Zodiac Academy: The Awakening

“Tory wasn’t much for the feelings type, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. And though I sometimes wished for a few more warm hugs, she always showed me she cared in her own way.”

This passage allows a better understanding of Tory’s character while also providing insight to Darcy’s character. Despite being twins, they differ in desires and personalities. Tory might not care for physical affection or social niceties much, but Darcy does. This desire for physical affection explains why Darcy falls for Seth’s ploy later on in the novel despite knowing that she shouldn’t trust him.

“My heart was pounding even harder now but not with fear. This was it. Half the reason I took these risks. Riding these machines made me feel alive unlike anything else. I wished I could take my helmet off and let the wind race through my hair at top speed with nothing but an open road ahead of me.”

Tory loves the feeling of flying down the road on a bike, as it represents a kind of freedom and escape that she has not yet known. When she later witnesses Darius transform into a dragon and fly through the clouds, she longs to feel it for herself and hopes that her Order will provide her with wings. This foreshadows her Order reveal as a creature that allows freedom of movement, which she will discover later in the series.

“The shutter fell to the ground and I kicked the stand down before pulling my helmet off and turning my gaze to Joey. He was a tall man, his dark hair slicked back with gel and his leather jacket stamped with the insignia of his bike gang, not that I had any interest in that. He was in his late thirties; not old enough to have stopped him from trying his luck with me in the past but too old for me to be interested. I was eighteen. He’d been my age when I was born. Gross.”

This passage explores Tory’s understanding of the male gaze, which she reverses when she sizes Joey up and determines that she is not interested in him. It is also an example of dark themes explored in the text, and it is not the only instance in which perversion and sexual coercion are mentioned throughout the novel or series. It is a common trope for women-driven fantasy romances to involve some discussion of misogyny and its effects on the characters, who often challenge gender norms.

“The Awakening had left me reeling, trapped within my own body as I tried to adjust to the sudden onslaught of power which had filled a void I’d never known I had. For the first time in my life, I was struck speechless. This power had crept up on me, whispered sweet nothings in my ear then slapped my face so hard it was left pink and stinging for the whole world to see.”

This description of the emergence of the twins’ power speaks of a seductive power that emerges only to slap and humiliate them because of the public nature of The Awakening. This hints at the struggle they’ll experience both in mastering their magic and in trying to fit in among their peers at the Academy, particularly the Celestial Heirs, who bully them mercilessly. This quote speaks to the theme of Navigating Power Dynamics and Interpersonal Complexities.

“My throat constricted as I searched for a single friendly face amongst the masses. But I couldn’t find one. I was alone in this. And the only person I had to rely on was myself. They’d played me like a fool […] I clenched my jaw, furious that I was backed into a corner like this. It was clear this had been his plan all along. He wanted me wholly ridiculed. He wanted the entire House to laugh at me, to humiliate me beyond repair. It wasn’t just my hair he was trying to take, it was my dignity.”

The theme of Navigating Power Dynamics and Interpersonal Complexities is shown in Darcy’s and Tory’s inductions into their Houses. Both Darius and Seth exert power over them by embarrassing them through hazing to extents that other inductees don’t have to experience. In doing so, they are also proving to Darcy and Tory that no one is to be trusted. In a society where Fae value power and dominance above all else, the twins must learn to make it without each other, as they are frequently separated by their Houses. This isolation leads to their self-discovery.

“Heat enveloped me but instead of burning, I felt only the gentle embrace of it against my skin like a thousand tiny kisses.”

Though Darius is presented as a powerful enemy that the twins would not want to cross, his kiss-like fire magic touching Tory’s skin foreshadows the complexity of his character. Though she continues to distrust him for the entirety of the novel, this passage suggests that perhaps he’s more of an ally than he leads Tory to believe.

“I’d always thought we’d been orphaned, but now it was almost worse to know our parents had chosen to get rid of us. Orion had thought we’d been in danger, but from what? And if that were true, why swap us for some random human children and put them in danger instead? It was beyond cruel.”

Darcy admits to her feelings of abandonment and shares the belief that she is unlovable. Learning that her parents placed her with humans, even if it was to save the twins from being murdered by Nymphs, tugs at Darcy’s deep-rooted insecurities and makes her feel unwanted, regardless of the reasoning. This quote also shows Darcy’s compassion, as she feels sadness for the human children that she and Tory were swapped with.

“I could cope with the Vega thing if I had to but Roxanya was a girl who should have grown up in this strange Fae world and I wasn’t her. Tory had been my name throughout everything that had shaped me into the person I was today and I had no interest in shedding that persona now or in the future.”

While Tory and Darcy are open to self-discovery while they’re at Zodiac Academy, they do not plan to fall into the supposed identities they would have filled if they’d grown up as royal Fae, including their Fae birth names. They intend to discover themselves as they are now because of their experiences rather than forgetting the past. This quote speaks to the theme of Self-Discovery as Empowerment and Confidence Building.

“‘The stars can be unpredictable,’ Orion explained. ‘Their nature must complement ours for everything to align.’”

This passage illustrates the theme of Challenging Determinism. Though astrology possesses the ability to determine fate and chart destiny within the text, its meaning lies in the interpretation, which is subjective. While fate might seem set in stone, interpretations can vary widely. Different predetermined paths can be traveled based on the free will of the individual. The idea that the stars must “complement” human nature suggests a greater sense of agency than is initially presented at Zodiac Academy.

“I was a foster kid from the rougher part of town. I’d never even had dreams of being a princess like the other little girls who put on Cinderella dresses and plastic tiaras as they pranced around the local mall. My dreams had always contained a lot more grease and oil and an open road leading me to freedom. Even as a little kid I’d been more interested in watching Speedway races than Disney cartoons.”

While their induction into Zodiac Academy has opened the twins up to a journey of self-discovery, they are unwilling to accept becoming entrapped in a predetermined life as royals. Their dreams, as Tory explains in this quote, include the freedom to do as they wish and travel the roads they want without outside intervention. This quote speaks to the theme of Challenging Determinism.

“I’d never had many friends in my old schools anyway. We’d moved around too much when we were younger and I’d learned not to get close to anyone after a while. It was always a double whammy. Our foster parents would give us up and we’d get hauled out of school and dumped in the next town over. Tory had always dealt with it better than me. But my heart had been on lock-down for years. I didn’t want to get too comfortable in one place, knowing I’d be ripped away from it soon enough.”

Darcy’s character is explored through these small glimpses into her insecurities, fears, and thought processes. Though Tory is rougher around the edges and less likely to take abandonment and not fitting in personally, Darcy is hesitant to get comfortable anywhere new because she believes her circumstances will always change. She is very emotionally susceptible to negative feelings of loneliness, alienation, and abandonment.

“My eyes snagged on Orion and I found he was looking right at me; it felt a lot like looking down the barrel of a gun.”

This use of simile refers to the way Darcy currently views Orion as a danger. While he may not be a true enemy of hers, at this point in the story, she believes that he wishes her dead. The word “snagged” also highlights the unpleasantness of being caught in his gaze.

“I wasn’t going to fall into his trap again. This was the guy who’d burned my clothes off and circulated naked pictures of me. He was rude and arrogant and full of himself. There was no way in hell I’d be ending up in his bed tonight. I was at least sixty-seven percent certain of that.”

The night in the club with the Celestial Heirs illustrates the weakening defenses the Vegas have against the boys. As they become more intimate and friendly with the Heirs, their mortal understanding of people causes them to overlook the power-hungry Fae instinct they’ve been warned of. Despite Tory’s past encounters with Darius at House Ignis, she remains unsure of what she wants from him. Darius represents magic itself, which Tory finds dangerously seductive. This quote highlights the theme of Navigating Power Dynamics and Interpersonal Complexities.

“He was a psycho who’d just attacked my sister and was half covered in Geraldine’s blood. He was obviously claiming to have saved her life but what if he’d been the one trying to hurt her? He was certainly capable of acting like a monster and he’d left the bar right before it had happened.”

This passage illustrates the confusion the twins still feel at the mystery of who their true enemy is. Both Orion and Darius look suspicious after disappearing right before Geraldine was attacked, only for Orion to reappear covered in blood, while Darius doesn’t reappear at all. Orion’s tricky nature highlights the fact that the world of Zodiac Academy and the Fae is entirely new to the twins, and they cannot be sure who to trust.

“I’d been half asleep leaning against Seth’s shoulder when he’d healed the wound, his magic brushing over my skin like a whisper.”

This passage leads readers and Darcy to believe that Seth is capable of change and redemption. However, his betrayal at the end suggests that all his affections were just an act through which to humiliate Darcy. That detail makes this passage more puzzling, as he healed her while she was sleeping. There was no strategic advantage for Seth—only the personal satisfaction for taking care of someone he cares about. This further complicates his character, suggesting that the Celestial Heirs are not always what they appear to be.

“Because despite the fact that Darius Acrux was a complete and utter asshole who had made it his mission to make my life a living hell, he was still my exact brand of temptation. This close to him I felt like an addict sitting before a lit pipe, just hoping the smoke didn’t blow in my face before I caved entirely.”

Though there is no concrete romance between Darius and Tory in this first installment, this passage illustrates her intense attraction to him and foreshadows a romantic relationship. Tory’s usual type usually gets her burned, which suggests that he’s potentially an antagonist to Tory, but one she cannot resist.

“I wondered if there was any chance that when my Order revealed itself, I would be granted the blessing of wings. Flying through the clouds seemed like its own beautiful kind of freedom and I knew that if I could experience it even once then I’d be able to die having lived a life fulfilled.”

Tory’s desire for wings mirrors the freedom she feels flying down the road while racing motorcycles. Her wish for wings also foreshadows the Order and form she takes, which will be revealed to her in following installments of the series as a winged creature, providing the sense of freedom she craves. This quote highlights the theme of Self-Discovery as Empowerment and Confidence Building.

“I’d never been one to run from a fight before so why the hell should I run from a bunch of mean girls just because they’d claimed ownership over a man-whore and wanted to punish me for stumbling into his path?”

This quote demonstrates Tory and Darcy’s sense of perseverance in the face of bullying. The bullies are described as “mean girls,” offering a second layer to the bullying of the Celestial Heirs. Here, the twins are bullied, ironically, for interactions with the Celestial Heirs, demonstrating the theme of Navigating Power Dynamics and Interpersonal Complexities.

“No knights in shining armour here. Not that that was much of a surprise. Besides, I’d never needed one before so I wasn’t going to look for one now. My sister and I had taken care of ourselves for a long time.”

Coming into the Academy, the twins didn’t want to separate. They’d spent their entire lives relying on each other in the foster care system. Their separation at the Academy teaches them to value the strength in their independence, but they also know that they can rely on each other when necessary. Their journeys of self-discovery allow them, especially Darcy, who was deeply affected by past abandonment, to locate their hidden inner power.

“Don’t underestimate the depths of vengeance. My sister and I have more power than the lot of you, and you’d be fools to think we won’t remember what we went through while we were getting to grips with handling it.”

Tory’s words foreshadow her and Darcy’s triumph over their bullies, as well as the full realization of their powers. Tory’s words also highlight her growing understanding of their potential and destiny as Heirs to the Solarian throne. Here, she reminds her enemies that she and Darcy will use their power, both magical and political, to ensure that there is no corruption or violence.

“Darcy was now nowhere to be seen and Seth was conspicuously absent too. A prickle ran down my spine as I thought about what they might be doing. She was a big girl and perfectly within her rights to make her own bad decisions but something about the Wolf Shifter set me on edge. When he’d been holding me out over that ravine with Caleb, the look in his eye had made me think he really might have dropped me.”

Tension leading up to the reveal of Seth’s betrayal of Darcy is shown through Tory’s perspective. Though she’s allowed Darcy to make her own decisions without voicing her concerns, she has an instinctual feeling in the pit of her stomach that something is not right, particularly after Seth and Caleb attacked her. This quote highlights the theme of Navigating Power Dynamics and Interpersonal Complexities.

“He liked to act all protective of us but if it came to an argument with Seth or any of the other Heirs I knew he’d just slink back into the shadows anyway. But that was alright; I didn’t need anyone to fight my battles for me.”

The wordplay in this passage that describes Diego foreshadows his identity. While this can be read as simply stating that Diego is loyal and supportive but cowardly, the specific description of him slinking back into the shadows hints that he is actually a Nymph in plain sight. Nymphs, like those that attacked Darcy and Tory outside of the bar, linger in the shadows by nature.

“I was hot all over and had a knot in my stomach that kept warning me against Seth. I had to stop letting him draw me closer. I was starting to think maybe he wasn't so bad. And that was a dangerous position to put myself in.”

This foreboding tension between Darcy and Seth shows the risk in their relationship when it comes to Darcy’s sense of safety. Despite her suspicion that Seth is just acting, Darcy still allows him to draw her closer and make her vulnerable, which gives him the opportunity to cut off her hair, which is a symbol of her emotional wounds.