“As Mr Draconis clearly isn’t going to show up, will you please pair with Miss Callisto today?” Professor Titan’s voice caught my attention and I turned to see who he was talking to.

My gaze snagged on Gabriel as he pushed himself up out of his seat at the back of the classroom where he was sitting alone. His lab partner had obviously decided to cut class too which meant I was about to be gifted an hour in his company. I turned away again as he walked towards me, glancing down at my morning horoscope and wondering what it meant for the hundredth time.

Good Morning Libra.

The stars have spoken about your day!

Today you may be tempted to tread the line between curiosity and foolishness.

Beware of testing the bonds of a relationship for selfish gain, but if you find yourself in stormy waters then honesty is always the best policy.

I glanced up at the clock, frowning at the time and wondering where the hell Ryder was. It was twenty past and I got the feeling Titan was right, he wasn’t going to show.

I hadn’t seen him since the club and I’d been more than a little concerned about coming face to face with him again for the first time. But now that he hadn’t shown up, I was starting to worry.

I pushed out of my seat before Gabriel made it to Ryder’s usual spot beside me and shot across the room towards Leon, coming to rest perched on the edge of his desk.

“Hey, little monster,” he said with a grin, leaning forward so that he could brush his fingers along the side of my thigh. “Did you wanna ask Titan to pair you with me instead?”

“No,” I replied with a shrug, glancing back at Gabriel as he dropped into Ryder’s seat. He was frowning over at us, no doubt thinking up new things to say to try and keep me away from Leon, but he wasn’t going to have any luck with that. Being with Leon felt like sitting in the rays of the sun on a summer’s day and I had no intention of giving him up any time soon. If ever.

“So why do I get the pleasure of your company then?” Leon asked, sliding his hand up into my lap and taking my hand.

I smiled as he wound his fingers between mine and blew a bubble with my gum, the scent of cherries lingering on the air as it popped.

“Have you seen Ryder this morning?” I asked, running my thumb across the back of his hand.

“Don’t tell me the only reason you came over here was to ask about that Pumbaa lover,” Leon groaned, leaning back in his chair with a sigh.

“It’s not the only reason,” I replied, reaching out to run my fingers through his long hair with my free hand.

The Mindy beside him inhaled sharply and I couldn’t help but look her way as she stared at me without blinking for way too long.

Leon purred like a cat as he leaned into my touch and I smiled as my attention moved back to him.

“But you still want my answer, right?” he asked with a knowing smile.

“I just need to talk to him about something,” I replied.

“Fine.” Leon leaned back and took his Atlas from his blazer pocket, quickly tapping out a message.

“I didn’t know you and Ryder were on messaging terms,” I teased.

“We’re not. I just put the Mindys on high alert. If any of them have seen him today then they’ll let me know.”

His Atlas started pinging repeatedly until Titan walked past us and cleared his throat irritably. Leon silenced it as he looked down at the replies and shrugged before holding it out for me to see.

Oriane Steiner: I’m going to hunt him down now!

Bethan Looms: He wasn’t at breakfast but I’ll search every nook and cranny until I locate him!

Brandi Kneifel: I can draw tattoos all over my body and do a good impression of him if that would help?

Abigale Cole: I’m going to the roof of the Vega Dorms to scream his name to the clouds!

Jess Peters: I’ll leave class now and head down to the Lunar part of town to find him!

“So no one’s seen him,” I said, handing his Atlas back with an uncomfortable feeling writhing in the pit of my stomach.

“I’ll let you know when they do,” Leon offered.

“Thanks.” I slipped off of his table but he didn’t release my hand, tugging me down so that he could steal a kiss.

I sighed breathily as I leaned into him, pushing my free hand into his silky hair for a far too brief moment before I pulled away again.

“So is it my turn with you tonight?” he asked with a grin that had me biting my lip.

“Maybe,” I replied before shooting away.

I dropped back into my usual chair and blew a lock of lilac hair out of my eyes as it settled from my speed. It fell straight back down onto my face and Gabriel leaned forward to tuck it behind my ear.

He pulled back again instantly and I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why do you do shit like that?”

Gabriel shrugged and I rolled my eyes at him.

“Of course you can’t just be honest with me,” I muttered as I flipped through my textbook, searching for the page on engorgement potions.

I could feel his eyes on me but I ignored him as I continued my hunt.

“Because it feels natural to look after you,” he murmured, leaning close to my ear. “So natural that sometimes I forget you don’t want me to.”

I pursed my lips and looked around at him. “I only want you to be honest with me,” I said as I looked into his dark eyes.

“Okay then. In my honest opinion, I think you need to stop hanging around douchebags like Leon Night and Dante Oscura,” he said.

“Well, in my honest opinion, I think that as a person who has no friends, you shouldn’t be giving me advice on how to make mine,” I replied.

“Do you kiss all of your friends like that?” Gabriel growled like he seriously thought his Elysian Mate crap held some kind of sway over my actions.

“Yeah. But you wouldn’t know, because I don’t like you.” I got to my feet and headed away to gather the ingredients we needed for the potion.

“Everything alright, Elise?” Titan called as I passed his desk.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” I replied and he gave me an encouraging smile.

“Let me help you with that, buddy!” Eugene cried enthusiastically as he practically ran towards me.

“Help with what?” I asked with a frown as I hooked a cauldron from the pile at the bottom of the supply cupboard ready to fill with the ingredients we needed for the potion.

“I can get your supplies for you!” he gushed, snatching things from the shelves and half throwing them into my cauldron for me.

“Erm…thanks,” I said, not entirely sure why he was so keen to help me out, but I guessed I had agreed to be friends with him so maybe this was his way of being friendly. “So…how are you?”

“Me?” Eugene squeaked, looking up at me with wide eyes.

“Yeah, don’t friends ask how friends are?”

“They do! And I’m doing okay, thanks. I’ve had a bit of an incident with my socks but the rash has mostly cleared up now and I have asked Ferdinand not to use them like that anymore.”

“You’ve lost me, Eugene,” I admitted. “Who’s Ferdinand and what did he do to your socks?”

Eugene glanced around like he didn’t want to be overheard before leaning close to explain. “He’s my roommate and he’s a Griffin. I kept getting these really sore, itchy rashes on my feet and I couldn’t figure out why. But then one day I caught him in the act.”

“What act?” I asked.

“He was…using my socks to wipe his ass. And you know how Griffin turd is super corrosive…”

I clamped my teeth shut as I tried not to laugh. I really fucking tried but I didn’t quite manage to stop the snigger which found its way past my lips. “I hope you kicked his ass for that,” I said as he blushed beetroot.

“Well…he apologised…kind of. I mean, what he actually said was that he was sorry my socks felt so good in his ass crack…”

I burst out laughing, slapping a hand over my mouth to try and stop myself. “I’m sorry Eugene but that’s pretty fucking funny. You know, in a hideously disgusting way. But you need to teach that asshole a lesson or I think you’re going to keep on having itchy feet and shitty socks.”

Eugene twitched a smile too and even laughed a little. “Maybe I should challenge him over it…” he said, sounding pretty damn unsure about that.

“Hell yeah you should,” I agreed. “You told me yourself, you’re more powerful than everyone thinks. So Fae up and show that gross Griffin who’s boss.”

Eugene’s smile widened a little and I could have sworn his spine straightened a bit too. This kid needed some serious attitude adjustments, but maybe with a confidence boost or two he’d be able to get past his self-doubt and learn to claim his place in society like every other Fae.

“Whoops, you’ve only got one swelling stone there, Dipper,” Leon said loudly as he moved to join our conversation, tossing four extra stones into Eugene’s cauldron. “You need more help engorging than the rest of us, so better add a few more.”

“I don’t need extra help engorging,” Eugene squeaked, raising his chin as he looked up at Leon.

“Are you trying to say you’ve got a swollen dipper in your pants already?” Leon asked, slapping an arm around Eugene’s shoulders. “Because I know you’re hot for my girl but I really don’t think you can handle her.”

“Leon, don’t be an ass,” I warned as Eugene’s blush spread right up to his white hairline.

“I’m not judging, little monster,” he assured me. “It’s been suggested that I spilled engorging potion on my lap too, due to the unbelievably enormous size of my dick. Do you wanna help me check?”

I snorted a laugh, pushing his arm off of Eugene so that the poor boy could escape.

“I have been wondering why the hell it was so hard all the time,” I teased. “I just assumed you were really into learning.”

“Nah, little monster. I’m really into you. But if you wanna play with this potion when it’s done then maybe we could find out what happens when it gets poured over a pair of perfect tits?”

“If they’re so perfect then why would you want them to be bigger?” I asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

“You can never have too much of a good thing,” Leon replied with a grin.

“Is that so?”

Leon shifted closer to me and Eugene took the opportunity to escape, hurrying back to his desk.

I backed up, reaching behind me to dip my fingers into the pot of crushed pink whisper leaves on the shelf behind me as Leon prowled closer.

He caught my chin and pressed a kiss to my lips and as I gave in to his demand, I traced my stained fingers over his white shirt, painting a pair of full breasts onto it complete with really big nipples.

“I dunno, Leon,” I breathed against his mouth, glancing down as I slipped away. “I think maybe they’re a little too big now.”

Leon’s gaze dipped to his stained shirt and he barked a laugh as he spotted my artwork. I smirked at him then shot away before he could catch me.

By the time I’d made it back to my desk, Gabriel had clearly decided that he was done talking to me and was busily typing away on his Atlas.

I leaned back in my chair and glanced over to see what he was doing and frowned as I found him scrolling through a missing persons site.

“What are you looking at?” I asked curiously.

“Hunting for the boy who was killed in the woods. If someone’s missing him then they might have listed him on this site.”

Gabriel didn’t look at me, but I found myself staring at him. I couldn’t work out his angle. He insisted on lying to me about the thing I cared most about in the world. And yet he was still going out of his way to help me. Time and again. He didn’t doubt anything I said and he seemed to be almost as invested in this investigation as I was.

I reached for the ingredients and started up the work on our potion. He may have been confusing as fuck. But I really did get the impression he was on my side.

***

By the time class ended, Leon still hadn’t gotten word about Ryder from his Mindys. He didn’t show up for Tarot class either and by lunchtime I was growing anxious.

It wasn’t like him to skip class. He cared about his education, about learning to harness his powers and make sure he was the strongest Fae he could be.

Something was wrong. And in my gut I knew I wouldn’t be able to sit through another lesson until I figured out what.

I pulled my Atlas from my bag and shot him a message as I walked down the corridor in Altair Halls. The gothic building was alive with the noise of students moving between their classes, but I zoned them out as I stared down at my screen.

Elise:

Hey…

It was pretty lame, but I didn’t think I’d ever actually messaged him before. He just didn’t really seem like the messaging kind. I could almost hear him asking why the hell people would bother doing something so normal.

The two ticks at the bottom of the screen didn’t illuminate to let me know he’d read the message and I let out a huff of frustration.

If the snake doesn’t want to come to the mouse, then maybe it’s time I strapped on my war whiskers.

The rest of the students headed for the Cafaeteria to collect their lunch, but I headed straight out to the Acrux Courtyard.

I kept going until I reached the bleachers where the Lunar Brotherhood always congregated and paused as I found them entirely deserted.

I chewed on my lip, looking around in case any of them might have been headed this way, but there wasn’t a single member in sight.

I didn’t even know if he’d come back to the academy at all after last night, but there was one other obvious place to check out.

I shot toward the Vega Dorms before I could chicken out and pulled open the door, intending to head straight to Ryder’s room on the ground floor. But just as I took a step into the hallway, the sound of a door opening caught my attention and I turned the other way instead.

Beyond the stairwell was a door which led down into the maintenance rooms beneath the building where the boilers were housed and I caught sight of Ryder just before he closed it behind him again. Relief spilled over me as I saw that he was clearly okay, but it was quickly followed by suspicion as I wondered what the hell was so important that he’d skipped classes and was now skulking off into deserted corridors beneath the school.

I hesitated, wondering what the hell he was doing down there and the sneaky stalker in me pricked her ears as I tried to listen in on anything that was going on beyond that door.

Even with my Vampire hearing, I couldn’t detect a single sound beyond the door which was enough to let me know a silencing bubble had been cast.

It was probably a bad idea to follow Ryder Draconis down into the dark. But then I’d always been rather fond of a bad idea.

I shot forward and eased the door open just enough to slip inside. The heat of the pipes washed over me and I focused on my gifts and sharpened my eyesight so that I could descend the stone steps in the dark without needing to create a light with magic.

A soft amber glow drew me on and I placed a tight silencing bubble around myself to hide my movements as I sped towards it.

I kept going at the bottom of the stairs, through a long corridor lined with pipes and electrical wires before finally finding myself at the entrance to the boiler room. The light spilled out of the opening and I peeked around the corner at the wide space which housed the two enormous boilers.

It looked like every member of the Lunar Brotherhood was congregated inside, their attention fixed on Ryder who stood at the far side of the room talking to them.

I couldn’t hear a word he was saying due to the silencing bubble that had been cast around the room and I cursed in frustration as I tried to figure out what to do.

One of the huge boilers sat close to the entrance, the ever burning flames beneath it flaring with the orange light which had led me here.

Behind it, where a nest of pipes were gathered, a shadowy corner sat forgotten. We’d been doing work on illusion spells in Cardinal Magic and I was confident that I could create a basic cloaking spell to hide myself in shadow. All I had to do was get into that spot and put it in place without one of the members of the most bloodthirsty gang in Alestria spotting me.

I must be fucking insane.

Everyone in the room had their gaze fixed on Ryder and their backs to me. If I stayed low, I’d be hidden by the crowd and my silencing bubble would conceal my passage.

I didn’t overthink it beyond that and quickly sped into the room.

I moved as fast as I could before coming to a halt in the shadows behind the boiler and throwing my illusion up around me.

My heart was pounding with adrenaline and it took me a few moments to calm my breathing enough to focus on what was being said.

“If the Oscuras are descending into a civil war then why don’t we just let them fight it out? Let them spill as much of their own blood as they like and once either Felix or Inferno emerges as the victor, we strike at them then,” a girl suggested forcefully.

It was impossible for me to see most of the faces in the sea of Brothers but I could just see Ryder’s face between the crowd.

He scowled, his lips pursing just enough to let me know that the speaker had pissed him off with her question.

“Because I don’t want to wait. The Brotherhood don’t need to hesitate while our enemies weaken themselves. I want to go after Felix myself and I didn’t ask for your opinion on it,” he snarled.

Muttering broke out around the room, but it was swiftly silenced as Ryder released a deep rattle from the base of his chest.

“If anyone here is questioning my decision then you must be questioning my leadership. So why don’t you challenge me for my place if that’s the case?” he asked in a low voice.

The muttering died a quick death and silence fell so thick and fast that my ears practically popped with it.

I frowned as I looked at the determined set of Ryder’s jaw. He was willing to face down his own people over this, so it must have meant a hell of a lot to him. But why was he so hellbent on taking on Felix himself? I felt like I was missing a piece of information here and I itched to get my hands on it.

“No takers?” Ryder asked with a deadly hiss. “Why am I not surprised?”

Whatever Ryder’s reasoning, one thing was clear. He was the leader of his people and his word was law. I just wished I knew why he was so determined to deal with Felix himself. Because I had the feeling the answer ran a lot deeper than pride or Clan superiority.