Page 4 of Fortune Academy: Year Two
Hendrik’s debt required me to drain not only a Demigod of his power, but the Alpha of Fortune Academy’s wolf pack as well, which meant getting him kicked out of his role as Alpha. Ever since he’d ended his courtship with me I hadn’t seen him again, which made any sort of agenda on my part a moot point. Wolves did a good job of hiding when they didn’t want to be found.
“Have you tried talking with Miss Williams?”
I frowned. “Pretty sure I’m on her bad side because I gave her chocolates.”
Olivia made a face. “Why would she be mad at you over receiving chocolates?”
I shrugged. “Who knows, but I doubt she’s going to approve any requests from me to get placed into one of Logan’s classes. I don’t have a good reason other than it’s for Hendrik, and she will want to stay out of clique politics.” Unless it made my life miserable, of course, then she was happy to help the Demis trap me in a classroom to be interrogated and tormented.
Olivia placed an ice cold hand over mine, forcing me to stop flipping through my textbook. I glanced up at her and hated how sunken in her cheeks were starting to be. “Just give it a try. It’s a start, and plus, you’re not making any headway with your Awakening. You had that one breakthrough with Kaito and then it all came to a screeching halt. She needs to approve your request to go off campus to try and trigger your blocked memories.”
Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.
I opened my mouth to protest, but one more look at Olivia’s hopeful face made me swallow hard. “Okay,” I said instead, “I’ll talk to Miss Williams.”
Olivia patted my hand before leaning back again. “There you go. Just don’t bring any chocolates and you’ll be fine!”
I really needed to figure out what Orion had done to those things.
I tookmy time walking the long street that ended when I reached the low golden buildings where I would find the counselors. My heart tugged when I passed Kaito’s building, sensing that he was still up in his office just waiting for me to interrupt him. I knew he’d be busy researching the prophecy that marked me as the champion of the world, along with the Virtues who would give me the power to survive. He was determined to find the key to unlocking my powers and he thought the answers would be buried in one of the testimonies from Fortune Academy’s graduates.
And I would need a lot of power. If anything, my classes had taught me that much.
The Third Echo of Calamity was on its way and all of Fortune Academy was going on lockdown. Hence why the outside world had gone on an accelerated time table while Fortune Academy delved its pocket realm deeper. Being in a pocket realm at all was a defense mechanism designed to protect the Academy from Calamity’s effects. Renee, one of the founders and a Fate Witch, saw that it would be possible to protect small pocket realms from Calamity. They weren’t going to count on a champion coming up to stop the threat. There was no telling what destruction it had in mind this time. Each Echo manifested in its own way.
The First Echo had been thwarted by Sonya, the Queen of Hell herself who had stopped a Male Muse from mind controlling the entire world. Apollo might have always been a bit crazy, but it was Calamity itself that had pushed him over the edge. Trying to figure out who had been affected and how to stop it would have taken too long. Plus, no one at the time even knew that Calamity was in full force—except for Renee. But even she wasn’t strong enough to predict what would happen.
Luckily, the universe always has a loophole. That’s why Sonya was given the choice to find her Sins, bond with them, resolve them, and stop Calamity from taking hold. She didn’t fully succeed, because the realms still crashed in on each other, but at least we didn’t all die.
The Second Echo had taken the form of a crazed Royal Covens witch named Sarina in pursuit of immortality at the detriment of the rest of the world. The witch who had stopped her, Evelyn, was also one of Fortune Academy’s founders. She’d done some pretty amazing things to overcome her foe. Time travel, spells, and general badassery.
Putting myself next to those champions made the whole idea feel ridiculous. The Queen of Hell. The leader of the Royal Covens. Then… me? It didn’t sound like I really fit in that grouping, but that’s what Kaito insisted was the case. I wouldn’t have believed him had I not felt the Virtue bond myself.
One I wanted to explore with him—but no, there wasn’t a good excuse for me to go up to his office outside of our weekly schedule. We had managed to keep our romantic involvement a secret, for now, but I would blow our cover if we were caught together on school hours just because I couldn’t keep it in my pants.
I forced myself to look away from the building and turned my back on the idea of releasing all my pent-up frustrations on my counselor, preferably on his desk while he kept his tie on.
Head out of the gutter, Lils, you can do it.
I replaced my fantasies with images of Miss Williams scowling down at me. She wasn’t unattractive, but she always wore too much makeup and mascara goop liked to form in the corner of her eye. It was enough to get me to stop thinking about all the dirty things I wanted to do to Kaito.
I found the administration building where Duds wandered hopelessly lost on the first floor while clutching Merlin’s scribbled notes to their chests. I usually told them where to find Miss Williams, but today I needed her undivided attention. They’d survive a day or two longer, and would probably thank me for it. The Awakening Trial was no picnic for newbies.
Jogging up two flights of stairs, I found Miss Williams’s door closed. I drew in a deep breath and knocked before letting myself in.
“What is it?” she asked without looking up, her shoulders hunched as she worked with a red pen. She jotted out X’s on some poor soul’s exam until the paper looked like it was bleeding.
“Hi Miss Williams, I’m sorry to bother you,” I began.
She snapped her gaze up at me, then glared. “Youarebothering me. Go away.”
Well, this was off to a great start.
I cleared my throat and tried again. “Orion told me about the chocolates. I’m sorry I gave them to you. I didn’t know he’d done something to them.”
She froze, then started lightly tapping her pen against the desk. “Those chocolates were from Orion and were meant for you?”
I nodded.
