“I’ll have another chance. And I’ve only been there a short time, I can learn all the spells so you can wield your magic better. That’s important too, isn’t it?” I asked, trying to keep the hint of begging out of my voice as his fingers sharpened to probes around my neck and started to dig in.
“Hm,” he grunted then yanked his hand back, curling it into a fist and driving it hard into my stomach in a winding blow instead.
I doubled over, clutching my side with a groan of pain as Alejandro backed up.
“Go,” he barked and I got into the car, trying to start it with fumbling fingers. “You’ll bring them to me soon, Diego.”
I nodded, getting the car going and tearing off down the road with panic in my chest.
What the hell was I going to do?
Holy shit, Diego had tried to spike our drinks that night so he could hand us to his psycho uncle? I felt for my sister’s presence and drew her closer as shock and anger tore through me, but then I was falling again, diving deep into another memory.
“Falling Star wants to meet,” Darcy told us and Sofia bobbed up and down in excitement.
My heart clenched as Darcy moved to walk away and my hand shot out to grab hold of her. “Wait, is this a good idea? It might not be safe.”
I didn’t know who this Falling Star person was but if they were dangerous, I couldn’t let the twins go to him. I was trying to make myself believe that that was because their deaths by any other hand than my family’s would equal my own, but it was more than that. More than I dared to admit. I was starting to like them. And as I looked to Sofia, I realised I was becoming protective of this little friendship circle we’d formed. I didn’t want things to change when they had been good for the first time in my life.
“It’s fine,” Darcy promised. “Falling Star has helped us. Why would they hurt us?”
I shared a concerned look with Sofia and Tory rolled her eyes and walked away. “It’s happening, Diego. Get over it.”
I frowned as Darcy gave me an apologetic shrug and the two of them headed off together towards the library.
“Hey Sofia – you’re looking as hot as a rainbow on a cloud, baby,” Tyler Corbin called, walking over to us with swagger in his step.
I didn’t like Tyler. Mostly because he had everything I’d ever wanted and he didn’t even care. I’d watched him shift into a Pegasus and fly with Sofia, the two of them the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. And I’d wished so hard that I could just trade lives with him and fly through the clouds with her at my side instead.
Sofia blushed and I watched her flutter her lashes at him with my throat tight. “You should go say hi,” I forced out and she arched a brow at me.
“Are you sure?” she asked and I nodded stiffly, watching as she trotted over to talk to him and they walked away towards the dance. I hated to do that, but I needed to go after the twins and make sure I wasn’t seen.
When I was certain no one was paying me any attention, I crept towards the library, slipping inside and hurrying silently through the stacks as I followed the sound of Tory and Darcy’s footsteps.
As I made it to the iron stairway at the back, I kicked off my shoes and picked them up as I ran silently up the metal steps to the wide balcony that overlooked the bookshelves below.
I hugged the shadows up there as I sought out the twins in the stacks beneath me, my heart beating a mile a minute as my gaze landed on them standing there with Professor Astrum.
“I’m sorry for not revealing myself sooner,” he said in his rasping tone and my lips parted in shock. This guy was Falling Star?
He started speaking about the Savage King and I pulled my Atlas from my pocket, angling it at them and pressing record, sure this conversation was incredibly important. And as I listened, shock rolled through me as he accused Lionel Acrux of leading the Nymphs into the Savage King’s palace to murder their parents. My uncle had been working with him for years though he never told me much about their alliance, I had to admit this guy’s suspicions sounded spot on to me. But if he was pointing fingers at our kind, what else did he know? What if he was onto me? He could have been warning the girls about me for all I knew.
But I relaxed as I realised that he was way off base when he started accusing Darius Acrux and Professor Orion of controlling our kind during the recent Nymph attacks. That had had nothing to do with them. The Nymphs were coming out of hiding more often recently because the Shadow Princess had been calling out to us louder and louder to do her bidding.