Kane's Fate 4 Chapter 1

Just in the nick of time, I finished this! I actually get to take the weekend off.

---

It had been a couple of days since we’d watched Premier Weaver give a rousing speech on the television, where she’d spouted about unity and protection all whilst wearing a glittering brooch in the shape of the Atroba symbol.

And since that particular revelation, my mind had raced nonstop trying to come up with possible scenarios.

Premier Weaver was in with the baddies all along?

It would certainly explain why I’d been seemingly caught at every step, though not necessarily thwarted. If there was one thing Ms. Weaver consistently did, however, it was underestimate me.

I’d wanted to go after her immediately, but Dean Canmore had told us to hold fire. She’d plead the case of the fact we had no concrete evidence against the Premier, and we couldn’t go in all guns blazing without it.

The dean’s point was very valid, even if my fera rebelled against it. We needed something set in stone against Premier Weaver so we could justify doing what we did best.

Which was killing off the bad guys, and then finding new ways to celebrate.

A smug grin spread slowly across my face as I walked through the halls with Demi, on our way to meditation class.It was sort of odd, going back to the everyday of school after everything that had happened, but juggling a double life was a skill I’d quickly picked up. I figured my peers just assumed I was constantly playing hooky to go and get laid, and to be fair, there was a small grain of truth to that assumption.

“What’s got you smiling so much?” Demi asked with a grin of her own as she wound her arm through mine.

Her long braided hair brushed against my shoulder as we walked, and her caramel colored skin was soft against mine from where she leaned against me. My Komodo dragon shifter girlfriend was petite and curvy and definitely unafraid to show off her shapely body. She was dressed in a tight white crop top that strained against her cleavage and a pair of denim cut-offs that left almost nothing to the imagination.

“Just thinking about you,” I muttered casually, and then I gave her round ass a light smack as she walked beside me.

Her high-pitched squeal got us several knowing glances from our classmates, and we fought off a bout of giggling as we walked into Professor Orr’s classroom.

The meditation professor’s study space was a hell of a difference to most classrooms in Meloria Academy. There were no wooden chairs or desks, but rather the room was dimly lit, and the floor was always scattered with various different cushions and blankets.

It was a welcome oasis of zen, particularly given the current climate.

The school had been victim of several attacks from the Atroba during the last semester, and tensions were still a little high. It was almost a new normal at this point, though, and despite the underlying sense of precaution, it almost felt like home again.

“Take a seat, Mr Turner.” Professor Orr’s voice broke my thoughts, and I glanced up at the teacher. She had a wry smile on her face, and I just nodded as I curled myself down onto one of the puffy cushions beside Demi.

“Today, we will be practising the art of projection,” our meditation teacher began with a slight smile. “Up until this point, you’ll have, quite naturally, internalized your magic, regardless of what faction you belong to. Whether you’re a naturalist or a shifter, your magic is a part of you, an integral part of you, and so it is only natural that it comes from within.”

She really did have a way with words that sent you to sleep, which I guess was probably a positive thing for a meditation professor.

I caught Demi smirking at me from beneath her own hooded eyes, and I just stuck my tongue out at her as Professor Orr continued her explanation of the art of projection.

This was probably the only classroom in the continental U.S. where it was completely acceptable, and even encouraged and expected, to fall asleep during study. Which normally I took great pleasure in, but today my mind just refused to switch off.

I was sitting on my normal cushion, my chosen favorite because the blue tassels felt like feathers and the crushed velvet was old and worn and happily molded itself around me, and I breathed in deeply so my nostrils were filled with the calming smell of Professor Orr’s burning incense. The room was softly lit with candles and low lamps, and it was quiet aside from the steady breathing of my classmates.

Still, my brain whirred.

I had killed Reid Rivers, who’d been behind the attacks on the school during this last semester. He’d been hired by who I assumed were the Atroba to try and inflict panic and devastation to those trying to learn magic and become part of the community, the future of the magical population.

It was one thing to overthrow a government, another one entirely to go after students trying to learn. Especially since I was one of them.

My white tiger fera had clawed and bitten and eventually left Reid Rivers to die in the dust for his crimes, which were numerous. Black acid rain, a fireball that his naturalist son had thrown our way, not to mention a deadly magical plague that caused everyone’s powers to go haywire.

I’d been totally immune to that particular attack, as had my girlfriends thanks to their bond with me, and it had been my blood that activated the potion to cure everyone.

I clenched my eyes shut a little tighter at the memory of the magical plague and tried to focus, but now my mind’s eye went straight to Premier Weaver.

I could see her in the forefront of my mental space, and she stood behind a glass podium with a wide smile pulling at her pointed features and a glittering brooch on her lapel that was fashioned into the shape of the same Atroba symbol I’d seen stitched onto black hooded robes.

She smiled warmly as her ghostly form spoke to a crowd I couldn’t see, with two of her Tuitos standing like sentinels on either side of her.

The leader of the entire magical population, working with terrorists.

That was just the surface level threat, too. Ragnarok, or a modern version of it, could still happen.

We still didn’t know what connection the Premier had to the goddess Frida and the prophecies that the ancient one had left for us within the asteroids. Hell, Weaver herself could be the goddess, and be calling a double bluff on us.

Was immortality a secondary ability? Had anyone ever even heard of it being a possibility?

I made a mental note to go and ask our history professor.

I wanted to scream it from the rooftops and make sure everyone knew what a backstabbing, two-faced, disgusting politician Premier Weaver was, but I couldn’t. Not yet, anyway.

Dean Canmore had already told us we needed concrete evidence against her in order to accuse her, so I’d decided that’s where I should hone my focus.

“Focus, Kane.” Professor Orr’s soft voice broke through my jagged overthinking and mirrored the last word I’d thought, and I huffed at the sound of her voice but begrudgingly still did as I was told.

I released the tension I held in my shoulders, unclenched my jaw, and relaxed my brow, and then I took another deep, incense-scented breath.

The meditation professor always seemed to know what worked for each student, and despite my absentminded attempts to steer clear of a deeper meditation, I finally felt my mind begin to succumb to the calm.

It was a welcome respite, but one I knew I shouldn’t revel in. I needed my mind sharp, I needed to be able to work out what the hell was going on.

I didn’t need to be sitting in meditation class trying my hand at projection.

My main ability was shifting, and there was no way I could project that part of my magic. I was one with my tiger, we were a team.

He rumbled in response somewhere in the back of my mind, and the corners of my mouth twitched with a phantom smile.

He agreed.

My secondary ability was light manipulation, which in and of itself was already a projection. My third magical ability, or I guess it was more of a boon, was victory deflection.

Once I beat someone, they could never beat me. Whether it was a game of chess or a fight to the death.

It had definitely come in handy once or twice.

I took another breath and allowed myself to fall deeper into my meditative state, though I wasn’t entirely sure what my professor expected me to find. Instead, I just let my mind wander, and eventually my thoughts began to manifest themselves around me.

I materialized in the center of a forest clearing, surrounded by tall silver birch trees, just as dusk had begun to fall. There was barely any pink left in the sky, so it became a wash of inky blue with a very faint scattering of far off stars. I couldn’t see the moon past the thick trees, and it would have been far too dark for the normal human element of my eyes, but my tiger senses could make out a couple of owls perched on a branch somewhere to my left, the scurry of mice and voles beneath the twigs and leaves of the forest floor, and the heady scent of a bear far off in the distance.

A small wooden cabin was housed within the center of the clearing, and a faint orange glow came from the small windows on either side. I stood there letting the calm wash over me, and snowflakes began to slowly fall and dance around me. I breathed deeply and could smell the cold in my nose, and when I exhaled, it came out in a light gray cloud that quickly disappeared in the chill.

I studied the cabin door and noticed it had carved engravings in the wood, in exactly the same shape as the Viking codex I’d stolen from Las Vegas. As I looked at the ancient Faromal runes, the door to the cabin suddenly opened, and a woman stepped out. She was bundled up in a fur pelt, and with a jolt, I immediately recognized the pattern.

It was white tiger fur.

My fera began to rumble dangerously in my chest, and the woman froze in the doorway as she locked eyes with me.

She had long gray hair that was intricately braided on both sides, with ornate silver rings for decoration, and what looked like black coal dust was smudged artfully on both of her eyelids. But she wasn’t a stranger.

Premier Weaver stood in front of me, dressed like a Viking warrior with her shoulders covered by my white tiger pelt.

“Okay class, good work today!” It felt like barely a second had passed until Professor Orr started to call us back into the world of the conscious, and I blinked a few times against the reddish glow of the lamps as I opened my eyes and pulled myself out of my meditative state.

My mind was working overtime.

Was Premier Weaver an ancient Viking goddess, or was I thinking about way too many things all at once?

I had completely flunked the task at hand, but it was a wonder I’d even managed to slip into a meditation in the first place. Professor Orr studied me with pensive eyes, and I looped my arm around Demi’s shoulders and quickly hurried out of the classroom before my professor could call me over.

“Hey.” My Komodo dragon shifter girlfriend, with her gorgeous caramel colored skin and long cornrow braids, smiled up at me as she wound her own arm around the small of my back. “You okay?”

“Sure.” I smiled down at her and squeezed her closer to me as we left the meditation class and headed for the quad. “I’m just starving, that’s all.”

“Time for lunch?” Demi giggled, and I growled playfully as I gave her thick ass another smack.

“Can think of plenty of other things I’m hungry for,” I muttered into her ear and then gave it a light nibble, and Demi squealed again and squirmed against me.

There were a couple of seers hanging out on the quad and sunbathing on the grass, and I noticed Penny’s black hair amongst them, but she didn’t look up. One of her friends did, though, a blonde seer whose name I couldn’t remember, and she lifted her sunglasses off her face just to study us as we passed them. Demi winked across at the blonde girl, and I stifled a laugh as she turned to Penny, who had finally noticed us.

I locked eyes with the black-haired beauty, but I took Demi’s hand and pulled her over to the cafeteria with a smug grin on my face.

“You can’t resist, can you?” Demi chuckled.

“What on earth do you mean?” I asked with faux innocence.

“You’re just such a flirt.” My shifter girlfriend smiled. “It’s kinda endearing though.”

“Oh, endearing huh?” I growled again and scooped her up so I could plant a kiss on the side of her neck.

“Yes,” she giggled as she squirmed against me. “And we all know you’ve had your eye on Penny.”

“Oh, is that right?” I set her back down, and she looked up at me with huge doe eyes.

“See.” She smiled softly up at me as she pushed a stray curl of hair away from my eyes. “Endearing.”

My friend Auden and his girlfriend Lark were already sitting with the tattooed Dax at our usual table, and Charlotte had just gone to grab food from the line as Demi and I made our way over.

“Where’s Indira?” I asked as I dumped my backpack on my chair.

“I saw her earlier, on my way to history class,” Lark offered. “Said she was swamped with marking paperwork.”

“Better leave her to it,” I sighed. “What’s on the menu today?”

The school cafeteria always nailed it with their cooking, and today was no exception. As I wound my way through the tables and made it to the front of the line, I saw platters of chicken roasted in garlic and lemon, with skin-on potatoes and Mediterranean style roasted vegetables coated in olive oil and cracked sea salt.

My mouth immediately began to water, and I piled my plate high, grabbed a bottle of water from the huge glass-fronted refrigerators, and hurried my way back to our table so I could dig in.

“Hungry, Kane?” Dax snorted, and I just shot him a death glare with my teeth around a chicken leg.

Demi just giggled again.

“So, anything new?” Charlotte sighed as she sipped on a soda and watched me eat with a light smile.

“Atroba are still out there being death eaters, we can’t say a word against Premier Weaver until we have some sort of evidence against her, and we’re no closer to figuring out where the runes or asteroids came from,” Demi summed up our situation whilst she absentmindedly checked her painted nails.

We all raised our eyebrows.

“What?” she asked with a shrug. “That’s about it.”

“It might not be,” I started as I slowly swallowed my last mouthful of chicken and potatoes.

“What do you mean?” Auden asked and cocked his head curiously.

“I don’t know if it’s just me… Overthinking, or getting my thoughts overlapped.” I sighed as I threw my napkin down. “But I feel like Premier Weaver is connected to the runes.”

“Well, she did help us find each of the asteroids,” Charlotte pointed out softly.

“Yeah, she’s helped us this whole time, while still being a backstabbing snake in the grass,” Demi scoffed and rolled her green eyes.

“No, I don’t mean… Just now.” I groaned and rubbed at my temples. “It’s the stupidest thing, and I don’t think it’s even possible, but I saw something in meditation class.”

“Like a premonition?” Dax asked in surprise.

“No, it wasn’t the future,” I replied. “It was the past, I think. Somewhere in northern Europe. It was cold and snowing, and I was in the forest.”

“Go on,” Auden said and excitedly leaned forward in his seat.

“And there was a log cabin, the door had the same runes carved into it,” I continued. “There was a woman inside, she came out wearing a… A white tiger pelt. It was Premier Weaver.”

“How could she have worn a white tiger pelt in the past?” Demi frowned. “The last white tiger shifter was centuries ago.”

“Exactly.” I grimaced. “This was some crazy Nordic version of Premier Weaver. But she looked exactly the same, and she was wearing my fera’s pelt, and she looked almost surprised to see me. And her hair was long and braided, and she had coal smudged across her face like a Viking warrior, and –”

“Kane.” Charlotte smiled and placed a gentle hand on top of mine. “There’s no way Premier Weaver could have been wearing a white tiger pelt.”

“I know, I think it’s like my brain is adding two and two together and getting five,” I groaned and let my head fall into my arms, but I grabbed Charlotte’s hand whilst I was down there so that I could play with her fingers.

“What if…” Demi began slowly. “What if Premier Weaver is a direct descendent of this Viking woman? Dean Canmore looked crazy similar to her ancestor, remember?”

“That’s true,” I admitted and then turned my face to smile at my shifter girlfriend. “I don’t know, I just feel like Premier Weaver is connected to the runes, and to Frida, and the asteroids and everything together.”

“But then why would Premier Weaver be working against Frida, if she’s her ancestor?” Auden wondered as he twiddled one of his ear piercings thoughtfully. “I thought this goddess wanted to put a stop to the world ending in flame and death and stuff.”

“Maybe she had a change of heart.” I shrugged. “Maybe that’s thanks to the Atroba’s influence.”

“My brain hurts thinking about it,” Demi muttered and shook her head so her braids swished around her slender neck.

“Yeah, mine does, too,” I agreed as I gathered up my empty lunch plate. “I need to switch it off real bad, I’m gonna go… Hit the gym.”

“Secret magical training facility?” Auden half-whispered with a smirk.

“Need to burn off some tiger steam.” I grinned in reply to my best friend.

“I can think of other ways that can be achieved,” Charlotte said casually, and my pusher girlfriend leaned back in her chair so her cleavage strained against the buttons of her shirt, and she looked up at me with her big green eyes sparkling mischievously.

“Who says I can’t have both?” I retorted with a laugh and then leaned down to plant a long kiss on her.

Her lips broke away from mine with a wet pop and I quickly kissed Demi goodbye, too, then waved at Auden, Lark, and Dax as I headed out of the cafeteria.

I needed to shift and empty my mind for a little while, and roaring through a training facility as my white tiger fera felt like the perfect way to do it.

I’d hoped I would bump into Indira on my way past the teacher dorms, but there was no sign of the snowy owl shifter. She must be really busy, and with summer vacation fast approaching, I figured her duties as part of the faculty were piled high.

I smiled to myself at the thought of her as I passed through the wall of hedges, and I made my way into the secret clearing on the side of the school grounds that held a magical training facility I’d used during my preparation for the Bellator.

That felt like a lifetime ago now, but the training grounds still proved helpful.

As soon as I crossed the threshold, the cavernous room morphed into a long runway, and I closed my eyes and let the heat of my fera roll through my chest and out through my limbs until I shifted completely into my white tiger. Then I let out a thunderous roar and inwardly gloated at the loud echo, and I began to run.

My paws ate at the ground, and the floor moved fluidly with me, like a giant magical treadmill, and the entire space was swathed in darkness aside from the weird blue orbs of light that I had to dodge every couple of feet.

Thanks to my heightened tiger senses, I could see perfectly fine despite the purposeful lack of light, and the blue orbs started to shift themselves, as if they’d heard my derisive thoughts.

The first one ahead of me warped into the shape of a spear and then launched itself at me at a crazy speed. I didn’t use my light manipulation and decided to focus instead on the physical aspects of training, and I barrel rolled out of its path instead. The electric blue spear shot past me with a deadly whistle, but I didn’t have time to look for it as another two already hovered in front of me while I kept running at full speed.

I spent a good hour or two in there, with the full intention of exhausting my body so much that my brain wouldn’t have a chance to plague me, and it kinda worked because by the time I stumbled out of there, all I wanted to do was take a long hot shower and stretch my muscles out.

I eventually checked my cellphone as I stepped out of the shower and started to towel my hair off, and I saw I’d received a message from Indira.

The girls told me you were training - come find us in the cafeteria, you need to eat! X

Just out of the shower, I’ll be over in a sec, I replied with a kissing emoji, and she just sent a red love heart in return.

I quickly pulled myself into a pair of jeans and a Black Sabbath top I’d kept from my pre-activation days. I’d had to tear the arms off because my biceps hadn’t quite fit into the old t-shirt, and I chuckled to myself as I pulled it over my head and hustled out of the shifter dorms back toward the cafeteria.

The gang was at our usual table, with Indira sat with them this time, and I hastily grabbed a plateful of food and joined them.

“Work up an appetite?” Demi asked with a coy smile, and I just winked at her as I devoured a pork chop dripping in gravy.

I briefly explained my ‘Premier Weaver is actually the ancient goddess Frida’ theory to Indira, who didn’t scoff but instead listened intently, and just as the group were discussing potential possibilities, the huge flatscreen television in the cafeteria crackled to life.

“Speak of the devil…” Dax muttered darkly, and Charlotte giggled as we watched the public service announcement air.

Premier Weaver appeared on the screen dressed in a dark purple pantsuit, with the silver and diamante Atroba brooch still glittering happily in plain sight on her right lapel, and she began talking about how she was fit to bring the magical community into a time of prosperity.

I rolled my eyes and let her voice fade into the background, and then I stuffed a few more bites of food into my mouth.

“It’s weird even seeing her face now…” I muttered and side-eyed the television. “After what I saw in meditation.”

“There’s still the possibility that your mind threw those images together because you were thinking about everything all at once,” Indira reminded me gently. “But I have to admit, it’s a compelling theory. It does almost make sense.”

“That’s what I thought, too,” I agreed. “Now that’s all I can think about. But how in the hell are we even gonna do anything about it? How are we going to be able to find any proof of her siding with the Atroba?”

“It’s not like we have no way of investigating,” Charlotte sighed. “I mean hell, none of us have any kind of money to hire a P.I. or anything mad like that.”

“Aside from Auden,” Demi snickered.

“Well, speaking of my parents’ vast and plentiful fortune…” Auden started with a flourish and a grin, but then he looked at me with a sudden air of sincerity. “My dad might actually have a job for you, Kane.”

“Wait, seriously?” I chuckled. “What kind of job?”

“You’d be better off going to meet him and discuss it in person.” Auden shrugged casually, and I noticed the wide toothy grin on his face. “But believe me, it’s definitely in your wheelhouse.”

“What’s the pay like?” Dax asked curiously.

“As handsome as I am.” My pierced best friend swished his fringed dyed hair back and blinked demurely, and our table fell about laughing, much to the disgruntledness of everyone else in the cafeteria who was still trying to listen to the Premier’s video.

“Well, I guess I don’t have any other remarkable job offers yet.” I grinned at my best friend. “Hey, thanks Auden.”

“My pleasure,” the pierced pusher said with another shrug. “They’re only up in San Francisco, so not even that far away.”

“Feel like taking your baby out again?” I turned to Indira and pushed her brunette hair away from her face as she smiled up at me.

“Sure, but I’m driving,” she scolded me, but her lips twitched as she fought back a smile.

“Fine, fine,” I said as I held my hands up with a smirk. “Your car is yours, I get it.”

Eventually, Premier Weaver’s televised announcement finally ended, and we watched as Dean Canmore quickly strode into the bustling cafeteria and took her place at the northern end of the hall, by the row of floor to ceiling windows, so every table had a good view of her.

Then she spread her arms wide, and almost immediately everyone eating and chatting fell into a respectful hush.

“Hello, Meloria,” the dean started with a warm smile as she clasped her hands together and addressed the school. “I know this semester hasn’t been without its ups and downs, and I would like to personally extend my gratitude to both the student body and the faculty for remaining calm and collected during these stressful times.”

“I sometimes think she should be Premier…” Charlotte half-whispered, and I raised an eyebrow at her comment.

If things ended up going south with Weaver, then the dean might not be a half bad replacement.

“-- and with this in mind, I will be suspending classes from today so please, consider this the first night of your summer vacation!”

The cafeteria erupted into loud shouts and whoops at the dean’s announcement, and as my eyes scanned the large food hall, I noticed Penny, the black-haired seer, celebrating with her friends a few tables across.

She must have sensed eyes on her, because her gaze sought me out through the crowd, and when she found me, her smile widened as her blue eyes sparkled.

My friends and I spent the rest of the evening laughing and joking around for once, which was a warm and welcome change of pace for our gang, and by the time the cafeteria had almost emptied, we decided it was probably time to retire to one of the dorms.

“We headed back to ours?” Demi asked, and I faltered for a second.

“Sure, but I’m going to make a pitstop along the way,” I told the gang. “I want to go and say goodbye to Penny, in the seer dorms. I just wanted to thank her for her help, before she leaves for vacation.”

“Thank her.” Demi winked. “Suuuure.”