Night Shade Academy
Kelly Carrero
Copyright © 2019 by Kelly Carrero
All rights reserved.
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 written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons either living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, places, characters, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Created with Vellum
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
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
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1
For as long as I could remember, I’d been loathing the day we’d walk through the doors of Night Shade Academy, and now that day was upon us. Lycan, Vampires, Dark Witches, and Light Witches weren’t meant to mix, let alone spend the entire year locked away in a fortress, with no contact with the outside world. Yet, here we were, about to do just that, dressed in our formal uniform, which was a requirement for official occasions such as today.
Kayla raised her hand, lifting our suitcases out of the trunk with nothing but a flick of her wrist. “This is going to be so much fun,” my twin sister said with a squeal.
Mom handed us our identification cards to get through the protective wards and enter the prestigious school for the stuck-up, supernaturals. “Now, remember the rules. Stick—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Kayla said. “Stick with our own kind. Don’t go near the dorms of the other factions. And stay the hell away from the Dark Witches, even if they have abs like a God, and we want to have their babies.”
Mom’s eyes widened.
“Kidding, Mom.” Kayla threw her arms around our mother’s petite body, strands of their platinum blonde hair mixing, making it almost impossible to see where Mom’s began and Kayla’s ended. They were almost identical in looks—something that was very common with the Light Witches.
Me? I had no idea where my dark hair, olive skin, and grey eyes came from. Sure, Dad shared my hair color, but the rest of me was a throw back to our great grandmother, Lady Luanna.
Mom’s arm shot out, wrapping around my neck and drawing me into a hug. “Zalia, I know I can trust you to do what’s right, but can you make sure my little terror stays where she should?” She placed a kiss on my cheek then one on Kayla’s before releasing us from her embrace.
She stood back, tears in her eyes. “Be careful, and most importantly, have fun.”
“We will,” I said. “Love you.”
“Love you, Mom.” Kayla gave her a little wave then spun around and drew in a deep breath, as she stared up at the looming building before us, which probably resembled a palace to some, filled with hope and dreams.
To me, it looked like death. Pristine gardens and sandstone steps led up to an old relic of a castle that was four stories high and filled with rival factions that up until five years ago, when they called a truce and signed the blood treaty, couldn’t be within a mile of each other without starting a war.
Kayla always called me cynical, but I couldn’t help but feel peace between our factions wouldn’t last forever.
A shiver ran down my spine as I glanced at the group of students walking up the stairs, their potent, doggy smell assaulting my senses.
“Freaking mongrels.” Kayla linked her arm with mine. “They do that shit on purpose.”
“They’re dogs. What can you expect?” To this day, I hadn’t had a single nice encounter with a werewolf. They hated our species, and we felt the same way about them.
“Now, now, girls.” Mom put her hands on our shoulders, leaning in between us. “Remember the truce depends on you girls, as well as every other person in this place. We don’t want the alliance to fracture because you must never forget the war that occurred before you both drew your first breath.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll do you proud.” I gave her an angelic smile as one of the werewolves turned around, her glowing amber eyes locking onto mine for a few moments before glancing away.
Mom shook her head. “Get out of here before I drag you both back home.”
“Later,” Kayla said.
“Be careful,” Mom called after us, as we made our way up the stairs with our suitcases magically hovering beside us.
At the top of the steps, a Light Witch in his early twenties met us. He held a scanner, ready to assign us to our correct House. “Welcome to Nightshade Academy. If you have attempted to smuggle in a phone, please know that it will be pulverised the moment you set foot through these doors,” he said in the blandest tone I’d ever heard, making me wonder if he was really a person or just a clone, created for this meaningless task. “Please swipe your card over the screen and proceed to your designated wing.”
I glanced at Kayla, glad I had talked her out of trying to sneak her phone in then swiped my card over the screen.
“Rozalia Moore, please proceed to the House of Light.”
I cringed at the sound of my full name. I only heard it being used when I was getting in trouble, which seemed to be way too often, or during formal events. Everyone called me Zalia or Zali.
Kayla quickly swiped her card and followed me without looking at her results.
“So, Rozalia.” She grinned. “We’re here now, Rozalia. What do we do now, Rozalia?”
I smirked. “Shut up before I give you a giant, oozing pimple between your eyebrows while you sleep.”
She scrunched up her nose. “One day, I will surpass you, and I’ll turn you into a toad.”
I barked out a laugh. “Good luck with that.” Even though we were twins, I far surpassed her in magical abilities. I had an affinity for magic, and well, she had an affinity for manipulating everyone around her without needing magic.
My smile dropped the moment we stepped inside the building. “Holy Mother of Light,” I said, my gaze falling on the foyer before me. The outside of the building looked large, but on the inside, it was as if we’d stepped into another world. Well, another world may have been a little bit of an exaggeration, but this place was amazeballs. Instead of the four stories it appeared to be from the exterior, we looked up to at least ten stories on the inside. Four lifts resembling glass cylinders were located around the center of the foyer, each painted in their own house colors that would take us to our living quarters.
To the side of each lift, positioned in front of double doors, were ten-foot high statues representing each faction: the Lights were symbolised by the angelic mother, w
ho in no way was associated with the God humans worshiped, a half man, half Demon lord represented the Darks, the Vampires were depicted in their evil state by something straight out out of a “Dracula” movie, and a fully transformed beast denoted the Lycans.
You would think Vampires were the worst of us all, considering they were the result of a very evil Witch striking a deal with the Demons, but it was actually the Darks, closely followed by the Lycans. The Vampires could control themselves. As long as they kept their blood intake up, they were fine—nice even. But the Darks… There was a reason why so many feared them. The magic they delved into was evil shit, thanks to their allegiance with the Demon world. It made my skin crawl just thinking about it. And the Lycans, they were nasty, feral animals that would bite you the first chance they got.
The Light Witches were known as the do-gooders in the supernatural world, but too many of us carried an air of arrogance and superiority over the other factions for that to be true. At least the other factions didn’t hide behind false truths, pretending to be something they weren’t. They owned their superiority—even if I thought it was unwarranted.
Strong arms wrapped around me from behind, lifting me up into the air and spinning me around, as lips pressed against my cheek. I squealed, instantly feeling embarrassed, as the gazes of the Vampires, Lycans, and Darks fell on me. Their judging eyes already labelled me a squealer; something I was going to have a hard time living down.
Of course I wasn’t going to let my embarrassment show. I was going to hold my head high and own every action and squeal escaping my mouth.
Brody set me down, curling his hands around my hips. “How’s my favorite girl?”
I turned around in his arms and gave his chest a gentle slap. “Fair warning would’ve been nice.”
He caught my hand and laced my fingers with his. “But then I’d miss out on that squeal of yours.”
I bit down on my smile as I glared at him, but I was unable to stay mad at him for long when he stared at me with those big green eyes. He was a good foot taller than me, with broad shoulders, brown hair, and one killer of a smile that could get him out of anything.
I sighed, grateful that I not only had my sister, but also my boyfriend starting at Night Shade Academy on the same day.
“How’s it going, Kayla?” Brody asked, tucking me under his arm. “Manage to keep the fleas off you on the way here?”
Kayla chuckled. “I wouldn’t say that too loud.” She cocked her head behind us.
I glanced over my shoulder at the same time as Brody did, and was met with three pairs of yellow eyes glaring at us. The corner of their lips tipped up to expose their fangs, as they let out a low rumble in their throats, warning us not to continue talking smack about them if we didn’t want an all-out brawl.
I elbowed Brody’s chest. “You are going to get us into so much trouble if you keep saying shit like that.”
Brody shrugged, turning back to face Kayla. “They don’t scare me. They’re the scum of the night world.”
I dared to sneak another quick peek over my shoulder, giving the Lycans an apologetic look. I hated the way the Lights treated the other factions. Then again, I was pretty sure the other factions spoke about us in the same way.
“Maybe the Dean will scare you,” Kayla said. “They want this truce to work.”
He glanced around then moved closer to Kayla. “From what I hear, the rivalry is alive and well within these walls, and we’ll get our chance to battle it out.”
I drew my brows together, as Kayla’s nose scrunched up again. “What are you talking about?” Kayla and I asked in unison. It was a twin thing.
He leaned in closer. “I heard that some are pitted against each other for what they call ‘the dog fight.’”
I snorted. “Right. Like that’s going to be fair.” I knew both Brody and Kayla took what I’d said to mean we were going to crush the competition, but really, what hope did we have if the Darks were actually allowed to use their full magic? Most of the Lights my age weren’t equipped to combat a fully competent Dark Witch, even if they were just students yet to come into their full power.
I may have been the only one.
When most of the other Lights were off playing dolls or whatever it was that girls did, Kayla and I had our heads buried in books. Mom and Dad forced us to study, making sure our magical abilities were far beyond that of our peers. But I was the only one of us to truly succeed, being able to conduct magic far beyond my years.
And I loved it.
Brody squeezed my shoulder. “With you on our side, they won’t stand a chance.”
I shrugged. “Who knows what the others are like? They could tear through us, as if we were babies.”
Kayla snorted. “Oh so modest, aren’t you? What happened to the girl who was talking shit the other night about how you were going to fry their asses, if they so much as looked our way?”
Biting down on my smile, I glared at her. “Keep talking. Oh, wait. Maybe you won’t be able to.”
Her eyes widened with fear. “You wouldn’t.”
I laughed. “Of course I wouldn’t do that to you again. Never, ever.” The memory of what I’d done to my sister still haunted me. She’d been trying to perform a spell she’d found in a book in our parents’ locked cabinet and was unsuccessful. Me on the other hand, I barely had to try and her mouth was gone, completely covered by skin.
I’d shit myself, having no idea how to undo the spell and seeing the look in my sister’s eyes just about killed me. I had to come clean to our parents and ended up being grounded for three months. They needn’t have bothered, though, because I was never going to touch anything in that cabinet for the rest of my life.
Didn’t mean that I wouldn’t joke about it.
And Kayla used it as a guilt trip when it came to something she really needed to dig deep on to gain leverage on. Most of the time, I would do anything for my sister—yet another twin thing.
A group of Dark Witches strode past us, snickering, and I prayed they hadn’t heard us talking. The last thing I needed was to give them ammunition. I preferred a surprise attack. Let everyone think I was less than what I was, then bam. I would cut them down where they stood.
I sighed.
“Ignore them,” Kayla said. “You’ll get your chance.”
We made our way toward the House of Light’s entrance, ready to start our new life. The double doors loomed in front of us, shutting out those who didn’t belong.
A group of Lights ahead of us walked through the doors. As in literally, they walked straight through the solid wooden doors.
“Must be wards they have placed over our kind,” I said, curious as to what spell they’d used to pull this off. “Clever.”
“Welcome to the House of Lights,” a woman in her late teens said, waving us in.
We smiled and proceeded toward the door.
I took a deep breath, ready to embrace whatever was on the other side and strode forward.
Pain shot through my nose as I smacked into the wooden door, unable to pass, as both Kayla and Brody slipped right through.
2
Panic engulfed me as I stood outside the doors, alone, Brody and Kayla on the other side. I tried to go through for a second time, but was once again met with the thud of wood, blocking me from entering my realm.
I glanced at the woman who’d welcomed us, and was about to ask her what was going on when I saw her point me out to a security group who walked briskly toward us.
Turning back to the door, I thumped against it, trying desperately to get through, until the guards grabbed me by my arms and pulled me back. “You need to come with us.”
My heart practically beat a hole through my chest as they led me away. “What’s going on? Why can’t I get through?”
My questions went unanswered.
“Zalia,” Kayla called from behind me.
Peering over my shoulder, I saw my sister being held back by the Light Witch who’d been there to gr
eet us, Kayla’s panic-stricken eyes locked onto mine. “I’ll be fine,” I said to her. “There’s just a little mix up.”
Coming to a halt at the other end of the vast foyer, I was confronted by a man whose face I’d seen scrawled over many of the marketing materials for this school: Dean Bishop.
“What seems to be the problem?” he asked, gesturing to “the muscles” to let me go.
I shook them off, glad to be rid of them without having to resort to magic. That was one of the rules here. We could not use our abilities against the authorities, be it magic, compulsion or any other of the million things each faction could do. It would mean instant dismissal. And I wouldn’t risk leaving Kayla here by herself. We were a team. “There seems to be a problem with the door.” I cocked my thumb toward the House of Light’s entrance.
“The wards don’t make mistakes,” a woman declared, striding over to us, her heels clipping against the marble tiles. She was an image to behold, perfectly styled red hair, pale skin, and one hell of a Dark energy radiating from her. If it weren’t for her energy, I would’ve thought she was a Light by the way she held herself.
I choked on a laugh as my stomach churned, afraid of what was going to happen to me. “Well, then this is a first because if you haven’t noticed, my twin sister walked right through those doors without any issues. So, someone better fix this for me.” I tended to get a little bossy when I was nervous. And I was hella nervous.
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