
My nose twitched as scents invaded the air. Damp moss, running water nearby, and underneath it, sulfur.
A faint metallic tang crawled across my tongue like copper.
“Squad One, report,” Jarvins's voice crackled softly through our earpieces. “Status?”
“Dropped in clean,” Ivy answered, already scanning the tree line like a pro. Her phoenix flames burned steadily. “No hostiles in visual range.”
I inhaled, pin-pointing where the sulfur scent came from. “North-east. Not far.”
“Maybe there’s a clearing,” Sylver murmured.
“It smells wrong.” Eleanor wrinkled her nose.
“Enforcers first,” Jarvins stated. “Ivy, Solon, you lead.”
Ivy rolled her shoulders, flames licking briefly along her arms. “You heard the professor, wolfie. Let’s go.”
Solon snorted. “You wound me. But okay.” He shifted his weight, posture dropping into a more predatory stance as he stalked forward, nose lifted slightly as he followed the scent of sulfur and rot.
Koa fell in just behind them, ready to heal in case of the worst-case scenario.
I drifted close to Sylver and Katie, with Zuko and Slater flanking us, and Eleanor stayed near the back.
The forest thickened the further we walked. Runes glimmered faintly on some trees. I recognized some as Cursinia’s ward lines.
“What do we know about the ritual?” Katie asked quietly, scribbling something on her small notebook that looked to be enchanted.
“Jarvins said there’s unsanctioned dark magic, an infected witch, and more dark magic around,” Sylver replied, voice steady. “Likely, the witch pulled directly from the Veil.”
“That’s never good,” I muttered, remembering the few stories Pandora had told me about dark magic. “Dark magic isn’t something to be messed with.”
“Accurate,” Katie agreed. “Though, even that sounds like an understatement.”
“We are not letting it get near Rune,” Dimitri said before coughing. “I mean, anyone. Nobody gets near it.”
“Obviously,” Ivy drawled.
“Fated mates are very protective of each other,” Katie murmured. “It could be beneficial or detrimental to have mates on the same squad.”
“We work great together, don’t we, venom baby?” Slater gloated.
I rolled my eyes with a smile. “Yeah, we do. Don’t worry.”
We broke through a line of trees into a clearing.
A magic circle had been carved into the earth in deep, precise grooves that connected to an intricate runic pattern. But it had been ruptured, covered in a glossy black tar that bubbled. It pulsed sluggishly, as if it were breathing.
It felt wrong, and I knew immediately that it was dark magic.
At its center, on her side, was a witch.
She looked young, with tangled dark hair and pale skin marred by spiderwebbing black veins that crept from her throat up her jaw, across her cheeks, and down her arms. Her chest rose and fell in shallow, erratic breaths.
She was infected, but she was alive.
Ivy raised a fist, halting us just outside the circle’s boundary. “Contact,” she called out, sounding exactly like an enforcer should. “Subject down, dark magic active.”
“Copy,” Jarvins said through our comms. “Treat the circle as active contamination. Do not cross until it’s been purged. Sylver, that’s your job.”
“On it,” Sylver murmured, reaching to her belt and drawing out a relic that was supposed to suck in and contain dark magic.