ENCHANTED ACADEMY WAS probably the prettiest place Hook had ever seen. She’d grown up on the ocean with parents who traveled just about everywhere. They’d purchased a vessel when she was just a kid, and they’d gone traveling. The entire world had been their playground, and they’d journeyed to many different cities and even different countries. She’d seen just about everything, but she’d never seen a place like this.
The castle where her classes were held was big: stretching practically to the heavens. At least, it felt that way. She’d never admit it, but sometimes when she looked up at the school’s building, Hook felt a little breathless. It was wildly magical in all the right ways, and she just loved that so very much.
The gardens that surrounded the castle were well-maintained. There were walking paths that led all around the castle and into the surrounding woods. There were several outbuildings: dormitories, greenhouses, and even a couple of art studios.
Anything you wanted to do or study, you could accomplish at Enchanted Academy.
It was a fairytale sort of place, but Hook didn’t feel like a fairytale sort of girl.
Not anymore.
Sometimes she wondered if she’d ever felt that way because now...well, now things felt sort of empty to her.
“Hey,” she heard a familiar voice and groaned inwardly. Jessica was a really nice girl, but sometimes Hook didn’t need nice. Sometimes she just needed solitude and alone time.
“Hey,” she said back, but didn’t turn. She was standing in the gardens in front of Enchanted Academy and looking up at the front doors. “What are you doing here?”
It was unusual that students would wander around to the front. Everyone moved between the school and the dormitories using side doorways and entrances. Almost nobody came out here, which was why Hook liked it. Here she could be alone, at least for a little while, and she could just chill.
Sometimes she needed to decompress more than other people did and these gardens were the place where she could do it.
“What are you doing out here?” Jessica asked.
“Nothing.”
“Do you come here a lot? It’s pretty.”
“Sometimes.”
“Do you have a class? Is that why you’re over here? Do they hold classes out front?”
Hook felt her soul begin to die a little bit from the sheer number of questions Jessica was tossing her way. It was awful. How could anyone think with so many questions being thrown their way? She didn’t want to be a bitch, but at some point, enough was enough.
“No.”
“No class? Or they don’t have classes out here?”
Hook sighed and turned. Jessica grinned.
“Got your attention, did I?”
“Jessica, what do you want?”
“I found something,” she said. “And I want you to see it.”
Hook felt slightly curious. She didn’t feel all the way curious and she didn’t feel all the way excited, but she was curious enough.
“What is it?”
“You have to come and look.”
“I at least get a clue.”
“Okay,” Jessica said. She tapped her chin and thought carefully for a moment. It was all a bit dramatic, in Hook’s opinion. “It’s something you’ll find interesting.”
“That’s a terrible clue.”
Jessica shrugged and sat down on one of the hedges.
“Fine,” she said. “You don’t have to come and see.”
Hook stared at her. Jessica was human. She was totally, entirely human. She was one of the only human kids who attended Enchanted Academy, if not the only human. Her magical abilities were...wanting. She could do a few small spells, but nothing much. She struggled constantly, but her sheer determination always meant she could pass her classes and pull through. Even when it came time for projects, Jessica always managed to pass.
Hook didn’t really understand it.
School was difficult for her, and she was magical. She’d grown up with a witch and wizard as parents and she’d inherited their magical abilities. The energy balls she created might not seem like much to some people, but to her, they were everything. She could use them to pick locks and break into places. She could use them for warmth in the winter and cooling in the summer. She’d even used her lights in order to see in the darkness.
And now she didn’t have them.
“Yeah, sure,” she shook her head, wanting to stop thinking about everything that had gone wrong in her life. “Let’s go,” she said. “Whatever.”
Jessica jumped up.
“Really?” She practically shrieked.
“Yeah.”
Jessica grabbed Hook’s hand and hauled her away from the gardens. They hurried past the little hedges, past a beautifully sculpted bush, and even past rows and rows of flowers. They hurried up the front steps of the school and then pulled the doors open. It was mid-afternoon, so there weren’t many students hanging out. There were a few afternoon clubs, but not many. Almost everyone wanted to use their afternoons to study or spend time with friends.
“Where are we going?” Hook asked.
Jessica shook her head and kept going. Her hand gripped Hook’s tightly as she tugged her down one hallway and then another.
Finally, Hook stopped.
“Okay, what’s going on?” She said. “I know you didn’t kidnap me just to bring me back to school. I mean, do you need help with your homework or something?”
“Do you remember when we were looking for Peter Pan?”
How could Hook forget? Pan had been kidnapped by a dark fairy: Allison Gator. He’d been kidnapped by Hook’s own arch-nemesis. She hadn’t wanted to ever see Allison again, but she had. Sometimes Hook felt sick just thinking about it.
Somehow, Allison had wormed her way into Enchanted Academy and she’d managed to fight her way into the group of students there. She’d done it without anyone managing to notice who she was or where she was or what she was.
She’d been sneaky, and that had perhaps been the scariest part for Hook.
Dark fairies were known for being vicious creatures. They were able to use a special magical power called glamour. It meant they could change into another object for a short period of time. Generally, they took on the appearance of another person. In order to kidnap Peter, Allison had taken on the appearance of Hook. Later, she’d taken on Peter’s appearance.
Knowing that Allison had impersonated her made Hook feel violated and wretched. She hated knowing that someone she didn’t even like had pretended to be her in order to get ahead. It was a horrible thing and Allison was a horrible person.
“Yes.”
She remembered.
She would never forget.
“Well,” Jessica continued. She seemed completely unaware of Hook’s internal trauma or the battle she was fighting just to keep walking down this damn hallway. She wanted to go back to her bedroom and curl up with a book or a cup of tea or just...anything. She just did not want to be here. “Remember that painting we saw?”
“The creepy one?”
“That’s the one.”
“We thought maybe it was haunted or possessed by a ghost.”
“Exactly,” Jessica said. “That was before we realized that Peter Pan had been taken by a dark fairy: no ghosts involved.”
“What about the painting?”
“Well, I was curious about it. It’s not every day that artwork just appears at Enchanted Academy.”
“There’s plenty of artwork on campus.”
“But it’s all carefully cultivated,” Jessica waved her hand, as though that explained it.
“Helena Hex chooses most of it,” Hook agreed. “Sometimes the students create things, as well. What does this have to do with the painting?”
“I asked Helena about it and she didn’t know where it had come from,” Jessica said.
Hook stopped walking.
“What?”
“That’s right. I asked Helena who had created the painting
and she said she wasn’t sure.”
“So, I mean, what are you saying, Jessica? Do you think it’s haunted again?”
“I’m not going to go that far, but I did notice something weird this morning when I was walking by.”
“What did you notice?”
“Okay,” Jessica paused around the corner from the painting. “When we get over there, don’t talk? Okay? Just play it cool because...well, you’ll see.”
Hook suddenly felt nervous. Did it just get colder in the school? Or was that just her imagination? What was happening that made her feel so wildly uncomfortable?
Surely whatever Jessica had discovered wasn’t that bad.
Only when they stepped around the hallway and Hook saw the painting, she had to fight to bite back a gasp. Jessica kept her face totally neutral as they marched past it and made their way out the side exit and into a nearby garden.
“Well?” Jessica said excitedly. “Did you see it?”
“I saw it,” Hook gulped.
She wished she hadn’t.
She wished she hadn’t noticed.
She wished...
She wished this wasn’t happening.
“Well?” Jessica asked. “What do we do now?”
Chapter 2
“Enchanted Academy is hosting a ball,” the Headmistress announced. The entire auditorium went wild, cheering and yelling over something that, just a few minutes ago, hadn’t even existed or been common knowledge.
Tinkerbell leaned over and nudged me.
“Hey,” she said. “That’s great news, right?”
“Yeah,” I said, swallowing hard. “Great news.”
What the hell did I know about attending a magical ball? I understood that it was a winter celebration, but I didn’t really want to go to something like that. I looked to my other side where my boyfriend, Beast, was listening to what Helena Hex was saying.
She’d been the headmistress of Enchanted Academy for about a million years. She was good at what she did, too. She’d bailed us all out of many different unfortunate situations and I had a feeling that no matter what went tragically wrong with the ball – and it would be something – that she’d manage to save the day.
She always saved the day.
It was a superpower.
Helena stood in front of the auditorium. All of the students were present. We were all so excited to have an excuse not to attend classes for a morning. Who cared if it was to attend a presentation instead? I didn’t really like sitting through speeches, but it was nice to have a change of pace, and apparently, there was going to be a huge ball.
“It’ll be more like a gala,” Tinkerbell said.
“What?”
“Yeah, it’ll be huge,” she continued. “The one last year was insane. It was so cool. I can’t wait for you to see this one.”
Tinkerbell leaned back in her seat, satisfied. She was so easy to please sometimes. On days like today, it made me so happy to see a smile on her face. Things hadn’t always been easy for her. In fact, she almost lost the guy she loves more than anything else. Peter Pan was sitting next to her during the assembly and they were holding hands.
Now that they were both back safe, they were almost never apart.
It was kind of cute, honestly.
It was kind of wonderful.
“The ball will take place in two weeks,” Helena continued. “That should give everyone plenty of time to find the perfect gowns and robes to wear,” she chuckled, as though she was sharing some sort of inside joke with everyone.
Wait.
Gowns?
I’d have to wear a gown?
I swallowed hard. I wasn’t exactly a tomboy, but I didn’t really have any dresses, either. Not aside from my uniforms, anyway. Before I’d come to Enchanted Academy, I was just a normal foster kid trying to live my best life.
I didn’t have the money for something like a gown.
Beast didn’t seem to notice my sudden internal turmoil, nor did Tinkerbell. Everyone in the auditorium, including my friends, were chatting excitedly and talking about this incredible ball.
Shit.
I just felt nervous.
“There will be student presentations,” she said. “If you have a special talent and you’d like to perform at the ball, you’re more than welcome to.”
Well, that could be kind of fun. Some of the students were really talented. Not me, of course, but some of the other kids.
“You may sign up by visiting the teachers’ offices before the ball and let us know what your special talent is and how you’d like to share it with us.”
Helena continued talking about the ball for a few more minutes, but I kind of tuned out because I was still focused on that dress thing. How was I going to get a dress? And how was I going to be able to wear it to the ball? I didn’t know anything about wearing fancy gowns. Weren’t there rules and stuff for how you had to walk and sit and twirl?
Crap.
Suddenly, it all seemed like a lot to bear, and I felt wildly nervous about the entire thing. Helena kept talking though. She gave more information on where the ball would be held on campus and she reminded everyone that proper behavior was both expected and required.
No problem.
“Don’t want to get detention again,” Beast muttered.
“No kidding.”
“Last time was unbearable.”
“I know! You were stuck in that room for way too long.”
At Enchanted Academy, magical detentions were, well, magical. You could serve your sentence in a number of different places, but magical enchantments ensured you’d be locked in the detention room until your time was up. It sucked. It was lonely and boring and endlessly dull.
Helena Hex finished speaking and reminded everyone that just because the school was having a ball didn’t mean we could just mess around and not study.
Fair enough.
The announcements ended and a few of the kids who played sports came out and gave a talk on how there were openings for a few of the teams for the spring semester. I looked over at Beast. He was grinning as he watched his fellow teammates talking about their games.
I still didn’t really understand all of the different sporting teams. There was a sort of magical soccer game where the ball would be enchanted and then fly around. The people were still on foot, though, and would just have to chase it around and try to hit it with their feet. It was just like regular soccer except that the ball had a mind of its own.
Then there was magical basketball. The hoops were the things that moved in that game. Again, there were enchantments done to ensure that the hoops would move properly and flit about. The fact that they moved gave everyone a good chance to get in some great exercise. At least, that was my opinion. I didn’t really understand why anyone would want to chase around moving basketball hoops. My knees hurt just thinking about it.
Then again, I guess that was why Enchanted Academy had such a great medical team on staff. There were always people around to help. They wanted to make sure that the students had a good experience and that they stayed safe.
In my opinion, those medical witches had their work cut out for them.
When the jocks were done, a team of cheerleading witches came out. They had learned a dance routine involving actual magical brooms. The girls could ride on the brooms around the auditorium and in fact, one girl even stood up on hers!
“What the hell?” I muttered.
“Pretty cool, right?” Tinkerbell was excited. She clapped her hands together excitedly. I’d never seen anything like it before, and I guessed she hadn’t, either. Her wings were out, as they often were these days, and glittery fairy dust fell from them each time she clapped her hands.
Peter looked over at her and smiled, and that made my heart happy. I liked that they were so in love. It took a lot to find someone you could call your own. After everything I’d gone through falling in love with Beast, I totally understood why some people were so scared of love. It c
ould be a scary thing. It could be intimidating and worrisome, but it was also nice having someone on your side all of the time.
“Come on,” Beast said, standing up. He reached for my hand and pulled me to my feet. “Let’s go get some lunch.”
My stomach grumbled, as if suddenly realizing that I hadn’t eaten anything yet that day.
“Yes,” I said. I glanced over and saw Hook waiting at the end of the row of seats. She looked over at me anxiously and motioned for me to come over. “But I have to do something first.”
Beast followed my gaze to see what had grabbed y attention.
“Hook?” He asked. “What are you and Hook going to do?”
“We have to, uh, talk to Headmistress Hex about something.”
About what we’d seen in the painting.
Neither one of us particularly wanted to go talk to her. I definitely didn’t, especially on a day like today where we were supposed to have having fun and celebrating and enjoying ourselves. Nope. I’d much rather be out exploring the woods or hanging out in the gardens or even studying for my final exams for the semester.
Instead, Hook and I had to deal with a ghost problem and neither one of us wanted to do it.
“About what?” Beast asked.
“Girl stuff,” I said.
It wasn’t a lie.
Not exactly anyway.
His eyes narrowed like he didn’t believe me.
He sniffed in a loud, exaggerated way, and then he raised his eyebrows.
“What?”
“You smell like you’re lying.”
“What? No, I don’t!”
“You do.”
Beast nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. All around us, people were leaving. They were pouring out of the auditorium. Hook was waiting impatiently. We needed to hurry or we wouldn’t be able to catch Helena Hex, which we desperately needed to do. How else were we going to figure out how much of a threat this thing actually was?
Were we in danger?
She was the only one who would know.
I gulped. I didn’t think Beast could actually smell if I was lying. That seemed extreme even for a shifter like him, but I wasn’t sure. I knew that I should probably try to play it safe, at least a little, so I sighed.
Enchanted Academy Box Set Page 30
