“Nood—”
He looked at the case. He looked at me. He looked at the case again with comical distain. Then he slid into it with all the dignity of a king being escorted by his servant, coiled himself in the center of the heated interior, and tucked his head under himself, which was his rendition of a door slam. I latched it carefully, rolling my eyes at his dramatics.
He was coming with me. That was non-negotiable and I’d had that fight with Assembly Director Calla Orion three weeks ago and won it. Noodle was my best friend, aside from Lydia and Tye, of course.
I’d been fighting the bane since I was eighteen years old with him by my side every step of the way, and I wasn’t walking into a hostile academy full of zodiac warriors who’d never seen my designation before without my black mamba, and anyone who had an issue with that could submit a complaint to the complaint department,aka, my asshole.
Director Orion had not been happy about it. I slept fine after that conversation.
My parents were coming to say goodbye. I knew they were already downstairs even before I checked my phone and found a text from my mom.
Mom: We’re outside when you’re ready, hun.
I stood there in the middle of my half-emptied apartment with my snake case in my hand and my bag over my shoulder and I let myself feel nervous for exactly one more minute. Homesickness was already setting in. I’d be back for the summer, of course, but I already knew that when I did, I wouldn’t be the same person that was standing here now.
Everyone in the zodiac world was about to learn who and what I was.
I carried my bags downstairs in two trips, and my parents were waiting on the sidewalk in the gray morning light, my mother with her dark hair that looked exactly like mine, and her warm brown eyes that used to look like mine before mine turned pale silver during my manifestation, and her arms were already open. My father stood behind her with his hands in his pockets, trying to give me space to freak the fuck out.
I walked straight into my mother’s arms without saying anything at all and she held me tight. She smelled like coffee and the same perfume she’d worn my entire life, and I stayed there for a breath too long.
“You’re going to be extraordinary,” she murmured against the top of my head.
“I’m always extraordinary,” I said dryly, because if I said anything else I was going to cry in the street at five-thirty in the morning and my dignity had enough to deal with today.
She laughed and pulled back to hold my face in both hands. Her eyes were so careful. So full of things she wasn’t letting herself say out loud. I could see them crowding up behind her expression and I appreciated that she was keeping them there.
“I love you,” she said. “Call me. Every day.”
“You’re going to regret those words, mom.” And she would. I called my mom for everything, including how much ibuprofen I could safely take before overdosing, and to please remind me of my social security number.
She shook her head, and then my dad hugged me next, keeping one hand on the back of my head and pressed a kiss to my hair and said, low enough that it was just for me, “You’re the strongest person I know, Jupe. You’ve always been the strongest person I know. These people don’t know what’s about to walk through their doors.”
The Assembly car was idling at the curb. The driver, a quiet Capricorn named Fen who’d been assigned to my transport since I was nineteen, gave me a small nod when I loaded my bags. My parents stood on the sidewalk as I climbed in, and I watched them through the window as we pulled away, my mother’s hand raised in a small wave, my father’s arm around her shoulders, both of them watching until the car turned the corner and they were gone.
I leaned back against the seat and looked up at the car ceiling and breathed.
‘Hungry,’said Noodle from his case.
“You ate last night.”
‘Hungry now.’
“I’ll get you a mouse at the academy.”
A pause.‘Fine.’
I looked out the window at the city sliding past, the early morning streets still mostly empty except for the delivery trucks and the joggers who I’d never understood or related to. The bodega cats were sitting in windows, judging everyone. I’d grown up in this city, and I was lucky the Assembly had headquarters here after my manifestation, otherwise I’d have been forced to leave for training elsewhere.
The car left Manhattan and headed north. I watched the city I loved shrink behind me and let myself be sad. Then I took a breath and I let it go, and I put on my game face like putting on armor, a straightening of the spine and a sharpening of the focus until the noise quieted and all I was left with was cold calm that had kept me alive for three years of fighting things that most people didn’t know existed.
Dominion Academy.
The Assembly had told me what to expect. A fortified campus in the Hudson Valley, built long before any colonization happened. Back when the land belonged to native tribes, who were allies to the zodiacs from the beginning. They knew we were not of this world, and they taught us everything about their home.
Twelve hundred zodiac students, ranging from eighteen to twenty-five. Four years to graduation, assuming you survived the curriculum, which was not an exaggeration. It was one of the most elite warrior training programs in the Western hemisphere. Twelve zodiac designations, each with their own dormitory, their own training sequences, their own social hierarchies.
It was my job to integrate myself, and hopefully acquire a shield team. Preferably one strong enough to withstand my unruly power. There were several prominent shield teams at Dominion, and I’d been provided with extensive backgrounds on all of them.
