Ivar was having a conversation with a shade while snuggling with Ari and Alexios. Iman was with them. She still hadn’t changed back from a cat and seemed to enjoy them spoiling her.They saw us leaving the bonfire and jumped up to join us. Ivar scooped Iman up and draped her over his shoulders.
“So, I just met the ghost of Odin. He told us who is actually doing this. He was going to bully the other shades into clearing our name, but they agreed to keep it secret because right now they don’t knowweknow. Lola is our best bet at finding who Apep is.”
“I met my birth father and found out the man who raised me murdered him. He also told us it was Apep. We’re trying to find Headmaster Mykene and Professor Gefn to tell them.”
Khalid started chattering again, and we really needed to figure out how to change him back. Liam was the only person who could understand him.
“Khalid says they already know. Professor Gefn knows more about the veil than we do. He’s surprised she didn’t already get the answer.”
“Didn’t she say the veil is vast and not everyone wants to talk?” I asked.
“Mate, just think it without the noises. It sounds like that time this girl at the hostel was a screamer, but made really fucked up noises.”
Khalid growled and nipped at Liam’s leg. Lucian started laughing when Khalid bit him and Liam flipped him off.
“Khalid said you are right. He just remembered she’s been trying to find someone willing to talk, but some of the people who were dead didn’t know about Harami or Hemlock in their previous life because it was kept such a secret and others didn’t know Apep was banished to Fairy to become Harami. She said once you figure out how to get to the veil, it’s like breathing, but locating shades with the right information is complicated.”
“Where do you think they are?” I asked.
“I know where Freya would be if the end of autumn festival falls on a full moon, and she’d probably stab you ifyou interrupted, but Professor Gefn might be with Headmaster Mykene waiting for a shade to help,” Ivar chuckled.
“They have the school app on their phones, so I can track their GPS. They are away from the main bonfires and built their own near the fairy gardens,” Lucian said.
“Mate, I think Headmaster Mykene is fine with you slithering electronically into other people’s devices because your intentions are good, but she might have her bird bite you again if you’re peeping on hers.”
I mean, yeah, probably. Something told me when the reincarnation of Athena wanted revenge, it was going to put what they did to Blaize to shame. But I also thought she’d understand if he was just using her GPS so we could share theories.
The academy grounds were pretty vast, and none of us could portal. Morgana quickly became one of my best friends here, but we weren’t joined at the hip. This was an important night for witches, and she was off with her people. Saffron was another good friend, and she was with the fairies. They didn’t call it Samhain, but they had their own end of Autumn celebration. The majority of the various cultures here did.
So, we had to walk, which I didn’t usually have a problem with. Most everyone was gathered around the bonfire, but I guess the full moon was also driving people a little crazy. Some of the shifters had the zoomies, which would have been adorable if it was one of Liam’s corgis, but shifters were bigger than their animal counterparts.
Khalid seemed to be fighting the call of the moon while stuck as a jackal, but the rest of them practically mowed over us. Khalid was growling and snarling at them.
“He doesn’t want my help, but running under the full moon would burn off some of the adrenaline that’s keeping him stuck like that,” Mazen said.
It was an excellent suggestion. Mazen was fully on our side after what Lola tried to do to Liam. We knew she was trying to baby-trap Mazen to keep him on their side because Mazen was immune to Apep’s gaze. Khalid hadn’t come around yet, and I wasn’t sure how much of that was him being stuck as a jackal or him judging Mazen by a past that wasn’t his. Khalid just bared his teeth.
“He hears you, but Khalid claimed Sage as his mate. He’s up in his feelings and won’t leave her side, even if it helps him,” Liam said.
“Seriously? Because we could actually use your brilliant mind more than your brawn right now,” I said.
Mazen seemed to know a lot about Egyptian gods, but I’d bet if we combined his knowledge with Khalid's, we’d be pretty close to something.
“I think he’s all brawn right now,” Lucian said.
“We’re still us when we shift, but our animal instincts are stronger,” Mazen said. “Lola wasn’t my mate, but I thought I needed to protect her. That’s why I kept having those uncontrollable shifts and had to figure all of this out. It’s harder when you think your animal needs to protect someone. Running would help, but I get why he won’t leave Sage.”
We were getting closer to the fairy gardens, and I could see a smaller bonfire up ahead. We picked up our pace and found several of our professors around that bonfire with Headmaster Mykene. They seemed utterly shocked to see us.
“A full moon, a festival, a bonfire, and plenty of orgies, and the Horned God is here instead of there?” Professor Gefn asked with an eyebrow raised.
“I think I’m into private orgies instead of the public ones in this life. I don’t want anyone checking out my girl. And the ghost of Sage’s Da showed up and said he and my Nana have been creeping on my private moments like any fornication thathappens outside our dorm rooms and getting my sack waxed. My Nana used to chase me with a wooden spoon and tell me to put my cock away, so it’s a sign of respect, see?”
“Your father showed up?” Headmaster Mykene asked.
“Yes. Blue Matthews murdered him. He was passing a message from some of the reincarnations that we’re dealing with Apep and no one in the Veil knows how to kill him.”
“Yes, we were visited by the shade of Ra. It’s a little strange Apep is back and so many of the Egyptian pantheon and not Ra. He said they killed Apep several times and he never stayed dead. That was why they sent him to a different realm. They wanted to trap him there until his life cycle ended. None of them knew they’d be getting reincarnated and Apep would return.”
