Zodiac Academy: The Awakening(53)
“Well that’s screwed up,” Darcy muttered, rubbing her hands over her arms as if she was still trying to banish the feeling of our Professor’s embrace.
We stepped towards the waterfall and I raised my hands hopefully, trying to make the water part at my command. For a moment nothing happened then suddenly a spray of water slammed into us. I squealed in surprise, jumping back as I stopped trying to harness the magic.
The waterfall resumed its normal course and I turned to Darcy, laughing as I noticed how drenched she was.
“Well at least I’m making a habit of this,” she said ruefully. “Maybe I’ll make it my signature look.”
“It definitely makes for a change,” I agreed, swiping my wet hair back out of my eyes.
“Shall we just run through as we’re already soaked?” she suggested.
“May as well,” I agreed, offering her my hand.
She took it with a grin and we ran beneath the water together, screaming as we were doused with the freezing flow. We emerged in a cave on the other side and I released my hold on Darcy as we headed for the patch of light at the far end of it.
Professor Washer was waiting for us as we squelched out of the cave in our soaking uniforms. “Minus five points for Ignis and Aer for failing to navigate the waterfall. It’ll be the same every time you two fail to make it to my class dry. Although those transparent shirts will give the boys a thing or two to look at...”
I arched an eyebrow at him. Turned out Mr Touchy-Feely wasn’t one for genuine emotional connections. He’d taken what he wanted from us and fallen straight into pervy douchebag mode. It kinda reminded me of a few guys I’d dated who seemed great all the time that they were trying to get in my pants and then turned out to be straight-up assholes come sunrise. Note to self, no more emotional donations to Siren Dickwad.
“Are you staring at me for a reason?” he asked. “Because if you want another cuddle I’m up for it.”
“Ergh, no thanks,” I said, not bothering to hide my disgust as Darcy recoiled beside me.
Washer’s mouth fell into a thin line. “Well then, if you’re not changed and in the pool in three minutes that’ll be five more points off each.”
We hurried past him, entering a door to his left which led to the female locker room. A couple of girls were leaving as we entered and I upped my pace as I realised we were the last ones.
Once again bags hung on the hooks with our training outfits awaiting us and I quickly shed my saturated uniform for a deep blue bathing suit with the Aqua symbol emblazoned across the midriff. It had a plunging neckline which showed off way more cleavage than seemed appropriate for lessons and rode high over my hips as well as revealing a good chunk of my ass.
“Do you think the Professor chose this uniform?” Darcy asked, wrinkling her nose in disgust as she attempted to cover her chest with her hair.
“I think I’ve worn bikinis with more material,” I agreed.
“Thirty seconds!” Washer’s voice came from outside and we ran from the locker room before he could dock us any more points.
I slowed as we emerged outside. The ‘pool’ was in fact a huge area filled with crystal blue water interspersed with caves, islands, bridges and even slides. It looked like something from a luxury holiday brochure and yet seemed weirdly natural too, the banks lined with bright green plants and trees swaying around the outskirts.
Professor Washer was standing in the water, his blue scales glimmering wetly as it lapped around his shins. The freshmen were lined up along a sandy shore before him and we hurried to join them as he began to speak.
On the far side of the pool, the older students were practicing wielding their water magic and I watched them firing bursts of liquid at each other and creating shapes which danced across the surface.
Geraldine spotted us and bowed so low that her face ended up underwater. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cringe and I quickly gave my attention back to the Professor.
“Today we are going to focus on building your understanding of our Element,” Washer was saying. “In many ways, water is the most unpredictable and changeable of all the Elements. When subjected to different temperatures it can range from solid to liquid to gas and each of these forms can be used in multiple ways.” He began to explain the various ways that those forms could be put to use but my attention was snared by two figures who were scaling a cliff face at the rear of the pool.
The cliff was sheer and rocky and I couldn’t quite work out how they were managing to climb it. I nudged Darcy to point them out to her too and a slight frown pulled at her face as we watched Max and Darius make it to the top. Even from this distance I could tell that their bathing suits left as much to the imagination as ours did and the tight shorts clung to their flesh in an indecent way which gave my imagination plenty of ideas. Ideas based on a fantasy of them having decent personalities and not being utterly abhorrent.
They stood at the top of the cliff and started wrestling with each other. My heart skittered at the idea of them fighting so close to the edge and I couldn’t tear my gaze away as I waited to see what would happen.
“They’re going to fall,” Darcy breathed.
“Maybe they’ll do us a favour and hurt themselves badly enough to be forced to leave the Academy,” I joked.
As we watched, Max managed to get the upper hand, slamming his shoulder into Darius’s stomach and making him stumble back. He lost his footing on the cliff edge and fell, his arms cartwheeling and a whoop of laughter leaving his lips. He somehow managed to flip himself around so that he hit the water feet first, disappearing beneath the surface with a huge splash.