Chapter 24

Caesar

"What's the prognosis?" I asked Maya Heather as I paced the length of her office.

Letti Haze was lying on a small bed just off the floor. The mermaid's eyes were closed, but her body fidgeted sporadically.

"I can heal her wounds, sir," Maya said as she pushed her silver-framed glasses higher up on the bridge of her nose. The large lenses magnified her blue eyes, and her frizzy blond hair curled about independently, going every which-way. "But her mind? It will take time for her to overcome the trauma she's been through."

The healer's words triggered my own traumatic memories involving the vampire attacks I'd suffered through. They flashed through my thoughts like a strobe light, and I closed my eyes as I was hit by a wave of nausea.

I saw the deformed body of my naga friend, Jade, as Kai and I had found her, her tail removed. I saw the old school director, Zabrina Slegr, bones and body broken, a vampire standing over her. I saw my mother and father, their gryphon forms ruined and stripped of their wings.

"Arya…"

I opened my eyes, the memories disappearing like a light being turned out, mercifully taking the nausea with it.

I looked down at Letti, who was stirring under the white sheets placed over her. "No…Arya."

I couldn't take my eyes away from the restless mermaid.

"That's all she's been saying since I've been able to stabilize her," Maya said, pressing a dainty hand to her chest, concern lacing her features.

I shook my head, trying to make sense of this mess.

"I know it isn't my business sniffing about like a hound," she said, "but why would she keep saying the newest mermaid's name?"

I sighed heavily. I knew the answer to that now, and my mind began to spiral because of it.

"Keep doing your best with her," I instructed, my breathing increasing as my heartbeats followed suit, and I opened the door to leave.

"Arya," Letti whimpered again.

I quickly stepped out of the room and shut the door, afraid that students nearby would hear her mumblings. The last thing we needed right now were more rumors about Arya flying around the Dome.

I found Celeste and Kai waiting for me just a few feet down the hall.

"How is she?" Celeste asked, the worry on her face impossibly seeming to age her.

I shifted my eyes around the room and saw several students loitering about, awkward, not speaking to one another, pretending they weren't by Ms. Heather's office for the sole purpose of eavesdropping.

"As good as can be expected. Thanks to Maya's incredible care, her wounds are all but healed." I stepped closer to Kai and Celeste, then whispered, "Walk with me."

I hoped my anxiety wasn't too transparent. I was the school director, and everybody here—teachers and students—would be looking to me for guidance and comfort. If I was honest, I could use some of that right now, myself.

Speed-walking through the halls, I made for my classroom. It was the one place I was hoping I'd be able to get my bearings to think this situation through. Kai and Celeste kept up, talking behind me.

"The copper alloy lining the exterior of the trains likely deterred the vampires from pursuing the poor girl," Kai said quietly.

"A precaution I'm glad we put in place," Celeste replied. "One of many obstacles I hope will keep the vampires at bay rather than draw attention."

They continued chatting, but my troubled thoughts had me tuning them out.

Letti couldn't stop saying Arya's name. I had enough experience with trauma to form an educated guess as to why .

The poor girl's attackers had mistaken her for Arya. The girls shared physical similarities. But they'd been wrong and probably knew it. This pointed to the vampires' knowledge of a girl named Arya. It also indicated that they knew of her importance, which only validated to me that Arya was the siren from the prophecy.

But that meant that the vampires somehow knew of the prophecy, too.

Hadrian is aware of Arya and the prophecy . I'd been dancing around that thought since I'd first heard Letti say the mermaid's name. And finally acknowledging it, I realized the mistakes I'd made.

I'd sent Julian off to Hadrian to discover this very thing. And I hadn't heard back from my vampire ally since he'd left weeks ago. For all I knew, Hadrian had killed him.

What made matters worse was that Julian's eyes were sharp, and he was extremely good at keeping tabs on vampire activity close by. If I hadn't sent him away, he could have potentially stopped the attack on Letti. But then we would've been back at square one—we wouldn't have learned that Hadrian knew about the prophecy.

"I hate to point out the obvious, Caesar," Kai said, "but you're walking extremely fast."

"If it's too difficult for you to keep up, phase through the walls and meet me at my classroom."

"I'm always up for a brisk walk," Kai replied. "I'm more concerned with how you're feeling."

I stopped, anger bubbling inside of me. "One of our students nearly died! This school was founded upon several ideals, one of which was a promise of protection for every shifter who attends. What are we if we can't even protect our own students?"

Kai threw a glance at Celeste. I saw the kitsune's Adam's apple bob down, then come back up like a bouncy ball.

"We're almost to your classroom, Caesar," Celeste said, glancing over her shoulder. "We should go there before we start talking."

I didn't see anybody—teacher or student—nearby but didn't argue. I turned back around and continued through the arcing hallway, passing classroom after classroom until I reached my door.

I smashed a finger against my watch and the door slowly swung open. With long strides, I entered and headed straight for my desk.

I wasn't prepared to spill all my thoughts, particularly about Julian. Nobody else knew that I'd been dealing with a vampire, even one who'd been helping the shifters for the past seven years. But Julian had been involved with the destruction of The Island, and Kai and I had fought him in a convenience store just as the school had been attacked.

Tapping my tablet, I locked us inside the classroom.

"I'm not going to draw out what needs to be said," I prefaced, giving Kai and Celeste a hard look. "Hadrian knows about Arya, and he's hunting for her. He knows she's the stray mermaid from the prophecy."

Celeste narrowed her emerald eyes and crossed her arms. "That's impossible. How could Hadrian even know about the prophecy?"

Biting my lip, I shook my head. "I don't know. But Letti has been saying nothing but Arya's name since she got here."

Kai looked at Celeste, obviously wanting to say something but not feeling comfortable enough to go through with it.

"You're allowing your thoughts to spiral out of control, Caesar," she said with a motherly tone. "Letti has been tutoring Arya this past week. She could be rattling off Arya's name for no reason at all."

My pride caused her words to ruffle my feathers. "Do you honestly believe that? It's too coincidental. The vampires are looking for Arya." I glanced at my kitsune friend. "Kai, you understand that, right?"

Kai bobbed his head back and forth. "Well, it's a possibility I don't think we should toss right out the window. But on the other hand, you do have a way of…" He paused, spinning his hands around each other in front of him, then opened them up. "…blowing things out of proportion when you're emotionally invested."

I blinked. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You think I'm overreacting?"

"Until we can get more information from Letti, we can't assume the vampires know anything about Arya," Celeste said, sidestepping my question. "But if we find out otherwise, we'll have to take precautions."

Running a hand through my hair, I said, "You want to pretend like none of this happened? The vampires attacked a student right at our front door!"

Celeste's lower jaw shifted to the side, then straightened out. "I think you need to tell the school that an unfortunate vampire attack occurred with one of our students off-campus and that the Dome is the safest place for our students to stay. We should also ask for more military eyes to be on the lookout."

"That's a good starting point," Kai agreed.

"Please remember, Caesar," Celeste cautioned, "that while Letti's attack was horrific, shifters out in the world deal with these kinds of attacks daily."

That was a reality I couldn't dispute, and the truth of it helped pull me away from my reeling thoughts. I rubbed my eyes, then pinched the bridge of my nose. I wasn't physically tired, but this whole situation had been so draining.

"Let's set up a live announcement," I decided. "As part of all this, I believe a cancellation of today's classes is in order. Heaven knows how much learning would actually happen if we tried to hold them. Kai, can we broadcast from my tablet?"

The kitsune whipped out his phone from his pocket and punched in a few commands, letting his thumb hang in the air. "Just say when, boss, and your beautiful face and charming voice will flood every screen and speaker in the Dome like the President of the United States playing on his PA system."

"That wasn't funny," Celeste said.

Kai wagged a finger. "You say that now, but wait until Caesar starts talking. I have a module enabled in the software that will turn his glorious speech into a rickety-rockin' rap."

"You do?" I asked.

Kai flashed a smile. "I can…"

There was a moment of silence, then Celeste laughed. "I'm not going to lie. That would be brilliant, Kai."

The kitsune bowed low. "I live for the laughs, my dear. Life's too vanilla, otherwise."

I groaned. Removing the embedded tablet from my desk, I held it up level with my face. "Normal settings. None of this flippity-floppin' crap."

Kai's smile broadened. "That was almost a joke, Caesar! Good job!"

"Kai," I warned dangerously behind clenched teeth.

Looking at myself in the reflection of the screen, I realized just how old I looked. I shouldn't have been so quick to judge Celeste back in front of Maya's office.

"Are you ready?" Kai asked, his smile fizzling out like a phoenix diving into water.

Nodding, I cleared my throat.

Kai's steady thumb tapped the command, overwriting every screen's status in the Dome. Announcements like these used to make me uncomfortable. It wasn't that way anymore. And any self-consciousness that might have lingered now was buried under mountains of trepidation and retribution.

"Good morning, students and teachers," I said, staring into the little camera attached to my tablet. "Pardon this short interruption. Last night, one of our—"

"Whoops!" Kai said, fiddling with his phone. "Sorry, I forgot to connect to the transmission signal. But you sounded really good. Nice warm-up."

I let out a cluck of irritation.

"I thought you were going to say that you accidentally turned on the rap setting," Celeste said with a giggle.

Winking at Celeste, he proudly said, "I'm saving that one for later."

"Are we going to do the announcement today , Kai?" I snapped.

"The transmission signal connection has been established," Kai said, unable to banish the smirk from his face despite the evil glare I shot his way. "Just say the magic word, and I'll give you hundreds of faces. Well, hundreds…of the same face."

I rolled my eyes and took in a long-suffering breath, then held the tablet up, resting my elbows on the desk. "Do it."

Kai tapped his phone and nodded at me.

"Good morning, students and teachers. Pardon this short interruption, but as many of you have likely heard, last night one of our students became the victim of a vampire attack. The student was not within the protective walls of the Dome when the attack occurred. We are saddened by the event but are glad that the student survived and is recovering. Due to this event, the school administration feels that it would be best to cancel classes today. I urge you all to do your best to focus on your studies, either on your own or within groups.

"I cannot begin to emphasize how important it is for everyone who makes the conscious choice to step outside of the school to take proper precautions to stay safe. Don't go out alone. Watch your shadows. Try to put yourself in public places where a lot of other people are around.

"I will also take this time to remind you all that the Dome is a refuge from the storms outside. The vampires can't hurt you here, and they never will. The safest place for you is here, in the school.

"If any of you feel the need to discuss the safety and protection of our school, please speak with the heads of your wings. Thank you for your time."

Kai waited a few more seconds to make sure I was finished, then cut the transmission connection.

"You know," Kai said, "I prefer your scripted announcements much more. You're far less emotional when you read the words on your screen."

"I'm sorry for your discomfort, Kai," I said without an ounce of apology as I set my tablet on the desk in front of me.

"You do get a kind of my-eyes-are-piercing-yours vibe when you improvise," Celeste interjected.

"Good," I replied. "I hope that means everyone understands the seriousness of what I said."

"You got the point across extremely well," Kai said.

Celeste nodded in agreement. "I've also been thinking that perhaps we should modify our curfew rules."

"That would be very appropriate," I said with a sigh. "And I believe most of the students will be eager to follow it after what happened to Letti. How early do you think we should have the students back here at the Dome?"

Kai shrugged. "We probably don't need to set a time. I'd just say before sunset. We could even feature a tagline: Vampires are up when the sun goes down ." The kitsune held his hands together, then spread them out as he said it.

I frowned but tilted my head in consideration. Cheesy, but it got the message across well enough.

"Why don't you take care of that, Kai? Distribute it on my channel, and send it to the devices of all students and teachers." I tapped my tablet, and the classroom door opened. "And you'd better get back to your appropriate wings, both of you. You'll be needed to help keep order around the Dome."

"I will do that and also keep tabs on Letti," Celeste said. "As soon as she is speaking again, I will notify you."

"Thank you," I said. "Hopefully, it won't take too long. And one other thing, Celeste. Could you have Arya come and see me right away? I should address the situation with her personally."

I watched as she hesitated a moment.

"You aren't going to tell her about the prophecy, are you?" she asked.

I shook my head. "She isn't ready for that."

"So what will you tell her, then?" Celeste asked. "We don't know why Letti keeps saying Arya's name yet."

I leaned forward on my desk and braided my fingers together. "I want to find out if she knows anything. And if she doesn't, then great, we'll wait until Letti is able to tell us."

"I'll send for her at once," Celeste consented, then left the room, leaving Kai behind.

Kai was staring at me, his head tilted in an especially foxy way.

"You should probably head to the dorms and see if you're needed," I suggested.

Kai didn't make any move to that effect. "I want to make sure you're doing okay first."

"I'm fine, Kai," I said, though my gravelly tone betrayed how much I wasn't.

Kai exhaled. "I was there, too, remember?"

I looked down, not wanting the painful memories to be drawn out again.

"Just… I'm here for you. I always have been, and I always will be."

I nodded, forcing myself to bring my eyes back up to my oldest friend. "I know that, and I appreciate it. But I'll be okay."

He stared at me for another few seconds, probably waiting to see if I would budge. I didn't.

"I'll see you around," the kitsune said, then left me to my disgruntled thoughts in the empty classroom.

I popped the tablet back into the desk. I breathed in and out slowly, trying to give my mind something other than vampire attacks to think about. In the end, I smashed my fists onto the hardwood desk, sending spikes of pain shooting from my hands up to my wrists.

I was tempted to call on the military to make an assault on their towers in Cle Elum. Julian had divulged that bit of information, but a direct assault on the vampire fortress would be a suicide mission.

Hadrian had obtained technology that rivaled the work of Kai, most of it having been tweaked to hunt shifters. Seven years ago, I'd been shot with an odd device that Hadrian had called a hookshot . The tip was made of gold, and had pierced my wing, my weakness to the metal prohibiting me from flying.

But that was old tech now. The abominations the vampires controlled these days were terrifying. The military took the brunt of such attacks, but every day, shifters around the globe were suffering, too.

"Caesar?"

I wiped the disgust from my face as Arya poked her head in.

"Come on in, Arya," I invited, gesturing for Arya to sit.

She stepped forward, wearing a baggy, long-sleeve shirt and jeans. Her dark hair with blue streaks was pulled back in a messy bun. She quickly pulled one of the chairs out from under my desk and sat down, resting her hands in her lap.

"It's been a while since we've talked," I said.

Nodding her head, Arya said, "It has, but that's okay. I don't want you to feel like you have to meet with me all the time."

"And I don't want you to feel that way, either." I cleared my throat as she waited for me to continue. "I'm assuming you watched my announcement?"

She nodded her head again.

"Have you heard who was attacked?"

Another nod, though much less fervent. I knew this conversation would likely be one-sided, but Arya's lack of verbal communication surprised me.

"Who?" I asked, trying to get her to speak.

"Letti," Arya said in a small voice, not meeting my gaze.

I tried relaxing my posture, hoping it would help Arya relax. "Have you heard anything else about Letti?"

Arya swallowed. "Yes. She keeps saying my name."

"Do you have any idea as to why that is?"

Her eyes widened. "Sir, I swear, I didn't do anything. Sure, Letti can be a jerk sometimes, but I've never wanted her to get hurt. I would never do anything to her."

Her exclamations had me tensing all over again, confusion furrowing my brow.

"I'm sorry, I didn't intend on sounding accusatory," I said, waving a hand in front of me as if my fingers could erase that notion like the wipe of a whiteboard. "I believe the reason Letti keeps saying your name is that she's giving us a warning."

Now it was Arya's turn to frown in worried bemusement. Her breath hitched. "A warning about what?"

I leaned forward, bracing on my elbows. "I know very little about you and your mother. Forgive me for bringing her up, but I must know if you have any idea why the vampires tracked your mother down."

Her eyes almost instantly got wet with tears as she shook her head. Through quivering lips, she said, "I don't know."

"Did your mother have any involvement with them? Did she do anything that would draw vampires to her?"

Quiet, whispery sobs came from her mouth, and a pang of guilt stabbed my gut at reopening that deep wound.

"Again, I'm sorry to bring this up," I said sorrowfully. "I know how painful and raw it can be."

She shook her head and shakily inhaled. "I don't think so. She never went out at night or let me. If she had anything to do with vampires, she never talked about it. My mother didn't tell me anything."

"And you know nothing about your father or if he might be involved?"

"No."

So that was the answer. And I already knew it, but I had to be sure. I couldn't bring myself to tell her of what I was now convinced—that she was being hunted. That wouldn't help anything right now. She was already sad. Telling her that vampires were trying to track her down would only add fear to the mix. She'd never leave the school again. Though, perhaps, that would be a good thing.

Leaning back, I opened one of the drawers in my desk and brought out a small box of tissues, sliding it over to her.

"I don't know what the future holds," I said. "I'm no seer. But I urge you to keep working hard on your studies and practicing your abilities. They will help offset the pain you're feeling."

She sniffled while nodding, snatching the package of tissues. "Can I leave now?"

"Of course," I replied. "Thanks for being willing to talk."

She got up from the desk and walked briskly out of the classroom.

If she'd heard anything from Shea about what went down the other night, she hadn't let anything show. Hell, I'd been so distracted by the current predicament that I had forgotten to worry about that.

I felt so bad about the way I'd left things with Shea. And what had Kai's big emergency been? To show me the newest prototype of his vampire detectors and ask me if they should be made in slate gray or polished silver to match the street lights.

I hadn't had any contact with Shea since that day. Mainly because I didn't know what to say. I had no right having any sort of involvement with her—and certainly not the kind of involvement I'd had. Not only was she not my student and not a shifter of any kind, but she was a witch.

Wait! She was a witch!

A sudden idea had me straightening on the edge of my seat. If Harpy healing powers couldn't wake Letti, what if magic could? This wasn't just me looking for an excuse to see Shea again. Letti was my responsibility, and if anything could resuscitate her and get her to talk about her vampire attack, how could I not pursue it?

But after the radio silence between us after what we'd done, would Shea even want to see me? Let alone help?

Did that even matter? When I wanted to see her so badly it hurt? When I needed to set things right after what happened?

What do you do?

Go .