Academy of Deadly Arts

by Helen Scott

  Academy of Deadly Arts

  Phantom Academy Book One

  Helen Scott

  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

  Epilogue

  Other Works by Helen Scott

  Daughter of Persephone

  Blurb

  Thank you

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  1

  Avery

  Life sucks and then you die. That's what they say, right? Well, as far as I could tell it was true.

  "Avery Everly?" A man's voice sounded from my left.

  I'd been waiting outside this office for what felt like forever. In fact, everything before him calling my name seemed a little blurry. I tried to shake the fog from my brain as I got up and followed him in, unsure as to where I was or who he was, yet oddly calm. The room we entered was white, just like the suit he was wearing. It was weird. I mean I knew some people were all about their white suits, but for me it just reminded me of the tacky suit my prom date had worn.

  White on white on white as far as my eye could see. It was like we'd walked into a warehouse that not only had been painted but had lights under the floors, walls, and ceiling, all of which were glowing slightly. He strode over and situated himself on some kind of weird glass chair that was behind a glass desk, which had nothing on it. The whole place was empty as far as I could tell, not even a paperclip in sight.

  "Please have a seat, Ms. Everly," his voice came again, and I startled when it became apparent that I had completely zoned out.

  A flush raced up my cheeks as I headed toward the table. I realized as I moved that I was wearing a dress. It was a soft, light-gray color, and was just a tiny bit too long for me. Not to mention too stuffy. Everything from the high neckline to the long sleeves had me itching to get out of it. I knew that wherever it had come from, it hadn’t been my closet.

  When I perched on a glass stool that was placed before the desk, I felt like I was floating in a dream or something. Everything seemed to be happening to me, and I wasn't in control of any of it. Between the strange man, strange dress, and even stranger room I was starting to feel like I was in the Twilight Zone.

  "Ms. Everly, I need you to pay attention, please." When I refocused on the man he continued, "I'm afraid that you're dead. Your spirit or soul, however you prefer to think of it, has fallen into my care and as such you will be sent to our academy, where you will—"

  His words snapped me out of my daze and I cut him off. "I'm sorry. I just need to stop you right there. Clearly I'm not dead. I'm right here, solid, alive as anything. I don't know what you're playing at but I'm leaving," I said before I pushed up from my seat. With a few quick strides, after hiking my dress up so I didn't trip over it, I was back to where we had come in. Only, there was no door. There wasn't even a wall. It was like I was trapped in an optical illusion of some kind.

  "Please, come back and sit down," the man said, his voice calm.

  "Just who the hell are you?" I demanded as I spun to face him, my bright purple hair whipping me in the face.

  "I'm not someone you want to upset," he said before he paused and stood to walk over to me.

  Each step he took toward me I took one away from him. After this went on for a couple of minutes he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose like I was the most irritating person in the world.

  "Who are you?" I demanded again.

  "I'm the Arbiter. I decide what happens to souls once they cross over. Some go to the aetherworld some go to the netherworld and some, like you, come here."

  "If I'm dead then how did I die?" I crossed my arms over my chest and stood my ground.

  "It started with a car accident and ended with your parents turning off your life support machine," he countered.

  "I don't remember any of that." It was true, but that didn't stop the sliver of cold uncertainty that pierced my heart.

  "That's because trauma that leads to death is hard for the brain to retain as a memory past the point of death."

  "But I'm not dead!" I practically screamed the words at him when he paused his ramblings.

  He looked at me with tired, unamused, gray eyes and raised his hand, snapping his fingers as though he was trying to summon a waiter from somewhere. I looked around expecting something to happen, but nothing did. When the Arbiter coughed and gestured to me I looked down to find myself in shorts and a t-shirt. I heard his fingers snap again and suddenly I was wearing a frilly, frou-frou dress that made me look more like a cupcake than a human being. Another snap and the cake dress changed into leggings and a tank top. Snap. Jumpsuit. Snap. Trench coat. Snap. Swimsuit. Snap. School uniform.

  I looked up at him, my mouth gaping open, and found that he was no longer in a white suit either. Now he was wearing some kind of gray sleeveless robe thing that went to the floor. I guess I should have been thankful that it looked like he was wearing pants under it.

  When he snapped his fingers again the white room vanished. We were left standing outside a creepy old building. The high towers that were spaced out across the front each had spires coming off them and looked like they were from a snooty, old-money college or something like that. The ivy that was crawling up the building only added to the effect.

  "As I said. You're dead. Your spirit is here, which is somewhere akin to purgatory or the Asphodel Meadows, depending on your belief system. Now, when you go in through those doors you'll find your guide, Bowie, waiting for you." He gestured toward the carved stone entryway that held an ancient looking wooden door.

  I didn't want to go in. I didn't want to acknowledge any of this was actually real or happening and not just a bad dream, but when I turned to tell him to take me home he was gone. The whole place was empty, just some scrubby grass that was mixed with weeds and a few pots of plants that looked like they were hanging on for dear life. Although if I was supposed to be dead, then how were the plants and stuff alive? Shouldn't they be dead too?

  My head hurt.

  There was only one thing I could do if I didn't want to wander around like an idiot for ages, and that was follow the Arbiter's directions. He'd said someone was waiting for me inside, so that's where I needed to go. I hated that he'd left me in this stupid schoolgirl outfit, but it wasn't like I could just pop home and change. The thought that I'd never be going home again hit me and I felt like I was sinking. Overwhelmed was such a simple world to describe what I was feeling. I was nauseous, slightly dizzy, and felt like I was about to have a panic attack.

  Somehow my feet kept plodding along while my mind spun out and before I knew it I was directly in front of the heavy wood door. Wrought iron decorated it and made it look impossible to break into, but it slid open with ease as soon as my hand connected with it. While it was still heavy I didn't feel like I had to strain to get it open.

  The building inside was more modern than I'd anticipated. While there was an undeniably old world feel to it, the floors were a darker, smoother wood than I would have expected, and the walls were made up of exposed brick and a creamy plaster, most of which was covered with different photographs, paintings, or bulletin boards.

  "Everly?" A guy's voice sounded behind me.

  I turned toward him and
found a pair of rich, deep brown eyes staring down at me, set above high, prominent cheekbones. If this was what death looked like then suddenly I wasn't so upset. Or at least I could allow myself to be distracted for a minute or two.

  "It's Avery, but yeah, that's me," I said, sticking my hand out to shake his.

  He grinned at my formal behavior before giving me an obvious once over. "Nice outfit," he observed as he shook my hand.

  "Thanks... David, was it?" I asked, guessing at the name that the Arbiter had told me a few moments ago.

  "Nope, just Bowie," he said with a grin that lit up his whole face.

  "Sorry, Bowie. Nice to meet you. Are you… uh... dead too?" I asked feeling like I'd lost a bet to make an asshole out of myself to the next stranger I met.

  "Yup. Been that way for a while, but it's hard at first since it doesn't seem like we're dead when we're on academy grounds. I promise we are though."

  "Academy? The other dude mentioned that. Academy for what exactly? To learn how to be dead?" I scoffed.

  "Kinda, yeah. Phantom Academy is a little about learning how to be dead, but mostly it's about learning what you want to do with your afterlife."

  "Phantom Academy?" I repeated, unable to stop my curiosity about the name.

  "You'll see." Bowie’s reply seemed rather cryptic. Then he turned to me, smile in place once more. "Come on, let's show you to your room."

  "So this is like college... for the dead?"

  "Yeah, that's a good way of looking at it." He nodded and began walking down the hallway.

  "I don't remember dying, or anything for a while, just waiting outside the Arbiter's office," I said as I followed.

  "That's more common than you might expect."

  "I just can't quite believe it. I mean, I don't feel dead, I don't look dead, you don't look dead, there's nothing about this that makes me think we are, in fact, dead."

  "Let's find your room, then I'll show you. I promise."

  There was a tug at my chest and I felt drawn to one of the doors a little ways in front of us. Who feels drawn to a door? A crazy person. That's who. It seemed like the longer I was in this place the weirder things were getting. At some point I felt like I would reach maximum weirdness, but until then I just had to breathe through it and try not to let it all drive me insane.

  "Okay, so you're in here, two twenty-two, with Rose. She's been around awhile. Just can't seem to settle on what she wants to do for eternity or move on," Bowie said with a sigh.

  "Move on?" I asked before he had chance to open the door.

  He paused before he answered, and I waited, watching him struggle with deciding on what to say. "Some ghosts find a way to move from here, from purgatory or whatever, to their final resting place. They solve their issues and head upstairs or downstairs. You know, it's the only way to get out of here really unless you want to stick around, learn stuff, meet people. It can be a pretty interesting place actually," he said, his eyes seeming to glow with an emotion I couldn't name.

  Before I could grill him for more information his hand was on the door knob and the plain dark door was swinging open to reveal a room that seemed to have been taken over with pinks and lace. My Gramgram could have lived in there and felt perfectly at home. Just how old was this Rose woman anyway?

  "You must be my new roomie!" A high-pitched woman's voice came from somewhere in the room although I couldn't exactly tell where.

  I laughed nervously. Could ghosts go invisible?

  "Rose? Come and meet Avery," Bowie said, sounding as wary as I felt.

  A woman dressed in a what essentially looked like a caftan seemed to emerge from the pink pillows and lacy blanket that decorated the couch. As soon as I was able to focus on her I realized why I hadn't noticed her before. Her dress matched the blanket and the curtains. It was better than camouflage.

  "It's a pleasure to meet you, Avery. My, aren't you a pretty one? Those lips! And those cheekbones! Goodness gracious me, how is little old me supposed to live with that?" She glared at me, and I couldn't tell if she was joking or not, before stomping her foot and putting her hands on her hips. The caftan was actually just a robe, and underneath she was wearing a swing dress that was also pink and white. The combination made her creamy blonde hair look like frosting on top of a cake. An effect I felt sure she'd be pleased to have accomplished.

  "I'm sure you'll survive," Bowie responded dryly to the other woman, before turning back to me with a silent apology in his eyes.

  “Your room is the one on the left,” Rose said gesturing to a door that stood off to the side of the common area.

  Bowie jumped in and added, "There are clothes in the closet that you can use for now, but as your skills develop you'll be able to wear whatever you want by just summoning it from the closet. Now, why don't I show you why this is called Phantom Academy?"

  2

  Avery

  Bowie led me through the building and out into a large courtyard area. I could actually see other people, or students, hanging out in the area. Groups of ghosts were mingling between the border of trees that surrounded the common and other buildings, and pathways seemed to sprout off it like the branches of the trees themselves.

  We followed one of the main walkways as it swept around the grassy area and showed off the campus to the best of its ability. I wasn't exactly impressed. I mean, hell, I still hadn't even processed the fact that I was supposed to be dead. More old looking buildings were settled along the path that we were following, but as we progressed I noticed that the crowds thinned out and turned into one or two people walking together, some maybe even taking a romantic stroll judging from the clasped hands and the heads tilted together.

  "This is the edge of campus," Bowie announced after a moment, gesturing to the piece of ground between where we were standing and where another sidewalk, that was in much better shape, ran next to a street.

  I wasn't sure why I'd expected something more, but the grass that was so lush everywhere else seemed to die off as it reached the sidewalk that was just beyond the edge of land he'd pointed out. A car or two passed by, their engines sounding muffled like we were in a bubble of some kind. Wherever we were it wasn't what I'd call a busy street, but there was some foot traffic to go along with the cars.

  "Want to see what I mean? About us being dead and all." Bowie outstretched his hand and offered it to me. "Don't let go until we are back in this spot okay?"

  I nodded as nervous energy crawled up my spine.

  "You promise?" His playful eyes had turned serious which made my nerves flare.

  "Promise." I gave him a solemn nod.

  When my hand slipped into his larger one I felt energy rush over me. There was no other way to put it. His hand wasn't cold as I'd expected given all the talk of us being dead and whatnot. In fact, it was quite warm, soothing even.

  I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. There was no denying the guy was attractive. It was the way I felt curious about him that had me concerned though. When I was little my mother always used to call me her Avery-cat because she was sure curiosity was going to kill me one day. Who knows, maybe it was what caused me to be in the accident in the first place.

  We stood on the edge for a moment and then Bowie stepped forward, pulling me through the invisible bubble and onto the sidewalk. Color blazed to life all around me, to the point that it stung my eyes. Cars seemed to fly by on the street going much faster than anything that would be allowed in an area as built up as the one that surrounded us in that moment.

  As I looked around I could only see a small fraction of the land that the academy occupied, with most of it was hidden behind the buildings that made up the majority of the street. There was only one gap in the row of buildings, and from this perspective it looked more like an abandoned lot than the entrance to a ghostly academy.

  "Do you understand now?" Bowie asked.

  "Understand what? That we snuck through a back entrance to come and stand on a sidewalk?"

  A peal
of feminine laughter echoed between the buildings and I turned to find the source. There was a couple moving toward us, but their movements were jerky and seemed too fast. As they approached I kept waiting for them to move, to try and get around us but they didn't. When I moved, or tried to, Bowie just held my shoulder with his free hand, pinning me in place.

  The couple seemed to rush us at the last minute and I braced for impact, but nothing came. Well, nothing other than a weird warm sensation. I blinked my eyes open in time to find that they were passing through us, or rather, we were passing through them. They were most definitely solid, but we weren't, not anymore.

  Their speed had slowed as they'd moved through us, similar to how they would move through mud or quicksand and we were pulling at their steps, but once they'd cleared us their speed picked back up and went back to being jerky and oddly fast. Confusion and fear filled me in equal amounts.

  Was I actually dead?

  That display certainly seemed to suggest I was, and yet, I still couldn't understand why I didn't remember my own death. I'd had plenty of traumatic things happen to me before and I still recalled those, so why this specific thing? Why was it completely erased from my memory?

  "So that was them walking through us?" I'd intended for my voice to sound strong and completely unaffected by what had just happened but that was almost the exact opposite of how it came out. The quaver and wispy quality that my voice had made, made me sound like a scared teenager instead.

  "It was," Bowie said solemnly, before he spun me by the shoulders to face him. His hand came up and brushed a lock of hair from my face. It was an oddly intimate gesture considering we were strangers. "Being dead isn't the worst. School can be interesting, fun even, depending on what you get into. And there isn't much that can hurt you anymore. Phantom Academy is all about you figuring out what you want to do with the rest of your afterlife. We have eternity to play and explore, why not take advantage of that?"