Book Read Free

The Witch's Guardian (Caspian Academy Book 1)

Page 4

by Anna Edwards


  I’m not a monster.

  Even though Juniper makes me one.

  Why does she hold this power over me?

  I hate her.

  I need her away from the academy.

  I need her as far from me as possible.

  She thinks I hate her for another reason…the dreadful day. But that’s nothing compared to this at the moment.

  I’m breaking.

  My body is floating again, all control lost as my hands reach out in front of me.

  I want to see.

  I want to know for certain.

  I want to remember it all, but it won’t happen.

  In a few moments, I’ll wake in my bed, and all memory of this will be gone.

  And Juniper will have lost her mother.

  I reach the bed again, and my hands go to either side of her mother’s head, the spell is recited in my mind. My subconscious is singing it, not me. I refuse this time. But the demon inside me, owning my soul, collects what’s his.

  Or does he?

  The room flashes white, my vision clears, and Juniper’s mother wakes. Her eyes are wide as she takes in my demonic nature. A wizard within a wizard.

  “Who are you?” Her shallow breaths are fading and being replaced with stronger more forceful ones with every rise and fall of her chest. I’m not taking her, I’m curing her. Fate’s decree is that she lives, and the malignant disease within her fades and dies.

  “Jac…” is all I manage to say before my body is lifted up and flown through the air again.

  Everything around me goes dark as my memories are wiped. I won't remember tomorrow who I saw or what happened. But I’ll know I kissed Juniper, and she changed me again. Tomorrow I’ll make her leave Caspian even if I have to throw her out myself. I won’t let her do this to me ever again.

  When I wake in the early morning, I’m still reeling from the standoff and weird angry kiss which Jacobi gave me. Rubbing my eyes, I drag myself from my bed and stretch out a yawn.

  “Weird,” I murmur to myself touching my lips as I remember the kiss.

  I looked for Jacobi all day yesterday, purely so I could avoid him of course, but I never spotted him. Even in our shared classes, he’d disappeared. I didn’t want to ask anyone where he was, so I spent my day with Emmie, trying to isolate myself from everyone else.

  Walking over to the window, I stare outside. It’s at times like this I’m thankful for my father’s pull. The bliss of living on the outskirts of school means at four am when I can’t sleep, I can look out on the quiet back streets of London. I have to get ready and head to the academy for my morning clean-up, but I can’t draw myself away from the window. It feels like someone is watching me, and I’m sure I see movement in the shadows, but as I linger, no one emerges. Shaking my head, I drop the blinds and head for the shower.

  “You got here early,” Lucas mutters as he walks towards me an hour later.

  I glance up from my text book and smile. “I could say the same to you,” I counter, looking at my watch and noting it’s only just after five am.

  He shrugs. “I was gonna go for a run before we start clean-up, since I’ll need to shower after anyway.”

  I raise my eyebrows. “How dirty and sweaty are you planning on getting when you pick litter today?” I question, grinning.

  He returns my grin. “I always put in one hundred percent,” he says with a wink.

  I shake my head and look down at my maths book again. Magic is my nature, maths, not so much.

  We learn magic as well as core subjects like maths and English at Caspian. However, the main reason for the existence of the school is to control the effect young witches have on the human world. Our hierarchy believe if we went to a normal school with our hormones raging and immature thought processes, then anything could happen. If someone was angry or got bullied, magic could be used and our secrets would be revealed. Actually, being revealed as a witch isn’t the worst thing that could happen. Being outed as a witch is a walk in the park compared to using magic on humans and hurting them physically or emotionally. If we did that, we could be sentenced to death. The paranormal legal system is ruthless.

  Still, maths sucks and I’m not sure I’ll ever need to use it in the real world, not much past adding and subtracting anyway, and honestly, who hasn’t got a phone that can do it for them these days? However, if I don’t pass my class, they’ll call my dad in, and I’d rather study maths than see him.

  Before I realise it, Lucas is back from his run, and we’re litter picking again. He’s easy to talk to, and he’s not someone who was around the first time I was here, so he has no idea of the history between me and Jacobi, or maybe he does? There’s every chance Jacobi told him. They seem pretty close.

  I remember a time when we were friends, Taya too. I’m not sure what changed for Jacobi. We were fifteen when he kissed me. Not an angry, needy kiss like yesterday. No. Our first kiss was gentle, sweet and explorative. After the first time, Jacobi was different, though. I wondered, back then, if he’d regretted kissing me. I was young, inexperienced and the hottest boy in the school, who was also one of my best friends, kissed me. Maybe he found it too weird? But then it happened again, and a third time. Each time, he became more distant, agitated, angry even. It seems third time is the charm, well, until yesterday, as he stopped after kiss number three.

  Maybe because of my age or my inexperience and immaturity, I couldn’t understand what had happened at the time. That was nearly three years ago, and looking back, I realise now he was using me all along. Learning how to kiss maybe, or how to brush a girl off? Who knows how his mind works? I only know if he really cared about me, he would never have treated me the way he did then or how he’s continued to treat me ever since. The thing which stung most is how he segregated me from all of our friends. I had no one until Emmie started at our school a couple of months after I turned sixteen. Thank the stars for her.

  My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I consider ignoring it. If Mr Taylor notices me chatting when I’m supposed to be cleaning up, he’ll have a fit. However, when I take it out of my pocket and see it’s my mum’s number, I don’t care about extra punishment.

  “Mum, are you okay?” The words rush out of me as panic sets in. Usually she calls three times a week in the evening; this call is unusual.

  “Hey sweetie, everything is fine, better than fine actually,” she coos.

  “Huh? Mum, what’s going on?”

  “I had a visit last night. He came to cure me.”

  Closing my eyes I rub my forehead. “Mum, have you been taking all your meds? Or taking too much?” The questions tumble out of me as I mentally work out how to get to her.

  “A Guardian visited me last night-“

  “Mum, have you been sleeping okay?” I cut her off.

  “Juniper Arabella Ambrose, will you listen to me,” she snaps, and I quickly shut my mouth, allowing her to continue.

  She sighs heavily, and I want to ask if she’s okay, but I refrain.

  “A Guardian visited me last night. He cured me, sweetheart. I’m…” I can hear the hitch in her voice, and my heart is beating a thousand times a minute. “He took away the illness. I don’t know what I did to deserve it, but I’m well.”

  She breaks down on the phone, and my own breathing increases, rapidly turning shallow as I ease myself onto a nearby bench.

  “How…” My voice is rough like I’ve had sandpaper shoved down my throat.

  “It’s fairy tale and folklore, Juniper, but it has been said that one Guardian exists among us at any time. They punish the bad and help the good. I…I don’t know how else to explain it.” The whisper in her voice warms me.

  “I’m coming back right now,” I tell her, ready to magic myself home.

  “No,” she snaps.

  “Mum?”

  “Sorry…sorry, sweetie, but you need to be there. I’m fine. Don’t you see? I could come and visit you!”

  I find myself grinning and daring to believe thi
s miracle is actually true.

  “Yes, do that and soon. I miss you,” I tell her.

  “Okay, sweetheart, I’m letting you go now. Speak to you later. Love you.”

  “Love you, Mum.”

  I sit on the bench unmoving for I don’t know how long. The wind curls around my cheeks, but it can’t wipe the grin from my face.

  “You about done?” Lucas asks, wandering over with a half-full bag of rubbish.

  I check the time and see its five to seven. “Yeah, let’s put the stuff back.”

  “Here,” he says, holding out his hand.

  I pass him my rubbish bag and walk over to the garage to put my stick and high visibility tabard back.

  Lucas walks with me towards the school. “So, I was thinking, would you like to come to Rocky’s with me after school?” he asks.

  “Like on a date?” I stop walking and stand, looking at him with a frown, but still considering going…I mean Rocky’s do have the best burgers.

  “A date, Lucas? With Juniper? Surely you have better taste?” Jacobi snarls, walking around the corner.

  “And more class,” Taya adds from beside him, looking down her nose at me.

  “Cobi, that’s enough man,” Lucas responds, frowning at his friend.

  “No, it’s not enough,” Jacobi snaps back so forcefully even Taya looks up at him, surprise clear on her face. “It will never be enough until she leaves this school,” Jacobi tells Lucas, pointing at me but never dragging his hard stare away from Lucas.

  “You’re being unreasonable,” Lucas argues, but I can already hear the indecision in his voice.

  Jacobi’s face is taut with rage, and I wonder where it all comes from. What did I do to make him hate me so much?

  “You stay away from her, Lucas,” he orders, pointing at me again. “She needs to learn her place, and that does not involve dating.”

  I start walking away.

  “That’s it, run along now,” Taya singsongs to my back.

  I spin around and walk backwards while flipping her the bird. I feel a part of the old me being resurrected.

  “I don’t need to date within the school,” I smirk my eyes moving to each one of them in turn, landing on Jacobi last. “I’ve no problem in that department.”

  Jacobi’s eyes narrow on me, and I see an emotion I can’t quite place flash through his eyes. I turn back around and head to my first class, thankful I don’t have any classes with Jacobi Ashdown today.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I stare down at the change in my school timetable.

  My regular spells teacher is absent for the rest of the year because she’s had the nerve to get involved in a car accident. I have to change classes. They can’t get a substitute or something? No, they have to merge the two spell classes together, which means my fabulous Juniper-free day is no more. I have to sit in the same room with her for the next hour. My day has been going perfectly as well. The headache I’ve had for the last few days has finally left me, and I was feeling a lot lighter about the person I may have killed. Damn woman! I hate her. Damn all women! At the moment, I hate them all.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll sit next to you, and we can work together,” Taya coos into my ear and strokes her perfectly manicured hands down my clenched torso.

  I don’t give her any response, though. I’m not in the mood for her sucking up to me. I simply screw the bit of paper up and throw it on the ground. I stomp on it with my size nine boots and grumpily make my way to class. My minions following along behind me.

  When we reach the room, it’s overflowing with the two classes of students, and the teacher, Miss Bell, looks stressed already. She’s only young but looks older due to her strange style of dress which resembles something from the early 1950’s. She joined the school in the summer. It’s probably her first teaching job, and she’s looked like a rabbit caught in headlights most of the time.

  “Come in, hurry up,” she urges us, and we find a position to stand against a wall near the entrance.

  All of the seats are taken, including one occupied by Juniper. She looks up at me and glares so intently I’m pretty sure if she could shoot flames out of her nostrils, I’d be burnt to a crisp by now. I can’t help but smirk back and slice my fingers across my throat in a gesture intended to make sure she understands her position. I mean for her to know she’s the lowest of the low at Caspian Academy, and her days here are numbered..

  “Right, everyone, listen to me.” Miss Bell waves a silly little tambourine in the air, trying to capture our attention like we’re primary age children. “Quiet now.”

  Everyone continues talking over her, so she tries again without any success. My earlier hatred of women dissipates as I stand there feeling sorry for her, just a little bit. I'm not a complete monster, even if I’m angry at the current situation with Juniper.

  “Quiet,” I step forward and shout. The room instantly falls silent.

  “Thank you, Mr Ashdown.” Miss Bell smiles warmly at me, and I step back into my lounging position against the wall. “I’m sure you’ve all heard that Mrs Weston was involved in a car accident. The school is sourcing another spelling teacher, but it might take a few weeks, and we don’t want you to miss out on lessons in the meantime. We’re going to do things a little differently until the replacement arrives. I can’t teach you all at once, because there simply isn’t the space. Instead, while half of you are being taught by me today, the other half will work on a project, then in tomorrow’s lesson you’re going to swap around. I hope that’s okay.” Miss Bell reaches down and picks up a piece of paper from her desk. “I’ve mixed the classes up and put you in pairs. I want you to work with someone you’ve never worked with before. It’s a good learning experience and often produces the best results.”

  My stomach sinks. I’ve just got to hope I have good luck today and get a partner who’ll work well with me. If I don’t, I’ll be coming down on them like a ton of bricks. I may be a joke and lazy most of the time, but my work is important to me. I want to be top of the class when I graduate, especially if divinity has already chosen my profession, and I’m going to be collecting souls in the future.

  As the class is slowly split into two groups, I wait to hear my name being called. I groan loudly when I’m separated from most of my friends. That headache is starting to return. I think I might need to get a sick note and head back to bed while this charade of a class is happening. I don’t need to worry too much, though. Thankfully, the group I’m in has been assigned teaching today, not the project work. I sit in the usual seat I take when in this particular classroom and put my feet up on the desk while we wait for Miss Bell to return from sorting out those working in pairs.

  Juniper sits in front of me. She’s sat next to her friend Emmie, and the two of them are giggling together. A couple of pretty looking girls come to sit near me, daring to try and capture my attention while Taya isn’t around. I blow a kiss at them, and they blush and look down at their books. I turn to face the back of Juniper’s head once more. The murderous intentions within me rise again. She’s the reason I’m forced to do things I don’t remember.

  Except for that last woman.

  Her face flashes through my head again, and I want to scream. I rub at my temples to displace the headache before ripping a piece of paper from the notebook in front of me and popping it in my mouth. I chew it a few times to make it more pliable before taking it out, rolling it up into a ball, and flicking it at the back of Juniper’s head. The girls sitting next to me giggle loudly, and Juniper turns around with a monstrous glare on her face.

  “What are you doing?” she questions, and I smirk at her with a devilish look on my face. It’s an expression I’ve developed and used a lot since my rise to power here at Caspian.

  “Why would I be doing anything? I’m the one who should be here. Not you.”

  “Shut up,” Emmie intervenes and leans back to look at her friend’s hair. “Yuck, you’re disgusting, Jacobi.”

  “Wha
t is it?” Juniper places her hand on her hair and must feel the wet paper because she instantly recoils. “You are gross,” she complains as she removes the offending item from her hair and throws it back my way. I dodge to the side and it lands on the wall behind me.

  “Just keeping myself amused while I’m waiting. You’re an easy target.”

  The girls surrounding me giggle and start to rip off their own pieces of paper, but I hold my hand up to halt them. Only I get to torture Juniper. No one else.

  I blow a kiss in the direction of my most hated person in the world, and she responds with her middle finger just as Miss Bell returns.

  “Miss Ambrose, I don’t think that’s necessary,” the teacher scolds Juniper, who turns bright red at being caught. I let the devilish smirk flash again.

  “I’m sorry, Miss Bell. It won’t happen again.” Juniper sucks up, knowing she’s already in trouble after the incident in the arcade a few days ago. Any more problems, and her father will be called in. The great King Ambrose. No one wants that, least of all Juniper. I know she hates him.

  “See that it doesn’t,” the teacher rebukes as she takes her place at the front of the room.

  The next forty five minutes pass in boredom for me as Miss Bell demonstrates a few spells I’ve known since I was a child. I’m sure I fall asleep at one point because when one of the girls puts her hand on my leg, I spring up in shock, knocking my books onto the floor. I apologise to the teacher, but she waves it away. The smugness which crosses Juniper’s face, though, sets me on edge, and I stare daggers into the back of her head for the rest of the lesson.

  As we all wait, not very patiently, for the bell to sound so we can move onto more interesting subjects, Miss Bell draws the lesson to a close.

  “Thank you again for all being so good today. It’s not been easy, but we’ll get there. We need to employ the spirit of the Great War and muck in together.” She smiles at the class, and a few people cheer her speech.

 

‹ Prev