Page 1 of Zodiac Hybrids

The Plight of the Capricorn

Chapter 1

Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton—Rejection, rejection, rejection, rejection. I rolled over in my childhood bed with nothing but failure in my future. All I wanted was to make it into a good school with a strong focus on science and astronomy, yet even after years of community college, getting my Associates, and juggling a part time job at the observatory, I was still running into shut doors and disappointment. At twenty-two years old, with no real career prospects, no relationship, no friends, not making enough to afford to rent my own place, and still struggling to get into a university that would at least get me on the path to my dreams, I felt like a hopeless child.

I stared listlessly out my window at the night sky, watching the first stars start to surface in the blackness. Only the brightest among them could be seen with the full moon at its height. Those were the ones I needed.

I set my glasses on the nightstand, then closed my eyes and made a wish. It was a silly, superstitious thing. Maybe it was because my mom was so passionate about the stars, but I always fell back on these little rituals when I got down, even if there wasn’t any logic to them. Hoping my scientific brain wouldn’t judge my silly heart too harshly, I simply told myself that I wasn’t out anything to just play along. If wishes were real, maybe I’d get what I wanted. If they weren’t, then I was no worse off than I’d been a moment ago.

My lips twitched into a smile at the thought, then I closed my eyes until sleep found me.

Maybe tomorrow, I thought. I still had some applications out.

Yeah. Tomorrow will be my day.

Spoiler: Tomorrow was not, in fact, my day.

I sighed at another mailbox full of advertisements and bills, then I threw myself onto the couch in defeat. I absentmindedly started skimming job openings for something—anything worthwhile that might make me feel better about my future when I didn’t get into the program I wanted.

“Did you miss this one, Lila?” My mother asked so casually as she tossed a large envelope onto my stomach. I exhaled on the impact, as if the weight of the thing had knocked the wind out of me. It was the kind of letter that was so thick and large, no one could have missed it.

Knitting my brow, I examined the mailing label, trying to process what I was looking at. “Graves Academy?” I hadn’t applied there. I hadn’t even heard of such a place. “What’s this?”

“Just a letter.” My mom said with a shrug, before she headed off to the kitchen. Though her tone was so sing song, it must have had more significance than that. Had she put in an application at this Graves Academy for me?

With a confused shake of my head, I tore open the envelope and poured over the contents. Right on top of the class catalog, campus maps, and dorm options there was… an acceptance letter. My eyes widened. I glanced at the entrance to the kitchen, where Mom was assembling some sandwiches for lunch, then back at my welcome packet.

The school’s stats put it as one of the top schools in the nation—possibly the absolute top—and I couldn’t understand how such a place existed without me having ever heard of it. The astronomy and science programs were their strongest offerings, but they seemed to have something for everyone. From the sounds of it, it was simply so elite that peasants like myself didn’t even qualify to get the memo that it existed.

I glanced again at my mother.

“Did you apply here for me?”

“We’ll just say I have a little pull there.” She hummed along, not at all clarifying what sounded like a loaded statement.

“Is that where you went to school?”

“It was.” She nodded. She’d always avoided talking about her own college experience whenever I brought it up, but for the first time, she seemed open to sharing. “It’s not a party school, but after watching how hard you’ve worked the last few years, I think you have the right attitude to get the most out of it. I wasn’t going to push it on you, since you seemed so set on Ivy League, but you’ll fit right in at Graves.”

“I see.” I was still processing this whole revelation. If she had such a high opinion of the place, why had she been hiding it from me? Why not suggest it right out of high school?

I shook off the thought and thanked her for getting me in. I didn’t know enough about her connection to the school or the curriculum itself, and I had been quite focused on a handful of prestigious universities, so I couldn’t really complain that she hadn’t suggested this obscure one. Depending on what her “pull” entailed, maybe she needed to see how I functioned once school wasn’t legally mandated before she could get me in. I knew she loved me, so I was happy to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Whatever the case, it looked like I would be going to this Graves Academy, and hopefully it’d be worth it

Two Months Later

Half way across the country, on my own for the first time in my twenty-two years of life, I stepped out of the cab, where I was faced with towering gates plated in gold. Every steel bar was etched and shaped into intricate swirls, while imposing vines wrapped around their length. Atop the fortress—err, campus—walls were gaudy dragon statues, roaring down at students. I was waiting for them to bellow out “None shall pass” with the sheer dramatics of it all. The whole place felt medieval, old world, and cheesy, like it had been designed by an architect who moonlighted as a table top dungeon master on the weekends.

This was going to certainly be… different.

It was cold in early January, but not freezing. I’d left my home in the north, where I’d been practically buried in snow, for this temperate rainforest in the southeast, and it felt odd to be outside in less than ten layers at this time of year. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d started a day in January without a snow shovel in my hand. I wasn’t about to complain though. On the contrary, a girl could get used to this kind of winter freedom. Compared to where I’d come from, this nice January day in the low-50s almost had me sweating.

Almost.

I adjusted the straps on my backpack and my grip on my rolling suit case, then started down the walkway of patchwork marble. My little plastic wheels bumped and caught on the uneven cobblestones, and I stopped a few times to right my bag again.

Fortunately, the rest of the campus was more impressive than the walking path. Well-manicured and lively green grass blanketed every visible inch of the untold acreage, the planters were full of brightly colored flowers, while the stone work was adorned with colorful gem stones. In the distance, I could see a fountain, once again centered with a dragon statue, in what looked like an outdoor eating area, and up ahead was a towering castle—I mean, dormitory.