by S C Thomas
Charmwood Academy
Book One
S. O. Thomas
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by S. O. Thomas
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.
www.ichigoblackbooks.com
Created with Vellum
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Also by S. O. Thomas
About the Author
Untitled
To my mom, for always believing in me.
One
The water lapping at the sides of the pool threatened to crash over the bricks and lap at their feet. Splashes made it worse, causing waves that pushed the water further and further to falling over the side. Wet footprints tracked everywhere, making it hard to decipher where they started and where they ended. Some could possibly even mistake them for simple splashes crashing onto the bricks landing. Laughter floated in the air, faux scream erupted from girls pretending to be afraid of being pushed in by boys that were either rough housing around them or trying to get them into the pool. Bottles clinked as well, a bad mixture around the pool as it had been seen as being beer bottles.
Emma Charmwood stood as far as away from the water as she could, her fingers wrapped around a red plastic cup whose scent wrenched and burned her nostrils. She could almost swear if she put her face into it, it would probably burn her eyebrows off her face as well, but she wasn’t about to chance it. The smell of chlorine wafting through the air made her temples pound, an oncoming headache that would give her a great excuse to leave. She was only meant to stay for an hour after all, before her mother returned home and realized she had left without telling her. But Mel had practically begged her to come with and Emma had found herself in no position to turn her down. She was her friend, or at least it’s what she had said and for her entire life, friends had come in the form of either books or animals. Never an actual human being. She had not once lived in a place long enough to form a true connection or be able to feel it was okay enough to form a true connection until now. They’d been living here longer than usual, and it had just sort of happened.
She was not going to turn down a request to hang out and potentially ruin the only friendship she could possibly have for the rest of her life.
Alisa knew what it was like to pack up everything she owned into two bags or sometimes even suitcases and head out. She knew what it was like to live out of those suitcases or bags because in the manner of three or less months, she would be gone anyways. She had never been to a school dance before, she never stuck around long enough and if she had somehow managed to live through one or two – well, she just didn’t go. No friends and no guy to ask her to dance simply meant sitting on the sidelines and watching the rest have fun. It was better to stay in whatever place she currently lived for that night in question and just pop in a movie. She was always gone before questions could be made about her desire to be alone.
This time though, actually being invited was something she had not expected. The thrill to actually attend a high school party had had her buzzing the entire time while she honed her bathing suit and covered it with a simple sundress. One she stood in the shadows in, hiding away from the crowd, and trying not to burst from an oncoming headache while holding her friend’s cup of alcohol. She didn’t drink alcohol, she had never once tried it, but she wasn’t about to now. She wanted to stay sober, needed to in order to drive Mel home at all later on and give a solid alibi to her mother at that. If she found out she was at some high school party getting drunk by a pool, the woman would freak, and she knew that all too well. Besides moving constantly, her mother had always made sure she wasn’t far out of her sight other than the night shift jobs she tended to take on. Ones that easily let her go after a couple months and vowed to not miss her, giving her the most perfect excuses why they needed to move once again.
But now, Emma just wanted to experience the real high school journey. She was so sick and tired of not being able to – these years were meant to be the time of her life after all.
After all the stories her mother had told her and the movies she had watched depicting high school as a magical time to find her best friends, lose them, cast away her virginity, and get into drugs and alcohol binges while partying her weekends away, she had been excited to enter her freshmen year. But now, nearing the second semester of her junior year and not once experiencing either one of those things, she had started to suspect none were going to happen.
“You’re being a party pooper,” Mel whined, her feet stumbling over one another as she staggered to Emma. “Just standing here in the shadows. You’re such an emo!” She giggled, a glass in her hands, obviously having forgotten the one Emma held, leaning against the girl.
She breathed in the girl’s ear, who flinched and pulled away, prying her off her but held her by the wrists. “You’re wasted Mel.”
Mel shrugged, dipping her head to the side as she stuck her tongue out between her teeth. “I’m also gonna get wasted.” She slurred, laughing as she pulled back, staggering towards the sliding back door of the house, her hips swaying as she did so.
Emma shook her head, pursing her lips to try and keep from bursting out in laughter.
“Hey, you drinking that?” a male voice turned her head back towards, eyes stopping on the male now in front of her. “You drinking that?” He pointed at the drink in her hands when repeating his questions.
Emma glanced down at the cup she still held and then back up to him, shrugging as she held it out. “I’m driving, so no. I was just holding it but apparently my friend didn’t want it.”
He grinned, making her knees feel weak. His chin length hair fell over his eyes and he beckoned her to follow him, jerking his head to tell her it was alright. She moved robotically, desperate to know what it felt like to be part of a group. Desperate to know what it was like to just be normal. As her feet padded on the ground, shoes long ago having been removed, she rounded the side of the pool to follow the guy and stopped at his group.
“I’m back,” he half-sang and plopped down on a lawn chair, raising his feet to cross his legs over one another. “Alisa, right?”
Emma blinked, surprised at how close he was to her name or that he even bothered asking about it at all. “Emma,” she corrected, her voice shaking in surprise. “It’s Emma.”
He nodded, leaning his head back as he closed his eyes, dropping down a pair of sunglasses to block the sun, ones she hadn’t even noticed were atop his head. At the buzzing of her phone, she removed it from
her dress pocket to take a look. Annoyance flitted across her face at her mother’s text, frantic as she knew it would be when she noticed her absence. Reaching up, she fiddled with the blue crystal linked on the gold chain that had been left in her possession. The last thing she had of her father and told to never remove, to never take off – it didn’t matter what it was about, she wasn’t allowed to. Emma had never questioned it, it was just natural that she kept it on. It was part of her, who she was. There was no reason to question it.
“Well sit down, Alisa.” He waved his hand at the empty seat next to him, once again speaking her name wrong, but this time she didn’t even bother correcting him.
Excitement fluttered in her chest. Was that her heart? She didn’t know, but she didn’t care either. Brushing it aside, she took the lawn chair next to him and leaned her phone against her leg as she propped it up, leaning her own head back to take in the arrays of the sun. She could feel the vitamin D soaking into flesh, warming her very core, tingling her flesh. It just felt right that she was doing this, even if she was denying her mother.
“You guys want to get in the pool?” He was speaking again and briefly, she wondered what his name was but didn’t want to push her luck.
She peeked her eyes open and found him staring avidly at her, waiting for her response. She blinked, glancing around to see the others surrounded them. They were sitting on the tables, cross legged on the ground, and just lounging about. The girls had straightened, standing up to remove their covers, showing off their bikinis. Emma bit her lip, but pulled herself to a standing position as well, pushing off the warm feeling that had been about to put her in a sleep stupor. Her fingers gripped at her sundress and pulled it over her head, dropping it to her chair.
“Necklace,” a girl voice spoke in her ear and reached around Emma to drop something onto the chair as well. “You can’t go in the pool with jewelry.”
Emma paused, then her fingers reached up, fiddling with the chain to the necklace. She hesitated, unsure about taking her precious necklace off.
“Come on, Alisa.” The boy pressed a hand to her shoulder as he passed her, heading to the edge of the pool.
She followed him with her eyes, feeling the subconscious act of her fingers moving, unclasping the necklace. She wasn’t really sure why she was doing it; she just was. As she reached back, dangling the necklace over her dress and dropped it and her phone on top of it. Right before she turned, her phone blared to life. Eyes flickering to it, she saw her mother’s ID on the call and turned back to the pool, ignoring the phone call that with the further she walked away, the more distant it became.
As she lowered her body into the pool, shivering at the touch of the cool water, her breath rattling for a moment, she took it in. Her fingers swept over the water, waves pumping against her and making her feel as if she were slightly floating already. It had been so long since she’d been in a pool, Alisa had almost forgotten how good it felt. She held out her arms, trailing her fingers through and washing the stretching of the water follow them. She tilted her head back again, basking in the sun once more, taking in the rays that touched her pale skin and welcomed her to a life she had never known existed outside of television and rumors.
She heard the distinct shrill of her phone or maybe she was imagining it, she couldn’t tell this far away but she didn’t even care at this moment.
She had been deprived so damn long and it just wasn’t fair. She didn’t want to keep being deprived for who knew how long. Until the day she died. She was getting of age where she could just leave if she chose to, but it didn’t really mean she could. She had no friends or anything in life, nowhere to go. For all she knew, she would be stuck with her mother and that was that. The mere idea of not having anywhere to go, anyone to be with, and being stuck with her mother for life, just sucked. She didn’t feel like she could do anything with her life at this point in time.
Her fingers curled into the water, like claws retracting, grabbing hold of their prey. Bubbles rose to the top, forming in quick succession like it would a hot tub. Emma barely noticed. All she could think about was the fact that her mother had literally taken away everything that was supposed to be good in her life, to move every few months for whatever reasoning she had. Maybe the rumors were right – her mother just couldn’t settle down and was dragging her down with her.
Why couldn’t she have been left with a family member? Like a grandparent that was too old to move around and had to stick to one place so she could stay there and have friends and get in trouble and everything else like a normal teenager.
Why did life have to be so crappy for her?
The water boiled, bubbling furiously. Steam rose from them, vapor clouds swirling up and around. Screams shouted, some sounding as if they were in pain. Splashes entered her ears, bodies flashing past her eyes. The bubbles rose, she could feel the heat searing her flesh, but she didn’t care. It wasn’t a hurting pain.
“Alisa!” her mother’s screech made her jump, hands gripping at her, and she felt her body be tugged out of the pool.
She kicked, stumbling and kicked out. She turned at the grip that held her as her feet hit the ground, throwing her arm out. “What do you want?”
Her mother took a step back in surprise, her eyes wide but she quickly regained composure, her shoulders squaring. “You’re coming home, we’re- “her eyes landed on Emma’s bare neck, taking in the fact she was no longer wearing her necklace. Her hand flew to her neck, a gurgling sound leaving her lips. “Where is your necklace? Your supposed to be wearing it!”
Emma rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. “Whatever, I wanted it off.”
Reaching out, her mother grabbed Emma’s wrist, yanking her with her. Storming to the chair, she gathered her daughter’s belongings and lead her out of the yard, ignoring the snickering that was behind them. Shoving Emma into the car, she locked the door and slammed it shut, quickly hurrying around to get in on the driver’s side and starting the ignition. She pushed down on the gas and sped off, clutching the steering wheel.
“What is wrong with you?” She demanded, her cheeks red in anger but her eyes kept on the road, refusing to look at Emma.
Emma sunk in her seat, crossing her arms as she glared out the window, refusing to say anything at all. Staring out the window, she spotted a large bird swoop down, circling in its area, and pretended to be more interested in that instead of the tirade her mother began to go on, spewing out about just how wrong she was for not only going to the pool party but also taking off her necklace. After a few minutes, Emma just tuned her out, having heard the same words before when her mother spoke about safety and the dire need to never leave their home without her or to take her necklace off.
“How long has that SUV been following us?” the question broke through her concentration and Emma looked up, turning around to look behind her.
She shrugged, not caring at the vehicle that was catching up behind them and turned back, noticing that the circling bird was much closer now. She could see it a bit clearer, just making out the shape and could only guess it was a crow . She could’ve been wrong for all she knew, but not talking to her mother was the vital point in all this. She had to keep herself entertained somehow.
“It’s still following us; it even took the same two turns I did!” Her mother exclaimed, sounding frustrated and pushed the car to go faster.
Emma’s fingers wrapped around the handle of the car door, an automatic response to the gas pedal being pressed and sat back further into the seat. Lights flashed or it could’ve been the sun on metal, she couldn’t tell the difference, but it was enough to shroud her eyes for a moment. A jerk of the car sent her reeling forward, head slamming onto the dashboard.
Her name was screamed, but it suddenly sounded so distant. The crunch of metal upon metal grinded her bones together and glass shattered, spraying over her. She felt the tiny pinpricks grazing over her flesh. Her body tilted over, beginning the descent down, but it was something she couldn
’t stop. An electric shock of pain zapped up her arm, trailing over her shoulder and up her neck, paralyzing her. Her body was turning again, blood flowing to her head, telling her she was upside down.
Screams entered her ears, black edges surrounded her vision, pushing towards the middle to close it out. She blinked, but it didn’t help. Her name on lips, begging to know if she was alright, to speak, but she couldn’t figure out how to. She was so confused, felt so helpless.
A trickle of warmth ran down her forehead, entering her hair. Blood. Sobbing entered her ears, pleas to know she was okay – that she was alright, but she just couldn’t answer even if she had wanted to. Her fingers twitched, her hand raising to her neck, pressing to the spot her necklace usually was but found it empty. And was reminded that she had removed it. Instant regret swept through her, twisting in her stomach. But it was all she could feel at the moment.
Her arm moved, jerking slightly in an attempt to get up, to move her. She couldn’t move. Tears prickled her eyes but were quickly washed away by the darkness that was speeding towards the middle of her vision. Sleep, she felt so sleepy. Her body was beginning to feel numb, slightly tingling. Her body so badly wanted to give in. What was she fighting against it for?
Her name entered her ears again. That sobbing sounded all over again.
