Page 38 of Zero Happily Ever Afters

Jennifer snatched up the prompt cards and began writing a list of her own questions, smiling the entire time.

“Someone’s excited to chit-chat with lil ole me.” Gael batted his lashes playfully.

“Just excited by the taste of your tears for when I break you.”

Gael gulped, utterly stunned by the sheer delight and contempt in Jennifer’s voice.

“Bawk bawk.” King Clucks cocked his head with wide eyes giving a very ‘you’re fucked’ expression.

I took a seat at my desk while students prepared for today’s practice interviews.

The classroom was an utter disaster. Yes, no one was talking, but no one was learning either. It was just one of those rooms where time ceased, died, was potentially murdered by Mrs. Valson’s bland personality. Ughhhhhh.

I sat at the back of the room, glowering at my first-year history teacher and wishing I could be dreaming about something fun. Sure, this memory had Milo and Finn, which I adored, but I could be dreaming about our first date. I could be reliving our first night together. Our first kiss. Our first kink. Instead, I sat in the worst fucking history class of my life during student presentations.

Anxiety wafted around the classroom from nervous students, but all I focused on at the time was Milo. Sure, at fifteen, I pretended I didn’t care, but I took the time to scribble in mynotebook about random bullshit to distract Milo from his dread. It gnawed at me, the way he was convinced everyone was going to fixate on how unprepared he was for his speech.

He hated public speaking his first year at Gemini. It took him ages to finally get over the fear that consumed him every time he found himself pulled into an interview. Planned. Spontaneous. It didn’t matter; the idea of picking one wrong word terrified him. It came down to his clairvoyance, the development of his branch, and how little control he had over it at fifteen. Back then, Milo saw every potential failure but rarely the possible successes. Completely opposite Milo and myself was Finn, who’d volunteered to present his project first.

Finn looked truly dashing, standing at the front of the classroom. Unlike me in my wrinkled academy outfit or Milo, who intentionally wore baggy shirts and blazers with an oversized hoodie to top it off, Finn fit his uniform perfectly. His muscular build already put him on the radar of a few second- and third-years.

There was this annoyingly enigmatic charm he had in front of a crowd. A trait he passed along to Milo. Thankfully, not yet, so we both glommed to each other in the back, hiding from Mrs. Valson’s evil eye that “randomly” picked the next presenter.

“For my project, I chose the Sisters of Fate.” Finn snapped his fingers, an act to draw attention and show off his telekinesis that he used to click to the slide in his presentation of the divine goddesses. “They represent psychic supremacy. I know, we’re rockstars. But seriously, they’re like totally psychic royalty, basically the brass ring of casting. Lots of cultures even revered them as goddesses by one name or another.”

He twirled his fingers this time, going to the next slide, which showed various names and images of the Sisters of Fate in different regions, religions, and eras. “Of course, they were different covens of witches over the generations, but thereverence remained. Why? Because they possessed the best psychic combination.”

Even dating back to our first year at Gemini Academy, Finn used every opportunity to present reasons why he, Milo, and me would make a perfect trio. He did so well, it impressed Cerberus Guild to bring us on as a grouped internship, then hired us as acolytes immediately following our graduation.

“What is the best psychic combination, you ask?” Finn smiled at the class, then pointed to the back of the room where Milo and I hid. “Clairvoyance from the fantastic Milo Evergreen, best known as The Inevitable Future. Telepathy from the majestic Dorian Frost, most commonly referred to as The Ubiquitous Present. And of course, the most grand and important member of all—myself. Finn Summers, best remembered as The All-Knowing Past.”

Finn paused for applause. Whether because he was an annoying showman or because our classmates were morons, some of them actually gave Finn the round of applause he craved. I couldn’t recall which, but I remembered how it warmed my chest, seeing his smile and feeling his happiness for the display.

“We’re basically this generation’s Sisters of Fate. Only we’re brothers of fate. Well, not brothers.” Finn winked at Milo, then turned his coy smile toward me and bit his bottom lip. “Definitely don’t picture either of you as my brothers.”

My face heated, likely as red as Milo’s had become before he hid beneath his hoodie.

“The most fascinating part of the Sisters of Fate is their affiliation with the Celestial Coven, which is sort of the witchy Illuminati. Only they were real,” Finn said, moving right back into his presentation like he hadn’t just flirted with us in front of everyone. Possibly. We were still sorting those feelings out. “This isn’t like conspiracy theory stuff either, but it’s definitely not inany of our textbooks. Then again, the amount of relevant historic information they keep out of classroom textbooks is problematic for a number of reasons.”

Finn took a breath, inhaling the history he’d etched into the meticulous flashcards he’d written for his project, focusing on the points of his presentation but drawn to the joys of hidden, forgotten parts of history.

“Okay, so basically, the Celestial Coven is an ancient secret society of witches that orchestrated things from the shadows—a shadow government, ooh, aah, ooh la la—influencing events and pushing magical beliefs in certain directions. Of course, then there was the fall of magic.” Finn’s mind blossomed with wonder. “A much longer story that still has so much mystery. Where did it go? Why did it disappear? Why return after nearly a thousand years of silence? How did magic suddenly erupt back into the world? All very important questions.”

Finn eyed Mrs. Valson, who had the driest, dullest face that Finn perceived as boredom. He wasn’t wrong. She was a half-second away from knocking Finn’s presentation down a whole letter grade because of his tangent.

“But I digress,” Finn said, returning to his discussion on the Sisters of Fate and their supposed connection to this Celestial Coven.

As I sank deep into this memory, I couldn’t help but wonder why my subconscious had sent me here, to these memories, to this project. Did I miss Milo more than I realized? Despite already establishing a link far across the country. Was this karmic hell because I’d started making my students practice their public speaking interviews? Maybe I missed Finn. Our carefree, drama-free, romance-free days. No. That wasn’t it. I would take even our worst date nights or awkward threesomes over this first semester of pining and confusion.

I had half a mind to sink back into my subconscious and yell at those damn personas who were clearly poking me with memories to nudge me this way or that way or whatever.

“I wouldn’t say we’re the ones trying to tell you anything,” a familiar voice whispered.

The shadows of my subconscious danced near the edges of this memory, and one of my personas politely waited for an invitation to crash my dream. The strings of this dream that held me in place snapped loose, no longer keeping me captive to the script of this memory but releasing me to interact with my guest.

“How’d you get up here?” I asked as Nico stepped through the shadows, careful not to disturb anything as if he could actually affect a memory.

“You never know. It’s good to be cautious.” Nico’s casual admission was his way of reminding me that my personas were linked to my thoughts, meaning I couldn’t exactly hide anything from a magical extension of me. “And to answer your question, you brought me here, summoned me. Well, you summoned someone you trusted from the subconscious to answer your question about this dream and why we’re showing it to you.”

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