I leaned my head back against the cool stone of the boulder, calculating how much to reveal. I kept my walls high by habit, a fortress of cold detachment that kept the world at a safe distance. But here, in this space I had shaped for her, the walls felt unnecessary.
“Pisces is mind magic, mostly. We don’t manipulate physical water, but more like mental currents and whatever substance makes up a person’s soul, I suppose. We manipulate emotions, perceptions, dreams.”
“Emotions?”
I didn’t miss the subtle tightening of her whole body.
“If we’re strong enough, yes. I can sense what people are feeling, and I can push or pull those emotions. Calm a panic attack, or incite a riot. I don’t use it, though. I find it... invasive and it makes me feel slimy. Stripping someone of their emotional autonomy is a violation I have no interest in committing.”
Her shoulders relaxed a fraction. “And the illusions? Like the ones in the training hall?”
“I can project images directly into someone’s visual cortex. Make them see their worst fears or their deepest desires. It’s highly effective in combat.” I paused, lifting a hand to let a small, glowing butterfly manifest from thin air, fluttering between usbefore dissolving into mist. “And then there’s dream-walking. But not all of us can do it. It requires a specific frequency of magic, a complete detachment from your own physical body.”
She watched the space where the butterfly had vanished. “Did your parents have the same abilities?”
The air in my lungs turned to ice, and the dreamscape around us flickered, the edge of the forest blurring into static for a fraction of a second before my iron-clad control snapped it back into place.
The phantom pain of the claws tearing down my cheek flared to life, a burning, agonizing itch that never went away. I stared out at the trees, my vision narrowing. I could smell the lavender. I could hear the roar of the bane, the sickening sound of my father’s chest being ripped open, my mother’s sightless eyes staring at the ceiling. The grief was a living, breathing monster inside me, locked behind a cage of calculated indifference. It hurt to think about them. It hurt to breathe.
Jupiter didn’t press. She didn’t offer apologies or sympathetic murmurs. She just sat there, waiting to see if I would retreat behind my walls or let her in.
I swallowed the ash in my throat, forcing the words past the blockade of my trauma. “My mother was able to dream-walk. She was a Pisces. But my father was a Scorpio.” I kept my eyes fixed on the horizon, unable to look at her. “They didn’t know which one I would manifest, but I ended up taking after my mum.”
“She must have been incredible, if she was anything like you.”
I didn’t say anything else. I couldn’t. If I opened my mouth, the raw, bleeding grief I fought every single day to conceal would spill out and drown us both.
Suddenly, the dreamscape shuddered.
The ground beneath our feet vibrated with a deep, roaring hum. The sky above began to crack, jagged lines of crimson bleeding through the illusion.
Jupiter gasped, clutching her chest as she doubled over. “They’re here,” she choked out, breathing heavily. “They’re pushing into my thoughts.”
The Nightfall Shield. They were in the village, just beyond the academy wards, and their proximity was turning the axis bond into a battering ram against Jupiter’s subconscious. One of them or maybe all of them, was trying very hard to get her attention.
“Jupiter, look at me,” I commanded, dropping to one knee beside her. I didn’t touch her—she was already overwhelmed by the invasive presence of four men trying to force their way into her mind.
“I can’t—it’s too loud,” she whispered, her fingers sinking into her hair. The dream-forest began to dissolve, replaced by the dark, suffocating stone of her Dominion dorm room. The nightmare was trying to reclaim her.
“Youcontrol this space,” I told her, channeling my magic, pushing a wave of absolute, glacial calm toward her. I didn’t manipulate her emotions, but I offered her a reservoir of tranquility to draw from. “Build the wall, Jupiter. Ice and steel. Shut them out.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, her breathing ragged. I watched the physical manifestation of her willpower as a massive, shimmering barrier of starlight erupted around us, violently repelling the crimson cracks in the sky. The pressure equalized. The suffocating weight lifted.
She opened her eyes, panting, her gaze locking onto mine. “Holy shit it worked… Thank you, Jamie, that was incredible.”
“You did the heavy lifting,” I said, doing everything in my physical power to keep myself from sweeping this girl into myarms and keeping her here with me. “The dream is destabilizing. You’re waking up.”
“Will you...” She hesitated, a vulnerability in her eyes that made my heart hammer against my ribs. “Will I see you at training?”
“I’ll be there,” I promised.
The dream shattered into a million pieces of light, and I was thrown backward into the void.
I woke up, my body jerking violently on the mattress. The cold air of my quarters in the Stardust dorm hit my sweat-dampened skin. I sat up, dragging a hand down my face, my fingers tracing the raised, jagged ridges of the scars that ruined my left cheek.
Gretchen let out a soft caw from her perch near the window, ruffling her iridescent feathers.
“I know,” I muttered to the bird, throwing my legs over the side of the bed. “I’m fucked.”
