Chapter 76
Aurora
The buses rolled through the academy gates just as the clock struck nine.
The familiar stone walls came into view, towers catching the pale morning light. Students immediately stirred awake, the lazy Sunday energy settling over everyone like a blanket. The engines rumbled low before finally sighing to a stop in the courtyard.
I stretched, my back stiff from sitting for hours, and nudged Mira, who had her hoodie pulled tight over her face again. “We’re here,” I murmured.
She groaned, peeling the hood back just enough to squint at me. “I swear, if I smell pine trees again in the next month, I’m dropping out.”
That made me laugh, shaking my head as I reached for my bag under the seat. The bus doors hissed open, and one by one, students shuffled out, voices low and tired.
The air outside was crisp, sharp with that late-autumn chill. The courtyard was quiet in the way it always was on Sundays, professors standing nearby to supervise but looking just as exhausted as the rest of us.
Mira bumped into my side as we headed toward the dorms. Behind us, Riven and Lira dragged their bags along, muttering about how unfair it was that classes were starting up again tomorrow.
“Don’t say that out loud,” I told them, tugging my bag higher onto my shoulder. “You’ll jinx it.”
Selene peeled away with Alex almost immediately, their voices trailing toward the east wing. The four of us—me, Mira, Riven, and Lira—headed for our own building.
The dorms looked almost peaceful in the pale light, ivy crawling up the stone, the windows fogging faintly from warmth inside. The heavy door groaned when we pushed it open, and the quiet heat wrapped around us instantly.
Inside, footsteps echoed along the hallways as other students trudged upstairs.
By the time we reached our room, Mira practically collapsed on her bed, face-up this time. “Tell me again why they thought team bonding had to mean hiking half the forest?”
Riven gave a snort and tossed her boots off. “Because they hate us.”
Lira rolled her eyes but set her bag neatly by her bed. “You’re both acting like we survived some life-or-death mission. It was one night in the woods.”
“Yeah, with riddles, running around in the dark, and mosquitoes the size of my head,” Mira shot back, covering her face with her arm.
Their voices filled the room, light and familiar, grounding me in a way I didn’t realize I’d been craving.
I let my bag slide off my shoulder and sat down on my bed. The trip already felt like it had blurred together—long walks, challenges, the woods swallowing us whole. And then, all the other stuff.
Kael.
Zayn.
I swallowed, my chest tightening, but I shoved the thoughts aside, focusing on the sound of Mira sighing dramatically, on Riven curling up with her blanket, on the scratch of Lira’s pen against her notebook.
It was Sunday. No classes, no professors.
Just a quiet day to breathe.
And with that thought, I sank back against my pillows, let my eyes slip closed, and for the first time since stepping on the bus, let myself rest.
The days seemed to vanish before I noticed. Mornings melted into each other, lectures stacking up in a haze of scribbled notes and restless cups of coffee, the routine carrying me forward almost on autopilot.
Then, finally, exam results came in.
I’d been chewing my nails all week waiting for them, convinced I’d missed something huge or blanked on an answer I didn’t even realize. But when I opened the paper, my chest loosened all at once.
I passed.
Thank god.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough—and for a 'human' in a place like this, that was already more than I’d hoped for. Freshman year was mostly theory anyway, lots of reading and memorizing, less about proving yourself with actual magic or shifting. Sophomores had to deal with practicals, and just the thought of that made my stomach knot.
I pushed open the door to my room after lunch, still chewing on the last bite of bread I’d stuffed in my mouth on the way upstairs. Lunch had been quiet—just me at one of the corner tables while everyone else scattered with their own friends or schedules. My roommates had all had different classes today, so it was just easier that way.
The dorm felt unusually still when I stepped inside. I tossed my bag onto my bed and had just started to unbutton my jacket when the door banged open so hard it hit the wall with a thud.
Mira, Lira, and Riven spilled inside like a little storm cloud of chatter and laughter, voices overlapping as they kicked off their boots and threw themselves onto their beds.
“Rory!!” Mira practically sang, crossing the room in two long steps to wrap me in one of her bone-crushing hugs.
I stumbled back a little but laughed, hugging her anyway. “What’s going on?”
“We fucking aced those exams!” she said, bouncing back with a grin. “You?”
I rubbed the back of my neck, suddenly a little self-conscious. “I wouldn’t say I aced them… but I passed.”
“That’s the same thing,” Mira said immediately, waving off my hesitation. “As long as you passed, you survived.”
I smiled, a little warmth creeping in my chest at her certainty.
“But that’s not even the important part right now,” Lira cut in, practically vibrating as she leaned against her bedframe with a grin that was way too wide to be casual.
I raised my eyebrow, already bracing myself. “Okay… so what’s the big thing?”
Lira drew out the moment, eyes sparkling as she looked between us before blurting, “We have two great fucking news!”
Mira clapped her hands like a kid at a birthday party. Riven snorted from where she was untying her boots, but she was clearly trying not to smile too.
I crossed my arms, playing along. “Well, don’t keep me waiting.”
Lira couldn’t hold it in anymore. “We’re going on the academy ski trip!” she squealed, bouncing onto her bed.
I blinked. “Skiing? Isn’t it, like, way too early for that?”
She rolled her eyes dramatically, tossing her hair over her shoulder like I was the clueless one. “Not now, silly. In two months. A whole ten days in the mountains. Snow, cabins, hot chocolate, actual fun instead of just books and lectures—we can’t wait!”
Mira flopped onto my bed with a grin, nudging me with her shoulder. “Can you imagine all of us on skis? This is either going to be the best trip of our lives… or the most embarrassing.”
Riven finally cracked a smile, her voice dry as ever. “Probably both.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “So… what’s the second great news?” I asked, shifting my gaze between the three of them.
Selene wasn’t here—obviously—since she practically lived in Alex’s dorm now. At this point, I was starting to wonder if she even remembered she had a bed in here.
Lira’s grin widened like she’d been waiting for me to ask. She leaned forward, clasping her hands dramatically. “First, a question.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Oh no.”
“Do you love us?” she asked sweetly, tilting her head like she already knew the answer.
I blinked at her. “What kind of—”
“Answer the question,” she cut me off, raising a hand like she wouldn’t take any excuses.
I groaned, but I couldn’t stop the small smile tugging at my mouth. “Of course I love you.”
Lira smirked, satisfied, then turned her head toward Mira like she was passing the baton. “Your turn.”
Mira sat up straighter on my bed, her eyes lighting up. She pointed toward my desk, where that battered old Latin book had been sitting for weeks, taunting me every time I looked at it. “So…” she started, dragging the word out. “We might’ve found the solution to your little book over there.”
My eyes darted to the book and back to her, my heartbeat kicking up a notch. “Wait—what?”