Page 41 of Messenger of Death (Ouroboros Academy #2)

W e picked the guys up in town and headed back towards the academy. Liam had a cup of ice with him he kept sucking on and he was shifting in his seat. I was dying to know what they did, so I asked.

“Liam had an idea to get our testicles waxed,” Khalid growled.

“What?”

“Worth it,” Liam slurred.

“Liam and I got waxed while Khalid got his nails done. You weren’t back yet, so Liam dragged us across the street and got his tongue pierced.”

“Why’d you do that?”

“Yeti pubes and eating pussy,” Liam lisped.

“Um, okay, but none of you have Yeti pubes, so I’m confused.”

“Shh,” Liam said, pressing his finger over my lips. “Just be grateful.”

“If you say so. We need to grab Headmaster Mykene, Professor Kane, and Professor Gefn when we get back.”

They knew better than to ask what I’d heard.

I couldn’t talk about it in front of the ride share driver.

We waited until we got back. Khalid and Liam went to get Professor Kane.

Lucian picked me up and used his vampire speed to get me to Headmaster Mykene’s office, then zipped off to get Ivar, Ari, Alexios, and Professor Gefn.

When we were all seated, I launched into everything about Harami and Hemlock. No one spoke until I was done.

“So, the fairy elders haven’t been able to narrow Harami down to a single pantheon, so I’m not sure we have much to go on.”

Professor Kane pushed her glasses up her nose.

“Harami means sinner, dishonest person, or illegitimate child in some languages, but it’s also a type of candle in others.”

“It’s also a kind of meat served at a Japanese BBQ,” Liam said. It sounded like he had a mouth full of marbles.

“My primary language is Arabic,” Khalid said. “It basically means sinner.”

“Yes, but weren’t the old gods famous for having kids out of wedlock?” Ivar asked. “If we can all portal and Harami was banished several times, he could have picked up other languages.”

“Good point,” Professor Gefn said. “We were under the impression that the gods truly believed their origin stories, but this also goes back to Kallista’s theory about the gods being from another realm.

They could have just made those up when they got here and been fully aware of each other.

They could have known other languages, too. ”

“That’s just making this more complicated,” Lucian said. “I’m finding it hard to believe two people hopped in that pool and woke up. Is it possible to wake up without that pool? Maybe they were awake before they got here.”

“Interesting theory. There are other pools around the globe. They either have schools like this built around them or they are protected and on tribal land. I suppose it’s possible to accidentally end up in one of those pools if you’re trespassing, but you’d have a hard time not getting caught.”

If you were a hiking influencer, I’d imagine you’d make a ton of money sneaking onto to tribal lands, both from people calling you a total shit and people who kiss your ass no matter what you did.

I was leaning more and more towards Lola being the reincarnation of Hemlock.

Now that I had the void explained to me, the way it felt when she walked into a room was just so obvious.

Lucian didn’t react when she was covered in blood and I didn’t think all of that was because she was dirty and he had exceptional control.

I wouldn’t have blamed him if he tried to bite her. He was brand new, and she was covered in blood. It wasn’t just the blood. It was the magic in the blood that fed Lucian and he couldn’t feel or smell any of it from her.

All of these people had been around Lola.

Ari, Ivar, and Alexios briefly shared a tent with her.

Headmaster Mykene had her alone in her office just as many times as she’d had all of us.

Professor Gefn and Professor Kane had her in several classes by now.

Lola was fairly rude and made her presence known in all her classes.

All three of my boyfriends had been around her and Lola was all over Liam in potions.

Yet none of them were suggesting Lola was the reincarnation of Hemlock.

I was fairly certain I knew how all of this went down.

Lola, and whoever Harami was, were awake before they got here.

Lola snuck off and Harami was the one who beat her to throw everyone off her scent.

Whoever Harami was, they were lying low.

They didn’t need some big ruse because they didn’t channel the void and didn’t give off feelings like Lola did.

I seemed to be the only one thinking this, and I didn’t want to bring it up because Lola had done a damned good job making sure no one would even consider her as one of the Forsaken Ones.

I was falling for all three of these men and I knew they’d protect me no matter what.

I’d do the same for them. They might believe me if I said Lola was Hemlock, but Lucian already looked at her messages and didn’t find anything.

Her phone died in the first attack and she didn’t get a new one until recently.

None of her newer messages were suspicious.

She’d been organizing meetups with groups of students and fighting with Mazen, mostly.

I literally had nothing. Even the adults didn’t suspect her. They all said when the Morrigan had a feeling, they’d listen.

Exactly how far would that extend if I pointed a finger at one of the first victims?