Zodiac Academy: The Awakening(63)

He moved out of the clearing and I slipped from my hiding place, watching as he reached the path. Instead of turning left and heading back towards Ignis House, he turned right and set off at a fast pace.

I crept onto the path behind him, watching his silhouette slip away between the trees. Why had he lied to his friends about what he was doing? And who had he been talking to if it wasn’t one of them? If there really was a chance that he was plotting something against me and my sister then I needed to find out what it was. But if he caught me following him then God only knew what he’d do to me.

I hesitated and he moved around a bend, slipping out of view. I made a snap decision which I hoped I wouldn’t regret and hurried after him.

I’d been stealing bikes since I was fifteen and one thing I knew how to do better than anything else was move silently and stay hidden in the shadows.

I adopted a careful jog to catch up to him, following the path as he strolled away from me. His long stride and obvious desire to get to his destination meant that he was moving quickly but he also wasn’t making any attempt to check for possible tails. Rookie mistake. Rule number one where I came from: always make sure no one is on your ass. Be it a cop or another thief hoping to cash in on your hard work, you can never be too careful about watching your back.

I crept closer, slipping into the cover of the trees once I made it within a few meters of him. I was too exposed on the path should he look back and I had zero interest in incurring the wrath of Darius Acrux.

I’d never been on this side of the campus and had no idea where we were. We were deep into Earth Territory but I couldn’t see anything other than trees. It occurred to me that without my Atlas and no other souls in sight I could easily end up lost again in these woods tonight.

I shoved that thought aside and firmly forced it from my thoughts.

It’s a bit late to consider that now, Tory.

When he made it to the edge of The Wailing Wood, he hesitated before a wide clearing and I shifted through the trees to try and get a look at what was out there. Darius straightened suddenly, turning to look back into the trees and I flattened myself to a hulking trunk as his gaze swept over my hiding place.

My heart raced but I kept my breaths even. This was where holding my nerve would count the most. When you knew someone had caught on to you your body would always try and urge you into action but the only solution to this situation was complete and utter inaction.

I froze and my magic coiled within me like a living thing as he tried to spot me in the dark. He may have felt my eyes on him but there was no way for him to be sure. Nine times out of ten this was when the mark would dismiss their bad feeling as paranoia and carry on. It was the one out of ten I worried about. Someone with the right instincts would catch me. But I had the feeling that Darius was just arrogant enough to believe that no one would dare to follow him like I was.

But then I’d never been the kind to let fear rule me. Was I afraid? Hell yes. Would I turn back? Hell no.

Darius turned away from the trees and headed out into the clearing beyond. I shifted closer slowly, darting from trunk to trunk and using the deep shadows to hide me.

He crossed a clearing and approached a gated complex of apartments with a wide swimming pool in front of them. A sign had been thrust into the grass a few meters from the edge of the trees and I squinted to read it in the moonlight.



Asteroid Place.

Faculty Accommodation Only.

Strictly no students at any time.

Failure to comply with this rule will result in serious consequences.



My interest piqued as Darius cut through the distance to the complex before heading off around the right hand side of the wrought iron fencing. Whatever he was doing it was shady as shit and it looked like it involved a teacher.

My mind snagged on Professor Prestos in her perfectly presented glory and I wondered if I’d just followed him all the way out here for the sake of some sordid affair. She was definitely attractive enough and if any student was going to catch a teacher’s eye it would be Darius Acrux with his unnaturally rugged run-your-hands-all-over-me perfection. Not that I’d noticed.

But as I thought back to the conversation I’d overheard, I knew that that wasn’t right. Whoever he was here to meet didn’t really want to see him. And their business didn’t sound like fun.

I glanced up at the moon, wishing it would take a break from its position in the clear sky above me then darted out into the clearing. I raced to the fence and hurried after Darius as the soft grass bent beneath my feet, muffling my approach.

I kept going, wondering how he planned to get inside the complex before finding out as I reached a patch of the thick fencing which had been melted to create a hole more than wide enough to admit me.

Subtle, Darius.

I slipped inside, carefully avoiding the melted iron which still glowed red with the heat he’d created to destroy it.

For a moment I stalled, unsure of where to go then the sound of angry voices drew me between the houses to my right and around the back of them.

As I drew close, I forced myself to slow, pressing my back to a cold, stone wall as I slid down a narrow alley and took cover behind a low hedge.

“-I told you not to come here!” Orion snarled as he stepped right up into Darius’s face and snatched hold of his grey t-shirt, bunching the expensive fabric in his fist. “If someone were to see you-”

“I think you’re forgetting who you’re talking to, sir,” Darius snarled, shoving Orion’s chest so hard that he stumbled back a step and was forced to release him.