Paranormal Academy

by Limited Edition Box Set

  Oh lord. Had she seen something? Is that why she was hiding behind Ilyan and Mira had been looking at her like a hungry lioness? I had no idea how Drak magic worked, but if she saw both past and future like everyone had said then she could have seen right through me.

  But then, if she had known, she wouldn’t be smiling at me the way she was.

  Maybe Drak’s weren’t as infallible as the books in school claimed.

  Didn’t matter, I couldn’t take back what I had said, might as well amp it up.

  “Did everyone make it out alive?” I added a pout to that since I still couldn’t move my arms.

  “The Gauntlet completed before the explosion, thankfully,” Joclyn began, still fixing me with that smile.

  A damn ugly smile that burned as bad as what she had said.

  “The Gauntlet was completed?”

  “Yes, all the spots had been filled minutes before.”

  My heart sunk, the world shattered, Joclyn’s continued explanation pounding against the back of my fractured skull with the word <’failure’> buzzing like an alarm.

  No. It couldn't be. There had to be a way I could salvage this. I couldn’t be left a fecking Tarn.

  “Not many were left in the final task. The injuries were limited. You seem to have caught the brunt of it as you were right before this girl, Gemma, you said?”

  “Yes, that’s what they called her. I am so glad she and her people didn’t hurt more. I am so glad I was able to delay her from her plans, so that it wasn’t worse.” That was the closest thing to the truth I had said all night.

  “Did you see how she made the explosion?”

  It felt like she was looking through me again. Not only was it creepy as hell but it was sincerely making me question the last few minutes. Before now I probably would have made up some story of a bomb. I had planned on it. But the truth fell out as if it was pulled there, even my voice shook.

  God, what was her magic doing to me? It had to be her magic, there was no other explanation.

  “Magic. I could have sworn she had magic. That drippy stuff we saw in the videos or in safety drills back in primary school.”

  Joclyn nodded, her penetrating silver glare finally pulling away and looking from me, to Ilyan. He didn’t seem fazed. The two stared at each other like they were mind melding, their lips pulling up at the exact same moment before Joclyn strode off back the way she came, Mira taking off after her like she was on a string.

  Fecking hell, maybe Drak’s could read minds. Was that what she had been doing to me? I really hoped not, but the creepy showdown wasn’t giving me much hope.

  “What’s going on?” Each word caught in my throat. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to know.

  “The Queen has matters to attend to,” Ilyan said, taking a wide step toward the foot of the bed. The King’s stare was calming in comparison to his wife's. Probably thanks to the color of his eyes. “We thank you for your assistance in this matter, Miss Demarco. As we said, the Gauntlet had finished minutes before the attack, but with what you went through, and the injuries you have sustained, we have decided to give you an honorary place in Imdalind Academy and will administer the bite as soon as you are ready. The bite of the Vilỳ will not only awaken your magic, but assist you in healing better than any of us can.”

  I hadn’t failed after all. I still had a place. It may not be first, it may have been last, but it came with honors. It came with recognition and my first meeting with the people with which I truly belonged.

  I nodded once, ignoring the pain that ripped over my spine with the motion.

  “Thank you, My Lord, and give my thanks to My Lady as well.”

  “I will,” Ilyan said with a nod.

  “I do not deserve such an honor.” Tears, real honest tears were dripping down my cheeks and I looked from the king, to Ryland, to Wyn, to the boy that stood off in the shadows with Talon, his dark eyes trained right at me.

  Rowan.

  He was here. He was right here, and he was looking at me.

  “I will make you proud, my King,” I lifted my voice as loud as I could, giving Rowan a prolonged stare before I turned to his father forcing my arm to lift as I bore my bare wrist to the King, the wrist that would normally receive the bite. “I will serve you and your family in any way I can. It’s an honor.”

  Humble. Obedient. And met with a smile and a scoff from the very boy I had been trying to impress.

  “Be honest and forthright to yourself, and you will make yourself proud,” Ilyan said with a bit of frustration in his voice. He gave me one tiny nod before he turned, beckoning Ryland after him with a wave as they bee-lined right to Talon and Rowan.

  “I’ll send someone over, Wyn. Don’t do anything I wouldn't do,” Ryland said before he took off after the King, leaving Wynifred and I alone, the heat in her hand slowly pulling back into her hand like it was an old fashioned tape measure.

  “Well, you’re off to a rocky start,” she mused, giving me a wink before she removed her hand from my shoulder, the last of the warmth leaving as all the pain from before came rushing back.

  “What start?” I asked, the words swallowed in my throat as everything ripped to shreds and I fell back against the pillow, my head turning to the side, and to Rowan, who was still looking right at me.

  He wasn’t smiling.

  6

  Sia

  The air didn’t smell so much like blood, and the world didn’t feel so much like pain. In fact, everything felt amazing. It was as though I was made of light, and air, and sparks.

  Sparks.

  Magic.

  My magic.

  The last thing I remembered was Thomas pressing the fangs of the Vilỳ into my wrist while Wyn held me down. Pain was everywhere, growing worse as the poison flooded my veins, awakening my power.

  Now it was everywhere.

  I sat bolt upright in bed, sucking in a breath that felt like my first in years and saw the world with a glimmer that didn’t seem real. Like everything was brighter. Cleaner.

  Although that could have been because of where we were.

  An underground cavern, the ceiling covered with mirrors and metal sculptures that let light shimmer over everything like stars.

  “Imdalind,” I sighed, knowing exactly where I was. I swear I could have felt the buzz of energy in the air.

  “You’re awake. Shame, I was hoping you would last longer.” The low drawl was one I had heard every day of my life. This time it didn’t chill me as much as it usually did. Everything was too warm and sparkly for that.

  “Hello, Mother,” I said as I turned, taking a glance at my wrist and the raised brand in the center. It looked like a fairy, or a dog with wings. I couldn’t quite make it out.

  I would have to examine it later.

  My mother looked as sour as she always did, staring at her phone as she compressed a few buttons before glancing up at me.

  “Your father is on his way,” she said. I smiled and she soured further. “This will not be a pleasant reunion, Sia. You nearly failed us.”

  “Nearly. But not quite. All things considered, I think this is an even better outcome,” I said, looking around the massive hall that I had been placed in.

  The place was lined with old metal framed beds, each one stripped down to an old blue and white striped mattress. A few were stained, some were ripped, some were missing altogether. But that was it. Me, my mother, and hundreds of forgotten beds.

  “Where are we?”

  “Imdalind,” she snapped, back on her phone. At least I had gotten that one right.

  “And where is everyone?” I tensed, her dark eyes lifting from the phone to bore into me. Although after getting the same look from the Queen I doubt the glance would ever have the same impact again.

  “Gone, Sia. Gone home, preparing for the first day of Imdalind Academy. You slept through all of it.” She wasn’t smiling, considering what she had said I would have expected even the tiniest nudge of one.

  When a
Vilỳ awakens your magic, you fall into a deep sleep, the longer you sleep, the more powerful the magic. If I was the last one here, my magic was the most powerful in my year.

  “I knew it,” I gasped, the old metal bed turning as I twisted, double checking that I really was the last one here. “I was meant for this.”

  “Meant for what exactly?” My mother snapped, the phone falling down to her lap with a tiny thunk of metal against her starched skirt. “Meant to be the last through. Meant to finish behind hundreds of Drains. Meant to fail. Because you did all of that.”

  “The test was rigged, mother. The tasks, they changed them. They were made for the Drains. Those damn rats all rushed through. They cheated. I’m sure of it.”

  My mother said nothing, she was back to tapping on her phone, her dark eyes only darting up to mine when the loud grind of a stone door echoed from somewhere in the distance, the loud echoing taps of expensive leather shoes following right behind. Only one person I knew could walk with such power.

  “You think we don’t know that,” my mother hissed under her breath as my father stepped into the light. The room was larger than I thought. “Everyone has been talking about it. Hardly any of the Golden Children made it through. You, and Tasha, and Miko are three of only a handful. And barely made it.”

  She looked up from her phone at that last part, her eyes narrowing as my father wrapped his hand around her shoulder. He was staring down at me with just as much intensity.

  “Father,” I nodded my head as I had tried to do with King Ilyan what felt like hours before.

  What was it really? Days? Weeks? Months?

  “Glad to see you are finally with us. They were considering beginning the school year without you.” There wasn’t a drop of emotion on his face or in his voice.

  You would think after a meeting with the King and Queen and being honored with their recognition they would be showering me with flowers.

  “How long was I out?”

  “Nearly three weeks,” mother provided, setting her phone down to look at me. To smile at me. Finally. “The longest awakening in nearly thirty years.”

  “Three weeks? Then why are you…?” I caught myself before the accusation tumbled out. If I had the strongest magic in thirty years, they shouldn’t care how I finished. I knew them well enough to know that.

  Something else must have happened.

  My mother’s phone buzzed, a familiar image flashing on the screen.

  Gemma. I was sure I snarled with how fast both of them turned to me, eyes narrowed.

  “What happened with the girl? That one with illegal magic?” Yes, I was snarling.

  The two of them, however, did not answer. They stared at me, vitriol and malice dripping from their eyes.

  “Did they recycle her?” It was a polite term we used for when we pulled the Drains out of the sewer and forced them into work. They lived in old factories and communal camps and were monitored by barcodes implanted in their wrists. A constant reminder of the bite mark that would never be there.

  It was the perfect place for her, but I could already tell she wasn’t there.

  “Where is she?”

  “At the Academy.”

  “What?” My shriek echoed off the far walls of the cave, it bounced in my ears and pricked up my anger into a bubbling wave of heat under my skin.

  Magic. God, I was going to love this.

  “Shut up and sit back down, Sia,” My father growled, his wide hand flat against my shoulder as he shoved me down to the bed. I could feel his magic more acutely now, the little sparks of his power reacting against mine. “They don’t know you’re awake, and we would like to keep it that way for now. We need to speak with you before they whisk you away.”

  “This is a conversation we would rather not have the Eternal scum overhear,” My mother continued, tucking me back into bed.

  “Eternal Scum?” I shot back up, attempting to keep my voice low, but they pushed me right back down again.

  “Yes. They have betrayed us, Sia. They have betrayed all of the Chosen.” My mother’s tone was a snarling whisper as she leaned closer. “They have brought the vile sub-beings into Imdalind Academy, into our lives, and praised them. Last week they announced their plans to unite us all again, to have the demented mortals live among the Chosen as family. As equals.”

  The word burned through me, muscles tensing as my anger boiled, the sparks of power and magic bubbling right with it.

  “One culture. One future.” My father said, his voice twisting around the words as he spat them back out at me.

  “They enrolled that girl and her friends even though they did not complete the tasks. Even though they hurt hundreds of our people. Their kind has stolen the magic from hundreds of Goldens.”

  “She should have been punished. She should have been killed,” I cut my mother off, that molten heat that was rolling through my veins picking up a notch, heating straight through to the tips of my fingers to the bed sheet and filling the air with the smell of burning cotton.

  My magic was shooting from the tips of my fingers in dripping energy, like liquid lightning. Just like that girl’s, just like my parents.

  It was beautiful.

  “Yes, we think so too,” My mother tucked her phone away as she leaned closer, both her and my dad hovering over me. “The Eternals are out of touch with their people. Something needs to change, but not this way.”

  “What can we do? What can I do?”

  “You were enrolled into the Academy on a technicality, Sia.” My father began, the bed frame squeaking as he sat on the edge. “You nearly failed us, and if it wasn’t for the negotiating skills we have bred into you, you would be home with so many of your friends. Disgraced.”

  “You nearly are,” My mother began, back on her phone again.

  “But your power is strong, the strongest in years. You have been raised with the right upbringing, and the right knowledge of the vile, under-bred Drains. You will be going to Imdalind Academy, and you will be helping us from the inside.”

  I didn’t like the way this was building. I would always help my parents, always stand by them. But I had spent my entire life working to become one of the Eternals, and now they were cursing them. No matter the confusion inside of me, however, I had to lock it inside.

  “Yes, Father,” I said, pushing myself back to sitting as the heavy grind of the door echoed over to us again, this time accompanied by an army of feet. “We need to prove that all that Drains need to die. This bubblegum bitch is the perfect opportunity.”

  No matter what he thought of the Eternals, that I agreed with.

  “Good,” he continued, leaning closer as the footsteps did, his eyes digging into mine. “It will be your job to take her down. Accidents happen inside of Imdalind Academy after all, and with the prince there, perhaps you can continue with your plan. Bonding is one thing, but to bring one of the Eternals into our cause,” he clicked his tongue, “I believe only you can accomplish that. Besides, the prince is young, he may be the weakest among them, but that only gives you more opportunity.”

  “Opportunity to what?” I asked in a hush, leaning toward him as Ilyan, Ryland, and Mira came closer, the darkened edges of the room releasing them.

  “To use him.” He smiled, patted my hand before leaning closer, and wrapping his arms around me.

  I stiffened; he never gave hugs. He certainly was putting on an act this time.

  “It’s the only way to make amends for your near failure, child,” he hissed into my ear, holding me closer as my head turned right to my mother, the phone gone now. She nodded in agreement.

  I tightened my jaw. He said that like it was a threat. I would gladly kill the Drain, but he sounded like he wanted me to end the Eternals too.

  “I am so glad you are okay. We were so worried,” My father continued in full voice, his words cracking. He leaned away from me, brushing some of the tangles of brown hair out of my eyes.

  “As were we all,” Ilyan
cut in as he and the others clustered around the foot of my bed. “We were contemplating beginning school without you, but you seem to not want to miss out on the first day.”

  My father smiled like the dads in television sitcoms did when their children learn some life lesson about magic and friends and not hurting people. The look didn’t suit him.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Much better, My Lord.” I nodded my head, thankful I could do so that time. “All the pain is gone. Everything feels…” I hesitated, actually struggling to find the right word. “Powerful.”

  It wasn’t quite right, but everyone smiled anyway; Ilyan giving a nod to Mira who took two quick steps to me, holding out her hand.

  Oh my god. I was going to get to touch her. I could die happy right here.

  “Mira needs to check your injuries as well as your magic, Miss Demarco. The Queen has already healed the power you were given and centered your magic so it is ready for use. But we need to make sure everything is working well.”

  I nodded again, feigning hesitation as I placed my hand in hers.

  Her hands were so soft, so warm, so much better than I had imagined. I almost smiled, well, until her magic flooded through me. The power feeling like hot knives digging into everything. I cringed and tried to pull away, but she held on tighter.

  “Don’t worry, it only takes a second,” she said, sounding as bored as if she was arranging flowers. I was sure she had yawned, meanwhile, I was being stabbed to death internally.

  God. Could she get any cooler?

  “Everything is in working order,” She said, dropping my hand and stepping back to the king. “I can see her strength causing problems for the first little bit, but she seems tough. I got through it. I’m sure she can do just as well.”

  “Unless she manages to kill a ghost, a maniac and take down an entire government before she turns fifteen, I doubt that’s a possibility,” Ryland said, peering around Ilyan to give his wife a smirk, one that she promptly returned.

  Holy shit. She just got cooler.

  Right then it was hard to see them as the enemy. I had spent my life working towards being one of them. Being like them. Now I was being asked to take them down.