Jump to Chapter Recap of The Awakening: 1–9 | 19–26
The Awakening Chapters 10–18 Summary
This Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti The Awakening chapter summary contains full spoilers.
The Awakening Chapter 10
Tory wakes up to find a FaeBook post from a student named Milton Hubert showing a naked photo of her from the hazing incident. The school removes the post but only docks Milton ten house points, which does nothing to satisfy her. She goes straight to the common room, overpowers Milton with her magic, and deletes every copy of the photo from his Atlas. Darius then tells Tory that he has copies too, but she shrugs it off and leaves with the last word.
At breakfast in The Orb, Tory joins Darcy, Diego, and Sofia. Geraldine, the head of A.S.S., approaches the group and treats the Vega twins like long-lost royalty. The moment is cut short when Caleb stops by, touches Tory’s neck, and makes it clear that he still sees her as fair game before walking off.
On the way to their first Water Elemental class, the twins are lured into hugging Professor Washer, only to learn that he is a Siren who feeds on emotional energy through physical contact. Max explains what Washer did and gives Darcy a firsthand demonstration of the ability. The twins then fail to part the waterfall that serves as the classroom entrance and arrive completely soaked. They get changed and join the rest of the freshmen for their first lesson beside a sprawling magical pool.
The Awakening Chapter 11
Darcy wakes up and reads her horoscope, which warns her to be wary of the people around her. She heads up to the common room, where students are gathered around a news broadcast about a Fae man whom a Nymph murdered. Seth watches the broadcast briefly before leaving abruptly. On the way to breakfast, Diego explains what Nymphs are and how they drain Fae of their magic by killing them.
At breakfast, Milton uses Coercion to force Darcy and Tory to kiss. Diego immediately steps between the twins. Geraldine blasts Milton across the room with water, and Sofia offers to teach Darcy and Tory how to shield themselves.
In Tarot class, Darcy draws The High Priestess card and experiences a disturbing vision of being watched and fire closing in around her. Professor Astrum takes Darcy’s hand, reacts with alarm, and warns her that her enemies are dangerous and rooted in both fire and darkness. Then Tory takes her turn and draws the same card twice in a row, even after shuffling the deck. Both sisters conclude that someone close to them is being dishonest.
Darcy and Tory’s last class is Werewolf Order Enhancement, which turns out to be less of a lesson and more of a free-for-all. The class shifts into wolves, and Seth leads everyone into the forest. Darcy rides on Seth’s back while Tory rides on another wolf as the pack heads to a hidden pool. Seth tests whether the twins will howl on instinct, and when nothing happens, he declares that they aren’t wolves. He then runs off with the entire pack, leaving Darcy and Tory stranded deep in the woods.
The Awakening Chapter 12
Tory meets with Professor Prestos, her assigned Liaison, who makes it clear she wants to keep things minimal. Prestos will send worksheets and handle everything by email, and Tory is fine with that arrangement. Prestos also gives Tory a credit card linked to her stipend and sends over study materials before heading out for the evening.
With the night to herself, Tory wanders into the woods and finds a quiet clearing above the campus. When the four Heirs show up, Tory hides and listens in. She discovers that the Heirs are planning to show up outside her dorm room at six the next morning to catch her off guard.
Once the others leave, Darius makes a secretive call and heads off in the opposite direction from where he told his friends he was going. Tory follows him to the faculty housing and watches him confront Orion in a tense, hushed argument. The two are clearly plotting against someone and want to act before anyone can trace their actions back to them. Darius wants to move immediately, but Orion pushes for a few more days to confirm what they’ve learned. They settle on Orion conducting one final meeting first.
Tory slips away and heads back to her room, determined to warn Darcy.
The Awakening Chapter 13
Tory calls Darcy late at night asking to stay over because the Heirs are planning to come after her the next morning. Once she’s safely inside, Tory tells Darcy she followed Darius and overheard his secret meeting with Orion. What Tory heard suggested that Darius and Orion want the sisters dead.
The twins reach out to a mysterious FaeBook account called Falling Star, who warns them about Orion’s connection to the Acrux family and claims that the House of Acrux was behind the murder of the twins’ birth parents. Falling Star sends them a news article reporting that King Hail Vega and his family were killed in what authorities ruled a Nymph attack, though Lionel Acrux was suspiciously the first to arrive at the scene.
The next day in Cardinal Magic class, Orion bites Tory’s wrist in front of everyone. Kylie Major snaps a photo and posts it to FaeBook, and Caleb arrives almost immediately. Orion and Caleb get physical before reaching an arrangement where Caleb claims Tory as his Source, and Orion claims Darcy as his.
After class, Orion pulls Darcy aside and explains what being his Source means. Darcy must tell Orion if any other vampire bites her, and Orion plans to feed from her regularly. Darcy agrees because she has little choice, but she tells Orion that she intends to grow strong enough to stop him someday.
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The Awakening Chapter 14
Tory wakes up early to dodge the Heirs and heads to the Pluto Offices to collect a package. She runs into Darius, and after some tense sparring between them, Darius ends up helping Tory retrieve her deliveries and lets her keep everything before heading off.
Afterward, Tory rushes to her first Earth Elemental class, held in an underground cavern. Professor Rockford keeps things loose and tells students to explore freely. When Geraldine and her A.S.S. members make a fuss over Tory and Darcy, Darcy smooths it over by suggesting they all be friends. While Geraldine and the A.S.S. members dissolve into an enthusiastic group hug, Tory uses the distraction to slip away and explore a side tunnel on her own.
Seth and Caleb are waiting. They drag Tory to a ledge above a drop full of razor-sharp stalagmites and shove her over the edge. Hanging there with nothing beneath her but a fatal fall, Tory pulls off a desperate act of Coercion and forces Seth and Caleb to haul her back up. The display of power catches the Heirs off guard. Caleb bites her anyway, then snaps at Seth for touching Tory mid-feed. The two quickly lose interest in Tory entirely and run off, leaving her shaken but largely unscathed.
The Awakening Chapter 15
Darcy and her friends are restless on their first Friday night at the Academy, so when Diego offers to drive them into town, they all jump at the chance. They get dressed up and head to a bar called Andromeda’s Place in a nearby town called Tucana.
While waiting to order more drinks at the bar, Darcy overhears Orion talking to a woman about killing her and Tory. The woman wants to move that night, but Orion argues that it would draw too much attention. Then the woman spots Darcy. Orion grabs Darcy and asks what she heard. Darcy denies hearing anything and slips away into the bathroom.
Orion enters the bathroom, locks the door, and uses Coercion to force Darcy to tell him everything she overheard. Once she does, he tells her to go home and walks out.
Darcy goes back to the table and fills the others in. Not long after, Sofia drinks too much too fast, and Diego takes her home, pointing Darcy and Tory toward the shuttle back to campus. The two decide to stay anyway.
The Awakening Chapter 16
Tory and Darcy get a message from Falling Star asking them to meet in an alley behind the bar. They go, but Falling Star pulls out at the last second, warning them that something called the Shadow is nearby. Before they can leave, a shadowy figure appears and chases them through the back alleys, making a rattling noise that cuts off their ability to use magic. They manage to escape by hurling a bag of trash at the figure and running onto a busy street.
Then Tory and Darcy bump into Max, whose Siren powers make it hard to resist being pulled toward the Heirs’ table. The Heirs offer a one-night truce and, against their better judgment, the twins go along with it. They share drinks and end up dancing with the Heirs, with Tory getting uncomfortably close to Darius before pulling back.
The night falls apart when an announcement orders all students back to the buses and word spreads that Geraldine has been attacked. Outside, Tory and Darcy find Orion covered in Geraldine’s blood and completely drained of magic after he apparently saves her life. He bites Darcy and won’t stop until Tory burns him off. The group boards a bus back to the Academy, and Tory realizes Darius never came back after leaving with Orion just before the attack.
The Awakening Chapter 17
Darcy wakes up hungover and pieces together the night before, remembering that Geraldine was hurt and that Orion showed up at the scene covered in blood. In the hallway, Seth catches her off guard by apologizing for how he’s treated her since she arrived at Zodiac. She doesn’t trust him, but she agrees to let him try to make it up to her.
Shortly after, Darcy and Diego head to The Orb to meet Tory. They find out from Washer where Geraldine is being treated. But before they can leave for Uranus Infirmary, Kylie and Marguerite Helebor corner the twins about dancing with Seth and Darius the night before. Darcy tries to brush it off, but Kylie slaps her. Nova’s timely arrival gives Darcy and Tory the opening to slip away.
At the infirmary, Geraldine tells Darcy and Tory she was attacked from behind, had her magic drained, and noticed a cinnamon smell during the attack. Darcy recognizes it as Orion’s scent and becomes convinced he’s responsible.
By Monday, Darcy confronts Orion during their Liaison meeting and lays out everything she has observed. Orion listens without much reaction, then pulls up a news report confirming Geraldine was attacked by a Nymph and that Orion is being recommended for an award for saving her life. Darcy’s case falls apart.
Darcy tries to leave, but Orion steps in front of her. She asks whether he wants her and Tory dead. He calls her Blue and tells her no.
The Awakening Chapter 18
Tory heads to the Fire Arena for a scheduled tutoring session with Darius, and while she waits, she practices on her own. Without her fireproof outfit on, Tory finds she can control her flames far better than usual. A student named Justin Masters from the A.S.S. turns up and asks her to the dance. Tory turns him down and suggests he try Geraldine instead.
After waiting almost forty minutes with no sign of Darius, Tory loses patience and goes looking for him. She tracks him down to his room at the top of Ignis House and finds him shirtless on his bed, surrounded by piles of gold coins and gemstones. Darius tells her his kind needs gold to regenerate their power.
Things quickly turn confrontational. Darius refuses to tutor Tory and tells her that if she wants something from him, she’ll have to force him to do it. Then he strips naked and throws himself out of the tenth-floor window. Tory rushes to look and watches him shift into a massive golden dragon and take to the sky.
Seeing Darius in that form changes something in Tory. She has no interest in his throne, but she decides she wants Darius’s respect, and that’s something she won’t give up trying to earn.