Zodiac Academy: Fated Throne

by Caroline Peckham

  “Tentacles on a tuna fish,” Geraldine exclaimed from the other room. “Look at me go!”

  I gave Orion an awkward smile and jogged out of the room, finding Geraldine with the flail we’d made for her, the spiked ball of metal swinging on a chain at the end of the huge stick. She swung it around her head, under her leg, over her shoulder, all with impossible skill.

  “I’ve flung a flail or two in my time,” she announced. “It is absolutely divine, my ladies. I couldn’t be more grateful. In fact, perhaps a song is in order?”

  “We don’t have time for songs,” Caleb growled, glancing at Darius. “Right?” His eyes were pleading and Seth slung an arm over his shoulders, his hands wrapped in his metal gauntlets.

  “Don’t be a killjoy, bro. Let’s sing that Vega song about them sucking our cocks,” Seth said with a smirk and Geraldine bristled, pointing her flail at him.

  “Do not besmirch my beautiful lyrics ever again, you foul mouthed mutt!”

  Max laughed and Geraldine rounded on him with a growl.

  “And what are you chuckling at, you overgrown sea cucumber?” she demanded.

  “Calm down, Gerry,” he said.

  She looked like she was about to explode, but Orion shot to the centre of the group with the sword in its scabbard at his hip. “We’re leaving. Stop bickering or some of you will get left behind when we stardust out of here.”

  “Pfft, as if Darius would leave any of us here,” Seth said but Darius folded his arms with a look that said he would and everyone fell into line.

  Orion strode to the door just as my Atlas buzzed and I took it out, finding a message from my brother.

  Gabriel:

  The K.U.N.T.s were out in force when I stardusted home an hour ago. Let the Vampires take you and your sister to the boundary. The others won’t be stopped.

  Good luck tonight.

  He started sending a bunch of pictures of his baby and family and my heart squeezed. Dammit that baby was cute. I just wanted to squeeze his chubby cheeks and tickle his round belly and – oh right, I’ve got a life or death mission to go on that needs my attention.

  “Lance,” I called to him, jogging over and showing him the message before letting the others see.

  “Caleb, take Tory,” Orion commanded then scooped me up before I could disagree and shot off down the stairs.

  I clung to him, stifling a scream as he clutched me to his chest and moved at the speed of light, sprinting faster than he ever had with me in his arms before. I couldn’t draw a single breath until we stopped and the world spun. We were standing beyond the fence of the academy and the cool night air whipped around us.

  I stared up at Orion as his eyes roamed my face and my toes curled.

  “You can put me down now,” I said breathily, my heart hitting a wild beat and I tried to convince myself it was from the speed we’d been moving at. But who was I kidding?

  He placed me on my feet and silence rippled between us as I remained snared in his eyes.

  “Happy birthday,” I forced out.

  I’d been considering messaging him all day, but hadn’t been able to bring myself to do it. Now he was right in front of me, I didn’t want him to think I’d forgotten. Maybe I should have been a dick about it, but he was already spending this day as a prisoner with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Well, until now I guessed.

  “It’s not as happy as my last,” he murmured then Caleb arrived with Tory, setting her down beside me, leaving me trapped in a happy memory of the past and wishing I could go back to it.

  “Did you really need to do a lap of the whole academy?” Tory tutted, flattening her messed up hair.

  “I needed to limber up before we go into battle,” Caleb said with a smirk.

  “We’re not going into battle, we’re going to a graveyard where all kinds of bullshit spells are waiting for us,” Orion said.

  “Well I limbered up for creepy spells then.” Caleb shrugged.

  Seth appeared in Wolf form with Darius and Max on his back and they all slipped through the gap in the fence. Seth shifted back, putting on some sweatpants and sneakers as Max threw them to him and pulling his hair up into a topknot. Geraldine appeared in her Cerberus form, one of her three large brown dog heads jamming between the bars as she tried to squeeze through. She was damn huge. Bigger than Seth in his Wolf form and he could barely fit.

  She shifted back into her Fae form with a laugh, her breasts squashing against the bars as she moved through the gap.

  “By the sun, Gerry,” Max snapped, stepping forward to try and shield her from view.

  “Oh do stop being a possessive porpoise, Maxy boy. It really is unbecoming.” She took her clothes from him, pulling them on before snatching her flail from Darius who’d been carrying it for her.

  “Let’s go to war,” Seth said excitedly, knocking his shoulder into Caleb’s as he howled.

  “We’re not going to fucking…argh, never mind,” Orion said, stepping closer to me and Tory. “Have you got the rings?”

  “Yup. Here you go, dude.” Tory held hers out, but I grabbed it before Orion could, pushing it onto my finger beside the other ring.

  “Wherever these go, I go,” I said with a challenge in my voice. If he thought he was going to ditch me at any point tonight for my own safety or some bullshit, it wasn’t gonna happen. I was going to personally make sure that star was brought back here no matter what.

  “Dammit,” he muttered and I grinned triumphantly. I knew it.

  Tory laughed. “You can’t get one over on her anymore, asshole.”

  “I wasn’t trying to-” Orion stopped himself mid-sentence, shaking his head. “Let’s just fucking go.” He took out some stardust, throwing it over us before anyone could say another word and we were dragged away into the stars.

  My feet hit the ground, but I didn’t stumble, blinking around at my friends then to the huge black metal fence rising up ahead of us. Silence fell and I could feel the power of this place humming in the air, sending a trickle of anticipation running down my spine.

  Behind us was a dense forest, the shadows between the boughs as black as night. A low, doggish howl sounded somewhere within the trees and everyone stilled.

  “Darius,” Orion growled, a warning in his tone I didn’t understand.

  “What is it?” Tory hissed as I stepped closer to her.

  “Reaper Hounds,” Darius revealed darkly.

  “They’re bound here to protect the perimeter,” Orion explained, casting a silencing bubble around us. “No one look them in the eyes, they’ll rip the soul right out of your body if you do.”

  “They’ll do fucking what?” Max balked.

  “Rip the soul from your very being, Maxy boy, do keep up,” Geraldine said, raising her flail. “All of you should go ahead, I shall face these villainous fiends for my queens. I’ll dive into the dark forest and return these beasts to the hell from whence they came.”

  “No Geraldine,” I gasped. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  “No, you’re not. Everyone needs to shut their eyes right now,” Orion commanded as more howls sounded out in the trees and my heart thrashed at the noise. “Don’t engage them, no matter what they do. Don’t open your eyes, don’t run, and do not fight back.”

  “Even if one rips my arm off?” Seth questioned. “Because I can’t make any promises in that scenario.”

  “They won’t attack unless provoked,” Orion growled. “So feel free to jab one in the eye, Capella, but do it somewhere away from the rest of us.”

  A growl came from the trees and I caught sight of a huge black figure moving between the boughs before I slammed my eyes shut. Oh shit.

  “Everyone hold hands and follow me, we need to get to the gate, the wards wouldn’t let us stardust any closer than this,” Orion said and his rough palm grasped mine.

  My other hand slid into Tory’s and we all started walking as more howls rang out in the forest.

  My heart galloped in my chest as we walke
d, leaves crunching underfoot as we went, sounding like gunshots in the quiet. A snarl sounded right beside me and my breathing quickened as sniffing filled the air and the padding of heavy paws passed close by.

  Hot, rancid breath made my hair flutter and my face warm. The beast must have been huge standing at least as tall as me, and the scent of rot clung to it, making my stomach turn.

  “We’re almost there,” Orion muttered.

  “You’d better not be opening your eyes,” I hissed and his fingers squeezed mine.

  “Someone’s got to look, might as well be the Power Shamed nobody,” he said under his breath and my nails dug into his flesh.

  “You’re not nobody,” I growled seriously. You’re one of the most important somebodies I know.

  “Are you ready, Darius?” he called, not responding to me.

  “Ready,” Darius confirmed and a snapping noise sounded somewhere behind me.

  “What’s he doing?” I whispered, then another growl sounded by my ear and I flinched.

  “He’s casting a dark spell on a Fae bone,” Orion murmured. “Reaper Hounds can’t resist the scent of death.”

  A whoosh reached me as Darius threw the bone and the dogs howled and bayed. It sounded like a large pack of them were racing away from us, the ground shuddering beneath me as they went.

  “Hurry!” Orion barked. “Everyone keep close. You can open your eyes but if there’s any sign of them returning then shut them immediately.”

  I cracked my eyes open as Orion pulled his hand from mine and Darius raced past me. We stood in front of a huge gate which had deadly looking spikes at the top of it. Written in the iron across the middle were the words The Everhill graveyard.

  Orion passed Darius a draining dagger, holding another of his own. They both sliced into their palms before starting to move the blades in perfect synchronicity with one another, seeming to cut into the air itself. The movements were complex and each slash lessened the magical tension in the air.

  A furious howl split through the night and sent a tremor of fear through me.

  “I think they’ve figured it out,” Seth hissed.

  “They’re coming back,” Caleb said urgently, but Darius and Orion were lost to a trance as they worked to break the wards.

  “Get your weapons ready,” Tory gasped and everyone did so as the thumping of paws drew closer once more.

  Tory and I raised our free hands, keeping our other ones locked together. My Phoenix fire burned hot against the inside of my flesh and our power instinctively merged, an inferno spinning between us, ready to be unleashed.

  I shared a look with Tory then clamped my eyes shut, the howls drawing nearer and nearer.

  The paws were thundering toward us at a furious pace and from the snapping of teeth and terrifying snarls, I had a feeling Seth was right. They knew what we were doing. And they were coming for blood.

  “Devils of death, I will flail you into the afterlife!” Geraldine cried.

  A growl sounded then a yelp followed as a blow was struck against one of the beasts and my heart lurched.

  I kept my palms raised, flames curling between my fingers as I waited to attack, pushing my earth magic into the ground as I used it to sense their approach.

  A snarl sounded right ahead of us and I felt Tory press closer as we raised our hands together and stepped away from our friends to make sure we didn’t hurt them. I could feel the hound’s breath, taste its sickly scent on the air and feel the shudder of its paws in the ground through my magic. We released the power of our Phoenix in an explosion of fire, a rush of adrenaline scoring through my veins. The flames blazed through my eyelids as it wheeled away from us and one of the beasts yelped and screeched.

  “Fuck yes!” Tory whooped and a grin spread across my face.

  Our victory was short lived though as howls sounded out in the woods, revealing more beasts waiting in the dark.

  “Get back!” I called to the others and Tory and I cast a wall of fire ahead of us to keep the hounds at bay.

  My back hit Darius’s and suddenly I was falling, stumbling backwards and passing through the wards surrounding the graveyard.

  “Get inside!” Orion roared, grabbing my arm and keeping me upright as he steered me around and I dragged Tory after me. The sound of clanging metal filled the air then my feet hit softer ground. “Open your eyes,” he commanded and I did, finding myself looking up at him, his brow etched with concern.

  I wheeled around, checking everyone was okay and, miraculously, they were. I shared a look of relief with Tory before gazing around the dark graveyard we were standing in.

  Tombstones stretched out ahead of us, all of them ancient and crumbling, marked with zodiac symbols and the names of the dead. There were larger tombs deeper into the graveyard, spreading away up a huge hill and a large stone mausoleum stood at the peak surrounded by trees.

  I realised my hand was still locked with Orion’s and quickly pulled it free, my pulse thumping at the base of my throat as my palm continued to tingle from his touch.

  “No one look back. We need to salt the earth to keep them out. It won’t last forever, but it should give us long enough,” Orion said and he and Darius moved back to the gate while we all kept our eyes forward. When it was done, they reappeared with dark expressions, talking in low mutters together.

  “So?” Tory asked. “What’s the plan?”

  “We’re in the outer ring,” Orion said, pointing out the gap that parted the outer graves from those further in. “The protection will be weaker here. The further in we go, the darker the spells will become.”

  “And let me guess, your daddy’s tomb is somewhere in the middle?” Seth said with an arched brow.

  “The graves are placed by levels of power,” Orion replied coldly. “So yeah. He’ll be somewhere towards the middle. If you’re too pussy to head that way, then feel free to stay here.”

  “Have you got something you wanna say to me, asshole?” Seth growled, stepping toward him with his shoulders squared. “Because your attitude is bullshit.”

  “I have nothing to say to you,” Orion hissed.

  “Oh yeah?” Seth growled. “Well apparently the only pussy around here is you then.”

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Orion’s fangs snapped out and I stepped between them with a growl of my own.

  “Stop it,” I snapped. “We have to move.”

  Seth’s eyes slid to mine and he backed down with an innocent shrug. Orion looked between us with a grimace I didn’t understand, but said nothing more.

  “Come on,” Darius growled and Orion fell into step with him as they led the way through the first line of graves.

  I walked beside Tory behind them and felt the prickling of dark magic in the air, charging the particles around me. The second we reached the inner circle, the hairs rose along my flesh and my breathing stalled at the power in this place.

  “Do you feel that?” Caleb growled behind me and we all nodded.

  The ground started to tremble beneath our feet and I gazed around at the graves surrounding us uneasily. Geraldine screamed as a skeletal hand burst through the earth to her right and fire exploded from me on instinct, blasting it to pieces. But more and more of them were fighting their way from their graves, hundreds of dead bodies scrambling out of the dirt. Fear and horror wound through me as the undead rose and I planted my feet as I prepared to fight.

  Darius swung his axe as a bony figure lunged at him and he smashed it to bits with one heavy blow. The moment the bones hit the ground, they started drawing back together and the corpse pushed to its feet once more.

  “What the fuck?” Tory’s nose wrinkled and the two of us moved closer together, readying to blast them all back to hell.

  “Find the tomb!” Darius barked at Orion.

  Everyone started wielding their weapons against the skeletons as more and more of them crawled out of the ground. Some of them looked fresher than others, their bodies sinewy and rotting. And as
one of them raised their arms, fire magic burst from them and sent a flaming ball towards Seth.

  He shifted fast, landing on all four paws as a Wolf, ducking the fireball and slashing the skeleton to pieces with his Phoenix fire claws.

  “Go!” Darius commanded and Orion looked to me, a decision in his eyes.

  “Wai-” I started but he shot forward, throwing me over his shoulder and tearing away deeper into the graveyard, leaving the others behind.

  A corpse clawed its way out of the ground before me and I raced at it, swiping my twin blades as I moved with the speed of my Order and cutting it apart so it fell into a heap of bones at my feet.

  I blasted the remains with my fire magic to finish it off, but as the flames burned out, I found the bones still intact, the magic in them pulling them back together already as it reformed itself.

  I cursed as I bent down, ripping an arm free from it and throwing it away from me with the full strength of my Order before tossing a leg in another direction. I tore the skull from the neck and its teeth sank into my finger, causing me to yell out before I hurled it like a Pitball destined for the Pit.

  But it didn't land in the Pit. It hit a white Werewolf in the ass and bit down, causing him to yelp in pain as it clung on tight.

  Seth twisted around, snapping his jaws as he tried to rip the thing off of him, but it was impossible with the position of it.

  I made a move to race over and help him, but another corpse lurched into my path, this one with more skin on its bones and some intelligence lingering in its soulless eyes. I swung at it with my dagger and severed an arm, but it had lifted its other arm already and a blast of water magic hit me in the chest.

  I was hurled off of my feet and thrown across the graveyard, crashing to the ground on my back and skidding through the mud until I smashed into a huge gravestone which knocked the air from my lungs.

  I coughed out a breath as I rolled over, but before I could get to my feet, hands burst from the soil beneath me and I yelled as I was dragged down into the dirt.

  I kicked and flailed as sharp teeth bit into my arm, ripping a chunk of flesh free as I slammed into a coffin and soil cascaded down all around me, pressing in on every side, drowning me in the dark.