by Alicia Fabel
Hall of Psychics
Legend Academy - Book 1
Alicia Fabel
Alicia Fabel
Hall of Psychics
Legend Academy Series
Copyright © 2019 by Alicia Fabel
All rights reserved.
First Published in 2019
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
This is a work of fiction. All characters are fictitious, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
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For all the weirdos. I’m a weirdo too!
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
By Alicia Fabel
Acknowledgments
Author Notes
Siphon Magic
1
Plummeting three-stories took a lot longer than Annessa would have imagined. She had time to spare after thinking, I’m going to die. Everything seemed to slow except her thoughts. It was funny. After all those years, her mom was right. Standing on that windowsill to watch the waves crashing onto the shore would not end well. If impaling herself on the for-sale sign below could be considered not well. Annessa’s earbuds popped free. The feather duster flew from her hand while she clawed at the air. As if that would make any difference. Her job had just officially hit a whole new level of sucktastic.
The realtor, who’d startled Annessa and sent her free falling, peered down from the window. Her mouth stretched into a horrified O. And then the woman backed out of view. Annessa couldn’t blame her. Seeing someone splatter across a concrete patio wasn’t on her to-do list either. Only she still hadn’t hit cement. It was as if the world had actually slowed. Even the seagulls appeared stuck in mid-air. Annessa tipped her head. One of the flying rats had swooped into the water. Its back legs stuck out as if it had dive-bombed into a sea of gelatin.
Annessa blinked. Elion was suddenly there, looking up at her. Not the real Elion. Just some pre-death hallucination. Besides the fact Elion was gone for good, this rendition looked maybe fourteen years old. The real Elion didn’t have those soft cheeks anymore. Which meant she was out of her mind. Or she was already dead.
Elion’s brow pinched over eyes so dark, looking into them was like peering into an abyss. He always made that face when he was worried. Even in the shadow of his hoody, Annessa could tell that the blood had drained from his usual warm complexion.
Dang it, she was dead.
Like a rubber band snapping, everything flung back into motion. The roar of waves resumed, along with Annessa’s fall. But Hallucination-Elion was there to catch her. Man, his arms were disconcertingly solid. Samara’s face popped into view behind Elion. Messy black waves of hair fell haphazardly over one haunted green eye. Annessa hadn’t seen Sam since she and Elion had driven away. Together. That could only mean one thing: Annessa was in hell.
“Nessa?” Sam squeezed Annessa’s arm while Elion set her down. She seemed to release a pent-up breath.
Elion stepped backward to let Sam take his place. He tugged his hood up to shade his face when he caught Annessa staring.
Sam twirled a lock of her ebony hair with one finger. “Hi,” she said lamely with a strained half-smile.
“This isn’t real,” Annessa murmured. Except it was real. It just made zero sense.
Sam inspected Annessa’s face. “Did you hit your head?” She poked at an old bruise on Annessa’s cheek.
Annessa pulled back. “Oww.”
“Basketball?” Sam guessed. “I hope you called a foul.”
Annessa peered at Elion. “How?”
Sam followed Annessa’s gaze. Her mouth opened and then shut. If the girl kept it up with her hair, she was going to have a bald patch soon. Actually, Annessa wouldn’t mind seeing that.
Elion cleared his throat. “How what?”
Wonderful, he was playing dumb already. But Annessa wouldn’t pretend she didn’t notice how he stood eye level with her. Not when he’d been half a head taller than her for the past five years. “How are you doing a Benjamin Button impersonation, Elion?”
He managed the perfect impression of a confused guy, shoulders hitching in a careless shrug. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Sam winced. That girl couldn’t lie worth jack. Which was funny since her boyfriend was the king of lies.
Before Annessa could unload her colorful opinion of Elion, one of his school buddies broke away from the shadows. Of course. The Academy crowd always traveled in packs. Every spring, the Marks family—Elion’s Family—descended on the beach house with a crew of people. Until this year, when they’d put the place up for sale instead. But Annessa should have known that if Elion was there, Axton was too. She just hadn’t seen him. The cool tones of Axton’s dark skin blended with the shadows—a fact he seemed to enjoy taking advantage of. But if Annessa was honest, she always thought there was more to it than that. No one who was built like Axton should be capable of hiding so well. It was as if the shadows actually gathered more thickly around him sometimes. And yes, she was aware that sounded insane, but hanging around the Academy crowd had a way of making a person question the supposed laws of reality.
Axton shouted suddenly, and the world went tipsy again. Annessa’s shadow jerked and then stretched, reaching for the shade of the beach house.
“Ax, catch it,” Elion called.
“Working on it.” Axton’s shadow detached and flew across the ground toward Annessa.
The two patches of darkness collided, coiling around each other. Annessa tried to jump away, but her shadow went with her. As it should. Axton’s fell away.
“Don’t move, Nessa,” Sam called. “It’ll get away.”
“Get away?” Annessa inched back even though it just stuck with her. “It’s my shadow.”
“It’s not yours,” corrected Axton, running a hand over his dark short-cropped hair. “It’s a wisp.”
“If it escapes, we’ll all be in trouble,” Elion added.
Annessa stilled, which was no easy thing. She had no idea what a wisp was, but it was apparently attached to her like a leech. “What the heck is a wisp? And can you get it off of me?”
“It’s a shadow that belongs to someone like me,” Axton explained, except it didn’t explain anything as far as Annessa was concerned. “And yes, I can.” He swung his backpack around and started digging for something. “It must’ve been with you for a while, or it would’ve let go already.”
“That’s comforting,” she said dryly. “What does that mean?”
“That means it’s trapped with you unless it can find another shadow to grab onto.�
��
“You said you could get it off of me.” Annessa’s voice rose with alarm.
“I can.” Axton rooted deeper into his bag.
Annessa eyed the wide-open beach over her shoulder. No shadows. Maybe she should head that direction.
As if reading her mind, Elion said, “Every little dune and divot has a shadow. Just stay right where you are.”
“Okay.” Still, no one moved to take care of her shadow leech. “You know, eventually it’s going to get dark, and there will be a butt-load of shadows for this thing to grab onto.”
The corners of Axton’s full lips tilted up, his deep brown eyes sparkling with humor. “Define a butt-load.”
Annessa was not amused. “I swear, Axton, I am two seconds from losing it here.”
“Found it.” Axton waved a small glass cube in the air, pinched between two fingers.
The shadow leech shot out tendrils in every direction. “Um, guys?”
“It’s going to jump,” Elion warned.
Axton swore and then flicked a finger at Elion and Sam. “Sorry guys, I need to borrow these.” Their shadows detached and moved into position around Annessa. The leech contracted back under her as if it sensed a threat. “This is going to feel strange, Annessa, just hang in there, okay?” Axton closed his hand around the cube. The ring of shadows converged on the leech.
Axton wasn’t wrong. It felt like worms being dragged through her body and out the bottoms of her feet. The uncomfortable tickling sensation across her stomach, hips, and down the backs of her legs turned to fire, as those worms seemed to grow claws. Annessa whimpered, but the shadows didn’t stop their assault. Elion held her gaze until Sam swayed. Then he turned his attention to Annessa’s ex-best friend. Suddenly, the slicing pain didn’t seem so bad after all.
When the shadows pulled back as one, they were a roiling mass. The leech was with them. Annessa’s legs might as well be pillars of sand. Axton made a motion with his hand, and a piece of shadow broke free. It slipped across the ground to puddle around Sam. As soon as it did, Sam’s shoulders dropped with obvious relief.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Sam argued. “I was fine.”
“I know.” Axton went to his knees and placed his closed fist against the sand. “I didn’t need it anymore.”
The blob of darkness moved toward him in stuttered jerks. Annessa didn’t figure the leech was happy to be dragged that direction. Her head throbbed, and her mouth went dry as she internalized how that thing had been latched on to her. Looking down didn’t help matters. There was nothing there. The sun tilted toward the horizon, warming the crown of her head, but she did not have a shadow.
Axton made a distressed sound. The darkness splintered. A strip of shadow curved around, making a barrier between her and the part that fought to hold on to the leech. The thing was still closer to her than Axton.
Elion shifted, but Axton shook his head tightly. “It’ll grab on to you, and that’s the last thing we need.”
Annessa frowned. “Worse than having it attached to me?”
“Yes,” Axton answered at the same time Elion said, “No.” A strange undercurrent passed between the two friends. Elion’s jaw tensed. He was lying, and they all seemed to know it. But no one called him on it.
Axton turned back to the shadow battle, screwed up his face, and growled, “Come on.”
The leech kept slipping free, though, and Elion had made himself the closest target. Gee, wouldn’t that be a shame? But dang it, Annessa had a feeling it would be. So she compelled her heavy legs to move. Just as the nasty thing freed itself, she stomped a foot down on top of it. The same way she’d caught her receipt the other day when the wind sent it skittering across the drive. Annessa stared at the leech. She had no idea what to do. Or why she’d done something so monumentally stupid. What she did know is that she wanted to throttle Elion even more than before.
Elion met her glare, surprise clear on his face. But it didn’t last. Those fathomless eyes hardened, and his jaw clenched. Annessa frowned. He was angry? At her? Well, screw him very much.
Axton whistled, calling Sam’s shadow back into the fray, and when they ripped the leech away from Annessa for the second time, it was with a new level of mercilessness. Axton’s chest rose and fell heavily when the darkness delivered the leech into his hand. Once their task was complete, the shadows returned to their designated people and seemed to return to normal—all except Axton’s. His moved around him like an agitated puppy. Annessa’s eyes widened when Axton caressed it. It looked like he was reassuring his shadow. Then he gave a tiny nod, and the darkness slid across the patio to Annessa. She let out a distressed cry and skipped backward, but the shadow followed.
“It’s okay,” Axton called to her. “He’s a good wisp.”
“A good wisp?” Annessa’s heart stuttered. It looked like a shadow should—a distorted outline of her—until the head cocked on its own like it was studying her back.
“Well, mostly.” Axton straightened from his crouch.
The shadow whipped its head around and put hands on its hips. Axton grinned at the thing’s indignation. Sam edged closer to her. Annessa hoped the girl didn’t try to touch her because there was no way she could stomach that. Elion hung back.
“If a wisp is your shadow, what’s that make you?” Annessa asked Axton.
“A shadowbender.” Axton answered.
“So all three of you can…” Annessa indicated the possessed shadow beneath her.
“No, I’m the only bender here,” Axton replied.
That made sense. They must all have different abilities.
“What exactly is it that you can do?” she asked Elion. She already knew Sam talked to ghosts. But she never could figure out what Elion’s brand of weird was. No doubt about it, though, he was far from normal.
Elion’s brow pulled down and then he sucked in a breath, already shaking his head in denial. Yeah, he was about to feed her a load of BS.
Annessa cut him off before he could lie to her and asked Axton, “Are there lots of shadowbenders?”
“Quite a few of us,” Axton confirmed, holding up the wisp-cube inside one fist. “Some not so nice as me.”
“What are you going to do with it?” Annessa asked.
“That’s a good question.” Axton looked toward Elion.
“We may need it,” Elion answered.
“For?” Annessa couldn’t imagine what for.
“To trade for your shadow,” Elion answered.
“I can’t just get a new one?”
“Nope,” Axton replied. “You only get one shadow, so we need to get yours back.”
“Why would someone take my shadow?” Forget how. Annessa was well versed in the unexplainable, thanks to her time exposed to the Academy bunch every spring. Plus, experience told her that Elion would never explain how, even if she asked.
Elion shrugged and tugged his hood forward to shade the thick black hair, which fell across his forehead.
Apparently, he wouldn’t share the why either.
“You sure it’s a good idea to keep it?” Axton asked, doubt showing in his solemn earthy eyes. “It’s powerful—like really powerful.”
“You shouldn’t have dismissed my shadow so quickly,” Sam scolded. “It was a dumb move.”
“I underestimated it.” Axton glanced at Elion and tensed. “Lesson learned.”
A car peeling out of the driveway caught everyone’s attention.
“Is that the realtor?” Annessa’s mouth sagged. The lady’s going to leave without calling for help? Then again, maybe she’d seen what had happened after Annessa’s interrupted fall. In that case, running away was understandable.
“What should we do about that?” Axton asked.
Elion shook his head. “They’re sending a team. They’ll take care of it.”
There was more going on than Annessa understood, but her first concern was her missing shadow. “How long will it take to get my shadow back?”
When no one else answered immediately, Sam said, “Could be days, could be months.”
“Pretty sure someone’s going to notice,” Annessa informed them. “It’s fairly sunny here.”
“My wisp will stay with you,” Axton volunteered.
“You don’t have to do that.” Annessa eyed the shadow. “Really.”
“Actually, I do.” Axton looked up pointedly at the window she’d fallen from. “Unless you like the idea of dying?”
“That was an accident,” she protested, catching his drift.
“Happy to hear it.” Axton slipped the wisp-cube into his pocket. “To stay alive, you need a shadow. Obviously, your own is best, but a willing wisp will do in a pinch.”
“Without a shadow, people die,” Sam translated.
“Like a fish out of water,” Axton confirmed. “Unless you’re a bender. Then it’s just mildly unpleasant, like an itch you can’t scratch.”
Well then. It looked like Annessa was taking home a wisp. “So why are you guys here? One last hurrah before the beach house sells?”
Sam shook her head. “We’re here to—”
“Make sure we didn’t leave anything important in the house,” finished Elion in a rush.
Sam shifted closer to him, avoiding eye contact with Annessa. More lies.
And that was the final straw. Annessa was done with the secretive society and all the heartache they’d brought her. She fished her key to the beach house out of her pocket. “Here. I quit. Everything is polished and ready for the open house tomorrow, anyway. Just shut the windows and lock the doors before you leave.”
