Silverwood Academy Book 1

by Jasmaine Groth

  “Hey Anna! Hey Tash!” Sophia exclaimed, smiling brightly as she headed to our table, sitting down next to Anna. “How’s your elemental class going?”

  I smiled, pulling at my power and making a breeze pass through the air, making their hair move around them, cutting it off quickly. “Good.”

  Anna grinned. “That’s cool!” she exclaimed.

  “Definitely!” Sophia agreed.

  “We’ve been learning to keep the wind off us and using our air to redirect rain,” I told them.

  Anna’s eyebrows rose. “I never would’ve thought about using it for that.”

  “Me neither, but it comes in handy,” I replied with a shrug. “Where’s Isaac and Nic?”

  “They’ve gone to see Oliver for breakfast,” Sophia told me. I nodded my head, I hadn’t talked to or seen Oliver since Bora Bora, nor had I wanted to.

  The bell rang. I stood up with a sigh. I hated Physical Exercise, it wasn’t the running or working out that was the issue, it was Sterling. I didn’t want to be around him, especially now. Every time I looked at him it reminded me of our time in Bora Bora and then the fact that he promised to not ignore me but as soon as we arrived back that was exactly what he’d done. It was frustrating and upsetting, but I had seen it coming.

  Once I arrived at the clearing outside the gym, I started stretching, Sterling started walking across the clearing wearing his usual black pants and white button-up shirt, and I started jogging before he could yell at us to start running, knowing full well that it’s what we’d be doing. The rest of the class followed, probably knowing it was better to just do it than be yelled at.

  I kept pushing harder, trying to run faster, focusing on what I was doing. Casting a look behind I seen where Selene was running, I brought my magic to the surface, the feel of it swirling beneath my skin, I sent some of my magic to Selene, aiming it for her ankles, she tripped and fell. I bit back a laugh and pretended like nothing had happened.

  Laughter rang out from behind me and I fought to not look back, keeping my eyes up ahead. There was no way Selene could think I’d done it, and it would’ve felt like she just lost balance and fell, and they couldn’t necessarily blame me because there was no evidence.

  I finished running laps and walked inside the gym, ready to start lifting weights until the bell rang.

  In Advanced Abilities I paired with Dawn again as we attempted using our trance skills against the human woman. I looked at her tilting my head to the side and smiled, pushing sheer will at her, her eyes glazed over, and a silly smile made its way to her lips. “Can you pick me a flower?” I asked her, pointing to the ground.

  She bent down “picking” flowers. “Here you go,” she said with a smile when she had finished, handing me her flowers. I laughed along with Dawn, breaking off the trance.

  Dawn took over trancing her, getting the woman to start singing “I’m a little teapot” and we laughed so hard I thought I was going to cry. I was surprised to enjoy spending time with Dawn, but she was genuinely funny and nice. Selene kept looking over at us, glaring, which made me smile.

  Our next class was Advanced Compulsion, it passed by quickly, and when the bell rang, I went to the cafeteria for lunch.

  From the buffet table I grabbed a wrap. A thermos and bottle of water, drinking the water quickly, eating the amazing salad wrap. “What are you doing this weekend?” I asked Anna and Sophia.

  Anna looked sheepish. “We were all going to go to the movies, as like a double date sort of thing,” she told me, biting her lip, looking slightly anxious.

  I smiled at her. “That will be nice.”

  “It will be fun,” Sophia said, smiling at Anna.

  We continued chatting and laughing together until the bell rang and I had to say goodbye so I could head to my Air Elemental class.

  I arrived at the class along with the fifteen other witches in my class, Astrid smiled at me from where she stood with her friends and I smiled back. I hadn’t had much to do with Astrid, but she seemed nice. “Okay, class let’s work on what we were doing yesterday, you are all beginning to get a lot of control over your element,” Professor Carr said, smiling around at the class.

  I closed my eyes, drawing on my power over the elements, feeling the usual tingling sensation, I sent it outwards, casting a small bubble around me as rain fell from the sky and I used my Air to direct it anywhere but at me, I continued holding it.

  The rain came plummeting down right about where we were standing, and I held on tighter as I fought the rain back, the longer it stayed, the harder it became to hold it back. I felt my bubble burst and rain fell down on me, looking around a few other people had lost their grip on theirs, a few others seemed to be getting smaller, flickering, allowing some rain to enter in places.

  Slamming my air up in an instant I tried to focus on making it smaller until it just coated me, the rain redirected at the last second. It required less magic and more concentration, my eyes shut automatically as I concentrated.

  It was much easier to redirect a smaller amount of rain than a bigger bubble of air, my hair didn’t swirl around as much either, for the most part it stayed still. My power seemed to blaze and flicker beneath my skin, itching to be released even more, but I ignored it, continuing to use it in the small amounts that I was so I didn’t get tired too easily and go through all my magic.

  The bell rang loud and shrill. The downpour eased, until it was gone, once it was clear I pulled my magic back inside, so it sat beneath my flesh, I felt it cower back in its confines, swirling around. Professor Carr clapped her hands together to get our attention. “Between now and tomorrow I want you to keep practicing!” she called out.

  Astrid walked over with a smile. “You’re doing well,” she complimented.

  “Thanks,” I told her, smiling back. She raced off with the other witches for their next class.

  I pulled my magic to the surface again, making a strong breeze fly towards me, holding it in place as I dried myself and my clothes out. It didn’t take long and when I was dry, or mostly dry, I sped off to the dorms to change into my yoga pants, tank top and runners, speeding off to my Wellness class.

  Yoga was very relaxing, some of the poses were tough but for the most part I could relax and concentrate on my magic, exploring all the new ways to play with it.

  When class ended, I dried the sweat from Anna, Sophia’s and my body. Looking over at Dawn, I sent a breeze over to her and her hair blew out behind her as it dried her, she looked up at me in surprise and gave me a grateful smile. Selene scowled and stormed off.

  I turned to Anna and Sophia. “Come on, let’s go back to my room.” They nodded and we walked across campus to the dorms.

  Once we were safely inside my room, I locked the door, they were sitting on my window seat, watching me. “What’s this about?” Sophia questioned, her brows arched perfectly.

  “You know how I promised to get revenge on Selene?” I asked her, they both nodded. “Well… It’s sort-of started.”

  Sophia and Anna raised their eyebrows. “Really?”

  “Yes,” I replied with a smile. “You know how Selene tripped in Physical Exercise today?” They nodded. I grinned. “She didn’t actually tip, I pushed her a little with air.”

  Anna and Sophia threw their heads back and laughed. “Ohmygawd! It’s even funnier now that I know!” Anna howled, Sophia nodded her head.

  “Yes!” Sophia agreed.

  When they stopped laughing, Anna looked up at me questioningly. “But why are you hanging out with Dawn?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “Well… Dawn is really nice and funny, but I also have ulterior motives… I’m trying to slowly turn Dawn against Selene. You know trying to remove her from her friends, so she feels alone?”

  Sophia nodded. “I always liked Dawn,” she replied. “She’s less bitchy than the rest of them.”

  “Well she actually is really fun, and I sort of feel guilty about using her in my schemes but now that it’s started, I can�
��t really stop, and we’re becoming friends.” I shrugged.

  “Yeah it would seem weird if you just suddenly stopped,” Sophia agreed.

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us sooner,” Anna told me, hurt crossing her face.

  I bit my lip. “Well… we’ve all been busy the last few days,” I told her. “We haven’t really hung out much on our own.”

  “I know but you still could’ve found a way to tell us,” Sophia agreed.

  “I’m telling you now, aren’t I?” I asked them, raising my brows. No way were they going to make me feel guilty for not telling them sooner, and I was not going to tell them the reason I didn’t was because they hadn’t even really talked to me in over a week because they had been so caught up in their own relationships and I didn’t want to intrude, so I just let them be happy and waited for them to talk to me.

  “You are,” Sophia said, sounding a little cautious.

  We sat in my room for a few more hours, talking like we used to and laughing, discussing more ways to torture Selene.

  It got late and we left to go have dinner and they wanted to meet up with Isaac and Nic. “Hey babe!” Isaac said to Anna with a smile, pulling her into a hug and kissing the top of her head. “I grabbed you some food.”

  They sat down next to each other. I pretended to gag. “You guys are so sweet it’s making me sick,” I joked. Isaac laughed, tossing an apple at me but I caught it mid-air with my wind, raising my eyebrows. The door opened behind me, Selene came walking through, I ducked, letting the apple fly over my head and it hit her straight in chest, she fell back a little as she got winded from it. “Isaac!” I yelled, feigning innocence.

  Isaac looked at me horrified but trying not to laugh, Anna and Sophia burst into laughter, along with the rest of cafeteria. “You’re bad,” Isaac whispered to me, a smirk on his face. He turned to Anna accusingly, trying not to laugh. “I don’t know why you’re friends with such a bad influence.”

  “I could’ve hit you with the apple,” I whispered to him, he laughed.

  “Yeah but you and I will fight and still be friends but Selene’s psychotic,” Isaac told me, raising his brows.

  Anna smiled at me, her eyes glistened. “Can I tell him?” she asked, amusement in her voice.

  I giggled. “Yeah, just make sure no one is listening in.”

  Isaac looked between the two of us confused. “What am I missing?” he asked.

  Anna grinned at him, patting his arm. “I’ll tell you later tonight, it’s the best thing you’ll ever hear,” she promised.

  Isaac raised his eyebrows. “I’ll hold you to that.”

  I looked to Sophia. “You may as well tell Nic tonight,” I told her, as she looked at me pleadingly.

  Sophia grinned. “I can’t wait to see his reaction, it’ll be brilliant.”

  I stood up from the table, heading over to the buffet, grabbing a thermos, chocolate cake and chips, sitting back down, dunking my fries in the chocolate frosting and popping it into my mouth with a sigh as the sweet chocolatey-ness and the salty warm fry hit my mouth, twisting together in my mouth, drinking my thermos of blood.

  Nic came up to the table, flopping down into the seat next to Sophia with a sigh, she passed him some food and he started digging in. We all ate in silence. When I finished, I put my plate on the table beside the door, on top of other plates, sitting back down with the group until ten o’clock, we laughed and talked all night, the cafeteria was emptying of students and eventually we headed back to our rooms.

  A cool and crisp breeze swept over our skin as soon as we stepped outside, causing a chill. I brought my power to the surface, sending it outwards, redirecting the breeze around us. “Thanks Tasha,” Anna said, giving me a small smiled.

  “That’s okay,” I replied.

  Isaac grinned at me, looking impressed. “Pretty badass.”

  We walked through the woods to our dormitory, the sounds of animals rustling about, crunching leaves as we walked past, when we entered the dormitory, I pulled my magic back, the warmth of a fire lit hit my skin and the smell of burning wood. We walked up the stairs, Nic and Sophia got off on the third floor, heading to her room with a wave goodbye.

  Anna, Isaac and I got off on the fifth floor. “See you tomorrow,” Anna called as I shoved my key into my lock, and they walked past to her room.

  “Yeah, goodnight,” I called back, opening my door, stepping inside and shutting the door behind me. I stripped out of my yoga clothes, heading into the bathroom for a shower.

  I finished my shower, hopping into my nice soft bed, pulling the blankets up to my chin and drifted off to sleep.

  ***

  The next morning, I woke up and did my usual run on my new route, then came back to my room to shower and get dressed, leaving my hair straight, it hung down low on my hips, it had grown since I first arrived and I was starting to need a trim.

  I headed to the cafeteria where I poured myself a coffee and ate a plain croissant with butter on it. The door opened and Sophia, Anna, Isaac and Nic walked through laughing. Isaac sat down opposite to me with the biggest grin. “Abso-fucking-lutely amazing,” Isaac told me, chuckling.

  “Wait and see what I have planned for today,” I replied, giving him a grin.

  “What is it?” Anna asked, smiling, looking curious.

  “You’ll have to wait and see,” I told her with a laugh.

  The door opened and the cafeteria started filling up fast with students wanting to get their breakfast. Anna made coffees for her and Isaac while he filled up a plate full of food for the two of them.

  Breakfast passed by quickly and the bell rang for our first class: Advanced Abilities. We were still working on trances in our pairs, so Dawn and I paired up again, taking turns at putting the lady in a trance, laughing together when we made her do funny things. Encouraging each other on.

  When the class finished Dawn went back to Selene and I headed off to Advanced Compulsion class, across the hall with Anna and Sophia. “Tasha, Olivia, Selene, Anna and Dawn, come up to the front, it’s your turn to try and compel them and remove the memory,” Melissa said, smiling.

  Anna and I stood up, walking to the front of the classroom, I sat down in front of a man, he had bushy eyebrows, a grown-out beard, his eyes were dazed, and bite marks on his wrists. It seemed like he didn’t even know he was here or at least he didn’t care.

  Staring into his eyes, I didn’t move or blink, picturing him cross and uncross his legs multiple times, he copied, without me needing to speak. He had zero willpower, compared to other humans I’ve had to compel, there was no push-back in his mind. I made him stop, leaning forward in my chair. “Forget what you just did,” I told him, my voice layered with compulsion. “Forget.” His eyes went blank. “Do you know what you did?” I asked him, my voice still thick with compulsion.

  “No,” he replied, truthfully.

  I sighed in relief. “Congratulations Natasha Marshall, you may go sit down,” Melissa said, smiling. I stood up and walked back to my chair quickly. The rest of the lesson passed quickly, and then we headed to Wellness Studies where we did more yoga, the poses were becoming more and more difficult, but I still enjoyed it an found it calming. I didn’t know if it was the incense and magic that was made me feel so relaxed and calm or if it was the yoga. The scent of magic clung in the air and burning incense, you could feel the magic in the air, it raised the hairs on my arms and my own magic seemed to swell in response.

  ***

  I ate lunch with Anna, Sophia, Isaac and Nic, they were talking about the weekend and going to the new restaurant opening in town. “Are you going to come?” Anna asked, looking at me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

  “No, I don’t really want to be a fifth wheel,” I told them, keeping my tone light.

  “Oh, okay,” Anna said, sounding a little disappointing. “Maybe we could go out after? Like a club?”

  “Yeah, that sounds fun,” I told her with a smile. I couldn’t say no to her again, i
t just seemed rude. They went back to talking and I quietly ate my wrap, sipping on my thermos. The more time passed the more excited I grew for my next class, I was going to get a little more revenge on Selene, and she wasn’t going to see it coming. I smirked to myself.

  The bell rang and I jumped up, using my vampire speed to run out the door and to my room to change into my polo shirt and school shorts, racing back to the gym, standing outside on the field, starting my stretches while waiting for the rest of the class to get here.

  Anna arrived, a smirk on her face and her eyebrows raised in a silent question, Isaac chuckled, sensing my excitement. Sophia and Nic just shook their heads with a smile, they were like two peas in a pod.

  Sterling strolled up to the clearing. “I thought you’d all be running by now,” he stated, raising his eyebrows.

  I straightened my back quickly, getting out of my stretch and jogged off, the rest of the class followed. Running around the field, doing twenty laps, I finished off, heading inside the gym, where I went to the barbell and started doing squats. When the rest of the class finished running laps shortly after, they walked inside, Sterling following behind, his eyebrows rose a fraction as he watched me bend down into a squat, then turned away just as quickly.

  Turning my attention towards Selene I watched as she walked over to the mats, picking up some light dumbbells and proceeded to do, who knows what with them, as she pretended to work out.

  I rolled my eyes, staring straight ahead, but keeping my eye on her as I stared. She lifted the weights up above her head and I lowered them. She repeated a few times. She went to put them back, and I focused on the weights, pushing my power into them so they felt extremely heavy and she grunted, I caught her foot with my power as she went to step forwards and she fell to the ground face first, the dumbbells pulling her down even quicker from the weight. She screamed, falling into the ground.

  Anna and Isaac roared with laughter, the rest of the class laughed along, and I quietly put the barbell back into place, walking over to offer Selene a hand up. “You should really be more careful,” I mocked at her, Dawn laughed, Selene’s head snapped in her direction as she glared at her friend, Dawn bit her lip and looked at her apologetically.