I guess the previous reincarnations in my family kept it a secret, and I got it. We lived a very public life and it would mess with the succession.Ididn’t want to be king. I was pretty sure my parents wouldn’t have forced me just because I was the reincarnation of Vlad the Impaler.
My grandparents weren’t the same way. They were ambitious and wanted to go back to the days my family had absolute power and didn’t answer to parliament. From what I understood, my family had always been like that until my father.
Whichever of my ancestors had ended up with it must have chosen to keep it a secret so they couldn’t be used. It would be impossible now, anyway. Everyone had cell phones, and I was about to stop aging. Headmaster Mykene was hundreds of years old and she only looked like she was in her thirties.
I always got the feeling my father thought I was a disappointment because I was so different from my brothers, but he seemed genuinely interested if I was happy here. My parents could handle the truth just fine, but I wasn’t sure what the future would hold for my family and anyone else who was born with the birthmark.
So, I decided to keep some things secret, but be honest about the rest.
“I’m happy here. I have friends and a girlfriend. I really like her.”
I heard my mother little out a tiny squeal. She never outright tried to set me up against my will, but I knew she wanted me to find my person.
“Will we get to meet her? Are you coming home for winter break?”
Winter break. I hadn’t even thought about it with everything else going on. Sage and Liam couldn’t go home. I didn’t think Khalid would let Sage stay and go back to Egypt to visit his family. I didn’t think I could leave her here, either, but I also didn’t think inviting everyone back to Romania was the answer. We needed to stay and figure out how to stop Lola and Radames.
“Not this winter break, but soon. I have a piece of tech in my room that I need for my studies. In the second drawer of my armoire, there’s a box labeledadapters.Just ship the whole box because I’ll probably eventually need all of them. You’ll need to ship it via theHowling Wolfcourier service as it’s the only way to get it to me here.”
“I never understood any of this computer stuff you’re into, but I admire it. You’ve always been much smarter than any of us. I’m not shocked this special school recognized your intelligence, though I can’t say I agree with the kidnapping.”
Sage squeezed me because yeah, I needed to hear that. It wasn’t that he was disappointed, he just couldn’t relate to it because he didn’t understand.
“I promise, I’ll visit soon with Sage and my close friends. Can you send the box overnight?”
“Of course. And call more, Lucian. We’ve never treated you that way because you hate it, but you’re still the baby of the family and you’re so far away.”
Yes, I would have completely loathed it, but I found I really needed to hear that. Things were definitely changing.
Lucian seemed lighter after he spoke with his parents and I was happy for him. There wasn’t much we could do without his tech and I still wasn’t all that sure what Elliot and Petros were planning. All they would tell us was that when they crashed our class, it was game on.
I tried asking Morgana, but she said they were being secretive because they were trying to impress her. She did tell me that historically speaking, when Loki was being helpful, it was dramatic and messy, but it always worked and Petros had grown up on the streets and learned to steal from the best. She had no doubts he could go up Lola’s trousers and steal herburner phone without her noticing and no, she wasn’t going to curse his dick for it because he wasn’t going to enjoy it like that.
While we waited for Lucian’s tech to come in, we were all focusing on Adrian. I just had this gut feeling he was important. We were trying to help him shift and get answers. We honestly didn’t know if he was a reincarnation like the rest of us or just another regeneration of the original phoenix.
We were also trying to help Lucian shift, too. We actually had an entire group of people out there with us now that they weren’t under Lola’s spell. The rest of my class wasexcitedabout being magical. They wanted to get familiars or shift if they could and they were doing everything they could to make that happen.
We were all meeting on the enormous field where our magical combat classes were held and they played rugby. Mazen, Ari, and Khalid were leading the extra classes on shifting. Ivar was out with his goats because honestly, he was obsessed with them and had them with him at any opportunity. My crows seemed to know when I needed them and that was when they showed up.
They seemed to enjoy the shifting lessons. Two landed on my shoulders and the other perched on tree to keep watch. They preened when I scratched their chests.
“We’ve been looking into the phoenix.”
I’d asked them to. Not just in case Adrian was the answer to ending this, but because I would imagine if I grew up thinking my parents left me in a warehouse and set it on fire, I’d like some answers once I was an adult. I might not have mastered the veil-walking part of my banshee abilities yet, but my crows could. I was also used to telepathic communication now and not blurting my questions out loud where everyone.
“Anything?”
“We found a few shades in the veil that have met one. They all said the phoenixes viewed it as a curse. Not just because theycan’t be killed but their tears can heal almost anything. People tried to capture them and torture their tears out of them for profit. They were recluses. They only ever came out at the end of their life cycle because they needed someone to care for them when they were babies.”
“So, Adrian is probably not a reincarnation, he’s a regeneration. Do you think there are other phoenixes out there in hiding?”
“We think one of them was supposed to raise Adrian and keep him safe, but something happened.”
“Adrian has the birthmark, though. It’s why he ended up here.”
“That’s a mark someone has been reborn. Reincarnations have it, but technically, a phoenix should, too.”
My conversation was interrupted when one of my classmates kind of exploded into a giant dragon and knocked everyone over. Then, they panicked, and we all had to get out of their way so we didn’t get trampled or smacked with their tail. Khalid instantly shifted and started herding Liam and me towards a tree.
