Page 57 of Keeper of Death (Ouroboros Academy #1)
I t was weird, and a little fucked up. Everyone seemed to be expecting us when we stepped through the portal back to the castle, but no one got arrested. I didn’t even know how that worked in the magical world. Did you call the cops if someone hexed you? Did vampires get arrested if they bit you without asking? I needed to know the rules so I could break them discreetly.
“So, welcome to Ouroboros Academy. Sometimes, the trials go off the rails because a bunch of you get reincarnated for a reason and that reason is out there with you. Head to the dining hall and I’ll be meeting with your teams individually. Mr. O’Breen, why don’t you and your team go first?”
“I knew you missed me,” I said, winking at her. “I want my switchblade back.”
“Why do you want a knife when you have magic?”
“It’s like Squishmallows for psychopaths. Doris is my emotional support switchblade.”
“So, it’s generally against the rules to tell any of you who you are before you know, but in your case, I have to or you’re going to be confused. You’re one of the ancients. Your original was here when this planet was created and your reincarnations were various gods in different places.
“You were Cernunnos to the Celts and Pan to the Greeks. You were the original nature and fertility god, so you didn’t stay in one place. You went where you were needed. As a fertility god, you sired plenty of demigod children, so you can reincarnate literally anywhere.
“The Horned God is a total anarchist, so it makes sense I confused you with a trickster. He used to get reincarnated a lot. The last time he showed up, he thought the industrial revolution was a threat to nature and tried to stop it. When he failed, he said he wouldn’t come back until nature was going to die for good. And here you are.”
That made sense, but I had a very important question because I knew a little about Pan.
“I’m pretty sure I’m growing horns, but please tell me I’m not going to end up with goat legs. I look good in a speedo and it’s going to ruin that.”
“You can shift your lefts if you want, but you can also hide the horns once they come in.”
“Oh, no. I’m fully going to abuse having horns. It’s going to make head-butting people loads easier. Everyone loses in a headbutt unless you have horns.”
“The Horned God and Loki at the same time are going to be very trying. I’ve decided to try to keep the teams together, but pair you with an older student. Lucian, you asked for a single. It’s up to you if you want to keep the single or room with Liam, Khalid, and the student I’ve chosen.”
Lucian visibly shuddered.
“I wouldn’t mind Khalid, but I absolutely do not want to share a room with him and a stranger.”
“After I let you put your mouth all over my neck and suck? You wound me, Prince of Darkness.”
“I really do hate you.”
“One day, you’re going to love me more than drain hair.”
“Liam is exactly what I expected, knowing who he was, but you are not,” Headmaster Mykene said.
“If you’re going to start the Vlad hate, don’t. I’m not exactly thrilled.”
“No, it’s more of a vampire thing. If someone is disrespecting them, they make them stop.”
“Oh, I’m planning on it, just not with my fists.”
“I’ll respect you loads more when you start fighting back.”
“Um, I get the feeling Lucian could fuck you up way more with a Wi-Fi connection than with his fists,” Khalid said.
“Bring it on. I can’t make edibles or were-corgis, so I’ll need a game to keep me from getting bored.”
“How do you know Liam is an ancient, but you don’t know what when down when someone got beaten or disappeared?” Sage asked.
Yes, good question because I didn’t even have a chance to say anything, and it wasn’t totally obvious I was growing horns. It had just been a guess.
“So, you’ll learn this, but you can use a spelled mirror to watch areas that haven’t been protected against it. Your dorms and bathrooms have that protection and we’ll teach that to you, too. We were only watching the crystals at first because that was where all the action should have been. We didn’t know to try to get more mirrors and people watching everything until you started talking about it by the crystals.
“In other circumstances, you would have told me what you saw in your vision and any clues you might have figured out when you got back. But we were watching when you shared all that information with each other. It’s not ideal. Various supernatural races have their ways of telling if someone is lying, but with age comes experience. Someone might be telling the truth, but you can omit details to suit an agenda.”
“Shit. So, someone could be awake and be telling the truth about what they saw,” Khalid said. “They’d just leave out saying they know what it meant.”
“Which means if Mazen was the big bad, he would have said anything other than knowing he was Set because he knew how you would react,” Lucian said.
Khalid just grunted. Yeah, he was gunning for Mazen being the one doing this and I just didn’t think he was. He was vibrating with rage over someone hurting Lola and you just couldn’t fake that.
“Set is complicated,” Headmaster Mykene said. “Yes, his powers are things that can’t be controlled, but sometimes, they are needed. He was villainized much later in his life and some of it wasn’t exactly fair. He usually only gets reincarnated during times of strife and it always goes one of two ways. He’s a vital part of stopping it or he makes things worse. I don’t think Mazen has decided which way he’s going yet.”
I agreed. Khalid clearly didn’t. We’d have to work on that.
“Sage, I have a pretty good idea of who you are, but I could be wrong. It’s going to depend on when your familiar decides to show her face. Long after his original faded, one of the Horned God’s reincarnations bonded with another reincarnation. Your powers are completely different but related in a serious way. You were partners in crime for several reincarnations because you always managed to find each other. Of course, I could be wrong. Liam’s soul is as old as this planet and this is a new life.”
“Seriously? He’s the most immature, violent, jackass I’ve ever met,” Lucian said.
“I thought you hated me. It kinda sounds like you’re into me.”
“Did Liam and Lucian know each other in a previous life?” Sage asked. “They took an instant dislike to each other.”
“The Horned God is nature personified and you can’t control nature. He’s been a total anarchist in every life. None of Vlad’s reincarnations have been as violent as he was, despite several people hoping they would. From what I’ve been told, he liked things orderly, and most of his reincarnations do. Nature isn’t orderly, but the two were put together for a reason.”
“Nah, I don’t like him because he’s a gobshite who ate all our food and keeps snuggling Sage in his sleep.”
“Interesting,” Headmaster Mykene said.
“I think Lucian respects book smarts and hasn’t realized you need street smarts sometimes, too,” Khalid said.
“No, I know that, but he’s still an idiot.”
“Enough. You’re all connected to Sage, so you’re going to have to figure this out. We have enough going on without boy drama. Go eat something and charge your phones. I’ll be emailing your dorm assignments and roommates. It’s tradition to sing karaoke after this, but I don’t know if anyone is in the mood.”
Oh, I was in the mood. I had a girl to impress with a soulful rendition of The Devil Went Down to Georgia.