I salute him. “Aye aye, Cap’n.”
Nemo pivots on his heel and makes his way back to the ship. No sense of humour, huh? Figures.
“Remember what I said, darlings.” Mother turns us around and cups the side of our faces. “Be proud and show no fear.”
The concern in her eyes is mirrored within my own, despite my bravado. My biggest coping mechanism in life has always been making light of serious situations. The twisted sense of humour I’ve adopted over the years has got me through some of my darkest moments. But I know, and my family knows, that deep down I’m just as worried as they are.
“Did I ever tell you why I called you Zara Primrose?”
Her question takes me off guard. My mother rarely ever talks about the day she found me. All I know is that my birth parents left me in a basket outside a stone temple and my mother heard my cries from under the sea. She swooped me into her arms and the rest was history.
“You had this around your neck when I found you.” My mother reaches into her pocket and withdraws a stone primrose hanging on a long silver chain. “I couldn’t touch it without the pendant burning me. You used to wear it every day until you were about four, then you lost it while out swimming with Muriel.”
“I remember that,” my sister says.
“I don’t.”
My mother nods thoughtfully. “You cried for months. I searched everywhere for it but assumed it was lost. Then it showed up at the market in Atlantis the same day you turned that hideous young man into stone.”
My eyes widen in surprise, and I take the pendant from her. “It’s beautiful.”
“And it’s yours. It’s enchanted, too, so you’ll be able to use it to contact me. All you need to do is sit the primrose in water and say my name three times.”
Tears prick my eyes as I drape the chain over my neck, tucking the pendant under my shirt.
“I just want you both to be safe,” Mother whispers, taking our hands. “By all means, break the rules whenever necessary, but pick those battles. And also don’t forget your old mama. Murie, have you got your pendant, too?”
“Yes.” Murie taps her pocket and then hugs her. “Try not to worry, Mum. Zee and I will have each other’s backs, right?”
“Right,” I say, joining in on the embrace
The three of us stay like that for a long while. When the ship sounds its horn, we know it’s time and reluctantly let go before heading over to the ship. I try not to look back. It’ll just make boarding the ship that much harder.
A nearly invisible veil has been wrapped around the ship. Humans wouldn’t be able to see it thanks to the concealment spell. As soon as we step onto the ramp, the spell lifts, and crew members buzz around the deck. Some other students have already been picked up, but I’m drawn to one in particular. Maybe it’s because he’s grinning like he’s just won the cruise of a fucking lifetime.
He’s tall and pale with ebony hair that brushes his shoulders. His emerald tunic has gold embroidery, and his black cloak whips around him as he rushes up the stairs to grab hold of the wheel. The force field protecting the wheel sends him spiraling onto his back, much to the delight of the captain and his crew.
I wince as he lands on the deck with a loud slap and splutters for breath.
“Let that be a lesson to any fool wanting to take over my ship,” Captain Nemo announces, pulling out a scroll and quill, gesturing to the boy. “Loki of Asgard. What sin has brought you to the Academy for Villains?”
Loki rises to his feet and brushes the dust off his clothes. “What do you think, old man?”
“I see. So you tried, yet again, to take over Asgard but failed?”
The boy’s face purples with anguish. “Yes,” he grits out.
Captain Nemo tuts and shakes his head, scribbling something down on the scroll. “Dear, oh dear. Perhaps next time you will be successful and not get caught.” He turns to my sister. “Muriel Eyre. What is your sin?”
Murie hesitates and looks at me for support. I open my mouth to speak on her behalf, but the captain cuts me off.
“She has a tongue and can answer for herself.”
After a strained moment, my sister takes a deep breath. “I let a pirate drown at sea. I could’ve saved him, but I… I choose to swim away.”
“She was also just a kid herself, and the pirate killed our dad before trying to poach her,” I defend, narrowing my eyes on the captain. My hair bristles like a wave of static electricity as the snakes threaten to take over. “She shouldn’t even be here!”
He just scores something off, not bothering to look up from his scroll. “And you, Zara-Primrose. What sin did you commit?”
All eyes turn to me, including Loki.
Right. Now it's my turn to tell the truth.
Only, I'm not embarrassed to say it. I embrace what I did to that little pervert.
“I turned a man’s junk into stone, then I broke it off and wore it as a necklace. That’s what he gets for pissing off a gorgon.”
To my surprise, a lot of the crew members and students just laugh. Do they think it’s a joke? Honey, I still have that stone dick in my bedroom back home. It’s sitting on my vanity like a prized fucking trophy. These men would be wise not to get on my bad side. I'm not above adding to my collection. My mother always said I like to hoard things.
Captain Nemo interrogates the remaining students while the crew propels the ship into motion. I stand beside Murie, watching the waves crash against the surface. The dragon wings attached to the side stretch out, then start to move, lifting us up into the clouds. Okay. So the boat can fly. Thank goodness I’m not super afraid of heights or anything, or that would be a real inconvenience right about now.
Murie links her arm with mine. “This is it, Zee. No turning back.”
We couldn’t even if we wanted to, I almost say, but I don’t want to worry her even more. I rest my head on her shoulder and watch the sea growing smaller beneath us. We might not have a choice when it comes to going to the Academy for Villains, but I hope, for the sake of the students and teachers there, they are ready to meet the Eyre sisters.
We’re villains now.
And I will not hold back anymore.
Chapter Two
If someone told me before setting off that the Academy for Villains was a castle sitting on top of a floating island, I would've laughed and asked to make mine a double shot. But that's exactly what the academy is. The boat drifts through the clouds and lands seamlessly on the lake surrounding the castle on the centre of the island.
First, the anchor is dropped, then the gangway, and one by one everyone disembarks. There's already a ship docked with students gathered beside the lake. Damn, the captain of that ship is all tattooed and rugged. I'd swap him for the fish cap'n any day of the week.
No. Enough, Zara. You are not here to date.
With that bitter reminder, I follow Murie to where everyone's gathering around a man in long ebony robes. Everything from his cloak to his suit and cane is black, but the mask covering half of his face is pure white. We stop at the front of the crowd and I can see a scar poking out from the edge of his mask. Whatever he’s hiding can’t be pretty.