That was part of what was preventing me from sleeping. That and my lack of a pillow and Liam’s cold feet. They said it was very rare for one of us to come out of the pool awake. I didn’t think it would happen to two people at the same time.
“Apep could be older and helped Lola remember everything. They might have even started figuring everything out before they got kidnapped and have been searching for their Hemlock. They get kidnapped and end up in a place where other reincarnationsare or wind up, hears Headmaster Mykene’s speech, and decides to bide their time.
“I don’t understand most of these cosmic connections. Liam and Sage have one, and he felt it while they were still at that hostel in Amsterdam. I’m not quite sure why he wasn’t as obnoxious about it in Amsterdam as he is here, but Sage feels it now that she’s around him. She felt it when Lola was trying to hurt him. It stands to reason Apep would be able to feel when his Hemlock was back.”
“We never saw Lola around anyone else,” Khalid said. “I have no idea why she asked to be on Ivar’s team initially, but maybe she just snuck out of the tent to piss and Apep found her. No one seems to know what all the void beings are capable of doing. It could have forced Lola to remember. Apep would have had time waiting for his Hemlock to appear.
“Why do you think Apep was awake before they got here? Professor Kane has done extensive research on the pools. She said it’s impossible to accidentally find one if you don’t have magic. All the other professors agree with her.”
“Becauseyou’rehere. I’m not sure if they would have brought you here since you were going to Oxford anyway, but Egypt has a school for magical creatures and reincarnations. It’s been closed for a few years for renovations. Headmaster Mykene says this castle looks like ruins to any human who might end up in the village nearby.
“I’m guessing they do everywhere else, too, but Egypt is going to have a lot of foot traffic because of the renovations. And no trespassing signs are like the ‘don’t take selfies with buffalos’ signs in America. Someone sees it and thinks they are the exception. The construction crew is going to check out when their work is done. I’m not sure how many people would be there to make sure a curious person didn’t decide to explore the ruins with clear tire tracks.”
“Holy shit, you’re right. We need to find out what kind of security they have.”
A soft, sleepy voice called both of our names from the bed, and we zeroed in on Sage. We’d get back in bed if she wanted, or we could go to breakfast. I really needed blood.
I planned on biting Liam for the feet and pillow thing.
We were planning on taking our breakfast to go and talking theory with our professors. Khalid was eating just as much as Liam now that he’d shifted for the first time, and Mazen was with us now. I was in line at the fairy buffet when Adrian just cut in front of everyone and got in behind me. He flipped everyone off when they cursed him out for cutting.
Yeah, he was definitely not the reincarnation of Jesus.
“So, hey, pretty girl. Fun fact. My dorm room is right next to your boy toy’s room. I was having alotof fun with about twoSuccubae and three witches when we heard a commotion going down because the resident Queen Bee has some consent issues. She tried to hop on all ofthis,too, but I’m not a cheater and I don’t mess with taken women. I like Mazen and I’m trying to convince him to join the rugby team. I want in on whatever it is you’re doing.”
“Um, do you even know who you were? Because it definitely wasn’t Jesus.”
“Can I tell you a secret, love? I honestly don’t know who the fuck I was, but the nuns at the orphanage would spontaneously combust if IwasJesus, so it’s just a little bit of fun.”
“What do you actually want, Adrian?”
Because I still had no idea. Adrian honestly confused me. I felt like I shouldn’t like him because he didn’t take anything seriously and he was always hitting on someone. But he seemed to treat the women he was with well and have standards. We could use all the allies we could get, but did Adrian actually want to get dragged into this?
“Everyone says if anyone is going to stop whoever is hurting students, it’s you. I never really thought Ivar, Ari, and Alexios did anything bad. I want to help. I don’t know who I was, just that sometimes, I get really hot. So, I’m either the ancient God of Hot Flashes or I’ve got some kind of fire power.”
“It’s messy. You could die and you’d have to take an oath to keep some secrets or you’ll have some angry fairies after you.”
“Seelie, Unseelie, Dryad, or Water Sprite? Because I get along with all of them.”
“I’m talking about their Elders who are both smart and deadly.”
Adrian just shrugged.
“Listen, I don’t care. All of this is neat, and we should be enjoying it. We shouldn’t be worrying about our friends dying ordisappearing. And it just so happens I’ve made a lot of friends since I got here.”
Adriandidseem to have a lot of friends. And the people who weren’t his friends seemed to want to be. I just had the feeling I could trust Adrian, and he was going to be helpful. Even if it was just the fact that he was so likeable, he could probably charm secrets out of anyone, I could justfeelthat we needed Adrian.
I was just going to have to convinceeveryonewas that it wasn’tthatkind of feeling about the Playboy of Ouroboros Academy.
Ireally needed to learn to voice my gut feeling better and not worry no one was going to believe me. None of us really knew Adrian. It had crossed my mind when he showed up and asked to join us that he could have a very tiny sliver of Egyptian heritage. He could have been Apep trying to figure out what we were going to do to Lola for what she tried to do to Liam.
I just didn’tfeelthat Adrian was the reincarnation of Apep. There wasn’t a single thing about him that screamed void creature. Adrian just oozed life.
And I didn’t even have to explain myself. I showed up with someone we barely knew, and they would have had the samethought process I did. We had no idea who the fuck Apep was. It could be literally anyone because my father was Irish but my ancestry from my mother came from several different countries. I still ended up the Morrigan. Apep could be anyone.
“Mate, welcome to the team,” Liam said, clapping Adrian on the back. “Sage is ours. If she decides you’re part of the group, that’s one thing, but if you try to worm your way into her bed and she’s not feeling it, I’ll gut you in your sleep.”
Adrian wasn’t even fazed. He just grinned at Liam like Liam didn’t cut people’s cocks off, wrap them in bows, and leave them as presents.
