Undercover Witch Academy Box Set

by Rachel Medhurst

  Releasing him, I jumped off, expecting him to either attack me or run away. I wouldn’t blame him, I had acted like a crazy bitch. Although, I couldn’t help but be a little proud that I’d brought him down.

  “I knew he was the one to take Toby. He made you do it, didn’t he?”

  Sitting up, the boy frowned as he brushed grass off the legs of his black jeans. “We’ve got nothing to do with your friend’s familiar.”

  Hhmm… Did I trust his word? Why else would Dracian want James to spy on me?

  There was one way to check if he was lying to me. A truth spell. It was the one spell that my parents drummed into me. They had often cast it on me, to make sure that I told them how I was coping with their training. They wanted to make sure I wasn't trying to please them. They never asked me anything else when I was under the spell, but they had to protect me. Being shunned by the coven had driven them to do anything to keep me safe. My chest squeezed as I remembered the way they hugged me before bed, the family bear hug they'd called it.

  “Are you okay?”

  Ah, yeah, I had a criminal right next to me. Maybe I should pay attention to the present moment, instead of slipping back to the past.

  Reaching for his arm, I whispered the truth spell, using his own magic to create it.

  He frowned when I let go, his head shaking as he got to his feet. “What are you doing?”

  “Are you responsible for snake-napping Toby?” Pushing up from the ground, I faced him, my hands on my hips.

  He looked down at me, his eyes studying my face, his expression clearly showing how crazy he thought I was. Hey, I wasn't the one standing under someone else's dorm window late at night. He could talk.

  “No, Dracian wanted me to make sure you were okay. He's fascinated by you and-” Clamping his hand over his mouth, he glared at me. “You put a truth spell on me!”

  Shrugging, I flicked my hair behind my shoulder. Yep, if anyone messed with me, I would... put a truth spell on them? My agent training was limited, but I was enjoying the practice.

  “So, you're not involved with the snake or anything else?”

  My questioning technique lacked a little, but with the truth spell, he would still be able to give me clues. Especially about the boy who had killed my parents. In fact, it was almost tempting to try and learn everything about him.

  Tugging his hoody off his head, James revealed his bright blonde hair. “How many times do I have to say it? I'm literally spying on you because Dracian paid me.”

  “Do you know much about Dracian?”

  Clamping down his jaw, James went to turn away. Grabbing his hood, I pulled it, which did absolutely nothing considering he was a fair few feet taller than me. Scoffing, he looked over his shoulder, shaking his head.

  “Woman! What are you doing? I don't see why I have to answer your questions.” He screwed up his face before blurting the answer to my question. His will power hadn't lasted long. “Dracian is a cool guy, he really wanted everyone to get to know each other before the school year started.”

  “I bet he did,” I muttered. “Has he ever told you about his past? When he was about thirteen?”

  Backtracking, James held up his hands. “No. Now, I'm going.”

  “No!” Throwing a freezing spell on him, I smiled to myself when he went still.

  Wow, maybe I wasn't as bad at magic as I'd thought. My phone battery had given me more magic than usual. Not that I'd often used magic on other people, preferring to practice on inanimate objects to keep everyone safe. Ever since I realised that I could take life force from animals, I hadn't touched one. Ever.

  “Call Dracian,” I ordered him. “Tell him to meet us in the rose garden, by the fountain.”

  “Fine.” Muttering under his breath, he took out his phone. “Anything to shut you up.”

  Fighting the urge to smile, I kept my stance strong, my hands still on my hips. Yeah, I could be an agent. It was easy!

  As the phone rang, he avoided looking at me. I kept staring at him, trying to intimidate him. Wasn't that what I was supposed to do?

  “Mate, I've got Alishia here, she's demanding that you meet us in the rose garden.” He grunted. “Yeah, by the fountain.” Clearing his throat, he grunted again. “Yeah, well, she caught me!”

  His agitation was actually quite funny, but when he hung up, he glared at me. “Don't laugh. He said he's coming down now.”

  Tempted to order him to follow me to the rose garden, I stopped myself just in time. My mother had taught me that the feminine power of receiving and allowing was just as powerful as the masculine power of force.

  “Great,” I said in a sing song voice. “Thanks!”

  Grabbing up my bag, I spun away from him and headed around the side of the dorm wing. The front doors to the academy were locked at eleven every night, which was why I had been heading to the side entrance in the first place.

  His thudding footsteps sounded behind me. Ah, my tactic had worked. Well, either that or he was going back to his dorm. Slipping a glance over my shoulder as I passed the entrance to the other end of the dorm wing, I smiled to myself when I saw him dragging himself along behind me.

  Game. Set. And, hopefully, match.

  My feet sped up as the shadows fell down on us. The side of the building stretched back quite far, the rose garden through an iron gate at the end. A chill made me shudder as I turned to look at the boy again. “How long have you known Dracian?” I asked conversationally.

  “About a year. His parents are friends with mine, well, his mum is since his dad, you know…”

  Frowning as we approached the gate, I looked at him. “No, I don’t know?”

  “Really?” His voice was stunned in the dark. “Everyone knows that his dad is in prison.”

  Coughing, I yanked open the gate. “Oh, right, well, apparently not everyone knows all about the famous Dracian Dread.”

  “I detect a little bit of resentment, Magic Fingers.”

  “Woah,” I said, swinging towards Mr Hinley-Seaton. “That name is not acceptable.”

  Waving me away, he marched through the gate and skipped down the stone steps into the rose garden.

  The darkness enveloped the nooks and crannies. Rows of beautiful bushes led the way to the centre of the courtyard. A huge rose, carved from stone, showered water from the edge of its leaf, straight into the pool below. The insignia of the academy blasted from every part of the garden. Hundreds of different coloured roses twinkled in the moonlight as the clouds uncovered it. Some of the area was paved in cobblestones, some in grass. It was incredible to think that the roses were kept alive, all year round, by magic.

  Almost running to the centre, James plonked himself down on the stone edge of the pool.

  Joining him, I huffed, folding my arms across my chest as we waited. I had vowed to start carrying my magic-inducer – yes, that was the extremely uncreative name I had come up for it, although it often changed – with me as soon as I’d seen James under my dorm window. It was getting too dangerous to be out and about without some form of instant magic.

  “You called?” A deep voice made me jump.

  Dracian appeared in front of me, clicking his fingers towards his friend.

  I glared at him as James got to his feet and ran off, only glancing back once. Did the teachers’ son know what Dracian really was?

  My blood thickened in my veins, making the hair on the back of my arms stand up. My leather jacket wasn’t good enough to keep me warm in such cold company.

  “What do you want? I was about to go to sleep.”

  Stepping towards the fountain, Dracian flicked a finger and the water started to cascade heavier. The rushing sound covered our words, a tactic that was smart, but put me on edge. If he didn’t want anyone to hear us, what was he going to say? Or, even worse, do?

  “Why did you pay James to spy on me?”

  He glanced over his shoulder from where he stood, his deep dark eyes narrowing on me. A slight lift of his lip made it look
like he’d smirked, but it was hard to tell in such poor light. My insides quivered as realisation dawned.

  I was standing, alone, in the dead of the night, in the middle of a secluded rose garden, with the killer of my parents. Shit, what had I let myself in for?

  A part of me had humanised Dracian, especially after seeing the way he was with everyone else. Friendly, kind, annoyingly handsome with a ton of boyish charm. Ugh, it was stomach rolling.

  Coming closer, he leant down and gripped my upper arm. His head lowered before I could pull free, his lips almost brushing my ear. “I’m intrigued by you, Magic Fingers.”

  “Don’t call me that,” I bit between my teeth. “I don’t like it. I have no magic, remember?”

  Releasing me gently, he stepped away, going back to the fountain. Looking up at it, he stared, almost mesmerised by the flow of water as it left the stone leaf.

  “You have an ability that not many witches possess. You also created a way for you to hone that, which no other witch has done. It’s no wonder the academies wanted you. And the institute.”

  “What do you know about the institute?” I snapped against my better judgement.

  Alishia, time to be cool. I had to play innocent, as if I didn’t know a thing. And yet, his silent gazing made me slip closer to him. It was just in case he spoke and I couldn’t hear him. Or, that’s what I told myself, anyway.

  “I know that the institute arrested my father for something he didn’t do. They go after any witch who doesn’t conform to their ideals. The human government set up the institute to make sure our secret doesn’t get out.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he kept staring at the rose.

  I tried to take my gaze away from his muscly arms, but it was pretty hard. What type of sick person found it hard not to enjoy the sight of the boy who had killed their parents? Oh yeah, me. Bloody female hormones.

  Clearing my throat, I tried my best to keep my voice calm. “Why did they arrest your father?”

  May as well find out the juicy gossip while I was there. Maybe Dracian would lead himself into a trap of his own making. He might not have even known that I was related to the people he killed.

  “They claim that he was helping a few friends of his to make a magic bomb using electric.”

  My ears pricked up. “Electric?”

  Nodding, Dracian turned to me. “Yes, he’s classed as a terrorist against humans, even though he didn’t do anything.”

  Almost coughing, I stepped closer. “What was he doing with the electricity?”

  “He was helping a friend with an experiment. Apparently, his daughter needed it for something. I didn’t ever really understand it, but they were working on creating something. You know what…?” he said, shaking his head. “I’m not going to lie, I tuned him out every time he tried to explain it to me.”

  My whole body trembled as I tried to keep my breath even. Surely, his father couldn’t have been the man who helped my father? I vaguely remembered my dad meeting up with a scientist who knew how to safely increase voltage of electricity before it fried someone’s brain. He had taught my dad, probably without knowing, how to help me build my tolerance to electric. It had to be my family he was helping, surely?

  “When he was arrested, I went off the rails. I was only thirteen, but you know what it’s like at that age.”

  Yeah, and we were a ton more mature now, weren’t we? Although, if he had gone off the rails, maybe he knew that it was my dad his father was helping, which made him go to extreme lengths to take out his frustration. It gave him the perfect motivation.

  “I knew it,” I whispered to myself.

  “Knew what?”

  Shaking my head, I backtracked. “Nothing.”

  “What’s your problem with me?” he snapped, the nice guy act apparently coming to an end.

  Raising my hands, I showed him my palms in mock surrender. If he dared to pull a blood vessel popping spell on me, like he did my parents, I… well, I’d be pretty buggered.

  “You…” I tried to search for the right words. “… My father was…”

  Did I tell him? Surely, I would be playing my hand too early. If I let him know that I had seen him approach my house, not only that… I’d cast a spell that was strictly forbidden by an illusionist witch… well, he would shop me in to the institute.

  My breath rushed out of my lungs as he watched me. I hadn’t dared to even remember the memory spell I had cast on my mother. I hadn’t meant to do it, but when I wrapped my arms around her dead body, her residue magic slipped into me. I begged to know what had happened, which inadvertently cast the memory spell.

  As the image of her pain played in my mind, I clenched my hands into fists.

  Dracian’s eyebrows lowered as he watched me, concern etched into the frown lines on his forehead.

  She had called for my dad when the pain blasted into her head. A bang on the window made her swing to look at the very boy who now stood in front of me. My father’s call brought my mother’s attention to the doorway. He was on the ground, crawling as he clutched his skull with one hand.

  Pain overtook my mother, and the last thing I saw before it went black, was my father’s contorted face, blood running from his eyes as he reached out for her, my mother, the woman he loved.

  “Alishia.” Dracian reached for me. “What’s wrong?”

  “You!” I hissed through the tears that were forming in my eyes. “You kil-”

  “What’s going on here?”

  Professor Seaton appeared, his dressing gown hanging awkwardly around him. He had attempted to tie it around his rotund stomach, but it was barely closed. He even wore ACDC T-shirts to bed apparently.

  “Nothing,” I snapped, glaring at Dracian.

  His face had been clear as day in the memory. And, after watching the CCTV, I knew that it was him who had cast the spell to kill my parents. He had even just admitted that he went off the rails after his father was sent to prison for helping mine.

  Dracian watched me, his facial expression blank. Did he know what I was going to say? Had my emotions got the better of me before I had proper proof?

  “Mr Dread, why don’t you go back to your dorm? Alishia, come with me.”

  See? He was the perfect student with a squeaky clean reputation. Considering he had gone off the rails, he must have done a lot to redeem himself. Or maybe Professor Seaton didn’t know.

  “Sir, I’d like to escort Alishia back to her-”

  “I told you to go back to your dorm,” the professor ordered.

  Inclining his head, Dracian glanced at me before marching away. His quick glance may have looked innocent to Seaton, but I could read the message in his eyes. It wasn’t over.

  Taking a cigarette packet out of his pocket, the professor lit one. “Did you know…” he started, pointing at the rose fountain as he blew out the smoke. “… that every academy in London had to find a way past the institute to invite you to this year?”

  “They did?” I blurted, forcing my hands to unclench as I glanced at the fountain.

  I had no idea why the eccentric rocker had pointed at the rose, but apparently, he had something to say.

  Nodding, he sucked his bottom lip into his mouth. “We’ve all heard of your gift. No illusionist witch has ever been able to find a way around their disability.”

  Almost choking, I glared at him. “Disability? I’m not sure that’s the right term, sir.”

  Waving his hand, he watched as white smoke billowed from the end of his cigarette. “A bit harsh maybe. I can’t really think of anything else to call it.”

  “Maybe nothing? Just because I don’t have my own magic, doesn’t make me any less of a witch.”

  “No, no, you’re right. I wouldn’t have tried so hard to get you into my academy if I didn’t know your power.” Flicking the ash from the end of his cigarette, he faced me head on. “Rumours have been abounding, but no one knows your true power. I heard that you did a demonstration, twice, with just the electrical powe
r from your phone.”

  Ah, his true motives were coming out now. Who would’ve guessed that the principal of the academy only wanted me for my unique talent?

  “Why did all the academies want me? What could I possibly do for them?” Of course, I knew the answer. Everyone wanted me for my secret, not because I was Alishia Jones, awesome girl with incredible wit. Or some may say.

  “I don’t know about them, but I would like to train you to become an agent witch unlike any other. Plus, I knew your father, I feel like I would be letting him down if I didn’t protect you from the institute.”

  Swallowing, I tried to fight the lump that came to my throat. If I got upset every time someone mentioned my parents, I’d be crying all over the place, leaving me open to the bullies of the world.

  “Did you know that my foster parents made a deal with them?”

  He glanced at the ground, his shaggy grey hair falling forward. “It doesn’t surprise me, the institute would’ve offered them a lot of money.”

  “Why?” I breathed, staring at him in an attempt to gauge his reaction to my question.

  Looking me square in the eye, he blinked once. “To experiment on you. If they had managed to get you, they would’ve made a weapon out of you. I promise not to do that. When I say that I want you to be the best illusionist agent, I don’t want it for myself, I want it for you. The underworld is a dangerous place for people like us.”

  “Us?” As if the professor was an underdog, he was the head of a reputable academy.

  Lifting his gaze to look at the rose again, he puffed out the smoke he had just inhaled. “Yes, Alishia,” he muttered, meeting my gaze. “You might think that you’re alone, but I lost my magic for a time. You… you helped me to get it back.”

  Chapter Nine

  Walking down the corridor, I tried to still my shaking hands. The letter was clenched in my hand, almost crunched up with the force. It had been a fitful night when I had finally managed to sleep.

  The professor had told me that my father had helped him to learn how to re-connect to his magic source after an illusionist witch drained him. Without me, my father would never have known how to aid him. Apparently, he was grateful.