Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,248

of small villages being entirely wiped out over night, houses found empty and bloody with no sign of the Fae who had once lived there.

I suspected him of course. He'd marched squadrons of his so-called tame Nymphs up there to counter the threat and I didn't trust that one bit. But the attacks seemed to come at random. Little towns all over the place were struck out of nowhere. I thought it was strange that none of the Fae living in any of the destroyed towns had ever even managed to get a phone call out, but without any survivors to ask, it was impossible to understand what the reason for that could be. And Father certainly had very little interest in discussing it with me. There had been next to no newspaper coverage on any of it either which stank of conspiracy to me, but there wasn’t much I could do unless we managed to get a lead on a town when it was being attacked so that we could go there and figure out what was doing it. Gabriel was looking out for information with The Sight, but he hadn’t seen anything useful yet. And as it wasn’t affecting anyone he knew closely there was little chance of him seeing what was going on, especially while he was watching so many other things closer to home.

I wanted to head up to one of the destroyed towns and investigate it, but so far between classes, the obligations Father put on me, my research with Orion and the Nymph hunts we were still sneaking out on whenever we got the chance, I hadn't been able to find the time.

I spotted a white Wolf racing through the trees close to King's Hollow and tucked my wings as I dove from the sky to intercept him.

I was silent as I shot towards the ground and the moment Seth bounded out into a grassy clearing, I reached out and plucked him from the field in my talons.

Seth yelped in surprise as he was hoisted off of the ground and I snorted a Dragon laugh as he began to buck and kick before sinking his teeth into my foot.

I almost dropped him, lurching towards the ground as I scrambled to keep my grip and he shifted in my hold so that he slid between my talons in Fae form and used his air magic to land safely on the hillside below.

I circled around before landing too and I shifted back at the edge of the clearing, shooting him a taunting grin.

"You wanna go?" he called out in a challenge, thumping his chest like a dudebro who had sunk too many beers and wanted to fight everyone in the vicinity.

"You wanna wrestle me naked?" I teased as I stalked towards him through the long grass which brushed around my waist and he smirked as his gaze moved down my body for a moment.

"I mean...I've had worse offers in my life."

"Let's just eat first," I suggested. "I prefer to do my ass kicking on a full stomach."

"Race you back to the Hollow then?" Seth didn't give me the chance to reply before he took off into the trees and I cursed him as I took chase.

The moment I stepped out of the clearing, I knocked against an air shield and barked a laugh as I almost fell back on my ass before blasting it down with fire magic and tearing after him.

The asshole sent vines to trip me, rocks bursting out of the ground in my path then a huge hole tore open in the ground beneath me, my gut lurching as I fell.

I managed to cast water beneath me before I could hit the bottom of the pit and I cast a bridge of it above the ground, running on the liquid as I spotted Seth's bare ass just about to reach the entrance to the Hollow.

A flick of my wrist set an explosion of fire to life right in front of him and as he flinched back, using air to steal the oxygen from it, I knocked him from his feet with a blast of water from his right. He howled as he was washed away through the trees and I laughed as I charged over my water bridge and made it to the door.

I reached out to wrench it open and my fist slammed against solid air again, my knuckles crunching at the impact. I growled as I attacked the shield with fire