Page 30 of Eat. Prey. Love. (Apex Academy Capers #5)
Rennie was so excited I couldn’t help but smile; that alone made me want to reward Snacksize for asking him to help her with her project. However, by the next morning, that changed when her best friends showed up to invade our space with cameras. The badger is filming some sort of avant garde documentary of daily life of arts students for his final project and he’s using the giggly bear and our girl as his stars.
Ra, help me keep my dragon in check as he flits around filming for the next eight weeks.
“Dollybear, tell us about your jury for ballet. Since we’ve been left to our own devices as transfers, we all have to ‘figure it out.’ In layman’s terms, that means completing year-long assignments that require partners despite all our fellow students being committed since the Fall. Correct?”
I arch a brow, not looking up from my tablet as I eat. That question is loaded, and it will be viewed by a hell of a lot of people, so I’m curious to hear what she says. When she started at Apex, she would have been politic to keep it from getting to her shitty parents. But now…?
“It’s disgraceful, Rufus. None of the transfers had an option the first semester after Apex was destroyed, nor did they have one coming here this semester. We’ve been uprooted twice for ‘security reasons,’ yet we are being made to feel like intruders and set up to fail.”
I’ll be damned; listen to our girl go.
Cori nods, her rainbow curls bouncing as she holds up a pattern she’s working on. “No one was sent to this hoity-toity arts school that didn’t qualify for their majors, but the staff and students act as though we cheated to get a place. I find it both ridiculous and demeaning, especially for those of us who were attending the most elite college in the world previously.”
My lips curve up as she sniffs, her affect completely different from her normal, down-to-earth persona. Rufus explained that he’s filming this in bursts, creating small stories that seem like they’re not related until the larger plot line ties together at the end. He wants to make it flow like that human crime movie, and while I think the idea has merit, ‘Eleven Short Films About l’Academie des crocs y griffes’ is probably going to ruffle feathers.
“Cut!” The badger pulls the camera back, looking gleefully wicked as he blows a kiss to the girls. “Perfect, my darlings. We’re going to make those idiots squirm with this docu-drama. From exposé bits to pulling back the curtain, I’m sure it will get into indie festivals without a second thought.”
“Rufus, are you sure you want them to sink on this thirty-five millimeter ship with you?” I chuckle as Felix snaps his paper down, his expression stern. “They could be flunked on their own performances and projects for being part of it.”
“ Mais non, mon tigre ! Films go last in juries every year since forever—I checked. They want all the students to be the audience for them, so the other disciplines finish beforehand.”
Fitz bounces in, his energy palpable as he looks at us. “You slowpokes are killing me. It’s time for practice, Baby Girl. Z is gonna skin me if we don’t hustle our buns to the field.”
Dolly rolls to her feet gracefully, giving her shorter friend a hand to get out of the deeply cushioned couch. She walks over to the counter, kissing both Chess and Rennie on the cheek while they clean the cookware from breakfast. The cheetah pauses his work as she comes to Felix, murmuring in his ear and hugging him from behind. When she turns to come my way, Chess hands her a chilled water bottle and a handful of packed snack containers to shove in the big bag Fitz is checking.
“Hey, big guy,” she says as I smile at her. “Crazypants is taking me to practice, but afterward, we can all meet and decide which lead to follow this afternoon. Keep them focused, mm?”
“Always,” I rumble as she nuzzles my jaw. “Show those other preds who you are, lunchable. Just like you did in that statement earlier.”
Her bright grin makes my chest flutter with love and she winks before she bounces away to hand Fitz the supplies from Chess. “Definitely. Coco, Ru-Ru? Let’s blow this popsicle stand. I’m ready for my badass bunny close-up.”
The badger gives me a feral grin. “Don’t worry; I’ll give you stuffed shirts a copy of the B-Reel of her taking some dumbass down. Free spank bank material, coming up.”
Again, Ra save me from murdering my future mate’s besties—she’d never forgive me.
Once they’re gone, I clear the rest of the counter, helping Chess get the kitchen finished. He’s whistling happily and it makes me realize that while we’re all grumpy bastards still, we’ve definitely stopped being morose assholes. Felix was the most noticeable change, but even Rennie doesn’t stay up in the tower brooding as much. We’re functioning adults—mostly—and Dolly is the integral piece of that change.
“What’s going on while our girl is at practice?” I ask them curiously. I know what we’re doing when she returns—our first campus exploration based on whichever leads we choose from the research we’ve been translating.
Felix puts his documents down, scratching his chin. “Fitz has already broken into Asani and the birdie bitch’s offices. He’s got micro-cams placed, so we should work on finding out more about the other Council plants here.”
“There’s four of us, so we could split up,” Chess says as he dries his hands. “I think it’s important to check out the Voice teacher and probably the chick from her class with our moron cousin. They seem like the next imminent threats.”
Nodding, I consider his suggestion. Dolly seemed most bothered by the Russian and the La Porte girl, but the wolf girl related to Gregor worries me as well. “I’m concerned about the canine from her Games team, too. Gregor was a sadistic bastard and everyone from his line of wolves and pack were taught to follow that path. He ended up at Apex simply to keep him in line when he ran afoul of the Council wolves. ”
“Aubrey is right about that, I believe. The O’Learys run the most dominant wolf line and their battles with Gregor’s pack ended in his exile. I remember when he was sent to Apex, mes amis .” Renard puts the last pot in the drying rack, joining our planning at the bar. “He was angry, violent, and many wolves still pledged their loyalty to him despite the O’Learys victory. Anyone still holding that torch after Fitz killed him is dangerously obsessed.”
The Raj sighs, steepling his hands in front of his face for a moment while he thinks. Everything is quiet for a moment, then he blows out a breath. “Okay. Then I suggest Aubrey goes to the staff housing to see if he can snoop on Antonovich. No one expects him to be social, so they won’t stop to chat. Chess, you will come with me to check out the Games wolf, and Renard, you can take the La Porte girl. Does that work?”
I ponder his split briefly, then nod. “Yes. I think I would stick out far too much in the student areas and my dragon despises small talk. You three will handle that much better than I.”
“You’re underestimating me again, Felix,” Chess grumbles. “I don’t need a protector.”
“No, but everyone else needs one if they upset you, Chester,” Rennie says with a smirk. “Dolly and Fitz would annihilate the entire campus if someone so much as broke one of your claw tips. We don’t need them to go on a rampage, oui?”
He blushes a bright red, looking pleased and embarrassed at the same time. “I suppose that’s true. We’ve seen what happens when her bunny is allowed to go completely feral.”
“I’d prefer to avoid mass decapitations, yes,” Felix retorts drily. “Not that the rest of us wouldn’t be angry, but I shudder to think of what will happen when the ‘Twisted Terrors’ go full tilt. I’m not sure the world is ready for that, much less this cushy school.”
Suddenly, it hits me and I burst out laughing. They all look at me as if I’m insane, and I wave my hand, unable to get control of the humor yet. It takes me a minute or two, but once I can speak again, I take off my glasses to wipe the tears off. “It’s absolutely ridiculous and perfect.”
“What is?” Rennie asks, his expression confused. “We don’t get the joke, mon amour .”
I shake my head, looking at them ruefully. “Your twin is a world renown psycho whose name is whispered to pred kids to scare them—even in exile.”
“Uh, yeah, big guy. We know that.” Felix waits, then adds, “Not new information and not hysterical laughter material, though.”
“Despite being the exiled Kings and the twin of that guy… we all just agreed our twenty-year-old girlfriend is equally as terrifying as him and we worry about them going on a murderous rampage.” I start laughing again as I imagine it. “And she has rainbow hair.”
Chess blinks, then snickers softly, prompting Rennie to join and finally, Felix cracks a grin. “Princess may look like rainbow Barbie, but she’s fierce as hell, and she gets it from that bitch who gave birth to her. I think she was pretty much raised to be Fitz’s perfect rampage partner, Aubrey.”
Snorting, I shrug. “I know, but… I mean, for fuck’s sake. When people figure out she’s not the fluffy bunny they expect her to be… It’s going to be hysterical, Raj. Together, we span centuries of experience and savagery, but we’re more afraid of her ire than the assholes running this joint.”
“Gargoyles have a healthy fear of the females in our clutches, Flames. They are fierce, unyielding, and will destroy our enemies in swaths of rage. Perhaps the rest of you are simply catching on to our ways.” Renard gives us a smug look, his eyes dancing as he flicks his tail in the air. “ Ma petite lapin is formidable, but has retained her heart—something her disagreeable mother has not done. Whatever she chooses to do in this brewing war will be just; do not worry. ”
“Oh, I know that, Rennie,” I reply. “But the people underestimating her have forgotten where she comes from because she’s a rabbit. Fitz, for all his enormous faults, never gave a single shit about that. Keeping the people they like safe is extremely important if we want to keep the genie in the bottle.”
“Agreed.” Felix slaps his hands on his thighs, rising to his feet. “The best way to do that is to get whatever dirt or information we can on the people who publicly clash with Dolly. If we can rule them out as clout chasers, we can focus on the shit we can’t see.”
I look over at my lover pointedly. “Have you figured out where the nests are for certain?”
“ Oui ,” he says. “But they seem to be inactive at the moment.”
“Inactive?” I frown. “I don’t know much about the damn bloodsuckers, granted, but I’ve never heard of inactive nests that have a strong enough presence for you to feel them on the way into the school.”
Rennie shrugs. “They certainly live in that forest area and their scents and marks are upon the building I believe they inhabit. However, they are not in the building now. Their coven may be traveling or hiding until we are no longer paying attention.”
“Great, disappearing vampires,” Chess groans. “Yet another bullshit problem that probably ties to the similarly disappearing Fae.”
“When you sit at the top, Chester, there are always people waiting to knock you off the throne.” He rolls his eyes at me, but I’m serious. “It’s true. Felix, Rennie, and I are perfect examples of that theory. Our girl is poised to do or be something important; we know that from the interest the damn magic fuckers have in her. So there will be problems and all we can do is knock them off your board one by one, even if they keep coming.”
That is, until Dolly comes into whatever greatness they expect, and then, all bets are off.