Paranormal Academy

by Limited Edition Box Set

Easy.

  Besides, the instructions said this was going to test your bravery. Since when was running brave? That dumb Tarn at the check in had probably given me a Drain’s instructions by mistake.

  They would run. They would save the filthy refugees in the sewer.

  Like hell if they thought I was dumb enough to fall for that.

  Vilỳ’s snarled and pulled themselves from the stone like demonic tulips, their gnashing teeth grinding together as I tightened my grip on the knife. I was ready. I was going to beat the Eternals and their damn system. The Vilỳ’s leathery wings unfurled as they watched me, as they screamed and took off into the air, darting toward me like a fecking missile.

  I should run. Instead, I swiped the knife through the air as the first one reached me, my form and skill exactly what I had been taught in order to battle a cockatrice. But this wasn’t a lumbering dragon-bird, it was a tiny little speed demon. It was heading right toward me.

  I swung wide, it darted, causing me to miss the smudge of brown by a mile. I was only barely able to keep my balance from the force of my swing, my sneakers spinning and grinding into the pebbles on the floor.

  “Crap.” I swung again, as the second wave of monsters followed the first, the tiny flying hell bats ripping right toward me. Dodging, weaving, and leaving me to look like a toddler with a foam sword.

  “Die already!” I screamed, still flailing my knife and backing up, toward more rubble and broken pews.

  Blindly slicing toward the Vilỳ, I twisted, only to see twenty of the tiny demons screaming through the air towards me.

  Fecking Hell. I should have run.

  I was officially surrounded, and no amount of the fruitless swinging was getting me anywhere. I looked like a damn baby bird trying to direct a choir. I needed to get the upper hand, and I needed to get it fast.

  Mind-numbing screams of the little things were closing in, the sound behind me clawing at my spine as it grew closer, as the Vilỳ before me dodged my knife and tried to attack again. Closer, closer.

  I ducked as the screaming hit a high point, sending the two waves of Vilỳ into the other. Tangled wings, teeth, and limbs thrashed above me. I pulled myself back up, taking off in a full sprint to a few broken pews that had been stacked on top of each other.

  Perhaps I could use the thing as a barricade and create a stop gap, pick the bastards off one by one as they came through a smaller opening after me. Of course, that would depend on if I could get there before they could. The things were fast, and none of my training had included outrunning rabid flying rats.

  My sneakers slid against rubble as I quick-changed directions, sliding behind the pile and pushing the top most pew toward them. Wood heaved and slid to the ground, slamming hard against the stone and creating the small opening I had hoped for.

  Of course, it was only one. My entire backside was exposed. I doubt the things had enough brains to know to swoop around and behind though, they were already lining up to dart through the narrow opening, and I was ready.

  My knife cut through air as the first one came at me, hitting against flesh and bone and snapping the tiny head of the thing right off.

  It fell to the ground with a tiny thud, the sound of its body against stone drowned by the scream of the next one, and the gnashing of teeth as the second, still chomping, head joined the first.

  “Easy. Run away?” I scoffed, slicing the air again and easily taking down the third. “What are they testing us for exactly?”

  Oh yeah, bravery.

  This was brave, although I could have proved more skill with a cockatrice. All my years of training was feeling wasted at this point.

  Lifting the knife, the next Vilỳ screaming as it came closer. I swiped, expecting another clean cut and a soft thud. Instead, the thing dodged, wings folded down as it darted around the knife and right toward me.

  In my panic, I slipped on splinters of wood, falling back and sending the knife through the air. Hardened silver sliced at nothing before it slammed against the pew and fell to the ground.

  Another Vilỳ sped through the opening toward me, the thing screeching as the two bolted my way. More of the damn birds were already climbing over the pews on my left, teeth gnashing, frightening little bloodshot eyes digging into me like I was their next meal.

  Okay, back to plan B.

  Well, I guess, plan A.

  I turned to run, trying to find my footing, when one of the mud-brown demons screeched right beside me. Sound rang in my ear, splitting my head in two right before I felt those massive fangs dig into my neck.

  I twisted to the side, letting my own scream rip free as I tried to pull the damned thing off me and send it tumbling across the room. It was on too tight, its fangs too deep. The smell of blood flooded my nose as everything spun, pain spreading over my neck and down my back in hot electric currents. Forget being bitten, I was clearly being electrocuted.

  This couldn’t be what gaining magic felt like.

  Daddy had warned me never to scream, that screaming was weakness and only fit for the Drains. But this pain, this crippling agony that was setting my veins on fire… Damn it all, I screamed. I fecking screamed until my throat ripped, the loud agonizing sound bouncing off wood and stone and glass and sending it right back to me.

  Except it wasn’t alone.

  My scream was accompanied by hundreds of others, the sharp scream of the Vilỳs’ ripping through my agony as more of the beasts poured over my pathetic barricade, as they raced down from the ceiling, hundreds of razor-sharp fangs digging into my skin.

  This wasn’t what I had wanted. This wasn’t the easy bite and a guarantee to power. This was death.

  If I didn’t die from this, I would from the shame at getting launched from the Gauntlet in the second task.

  I refused to go down like this. My magic, Imdalind Academy, it was all so damn close.

  Screaming as loud as the monsters, I pulled myself back to my feet, ripping the beasts away from me as I bolted towards the door, towards the only exit and hopeful portal to the final task.

  My bolting was more of a drunken stagger as more and more of the monsters attached themselves to me. My filthy sneakers slid against the rubble strewn floor, teeth sinking into the perfect middle of my back.

  My spine arched, another disgusting scream ripping through me as I reached forward, wrapping my hand around the knob and turned. Hinges creaked, the sound swallowed beneath another Vilỳ as it landed on my shoulder, teeth gnashing in my ear, against my flesh.

  “This is not my end.” I pushed my way forward, right as one final set of teeth ripped at my shoulder.

  Pain took control as I fell forward, blood-soaked air whooshing past me as I collided with something solid. Although if it was door, floor, or some kind of sanctuary I couldn’t tell, everything had gone black.

  4

  Sia

  I hadn’t passed out.

  Light had been sucked away, although not in the same way as when I moved through the door into the Gauntlet. I was breathing, I was moving. Thankfully without the radiating fire from my mauling. All of that pain had gone, although I was still soaked with blood, the aroma of my own near-death mixing with the stank of the Drains in the dark.

  I was beginning to think I would never breathe again.

  I mumbled unintelligibly, shifting my weight against what I was sure was stone. At least it wasn’t the soft mattresses of the hospital wing where the losers were taken. I hadn’t lost yet.

  Maybe I could still win this, maybe I could still finish. I may not be first, but I could still finish before all the Drains.

  I wouldn’t be last.

  There was no way in hell I would let those pathetic beasts gain entrance to the Academy before me. I needed to figure out what was going on, find a light or something.

  My jeans rubbed loudly against the stone as I pushed myself to sit, the sound echoing in the low burr of static. Well, I had thought it was static. Sitting in the dark, staring into nothing, t
he sounds started to pick themselves apart. Fabric grinding against stone, the rusting of canvas, the murmur of voices somewhere in the dark not far from me.

  Looks like I wasn’t alone here. No wonder everything stunk.

  “Get that stone out,” a woman said somewhere to my right, the tone harsh and commanding.

  Must be a Golden, perhaps we could work together, get closer to the exit. Not that I would let them cross first, but if they got me closer to victory, they would be worth the expense.

  Especially since I had lost my bag in the Vilỳ room.

  Damn it, looks like I needed them.

  “Here ya go, Gemma.” A man growled in response, the rustling of fabric growing louder as more voices echoed around us, as a spark of light ignited from the clang of stone against knife.

  They weren’t Goldens.

  Six Drains sat huddled together around the tiny flame, the light flickering from the edge of the laminated card. Guess it wasn’t laminated, just enchanted. Don’t know how those rats figured that out. They all sat with their jaws sagging as the girl, Gemma I assumed, scanned the quickly burning instructions.

  Bright pink mohawk, face covered with piercings, and tattoos all over her neck and arms. I remembered her from the beginning.

  How had she and those bastards got this far? I was not okay with this. Screw using them, there was no way in hell I wanted their help.

  I would, however, gladly spoil their chances.

  “Task Three: This will test your determination. It will take as much to reach the end.” The girl read, everyone staring so intently at her that they didn’t see me sneak up behind, the light from the burning card showing me enough of the uneven stone that I didn’t faceplant.

  “So, we have to get through the dark?” A chubby guy said with a smile, like he thought this was going to be easy.

  “Yep, shouldn’t be too hard,” the girl said, “stay close and I’ll get us through this in one piece.”

  They needed to be put in their place, if only because of their sheer arrogance.

  “You are not welcome here,” I snarled, pulling the attention of the smallest among them, a girl that turned to me with wide eyes. I highly doubt she was old enough to be here in the first place.

  I could fix that.

  I took off running the second her cracked lips spread to give warning, my palm smothering her face as I pushed her back, using her face as a launching pad to get through the group.

  The girl went down with the tiniest of yelps. It was still too loud. All of the others turned to me, the girl with all those vile holes in her head looking up with a smirk.

  This Gemma wasn’t even going to fight me, she smiled like I was barging into a house party with some expensive wine, or whatever it was the Drains drank.

  Sewer sludge maybe.

  I didn’t ask. I slammed her away, grabbing the stone, knife, and card from her as I bolted into the dark, using the quickly fading flames of the card to leap over the ridges and divots in the stone and get as far away from them as possible.

  “Hey!” Someone yelled behind me, maybe that chubby guy.

  “Don’t worry,” I called back, glancing ahead and trying to plan my next few moves before the light extinguished. “They’ll get you back to your sewers soon enough!”

  “Let her go. We don’t need that to complete this. The exit isn’t far.” Gemma responded as I blew the card out, the ebony blackness consuming everything before I continued forward, following the steps that I had laid out so as not to fall flat on my face. It was difficult even with my planning, but I didn’t stop.

  I took their knife, so it’s not like they could do anything.

  “Maybe we will get lucky and take her out too.” Mumbles drifted through the dark from behind, I wasn’t even sure that was what had been said. They were too far away now, swallowed by the dark.

  The card was only about half burnt, but it wasn’t worth the risk lighting it back up quite yet. Not that I couldn’t take them if they caught up to me, but they would slow me down. Let them wander in the dark like the rats they were, I had my target. There was a faint glow of another fire not far ahead, and an even dimmer one beyond that.

  That was the one I would head to seeing as it wasn’t the yellow glow of burning instruction cards. It was hard to tell from here, but I was sure it had a bit of a red glow. The color of magic.

  Each step forward was a punch in the gut, the slow, agonizing pace testing my patience. I slid my feet over the stone, my once pristine sneakers tapping and feeling around to test each step and make sure I didn’t face plant or worse. Tap-tap, step. Tap-tap, step.

  “Slow and steady wins the race.” It was such an old term. I had always thought of it as some dumb thing my grandfather said from when he ran the gauntlet. He said it so often we had even put it on his tombstone when he had died.

  It had never meant anything until now.

  Tap-tap, step. Tap-tap, the stone crumbled and gave way. I was barely able to regain my balance as a shower of rock tumbled through the dark, echoing as it fell into what I could only explain as an abyss. Seeing as everything was so dark, however, we already could have been at the bottom.

  That rock was hurtling toward the bottom, bottom.

  I landed hard on my ass as someone not far away screamed. I guess they didn’t move fast enough. Their shout echoed as it faded, the panicked sound dragging further and further away.

  Damn. That wasn’t promising for something I had planned to feel around and step over.

  I could light the card, or I could take the chance and feel my way forward.

  Either one was wasting precious minutes. The dome of red light was growing closer, and I could have sworn that I could see the silhouettes move around in front of it.

  Through it.

  Fecking hell. I was lighting the card.

  Fumbling with my stolen tools, I ran the knife over the stone, sparks shooting from the edge of the knife towards the card. The edges were already singed and burnt, and not likely to ignite easy, which left me the middle of the sheet and nowhere to hold it.

  Who the hell cared? I would burn the crap out of my hand if I had to. I could heal it later when I had magic. The king’s hand was all scarred, so maybe I would fit in better with them when Rowan became mine.

  We could each have stories about the burns on our hands. I wondered what his was.

  The thought made me smile and I hit the stone against the knife with more gusto, sending a shower of sparks over the paper, which quickly ignited.

  Thank god I had chosen to light the thing; I probably would have tumbled to my death trying to feel my way over the wide cavern that I was only inches from.

  So, I had a few minutes of light, hopefully enough to get me to the red dome before everyone else that was streaming in that direction. I had no idea how many had finished the Gauntlet already.

  I needed to find a way across this.

  I ran in the direction of the glowing red door, scanning both the uneven floor before me, and the frightening cavern for a safe way across. No one without magic could jump that, so there had to be a bridge.

  I found one when the card had almost extinguished. The narrow footbridge was already packed with Drains, the same damn sheep from before following that mohawked girl around like she was a god.

  Idiots. Only the Eternals were worthy of that kind of devotion.

  “Fine. Won’t stay behind me? I’ll keep you below me.” My lip twisted into a grin, my heart pounding as I worked into a sprint, watching the ground as the last few prepared to cross the bridge. The girl who had smiled at me before and that chubby kid. Two birds, one stone.

  I threw the flint stone as hard as I could, using years of knife throwing practice to hit the girl in the side of the head, right as she was halfway across the narrow crossing. She went down so fast that even though the chubby guy fell to his belly, he couldn’t reach her.

  She was gone, swallowed by the dark.

  “Aria!” They yelled
as they turned, staring down into the cavern and then to the girl with the mohawk as if she could somehow reach her.

  “She’s fine,” I said in a sing song as I reached the bridge, stepping on the guy who was still belly down trying to grab his friend. “She belongs down there anyway.”

  They all stared at me as I smashed my sole into the guy’s tear-stained cheek and jumped, landing right before Ms. Mohawk who was staring at me with so much venom that everything about her seemed to be glowing.

  “You all do,” I continued, flipping my hair. “You should give up now, there is no place for you in our world.”

  I gave her a smile before I ran away from them, toward the figures that were disappearing through the shimmering red veil. Eternals stood waiting on the other side, incapacitated Vilỳ’s in their hands. It was right there.

  I didn’t make it more than a step before an exceptionally hot hand wrapped around my forearm, holding me back.

  “Where the hell do you think you’re going? No one hurts my people and gets away with it,” the girl, Gemma, snarled in my ears. Her low, menacing tone would have been threatening to anyone else. But I had my mother.

  “Get your hand off of me, Drain, or I’ll make sure the next time the CCC liberates a sewer they track you down as a special favor. My mother would see to it.” I yanked my arm out of her grasp, her eyes growing wide, her jaw tightening in what I was sure was pain.

  Poor baby. Looks like I had hit a cord.

  “We could use a new toiletry maid.” I gave her a simpering smile and flipped my hair, making sure to whack her in the face with the long locks. She didn’t even flinch.

  “See you soon,” I waved behind me, using the last bit of flickering lights to plan a safe course to the glittering red doorway, and the rest of my life.

  “What are you doing Gemma? Don’t let her get away!” One of the Drains said behind me. I didn’t turn, I could take that bitch in a fight any day, anyway. Let her try.

  I would be through the door before she could catch me anyway.

  “Shut up Adrian. Remember who you're talking to.” Gemma said at full voice just as the card burned out. Thankfully, the stone floor was dimly illuminated by the red light of the finish line. “I’m going to make sure she is right where I want her before we finish what we came here to do. She will be the first to burn.”