Ch. 486..490: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 486-490

Chapter 0486

“Come on, Ari," Jackson whispers next to me, even though I barely hear him, so hard am I concentrating on the paper, on the magic within me. “You can do this." But suddenly I feel his hand on my back, warm and encouraging.

I take a deep breath, trying to lean into his faith, but I have to admit my surprise when that hand drifts all the way down on my back, even lower until he grips the edge of my shirt tucked into my pants and tugs it free.

I flinch a little, turning my head to stare at him as he slips his hand covertly beneath the fabric of my shirt until his fingers brush my skin, his palm coming to rest flat against the base of my spine.

And suddenly it's there - that deep well of power - that ocean of it, at my fingertips. I gasp a little at the suddenness, glancing around the room, wondering if anyone noticed the way that Jackson is touching me now - but everyone's eyes are still on the paper -

Except for Alvez's, which are on me - which have perhaps never left me -

And suddenly I want this done, don't want Alvez having any more access to my secrets. Angry, I turn my eyes back to the ball of paper on the desk and hurl my magic at it all in one gust.

It explodes instantly into a tiny ball of flame.

Rafe, Jesse, and Tony shout in surprise, leaning quickly away from the little fireball and then bursting into yells of appreciation, telling me how awesome that was as they lean eagerly towards me. Jackson joins in, laughing a little and pulling his hand away to clap his palms together, grinning at me.

I laugh too, looking around at all of them, but when I turn back to Alvez, I find that his eyes haven't left me at all.

"Impressive, Cadet," Alvez says, clearly pleased with my progress. "Though I'd like to see more from you."

"More?" Tony asks, laughing a little and leaning forward, glancing between me and Alvez eagerly. “Honestly, what do you want him to do next - light the desk on fire!? He's done - welcome to study hall, Clark! It's good to have you here!"

Tony leans further forward towards me, holding a hand out for a high-five, and I lean forward too to smack his hand - but even when I lean so far out of my chair that I almost fall to the floor my hand just whiffs through the air, missing his by a mile.

Tony laughs good-heartedly at my tiny reach, his grey eyes crinkling up into a happy smile. I just shrug and he nods to me, letting me know that the sentiment remains the same, even if I'm too small and far away for a high-five.

"I'm not sure that study hall is my plan for the two of you," Alvez says, casually brushing the ashes of the paper off the desk and interrupting the joyous mood of the room. "I think you can do more."

"More?" Rafe asks. "You mean like, bigger fires?"

"I'm not precisely concerned about bigger," Alvez says, looking around the room. "Perhaps more complex. With less...aid." He smirks here, glancing at Jacksons big hands folded on his desk, clearly letting me know that the touch did not go missed.

I gulp a little, wondering if this was a mistake, if Alvez now knows more than I ever intended him to know about my relationship with Jackson. “What are you talking about?" Jesse says, slumping in his chair and throwing out a frustrated hand. “That was amazing – and Ari didn't have any aid.” “He had the paper," Alvez says, turning to look at Jesse. "Tell me, Sinclair, when your mother creates a storm in the sky does she have to pull it from the next valley over? Or can she conjure it - summon water into the air, create the electrical charges on the ground that call down the lightening?" “I have.....absolutely no clue," Jesse says, laughing a little and shaking his head. “I never asked."

Chapter 0487

"Well, I did," Alvez says, smirking a little at his upper hand. "She can create it."

"Your mom can make...storms?" Tony asks, a little wide-eyed, leaning over to look at Jesse.

"She can control all the weather," Jesse says casually, sending Tony a wink. "She's a badass. Plus, I always get snow on my birthday. Because I'm her favorite."

I grin, suddenly remembering all the birthdays we spent having snowball fights in Jesse's back yard even though he was born in the autumn – far too early for that sort of thing.

“Cool,” Tony says, genuinely impressed.

"If we could concentrate," Alvez says, looking around at all of us with a sigh. "What I mean to say is that Clark should not have to rely on a crutch." He concentrates specifically on me now. "You should be able to create a ball of flame in the air by itself - absent of any fuel to heat. With elemental magic like yours, you should be able to supply the heat, the fuel, the oxygen, and the spark - all yourself. Can you do that?"

I scowl a little - because honestly, I was very pleased with myself for being able to start my little pyromaniac fires just like this. This next step sounds...much more challenging. "No, sir," I say, slumping down a little in my seat. "I can't do that yet."

"Well then we still have work to do," Alvez says, giving me a sly grin. He turns his attention to Tony next. "Your magic seems to be more bodily, but how much have you experimented with it? You can breathe underwater, but does your lack of a need for oxygen extend to other airless environments? Can you survive without air?"

"And where would you suggest I go to experiment with that?" Tony asks, dry. "The moon?"

I laugh but Alvez just gives Tony a dark look that freezes my blood and makes my laugher quickly drain away. "Oh," he says. "I'm sure we can think of something.

The room is awkward and silent for a moment as Tony and Alvez stare at each other, clearly in a deadlock.

Rafe, ever the diplomat, clears his throat. "All right," he says, breaking the stalemate and turning everyones gaze to him. "What about the rest of us?" he says, gesturing towards himself and Jesse and Jackson. "What do we do while the magical prodigies experiment with their abilities?"

"We continue to work on drawing yours out," Alvez says, his eyes singularly on Jesse and Rafe now - a fact which neither Jackson nor I miss. Jesse scowls a little, I think a bit disappointed in the answer - because it certainly didn't get him anywhere last term.

"In the meantime, I will take Davis's advice and schedule individual meetings with our...magical prodigies, as you call them," Alvez continues, turning his gaze back to me. "I think a little bit of private tutoring will be very productive indeed."

I glare back at Alvez now, getting sick of his constant desire to use these lascivious looks to intimidate me. And even more sick of how well they're working.

"Maybe Tony and I should work together instead," I snap, glaring back at him. Then I turn my gaze to Tony. "What do you say, Davis? Be each other's private tutors and leave our professor free to explore his research, which I'm sure takes up a great deal of his time?"

"Sounds good to me!" Tony says, giving me a sharp nod that lets me know that he, too, has no real interest in time alone with Alvez.

"Cool!" I say, giving him a grin. "But if you want to do that, you should probably know that I'm a girl."

Everyone around me goes immediately tense at my blunt confession - Alvez maybe excepted, though I'm not looking at him right now.

Nope, instead my whole concentration is on Tony, who goes satisfying pale as he sits stark straight at his desk.

"Wait," he says, "wait, what?"

I grin, pleased that my efforts at secrecy seem to have succeeded in this class, at least.

 

Chapter 0488

 

"Ariel," Rafe sighs, slumping down in his chair and covering his face with his hand, shaking his head. "Seriously? Do you always have to be so dramatic?"

"What!" I protest, turning to stare at him. "We agreed we were going to tell him! What's the big deal?"

Rafe sighs. "The big deal is -"

"Wait, you're...you're Ariel?" Tony says, drawing my attention back to him as he stares at me with wide eyes. "Not...Ari?"

"Yeah," I say, taking off my hat and letting him see the braid of rose-gold hair arching over my head which tends to be the nail in the coffin of people's doubt. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you - but we didn't tell anyone who didn't need to know! And this semester we all agreed to let you in on the secret, because I thought you deserved to not be the only one in the classroom who didn't know."

"Um, we did not all agree," Jesse says, and when I turn to look at him I laugh a little to see him pointing vehemently at himself. "To some of us this is a surprise."

"Oh, you don't care, you just don't like being left out." I say waving a dismissive hand at him and turning back to Tony. "So, I'm Ariel Sinclair, and this is my brother Rafe, and my cousin Jesse," I say, re-making the quick introductions and giving him a happy smile.

Tony smirks a little, looking me over as he lounges back in his chair and folds his arms over his chest. “All right. So the fact that your face is identical to the Queen's makes a lot more sense now. Damn it," he murmurs, shaking his head and continuing to stare at me like he's getting used to the new concept of who I am. "I should have put it all together after I met her."

"Wait," Rafe says, leaning forward and frowning at Tony. "When did you meet mom?"

“It was —“ Tony starts, shifting his eyes to Rafe's, but Alvez interrupts.

"If we could please get back on track," he sighs, loud, apparently irritated by us. I bite my lip a little, kind of enjoying that we've irritated him. He deserves it.

Alvez blathers on a bit now, pulling out a set of textbooks that he hands out to each of us and explaining what we're going to be studying this semester. But only Rafe and Jesse listen closely, peering through their books on the theory of magic, I think eager to find anything that's going to jumpstart the powers.

I slump a little in my seat, staring at the book, wondering if I should trust it. Because honestly, after everything, my wolf is more on her toes about Alvez than she's been before. Don't like it, she grumbles to me, sniffing the air in his direction. Not right. Like the Prince from Atalaxia. Not right, not right. She shakes her fur vehemently, like she's trying to get clean.

I frown a little inwardly. Has it always been this...not right? I ask her, curious. Or is it something new?

But she just growls more, not answering, perhaps not really knowing. Still, I decide to trust her, as I've always done.

I jump a little in my seat when everyone around me begins to stand, and as I look up at the clock I realize that I've spaced out more than I thought I did.

"I'll send you a note, Miss Sinclair," Alvez says, giving me another hungry smile as he comes around the desk. "About when you should come to my office for that... private meeting."

"I thought I was going to work with Tony," I say, pointing at him as my shoulders straighten in surprise and dismay.

"I don't mind if you work with Davis," Alvez says with a shrug, packing the last of his books and paperwork into his bag. "But I do think that our sessions together will be particularly productive, Miss Sinclair. I hope you will look forward to them as much as I am.”

And then, to my shock, Alvez actually reaches out and runs a hand over my hair, gently cupping the back of my head and tugging me incrementally closer to him.

 

Chapter 0489

I gasp, and a vicious snarl instantly rips from Jackson's lips as Tony gasps in shock, but before anyone can do anything more than that Alvez is already striding out the door.

"What is with him?" Tony asks, coming to stand between Jackson and I, looking between us, appalled.

"You see it too?" Jackson asks, frowning over at Tony.

"How could I miss it? I mean, the man is a weird guy, but he's such a creep with Ari." Tony just shakes his head, his expression appalled, as Jackson and I exchange looks.

"What are you talking about?" Rafe says, coming to stand with our little group, Jesse following close behind. "Who's a creep with Ari?"

The three of us just turn to stare at him like he's crazy because...I mean, how can he have missed that?

"Whatever, I've got to get to a study meetup," Tony says, hoisting his pack on his shoulder and looking briefly towards the door before looking back at me. "Thanks for letting me in on the secret. I won't tell anyone."

"Well, thanks in turn for that," I say to Tony, brushing off Alvez's creepy moment in my eagerness to speak to Tony while we have him. "Why don't you come by for dinner tonight? We all get together in our room and -"

"Ariel," Rafe sighs, again running his hand down the length of his face. "I'm sure that Tony already has dinner plans -"

I gape at my brother. "That doesn't mean that we can't invite him, Rafe -"

"No, it's cool," Tony says, interrupting and grinning between us. "I actually do have dinner plans. Thanks, man," he says, looking into Rafe's eyes, "for not assuming that I'm just sitting around with clasped hands, waiting for a dinner invite from the royals."

Rafe blushes a little, I think embarrassed by what Tony is clearly interpreting as his inhospitability, but before he can say anything Tony turns back to

me.

"Maybe some other time, Ari," he says, flashing me a grin. "We should meet up, though! About the magic!"

"Definitely!" I call after him as he heads for the door, waving over his shoulder at the group of us still left in the room. "I'll send you my schedule!" "What are you doing, Ari?" Rafe groans, clearly frustrated with me, though I have no idea why.

“What is the big deal!?" I ask, tossing my hands out to the side. "Tony's in the group now! Why can't he come to dinner!?"

"Tony is not part of the group," Rafe growls, bringing his head up to level a glare at me. "Just because he knows one secret does not make him privy to all the others."

"What others!?" I ask, baffled.

"Your mate situation, for one," Rafe says, gesturing vehemently to Jacks, who just stands stoic, his arms crossed. "Not to mention matters of national security! We have no idea who Tony really is - he could be a spy!"

"Oh, he's not a spy," I sigh, grabbing my books and starting to shove them in my bag.

"How do you know that, Ariel?" Jesse asks, looking at me curiously.

"I just know," I say, rolling my eyes and glaring between my brother and my cousin. "I just have a good feeling about him, okay! And quite frankly, right now I'm much more willing to trust my and Jackson's instincts about people over yours."

Jesse presses an offended hand to his chest. "What does that mean?"

I sigh, glancing at the clock, knowing I've got to meet Blaze in a matter of minutes. "Can we talk about it tonight? I've got more classes." I look up at Jackson. "Want to walk me and play bodyguard?" I give him a broad grin.

"Always," Jackson says, giving me a smirk and putting his hand again on my lower back as he escorts me towards the door.

"This isn't over, Ariel!" Rafe calls after me, still kind of pissed.

"It never is, Rafe!" I call back, flashing him a grin over my shoulder as Jackson and I head down the hall.

 

Chapter 0490

Ariel doesn't come up once the dinner is served and Rafe scowls at her portion, growing cold on its plate.

God damn sisters. Why does she have to be so...willful, always pushing forward on her instincts, blurting things out or taking insane actions just because it "feels" right?

And what even is going on with her sudden complete trust of Tony? What the hell -

Inwardly, his wolf pauses Rafe's train of thoughts by giving his heart a lazy nudge with his snout. She's very rarely wrong, his wolf says, taking a deep, calm breath and letting his eyes drift shut. Just like mom. Stop getting so worked up about it and just trust her.

Even though he knows his wolf is right - that he should just trust Ariel and calm down - Rafe grits his teeth against this advice. Because...she's his little sister. If anything ever happened to her...

But he shakes the thought away, dismissing it, knowing it's not useful.

It just...it makes it so hard to protect her when Ariel's so chaotic - just flying by the seat of her pants. It was one thing last semester when Ari stuck close to him and Jesse, when they were able to take her under their wing a bit and make sure that she was safe. But now that she's getting more independence? In her own classes, with her own tutors - one of which an insane woman, at that – walking around the castle by herself?

Rafe exhales a deep sigh through his teeth, letting his head fall back against the chair.

"You all right, man?" Ben asks, looking at Rafe a little askance from his place on the couch as he works on some notes for a speech he has to give in a few days.

"What?" Rafe asks, opening his eyes, his word snappier than he means it to be.

“Oh, nothing,” Ben says, looking at him levelly. "I just noticed that you were grinding your teeth so hard that they might just crack. Or be worn down into a find sand. Not very useful, for a wolf."

Rafe stares at his friend for a second before huffing a laugh and dropping his forehead into his hand. "Am I that obvious?"

"Not to all. I am just...exceptionally perceptive and attuned to your every mood," Ben murmurs, smirking and turning back to his notebook.

Rafe laughs at this too, shaking his head, looking over at where Jesse and Luca are sitting on the floor with some books spread around them, Jesse teaching Luca some methods for using multiple sources in one research paper.

"Seriously, what's bugging you?" Ben murmurs, curious enough to invite conversation but passive enough to be brushed away if Rafe isn't in the mood for it. Rafe smiles a little, glancing over at Ben, appreciating again just how good he is at social situations.

"Just...worried about Ariel," Rafe replies on a sigh.

“Ah, your favorite hobby," Ben says, lifting his head. "She's good, Rafe. Seriously. You need to... let go a little bit. Relax. Try to calm down and concentrate instead of worrying about the thousand ways she could get murdered in the halls of this castle."

"You've only counted a thousand?" Rafe asks, dry, raising an eyebrow. "I'm up to twenty-five hundred."

Ben laughs and shakes his head, turning his attention back to the books. "You need to let off some steam, your highness," he murmurs. "Before you tear that armchair to pieces, the way you're clutching it."

Rafe looks down at his hands and sighs again when he sees that he is digging his fingers into the chair - way too tense after such a long day. And then, suddenly, he realizes that Ben is totally right.

That he does need to relax and take his mind off of things, and there is certainly one thing he'd rather be doing than sitting around worrying about his sister.

Rafe suddenly stands, grabbing Ariel's plate off the table and striding for the door with it in his hand.

“Wha-! Where are you going!?" Jesse's face is shocked as he calls after his cousin.

"I'll be back later," Rafe calls over his shoulder, not bothering to answer. "Don't wait up."

As the door slams behind him, Jesse's face falls, his skin going a little ashen.

Because he's well aware that there's only one place that Rafe's likely to be heading at this hour, and it's not to the gym where Ariel is training with her new combat instructor.

The room is quiet for a long moment.

“Come on, man," Luca says, his voice kind and a little pitying as he reaches out and pats Jesse on the back. "Just...pay attention to this. You were really helping me."

Jesse scowls and takes a deep breath, glancing once into Luca's face before nodding and turning back to their studies. Downstairs in the bowls of the castle, Daphne tentatively peeks out of her door after hearing three smart raps on it.