by G. Bailey
Ronan holds his coin up in the air, inspecting it while I run over to Sage and help her stand.
“David hurt me. That was what I feared the most, that Professor Gale would somehow hurt me again,” Sage whispers, blinking a few times. “I needed to find the courage to let him hurt me because I knew… I knew in my heart that he wouldn’t really.”
“You okay?” I ask softly, and she nods, still looking a little dazed, something we all feel by the looks of it.
“Look over here,” Ronan says, and we all turn to see him pointing at a puzzle box on the floor in the middle of the stone room. There isn’t anything else in here, no windows, no doors, just four stone walls, a gap in the ceiling, and a puzzle box on the ground.
We all walk over and see that the puzzle box has four sides, each with a coin, a heart, and a hand engraved on it. It’s on a podium that comes to our chests, making it perfect for us to work together.
“We work as a team here and we might actually win, got it?” Jonah asks and we all nod. “Right, let’s put the hearts in the slot first.”
With the heart still in my hand, I lift it up and at the same time as the others, I press it into the slot.
A sound rings out, almost like a distant drum.
Next, we press the coin into the gaps and another sound echoes.
“Ready everyone?” Sage asks, nodding to the symbol of the hand.
“Ready,” we say in unison, pressing our hands onto the box.
I scream along with the others as something sharp prickles against my skin, and then the top of the box pops open. Blue vines shoot out of the top and around us, wrapping tightly around our waists and slipping under our feet before making a sphere around our bodies. I try to remove my hand but it doesn’t work. I settle for holding the vine around my waist as we are all lifted into the air. Shadows spread over us next, like a vicious tidal wave, and then a burst of light blasts through the vines. They let us go at the same time as the box, and the sphere around us falls to the side, and suddenly we’re standing in the assembly hall. The headmaster is right in front of us, clapping loudly while the rest of the academy erupts into cheers.
“Well done and congratulations,” he says, mostly to Jonah. “You four are the winners of this year’s tryouts and will be going ahead to compete in level two in next year. This is fantastic, and your prizes are in the box.”
I peer into the box and see four little purple vials on a velvet cushion. I pick one up, and so do the others.
“This is the blood of the gods,” Greyhorn explains, taking the now empty box from us, “which is something very sacred in our world. Simply pour it on your skin and you will become stronger in the Dark Arts and excel in your studies, something much needed for year two at Shadowborn Academy. Do pour it now so we can all watch.”
With so many eyes pressed on us, it would be awkward to say no.
Jonah opens his vial first and pours it onto his wrist. Not wanting Jonah to think I’m a baby, I pour mine onto my wrist as well, and it stings as it seeps into my skin. Slowly but surely, a tattoo appears. It’s some kind of symbol, and I hear Pitch hum inside my mind, pleased with whatever it is. That’s a good sign, so I look over at the others and smile reassuringly.
Sage and Ronan do the same, and then the crowd explodes into even louder cheers. I find Zander and Gage clapping in the audience and I can’t help but grin at them. Somehow today I not only became a winner because of the tryouts, but my soul became lighter due to the tests.
I’ve found a way to be at peace, and that is the best prize of all.
Opening my room door, I stare at Jonah as he leans against the wall, his eyes fixed on mine with a smirk on his lips. After everything that has happened recently, including our victorious win last night, we’ve somehow managed to become friends. Or frenemies. Something along those lines.
“Come in,” I tell him, widening the door. “I actually didn’t expect you to turn up.”
“Well, we are celebrating, right?” Jonah drawls, stepping into our room and through the ward Ronan put up for us. Loud music blasts from the speakers one of the students found and our room is jam-packed with students. Usually I wouldn’t like being around so many people, but for some odd reason, I really like the chilled out party Sage and I are hosting. Sage is wrapped around her teacher as they dance together, and I’m sure they are five minutes away from needing a private room. Pitch is strangely quiet in my mind, as he has been since the tryouts, and I need to talk to him.
I think.
At some point my shadow and the reality of the real guys in my life is getting complicated.
“I still can’t believe we found the prize first,” I mutter, and Jonah shakes his head at me as he grabs a beer off the side. I sip on my vodka and coke as I smile at Ronan dancing with a girl from our class and how dorky he is as he nearly stands on her feet. As no one is sitting in the corner of the room near the window, I walk over and sit by the glass, watching the forest with a sort of ease. To my surprise, Jonah moves and sits right next to me, his thigh and arm pressed into mine.
It’s something I’d expect Zander to do, but Zander isn’t here tonight, or he didn’t want to come, as he never answered his door earlier. Considering I haven’t seen Gage, either, I assume they are still catching students off the beanstalk. I sip on my drink, enjoying the quiet even with Jonah looking at me.
“Do you want to ask me something?” I question, turning to face him, knowing he is looking at me without having to see.
“Nope,” he replies and we both grin at each other.
“So who was the shadowborn that brought you up?” I ask, wondering if I can find something out about Jonah while the tryouts clearly have him in a good mood.
“I haven’t told anyone about this, but fuck it, it’s Professor Greyhorn. He’s my uncle,” he tells me with a long groan as my mouth drops open. I nearly cough on my drink as I take in that new piece of information. “And I was only close to my cousin Gage because he isn’t a dick. Though he isn’t Greyhorn’s biological son, so that’s likely why.”
“Gage? As in the therapist?” I ask with wide eyes.
“Yeah, but don’t hold it against him. He is actually all right,” Jonah says, bumping my shoulder. I wonder if Jonah would still think the same if he knew I’d kissed his cousin.
“I guess,” I mutter, so totally in shock that I don’t know what to say. A million different questions flitter across my eyes as I suck in a breath and wonder which one to ask first.
“Why aren’t you close to your uncle?” I ask, because surely after he and his wife took them in, Jonah and his sister must have been thankful.
“After Gage’s mum died suddenly, my uncle was never the same. Gage’s mum was a light fae and amazing, and I’m not even joking when I say that. She truly was the nicest woman I’ve ever met,” he explains to me, and now it makes sense that Gage is so good looking. He is half-fae. “Uncle Greyhorn became obsessed with dark magic and finding a way to bring his wife back to life. One night, when he was drunk as fuck, my uncle told me he used to be a light fae but he was stripped of his magic and forced to be what he is now.”
Processing all that takes me a moment. “Is he still trying to find a way to bring his wife back?”
“Nah, my uncle stopped that shit years ago and dedicated his life to this school instead, which is for the best.”
“Right,” I mumble, looking at Jonah’s silver locks as they fall onto his forehead. How could someone like Jonah be related to professor Greyhorn? He is cruel, and I have a really bad feeling about him. I wonder if he is still trying to use dark magic to bring his wife back, and if he might be using the students that went missing somehow. There is something wrong with him, that’s for sure, and I’m going to find out.
“Come and dance with me, Vina,” he whispers to me, picking my hand up and linking our fingers. Somehow our hands just perfectly fit together.
“Now, why would we dance?” I ask him, looking up to see him staring right
back at me. For a second I forget what we were even talking about as I look into his pale blue eyes that remind me of the ocean, and possibly what I imagined it would look like to swim in it. “You don’t even like me, Jonah Vincent.”
“You’re always wrong, Corvina Charles.”
In seconds, his lips are on mine, and I freeze from the shock for a tiny moment before I kiss him back. And holy fae can Jonah kiss. His lips control my own in the best way, robbing me of any and all of my senses except for how Jonah feels. When he breaks away first, I’m in a bit of a daze as he kisses me softly one more time before he just leaves.
I have a feeling I’ve always been wrong about Jonah, but I’m never telling him that.
Reaching down, I gently touch Corvina’s midnight blue hair as she sleeps ever so soundly. Oh, how easy it would be to kill her now, to take her power and enjoy how it feels.
How my darkness feeds off it like a rare, never before tasted delicacy.
But not yet. She’s not ready. Almost. Not quite.
I lift myself away from her and turn to the girl snoring in the other bed in the room. Although she isn’t nearly as powerful as Corvina, she’s still exactly what I need. The girl doesn’t stand a chance as I place my hand over her mouth and let the shadows take us away.
Corvina Charles, come save your best friend.
Before I end her.
I wake up to something warm and wet licking my cheek. When I open my eyes, I find Echo sitting on my chest, his strange but adorable little face staring up at me.
“Echo? What the…” I straighten up and look around, searching for Zander, but I’m alone in my room.
It’s morning, the curtains are drawn, and I have a cute little demon in front of me.
“How did you get in here?” I ask him, scratching his head. “I mean, I’m happy to see you and all, little guy, but how?”
Echo looks up at me with his big bug eyes, then he just…vanishes, only to appear walking on the ceiling. He falls down and I reach out my arms to catch him, but he flaps his tiny wings. It’s officially the cutest thing I have ever seen.
“Sage, look at what Echo can do! So stinking cute.” I look over to my best friend, but I find her bed empty and unmade. “Sage?”
My heart freezes in my chest. “You would’ve sensed it and woken us up,” I counter. “Sage is probably in the bathroom.”
Carrying Echo in my arms, I tiptoe over to the bathroom. It’s empty, and when I try our room door, I find it unlocked. Sage always locks the door whenever she leaves, and she most certainly doesn’t go without making her bed. A horrible feeling cleaves through my stomach, chilling my insides. I check her wardrobe for her uniform. Sure enough, it’s still hanging inside, and this only worsens my unease.
Something is wrong.
“Did you see where Sage went?” I look down at Echo. “Is that why you were waking me up?”
He flaps his wings and I let him go flying over to my nightstand. His webbed feet land on the fae book I had been reading last night. After what I found out about Greyhorn and his love for all things necromancy, I wanted to see if there was anything spell-related inside. And I found exactly what I was looking for. In order to perform necromancy on a human, one must have unwittingly died and possess unimaginable power. It’s only through this can they tap into that level of dark magic.
I died unwittingly, and horribly, to boot.
I also taught Sage how to resurrect small things such as birds and insects.
We’re both powerful for our age.
I’m willing to stake my life on it that we are the only students at this academy who can perform any level of necromancy.
And who’s the one person I know that has been trying to resurrect a loved one himself?
The person who gave me that book.
Headmaster Greyhorn.
He’s the one who kidnapped her. He took all the other students, too, I bet, in order to drain their power. The day I saw Elizabeth leave his office, she’d been pale and weakened, and I just thought she was in shock. What if… what if Greyhorn was feeding on her power?
I’ve heard of powerful magics doing that.
Pitch said that long ago, the Dark Fae used to have magic slaves that they kept purely for their power. It’s been done before, by people like Greyhorn. Of course it’d be done again. I knew from the get-go there was something foul about him. Madness does that to people. We can spot monsters from a mile away because we, too, are monsters.
I pull on some clothes as quickly as possible, grab the book and Echo, and rush into the common area. I barely step outside into the corridor when a hand clamps on my mouth and pulls me into a dark corner.
“Shhh, it’s me,” Jonah hisses in a whisper. “Where are you going?”
Even in the shadows, I can see Jonah’s eyes, flashing like blue almost silver jewels.
“I’m going to find Sage. She’s been taken…” my voice cracks on the last word, and I wipe my eyes with my shoulder. Echo wriggles in my arms and I pet him soothingly.
“By who?” he demands, his breath hot on my cheeks. “It’s five in the morning.”
“I woke up, and she was gone. Her bed was a pigsty, and that’s so not like Sage. She always has this weird thing where she tucks her covers underneath her…mattress…what are you doing up at this time?”
Jonah lets me go and steps back. “I couldn’t sleep. You’re sure Sage is missing? Missing-missing?”
I nod, tears pricking my eyes. “Y-yes. And I think your uncle has taken her…taken them all.”
He’s silent for a long, painful moment, just staring deeply into my eyes.
At last, he holds out his hand and says, “I know where to go.”
Shuffling the book under my arm next to Echo, I take his hand and follow him downstairs to a familiar office. Jonah doesn’t bother knocking on Gage’s office door. He turns the handle and steps inside. I’m surprised to find Gage leaning against the mantlepiece, staring into the fire.
“Shadow raven, allow me to formally introduce you to my cousin, Gage.”
Rushing over to Gage, I set Echo down on the sofa and blurt out, “Gage, I need your help! I know this sounds crazy, but the headmaster is the one behind the abductions! And he’s taken Sage! I don’t know where, but I need your help to find her… I can’t imagine my life without Sage… I can’t! I won’t!”
Gage touches my arm, the pressure barely anything at all. “Calm down, Vina. You’re all right.”
“My friend isn’t,” I whisper, just managing to hold back a sob.
Pitch slips out from my body, and in shadow form, peers into Gage’s face.
I look up into Gage’s face, searching for an answer I don’t quite know the question to.
Until I find it burning in his gaze.
“You knew, didn’t you? You knew all along he was behind this?” I feel sick saying the words.
Gage gives a hesitant nod. “I suspected.”
Pitch’s anger shakes the ground, knocking a candle off the mantlepiece.
The noise makes me flinch as tears well in my eyes. “And you never said anything? To anyone?”
“I…I needed concrete evidence.”
Rage flares inside of me, and all I see is red.
Before I’m even aware of what I’m doing, I slap Gage on the face, my hand searing from the impact. And then I go to slap him again, but Gage grabs my wrist and yanks me close.
“Let her go,” Jonah warns, and I feel him standing close to me.
“Just shut up!” Gage snarls at him, his eyes never leaving my own. I can see something within them other than anger. Fear. Guilt. Regret. Shame. “Vina, I’ve been trying to solve this case for three years. I knew my father was up to something, but without hard evidence, the High Wardens would never h
ave believed me.”
“Tell that to all those innocent people he’s taken!”
He blinks at me as though I’ve just hit him again. Slowly, he lets go of my wrist, and I’m almost tempted to strike him for extra measure. I mean, he practically knew what his ‘father’, a/k/a our psychopathic headmaster, has been doing all along, but he never once said anything to me, o to anyone, for that matter.
“Forgive me, please, Vina? I’ll make this right. I swear to you.”
I move away from him, a sea of conflicted emotions swirling around like a whirlpool in my mind.
“Right now, I need to find Sage and the others. Where do you suspect he’s taken them?” I demand, keeping my voice harsh and without feeling. I’m not sure I can forgive him right now. I’m too fucking livid to think straight.
Gage looks between me and his cousin, and then sighs. “Over the past few weeks, he’s been going to the cave tunnels more than ever. I think he’s keeping the students down there. I’ve tried to get in myself, but I don’t possess the power to break down the barrier. Perhaps…” He trails off, glancing down at Echo, who’s trying to eat his foot. “Perhaps a Shadow Warden can help us.”
“Zander,” I say, nodding, and Pitch merges back into my body. “Let’s go.”
I turn on my heel without checking to see if they’re following me. Echo, of course, flies to my side and I hold him in my arms, using the back of his head to wipe the tears escaping from my eyes. Whatever Greyhorn has planned, I hope I reach Sage in time.
We find Zander in the common area, with Ronan and some others who are early risers. As soon as Zander sees me rushing over to him, he stands from the sofa. Echo lets out a strange squeal and flies over onto Zander’s shoulder.
“What’s wrong, my lady?”
“I need your help,” I say, pulling him out of earshot to explain everything that has happened.
