Origins of an Academy Bully (Zodiac Academy, #0.5)

by Caroline Peckham

And if I wasn’t mistaken, she looked thinner than the last time I’d seen her.

She’d always been small but this was bordering on an intervention level of skinny. She shrugged off the comment and I figured I had to let it go. If this made her happy then fine, but I didn’t see why girls had to live on air to be content with their figures.

Clara glanced away, her freckled cheeks lining with colour. “All of this Pitball stuff is just dreams, Lance.”

She tugged at her sleeves, making sure they were firmly over her wrists. I frowned, picking up on the movement and tugging her sleeve back before she could stop me. A slim cut lined her wrist and anger rolled through me.

“We're not like her,”

“I am.” She finally looked back at me, her eyes suddenly as hard as stone. “And I'm going to prove that to the Acruxes tonight.”

“And try not to touch my wings when you’re climbing on,” I added. “Are they fragile?” he asked in surprise. “No. They're ticklish,” I admitted.

He didn’t balk or retreat, he only ever barrelled forward like he knew everything and anything he did was absolutely right. So if he was taking his time in replying then he must have really known that I wasn’t going to like what he was about to say.

“Your cousins. Her father is your cousin. She’s my goddamn cousin,” I spluttered.

Once a week and if the darkness calls to you, stop completely.

so together they were an unstoppable force. And the only way to beat an unstoppable force was with an immovable wall. So that was what I had to try and be.

“I'm a patient man, Lance-” Liar. “-but I have no time for idle dreams and wishy-washy ambitions. Like my son's, your destiny has already been laid out for you. You will take on the official role as Darius's Guardian and I will compensate you handsomely for it. You can't say fairer than that.”

Please no. Not this. Don't take away everything I've worked for.

Lance was staring at me like he’d never seen me before and I couldn’t stomach the pity which I found in his gaze.

“I’m bound to Lionel,” she breathed. “It’s not all bad, he cares about me, he-”

“What is it he wants in exchange for his blood?”

“I want it too I’m just...I’m afraid.”

“I have to help you, Darius,” he said forcefully. “It’s not a choice. Seeing you like that is making my brain hurt, it’s like your pain is mine and I...”

“Yeah. Your blood is like my own goddamn brand of heroin,” Lance said, his dark eyes alight with the power I’d just given him.

all I could see was her tear-stained face and the fear in her eyes before the mask concealed her features and she slipped into the movements of the ritual.

Something was coming. They were drawing something here which didn’t belong.

I didn’t know what they’d summoned from the sky. But I was filled with the most potent sense of dread as I looked upon it.

Lionel rested a hand on the base of her spine then gave her a push that sent her stumbling into the crater.

Clara's shoulders trembled but she leaned into it instead of away. My breathing became shallow as she released a soft sigh, the blood magic giving her that familiar high.

“Calm, Stella,” he growled at her. “Your daughter is pure, she will be fine.” Pure? What did that even mean?

As it spiralled above our heads and its shadow fell over me, a deep chasm of fear opened up in my chest. Something's wrong.