Ch. 561..565: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 561-565

Chapter 0561

Jackson growls a little, not very pleased at the idea, but then turns to Tony with his hand out.

"Sorry," Tony says, looking cheerfully down at Jackson's hand. "As nice as it would be to hold your hand, Jacks, what's...what's happening?"

"I can give Ariel my energy," Jackson says, bland. "Through our bond. She can pass energy to her brother and cousin through their bond."

"They...have a bond?" Tony asks, peering around Jackson curiously.

"They have since they were babies," mom says, sighing happily, I think at some memory.

"Weird," Tony says, but he lifts his own hand and smacks his palm satisfyingly into Jacksons. Then, Jackson closes his eyes as he always does and, I think, tries to pass the energy.

We all wait. Tony looks around at all of us.

Nothing happens.

"See?" Jackson says, taking his hand away from Tony after a minute and looking back at me. "It only works with you, because of our mating bond." We try more formulations after that, seeing if Jackson can pass energy to my mom or to Cora, and then if I can pass energy to mom, Cora, or Tony as the intermediary, like how I can with Rafe and Jesse.

Nothing works.

"I wonder if it would work with Luca," mom says, turning her head to the side. Jackson stiffens at the idea.

"An experiment for another time," Cora says smoothly, I think sensing that Jackson is a bit at the end of his patience with the experiments. "Now, your turn, sweetheart," she says, turning a smile on Jesse.

"To begin, I wish not to be called pet names in front of my peers," Jesse says, holding up one finger. His mom's smile just deepens as she makes no promises. "And two...do I have to?" He grimaces and I can tell, in that, that he's a bit afraid.

"I think...you should, Jess," Cora says quietly. "You have to experiment with it sometime."

"It's...weird though," Jesse says, shuddering a little at the thought of it.

My heart goes out to him because honestly I love my gift - love playing with it, experimenting with it, which I do pretty much every night as I light the fire in our little room. If I had a gift I didn't like? God, but that would be difficult to deal with.

"Plus," Jesse says, looking towards his roommates, "I kind of...lost control last time."

"It's okay," Jackson says, turning towards him and nodding his encouragement. "We'll help you again, if you need it. But I don't think

you'll need me this time. I think

you've got this."

"This time?" Tony asks, frowning over at Jesse. "But I thought last time your shadows came out...it happened when you were sleeping."

“So?" Jesse asks, turning to Tony, confused.

“So, Jackson helped you?” Tony asks, his nose wrinkling as he tries to put the pieces together. "Why was he there?"

We all go...a very little bit quiet as I whip my head to Tony, a scowl on my face as I glare at him.

His lips form a very careful "o" as he glances towards me and my mom, who is very studiously studying the ceiling, pretending she hasn't already put this together.

"Moving on," Cora says, far too

et

casually, turning her amused smite on Jesse. “Jess, if you don't want to, you don't have to. But...I'd love to see you try."

Jesse sighs and looks up at his mom, shaking his head a bit as if wondering how he's supposed to say no to that. She grins at him and he takes a deep breath before glancing again at Jackson

Jackson gives him a deep, encouraging nod, letting Jesse know he's here.

And so Jesse closes his eyes for a second - I think imitating Jackson a bit when he passes his energy to me - and breathes in a deep breath.

And when he breathes it out?

My eyes go wide as the shadows begin to seep again from him, eager. Jesse's eyes immediately fly open as he looks down at himself, begins to breathe hard.

"Calmly, baby," Cora says, her voice totally even.

Jesse looks up again, his eyes fastening on hers, and she gives him a deep, steady nod.

And so Jesse calms down, letting the shadows seep from him more completely, I think panicking a little to see them out and free but...letting them exist.

 

Chapter 0562

 

We all watch quietly as Jesse becomes...acclimated to himself, to his new power. And I watch with a great deal of pride as Jesse's breathing evens out, as he settles more comfortably into his chair, and as the shadows themselves become less chaotic clouds and instead more streamlined, flowing around him a bit as they did when he was in bed.

"Okay," Jesse whispers, looking down and observing them as they swirl around him, faster and slower, like he's experimenting with them. "I can...do this."

“Can you shape them at all, baby?" Cora asks quietly, turning her head to the side.

"I don't know,” Jesse murmurs, frowning at them, curious, ignoring or missing the pet name he previously forbade.

I sit forward, desperate to see what he can do.

"You did before," Rafe says, unable to keep the eagerness out of his voice. "You made them fish. It was...very cool."

Jesse glances up at Rafe for a second, a smile on his lips, before he glances down at the shadows again. I gasp as they immediately begin to take shape - fish again in streams. We all lean forward, I think delighted at this change, and then I can tell when Jesse gains confidence, becomes more experimental, changing the shape of the fish and making them chase each other in little schools.

My eyes go wide when some of the shadows begin to clump together behind him, taking the form of a shark and then dashing out, scaring some of the minnows away. But the way Jesse laughs when it happens lets me know that it was all in his control - that he's playing, enjoying seeing what he can do.

And so a little laugh bursts from me as I clap my hands together, beaming at my cousin, delighted.

He glances up at me and then at everyone else, as we all begin to murmur encouragement. And then Jesse's laughing and his shadows change form again, this time gathering into two small cats at his side that begin to walk slowly around him, their dark smokey tails brushing warm against his side. And then, as we watch, Jesse exhales deeply and begins to call the shadows back into himself, apparently finished with his experiment for the day. The cats fade into vague streaks of darkness before that darkness rushes through the air, to Jesse's palms, and then slowly back into himself. "Holy shit," Jesse whispers, and then he looks up at all of us, grinning like it's the coolest thing he's ever seen.

ne

"I'm so proud of you, baby," Cora says, her voice choked. I look in surprise when Cora dashes across the room towards her eldest son who quickly stands and wraps her up in a hug as his mom tucks her face against his chest, showing far more emotion than she usually

does.

I grin at both of them before looking up at mom who is, unsurprisingly, crying, one hand pressed to her heart.

"Mom," Jesse murmurs, laughing and stroking her back even as he blushes. "Come on, not in front of my friends."

Cora just laughs and pulls away, wiping at her own eyes a bit. "I'm just really proud of you, kid," she sighs. "Look at you, growing up, all magical with your shadow cats."

"Shadow panthers," Jesse corrects, still blushing a bit as Cora steps away. "Just...little ones. For now."

"This is definitely a different class," Tony murmurs, smiling around at us. And I can't help it – I smile back at him, because it definitely feels like things are getting better around here.

swny

"I had very little control too, in the beginning," Cora says, looking Jesse in the eye for a moment but then addressing us all. "Storms and weather events just...happened in occurrence with my emotions."

“One very particular emotion,” mom says, turning to grin at Cora a little wickedly, “if I remember correctly."

"We're done talking about that," Cora says, her sentimentality wiped from her in a moment as she points a finger at my mom, who just laughs.

"Oh, ew," Jesse sighs, falling back into his chair and putting his head in his hands.

"The point is," Cora says, walking back to the desk with her head held high, "that you're already showing an incredible amount of control, Jesse, and that with more practice...it will be very interesting to see what you can do." Content belongs

won

S

 

Chapter 0563

 

"Yeah, I'm kind of jealous," Tony says with a nod. "I can do one thing and...it's sort of done. No developments for me."

"Well, we don't know that," Cora says to Tony with a small smile. "What Alvez said to you before was right - we should experiment."

Tony considers it for a moment and then shrugs, nodding to her, letting her know that he's game.

"But what do we do about what the God of Darkness said?" Jesse says, drawing all eyes back to him. Others stare at him in confusion, not knowing what he means, but my stomach twists a little, remembering what Jesse said this morning. "About..." he hesitates, looking around for a moment before deciding to press forward. "About his girl finding me, or whatever. Sort of...implying it had something to do with this?"

"Well," Cora says, looking over at mom with some hesitance. "We have...sort of a hypothesis about that."

"We do?" Rafe says, leaning forward towards them, quite interested now.

"We talked about it last night," mom says, sighing and folding her legs up beneath her so that she's just perched casually on the desk and looking around at the five of us. "And, I don't think it applies to Jackson and Tony, but in our family at least...I think the magic starts to come when you meet your mate. I mean, in my case it was a little different," she shrugs, "because...I didn't know I was a wolf and then my mother gave me the gift as a literal gift. But all of that started when I finally met Dominic."

"Whoa," I say, my eyes going wide as I realize that...the same is true for me.

"And my gift only really manifested in Roger's presence," Cora says quietly, "after I had accepted the bond between us. Even if I, too, also did not yet know I'm half wolf."

We all stare at them in a bit of shock.

"Wait, no," Jesse says, leaning forward, tension in every single muscle. "No, this does not work - because I have not met my mate."

"I know, kid," Cora says, nodding to him quietly as Jesse stares at her "But the way the God of Darkness phrased that...what if you have, and you just haven't realized it?"

"What are you talking about," Jesse says, speaking very quickly, his shadows starting to seep from him again as he starts to get freaked out. "The way that Ariel talks about, I'd have known - I'd have recognized her instantly!"

"True," Cora says, her eyes sad, holding a hand out to him. "But what if...you haven't met her yet? But...she's met you?"

Jesse's mouth drops open, shadows

spilling from for a second before

et

he notices and snaps his mouth shut, leaking back in his chair and staring off into space for a long, long moment, his shadows eddying around him in an anxious circle.

"Jesse,” my mom says, hesitating and then starting to get off the desk, clearly wanting to go to him.

"No, no," Jesse says, holding a hand up towards her, even as he continues to stare into space. "I need a minute, please."

Mom hesitates again but then turns back to the rest of us.

"I mean, like you said, it doesn't work for us," Jackson says pointing between Tony and himself. "I mean...unless I have another mate? And I met her when I was younger?"

My eyes go wide as I stare at Jackson, absolutely horrified by the idea, my mind flashing - instantly, of course - to Tasha, the girl he...

But I clench my teeth, forcing the thought from my mind, hating it. Hating all of it. Livid, and jealous, and horrified again.

Quite suddenly my body gets very, very hot - the energy focus on my hands, pressed to the desk in front of me.

 

Chapter 0564

"Ariel," Jackson breathes, turning towards me with his eyes wide. "It's hypothetical - I don't think - I never -"

My body's temperature begins to increase exponentially as I just stare at my mate, my wolf whimpering and snarling in me at turns as I turn the idea over in my mind, unable to turn away from it.

Jackson - with another mate. Jackson - another girl - who he met when he was younger - someone else - me having to share him, to watch him look at another girl the way he looks at me -

"You need to calm down,” Jackson whispers, his eyes flicking to my hands pressed against my desks. He leans forward, taking my face in his hands, staring deep into my eyes. "Calm down, Ariel. Seriously."

But his touch - something in me grabs onto his power. And quite suddenly, the table beneath my hands gets very, very hot.

"Shit, shit," Rafe shouts, jumping to his feet and leaping for Jackson, intending to push him away from me -

But it's too late - I gasp as the desk beneath my hands begins to superheat, smoke starting beneath my palms. I panic, but it only makes it worse, and Jackson shouts as he jumps to his feet, dropping his hands from my face. Even with him gone, I suddenly feel my power moving without my intent-flowing into the wood, following my wild emotions' order to burn without any way for me to stop it, to pull it back.

"Ari!" Tony gasps, jumping out of his own chair and reaching for me. Jackson turns to knock him away, growling, protective - but Tony ducks under his arm, reaching for me, his hand coming to lay flat against the back of my neck.

Instantly, coolness floods me - as it did before, so many months ago, when we worked together in class.

The desk beneath me still smokes but instantly I feel coolness like snowmelt flood my body, my veins. And I welcome it - welcome Tony's magic, whipping my head up to stare at him in shock.

"Water and fire," he whispers, holding my gaze, giving me a little smile as he glances at my hands and sees that I can move them away now, that they're not nearly as hot as they were. "See? We're friends for a reason."

I start to take deep breaths, taking my shaking hand away from the desk, not surprised at all but certainly appalled to see my handprints clearly branded into the surface there.

Wide-eyed but in control, I look around to see everyone staring at me with similar expressions on their faces.

"I'm sorry," Jackson whispers, reaching for me again but then hesitating, not wanting to start me off again.

"I think we have learned," Jesse says quietly, "to never, ever mention the idea of Jackson having another mate to Ariel, ever again."

I spin my head to glare at my cousin, my eyes flashing as my emotions flare, my palms again growing hot.

Jesse's eyes go wider and he puts his hands up in apology. "Apparently," he says quietly, "not even in jest."

Tony, his hand still wrapped lightly around the back of my neck, quietly lets me feel more of his magic and coolness again floods me.

I take a few deep breaths and then turn to Tony, nodding to him, letting him know that I'm okay. And then I reach out my hand for Jackson, whose wolf is howling, horribly sad for upsetting me so much and wanting very much to be told that it's okay.

"Are your hands okay," Jackson asks, his voice shaking as he kneels in front of me and reaches for my hand, turning it over. But I already know what we will find, because there's absolutely no pain. When he turns my hand over in his we both see that my palm is totally fine - not a scorch on it.

Because of course not - I'm a tiny fire goddess. Of course I'm immune to the burns.

I exhale slowly, closing my eyes, wondering how the hell we didn't realize this before.

Jackson clasps my hand in his, horribly relieved, and I take a moment to reassure him down the bond that it's okay - letting him feet that I'm all right, apologizing in turn for freaking out so much. He murmurs quietly back to me down the bond, saying the same things, both of us feeling incredibly guilty and honestly neither of us feeling much better about it.

“We need to talk about this," Rafe says, his voice harsh, pulling me out of my moment with Jackson as we all turn to him. I see him looking at me, worked, before he returns his eyes to mom and Cora. "I get this theory about Jesse...maybe meeting his mate," he says, his voice snapping. "But things are very different now - Ariel burning things just because she gets upset? She's always upset!"

My mouth falls open a little at this, annoyed, but he ignores me and moves on.

“And Tony being able to seriously affect her magic with his touch?" Rafe says. "And even Jesse like... being able to do that with his shadows after like, a day?" He casts a hand out towards our cousin, "it took Ariel months to do anything except melt some glass - and Jackson now can just....give me and Jesse energy through Ariel!? I honestly don't think it was just coincidence that we just happened to figure all this out now. Maybe some of it, but not all of it. What - what is happening?"

Chapter 0565

"We talked about this too," mom says, still looking at me anxiously and clearly wanting to check that I'm all right even as she responds to Rafe. I do my best to give her a steady nod, still holding Jackson's hand tight in mine. "We think that...the God of Darkness, in possessing Alvez's body, was... putting a dampener on most of your magics," she says. "Halting your development, rather than encouraging it."

"Oh," I say, the word popping out of my mouth in my surprise.

Rafe's eyes go wide as he too stares at our mother and our aunt, realizing how much sense that makes.

“We think that.......Jesse developing his powers was the thing that broke his control because Jesse...could probably sense him within Alvez, or his powers actively negate his," Cora says, looking over at her son a little sadly. "We don't know for sure - but we think that's why the dark God attacked when he did - because it was the last moment that he still had the element of surprise. But that also, his dampener on you and Jesse before Jesse's power developed was why you couldn't sense him being creepy with Ariel. He was affecting people's magic, we just don't know the full extent of how." "But then why could Jacks and I sense him being creepy?" Tony asks, interested, leaning forward.

Rafe groans, putting his head in his hand, I think realizing that there are even more questions that need to be answered and frustrated that we're not even getting answers as the questions pile up.

"Baby," my mom says, moving quickly down from the desk and moving towards him.

"No, mom!" Rafe says, dropping his hands and lifting his face to glare at her. "Why are we just finding this stuff out now! If you and Cora figured out apparently forever ago that your magic is triggered by meeting your mate, why wouldn't you have told us that a long time ago!?"

Mom bites her lip, clearly feeling guilty and, not having an answer, she glances back at Cora, who likewise just looks at Rafe with apology in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Rafe," Cora says quietly. "We...wanted you to live as normally as possible, to develop your magic as it came. We never meant to mislead you."

"Well, we need answers now," Rafe snaps, angry. As I watch him, I have to admit that a little anger coils in me too. Because, I mean, is this honestly how it's going to be now with Alvez gone? That my power is newly volatile without the God of Darkness to act as a dampener?

"I agree," I say, looking at my mom perhaps with less anger than Rafe but certainly with as much need. "I...I need to know."

I glance at Jackson, because half of

my need is about wanting to know the extent of my power, but I'm also likewise desperate to know the source of his powers. Because mean, if he has another mate out there that he met as a child

I'm sorry, I know it's hypocritical, but I'm going to lose my mind. The idea of sharing him with another girl...makes me want to tear her to absolute pieces.

"Okay," Cora says, holding our her hands towards us apologetically. "If you want answers why don't we just...ask?"

"Ask...who?" Jesse breathes, baffled.

"The Goddess," Cora says, giving a little half shrug as if it's the easiest thing in the world.

Suddenly I go pale as I remember something my dad said.

That for Cora...it might just be that easy.

"The Goddess," Rafe snaps. "You just want us to...ask the Goddess He laughs a little like it's some bad joke he can't believe Cora would make at a time like this.

But then, as we all stare at my mom and Cora and their serious faces don't break...I realize that what my dad told us is absolutely true.

"If you want to speak with the

goddess, Cora says quietly, looking

at all of us. "I can...call on her. But," she hesitates now, grimacing a little. "I think we all need to...calm down a bit first."

“What is.......what is seriously happening right now," Tony says, and I glance up at him, realizing that he's still standing close behind me. "Seats, children,” mom says quietly, gesturing Tony towards his chair. "And deep breaths, okay? If you want answers...we'll get you answers."