Undercover Witch Academy Box Set

by Rachel Medhurst

  It was a good job he backtracked, considering I had ten tons of electric voltage in my pocket. Grabbing it out, I held it towards him, grinning when he slowly shook his head.

  “If you want to get revenge for what I just said, you only have to withhold your kisses.”

  His smirk made me jerk my inducer towards him. Jumping back, he laughed, shaking his head. Okay, so it probably wasn’t wise to taunt him with something that could kill him.

  Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and pressed the button, tensing as the electricity shot through me. My muscles shook for two seconds before the current fizzled, transforming into magic.

  “That is incredible,” Dracian said, stepping closer.

  Holding up a hand, I indicated that he stay away. In the past, when my father had touched me too early after I’d zapped up, he would get a shock. I didn’t want to harm Dracian.

  “We’d better go.”

  Something about the awe that laced his eyes made me want to leave instantly. It was weird having someone looking at me with such intent. Not only that, Devon Jinx wasn’t the type of agent you kept waiting. We were already running late.

  Without asking his permission, I took hold of the sleeve of Dracian’s jacket and flashed us to the library. A triumphant yelp left my lips when we landed outside the doors.

  Dracian had been teaching me the transportation spell. He had kept me grounded as I recited the words, helping me to take my magic to the next level. One or two attempts had resulted in the spell not being an illusion. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, though, it had never been proven that Illusionist witches could perform normal magic spells.

  “Well done,” he congratulated me as we hugged, giddy with excitement.

  The door to the library opened on its own, the creak of the wood ominous as we took the hint. Glancing through, we spotted Devon Jinx, sitting on a recliner chair, filing her nails.

  “Took you long enough,” she called.

  Smiling at one another, we hurried into the library and joined her, dropping into the other leather chairs that were gathered around a table. Devon didn’t look up until Dracian cleared his throat.

  Pushing forward, she flicked her fingers, smiling when three steaming mugs of coffee appeared in front of us. I had to resist the urge to close my eyes in ecstasy when I picked one up and sniffed, savouring the delicious scent of coffee beans and milk.

  “I’ve done some research.” Devon’s voice was so strained, it made my eyes snap open.

  The usually calm and collected witch perched on the edge of the seat, almost downing her hot drink. Surely her anxiety was a bad sign?

  Clearing his throat, Dracian slowly lowered his mug. “What did you find?”

  Screwing up her nose, Devon put down her own mug and took out a file from her bag. “These are the search results for your father’s name,” she said to him. “He’s not traceable. At all.”

  Her clipped words were heavy as they landed in our ears. How was it possible that Nicholas Dread couldn’t be found by the Hunted Witch Agency? They had access to everything.

  “He rang me after he was arrested. Although…” Dracian frowned as he scratched the stubble on his jaw. “…he never said where he’d gone. I’ve not heard from him since.”

  “I should imagine the institute have him. I think you were suspicious of that.” Devon dug into her bag again, pulling out a small piece of paper. “Of course, I’ll keep looking, but it seems that once the institute has someone, they quickly disappear.”

  I was sure she hadn’t meant to sound so blasé, but Dracian’s squirm made me reach out and grip his wrist. He smiled tightly before patting my hand and pulling away. A sting lanced my chest as he focused all his attention on the pretty dark haired powerful agent. I wasn’t jealous, though. No, not Alishia Jones.

  “Is that all?” I almost snapped as she lifted the piece of paper.

  Her eyebrows rose before her gaze narrowed on me. “No, that’s not all. I’ve found something for you.”

  Handing over the paper, she watched me read the spiral handwriting. It was a letter, addressed to my father. The words almost blurred into one, the tone menacing. It was a threat from someone, warning my father against his continued experiments on me. My palms burst into sweat as the letter trembled in my hand. I knew my father had been threatened, but seeing the note in black and white, after the event of his killing, made my body quiver.

  “What is it?” Dracian’s eyebrows were pulled low.

  Taking a deep breath, I handed him the paper. “They said that they’d explode his brain if he carried on helping me. It even admits that they weren’t sure what he was doing but would find out. It doesn’t say who it’s from.”

  Dracian’s throat bobbed, a gasp rushing into his lungs. His reaction was more than simple surprise, I could see it in the widening of his eyes.

  “What is it?” Devon caught it too, leaning forward, probably to analyse Dracian’s reaction.

  His tongue flicked out to lick his lips as he raised his gaze to me. “T-This…” he stuttered. “…This is my father’s handwriting.”

  Chapter Eight

  My breath held as the lines of my invisibility spell crackled. A man in a security outfit snuck through the bars of the grounds, morphing through the metal. How the hell had he seen the academy? It had been in lockdown for the past twenty four hours, preparing for the attack. If the man could see the bars, let alone get through them, our defences were too weak.

  “Do you see him?” I whispered to Helissa, who stood on my left.

  It was almost pitch black around us, the shadows of the garden only visible because of the flood light in the tennis court behind the swimming pool. Ever since Brian had been taken prisoner and escorted to the police headquarters, I’d felt uncomfortable around this area of the academy.

  However, we’d been tasked with checking the perimeter to find weaknesses. We’d found one. Big time.

  “Is he a threat?” Helissa asked, her voice quivering ever so slightly.

  “He could be.”

  My mind wandered back to our meeting with Devon. She had concluded that Nicholas Dread had sent the note because he was afraid the institute would catch up to my father if he didn’t scare him into stopping the experiments. Both Dracian and I had agreed that it made sense. It had still rattled us though, making us question everything even more.

  Helissa’s breathing brought me back to the present. She was staring, gesturing with her head.

  As we watched, the intruder checked over his shoulder, drawing closer to the swimming pool building. Was he from the institute, looking for clues about their lost man?

  “We need to stop him,” I whispered, stepping out of the shadows.

  Helissa’s footsteps were light as they followed me, but her breath was loud in the still night air. Protocol would’ve been to text the professor and let him know that there was someone in the gardens. Of course, the light from Helissa’s phone suddenly illuminated her face.

  “I’m just letting the others know,” she whispered, tucking her phone away before I could tell her off.

  If her light had given away our position, we were in trouble. Searching ahead, I kept my senses on alert as the silhouette of the man moved closer to the pool, his back to us. Phew, he hadn’t seen the light.

  “Let’s set a trap,” I said to Helissa under my breath.

  Nodding, she kept close to my side, allowing me to lead the way. Following the man, I swallowed hard as nerves jolted my insides. If he was from the institute, we were in trouble.

  “I’m here…” His voice drifted back to us as he moved his arm near his head.

  He must have been on the phone, although we didn’t hear it ring. I shuddered as he reached for the door with his free hand, his silhouette shadowy against the backdrop of the swimming pool lights.

  Holding out my hand, I imagined the man opening the door and seeing a brick wall on the other side. Within seconds, he swore as the illusion appeared in front o
f him. He had yanked the door open, but on the other side, a solid brick wall barred his way.

  Spinning, the man searched the area. I couldn’t help but notice the slight red of his eyes. Crap, he was from the institute. Only two people had that colour eyes and they were both from the place I dreaded the most.

  “You!” he shouted, pointing directly at us.

  We were ducked behind a tree, how the Mother Earth had he seen us?

  “Go!”

  Pushing Helissa, I urged her to run. She did, her legs pumping as she headed towards the academy building. I turned to follow, but something wrapped around my legs, pulling me to the ground. A grunt left me as my knees grazed the grass, the force of being dragged back scraping them on the slippery earth.

  Trying to flip over, I cast an invisibility spell on myself. The vines stopped moving, but the man didn’t. He came closer, a scowl embedded on his face. The red still glowered from in his eyes, menacing and utterly terrifying. Where was my backup?

  My heart pounded as he smirked, his eyes blatantly able to see through my invisibility spell. Wrestling with the vines, I tried to untie them from my ankles, but they held tight.

  “I’ll get a fantastic reward for this,” the man murmured, bending down to me.

  Thrusting up a hand, I shouted a new spell. Dracian had been showing me how to move objects. The intruder suddenly flew back, crashing into the swimming pool. The loud splash echoed in the quiet night as I searched around for a rock to somehow cut the vines that trapped me.

  A surge of water, followed by a howl, made me shuffle back on the grass. The man had flown into the air, his arms outstretched and his clothes dripping with water. He hovered for a moment, looking down at me, before he slowly lowered to the side of the pool.

  Arms wrapped around me, causing me to jump. I squeaked, trying to push them off.

  “It’s me!” Dracian’s voice instantly calmed my erratic heartbeat.

  He could’ve warned me that he was about to grab me in the middle of an absolutely petrifying standoff with a bloke from the institute. I could’ve ripped his head off in fright. Maybe.

  “Get away from her!” the man bellowed, his voice booming across the pool area.

  Dracian jumped up and stood in front of me, his stance ready for a fight. He could never win against the man, he wasn’t powerful enough.

  “Are you okay?” a female voice asked beside me.

  Almost jumping out of my skin yet again, I grabbed the knife that Isabel offered me. She had suddenly appeared, along with Professor Seaton and Mrs Hinley.

  Seaton ran forward, grabbed Dracian around the waist and swung him away from the attacker, just before he unleashed a long line of fire that shot out from his hand.

  Hacking at the vines, I managed to finally free myself.

  Seaton thrust Dracian towards me as I got to my feet, almost stumbling from the pins and needles that ran up and down my legs.

  “Leave here now!” Seaton shouted at the man.

  There was no way on Mother Earth the man would-

  Oh, he popped out of existence, completely disappearing into nothing. Wait, what had just happened?

  “There were too many of us,” Mrs Hinley announced, linking her arm through the professor’s. “We had better get inside and order more security.”

  “He was obviously trying to find clues about Brian.” Seaton patted her hand before leading her over to us.

  Helissa arrived with several guards. They had been originally posted outside the school gates. Mrs Hinley was right about getting more security guards on duty. The institute had powerful people working for it, there was no use in skimping on our protection.

  “Alishia,” Seaton said as we all turned to return to the academy. “I’d like to see you in my office.”

  Before I could reply, he marched away with his wife.

  The others walked slower with me, exchanging glances between themselves.

  “What is it?” I asked, releasing Dracian to walk on my own.

  I wasn’t strong enough to fight off the institute, but I was strong enough to hold myself up, even if my whole body shook like a dryer.

  “Seaton wants you to go to a safe house.” Dracian spat the words, his face screwing up in discontent.

  Laughing, I shook my head. “You’re joking?”

  Nope, apparently not. As the others cast their gazes to the ground, I looked down myself, cringing when I saw blood dripping from my knees. Bloody bastard had wounded me, although I was surprised he didn’t try to do more.

  Why had he left as soon as the professor had arrived? It didn’t make sense. If he was powerful enough to create fire, throwing it at Dracian, he could’ve taken us all down. Witches were rarely able to create physical magic in their hands. Warlocks were the ones who summoned the dangerous colourful magic, including fire and ice. A witch’s power was in the ability to channel the pure Earth Magic and cast spells away from the body.

  “He just wants to protect you,” James said, his frown negating his sentence.

  “He does? Then he should let me stay here and protect you guys. I can pull illusions like no other witch.” Stopping, I faced them, my hands clenched at my sides. “Brian said that they’re coming soon. I’ve got to be here in order to attract them. It’s the best chance we have to lure them into a trap.”

  “Shush!” Dracian took my arm, nodded at the others, and whispered the transportation spell before I could protest.

  We landed outside Seaton’s office just seconds before the others joined us. I trembled as I slowly took my arm out of Dracian’s grip and stared up at him. “Why did you do that?”

  “We don’t know where that man went. He might have been lurking around, listening to us.”

  Gritting my teeth, I dropped my head, ashamed at how careless I had been. Boy, I really was losing my head. He was right, of course, like always. I wasn’t a top of the range agent, yet. I had so much to learn, it was actually embarrassing.

  “I’m not leaving the academy.”

  The others stayed silent as the professor and Mrs Hinley rounded the corner, heading straight towards us.

  “I’ve ordered more guards,” she was telling him. “They’re witches, so they should be able to detect someone from the institute. I figured that if we struggled, we could get the warlocks in to help. They owe me a favour.”

  “They do?” Seaton indicated that we step aside to allow them access to his office.

  Murmuring an affirmation, Mrs Hinley tapped his arm, letting him know that she wasn’t going to say anymore in our presence.

  “Shall we leave you?” Dracian asked as they stepped inside the wood panelled room.

  Waving for us to join them, Seaton went to his desk without hesitation. “No, come in for a moment. We have a plan for tomorrow.”

  Once the door was closed, he chanted a protection spell. A zing of magic filtered over me as we settled onto the sofas in front of his roaring fireplace. For a second, the warmth infiltrated my cold skin, calming my nerves.

  “I’m not leaving the academy,” I blurted once everyone was settled.

  The professor sighed as he glanced at the others. “You told her?”

  Shrugging, Isabel flicked her hair behind her shoulder. “We felt she should know in advance.”

  “Of course you did.” Mrs Hinley rested against the desk, her shoulders sinking.

  Was the usually collected woman defeated by the threat against the academy? I wouldn’t be surprised if she was.

  “We only want you to be safe, Alishia,” the professor said. “If you were taken on our watch, the academy could be pulled up in front of the human government.”

  Dracian sat forward, kicking his leg up and down as he rested his arms on his thighs. “Why don’t you tell the Hunted Witch Agency? Surely, they’ve got enough power to help?”

  “The police have asked that we leave them out of it for now.” Mrs Hinley’s reminder made me sit upright.

  “Are you sure we can trust them? T
hey’re human, after all. I know Frankie is my friend, and a paranormal working for the police, but shouldn’t we check with the government officials?”

  Mrs Hinley looked at Seaton, her eyebrows raised. Had she told him the same thing? Seemed she had if her quick glare was anything to read about their relationship.

  Seaton sat back in his chair, his arms folding across his stomach. He was staring at the desk, his gaze seemingly somewhere distant. “I do know someone high up. I thought we could handle this without reaching out to him.”

  “Don’t be so proud,” Mrs Hinley snapped, her eyes widening when the room went deathly silent.

  For a split second, she had forgotten that they had company. I had rarely seen affection between the pair lately, and even now, they glared at one another.

  James lounged next to Helissa, his stump leaning on the arm of the couch. He didn’t even blink as his folks stared daggers at one another.

  “Call him,” I said, fed up of the silence.

  It wasn’t time for bickering, it was a time for planning. The academy was due to be attacked in twenty four hours. We had to defend it.

  “Very well,” the professor said, running a hand over his face. “I’ll ring him now. I’ll also check in with security to see if they’ve found anything on the man who just entered the premises.”

  Mrs Hinley stood as he moved to the other side of the room with his phone. Coming to us, she sat, tucking her hands under her thighs. “Let me fill you in on our plan to defend the academy tomorrow night.”

  We waited, our breaths held as she flicked a finger over the small coffee table in front of us. A big piece of paper appeared, unravelling to reveal a map of the academy and grounds.

  My heart sped up as I leant over and studied the lines and drawings on the stark white map. Little blobs moved up and down the perimeter of the academy, inside and outside the boundaries.

  “I take it that’s security?”

  Nodding, Mrs Hinley placed a perfectly pink manicured nail on the main entrance to the academy. “Yes. Both witches and warlocks will be protecting the academy with their magic. However, we do want to lure the institute inside.”