Zodiac Academy: The Awakening

In this section, the dance is particularly enlightening in foreshadowing events to come in the later installments of the series while still building tension within the novel. The flurry of suspicious interactions and sudden betrayals speaks to the themes of Navigating Power Dynamics and Interpersonal Complexities and Self-Discovery as Empowerment and Confidence Building. When Darcy and Tory arrive at the dance with Diego and Sofia and joke about Sofia being a lightweight, Sofia claims that the drinks must have been too strong or drugged. Diego brushing off the subject is particularly suspicious, especially since he was the one to personally bring those shots over to their table that night. Diego’s strange behavior continues over the course of the night, noticed even by Tory, as evidenced in this passage:

I spotted Diego and Sofia amongst them. She was looking up at him like he was the reason the sun appeared each morning but his attention was wavering a little. He alternated between looking back at her and glancing around the room. I just hoped it was because he was nervous and not because he was losing interest (389).

Though she interprets his wandering eyes as boredom and a romantic disinterest in Sofia, Diego seems to be on high alert for something, suggesting that he plays a role in Professor Astrum’s death and in the bullying of Darcy and Tory.

Additionally, both Sofia and Diego are present when Darcy and Tory receive the message from Falling Star inviting them to Venus Library. The twins tell the pair that they’re headed there to meet their anonymous ally, highlighting their readiness to trust when a person appears harmless. While in the library, they discover that someone is eavesdropping on them as they meet with Professor Astrum. When the twins return to the dance, Darcy spots Sofia immediately but is interrupted by Orion’s arrival before she can locate Diego. Later, when Darcy disappears with Seth, Diego seems especially invested in locating her rather than paying attention to his date, Sofia. These inconsistencies with Diego’s behavior and locations hint that Diego, and perhaps even Sofia, are enemies in plain sight.

The significance of Darcy’s blue hair, which symbolizes her promise not to trust anyone else as easily as she trusted her ex-boyfriend, comes to the forefront of the novel as she is seduced and then tricked by Seth. Seth cuts off her hair while making out with her, and she reacts with devastation:

My hair, he took my hair. But it wasn’t just my hair. It was an age old wound and he’d cut it open deeper than before. Don’t trust anyone. […] And how fucking poetic that he’d tricked me, made me trust him then taken the one thing which had been meant to warn me against people like him (403).

Likewise, Tory’s own trust is betrayed by Caleb’s indifferent reaction when Darius drags her to the pool of the Lunar building. In the end, the man they distrusted more than anyone else—Professor Orion—is the person to comfort Darcy and save Tory before she drowned. Additionally, his tenderness with Darcy demonstrates his true feelings for her and her sister by extension.

This sequence of events also complicates the characters of the Celestial Heirs; Orion and Darius are close, and Darius gives Tory a regretful glance, suggesting that he knows she will be physically fine but unable to forgive him. These behaviors raise the question of who the Celestial Heirs act for: themselves or their families. Further, Darius and Orion are working to kill some unknown threat, which cannot be the Vega twins following Orion’s intervention in the public bullying at the Lunar building.

Like many series starters, the novel ends on a climactic high, which also serves as an inciting incident that propels the series story arc into action. The murder of Professor Astrum acts as a wake-up call to the protagonists: While they have serious threats inside the school whom they’ve greatly underestimated, there are greater outside threats who are closer than they expected. Surrounded by enemies and left with a cryptic warning from their only ally within Zodiac Academy, the novel is left on a dramatic, tension-filled cliffhanger, which suggests immediate action, conflict, and danger to come in the second installment. Tory and Darcy’s ability to reflect and rally, though they are exhausted and heartbroken, shows their fortitude and sense of unity. Though they have grown independently in their paths to self-discovery, this ending suggests that they will stay in close ranks while they heal, ultimately returning stronger, braver, and better prepared for the challenge of navigating power dynamics and interpersonal complexities.