Ch. 646..650: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 646-650
And all through the little clearing, a slight wind begins to blow, warm like a summer breeze.
I gasp a little at the same moment that Luca does, and our eyes flash to each other as we both simultaneously remember the sensation that we used to notice when he touched me - that tingle across my skin, and across his - that tingle that's still there, but which we just...I don't know, got used to or something.
That tingle which I never, ever realized feels exactly like a breeze blowing across bare skin.
Feels exactly, precisely like this air moving around us right now.
"Holy shit," Luca whispers, staring down at me in shock.
My face bursts into a smile and I beam up at him. “Holy shit is right.”
Luca can't help it then, his own face breaks into a smile and he shakes his head in awe as he stares down at me.
"What?" Jesse asks, standing at his mom's side with the fire blanket in his hands, at the ready. "What's happening? I don't get it."
"This breeze,” I say, laughing a little as I turn my face towards them. "Um...I think...I think we're doing that."
"Really?" mom says, looking around, delight bursting on her face too. "This is you!?"
"Yeah," I say laughing.
"Experiment," Cora urges, taking an eager step towards me. "Can you...stop and start it?"
ne
I do as I'm told, biting my lip and concentrating a little, playing with the bond and how much I can push and pull on it. First, I stop all together so that the breeze fades around us. Then I pull hard, and then harder, letting it whip through the air.
W
My smile returns as I look up at all of the trees, seeing it shake the leaves - a breeze kissed by the summer sun, just like Luca's warm summer scent - apricots and hot pavement and sea breeze.
"Ah!" Cora squeaks, stepping towards me, her expression thrilled as she looks around too. "Another little weather goddess in the family! Oh, Ariel, this is so great!"
"I'm not a weather goddess," I say, laughing. "I can just...make a little warm wind."
“Can you mess with the temperature?” Rafe urges from behind me. I glance over my shoulder at him and then shrug, trying it. But nothing happens — if anything, the wind just gets warmer.
"Okay okay," Gora says, holding out
her hand towards me, laughing. "You can stop the implications of this are stunning, actually I think the heat in the
—
in the air is from Ariel, but the movement - the wind - is from Luca himself, which kind of makes sense -"
“Actually,” Jackson says, stepping forward hesitantly. All of our eyes turn to him as the warm breeze continues to blow. "Um...can we...try something here?"
as
His eyes turn to me and I stare at him, sensing@mmediately what he's thinking. My wolf leaps to her feet, some instinct urging her forward it did before when I knew to experiment with passing Jackson's magic to Rafe and Jesse. She pounces around in my soul like a fox in snow, incredibly excited.
And quite suddenly...I know that this is going to work.
Eagerly, I hold my hand out to him.
Chapter 0648
Luca hesitates, starting to close down the bond a bit.
"Please,” I beg, shaking my head at him. "Don't get freaked out - this is...this is part of who I am."
Luca stares at me for a long moment but then nods, re-opening the bond.
Jackson takes my other hand and I turn my head to him, eager warmth building in me.
"What are you doing?" Cora whispers, confused and fascinated. My mom stands next to her with her hands pressed to her cheeks, thrilled.
"Get goin', trouble," Jackson murmurs, leaning forward to press a kiss to my forehead.
I lean towards him a little, not able to help it, a little laugh sputtering from me.
But then I turn my gaze to the pile of wood in front of me - not the little log, the big one.
And I set it ablaze.
A little gasp breaks from the group as everyone turns towards it, watching the fire rage, much more powerfully and higher than it should for just that little pile of wood. And then I call on Luca's gift as well - on the wind, the breeze, the oxygen he provides.
And I add that to the mix.
The flames roar, reaching higher, and begin to turn, wind sucked in from every direction towards it. A rich, eager joy builds in my chest and with every heartbeat pulses through my entire body as I watch the flames climb higher into the air, carried on the waves of Luca's wind, powered by the energy that Jackson gives me.
My flames, my heat - my magic.
Mine.
"Whoa," Rafe whispers behind me, awed and impressed. But I don't look at him - at anyone. Don't have time for it or interest in anything else - anything but the firestorm dancing before me.
The whirlwind of flames turns,
pulsing in time with my heart. My blood sings as the vortex climbs towards the sky, dancing higher, eager and burning and full of
เอน
It's a wild, passionate thing - a song, a dance, an eager she-wolf racing through a forest, along a cliff,
desperate to be alive and free and to
stretch her legs.
It's us, my wolf whispers, howlingly pleased and as full of joy as me. Us in our purest form, elemental.
Somewhere I feel and hear Jackson's wolf howl too, so proud and fierce he could burst.
I nod, tears in my eyes, my face turned up to the brilliant swirl of fire before me, licking at the sky, turning and turning in the wind that brings it oxygen, gobbling up the fuel that feeds it.
But suddenly I feel another wolf approach - one I've always known, since I was a little girl - which has never not been part of my life. He pads closer, drawn to the flame in my soul, warming himself by it.
"Um, I...I think I'm supposed to be
part of this," Jesse murmurs,
from et
stepping closer to me. I turn my head to him, taking my eyes the whirlwind of flame for the first time but having no fear that doing so will make me lose control of it. It's mine, after all. It does as I bid.
“Come on in, Jess," I say, laughing and tilting my head towards him.
Jesse beams at me but steps closer, reaching a hand out. "This is so weird, Ari," he murmurs, making me burst out laughing. But then he gently wraps his hand at the base of my neck, and together we turn towards the fire.
I feel his magic added to mine immediately, but when I pull on it - no, I don't control it, don't have the power to use it. Instead, I feel Jesse's magic move through me according to his own whims. Together, we turn our eyes to the fire blazing before us.
And both of us gasp just half a second before everyone else does.
Because the flames - they darken, taking on the shape and the tint of Jesse's shadows. The flame doesn't dampen - not at all. Instead, it just loses its bright and shining light. In shock and fascination, I watch as the darkened flames, all shades of grey and black, themselves take different shapes, suddenly
n
containing the animals that Jesse's own shadows tend towards - lizards climbing through the smoke, fire birds soaring through the air and letting out wild silent screams, mighty horses, their eyes and their manes ablaze.
My breath is immediately stolen because it is...the most incredible sight I've ever seen, and by far the most beautiful.
Chapter 0649
"Can you...can you move it, Ari?" I hear my mom whisper, and I glance to the side to see tears streaking down her face, her fingers pressed delicately to her lips as she stares up at this incredible thing that we've created.
I turn back to the fire, concentrating, and as I sway slightly to the left...yes! My smile deepens when I discover that the whirlwind itself moves left too. I move back to the center and again to the right, moving like a dancer – like the ballerina I was raised to be. The whirlwind of flame and shadow goes too.
"Amazing," Tony whispers, delighted and awed.
Suddenly, Luca lets go of my hand and steps away.
The shadow fire immediately sinks to the ground and I scramble, a little, to catch it in my surprise. But ultimately it's easily done, the fire simply obeying gravity again, attached to the ground instead of lifted high in the air.
Jackson turns his head to glare at Luca, having felt my shock and surprise, but Jesse exhales a long breath and takes his hand from my neck too. "Okay,” he whispers. "I think that's enough for me too. For right now."
The shadows rise like smoke from my flames and suddenly there the colors are back - cheerful and yellow and red, burning happily through the little pile of wood.
I turn my head to Jackson next, who grins at me and drops my hand.
And then, when I look back at the fire it's...
It's just a normal bonfire, burning happily through the wood provided for it. Just...any normal thing.
We're all silent for a long, long moment, each of us just staring - I think trying to figure out if...if we all shared some kind of insane group hallucination right now or something? Or if -
Jackson's snarl breaks through the silence with a sudden vehemence that makes me jump - and suddenly I'm wrapped up in his arms, being twirled around, laughing so hard that there's no time to draw air into my lungs. Breathless, I wrap my arms around my mate, letting him spin me around, loving it - loving him.
"That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!" he roars. "That was so fucking fantastic! That was incredible! Ari!"
He stops spinning me, holding me high against his chest so that I beam down into his face, my hands already running through his hair.
"You," he says, staring up into my face like I'm the great marvel of his life, "are the most incredible thing on this pl, Ariel Sinclair."
I bite my lip as I stare down at him, tears springing to my eyes, completely overwhelmed by how much he means it and how much he loves me and how proud he is – all things I feel radiating down the bond.
"It was really cool, wasn't it?" I whisper, still stroking my trembling fingers through his hair. "It didn't hurt you, did it? Didn't take...too much of your energy?"
“Nah,” he says, his smile deepening. "I'm good, tiny - it took less energy than I'm sure it looked like. Two croissants tomorrow, instead of one." "And it didn't hurt?" I ask, desperately hoping it didn't.
But he just shakes his head at me, and snarls again, and drops me a bit in his arms so that my face is even with his, so that the kiss he presses to my mouth is as simple as it is fierce.
I kiss Jackson back with all of my
heart for a long moment before breaking away, aware that we're not i
alone here. I wiggle in his arms,
begging to be put down, and ho
growls-hating it - but obeys,
letting me slip down the length of his chest and stomach to set me again on my feet.
I'm only there for a moment before Rafe catches me up next, roaring his own pride and pleasure in his little shrimp sister, spinning me around in turn. It goes like that for a few
minutes, everyone gathering el.ne
close and talking about how amazing it was, the details of it, the possibilities for how we could use it, each of their tones thrilled.
It doesn't miss my attention, though, that when Luca hugs and congratulates me his words are stilted, his wall still up. I peer up at him, curious, and he does his best to give me a warm smile - but suddenly I'm pulled away into my mother's arms.
"Little tiny fire goddess,” she murmurs into my hair, hugging me so tight that I'm pretty sure she'll crack a rib if she keeps going. I mean, not that she couldn't heal it immediately - just...let's avoid that if we can, right?
“Ma!” I squeak, laughing hugging her much more loosely. "Loosen up!"
et
She sighs and does so, tears still all over her face as she pulls back and stares into mine, tucking an imaginary strand of my hair back behind my ear. "It really is incredible, little girl. What you've always been capable of. We've always known you were special and fierce and capable of great things and this is just the beginning."
-
"Mom," I say, my own eyes again filling with tears. "Geeze it was...just a bonfire."
"Oh, and she's humble," mom murmurs, hugging me again and rocking me back and forth.
“Um, I think I am getting far too little credit and attention!" Jesse calls, even though his own mother is crying and hugging him too. "I did the cool part!"
Chapter 0650
"Oh, you're wonderful too, cutie," mom says, stumbling over to Jesse to wrap him up in a hug. "Now come on, everyone! We need to get back to the classroom – we have to talk about the potential consequences and use of this! And how to similarly experiment with everyone else's magic too! We're going to do great things!"
Mom and Cora turn towards the palace with Jesse between them, talking closely to him about what the fire felt like mingling with his own magic. Rafe and Luca follow, likewise talking close, while Jackson and Tony fall in on either of my sides.
"That was incredibly cool, Ari," Tony says, grinning delightedly at me, his eyes crinkled with joy.
"Thanks, Tony," I say, bumping shoulders with him, likewise pleased.
"Makes me wish we had a bond," he says, gesturing between us.
Jackson snaps his head towards Tony and lets out a low growl.
"Oh back off, biggy, I don't mean like that," Tony says, reaching out his long arm to give Jacks a shove on the shoulder. Jackson narrows his eyes but nods, letting the statement stand. Tony turns back to me. "Just like, imagine what we could do -"
"But wouldn't we just like..." I smack my hands together and bounce them apart, "clash? Your water just putting out my fire?"
"Nah, I don't think I'm just water, I think it also has to do with like...breath?" Tony says, shaking his head at me, clearly excited. "But even then - fire and water don't just cancel each other out," he says, talking fast. My eyes go wide as I realize that he's right.
"We could like - boil oceans -"
"Make like, a whole bunch of steam -"
“It could be like a fog that spreads out over a countryside -"
Tony's eyes go wide. "That is such a good idea. What if we could like -"
Jackson walks stoically at my side, still warm and proud, as Tony and I chatter all the way back to the castle.
Even so, I can't help but notice that even as Rafe moves forward to join in on the conversation with Jesse and our moms, Luca doesn't fall back to join in with Tony and I.
Instead, he walks alone between the two groups, his head hanging.
And when I send my wolf forward to try, I already know what she finds to be true.
That our bond is completely shut down.
Luca leaves us when we get back get back to the classroom, wanting to get a little study time in while the rest of us debrief. I beg him to stay but Cora comes to my side and puts a hand on my shoulder, giving me a gentle smile, and I sigh and give in, giving Luca a hug and a kiss on the cheek, telling him that I'll see him at dinner. Luca kisses me back and gives me a squeeze before heading on his way, carrying the note that mom gave him to take to Blaze, begging for me to take the afternoon off so we can further work on the question of my magic.
Inside the classroom, our little group talks eagerly about what happened with me, Jackson, and Jesse each describing what it felt like from our own angles. Then mom and Cora as they should - turn their attention to the rest of their students, discussing similar possibilities for experimentation and connection. In particular, we spend a great deal of time brainstorming with Tony.
"I guess it's true," he murmurs, looking at me consideringly. "Like, if you melting a marble and lighting the logs in your fireplace is the. equivalent of me breathing
underwater...I wonder what my fire tornado is."
"I can't wait to find out," I say, beaming at him, meaning it.
"I have some ideas," Cora murmurs, looking at Tony consideringly. "But...I want to do more research. You good with that, if I come back with next week with more for you to try?"
Tony eagerly agrees and the group breaks up then, everyone chatting interestedly and in high spirits. Both Rafe and Jackson turn to me, expectant, even as I stay in my chair.
"Do you have a minute?" I ask, raising my eyes at mom and Cora. "To stay after?"
"Of course, babes," mom says, beaming at me. "What's up?"
Jackson waves to Rafe and turns back towards his chair but I bite my lip and look up at him, a little pleading. “Um, do you think we could have some girl talk?"
Jackson goes still, staring at me like he desperately wants to stay but also like I've said I'm going to participate in the most dangerous sport in the world.
“Oh, just wait outside, puppy," Cora says, laughing and flapping a hand at him. "We'll only be fourty-five, sixty minutes. Tops."
"Why does it take so long?" he whispers as Jesse and Rafe call their goodbyes, heading out the door with Tony.
Mom laughs, wrinkling her nose at Jacks. "She's kidding - just give Trouble a little space for a second, Jacks. I need to talk to my girl."
Jackson sighs and nods to me before he heads outside.
"Don't you listen!" I call after him, scolding already.
He just sighs and waves over his shoulder, as close to a promise of privacy as I'm going to get.