It was late at night when my phone rang. Honestly, it scared the life out of me. I slapped around my bedside table blindly until I found it and answered the call with a sleepy voice. "Hello?"

"Hello, Hathy!" came my aunt's cheerful voice. "Is now a bad time?"

I looked at the clock. "It's two in the morning."

"Oh my Gods! I am so sorry!"

I yawned as Xix continued babbling an apology. "Yeah, time differences be like that sometimes. I'm up north so it's a bit different. Whatcha calling for?"

That seemed to snap her out of it. "I just heard back from some of my friends and thought you would be interested."

I put my phone on the bedside table, resting my head on my arms. "Shoot."

"This friend of mine, April, she's been working as a historian since we esca—I MEAN moved back home."

"Subtle."

Xix laughed nervously. "Yeah. April, as expected, says there is only one copy of the prophecy book, which we already knew. She also said each and every prophecy in it has or will come true, and that Celestus' power was a very reliable one."

"Like Carmin's," I said sleepily.

"Yes, like her power." Then quieter: "Only more exact."

I sniggered, hoping she didn't hear.

"My other friend, Kyarah, had about the same to say, but she's less interested in history. She more needed something to do." The sound of pages shuffling made me look up. Did Xix seriously write everything down on paper? I didn't have time to consider the question further because she started speaking once again. "Another of my friends, Marigold, called in a favour to get into the Celestia City Libraries. They don't normally let Fallen Angels in there but her family is in good favour with the boss, Uriel."

"They don't normally let Fallen Angels into Heaven, full stop," I said, covering yet another yawn. "One of my friends is a Fallen Angel, too. Nora. Her family was kicked out and aren't allowed in to even visit family."

"Interesting. Did something bad happen?"

"No idea," I answered honestly. "Nora's parents are pretty hush-hush about the whole thing and, if she does know, she doesn't talk about it." I rolled onto my back with a thoughtful sound. "You know, I think she mentioned having a cousin named Marigold. Wouldn't that be funny?"

"That would be very convenient," Xix said with a smile in her voice. "Anyway, Marigold discovered Celestus had spent some time in Celestia City. It seems he wrote some very exclusive books that the 'big boss', as she put it, rarely lets anyone see."

"Did she get to see them?"

"Unfortunately no, but Uriel did tell her about how the books were restricted because they contained prophecies that only the Archangels were able to know about. Something about the Anti-Christ and something else about the Omega Disaster. Interesting, but not quite what we were after."

"It tells us that Celestus' prophecies are so true that people are scared of them."

Now I was honestly terrified about people finding out about the prophecy containing me if even lower deities were scared enough to restrict access to them. The thought made me shiver. I had to go back to the hidden room and get that book out of there before someone—knowing my luck, Ivy Invictus—found the book! Eh, that was a problem for tomorrow. Later. When the sun was up. Whatever.

"I suppose it does. That is a concern." She hummed. "A problem for later, I suppose. If the book is ever rediscovered."

I pointedly kept my mouth shut.

"Now, the people who gave me the most interesting information were my friends Rye and Seth. They're a husband-wife research team. I've had them helping me with some of the problems here on Terpola."

I couldn't help my smile at the fondness in her voice.

"They did some digging and apparently Celestus had some sort of secret study on one of the older libraries on Lyriumia. They couldn't find which one—they're still looking—but it would appear the prophecy book is there."

Oh boy, wasn't that the truth.

"They told me the book contains prophecies dated from the Time of the Ancients, written from then all the way to the modern day and well beyond to our future. The prophecies are written in the form of poetry, riddle or warning—they couldn't determine exactly which—and cannot be prevented."

That made me grimace. "So, the prophecies are predetermined?"

"It would appear so." More papers shuffling. "It does make sense in a way. Celestus is thought to be one of the few Lyriumians to have Time Magic. If he travelled to the future to see if his prophecies were true, that would make the prophecies predetermined."

I groaned, rubbing my head. "It's too early to think that deep."

My aunt laughed. "Yes, I suppose it is for you. My apologies again for waking you. I'll message the notes I was sent through to you."

"Yeah-huh. Night night." I hung up, rolled over, and promptly fell back asleep.

*

I got exactly three more hours of sleep before I was scared awake my Imogene's loud declaration. "EVERYBODY UP IT'S GAME DAY!"

As I'm sure you can imagine, no one was exactly happy with being woken up at five in the morning. I definitely wasn't happy about being woken up the second time. I grabbed a pillow and slammed it over my head. But I did that in a way that let me still hear the disaster going on outside my room. And the others filled me in later.

Sky was Imogene's first victim. She charged into his room, tore off the blanket, grabbed him by the ankles, and dragged him all the way out to the main living area. Sky hadn't bothered trying to fight back. He merely waiting for Imogene to but him down before getting up, going back to his room, and closing the door.

Isaiah was next. This was obvious by his loud yell of "GET THE FUCK OUT!" Isaiah doesn't yell nor swear much so obviously Imogene had fucked up. It turned out she'd walked in on him getting dressed. Because he's an idiotic early riser who always gets up at five a.m. anyway and Imogene is a good for nothing snoop who forgets the concept of boundaries.

Maddie was somehow able to slip past Imogene and claim one of the showers. Imogene made a very loud, very disappointed sound and not being able to terrorize another victim of her antics.

She got over it quickly and entered Troy's room. A loud growl echoed through the apartment, quickly followed by Imogene's shrieking retreat. That had made me laugh.

My door was the next to open. At first I was worried Imogene had come to get me but the footsteps were all wrong. I moved the pillow over my head and sat up enough to see a large, white wolf pad into my room, kicking the door shut behind him. He sat beside my bed with a huff, resting his head on his front paws.

It was then that Imogene opened the door. She took one look at the wolf, squeaked, and closed the door. It took all my self-control to not burst into a fit of laughter when she ran away. I did let out a few giggles.

I looked down at the wolf a.k.a. Troy and said, "You don't have to sleep on the floor. Trained dogs are perfectly capable of sitting at the end of the bed."

The wolf jumped onto my bed and made himself a spot at the base, but not before giving me a good whack with his tail. Maybe I'd deserved that just a little.

*

The second last day of the week was our designated 'Game Day'. Well, Game Morning for us since some of the others had class in the afternoon. Game Day was fairly straightforward. Once a week, the Dorms would have a 'bonding activity'. It was a way for everyone to let off steam and get to know their apartment buddies a little better. All the Dorms participated, of course, but at different designated times. My Dorm, Naiu, was always at eight in the morning. Not too early but early enough that not everyone decided it was worth showing up. My apartment group always did. Even Isaiah and Sky who had classes an hour after we finished.

Our Dorm Head Teacher, Viviane—yes, that Viviane—was chatting—read: flirting—with one of the other Dorm Heads. I recognised the man. His name was Mylo. He was a Shapeshifter and looked pretty standard in his Human form – pale skin, short brown hair, brown eyes. He was not so subtly flirting back.

It took a moment for the shock to hit, but when it did it hit hard. Mylo was head of Ilus Dorm. Which meant our opponents today would be from Ilus. Which meant—

"Hello, Princess."

Kori.

I groaned loudly, obnoxiously, and turned to face my smirking arch nemesis.

She didn't miss the opportunity to keep talking. "I read the most interesting thing online today. It seems there's a petition to put you and your so called 'Time Magic' on ice." She cackled. "I don't think you have something like that but I'm gonna sign my name on that."

I gave her the flattest look I'd ever given anyone and said, "Get a life, Kori."

"At least I have one," she sung, and tossed her hair over a shoulder.

"Wow. Haha. Never heard that one before."

Thankfully, before any other cliché banter could continue, Viviane clapped her hands loudly. The groups of chatting students died down and everyone turned their attention to her and Mylo.

"Okay, everyone," Viviane called, "listen up! For those of you who are here for the first time, here's a rundown of the rules: 1. No killing. 2. No fatal wounding. 3. The rooms are assigned at random but, yes, you will be facing a group from the opposing Dorm. 4. If you break the rules of the game assigned to you, that is an automatic disqualification of you. Your team will have to do the best they can without you."

Mylo opened a holoscreen. He said, "This week's games are as follows: Hoverball, Skate Race, Archery, Maga-Netball, Capture the Flag—"

"Oooo! I hope we get that one!" Maddie exclaimed, having appeared out of nowhere and grasping my arm.

"—Tracking and Soccer." The holoscreen was closed. "Remember, the game will be assigned to you at random along with the Dorm Apartment you will be facing."

I should probably cut in here. Each Dorm has three hundred apartments. In each apartment is six people. There are a few—though rare—apartments with less people but those are exclusive. You have to go above and beyond—read: have a very good reason—to get one of those rooms. Mum had offered me a double but I'd insisted on having a go at the whole proper Academy life thing. There are thirty-eight Dorms. I'll leave the math to you. Oh, and before you ask me how someone in room 185 can be on the top floor of a Dorm, the numbering system is fucking weird.

Viviane pulled her phone from her pocket and shared her screen as a holoscreen. Why they didn't keep using Mylo's, I had no idea, but I could only assume it was because Viviane's had the two random number generators up and ready. And so, the pairing off begun.

It was a while before my apartment came up on screen. Maddie's grip on my arm only tightened in excitement as the numbers on the next generator went crazy. I was holding my breath—or would have been if I had breath—as the numbers slowed down. Aaaaaand—

64. The number they got was 64. I think you know by now why that number made my skin crawl when it came to Ilus Dorm. Yes, Apartment 64 of Ilus was Kori's number.

My eyes slid toward the gleeful Wolf Shifter. She sent me a toothy grin. I flipped her off.

Viviane, having not noticed any of this, said, "And the chosen game is . . ." A dramatic pause for effect. "Capture the Flag!"

Maddie jumped up and down, pumping her fist while exclaiming, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Mylo raised his hands, a light green aura surrounding them. "Prepare to Jump."

A flash of light overtake myself, my friends, and our opponents.

We were transported to the Western Grasslands. Myself, Maddie, Imogene, Isaiah and Troy stood on the left. Kori, Cyrus, Tyler and their three other roommates—Sapphire (a Shadow woman with very dark skin, bright blue eyes, and long dark blue hair from the planet Dusk), Keir (a Wraith with dark skin, glowing white eyes and short curly hair from the planet Erebos) and Stella (a Lyriumian-Zer woman with brown skin, blue eyes, and shoulder-length curly pale red hair from Ariuma here on Lyriumia)—stood on the right.

Two envelops lay in the grass. Kori and I rushed to pick one up, but not without sneering at each other, before heading back to our groups to huddle.