The Broken Academy 5: Bonds

by Jade Alters

  “We would like to make an announcement,” Dragonlord Thise pipes up. She, Chief Botan, Sorceress Lily and Magister Reynold remain together near me at the head of the table. A position of authority seemed only natural to give them. But the tone in Thise’s voice now is humble. Casual, even. Chief Botan follows with:

  “In light of the recent battles, we will be renouncing our titles.” A gasp funnels up and down each side of the monumental black-stone table.

  “It’s no secret that you all, former students and Kyrie warriors, are the ones who won the battles this past month. We haven’t been the spearhead of the Academy for some time,” Lily admits.

  “And when the Academy itself came down from the sky, it was you who jumped into the Epicenter. It was you who took action,” Magister Reynold commends. A cross between embarrassment and pride rises in my cold chest. It’s like receiving an undeserved trophy. But they’re not wrong. If it wasn’t for us…the world might be in a different sort of state already.

  “Besides…the powers granted you by the Epicenter remain, don’t they?” asks Thise. I glance to Cece, Darius and a few others, who give into a slow admitting nod. “You are the most powerful supernatural beings since the Origas. With you at the helm, and us serving as advisors, alongside our elders…” With this, the Dragonlord pushes her chair out. She’s followed by the Sorceress, Magister and Chief of the Shifters. Together, the four wander over to chairs along the wall, with Ori, Sasoen and Cain. “We might just stand a chance at rebuilding.”

  “Do our wise advisors have any suggestions of where to start?” Cece dares, the very second Thise’s behind hits her new chair.

  “Not a damn clue,” Thise admits. Her smirk reflects the one of the girl she mentored so closely once before.

  “What if…” Lee starts. He stops himself when he hears how hollow his voice sounds, echoing up and down the dining hall. “Is…is it okay to just start talking? Is that how we do things?” It might just be the home we’re in, but I’m surprised by the amount of heads that turn toward me for an answer.

  “Ah… yes,” I decide, “As long as we don’t cut one another off. Open discussion is…fine?” I try. Despite how shaky it sounds, everyone seems to take it as the new rule.

  “What if we reinstitute the Lotus?” Lee completes his thought. A vacuum of silence separates the suggestion from the absolute uproar of objections. Voices leap up from all around the table to scream and cry out at the heinous suggestion. “Not the way it was! Rebuild the organization from the ground up!” Lee struggles to shout over the others.

  “Hey!” I’m stunned by the authority in my own voice. All at once, everyone rumbles down to silence. “No interruptions. Let the man finish his thought,” I declare.

  “Actually, I think I get where you’re coming from,” Helena attests. “May I?” she asks Lee. He searches her eyes for a moment, in which he must find something he agrees with. Lee nods. “The Lotus was designed by the Origas to protect the Normans from supernaturals. But that arrangement was made in a very old world. It’s a new, more connected one now. Maybe, with the right people, we can still protect the Normans, and our own secrecy. Not with smoke and mirrors, or walls to keep information from spilling out. With bridges.” I wait to make sure Helena is done before I say:

  “You mean…the Origas’ idea to keep a certain fraction of the Normans informed was solid. But instead of acting as a last-ditch failsafe, they would be more like liaisons?”

  “Yes,” says Helena.

  “Exactly,” says Lee at the same time. I consider it with my eyes on the ceiling.

  “Should we…vote? Not just a few, but all of us?” suggests Cece. There’s more than a slight hint of sorrow in her voice when she adds, “That way…the majority can’t be forced into a decision they don’t agree with?”

  “I think so,” I agree. “All in favor of a new Lotus organization, formed from Normans we choose to keep the order between us?” I ask as my own hand rises in agreement with the sentiment. A few are just too uneasy. Those who saw good friends slaughtered at the hands of burgundy robes. Those who nearly met their end at the hands of men and women like Heren themselves. But the overwhelming majority looks past it, to the benefits. Their hands vastly outnumber those opposed.

  “If I may,” the former Dragonlord Thise interjects. I nod to allow it. She asks Cece, almost directly. “Who would you trust with this important task?” The grin on Thise’s face says she already has an idea. Just as much as Cece does.

  “I have an idea,” says Cece.

  A week later, after a series of tearful reunions and meeting with Cece, Lee and Serge, we’re joined by two new members to our massive new Committee. Our Norman Liaisons, Jonah and Christa. In their very first meeting, they prove their worth with valuable information about the San Francisco news coverage and repair efforts. We agree to send a few Magicians under trick cover to help. From there, it’s one issue after another. We bounce ideas off one another. We refer to the former Council and their elders.

  “I don’t know about you guys,” I announce at last, in an opening, “but I feel like this environment gives a little bit of unfair authority to some of us.” Serge and I shoot one another accusatory glances, to the chuckles of everyone between us. “It feels borrowed. From an age we don’t want to repeat. It’s time to strike out on our own. Make our own base for a community. Any ideas?” Mutters and mumbles are all I get for a few seconds. Then, Cece announces:

  “I…know a place. Former owners have vacated. It’s huge. It needs some work, but it’s already hidden by a trick. And it’s not all too far from here.” By the end of her sentence, I’m not the only one who has an idea of where she means.

  “We’d have to rebuild, but…I think it’s a solid choice,” I answer with a smile.

  “I’m sorry, where is it you two are talking about?” Christa asks for all those confused.

  “I’ll show you,” Cece smiles.

  Cece,

  Former Kyrie Stronghold

  I can’t believe how little the place has changed. Sure, there are deep claw marks on everything from the escape of the Gray Fiends, but it’s nothing a complete overhaul won’t fix. After all, for once, I couldn’t agree with Emery more. We can’t run this new Committee out of a place borrowed from the era that set us against one another. We have to start over. I lead Jonah, Christa and a small fraction of our Committee through the double doors built into the clay hillside. The entrance to the old Kyrie Stronghold.

  “The common grounds would be phenomenal,” I tell them as we round the cracked fountain at the entrance. “We’ve got plenty of underground facilities for Vampires during the day. And above ground for Fey and others who just enjoy the sun.” A few Demonic and Warlock architects take notes as my tour unfolds.

  “There are already dorms built in. Several blocks of them in each sector, but we could expand.” I tell everyone as I lead them past the hallway that holds my old room. Lee winks at me over the heads of the crowd as a tribute to the good times we had there. Then we reach my favorite area. The obsidian cave where I first flew with my father.

  “This…will be perfect for Dragons to stretch their wings,” I manage without choking too hard. He’d want me to keep a strong image in front of those in our flock. I sniffle and add, to distract myself, “The area downstairs that used to be the Blood Farms can be completely remodeled into spellwork labs for Witches and Warlocks. Or something for Magicians.”

  My tour winds around and up, to the outdoor running grounds for Vampires. By the time I get there, Emery is already testing her newfound speed against Darius. Somehow, with the sun shining just right, I find it in my heart to be happy for them.

  “As you can see, there’s plenty of room to expand here. We have a huge section of the isolated Sierra Nevadas to work with,” I say.

  “And we can work with the city, if we make more connections,” Jonah announces, “to get this area designated a restricted natural restoration zone. No entry. You’d be able to ex
pand even more without fear of discovery.”

  “That…is an excellent idea,” I have to admit. The Lotus strikes again.

  When the tour disbands to begin work on their own designated sections, I plop down in the dry grass. I play with the fragment of corruption in my pocket. I run my thumb over its smooth surface, thinking of the man it had once been. If only he could see this. See us. Still alive. Together.

  “Still fooling around?” Lee’s voice makes me jump. He appears alongside Serge, from the veil of a trick. “You’ve got people to lead!”

  “You two are hanging out now? What the hell…” I grunt, like this isn’t the best thing that could happen to me.

  “Figured we might as well get used to one another,” Serge shrugs. “Now that we’re all in charge of the supernatural order, together.” I snort at the absurdity of it all.

  “Did you ever think it would come to this? When I first stumbled into both your lives?” I prod. I can’t help it. It’s all so ridiculous. A chance encounter with a Vampire in an alley changed it all. Rerouted and entangled countless lives. Shook up the entire supernatural order.

  “The day I met you, I knew you were going to mess something up,” Lee laughs.

  “Just didn’t think it’d go apocalyptic,” Serge adds.

  “I should have known better than to ask,” I snort. Then both of their eyes wander to my pocket, where my fingers still fidget.

  “You…still carrying him around, huh?” Lee asks. I pluck the shard up and hold out my palm. All that remains of Bryant fits perfectly in my scar.

  “I keep tricking myself,” I admit. “Like, if I just hold onto it for a little bit longer…if he could just see what we see, he might…I don’t know, rebuild himself?” I laugh uncomfortably at how ridiculous it sounds out loud.

  “It’s a beautiful thought, Cece,” Serge says. He kneels and wraps a hand around mine, around the shard of Bryant. “But you’re no Magician.”

  “You’re right,” I whimper. “Maybe it’s time to…lay him to rest.” My hand trembles as I lower the glossy shard to the earth. It takes all I have to unfold my fingers from it. To let it touch the dirt, and let go.

  The second I do, it cracks. I go to grab it back, but it’s too late. The tiny black crystal explodes into a thousand black and orange branches of corrupted matter. Serge, Lee and I stumble backward away from the enormous mutation. They crackle and sprawl to the width of a large building. My eyes bulge as wide as they possibly can to marvel as what remains of Bryant becomes just that. A building. The corrupted branches interlock and solidify. They form four walls, a ceiling and an open door. Orange cracks, the blood of Hell itself, shimmer through every inch of it. I stand, trembling, as the transformation finalizes. My fingers slide down the smooth, warm, outside of it.

  “This is… How did…” I struggle. Serge and Lee pace down the outside of the building. They feel the life force radiating from it just as well as I can.

  “You’ve got to look inside,” Lee gasps. I shoot over to him, in the doorway. Serge stumbles into our backs to look.

  “Whoah,” he says, for all three of us. Four of us, I understand now. Bryant is still here, in a way I never imagined. He tried to explain to me once, how Demons form new structures with their own matter. I guess he didn’t just mean organic ones. Inside this demonic new building of corruption, there are ornate black-and-white tile floors, separated by shimmering orange grout. Jet black seats rise from the floor, and for each, a desk.

  “It’s…a classroom,” I realize. Water swells in the blue orbs of my eyes.

  “The first of many,” says Lee. I run my hands along each surface with new curiosity and old heartache. What else can I say, besides:

  “Thank you.”

  Emery,

  The Unnamed Academy

  The fate of the supernatural world was decided in a matter of weeks. The aftermath, however, has taken months. We’ve met with new Norman connections through Jonah and Christa. We’ve expanded across the Sierra Nevadas. We’ve sat with the old Council and elders to discuss logistics and building techniques. We already have the sign up for the Bryant Building for Demonic Students. Classrooms have been erected, dorms renovated, and every last inch of the old Kyrie Stronghold remodeled. Those who haven’t been here before would never suspect it had once been a base for supernatural terrorism.

  Now it’s our bastion of safety and security. Our new Academy. All that’s left is to name it.

  “We’ve got to come up with something,” says Cece. Sure, she grates my nerves sometimes. Sure, I can’t stand how she juggles my brother and another man, though he seems to be oddly okay with it. At the end of the day, I don’t think I’d take another partner standing beside me. Not for this. She understands everything that made Dorian and the others secede. She’ll be the key to making sure it never happens again. That we stick together through every new hurdle. “I mean, we open the doors tomorrow. Lee’s already got the first batch of new recruits who awakened during the Epicenter crisis.”

  “Well…I thought about it,” I admit, the hint of a smirk creeping across my lips. “And…I made the decision without you. But, it’s one I think you’re going to like,” I squeeze in before Cece can explode. She crosses her arms.

  “You’re gambling with the future of all supernaturals here… Let’s hear it. What’s the name?” Cece asks. I wave my hands over my head to unveil the grand entry sign, which I’ve hidden with a trick. Two stone posts rise up from the ground, as if from nothing, with a steel board between them. On it is engraved the words The Kyrie Academy.

  “We can’t bury the differences that once separated us, or they undoubtably will again. We have to wear our history on our sleeves, so everyone understands just what they’re walking into,” I say. I’m shocked when Cece’s hand thrusts into mine. She takes it in both of hers for a hard shake. She won’t admit the feelings behind her teary smile. I don’t need her to. Somehow, in fighting and friendship, the two of us have come to understand one another more than anyone else. She doesn’t let me go until we hear, from behind us:

  “Ah…I’m sorry…I just…” Cece and I wheel around to find a girl half our size, and age. Her hands radiate smoke and heat in her nervousness. Another Dragon, I realize. “Mr. Lee told me you guys don’t actually open until tomorrow…but I…I just found out…” The girl doesn’t get the whole sentence out before tears overpower her. Lee stands with one hand on her back, coaxing her forward.

  “I know, honey, I know,” Cece lets out without a second thought. She lets go of my hand to make a motion for the girl, but shoots a glance to me for confirmation. I nod instantly.

  “We’re actually opening early,” I smile.

  “Isn’t that right, Mr. Lee?” Cece teases. She hurries to the girl’s other side, to take her hand.

  “It sure is,” Lee smiles. A grin forces its way onto the girl’s lips as Cece and Lee lead her toward me. I turn sideways to open the way with a snap of my fingers. The double doors of the Kyrie Academy open for its first new resident. A wave of euphoria sweeps my body as I ask:

  “Why don’t we show you to your room?”

  Also by Jade Alters

  Mates & Magic :

  The Sharing Spell

  The Spell’s Price

  Backfired Magic

  You might also be interested in some of my other collections :

  The Descendants

  Shared by the Four

  Desired by Four

  Fate of Three

  Fated Shifter Mates

  Mated to Team Shadow

  Mated to the Clan

  Mated to the Pack

  Protected by the Pack

  Claimed by the Pack

 

 

 
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