Zodiac Academy: The Awakening(13)
Home was where my ass landed. But I was glad to find that that was here for now.
I glanced down at my feet and paused as I realised that the ground which I’d thought was decorated with tiles was actually carved stone. It was as if someone had spent years etching spirals and images into a giant slab of rock; the length of time it would have taken to do such a thing blew my mind.
Before I could take another step, a hand clamped around my elbow and I turned to look at the owner of it with a frown. The woman was tall, with long black hair twisted into a bun on the back of her head and her skin pale and glimmering like starlight. Her gaze roamed over my sister and I hungrily as she drank in every detail on display and I found myself wishing I’d opted to change out of the low-cut red vest. After seeing the rest of the students it was abundantly clear that this was supposed to be a dressy affair and my efforts at biker girl on a night out weren’t really meeting the bar. Then again, I’d started this night with the sole intention of stealing a motorcycle, not joining a mystical species in a realm I never knew existed… Even thinking that made my brain wrestle against the reality of this situation once more.
“I’m Principal Nova, your guiding star here at Zodiac Academy,” she said warmly. “I hear we have two things to celebrate with you both tonight.”
“You do?” Darcy asked, glancing at me with a small shrug.
“Of course!” Nova gasped. “When Orion informed me that the girls he’d been tracking were indeed the lost Vega Twins I couldn’t have been more delighted to welcome you back into the fold and return you to your people! But to then discover that the two of you hold all four Elements within your grasp... it’s unheard of. Your return will be the talk of the entire Fae population, not just the school. Your every move will be watched and assessed as we all clamour to find out if you can truly reclaim the throne and-”
“Throne?” Darcy squeaked.
“Yes, didn’t Professor Orion explain your heritage to you?” Principal Nova asked, looking around as if she hoped to spot the man in question.
I glanced over my shoulder and noticed him slipping away through the crowd as if he’d overheard her and didn’t want to be caught.
“He just broke into our apartment and forced us to come here,” I said.
“He told us our parents weren’t who we thought they were,” Darcy added. “And that we had to come here to claim our inheritance.”
“That’s… a very brief overview,” Nova said, her lips pressing to a firm line that told me she wasn’t pleased with Orion. “Your parents were the last King and Queen of Solaria, you return here as joint Heirs to the throne.”
My lips parted but no words came out. I caught Darcy’s eye, almost laughed then looked back at Nova and found I couldn’t actually come up with a response at all.
“You mean we’re like… princesses?” Darcy asked and the disbelief in her tone was punctuated by my scoff of laughter.
“Well, yes. Which is why you've caused quite a stir. Since the demise of your mother and father, the four Celestial families have held the power of the throne between them equally. They had intended to keep hold of that power with their own Heirs in the knowledge that the royal line had fallen. But with your return, everything could be about to change once more.”
Nova seemed excited by that idea as her eyes whipped between Darcy and me but in my head all I could think was hell no. We didn’t know the first thing about this place, let alone the family we’d supposedly been born into. How could she be standing there like Prince Charming with a glass slipper expecting us to shove our feet straight in?
“I really don’t think-” I began but Nova cut me off.
“Of course, the throne won't just be handed to you. You will have to graduate from the Academy and prove your worth before that could ever happen. And you’ll soon learn that Fae have to claim their own power if they want it. You have a lot of catching up to do if you want to reclaim the throne from the Celestial Heirs.”
I stared at her in a weird non-blinking way for several seconds too long before my mind snagged on the one part of her announcement that my brain could process with ease.
“So if our parents were royal, does that mean they left us a load of crown jewels and a castle in their will?” I asked.
Darcy’s eyes twinkled at the idea of that and a smile hooked the corner of my mouth.
Nova tittered a laugh. “Well of course your inheritance is quite sizeable - presuming you graduate and become eligible to claim it. And in the meantime you can acquaint yourselves with everything you will need to know to live up to your birthrights. And of course there will be interviews and exclusives, I’ve even heard talk of a documentary being made to detail your return and-”
“We don’t want any attention like that,” I said firmly, not knowing what the hell she was going on about and not really wanting to either. “We’re here because that Orion dude said we had to come to claim our inheritance. That’s it.” I didn’t mention the fact that since my magic had been Awakened I’d begun to think coming to this school could give me so much more than just money because it didn’t matter. Whatever way I looked at it, I knew neither my sister or I would want the kind of attention she was suggesting.
The Principal’s eyes widened in surprise but she covered it with the kind of fake-ass smile which wasn’t really a smile at all but held something much more calculated in check.