Nightworld Academy: Term Five

by LJ Swallow

  "She's had it now," whispers Andrei. "She'll be expelled."

  "Why stir up trouble?" I ask. "Okay, I get the revenge thing, but why start a rumour about Maeve and Tobias."

  Andrei shakes his head at me. "Because she's jealous. Maeve isn't the only one prepared to cross the student/teacher taboo line."

  Katherine now examines her nails, switching to an air of boredom. The worst part of the situation isn't Katherine humiliating Clive, but that she could and so easily. The incident has solidified Vince's teachings: shifters are pushed out. Clive couldn't defend himself.

  Now Gilgamesh are at war with Petrescu, how long before Walcott and Gilgamesh clash? The calm in Potions earlier was as big an illusion as any magic, and the academy is heading downhill fast.

  Chapter Twelve

  JAMIE

  Potions didn't distract me, despite Katherine's antics. I don't understand why we're still here. Have the Confederacy secretly pursued the Blackwoods without telling us? Maeve is their secret weapon, after all. I hate when Maeve calls herself that, but her value to both sides threatens her life again.

  I've no pendant anymore, but I do know where the grimoire is. I shouldn't know or have touched the book, but I wanted to help my friends. The protection spell I chose to learn is useless now anyway, since the magic is connected to the pendant. Tobias hid the book in his office after Matt used it last year, and the grimoire wasn't hard to find since he hardly has any possessions. I know what the Blackwood grimoire looks like since I saw the book when Matt had it.

  I only needed the book for a day and didn't skulk around with the grimoire in my bag for weeks the way he did.

  No. The spell Matt learned was more powerful than mine and he has greater skill than me. I replaced the book after learning one minor spell and wasn't tempted again.

  Touching my chest where the pendant once hung, I'm aware I escaped the death Maeve saw, but guilt stabs that I'm happy about an event that led to her abduction.

  We'll find them. I swear. Between lessons, I head to the library. If I had any clue where Maeve was, I wouldn't be in the academy. My powerlessness in the situation eats at me and I need to focus on helping in other ways.

  Channelling my frustration in this way makes sense, but I can barely concentrate. Five minutes into an assignment and my mind wanders, and I head down to the sanctum to the other books.

  An hour later, I toss a book across the library desk—yet another set of patient records. I'm now scouring them for familiar witch or shifter surnames, specifically Blackwood. I swear there's a connection just out of reach that explains Maeve's visions of fire and the noise we heard in the sanctum that day.

  Nothing. No witch family names.

  I've spoken to Andrei about the Blackwood estate location and he reddened with anger again, snapping back that he'd be there now if he knew. We're at a loss what to do and don't trust the Confederacy, even though Theodora assures us they're highly skilled professionals that can retrieve Maeve.

  My stomach knots. What if Maeve doesn't get out alive?

  My phone rests face down on the desk nearby and buzzes with a message. Reaching out and keeping my finger on the place in the new book, I glance at the screen.

  Unknown contact.

  Heart speeding, I swipe to open the message. A photo of Maeve.

  My knotted stomach fills with bile and I can't take my eyes away. She's lying on the floor, her pallid face streaked with blood. I peer closer, unable to tell if these are injuries from a physical attack or a result of magic. My chair falls to the ground behind me as I stand, not pausing to gather my belongings before charging blindly from the library. Ash. Andrei. They need to see this. As I hurtle along the hallway to the building entrance, my phone buzzes again. Same 'unknown', but this time a message.

 

  I blink as bubbles appear on screen while someone types.

 

  Shit. Refusing to reply, I shove the phone into the back pocket of my jeans and rush out of the building. My phone buzzes again and my hand trembles as I reach into my pocket. Please don't let this be another picture.

  Andrei.

 

 

  Bloody Ash who still doesn't have a phone.

  I swallow. Does Andrei have the same message? If he does, he'll lose his shit.

  I cross the academy grounds at double my normal speed, towards Gilgamesh and burst inside. He isn't in the common room, so I charge along the hallway and batter on his room door.

  "Ash!"

  He opens the door and looks in confusion. "What the hell, man? Is there a fire?"

  "No. We need to see Andrei."

  I thrust the phone at him, and his confused frown turns to horror as he peers at the screen.

  “What the fuck? Where is she?” he calls after me as I rush back towards the Gilgamesh exit.

  "We need to find Andrei. Now."

  Andrei paces around Tobias's room, his dark aura worse than usual—and understandably. Ash sits on the desk and stares forward in shock; he’s barely spoken since I showed him the image. I was correct—Andrei has the same picture and message. We both received a second message: Andrei and the grimoire in return for Maeve. Andrei’s shock switched to fury when his message was signed with love from your mother. As Andrei won't take his eyes off Maeve’s picture on his screen, I take the phone from him and shove it into my jacket.

  “Don’t torture yourself, Andrei,” I say.

  He swipes hair from his face. “Do you think she tortured Maeve?’

  His hoarse question chills the room and nobody answers. We snuck in here ten minutes ago, hushed by shock and fear of getting caught. Ash lit a single lamp in the corner of the room and we now huddle in the half-darkness.

  Ash pulls on his bottom lip and breaks the silence. “Are you sure Tobias hid the grimoire in here? Didn’t the authorities take the book after the incident with Matt?”

  "He has the grimoire somewhere," I say flatly.

  “If you used Blackwood magic, can’t you sense the book?” asks Andrei.

  Ash straightens. “He did what?”

  “Thanks, Andrei,” I mutter. “One spell, Ash. Once. I hexed the pendant in order to protect people close by and not only me. I thought we might need that at the farmhouse.”

  Ash’s disgruntled look remains.

  “Ash, the fact Jamie can use Blackwood spells is a good thing," says Andrei. "There must be a teleportation spell in the book, if screwing with time is their thing. Anastasia teleported Maeve and Tobias. Did you see one, Jamie?”

  I rub a hand across my mouth, remembering Matt. He repeatedly used the magic and look what happened—he lost control to Blackwood energy. But I used one spell. One time. The energy won't affect me. "I didn't read the whole book, but you're probably right."

  Ash jumps down from the desk. "Teleport? How the hell do we do that? How do we know where to teleport to, even if we managed the spell?" asks Ash. "Do we want to do that?"

  “I can go alone,” says Andrei. “All my mother and the witches want is me and the book.”

  “No!” I say sharply. “We all go.”

  Andrei shrugs. “Fine. But don’t come running to me if you die.”

  I shake my head at his attempt at humour. "Ash is right though; how do we know where to go?"

  "If the place is in my memories, would that help?" he asks.

  "Dunno. Maybe. Worth a shot," I say.

  “Anything is worth a shot," says Ash. "We need to find this book and go tonight if we can,” says Ash and stands. "Before anything else happens to Maeve." He grabs one from the shelf, opens the book and frowns at the contents before tossing it onto the desk.

  “Bookshelf would be too obvious,” I say. “Tobias wouldn’t leave the book in full view.”

  “Bloody hell,” mutters Ash and turns 360 degrees, scanning the room. “Where, then?”

  “I’m sur
e Jamie has an idea since he used the grimoire recently,” says Andrei, who narrows his eyes. “Where was the book when you ‘borrowed’ it?”

  “In there.” I point to a wooden trunk that’s uncomfortably the size to hide a body in, the dark wood marked by age and use. A crest I don’t recognise, depicting a bird and thorns, is etched into the metal lock. Tobias’s family?

  “How the hell did you open that?” asks Andrei.

  “Stole the key,” I mutter.

  Andrei cocks a brow. “I’m seeing a whole new side to you recently, Jamie. What did you do? Pickpocket Tobias?”

  “Ha ha, no. Tobias left the keys on his desk once, and I knew one would fit the chest.”

  “How?”

  I rub the back of my neck and meet Andrei’s eyes. “I could sense where the book was last time.”

  Ash abruptly turns. “Shit. The Blackwood magic? Like Matt could?”

  “No.” I’m annoyed but worried, because this time I can’t sense the book. Because I don’t have the pendant? If that’s true, then the magic isn’t as rooted in me as I worried.

  “Can you sense it now?” asks Ash cautiously.

  “No.”

  “Ash. Open the chest,” says Andrei. “Break the lock.”

  “You can’t do that!” I exclaim.

  “What? Why? Because Tobias will find out? Dude, he’s imprisoned by witches right now, remember?”

  I scowl. My natural inclination to do the right thing rarely takes a back seat, but I back down. Ash digs his fingers into the lock’s hinges and rips the metal from the wood. He pushes his hands beneath the lid and the chest swings open.

  I kneel beside him next to the chest and Andrei stands over to watch us.

  The contents are the same as last time—half-empty, clothes, a couple of old black books with faded spines and sealed envelopes.

  My mouth parches as I reach out and take the battered black leather book imprinted with the Blackwood symbol from inside. The object's dark memories try to push into my mind, but this is one object I refuse to use my psychometry on.

  There’s a hushed silence in the badly lit room as I flip open the cover and turn one of the old parchment pages.

  “Can you read all this?” urges Andrei as he points to a page etched with black cursive writing, the words blending together. I’ve practice studying old texts, and nod.

  “You really think there’ll be a teleportation spell in there?” asks Ash doubtfully.

  “I can’t be sure.”

  Andrei groans and flops onto Tobias’s desk chair. “There has to be, if this is the Blackwoods' secretly guarded magic. How else will we find our way to their estate?”

  “Maybe they’ll send someone for us instead?” I suggest.

  Andrei laughs at me. “Like call at the academy gates? ‘Excuse me, can I take three of your students to the Blackwood estate, please’.”

  My patience snaps like a rubber band hitting my temples. “Andrei, will you stop with the unhelpful sarcasm. I know you’re scared—we all are—but bloody shut up.”

  Ash snorts a laugh as Andrei blinks at me, mouth parted. Pursing my lips, I switch my attention back to the book. "The pendant linked me to the Blackwood magic. Let's hope there's some energy left inside me."

  Even though that's exactly what I don't want.

  Chapter Thirteen

  JAMIE

  Last time I had the grimoire, I searched through briefly, but never focused on any spells in case I was drawn to them. Matt’s situation in Ravenhold warned me off that idea.

  But this is different. This is for Maeve.

  "We have to agree to take the risk. Spells can backfire, especially if incantations aren't spoken correctly." My voice shakes. "We're playing with strong magic here."

  "I don't care," says Andrei in a heartbeat.

  Ash nods. "Yeah. Me too. I'm more worried you won't find a spell."

  The further into the book I go, the darker the ink and the more the dark brown smudges stain the corners. On a page towards the back, one of the brown marks is the shape of a fingerprint.

  “Shit.” I drop the book as if the page burned me.

  “Jamie?” asks Ash and cocks his head. “Did the book do that?”

  I suck in a breath. “You said Maeve cut herself when Anastasia took her?”

  He nods, lips tights.

  I swear under my breath again. “The Blackwoods use blood magic, right?”

  Andrei’s eyes widen in understanding. “You mean the spell needs blood? Whose?”

  “I haven’t found the spell yet. Maybe all of us if we all want to go.”

  Andrei shifts away and walks to the window. “Jamie. That’s not possible.”

  “Why?” asks Ash.

  “Jamie’s a witch.” Andrei’s tone is strained, and he refuses to look around. "I can’t be near his blood.”

  Ash and I glance at each other. This is why I never warmed to Andrei until recently. He lacks control and is the first to admit this—he’s drank blood from humans because he couldn’t resist. Would he attack me?

  Ash stands and clamps a hand on his shoulder. “We don’t know for sure. Let Jamie find the spell.”

  I study the words on each page, desperate to find something that reads like a spell to help us, but the scrawl is hard to make out; I sense the others’ frustration at how slow I am.

  I'm almost at the end of the book when I find a page titled Free Movement.

  I don’t recognise the rune in the centre of the page; the shape is a complex mix of circles and lines, some in shapes resembling letters from a foreign alphabet. Biting on my lip, I decipher the spell.

  “Can you remember your surroundings at the Blackwoods', Andrei?” I ask.

  “I was three, but I didn’t go into the house. I played in the woods outside with my sister.”

  “Good. The spell needs one person to have a clear image of the place they want to go.” I rub my chin and keep reading. “We need your blood to draw the rune and ours to mix if we want to join you in teleporting to the place in your head.”

  Andrei turns, disgust on his face. “What rune?” He snatches the book from me and frowns as he looks. “Crap. That will be a lot of blood.”

  “We could make the rune smaller?” suggests Ash whose face has paled since the conversation about blood started.

  “Has to be large enough for us to all fit our hands in, so that’s not too big,” I say.

  My attempt to look on the bright side doesn’t take the troubled look from his face.

  “So mostly Andrei's and not much of Jamie’s,” says Ash. "That's good, right?"

  Andrei stares at the book and mutters, “Some will be his.”

  “Why do you doubt you can control yourself?” I ask him. “You have control around Maeve.”

  “She’s never bled in front of me,” he says in a low voice.

  Ash straightens and his tone hardens. “Do you think if she did that, you’d attack her?”

  “No!” He swipes his fringe from his face. “Not attack, but—"

  “Not resist temptation?" He glares.

  "Andrei. That’s dangerous for you both,” I say.

  “Don’t you think I bloody know that?” he retorts and begins rifling through Tobias’s desk drawer. "Let's get this over with." He cuts dead the conversation in a spectacular way as he pulls out a metal letter opener and slashes his palm.

  “Holy crap!” blurts Ash a few seconds later. Andrei holds out his bleeding hand. “Just do the spell, Jamie, and stop whining at me about Maeve.”

  “I am not whining!”

  “You both are!” retorts Ash. “We need unity, not you squabbling like little kids.”

  I blow air into my cheeks as I watch the blood pool in Andrei’s palm. “Everybody is stressed, but we need to try this and hope the magic works.”

  “Agreed.” Andrei drops the book to the floor and kneels. His brow tugs in concentration as he carefully paints the rune in blood with his index finger.

  Ash
shifts uncomfortably in his chair and continues to squirm for several minutes. I look round and his face is now a colour to match Petrescu’s palest vampires.

  “Ash? Are you okay? Don’t panic. We’ll find her.”

  His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. “Yeah.”

  Andrei looks down at his finger painting and tosses the letter opener to Ash. “What next, Jamie?”

  I kneel on the floor and turn the book around. A verse in a mixture of Latin and English is written below the rune and I mouth the words to myself. Again, my obsessive studying helps.

  “Add our blood to the circle too—probably our palms would be easiest?”

  “Not a finger?” asks Ash hoarsely.

  “Might not be enough,” I reply, not looking up from the book.

  “Omigod!” exclaims Andrei. “You don’t like the sight of blood, do you, Ash?”

  Ash swallows again. “I’ll be fine,” he says through gritted teeth. “Just do this quickly.”

  “You won’t pass out, will you?” I ask.

  "Ashen Ash," says Andrei with a chuckle.

  Ash throws him a filthy look then kneels by the rune. He snatches the letter opener from me and slashes his palm before slamming his hand onto the rune. “Hurry up,” Ash says as beads of sweat spring up on his forehead.

  I place myself away from Andrei, close to Ash. Am I worried Andrei will attack me? A little, but he must trust himself.

  He senses my hesitation. “Jamie. This is for Maeve. I’ll focus on her in my mind and shut you out. Get on with this before Ash faints."

  I blink at him reading my thoughts and Ash swears at him. As with the others, I cut my palm in a quick move and join them in placing my hand on Andrei's rune.

  "Andrei. Picture where you were that day. Try and imagine yourself there."

  He nods and with the book balanced on my knee, I begin the incantation.

  “Teleportation,” mumbles Ash. “Crazy. I never knew this existed.”

  “You wouldn’t believe the shit the Blackwoods can do,” says Andrei, voice muffled by his other arm across his nose and mouth.