by Jody Morse
Paranormal Academy Book 1: Magic 101
Copyright © 2019 by Jody Morse and Jayme Morse
All rights reserved.
Paranormal Academy Book 1: Magic 101 is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents in this book are products of the authors’ imaginations or have been used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons or locations is coincidental and not intended by the authors.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Jody Morse and Jayme Morse.
https://www.facebook.com/Jayme-Morse-Jody-Morse-158320107584568/
For Ambur and Ondraia.
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
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
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 1
I was sitting in my History class when I saw the flash of fiery orange fur.
Its amber eyes locked on mine as it stood there, frozen in the doorway.
A shiver crept its way down my spine. Grandma had always warned me about the tiger. Even though she’d talked about it so many times over the years, I’d never thought it would approach me.
But there it was, standing in the doorway of my classroom. It was way larger in person than I had ever imagined it would be.
The tiger’s eyes didn’t move away from mine. For a moment, I forgot how to breathe. Nothing is more nerve-wracking than a tiger staring right at you.
It moved closer to me then, right past our teacher’s desk and the rows of other students.
I trembled a little. I knew the tiger wasn’t going to hurt me; that wasn’t what it had been sent here to do. But that didn’t make it any less intimidating. I mean, it was an actual freaking tiger and it was headed straight for me. I would have been crazy not to be a little afraid.
The worst part about it all was that I knew I was the only one who could see it. Because it wasn’t just any old tiger.
It was a messenger.
As the tiger approached me, it dropped a small envelope at my feet before disappearing into thin air, leaving behind a cloud of black smoke where it had been standing.
If it weren’t for that smoke and the envelope that remained, I probably would have wondered if the tiger had ever been real at all. But there was no way it had been a figment of my imagination. It had been here, in the flesh.
Bending over to pick up the envelope, I found that it had my name scrolled across it in swirly writing: Juliana Montgomery.
Holding my breath, I tore the envelope open and pulled out the neatly folded paper that was tucked inside.
Dear Juliana Montgomery,
You are invited to attend Paranormal Academy, the boarding school for paranormal and otherworldly beings. Your assigned escort will meet you at 52 Pine Street on October 5th. Please arrive promptly at 11 a.m. You needn’t worry about how to find your escort. He or she will know how to find you.
While you may choose not to attend Paranormal Academy, this isn’t recommended for your own well-being. Please remember that the training you receive at the Academy will help you learn how to use your powers. Without proper training, your powers could cause some serious damage in the human world.
We look forward to seeing you soon.
Sincerely,
Headmaster Crane
I read through the letter a second time and then frowned.
Powers? What powers? My grandmother had been a witch, which was why she had gotten the same invitation from the tiger and had attended Paranormal Academy, but I didn’t have any powers that I knew of. And trust me when I say I had tried to cast spells many, many times over the years. None of them had ever worked. Some of them had even resulted in complete and utter disaster, like the time I’d nearly burnt down the house when I was trying to perform a séance in order to communicate with Grandma.
Anyway, every single attempt I’d ever made at trying to find out if I did, in fact, possess some sort of magic had always turned out to be completely fruitless. That was why I was so surprised to even receive this invitation. It just made me wonder if it was all some sort of mistake.
I glanced at the date on the letter again. October 5th. That was tomorrow.
I had to be ready to leave my entire life behind to go off to a boarding school for “paranormal and otherworldly beings” in less than twenty-four hours? That wasn’t even to mention that there was a really good chance this was all some kind of error.
There wasn’t even a shred of doubt in my mind about whether or not I would go to Paranormal Academy. Of course I would go. This was the opportunity of a lifetime. Not only could I find out, for sure, if there was truly anything magical about me, but I also could visit the Academy, something Grandma had told me was… well, amazing. By being at the academy, I would be in her old stomping grounds. My grandmother and I had been incredibly close, and I felt like going to the academy would bring me closer to her, even though she was no longer with us. (Rest in peace, Grandma).
That also wasn’t to mention the great thing about all of this. If–and I knew it was all a very big ‘if’—this was all real, then I would finally be able to get out of my foster mom Karen’s house. I had also just started out at this school a few weeks ago, so I didn’t have any real friends here, to speak of. I guess that was the benefit to being a foster kid; you never got attached to anyone when you were constantly being bounced from school to school.
Was I supposed to pack anything? Not that I had very many belongings to pack, but I figured that I was going to need clothes and a toothbrush, at least.
I couldn’t even believe that all of this was happening so fast, let alone at all, but a big part of me couldn’t help but wonder one thing.
What if the reason I had never been able to cast a spell was because I wasn’t actually a witch at all? What if the reason I was being invited to Paranormal Academy was because I was actually some other paranormal being?
***
At eleven a.m. the following day, I stood outside a café that was located at 52 Pine Street. I eyed every person who walked past me, wondering if they could be my escort.
There was a woman who was wearing a black dress. She was carrying a witch’s broom and wore pumpkin-shaped, dangly earrings. Either she was an elementary school teacher who was way too ready for Halloween or she was my escort.
As the woman walked past me, I sighed. Apparently, it wasn’t her.
A few more people walked by, though they didn’t look out of place. They looked very ordinary. Very human.
At that moment I heard someone say, “Juliana Montgomery?”
I glanced over at the guy who was standing next to me and met his big, beautiful dark brown eyes. The breath caught in my throat.
With dirty blonde disheve
led hair, a five o’clock shadow, a strong jawline, muscular arms, and a height that left him towering above anyone else on the street, he was freaking hot. In fact, hot barely begun to describe him. He looked like he belonged in Hollywood, not in Pinebrook, Pennsylvania, that was for sure.
“I’m Juliana,” I managed to squeak out. How embarrassing.
“I’m Brett Summers. Your escort,” he informed me.
I had really thought my escort would be… well, creepy-looking. The last thing I had expected was for it to be this hot guy, who had to be, quite possibly, one of the hottest guys I had ever seen before. I felt ridiculously attracted to him—far more attracted than I had ever felt to any human.
“Are you ready to head to Paranormal Academy now?”
You can escort me anywhere you want, I thought to myself. But to him, I simply nodded. “Yes, I’m ready.”
“Okay, great. Follow me.” He led me down the street. Once we were near Pinebrook Park, he said, “We’re going to sit down on this bench. It’s a portal to the school.”
I just stared back at him skeptically. I had sat on this bench before and it had never taken me to Paranormal Academy.
“Ah, but that’s because you weren’t with an escort,” Brett replied. “Otherwise, you can only use portals to the school if you’re officially a student—which you aren’t just yet.”
As I sat down on the bench, I eyed him curiously. “Wait a second. You can hear my thoughts?”
“Yes, I can. It comes with what I am.”
“What are you?” I asked, trying to see if I could figure it out on my own. He didn’t look like a witch, and as far as I knew, that wasn’t one of a witch’s abilities. Whatever he was, he appeared to be really strong if those muscular shoulders and abs, which were visible through his shirt, were any indication. It was either that or he spends hours upon hours at the gym. Did Paranormal Academy even have a gym?
“Actually, there is a gym. I don’t spend any time in it, though. I’m a werewolf,” he replied as he sat down on the bench next to me.
A werewolf. That explained it.
“What am I?” Then I paused. “Do you even know the answer to that?”
“Even if I knew, I wouldn’t be allowed to tell you. That’s the Headmaster’s job,” he explained. Then he reached over and grabbed my hand.
His fingers felt fiery warm against my own cool skin. For some reason, I found myself liking his touch.
His eyes slid over to meet mine. I was pretty sure it must have been because he’d heard that though, too.
Luckily, he didn’t say anything about it. That would have been embarrassing, to say the least.
“Enter,” he said quietly.
I felt it then. It was a jolt, almost like the type of feeling you get when you’re at the top of a roller coaster and begin to drop down. It did all sorts of weird things to my stomach.
That was when everything went black.
Chapter 2
When I opened my eyes, I found myself lying on my back on the cold hard ground.
“Juliana? Are you alright?” Brett was kneeling beside me.
There was a genuine concern behind his dark brown eyes. It was almost as if he actually cared about me.
“I-I think so. What happened?”
“I’m not sure,” he replied, shaking his head. “I escort a lot of students here, and no one has ever passed out like this before.”
I wondered why I was different from all the others.
Sitting up, I looked around. I was lying next to a large outdoor fountain. “Where are we?”
“We’re in the courtyard,” he replied, standing up and extending a hand.
Once I was standing up, I glanced around. The fountain was at the very center of the courtyard. There were cobblestone paths surrounded by beautiful gardens with colorful flowers. The paths all seemed to lead to each of the six stone gray towers, which reminded me of a castle. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of feet between each of the six towers.
Even though it was all very beautiful, a strange feeling crept up on me. I wasn’t sure what it was, but something about the school felt sort of… well, eerie. As I looked around, however, I got the sense that most of the eeriness was coming from one of the towers, in particular.
It was the tower that was located at the far righthand corner of the courtyard. The tower was furthest away from all of the other towers. I wasn’t sure what it was, but that tower, in particular, gave me really bad vibes. And by bad vibes, I mean every hair on the back of my neck was standing on end.
When I glanced over at Brett, he was staring at me intently. “Are you ready, Juliana?”
“Ready for what?”
“To meet with Headmaster Crane,” he replied.
“Oh. Um, sure.”
“You seem nervous,” Brett noted.
“A little,” I admitted.
I wasn’t going to lie. Now that I was actually here at Paranormal Academy, the idea of learning the truth about what I was felt sort of intimidating. It was scary, even.
What if I turned out to be something I didn’t want to be? What if I was a vampire? The thought crossed my mind, and I wrinkled my nose. Don’t get me wrong. Vampire guys always looked hot as hell in the movies, but the idea of actually drinking blood as a means of survival was pretty repulsive.
I supposed it was possible that I was just a witch. After all, I knew, for a fact, that witches ran in my bloodline. But if I was, then I was obviously the worst witch of all-time if I couldn’t even perform a simple séance. Even basic magic had been lost on me.
More than anything, I wished that Grandma was here with me right now. This was all so much for me to take in.
“Don’t be nervous,” Brett said as he began to lead me across the courtyard. “Headmaster Crane is a really great guy. You’ll like him a lot.”
It wasn’t the headmaster that I was nervous about, but I didn’t tell him that. He didn’t need to know just how afraid I was to learn of my own identity.
Then again, he probably already knew, considering he could hear my thoughts.
“Brett? Where are all of the other students?” I asked him, noticing how empty the courtyard was. In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that he’d told me, I never would have even guessed that we were at an actual school with how quiet it seemed. It was sunny outside, so the courtyard should have been bustling with other kids.
“It’s dinner time right now,” he explained.
“But it’s only eleven a.m.,” I insisted.
“Ah, only in the human world. There’s a variation in time zones between the two realms. It’s six p.m. here, which is when students from all of the Houses meet in the Dining Hall.”
“Houses?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
Brett’s lips curved into a slight smile. “Headmaster Crane will explain everything to you, Juliana.” He paused as he opened the door to the tower at the very center of the courtyard. “We’re all really excited that you’re finally here. We’ve been waiting for you.”
“You have?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“Yeah. There’s something you don’t know about yourself yet,” Brett replied as he began to lead me down the hallway. “And that is that you, Juliana Montgomery, are extraordinary.”
“How do you know?” I questioned. No one had ever called me extraordinary before. In fact, I had always thought of myself as pretty… well, boring. I was plain. Average. Nothing special. But here he was telling me I was extraordinary when he didn’t even know me.
“You’re different. More different than you realize,” Brett replied.
I was going to question him further about how or why he thought I was so different, but that’s when he stopped in front of a door. I glanced up at the sign that hung above it. It read: Headmaster Crane.
Brett knocked on the door. A moment later, it was opened and a tall man, who appeared to be in his mid-forties, stared back at us. Something about the guy was strikingly attractive. With his short d
ark hair, pale blue eyes, and narrow frame, he reminded me a bit of McDreamy on Grey’s Anatomy.
“Headmaster Crane, allow me to introduce you to Juliana Montgomery,” Brett said.
The headmaster’s gaze fell on me. “Juliana Montgomery. What a pleasure it is to finally meet you. Please come into my office.”
I noted his choice in wording. He had said it was nice to finally meet me. I might have only been imagining it, but his words made it seem like he had been looking forward to meeting me for quite some time now.
“Thank you, Brett. I’ll take it from here,” Headmaster Crane said dismissively.
“I’ll see you around, Juliana,” Brett told me.
“Yeah, see you,” I replied with a little wave before I stepped into the headmaster’s office.
“Please. Have a seat.” Headmaster Crane motioned to the chair across from his desk.
Sitting down, I glanced around his office. It looked completely… normal. It looked like it could have belonged to any headmaster at a boarding school. Nothing about it screamed boarding school for paranormal and otherworldly beings.
He stared at me for a long, hard moment before finally saying, “You’re probably wondering why you’re here.”
“Well, sort of,” I admitted. “It was all just very… unexpected.”
He looked surprised by my answer. “Really? It never crossed your mind that you would be invited to attend the Academy?”
I shook my head. “Not in many years. I don’t think there’s anything paranormal about me.”
“Well, that’s incorrect. The reason you’re here is because it has been determined that you are, in fact, a paranormal being,” he explained. “How well did you know your grandmother, Emily Montgomery?”
“Well enough to know she was a witch,” I replied. “And that she received her education here.”
“So, you are aware then that you come from a very strong and powerful line of witches.”
“Actually, I didn’t know they were strong or powerful.” For some reason, Grandma had chosen to leave that part out. Now I couldn’t help but wonder why she hadn’t told me.
“Oh, they were,” the headmaster replied with a nod. “Emily and her mother both possessed an incredible amount of power.”
