~FINN~
"This doesn't make any sense. That looks like-"
"It's not Orion," I defended immediately.
Theo looked at me, his eyes glowing red in anger. "THAT person is Orion, Finn. Do not try to act like a blinded fool by saying otherwise. Only Orion has nice fucking hair that makes him look like he came straight out of a shampoo commercial."
Hunter sighed. "I'd have to agree with that comment."
We were in the private conference room with Othello, Ms. Arcadia, and Magnor. Hunter, Theo, and I were waiting for Cairus and Caio to go get Celestia and Orion after we received permission to stop the exam.
We had gone through the surveillance tapes from Old Aslan, and to everyone surprise, the footage showed Orion putting the snakes in her locker. On close inspections of the recording from the Omako Forest examination, it was Orion who put the fragment there while we were all asleep. For all the trials, he had somehow used his magic to make the machine always pick Celestia, the footage showed him standing near the meeting area before our partnering, and also at the location of each of the trials.
That was more than enough to freak everyone out, but we waited for the twins to get back and we could confront Orion directly. Wait for everyone to confront Orion, except for me that is.
I knew exactly who was in those surveillance tapes but even with how critical the situation was, I couldn't yet share. With how Theo was acting, I doubt he'd believe me. I didn't blame him for his reactions, knowing it was something that occurred when vampires were far from their mate; they basically lost their shit. Especially when they have no other way to contact her because of the trial.
"Mr. Kristopher, calm down," Othello ordered, not looking worried, unlike Ms. Arcadia and Magnor. Theo glared at him, looking like he'd pounce on him if I didn't grab his arm. He turned his glare to me and was on the verge of hissing, his white fangs in clear view.
"I get it. You think I'm not freaking out too. I know there's something wrong and Celestia's at risk, but you throwing a fucking vampire tantrum is not gonna help anyone. She's alive. You know how I know? Because if she wasn't, her mates would feel it. Now stop acting like a kid and if you dare hiss at me, I'll wrap your ass in a cocoon of vines and put you in the fucking corner!" I snapped.
Everyone was completely silent as they stared at both of us. After a full minute, Hunter spoke up. "Mate?" he asked, looking a little stunned.
I let go of Theo and he retracted his fangs and walked over my left to lean against the wall. He crossed his arms and decided the floor would be the next victim to feel the wrath of his glare while he moped.
"Oh...they all haven't marked her yet?" Ms. Arcadia asked, slowly looking to Magnor who sighed.
"One was an accident, and the other two did it to protect her in the moment. I don't think it was an intentional bonding." Magnor shrugged. Othello snapped his finger, the result made the door open slowly.
It was at that moment Caio and Cairus returned, both of them entering the room in their tiger forms. They didn't pause as light engulfed their bodied and their naked human forms emerged. They snapped their fingers in unison, clothes appearing on their body in seconds.
"Bad news," Caio announced.
"What?" I asked, bracing myself to hear what they had to say. Please don't be dead, Celestia.
"The trial area was empty. Only things there was those stupid gigantic Rhinroys who were a fucking pain in the ass to knock out," Caio explained.
I opened my mouth to reply but Cairus held his hand up to stop me. "When we came back, Hellsin told us he felt something go through the barrier. He's the one who manages the energy flow through it and said he felt the surge of a breach, twice. Normally he goes and checks, but he knew a trial was going on and thought it could have just been a Rhinroy," Cairus explained.
"Fuck." Hunter cursed.
Theo bit his lip. "Where are they?"
"We don't know," the twins said together.
Cairus continued. "We were able to go through the barrier with Hellsin's help, but there’s nothing there. It's a fucking dead zone. We smelled blood, but we don't know whose it was."
"Couldn't you smell Celestia's scent or even Orion's?" I asked.
"The other side of the barrier is like no man's land. We could barely catch the blood scent. It's hard to breathe there and it’s super cold." Caio shuddered.
"What now?" Theo asked.
"And what's this about you guys being mates?" Hunter addressed.
"Huh?" Cairus and Caio questioned, looking at me before glancing to my left at Theo and then my right to the Othello, Ms. Arcadia, and Magnor.
"Uh. Are we missing something?" Caio asked.
"You can tell us, we won't look as mad as Theo looks," Cairus added. Theo looked like he was about to hiss at them and which prompt me to call upon a vine that manifested into my grasp while I glared at him. He mumbled something under his breath, sounding like “I fucking hate you right now” but remained quiet after that.
Magnor sighed. "Hunter, Caio, Cairus. Do you all know what blessed marks are?"
"Yes." All three of them spoke in unison.
"Great, saves me a whole explanation. Celestia was marked by Orion after the attack at the Old Aslan. Those are the markings you see on her wrist. She has another one on her neck from the trial with Theo and one more on her chest from Finn," Magnor summarized.
"Those weren't tattoos?" Caio looked surprised.
"And isn't the mark on her neck supposed to fade?" Cairus asked.
"And what damn mark on her chest?" Hunter demanded.
There was a knock on the door. It opened to reveal Faelia, who had Arielle on her shoulder.
"Before you men get all upset with one another, I got some dirt on our guy!" Faelia declared, walking into the room with pride.
"BRU!" Arielle fluttered her wings and hopped off Faelia's shoulder, coming to land on mine. I smiled in relief to see her looking much better than she had before. She still had a bandage around one of her wings, but other than that, she was okay. She began brushing her head against my cheek and I lifted my hand to pet her.
"I'm glad you’re better, Arielle," I whispered to her.
Othello sighed. "Ms. Blessheart, you have to learn to close doors,” he complained, snapping his fingers which caused the door to shut.
"Aww Master, be nice. I did good this time. You'll praise me in a second." She huffed.
"Master?" All the guys asked, looking at Faelia before glancing over to Othello, who rolled his eyes.
"I don't get why any of you are shocked right now,” he grumbled.
Ms. Arcadia laughed. "Because you don't have the look of a teacher who's dedicated many years to raising Faelia. See, you look at Magnor and can totally see it. You, not so much." She hummed.
"I'm hurt by your words, Miona,” he mumbled. She smiled, sliding her hand in his.
"Uh. Are they dating?" Caio asked Cairus, who frowned.
"I don't know."
"They're married. Now can we get to Faelia's news?" Magnor spoke up. We were all silent, stunned by the revelation, but realized this wasn't the best time to talk about it.
Faelia smiled, walking over to where I stood to face the majority of the guys. She lifted the file in her hand. "I found out who the culprit is,” she declared.
"Orion's our culprit. We saw the footage," Theo snapped.
Cairus and Caio both looked lost. "Orion?" they said together.
Faelia rolled her eyes. "Theo, stop jumping to conclusions without supporting evidence. Technology is so overrated. Sometimes you need a shifter and familiar who likes shiny things and are rather good at snooping."
"Faelia, did you go into Orlando's office, again?" Othello scolded.
Faelia flinched, slowly turning to give him a little smile. "Um...it was all for the sake of saving Celestia and proving Orion's innocence. Don't be mad." She cleared her throat and stood up straight, her expression growing serious.
"Orion is innocent in this,” she announced.
"How?" Theo asked and she pulled out a picture.
"This is a picture of Orion, right?" Faelia asked, showing it to everyone around the room.
"Yes,” they all replied.
She grinned, walking over to the desk behind me and setting the file down. I moved to stand next to Hunter and the professors came closer to see what she was going to reveal. She pulled a second photo out with the guy we saw on the surveillance.
"Who is this?" she asked.
"It's Orion," Theo replied.
"Looks like Orion. Just with black hair and darker clothes," Hunter concluded.
"That's not Orion," Cairus and Caio said in unison. I sighed in relief, turning to the both of them who had stern looks on their faces.
"Would you like to elaborate, twins?" Faelia asked.
"Orion's nose is just a bit smaller than the other guy’s," Caio pointed out.
"Also Orion's hair roots are pure white. He doesn't use any chemicals in his hair other than shampoo. If he used dye, we would have seen, and using magic to disguise natural hair is a pain in the ass and costs too much energy over time. We would have seen his black roots much earlier," Cairus added.
"Observant," Faelia complimented.
"What are you trying to say? In all the footage, Orion was away from the scene. It's him using some magic," Theo pointed out.
"He wasn't there for all the incidents. The final trial selection was Sunday night because the professors wanted to start bright and early the next day," Hunter pointed out.
"Exactly. Orion was with Celestia because she asked if we could have a campfire and make marshmallows," Cairus reminded.
"Ding ding ding, we have a winner." Faelia hummed.
"Bruuuuuu." Arielle hopped impatiently on my shoulder.
Faelia smiled. "Yes, Arielle you’re right. We're wasting time." She set those pictures down and pulled two more out. She lifted the first one, revealing an image of Orion as a kid. His purple eyes were wide and had teeth-showing smile on his face.
"This is the picture you take when you decide to reside in a dimension for longer than one year. Orion is six in the picture," Faelia announced before lifting the other picture. Everyone but me gasped. The same little boy was in the picture. He looked a little shy and his bright lavender purple eyes almost appeared white. Faelia lowered both images and pulled a final picture: Orion and the look-alike standing side by side.
They held hands in the picture while Orion's other hand was mid-wave. He smiled widely and his copy had a small smile on his face. A man stood behind Orion's copy, his hand on the boy’s head while a woman with long hair stood behind Orion, kneeling down with her hand on his head, smiling brilliantly.
"Orion Meadow and Odion Meadow. Identical twins. This is the last picture found with both of them together. All other records of Odion were destroyed. All that is written is that Orion and Odion were different shifters. Orion being an alicorn, and Odion..." She trailed off, looking unsure if she should mention.
"And Odion being a Dark Rider," I finished. Everyone looked at me with stunned expressions. I didn't wait for anyone to reply as I continued.
"Orion knew his brother until he was six. His father decided he didn't know how to raise a Dark Rider and knew it would become problematic when Odion got older. Orion was the quiet one while Odion was willing to defend what he thought was right. All Orion knew at the time, was that his father had sent Odion away to be trained by someone else.
Orion was able to meet him once, later on after that but he didn't tell me the details of the interaction. The following year, his family was murdered."
The room was silent. "I've known the whole time because Orion told me he was worried Odion was the one trying to fulfill the legend. Orion said he'd discuss it with everyone after the final trial because he knew Celestia couldn't handle any more revelations with all the stress she was already dealing with," I concluded.
"Okay, before you all freak out and have stupid debates about how this can't be, we need to move and search outside the barrier because my gut is telling me Celestia and Orion have been taken," I announced.
"Taken?!" All of us but the professors exclaimed. Faelia sighed, taking a calming breath before closing her eyes. When they opened, they held a dazed appearance to them, shining with multiple colors.
"Black hair, pink-eyed man, and two guards approached Orion, who is injured and Celestia, who is really hurt. The pink-eyed man did something and Celestia fell unconscious. It looks like she injured herself severely and Orion and the man helped heal her before picking her up. The guards took Orion too, who passed out later. Then they disappeared into the forest,” she summarized, closing her eyes and when they opened, they were back to normal.
"Alpha Pure," Theo whispered.
The others nodded, looking like they came to the same conclusion. "We have to save them before they become experiments!" Theo stressed. He turned his attention to the professors. "You have to help us search or we'll lose valuable time."
Othello and Ms. Arcadia exchanged glances, both of them turning to Magnor, who sighed.
"Faelia, you said the man has pink eyes and black hair?" he asked for confirmation.
Faelia lowered into the desk chair and sighed, looking exhausted. "Yes."
"Then I'll handle it. Finn, you'll be coming with me,” he declared.
"What? Why does Finn get to go?" Theo asked.
"Ya. Can't we all go?" Hunter asked, looking a little hurt. Magnor shook his head.
"What's lost can be found if you have a pixie on your side. I need him to find the location I'm looking for. Bringing all of you would slow us down and put Celestia and Orion at risk. You wouldn't want that, would you?" he asked. They were silent and sighed.
"Good. Let's be off. Arielle, come along," Magnor declared walking to the door. I sighed, stepping forward to follow, but stopped to talk to the guys real quick first.
"I get you’re confused and angry, but we’ll talk it out once Celestia and Orion are safe and sound. Get some rest," I urged before walking forward. Magnor opened the door for me, letting me through.
"BRU-REEEE," Arielle called out.
Faelia smirked. "Bye, Arielle. I'll make sure the others know and don't kill one another," she reassured her. I smirked as Magnor and I made our way to the elevator.
"You're too calm," I pointed out.
"Am I?"
"Yes. I'd think you’d be freaking out," I pointed out. "Which means, you’re hiding something."
"You've been very observant lately, Finn," Magnor commented, turning his gaze to smile at me.
"Can you keep a secret?" he asked.
I nodded and he leaned in to whisper something into my ear. My eyes grew wide and locked on his when he leaned back.
"Now can you trust me?" he asked. I slowly nodded and Arielle hopped happily on my shoulder, singing away.
"Let's go get my Sweet Blossom," I whispered.