Yeah, I didn’t know if Ivar was gay or just bisexual, but he was definitely into the Unseelie leader and he was eating up the attention. Ari was mute, but had a very expressive face. He looked like showing up to a crime scene and flirting with some guy was just something Ivar did all the time.
“They might not know that,” Lucian said. “Because I didn’t know I could mind rape people. I don’t want to learn, either. It’s disgusting.”
“We call it awake when one of you comes into your full power. It’s different for everyone, but a lot of you get a big rushof power when you figure out who you were in your original life and then you have to be taught how to harness it. Some of you figure it and it trickles in. It depends on what kind of magic you have.”
I got that, sort of. Lucian got all his magic as soon as he bit Liam and drank his blood. He just needed to learn how to use it. Khalid knew who he was as soon as he saw the jackal and Ivar knew he was Thor when he saw the lightning and hammer. I couldn’t speak for Ivar, but Khalid was getting trickles and figuring things out.
“There’s got to be a trigger, yeah?” Liam said. “Three people here know who they were, but a certain git had to bite me to get his super powers. I know the fairies are about to throw some Vlad shade and I’d join in because insulting Lucian is my kink, but Lucian is a prat, not a psychopath. Someone found their trigger and is awake. They’ve made a very violent friend and we need to get thefuckout of these trials.”
“Cool, lil buddy. We’ve all thought of that.Noneof us can leave. Well, you can if you want to get chucked out on the street with no training or resourcesknowingsomeone bad was out here with you. The fates recycled you into a new life for a reason. The rest of us are training for various things, but also to backyouup when the shit hits the fan.
“There are some pretty major things none of us learn until our senior year. Most of them are magical. Everyone knows we won’t graduate if we get a zero on this portion, so we get sent home without learning them. We’re stuck here.”
“Then we should work together,” I said. “Safety in numbers. I get you’re being graded on this, but the rules have changed, and we weren’t told we couldn’t work with other people. We weren’t givenanyrules. We just had to get the crystals in the time they allotted us.”
“Saffron said the traps in the last quadrant were done by Seelie and witches. Could you leave more like that and we could all form a large group?” Lucian asked.
“Saffron always was a bleeding heart. I get her helping that one, but our help would have stopped as long as you were with Vlad,” the Unseelie said, pointing at me.
“Lucian.His name is Lucian,” Liam said. “My nana told melotsof stories about the fair folk and none of them were really all that good. Would you like it if I kept talking about how you steal human babies and swap them out with changelings? Becausesomehowthat rumor got started and passed down enough that my Nana told it to me. There were a lot of other baby-stealing stories associated with the fae that probably came from somewhere.
“So, give him shit for being a rich ponce who thinks he’s smarter than everyone else. Give him a hard time because he ate all our fucking food and keeps snuggling Sage in his sleep. But the ‘Vlad’ shitestops.I know a violent person when I meet them. We can smell our own. Lucian isn’t violent. I am. So, knock that shite off.”
We all stood there in shock. Lucian and Liam hated each other, but I guess Liam only wanted Lucian insulted for the things he thought he deserved. I didn’t think Lucian deserved to be poked for the things Liam hated, but he definitely didn’t deserve the venom he was getting from the Unseelie for something he did in another life.
“That’s fair. I’m Zephyr. We’ll need some time to lay the traps and then we’ll work with you. You’re responsible forLucian.”
Lucian just sighed.
“I’ve been self reliant since I was six. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Let’s just do it,” Khalid said. “The fairies can open portals, so we can get to the quadrants quicker. The sooner we get the crystals, the sooner we’re not sitting ducks.”
Yes, that. I hadn’t felt it since, but what I felt before was sheer evil.
We’d formed a bigger group, but not really. We still kept to our teams. I didn’t think the Unseelie would ever give Lucian a chance, and we needed a lot more information before we got close to Ivar and his team.
And it was so fucked up. No one had accused Lucian of beating the shit out of them. The Unseelie had ruled him out themselves for hurting Star. They still wanted nothing to do with him, but Zephyr and two of the Unseelie were fawning over Ivar, Ari, and Alexios, the one with the migraine.
“I’m trying to hate them, but they are all walking ‘book boyfriend’ tropes and they don’t seem like the type to beat the shite out of a girl,” Liam grumped.
“I don’t think they did it,” Lucian said. “Lola might be a blind spot, but they aren’t. I can scent Ari and Ivar all over each other like they are together and Alexios to an extent because they are sharing a tent. I wouldn’t be able to scent Lola on them, but there’s no soap out here. Even if they found water to wash in, they wouldn’t be able to get off everything. Her blood doesn’t have a scent, either, but I’d pick upsomething.”
“Wait!” I yelled, jumping up.
Everyone looked startled, but I realized something major and it might be a clue.
“Liam and I didn’t really know each other, but we were staying at the same hostel, so wecouldhave. Ivar and Ari are childhood friends. Someone else here could have known each other from before. Think about it. If you’re awakened and you know you’re this big, bad evil, we went straight from the pool through the portal.
“We might have new abilities, but we’re all the same people we were before. If someone woke up and decided to use their magic for evil, then they were probably not all that great before they got kidnapped. They wouldn’t know someone would be open to working with them unless they knew them before. That’s not really a conversation you can have with a stranger.”
“That makes sense,” Lucian said.
“Ari and I knew each other, but again, this wasn’t us. If your phones have a charge, you can look us up. What other people say about us might tell you what you won’t believe when we say it.”
“And my migraine is so bad, I’m barely sleeping. I woke up when Lola was leaving the tent. She said she was taking a piss, so I didn’t follow. I woke everyone up to look for her when she took too long coming back. Honestly, we thought she ditched usto get the crystal on her own. She asked to be on our team, but she seemed to have a problem with gay men.”
“Listen, it’s perfectly acceptable to beat the shite out of a homophobe if it’s a bloke, but when it’s a lass, you have to ruin her life and not lay a finger on her. That’s the rules. Sorry,” Liam said.
