by Jami Klein
Pearl of Wisdom
By
Jami Klein
Book Two of the Jewel Academy Series
Other Books by Jami Klein
Jewel Academy Book Two: Pearl of Wisdom
Jewel Academy Book Three: City of Emeralds
Jewel Academy Book Four: Ocean of Sapphires
Jewel Academy Book Five: Blood of the Ruby
Jewel Academy Book One: Diamond in the Rough
You got sent to the Jewel Academy when you were too magically dangerous to go to reform school and too young to go to prison.
Lola Bragg didn’t belong there. She belonged at the Coven School for Girls. Except that she was born with a Tootsie roll pop in her mouth, instead of a silver spoon. Lola blew any chance of a scholarship when she convinced her mom’s pervy boss to keep his hands to himself—and while he was at it, buy them a new car and give her mom a raise.
Stefan Harte belonged in prison. Rumor had it, he killed a boy for making fun of him. And the grapevine said he had terrorized his family so badly, they made the Jewel Academy board him year-round. Stefan isn’t confirming or denying. He doesn’t speak. He communicates through his artwork or his fists. He would have been a talented painter, if he wasn’t a werelion that everyone expected to go crazy before his next birthday.
If Lola is going to survive the cliques, the course work, and the dangers of Jewel Academy with the mind magic blocker the court put on her wrist, she’s going to need a bodyguard. If you’re going to rent a thug, you rent the biggest one you can find. Only Stefan doesn’t want money, doesn’t want anything except to be left alone. But when outside forces come to the Jewel Academy, there’s safety in numbers—even if you’re a half-grey witch and a half feral lion shifter
Jewel Academy Book Two: Pearl of Wisdom
Weak equals Prey at the Jewel Academy.
Mindbender Lola Bragg found that out the hard way. A teenage witch this side of juvenile detention, Lola has a vital secret to keep. She must keep up the illusion that she is still magically shackled and weakened by anti-magic bracelets otherwise she’ll become the prey everyone thinks she is.
Still in a blood contract with Andrei, an aristocratic vampire, Lola’s were-lion bodyguard Stefan is growing distant each passing day. She’s afraid she’ll lose him to his darkness, but he doesn’t want her help with his personal demons. Lola needs the security of a coven, but no coven wants a weakened mage.
If she ever wants to drop the illusion and have the powers-that-be trust that she can use her mind magic responsibly, Lola needs to find a way to fit into the Jewel Academy’s cliques instead of forging her own alliances with the lunatic fringe of the school’s society.
When Andrei find an artifact that could give Lola the answers she needs about her father’s murder, she skirts the Academy’s rules against using black magic. With the ever-imposing threat of the FBMI over her head, and of being magically neutered, Lola is determined to find out why her family and her life has been torn apart.
Chapter One
The Jewel Academy was a juvenile detention center, a high school and a magical training area all rolled up into one. It was the place that mundanes dared each other to sneak into on Halloween. A quick reminder that werewolves actually did exist and vampires had no sense of humor, pretty much stopped that nonsense from happening. Until next year and a new crop of numbnuts came out to test their luck.
I was on the Halloween Party committee, but as a witch I really wanted to be in on the Samhain planning. Unfortunately, my roommate and frenemy, Priscilla Walton decided that her coven would be the ones running that show. And since she thought I was a diamond—a low level magic user, I wasn’t good enough to be in her coven. Even though I saved their bacon last month. Not that they remembered, because I had to wipe their minds that I was even there.
“Bobbing for apples? Pumpkin carving? What are we? Suburban housewives? You need to start thinking like a witch, Lola Bragg, otherwise you're never going to graduate.” Serena Bleak crumpled up my suggestions into a crisp paper ball and bounced it off my head.
Leaning back in my chair, I resisted the urge to change her mind about me. But that’s what got me sent to the Jewel Academy until I graduated high school. I came into my power hard and misused it before I had a chance to think about the consequences of my actions. If I had been an adult, the authorities would have neutered me—taken away my magic. But because I was still a minor, the Federal Bureau of Magical Investigation, the FBMI, magically shackled me and tossed me into the Jewel Academy and threw away the key.
I did toy with the idea of having Serena fetch me a pumpkin spice latte and stealing me the keys to Headmistress Magee’s cute little Smart Car. I had been stuck on campus for almost a month and I was going stir crazy.
Although, it had been a pretty eventful month.
“Ladies, let's keep this civil and move along. This doesn't have to take all afternoon,” Tracy, the coven leader who lived on the floor above me, said. I had volunteered for this committee despite that Serena Bleak— the Hatfield to my McCoy— was going to be on it, because I wanted Tracy to consider me for her coven.
As the new girl, I was coven-less until someone picked me. And since I was supposed to be wearing shackles that muted my mind magic, no coven would want me because with the anti magic bracelets on, I wouldn't be able to pull my own weight during rituals.
Except I had a secret.
My were-lion bodyguard had crushed the shackles to smithereens. I was using a low-level spell to make everyone think I was still wearing them. Eventually, I was going to slip up or someone would get wise. But for right now, I was enjoying being able to use my mind magic without the bracelets punishing me with a migraine from Hades.
I needed a bodyguard because I was thought to be weak because of the shackles. And weak meant easy prey in a place like this. Even though I no longer needed a bodyguard now that I didn’t have the shackles holding me back, I had to keep up appearances so not to attract any unwanted attention. Stefan Harte was feared by all the factions at the Jewel Academy: witches, shifters, vampires and Enforcers alike. Rumors swirled about him, each more nefarious than the last. The only one I knew was true was that he ripped the arm off of a werewolf.
The werewolf deserved it, though.
"Well, what did you have in mind, Serena?" Kim, another member of Tracy's coven, asked.
Serena had been waiting for someone to give her that opening. She jumped up and turned on the projector.
Please don’t let her have a PowerPoint presentation.
“Let’s face it,” Serena said. “We have a reputation to uphold for scaring the pants out of the trick or treaters. They make up rumors about us and whip the FBMI against our kind. Let’s let them think some of those myths and legends are true.” She clicked a pointer that I hadn’t realized she had palmed and up flashed a picture of my friend Andrei and his kiss—which isn’t as romantic as it sounds. It’s just a group of vampires. They were posing like a bunch of brooding goths. Andrei’s close-cropped black hair extenuated his deep brown eyes. But the burning intensity was off set that he was wearing eyeliner. And on some guys that was hot. But Andrei looked more like a racoon than a smoky-eyed seducer. I almost fell out of my seat trying not to laugh aloud. That picture had to go into the yearbook for posterity.
Andrei wasn’t my bodyguard, but he looked after me. I was under his protection because I was his blood donor. I traded blood for information and help in finding out who killed my dad. It seemed worth it at the time, but having him take a pint out of my wrist wasn’t as gooey and romantic as the movies made it out to be. It felt like a giant tick
was sucking on me. I’d never tell him that, though. It would hurt his feelings. He was so sensitive for a creature of the night.
“We should set up a blood donation booth for the vampires,” Serena said.
“No,” Tracy said before I could open my mouth.
Serena faltered. Like Serena, Tracy was a coven leader and her opinion held weight. “Fine,” she said grudgingly, and flicked to another slide.
“We could summon a seeress and have her give them a glimpse into their dull, dismal futures.” Serena cackled, reminding of the witch from the Bugs Bunny cartoons my dad and I used to watch together.
“No more summoning,” I said. Priscilla’s coven summoned a demon when their love spell went wrong. I helped save the day, but I couldn’t tell her that. While it would probably impress her enough to let me into her Mean Girls coven, I’d have to come clean that I no longer wore my anti-magic shackles. And I didn’t trust the Mean Girls to not rat me out to Headmistress Magee.
“You can’t summon anyway without a coven.” Serena sneered at me.
“I’m going to have to agree with Lola,” Kim said.
“Fine.” Serena sighed like the weight of the world was pressing down on her. “I suppose the Ouija boards are out too.”
“Yes,” Kim, Tracy, and I said at the same time.
“I’m feeling a little ganged up on,” Serena said, tapping the pointer on the table.
Just then, however, the other half of the committee burst through the door. Football practice must have just got out. Four boys stormed the classroom, each one larger than the other. I studiously examined my nails. They didn't like me. It was probably because they figured out I performed some slight mind magic on them to stop them from picking on a weaker shifter last month. These four were part of the Jewel Academy's defensive line. They called themselves the four horsemen of the apocalypse. I guess to sound cool? War was their leader, a massive linebacker, just like you'd expect the Alpha of a werewolf pack to be. Pestilence was his beta wolf and a strong side safety on the football field, Famine was a defensive tackle, and Death was the corner back.
I only knew the positions because my father had dragged me to the Yale Bowl every chance he got. He'd buy me some peanuts, and if I was lucky a hotdog or two and he would explain what every position on the field would do. And last month, the demon the coven summoned told me that my dad stole something for her, and that he would not take his secrets to the grave with him.
Mark Bragg had a lot of secrets apparently. I was beginning to wonder if my mom and I ever really knew him at all. The one good thing about being away from all my friends and my mom was that my dad had also gone here and there were traces of him all over the place. I was determined to hunt down every last scrap of information about him. I was confident that would lead me to the answers I was looking for: Who killed my dad and why?
It hadn’t been the demon, but I wasn’t out of suspects or secrets yet.
Speaking of secrets, following the wolves in was Stefan. Trauma had made him mute for several years, but I had been able to pick up his thoughts when we first met. Because of our connection, he could speak again. He generally decided not to. We spoke to each other mind-to-mind more often. But lately, he hadn’t said much of anything.
I think he was coming to terms that no one blamed him for my cousin, Delia’s death anymore. I never met my cousin, but she dated Andrei and had been trying to hook Stefan with a love spell. My cousin and I had similar tastes in men. Once you got over their initial annoying personalities, Andrei and Stefan were handsome and compelling in their own way. Stefan had the rugged looks of an outdoorsman with shaggy blond hair and the slightest rasp of a beard on his cheeks. He was sullen and broody and one of these days I’d see him smile.
Andre was brash and arrogant with a dash of dashing in his European Count antics. For now, they were both just friends. But every now and then I’d think a little too long on the kiss Andrei gave me to free my lips from a spell that sealed them together and the hug that Stefan had given me when I had been alone and frightened.
I would never cast a love spell on either one of them, though. Aside from being black magic, and icky in general, if you messed it up, you could bring a demon into our realm. Take if from me, it was not easy to get them to leave.
“Finally, a breath of fresh air. What are your ideas, gentlemen?” Serena asked.
“For what?” Pestilence said, slinging himself into a desk.
I could almost hear Serena’s teeth grinding. “For the Halloween party,” she said.
“How about bobbing for apples and stuff?”
Definitely. Her head was going to explode.
“I’ve got an idea,” Kim jumped in before Serena could lose her mind. “Why don’t we do a haunted hike or hayride to Hellion Falls and back? We can ambush the wagon and scare the norms. Just wing it.”
I shared a glance with Stefan. Hellion Falls was where Priscilla’s coven summoned the demon last month. According to Stefan, another demon could still be out there. His personal demon who had killed his brother and haunted Stefan’s thoughts so he did nightly patrols looking for it.
“I don’t think that’s very safe,” I ventured.
“No one asked you, witch,” War said.
Stefan curled his lip in a snarl towards him.
“Any other objections?” Serena said.
No one had any.
“Then it’s settled.” She rubbed her hands together. “Now to assign the work to get this done.”
Chapter Two
Of course, I got garbage detail. I had to make sure the path to Hellion Falls was free of tree branches and other debris so the wagon the wolves were getting would have an easy road through the forest. At least, I’d have Stefan by my side helping me out. He could lift anything heavy out of the way, like a boulder or a downed tree. Guess I knew what my weekend plans would be. But it beat hanging out in my room while Priscilla’s coven shot me death glares until I left.
In between classes, I headed over to Headmistress Magee’s office. She was one of the few vampires who could be up and around during the day—of course she had to stay inside otherwise she’d burn in the sun. She looked up when I rapped my knuckle on the door.
“Hi, I still can’t get signal on my cell phone. Can I use the landline to call my mom?”
“Sure.” She gestured with her pencil.
I slid into the chair opposite her desk and picked up the receiver and punched in the numbers. It felt weird to use a landline, but at least it was some way to contact the world outside of Jewel Academy. The phone once and her voice mail immediately picked up.
“Hi Mom. It’s me again. Lola. Your daughter,” I stressed sarcastically since she hadn’t returned any of my weekly calls. “It’s been a month since we’ve talked. I don’t have cell service, so can you call Headmistress Magee’s office and arrange a time to talk to me, if I’m not around. I hope things are going well. I love you.” I looked up self-consciously at Magee, but she wasn’t paying attention to me. She was frowning at her computer screen. “Miss you,” I muttered and hung up the phone. My mom must still be mad at me. I tried not to let it hurt, but it did. If I never forced her to forget that I had been skipping school just after my dad died, she might have fought a little harder when the FBMI sentenced me to the Jewel Academy.
When I went to get up, Magee suddenly turned her full attention to me. “I want to talk to you about your bracelets.”
Uh oh.
I sank back into the chair. Had I not projected with enough clarity that I was wearing them? I tried to keep the fear and guilt rioting in me off my face. I had the right to remain silent, so I did.
“I’ve noticed that you haven’t found a coven yet. I was hoping that you’d be able to assimilate into one by now.”
“The bracelets are a hindrance,” I said slowly. Could it be I wasn’t busted? “All the other witches think I’m weak or that the anti-magic field will mess up the rituals.”
Magee shoo
k her head. “If the coven leaders are telling you that, you’re not showing them your true value. You’re more than your mind magic. You have other skills. Your teachers haven’t been impressed with your home schooling.”
I stiffened. “My dad did the best he could.”
“But his area of expertise was mind magic. You need to learn to grow your other skills. So I’m afraid the bracelets will have to remain.”
“Okay,” I said, keeping my face neutral. “I was actually hoping to find a teacher or a mentor to help me out with mindbending.”
Magee made a face. “You’re far more advanced in that then you should be.”
“I guess I take after my father.”
Magee smirked, acknowledging that my father had been a bit of a troublemaker when he was at the Jewel Academy as well. “In good time, we’ll assign you advanced studies. Right now, you need to catch up to your grade level in the other magic disciplines. When you join a coven, we can discuss a time frame for having your bracelets removed.”
“I understand, Headmistress,” I said, not daring to look her in the eye. I really liked her, and I hate having to lie. But I hated those bracelets even more, so it was worth the deception. I rose from the chair. “I need to get to class.”
She went back to her computer monitor.
Stefan was leaning up against the lockers when I came out.
“Shouldn’t you be in magical history class?” I knew his schedule as well as my own.
He shrugged and fell into step beside me. He towered over me. His long hair was shaggy and golden and while it didn’t resemble a lion’s mane, I saw his beast more in the way he moved. He strode like he was the king of the Jewel Academy jungle and people, shifters and witches alike, got out of his way in fear and respect.
“Is the coach going to start you tomorrow?”
Stefan shrugged again.
