Ch. 761..765: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 761-765

Chapter 0761

I just can't figure it out.

Jesse, I get - I understand why Atalaxia would take one of our magical warriors on the day of battle. But...Junie!? Why the hell would the enemy want her!?

Was it even Atalaxia? Do they have that kind of power, to just come into our world and...snatch us up? And if it wasn't Atalaxian forces that took her, was it, instead, the God of Darkness who said her name so many weeks ago, like a purr and a promise and a prayer?

But if Darkness wanted June...why the hell did he take Jesse too!?

I groan, dipping my head into my hands, unable to figure it out. Jackson's hand tightens on my leg and I do my best to send him my gratitude, but my whole soul is agony and worry.

Two more.

Two more. I - I can't lose two more people I love - not like this - not so close on the tail of Tony and Luca

Not like this, but also not at all.

I grit my teeth and endure, hoping endlessly that my parents have answers when we get to the camp. Unfortunately, when the helicopter lands just outside of the command tent and we all climb out, it's immediately clear that we still don't have any answers.

"Babies," my mom gasps, flying out of the tent the moment we set our feet on the ground and dashing for us. She grabs me first to her, sobbing into my hair with relief and fear, and I hold her only for a moment before she moves for Rafe. And then it's a mess of sad greetings as the five of us are ushered into the tent.

Poor Daphne is at the center of it all, with dad and Roger immediately converging on her, demanding details. She sputters them out with Mittens clutched tight in her arms, trying to help, but insisting that it was so dark and so strange and so fast that she doesn't know - she just doesn't know -

Even as I try to keep my focus on Daphne, I do a double-take, my mouth falling open at an argument that's occurring in the corner because...

"Oh, holy shit," Jackson whispers,

wrapping an arm around me and pulling me close to his chest as we both stake, slack-jawed, at the

Goddess's translucent form in the corner of the tent, arguing

Ov

vehemently with her daughter.

"Well, if you would let me go," the Goddess says, a bit between her teeth, glaring at Cora. "I could go check on some things and see whether or not I can get more information!"

"No way," Cora growls, leaning forward, glaring hard at her mom. "We never, ever ask you for anything - you aren't going anywhere until you tell me where my son and my niece are -"

"I already told you that he is somewhere in the Land of Darkness and she is in the Underworld -Juniper's voyage I understand, but Jesse's -"

"Land of Darkness?" I hear myself ask, stepping forward. The tent goes quieter as I cross to Cora's side, staring up at the Goddess. "With like - with the three moons?"

"Hello, little daughter," the Goddess says, her voice soft even if her face is drawn. She tilts her head and looks at me sadly. "I see that you have accessed your Dark gift, then, if you know of the moons."

I nod eagerly. "I - I went there! I - I think I can go again! I can go now!"

I shut my eyes, wondering if I can just do it at will - I mean, if that's where Jesse and Juniper are then -

But Jackson, growling, grabs my arm and snaps me back to the moment. I look up to see him slowly shaking his head no, forbidding it.

"Your mate is right to caution you," the Goddess says with a sigh. "It's his land, Ariel - with his minions. Even if you can travel back and forth, there's nothing to say he hasn't set a trap for you there."

"What did she say?" mom demands, skittering to my side. Cora quickly translates as Daphne moves to

stand next to me, her eyes wide and fascinated as she stares at the Goddess.

"You...you can see her?" I whisper, looking Daphne up and down.

Daphne turns to me for a split second, blinking. "You can't?"

Chapter 0762

"No, I can see her," I whisper to Daphne, frowning at her, wondering what magic pumps through her veins that allows her to see the Goddess. "Just...not everyone can."

I look around to see that everyone has gathered around us, everyone's faces drawn as Cora summarizes the Goddess's words for those who cannot hear. Roger's face breaks my heart - the worry and the agony on it. I tear my eyes away, unable to think about what he could possibly be experiencing with Jesse gone.

I don't miss the way that dad slides his arm around Rafe's shoulders, wanting him close, even as he tucks his own worry for Juniper away somewhere deep.

"Yes, Ariel can go to the Land of Darkness," the Goddess sighs, gesturing towards me once Cora has finished filling everyone in. "Which, I must emphasize, is different from the Underworld, where Juniper has been taken. Same planet but..." she shrugs as if it's complicated. "Different realms."

I cry out a little at the confirmation that Junie is really gone. "We have to help her," I say, frantic, turning towards my mom, who pushes to my side and takes my hand, shaking her head.

"There's nothing we can do," she whispers to me. "June - oh, Ariel, Juniper acted like a real idiot -"

My eyes go wide because mom never, ever insults her children.

"She made a deal," the Goddess intones, drawing my eyes back to her. "With my horrible stepson, the God of Death. She is wound up in a complicated Game now but," she shrugs, "I have sent her aid. You need to trust the girl to find her own way out."

"Aid?" I ask, desperate for any good news. "What kind of aid?"

But the Goddess waves away the question, moving on. "My grandson," she says, "I am much more concerned about. I have had no contact for or about him - this seems...entirely unplanned." She sighs, worried, dropping her head. "All we know is that he is there, in the Land of Darkness, with his mate." Daphne gasps, slapping a hand to her mouth, and we all turn towards her, grief in every set of eyes. "Oh, Daphne..." I whisper, my heart breaking for my friend as Cora whispers the Goddess's words to the rest of our family.

"Jesse's only hope now," the Goddess says, looking at Daphne like she's very sorry for her grief, "is that the love grows strong between him and his mate. Strong enough that he can convince her to save him." Daphne stares at the Goddess in shocked silence. Until all of a sudden she breaks, and falls to her knees, and begins to sob, the little shadow kitten still clutched in one hand.

Jesse shouts in fear and outrage, shoving the dark figure away from him and stumbling back a few steps. "Ow!" the figure gasps, stumbling too and raising a hand to her chest where Jesse shoved, frowning at him. "That hurt!"

The shadows begin to pull away

from her, revealing a very small, very real girl beneath them. Jesse just gapes at her for a moment - this very tiny person - even smaller than Ariel with her riot of waist-length black curls and her full lips pulled into an angry frown.

But in a blink Jesse is spinning away, turning, moving hastily beyond that realization, trying to take in where the fuck they are -

But it's -

They're not even in the Castle anymore - not even in the same...world.

"Where...where am I?" Jesse whispers, shock hitting him like a brick, making his shoulders tremble as he looks over the barren expanse of hills under a dark, starless sky. He blinks hard when he sees the three moons hanging heavy over him.

"You're in the Land of Darkness," the girl says, sounding absurdly...perky.

Jesse blinks again and spins back towards her, his mouth open, just...gaping.

Because the shadows are gone now, and he can...see all of her. And she's just a girl - not some insane shadow ghoul with empty dark eye sockets and a pit for a mouth.

And she's...happy. His face twists in confusion as he tries to understand her expression, the smile pasted on her face like some sort of deranged...cheerleader.

Her expression falls a little bit. "What?" she asks, looking around. "You don't like it?"

"I don't...like it?" he repeats, shocked and completely not understanding anything. Anything at all.

"It's great here," she says, frowning at Jesse, defensive. "You'd better like it."

"Who are you!?" Jesse shouts at the girl, advancing towards her one step.

“Don't you take that tone with me,

Jesse Sinclair," she growls, taking a step towards him in turn and snapping a hand up to point a finger in his face. "You have to be nice to me. Everyone says so."

"Did you bring me here!?"

"Yes!" she says, snapping her hands to her waist as that smile comes back to her face, looking immensely

proud. "You're welco-"

 

Chapter 0763

"Take me back!" he shouts, storming close and grabbing her shoulders, giving her a shake. "Right fucking now!"

"No!" she shouts in return, a scowl taking her tiny features. "I'm never taking you back there! Not to that whore

Jesse gasps and then shoves the girl away from him. "Don't you ever call Daphne that ever again!" "She is a whore!" the girl shouts, leaning towards him with her fists at her sides once she regains her footing from his shove. "A stupid, ugly whore who was willing to take your mark when she wasn't even your mate which is illegal and a sin and -"

Jesse just stares at this tiny person like she's insane. "It's not illegal you complete idiot, and Daphne is my mate -"

"No," the girl growls, stepping close again and sneering up into his face. "I am your mate, Jesse Sinclair. Not that stupid whore that you used to warm your bed. Me."

He blanches as he stares down at her. But even as he tries to deny it, his wolf gives him a nudge within his soul, a soft and whining one, glancing back at the girl again and again.

Because Jesse's wolf...he knows.

That it's right. That this tiny, insane girl is...

"My mate?" Jesse whispers, staring down at her.

"Yes," she says, a smile blooming again on her face, so wide and pretty that it shocks him. She steps close and reaches up, winding her arms around his neck. "And we're going to be so happy. We're going to live here, in the Darkness, and we're going to have eighteen pups, and we're going dedicate them all to Darkness and teach them all about the Shadows, and -"

Jesse stumbles away, grabbing her arms and shoving them from his neck, staring hard at this...girl. This creature.

"But...Daphne..." He turns to his wolf again, who howls, completely confused. Because both are undeniable - it's not like what he had heard before, that once you meet your mate all other girls pale in comparison. Daphne - his wolf still wants her, longs for her. But he also turns back towards this strange, tiny person, and...and wants her too...

"Don't say that filthy name ever again," the girl snaps, raising her chin and pointing a finger at his face. "I forbid it."

"Who the fuck are you?" Jesse mumbles, looking over his...his mate. This tiny, insane person who is so... undeniably his mate.

"Oh," she says, her face breaking into that ridiculous, unreal smile again as she snaps her hands to her hips, almost like she's posing for him. "I'm Midnight!"

His mouth falls open a bit because... he's mated to a girl named...Midnight?

"That's not a real name," Jesse says, standing straight and crossing his arms.

"Yes it is!" The defensiveness with which she immediately responds lets him know he's right.

He narrows his eyes. "No. It's not. Tell me your real name."

She snarls, vicious, and storms towards him, some of that dark energy again radiating off of her, shadows beginning to swirl. "That is my real name, Jesse Sinclair."

"How the fuck do you know my name?"

"Because I've been following you," she hisses, standing close and staring up into his face, daring him to defy her.

Jesse groans, turning away from his

mate and covering his face with his hands, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it. Because it's a so... bizarre. How the fuck did he even get here to this other world? With this...girl!?

"Hey, you're supposed to love me!" the girl snaps, livid. "I wish you would get over your surprise and get started on that instead!"

Jesse spins to stare at her, appalled.

"You kidnap me," he spits out, his energy matching her own, "from my girlfriend's bed, you scratch her face, and drag me here to this fucking wasteland, and now you demand that I love you!?"

"You have to!" she says, pouting, actually stomping her foot. God, what, is she a child!? Suddenly he stands straight, freaked out that

-

-

she One

might be she's tiny but no,

glance over her curving form

demonstrates that though she's very

small she's...definitely grown.

"Midnight," Jesse snaps, feeling ridiculous to even say the name as he holds out a placating hand towards

her. "I do not love you. I don't want to be here. Just - take me back!"

His heart starts to pound in his chest as he realizes that he's actually been kidnapped from his world-

that he left Daphne alone and bleeding - that there's a battle that he's supposed to be at tonight - And he's here. With this girl. Trapped.

He spins in a circle, desperate for some way out. But not only is there no way out, there's just...nothing. Absolutely nothing.

 

Chapter 0764

"No," Midnight snarls. "I'm not taking you back." When Jesse turns back towards her he sees that she's glaring at him with those soulless empty eyes, her arms crossed. A shiver runs through him completely, his entire self.

God, fuck, what was the Goddess thinking giving him this as his mate?

"I'm never taking you back there," Midnight snaps, shaking her head, her voice dropping deep as shadows - shadows just like his, but darker and more menacing - start to swirl around her. "Not to that whore. Not to that terrible nation where women run wanton and commit their sins and get paid for it. I'm keeping you here, where I can be your good mate and give you eighteen babies. And we'll be happy." Jesse just continues to stare at her, a string of desperate curses running through his mind in an endless refrain. What...what the fuck is he going to do?

Taking his shock as acquiescence, Midnight straightens her shoulders, her face returning to normal. "Good!" she says, perky again. "Come on, I'll take you to my house." She offers a cheerful hand. Jesse just blinks at her before he leans far down so that his eyeline is even with hers. "Midnight," he whispers. "I'd rather fucking die than go to your shit house in this shit world. Now take me home to my fucking girlfriend."

He watches, almost interested, as the finality of his words settle into Midnight's mind, as her face shifts from eager happiness to shock, and then anger, and then rage. Energy crackles through her hair, her fingernails edging into talons at the curved points of her fingers. Each of her breaths grow deeper with her violence.

But Jesse doesn't back off or even straighten up. Because even if he hates her - and he does, absolutely, just...hates this tiny person in front of him - he knows her. Knows her to the depths of him already, knows she's not going to strike out at him - that this is all just her temper flaring deep.

And so he smirks, and laughs a little, and shakes his head. "You're not going to hurt me, Midnight," he murmurs, allowing himself to be a little cruel. "Stop fucking around. Take me home."

Her anger fades almost instantly when he calls her bluff.

"I won't hurt you," she says, her eyes clearing, her words almost a purr. Fear races through Jesse as those eyes shift, looking behind him, to someone standing there. "But he might."

Jesse spins, and then stumbles back, terrified, when his eyes focus on a man standing there.

A man he horribly recognizes. Corporeal this time, when he was only shadow before.

"Hello, little shadow Duke," the God of Darkness says, striding forward. Jesse gasps as the God comes close but doesn't touch, instead passing him. Jesse spins to watch as the God of Darkness moves to Midnight's side, slipping an arm around her shoulders. "I very much hope that you're being kind to my girl."

"No, papa," Midnight says, leaning against the God and giving a very nearly ridiculous pout. "He's been very cruel.

Jesse just...stares, realizing that his life is dancing on a very, very thin string.

"Now now, Sinclair," the God of Darkness says, tugging Midnight mockingly close to his side, making it very clear that this is his girl. "We musn't be mean to my little Midnight here. Not when she's waited so long to meet you."

Midnight lifts her chin towards Jesse, glaring, righteous and proud.

Jesse just stares between them, not sure if he's supposed to apologize or...grovel...or...

"But girl," the God says, snapping Jesse away from the question as he turns his face to frown down at Midnight. "You did not follow the timeline I gave you. You have caused a great deal of trouble for me." "But," she gasps, shaking her head and holding a hand out towards Jesse. "He was with the whore! He was going to give her his mark!"

The God of Darkness glances Jesse's way again, amused, before looking back at the girl. "Regardless, Midnight he says, stern, shaking his head. "You were impatient, which is a sin You've claimed your mate earlier than I told you to, causing a sincere disruption of my plans."

The God clicks his tongue shamefully and Midnight hangs her head as Jesse goes pale.

"Now," Darkness snarls, "I have to move up my plans in Atalaxia and we no longer have a spy in the midst of the royal family of Moon Valley."

Midnight sighs and murmurs a formal apology, but Jesse can't even listen as he finally begins to understand.

The spies.

The spy.

This whole time he'd been wracking his brain trying to figure out how Atalaxia was getting information

about them - about Ariel, and where she would be that day of the battle - what she could do

This whole time it wasn't Perry Gibson being some kind of spying savant, it was...him. Midnight, lurking in the darkness in the shadows through some sort of power she controls, watching...him.

He, Jesse, was the leak.

He groans, putting his head in his hands as the pieces finally fall into place.

"No need for that, boy," the God of Darkness says, letting his hand drop from Midnight's shoulders as Jesse again raises his head, his face agonized. "You'll be very happy here with the girl, I am sure. You," he snaps, turning his head sharply to the girl as Midnight jumps to attention before him.

Something about how she does it - so eagerly, like a dog starving for scraps - sets Jesse's teeth on edge.

Chapter 0765

"Yes, master?" she says, looking up at the God adoringly.

"Keep him contained," the God says, reaching out a hand to grasp her chin, turning her face side to side like he's inspecting it and finds it wanting. "Do not, under any circumstances, take him back to the Earth." "Yes, sir!" Midnight says, her face bursting into her strange fake smile.

The God of Darkness nods once and begins to walk in the direction that he came, fading and then vanishing as he goes, leaving Jesse awe-struck and dumb with shock, and fear, and agony when he realizes that...he's not going home.

He's not going to go see Daphne today to comfort her, or help Ariel win that battle, not today, maybe not... ever.

And that all of this - all of it has been specifically constructed as some kind of trap. So that whatever Atalaxia has planned for his family tonight and in the war...

It's big. And his family has no idea that it's coming.

"Isn't he amazing?" Midnight breathes, moving quickly to Jesse's side and staring up at him, delighted. "That - that guy?" Jesse asks, gesturing over his shoulder to where the God of Darkness went. "That guy is amazing?"

"Yes," she says, nodding reverently.

Jesse hesitates. "Is he like...your dad?"

Midnight just laughs, shaking her head, her curls bouncing. "He's not my father father - I mean, I'm not

nearly good enough to be so blessed," she says, even blushing at the idea. "But he raised me - and when I'm a good girl he lets me call him papa.'

Jesse's face twists with disgust and confusion. "And when you're a...bad...girl?"

"Then he beats me," she says, blinking like it's the obvious answer. "And makes me call him Master and Great One and Dark King."

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Jesse murmurs, raising a hand to cover his face, agonized for this poor girl. "Who - who are your real parents?"

"I don't know," she sighs, dismissive of the point. "Who cares?"

"Midnight," Jesse sighs, dropping his hand and frowning at her. "You should care - how-how long have you been here?"

"What?" she frowns at him like she's confused. "I've been here forever."

He balks at her, unsure how to believe that. "How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-three," she says, beaming at him. "Just like you!"

He frowns at her. "But you've been here...forever."

"Oh whatever," she sighs, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. "Stop trying to trap me in my thoughts. Time is stupid."

"Do you ever remember not being here?"

"No."

"Do you remember where you're from?"

"Stop being so boring," Midnight groans, tilting her head back. "Let's go - we're in love! Start acting like it!" Jesse is about to protest, again, that they're definitely not in love but his wolf interrupts with a sharp bite to his soul.

Look at her wolf, Jesse's wolf

whispers, suddenly horrified. Jesse flinches, surprised that his wolf is

interrupting so important a conversation, but then Jesse shifts his focus inwards. His wolf is peering across a dark space a space where, Jesse suddenly realizes, their bond will be if he

accepts it.

He gulps, wanting to rush away from it, wanting that bond to be with Daphne not this girl - not wanting anything to snap into place by accident

But his wolf howls, and nips at Jesse, and insists - absolutely insists - that he look. So Jesse leans closer, peering in to the darkness where...where Midnight's wolf suddenly appears.

Jesse gasps when he sees her, horrified, because the wolf is...she's wrong. She stands still with her four legs splayed wide and unsteady in what looks like a huge puddle of oif Her teeth are bared, and she's panting but staring unseeingly forward into the void - not at Jesse, not at his wolf, just...into space. Her eyes shine darkly with a strange blue light and all over her fur drips with that oil. Like she's soaking in it, like it's...it's pulling her down, begging her to collapse and to drown -

Jesse groans, stumbling back, eager to get away, his own hand moving to grasp his own healthy wolf's fur. His wolf stumbles back with him, afraid, not wanting to touch her - knowing that he, too, will be sucked down into that oil if he does.

That he will become corrupted by it, as Midnight is.

"Come on!" Midnight says, snapping Jesse out of that inner space, eagerly holding out her hand to him. "Let me show you my house!"

Jesse just stares at Midnight, and then down at her hand, and then back at her face, completely blank.

Because if he takes her hand, it means he...gives into it. Into the reality that he can't go back - can't go to Daphne, the woman he loves.

But if he doesn't take her hand...

What? He just stands here...forever?

"Don't you even like me, Jesse?" Midnight asks, breaking him out of his trance.

Jesse just stares at Midnight as she bites her lip.

"Jesse," she whispers, shaking her head softly, her curls shifting as if on the wind. "I've been waiting my whole life for you and...you don't even like me?"

Jesse blinks his dry eyes and stares down at Midnight, at this poor corrupted girl staring up at him with such hope and sadness mingling in her eyes.

And his heart just...breaks.