Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Ithink we should work on cataloging Aimee’s abilities,” Sienna muses.
“To have a record of another storm mage like Guinnette is marvelous. Though I dare not use her name, and I will not use a serial number for her.” She sighs.
“So, we’ll have to keep the personal details vague. Just focusing on her affinity.”
We’re taking every precaution while cataloging the omegas’ affinities.
We work in a quiet corner of the castle’s great hall while the omegas work with Ian.
Simon has souped up the encryption and security on Sienna’s laptop so that it can only be accessed in person and only with Sienna’s fingerprint on a reader he installed.
The database he created can only be accessed by her; I don’t even have access to it unless she passes me her computer while we work.
Still, we’re cautious about how we catalogue the affinities, just in case Sienna’s laptop were to be stolen and hacked into, or she was forced to apply her fingerprint in some dangerous situation we can’t predict.
We don’t want the omegas to be easily identifiable, especially if the wrong parties were to get their hands on our data, but like Sienna, my skin crawls at the thought of using serial numbers for them.
They’ve been reduced to numbers before, and we refuse to dehumanize them in that way again.
“So far, I’ve seen her call wind, rain, and lightning,” I tell Sienna. “But she could be capable of snow and sunshine. We haven’t uncovered those abilities in her yet, but I believe her affinity is even more powerful than we think it is. Enough to rival Guinnette’s.”
Sienna smiles faintly, her eyes sparkling behind her glasses. “Were the times not so dark, I’d be grateful to live in an age of affinitied omegas. You’re all truly remarkable.”
I glance across the room to where Cora sits against the wall, eyeing Ian and the omega he’s teaching with trepidation.
She still hasn’t gotten closer to any of the other omegas, but I’m glad she’s at least opening up to me.
When she catches me looking her way, she frowns and turns away, returning her attention to the lesson she isn’t taking part in.
But I know Ian makes sure she can hear his every word.
I know he leaves stacks of handouts and flashcards for her on the table at the front of the room.
I also know she takes them, as intent now in her studies as all the rest of the omegas.
She’s still behind because she was afraid of calling her magic and practicing alone, but she’s beginning to catch up to them.
We worked on her first spells this morning, simple three-sigil spells and easy shields.
Like my early shields, hers are shaky and easily torn down.
She won’t be able to stand up to the smallest of attacks with them, but I have faith she’ll learn.
The squeak of sneakers on the polished stone floor makes me jerk my head up as Simon bursts into the castle’s great hall.
“Simon? What is it?” I ask the breathless beta.
He shoves his laptop in front of me. “I got a ping on one of the collars. After you mentioned your father’s movements in New Jersey at the resistance meeting, I broadened my search. Today I finally got results.” He shows me a broad radius on the map on his computer.
“We have to investigate this further! Can you get a closer lock on the signal?” I ask. “What does this mean for the rest of the collars?”
“If I can further refine my search, yes. As for the other five thousand, I’ve still had no luck. They must be heavily warded or hidden behind magetech. But we have this one, and it’s active if it’s transmitting a signal. It’s being used right now.”
Excitement bubbles up inside me. “We finally have something to go off of!”
“My search will take time, but we do. We have workable information.”
“This is big! We have to tell the pack and Graeme and Jack.”
“Tell me what?” Jack asks, dropping by our table, a cup of black coffee in his hand.
“We found a collar in New Jersey,” Simon explains. “Here.” He points to the offline map on his computer screen.
“You’ve done it? You’ve gotten us a lead?” the older alpha asks, excitement edging into his voice.
“I have,” Simon confirms.
“We have to go and investigate! I’ve got to share this with Graeme.”
“If we can get a better lock on the collar,” Simon sighs. “I’m still working on that.”
Jack squints at the computer screen. “Can you look into other activity in the area? Recent property rentals or sales? Maybe, shit, I don’t know, power consumption?”
“I absolutely can,” Simon says, shifting from foot to foot quickly, eager to get out of the castle and back to where he can access the satellite he’s been using for internet signal.
“Then go. I know you’re itching to,” I tease him.
“Not before this,” he says, and pulls me into a giant hug. I curl into his warmth, breathing in his clean beta scent.
“You amaze me,” I tell him, whispering the words against his lips.
“I amaze me too,” he says, humor in his voice, before kissing me goodbye.
As we break from our hug, a breeze stirs my hair, and when I look up, Cora is gone.
For how circumspect we’ve had to be in bringing in supplies, the castle is stocked about as well as it can be.
Though the omegas are sleeping on air mattresses and forced to brush their teeth with bottled water, they’ve made the castle somewhat homey.
We’ve procured nesting materials for all of them, and their gratitude was effusive when we showed them.
Most haven’t had a nest in years, especially if they came through an omega rehabilitation center before being trafficked to Rad’s facility.
Watching them nest for the first time in a long time soothed something I didn’t know needed to be soothed, deep in my heart.
They don’t have much aside from their new nests, and they’re basically camping out in the castle, but they’re safe and they’re fed, and most importantly, they’re free.
And of course, there’s a kettle for tea, courtesy of Graeme, and a coffeemaker, courtesy of Jack.
They’ve stocked the kitchen area well, with more coffee and tea than a hundred omegas could drink in a month, and with shelf-stable foods like protein bars and packets of oatmeal.
Besides the snacks, the omegas have primarily been surviving on rations Gerard was able to divert to them.
Many have gained the weight they lost in confinement and are looking healthier than ever.
Each day, they open up to each other, Ian, Jack, Graeme, and me, a little more.
Each day they come more into themselves now that they’re free.
I’m making coffee for Ian and myself when Cora races into the kitchen, coming to a halt right in front of me.
I startle but look up at her with a smile. “Cora. Did you want to practice your magic? I’ve got some time right now.”
“No,” she says. “I don’t want to practice my magic.
I want to use it. I need to get out of here, Juniper.
I feel trapped. I’ve been confined for too long, first at the ORC and then in the collar facility.
I need to move. I know the world outside the castle is grim, but I need to see it for myself. And I want to help. I can help.”
“You know how dangerous it is,” I tell her. “You could be captured. You’ve been captured twice before, despite your speed.”
She flinches, and I know I’ve said the wrong thing, no matter how true it may be. “So, someone got the drop on me. I refuse to let that happen again.”
“You’re just learning to control your magic, though, just getting used to it.
You need to give it more time. I don’t want you to end up in another facility like Rad’s, or worse.
” Like in the hands of my father, subject to his schemes.
I’ve already seen part of it. Without more information, it’s too dangerous for any affinitied omega to be out in the world.
And even more dangerous for those already confined.
I couldn’t bear to see Cora locked up again.
“I may just be learning to control my magic, but I have perfect control over my affinity. I have skills, Juniper, an affinity that could help you get the information you’ve been looking for. I can’t keep sitting on my hands like this. I need to act.”
The information I’m looking for? Could she have been listening in on my conversation with Simon?
“No,” I say resolutely. “It’s too dangerous. You need to learn to defend yourself with your magic first. We don’t know who’s looking for affinitied omegas, and you can’t risk getting caught again. It could very well mean your death!”
“Maybe I’m willing to die if it means I’m not useless!
” she says, raising her voice and folding her arms across her chest. “Maybe I should get to choose what I do with my life for once. You’re too controlling!
I’ve spent enough of my life being controlled and belittled for my magic.
The last thing I need is to get it from you, too. ”
I jerk back like she slapped me. Me? Controlling? All I’m doing is looking out for her safety!
Cora all but disappears in a rush of speed, leaving me alone with my thoughts and two steaming cups of coffee. I sigh and lean against the counter.
In truth, none of the omegas are prisoners in this castle.
They’re all free to go, but they understand the inherent risks their affinities pose to them.
They’ve all already been captured once and don’t want to be confined to a cell and experimented on again.
Why can’t Cora see that? That she’s safer here until we can make the world safer for all omegas?
I won’t put these omegas at risk, not when I don’t know for certain what my father is up to.
On the afternoon of Cassian and Simon’s commencement, I sit with Pack Leclerc, Ellie and her mother, Melissa, right in the middle between Bethany and Ellie.
Surrounded by my family. When Cassian mated me, he gave me something I’d never truly had before: a loving family.
A place to sit and cheer at a graduation ceremony for my two loves, where I won’t be looked down on or shushed for my excitement.
And I am excited. I can barely sit still when Headmaster Langford takes the podium at the front of the hall. He raps his scribe against the podium, silencing the murmurs in the audience and among the graduates.
I’ve heard his commencement speeches before when my siblings graduated, but those were nothing like the one he delivers at this graduation.
“Welcome families and friends of our graduating class of seniors. This class of seniors is unlike any class to come before it. They are resilient in ways no other class has had to be, resilient like all students at Fairhaven Academy must be these days. It is a dark world we live in right now, and our senior mages are about to step out of this academy into an uncertain future, but I believe in all of them. In their compassion, determination, and grit. These students have excelled in their magical studies and leave these halls as talented mages, mages who will be called on to fight for and protect those who cannot protect themselves. These mages are brilliant and kind, hardworking and courageous, just like the founders of our hallowed institution. They truly embody the spirit of our academy, and I commend them and wish them all the best as they step out into the world. Lux nostra virtute per tempestas.”
We all recite the academy motto in response, and never before has it rung truer.
Let our courage light our way through the storm.
One by one, students are called to the stage to receive their diplomas. I shift in my seat, waiting for Cassian’s name to be called.
“Mr. Cassian Leclerc,” the headmaster finally intones. “Graduating magna cum laude.”
I don’t just clap. I jump to my feet, cheering and clapping, just as Pack Leclerc does. The headmaster cuts an amused look our way, but we’re anything but ashamed of our pride in Cassian.
And when Simon is called, also graduating magna cum laude, I’m the first on my feet to cheer for him, Ellie and Melissa a close second. Ellie catches me in a one-armed hug and gives me a squeeze.
“Thank you,” she says, “for loving my brother the way you do.”
“He’s easy to love,” I reply.
They both are. Both of my graduates.