Spearwood Academy Volume Four (The Spearwood Academy Book 4)

by A. S. Oren

  I frown. “Michael Perlow?” flashes of him turning into a black card come to the front of my mind. I saw it happen just before Roseman did the shotty mind warp on me.

  Igraine nods.

  “But he’s a P.A. I don’t understand.”

  “What?” several of the guys asks. Dante looks at me. His lip has swelled more. “What are you talking about?”

  “I saw him change into a black card, and he was able to control the computer system through the walls. I saw it all just before Roseman tried to do the mind warp on me.”

  Igraine nods again. “He’s been a P.A. since just before Aibek was imprisoned. He died at the hands of Aibek, and the families had him modified into a P.A., wanting his memories still and the ability to control him. We didn’t know Roseman was a traitor until you all came to our house.”

  “Are you saying all P.A.’s were once humans at one point?” Horace asks.

  “Yes, or something else. The families get them from all species. Then they’re given to Spearwood and other schools as slaves. We’ve been trying to shut it down for years, but nothing we’ve done has changed anything.”

  “How are they able to change their appearance then, if they’re using the body of someone real?” Horace presses.

  “Advanced holographic technology. It’ll make them look however, but underneath they’re still the person they were before they died and were rebooted as a P.A.”

  What a sick thing to do. “If he was being controlled, how was he able to manipulate which group I was put into? I saw Roseman control him.”

  Elex smiles. “Mich was always one step ahead of the game. He had a device installed in his brain while he was still alive. It allows him to override all commands. When he follows them, it’s his choice, to make Roseman believe that he has control. We doubted Roseman would know the group he was putting you into were all members of the Vox, since he was not a chosen one himself. One thing we didn’t count on was the boy being a mole for him. We didn’t know that a child like him would know the magic needed to release Aibek, let alone have the power to harness it.”

  “You mean Triton, don’t you?” Amr says.

  “Yes.”

  “He’s not a traitor!” Horace snaps.

  “After everything he did today, how can you say that?” Amr asks. “You have to remember what he did, letting Aibek out and fighting us, or did you forget who broke your glasses?”

  “He’s not a traitor. Didn’t you see how he looked at that guy when he touched him? I know he’s not a traitor. He doesn’t have it in him. I grew up with him.”

  “We will know the truth when we see him again, if we see him again,” I say, trying to stop the fight before it can escalate any more than it already has. I need to know more about Aibek and how my father had children with twin sisters.

  “How did you have children with twin sisters? Were you three in a polyamorous relationship or something?”

  Igraine sighs. “No. That’s such a long story.”

  Amr folds his arms across his chest. “I think we deserve to know at least some of it. Our half-brother wants world domination and our hearts in his hands.”

  Igraine looks at Elex. He gives a nod and puts his hand on her lower back. “The best way for me to tell you is to just show you. This is only part of the story, otherwise we’d all be here for days, trust me. Angels are born from light. Twins are rare, but they can happen. However, there’s a story that says that one of the twins is the shadow of the other, and thus only made of darkness.”

  Igraine waves her hand. Just like with my memories resurfacing, I see the scene before me as if I’m sitting in a theater watching it. Only this time, the guys are seeing it, too.

  Two girls, about my age, sit on a large king-sized bed. Both wear plain blue pajamas. They look identical in the face, but the one on the left has white hair compared to the other’s black. The one with the black hair must be Igraine and the white her sister; Aibek looks a lot like her. Unlike Amr and me, I think we look more like Elex.

  They’re smiling while facing each other cross-legged. “You can’t be saying what I think you’re saying. Angels can’t love any other species, you know that. We can’t fall in love with anything mortal, or we’ll become mortal ourselves,” Igraine whispers.

  “We’ve been on this plain since we were children, and Elex took us in. Don’t you think if we were immortal still, we wouldn’t have aged a day. It’s this plain; it treats us like we are mortals, so we should have some fun. I like him, and I know you like him. I see the way you look at him. If you’re not going to tell him how you feel, then I’ll tell him how I feel.”

  The memory fades. “Helsin did go on to tell me how she felt, but I didn’t feel the same way about her. Being young and naïve, I wasn’t aware of how much I hurt her when I told her I liked Igraine. On the outside, she looked like she was fine, but neither of us had a clue of what she was planning.”

  “What did she do?” I ask.

  Igraine waves her hand again. Another memory surrounds us.

  An older Igraine glares at Helsin, who has tied her to a chair. Helsin stands in front of a vanity, putting on the last touches of red lipstick. She smiles at her twin through the mirror. “Don’t have such a sour expression, Rain. You’ll get frown lines.” She runs a hand over her hair, changing it from snow white to the deepest black. Identical to Igraine.

  “He’ll know that it’s you, regardless of how much you look like me. He’s expecting me to be there for the dance, not you.” Igraine fights the binds around her body and wrists. Why doesn’t she just use magic to get out of them?

  “No use fighting those binds. They stop all magic from being used on them. A sweet gift from Sibi’s son. He’s only too eager to shut down all dragon shifters for good. He told me of a prophecy, you know. One his own mother made, you know, the one they killed. . . Anna, I think that was her name.”

  Helsin turns to face her sister now, leaning against the vanity in a black, glittering gown. It grabs onto her every curve. “A prophecy of a hybrid child. He didn’t tell me much, but he did tell me there’s a possibility of it being my child, so he agreed to help me. He had such pretty eyes. One blue and one green.”

  “Kearn?” I mumble.

  “You’re both crazy then.”

  “Perhaps, but I’ll be doing more than just dancing tonight. I’ll give him what you’ve refused to.”

  “He’ll see right through you.”

  Helsin smirks. She picks up a small vial of the vanity, full of a light pink liquid. “When I kiss him with this on my lips, he won’t be able to resist me, and I’ll get what I want from him. There’s nothing you can do about it. I’ll be back to set you free when I’m done. I’m not a monster, after all.”

  The memory fades again. “That night she conceived Aibek. We were eighteen. Your father doesn’t remember any of it; selective amnesia is a side effect of the potion she used. We didn’t see her again until Aibek was a year old.”

  Spearwood Recoil

  I have so many questions for them, but I don’t even know where to begin. We should be coming up with an idea of what we’re going to do next. We can’t sit around here like ducks, waiting for the hunter to come by. We need to prepare, and right now, I have no clue what we should do next.

  A massive roar nearly shakes the house. I would recognize the sound anywhere. It came from my own throat before. A large shadow falls over the lawn out front, and another roar sounds off in the distance, and then another. More shadows fall, until nothing but darkness has spread over the Orchard. Dragons encircle the land. Why are they out in the open? How did they know where we were?

  “I don’t know what’s happening, but make sure they don’t get Avalon,” Maverick says.

  I swallow hard. They must be followers of Aibek; otherwise, they never would’ve come here in their dragon forms where the Norms can see them.

  A fire-orange dragon lands on the lawn. It lowers its head and looks in at us with large grass-green eyes
. Smoke billows from his nose. It rushes through the screen door, filling the house with sulfuric odor.

  The guys shield me. Igraine and Elex stand by my sides. I wish they didn’t have to guard me as if I’m a fragile doll who can’t take care of herself. I don’t want them to get hurt because of me, and they always do.

  The orange dragon shifts back into his human self. A young man, maybe college level, stands before us with a sneer plastered on his pointed face. His green eyes analyze each one of the boys.

  “I’m Jericho Norse. I’ve been sent with my comrades to retrieve you rouges and take you back to Spearwood where you will receive your punishment for insubordination. The new king Aibek’s advisor, Oliver Roseman, will be overseeing it all personally. You should feel honored.”

  “You’ll have to kill us, if you want to take us back there!” Dante snarls.

  Jericho cracks his neck and rolls his shoulders. The guys get into ready stances. “That can be arranged. We just need the girl and her twin alive. We have no orders to keep the rest of you alive.”

  The other dragons flying above him transform in mid-air and land on their feet in the grass. Eight of them total, and there’s ten of us. It’s basically an even playing field, if they’re at the same skill level as the boys. They might be better than some of them, though. It could go either way.

  The group of young men run at the house, crashing through the side of it and obliterating the wall. I wince. My heart aches, witnessing my childhood get destroyed. The fighting begins in the blink of an eye. Igraine pulls me back to the far wall behind us and steps in front of me. We’re the same height. I can see over her shoulder.

  All the guys have their arms transformed up to the shoulder, using the bone spikes on their forearms as weapons. The college men hold their own, neither side backing down, as more of the house takes the brunt of it with missed punches and kicks. Horace and Amr are the first two to fall unconscious. Elex transforms into his dragon form; Maverick, Paden and Dante follow him. They aren’t as big as my form, but they still manage to destroy the upper level and the rest of the house. Wood and brick fall around us, but none of it—not even the dirt—touches us. Igraine holds up her hand, surrounding us in a magical barrier.

  The enemies shift into their own dragon forms. Roars fill the air followed by breaths of fire and the glints of swinging talons. Finally, one of the college boys goes down, falling to the ground unconscious and turning back into his human self.

  Bullock uses a tornado to throw one of them off. He flaps hard to regain his balance, but Dante takes advantage of the weakness and hits him with a stream of red hot molten metal, covering one of the guy’s wings. He falls, creating a chasm in the ground. He doesn’t try to get up or change back. He knows the molten metal will stay behind and burn his human form alive.

  Two down, six to go. Elex and the guys can take them. I know it. If I have to, I will step in, even if it will anger them.

  My heart nearly stops. In sky, just beyond the fight, enters the massive silhouettes of more dragons . . . five more. Were they waiting in the distance? There’s no way the guys and Elex can take on them on too. They’re already tiring, their movements not as quick and fresh as they were in the beginning.

  I push past Igraine, breaking through her barrier. Her hand goes around my wrist. I look back at her. She shakes her head. “I have to keep you safe. We should run, get out of here before they can get you. They’re outnumbered now. There’s no chance.” She frowns.

  Does she really mean that? She wants to run when they could lose their lives? Even with her husband fighting?

  “You can go. I’m not leaving them to fight an unfair battle.”

  “They’re fighting for you. To keep you safe. Do you want their efforts to be in vain?”

  I bite my lip. I know she has a point. If I get hurt, caught, or die during this battle, their fighting will be in vain. But I can’t just leave them here, and I don’t think I can do another teleportation. I don’t even know how I did it the first time. She lets go of my wrist and offers her hand for me to take.

  I stare at it before turning my attention back to the battle at hand. Bullock has sweat forming on the sides of his face. Mirren has blood trickling down his shoulder. Red moves up his neck and into his cheeks. Maverick, still in his dragon form, fights from the ground. One of his wings received a massive tear. Dante and Paden still fight from the air, spouting molten metal whenever they have a shot. Small fires burn across the lawn, filling the air with black smoke. A small part of the house has also caught fire. Elex lies near the house fire, unconscious.

  I look back to Igraine. She watches her husband, but her hand remains held out to me. “I’m sorry; I can’t go. I won’t be able to live with myself if I leave and they die for me.”

  Her grey eyes look into mine. A shadow of a smile pulls at her lips before she gives a nod of her head. In the blink of an eye, she appears next to Elex. Was that pride in her eyes? Did she want me to choose the selfless act?

  I shake my head. There’s no time to think about things like that. I need to help the guys. It’s five against eleven, and they aren’t backing down at all.

  I stand between Mirren and Bullock and hold out my hands. It’s been a long time, but I know I can do this. Fire bursts forth from them, warming my hands, but never burning them. I shoot it into the eyes of one of the dragons ganging up on Paden. He roars and fumbles in the air, both eyes closed. I aim for one of his wings, burning the leathery flesh. He falls out of the air, landing on the dragon with the molten silver cooling on his back.

  “What are you doing? You should be miles away from here by now!” Mirren yells.

  “And let you have all the fun? I don’t think so.” I take hold of Bullock’s forearm, mixing my fire magic with his air. His tornado catches on fire.

  Bullock glances at me. “Apparently, we got your element completely wrong, no wonder you couldn’t wield air very well.”

  I shake my head. “That’s the strange thing. I think I might be able to use that as well. I just need more practice. When I lost my memories, and went to Spearwood, I was able to do things with all forms of elemental magic. I’ve healed with every kind there is. I don’t understand it. Even the Ancients can only master one element fully and possibly use another a small bit.”

  “It’s something we’ll have to research more, when we get out of here,” he says.

  At least he has confidence that we’ll get out of here. If only I could teleport everyone again. This time, I would make a conscious effort to choose a place Spearwood wouldn’t know about.

  “This isn’t the greatest time to have a conversation!” Mirren growls.

  Two of the new dragons turn their attention to us. Flames burst forth from their mouths. Bullock puts up his hands, blocking their blasts with an air barrier. It reflects the fire back on them, but they dodge the flames easily.

  In an intricate maneuver, I form a lasso of fire in the air and loop it around one of their necks. He thrashes like a wild bull. I grin and pull. He gets closer to the ground, but fights me.

  Two arms come from behind me and place their hands on the fire’s lead. I don’t need to look to know it’s Mirren. Bullock would never be able to touch the fire being an air elemental. Together, we pull. He falls out of the air with a somersault, landing on his back. I make the lead on the lasso longer and use the extra length to tie his legs together. He thrashes, but he’ll be eighty before he can get out of it on his own.

  “Nice technique,” Mirren says in my ear.

  “Thanks.”

  Down to eight. We might just have a fighting chance again.

  One of the dragons fighting Dante crashes into him. They fall into the ruins of the house. Igraine and Elex nearly get hit, but she’s protected them with a barrier. Both Dante and the guy who attacked shift back. Neither move, but he shifted back, which means he has to be alive. I let out a relieved sigh.

  “Fuck!” Bullock yells.

  I look to the sky. M
ore dragons fly on the horizon: seven more, making it fifteen against six. Fuck is right. No matter how many we take out, they have more waiting in the wings. They’re determined to take us down, and Amr and me back to Spearwood.

  I have no choice; I need to transform. I swallow hard. I’ve never done it during the day, but I know I can. My form will dwarf them.

  I take off my dress and toss it to Mirren. “What are you doing?” he asks.

  “I’m going to shift. My form is bigger than them, and I can take them on easier than the others.”

  The one dragon facing us stills for a moment—his eyes fixated on my naked form—and almost falls out of the sky. Bullock uses the distraction to blast him out of the sky with burst of wind. He goes flying, hitting a church way off in the distance. We’re going to be all over YouTube within the next hour.

  If I knew all I had to do was strip to get an advantage over them, I would’ve done it five minutes ago. I focus on shifting my body. I’ve done it with my arms, and my entire body does it on its own every night, so it can’t be that hard. The shift begins, and I hold in a breath. Just like at the Sea Witch’s lair, my skin cracks and falls away. It no more painful than it’s always been. My added roar to theirs makes several of them turn. I’m at least three times any of their sizes. Paden and Maverick have put up a good fight, but I’m sure I can take on this lot and have them running for the hills.

  Paden and I are the only ones still in the air. Maverick fights from the ground with Mirren and Bullock. Fourteen against us.

  Two of them face me. I breathe a frost flame, streaming it across the distance between them. It hits a brown one in the face, freezing over his eyes and jaw. He thrashes in the air. With his jaw frozen closed, he can’t open it to breathe a flame, which forces him to land. Maverick promptly attacks him with a swing of his tail straight to the face. The ice breaks off, but he falls unconscious, shifting back into his human form. The other dragon flies at me, as if he crashing into me will do any good. It’s like a Mini Cooper hitting a semi-truck. I brace myself for the hit. His horns crash into my chest, and he immediately bounces back. He gives a shake of his head. I bet he’s seeing stars. This group isn’t very well trained in flight combat. We’re knocking them down like stupid flies. Before he can regain himself, I twirl in the air, sending my three-spiked tail into his side. He crashes into a dragon behind him, sending them both to the ground.