Shadow Caster: The Nightwatch Academy book 1

by Cassidy, Debbie

  “You’ll see soon enough.”

  The foyer was emptying out as the second-year cadets made their way through the unmarked door and out of sight.

  “Follow me.” Lloyd headed toward the door, and Harmon was the first to follow. “The tunnels span several miles beneath the academy grounds. We use them to get to the training grounds, into the forest and up to the fortress, and into the mist.”

  “Wait, what?” Thomas asked.

  “They haven’t taken their oath yet,” Toller reminded Faraday.

  “They’re conscripted, Toller,” Faraday said. “The oath is just a formality now.”

  The two second years led us through the door and down a flight of stone steps. Dank and moist air drifted up to meet us, and old-style scones lit up as we passed. Weaver magic?

  We hit the ground and hurried down a tunnel wide enough to walk two by two. Harmon fell into step beside me with Thomas behind. The tension was palpable as it pressed in on us.

  Could Lottie have been attacked by a youngling? Redmond had been so sure he had that situation under control. But what if he’d been wrong?

  We took several turns, and I noted the markings on the wall—arrows and symbols. Directions?

  We passed an arch that led to another tunnel, even more dimly lit than the one we were already in, and then cool, fresh air caressed my cheek, and we were piling out of a wooden door, up an earthy incline, pushing through shrubbery, and out into the starlit sky.

  The exit had brought us up on the other side of the training grounds. The tunnel behind us was neatly hidden by the bushes we’d just stepped through.

  Clever.

  “Fan out and search the area,” Lloyd said. “Only two hours till dawn. Let’s find the Nightwatch cadet.”

  To the left was the outdoor herb garden, and to the right, the glass roof of the hothouse was visible. Several cadets ran off toward the gardens.

  “Let’s check out the hothouse.” I jogged off in the opposite direction.

  Harmon was on high alert, sniffing the air. “I can’t smell anything. The air is off.”

  “What do you mean?” Thomas said.

  Nightbloods had excellent senses, but we couldn’t beat the moonkissed sense of smell.

  “It should smell of earth and pollen and life, but there’s a musky scent in the air that’s masking it all.”

  I inhaled deeply. “Yeah … I smell it. Weird.”

  We slowed, taking in the surroundings. No point looking for prints, too much foot traffic there. The ground was part grass and part mud. Scent was our best bet at finding Lottie, but with the strange masking effect on the air, it wasn’t going to be easy.

  We were outside the hothouse when a cry went up.

  “I found something! A shoe. I found a shoe.”

  “Blood!” someone else shouted.

  Harmon turned and ran toward the voices.

  Thomas made to follow, but I grabbed his arm.

  I shook my head. “Wait. They found a shoe and blood. They haven’t found her. We should check out the hothouse, just in case.”

  Thomas looked torn but then nodded and followed me into the hothouse. Warm, humid air blasted in our faces. The hothouse was a huge structure filled with delicate and exotic blooms and herbs. Flower beds to the left and long tables holding herb pots to the right. This was Master Herman’s domain. Maybe he was here somewhere?

  The place was large enough to get lost in, but we’d barely gone a few meters in when I caught sight of a shoeless foot sticking out from behind a table.

  My heart skipped a beat, and I rushed toward the figure. “Lottie.” I crouched by her unconscious form and did a quick sweep of her. No visible injury. “Lottie.” I shook her shoulder gently.

  “I’ll get Harmon.” Thomas turned and ran for the exit.

  Lottie looked calm and serene like she was simply sleeping. They’d found a shoe and blood. Was the blood hers? Moonkissed healed fast too, so the wound could simply have knitted.

  Shit.

  “Lottie.” I lifted her head into my lap. “Wake up.”

  Her eyelids fluttered, and she moaned softly. “Whaa …”

  “Lottie, hey. You’re okay.”

  She opened her eyes and stared up at me.

  I smiled reassuringly. “Hey, what happened. How did you get here?”

  She blinked slowly, her gaze sharpening.

  “Lottie!” Harmon came barreling in and fell to his knees beside us. He gathered his sister into his arms and squeezed. “Shit. You scared the life out of me.” He pulled back to look into her face. “What happened? How did you get here?”

  Lottie stared up at his face. “Where am I?”

  “The hothouse,” Harmon said.

  “You were unconscious,” Thomas added.

  Master Hyde appeared behind Harmon.

  “We should get her back to the med bay.”

  Harmon made to scoop her up, but she cringed and backed up into me. “No. Don’t touch me. Who are you?” She stared in confusion at Harmon, then up at Thomas and the other shadow cadets hovering behind him. “Who are you people?”

  Harmon paused in his action. “Lottie, it’s me. Harmon. Your brother.”

  Her expression was pained. “Lottie? Who? … I don’t know you.”

  “Back away from her,” Master Hyde said.

  “Like hell,” Harmon growled. “She’s my sister. She probably banged her head. She’s confused.” He made to scoop her up again.

  Lottie opened her mouth and screamed.

  Fifteen

  My eyes snapped open to a blood-red room as the sun went down. I swung my legs out of bed, grabbed my shower stuff, and headed out the door. I needed to get dressed and find Harmon and Thomas before training.

  I needed to know how Lottie was doing.

  Master Hyde had rushed Lottie to the med bay while Harmon stood stock-still, his face a mask of torment.

  She didn’t remember him. Didn’t remember us. Didn’t fucking remember anything.

  They were holding her in the med bay while they tried to figure out what had happened to her.

  But one thing was clear, people didn’t just lose their memories and their identities. Something had done this to her, and it was still out there. I needed to check on Harmon and find out what the hell they were doing about Lottie.

  He was an ass most of the time, but he was hurting right now, and for some reason, I wanted to be there for him.

  Shower bag and clothes in hand, I headed out of my room and down the short corridor to the bathroom. The door opened before I could turn the handle, and Master Hyde stepped out wreathed in steam. His torso was bare and beaded with moisture. Droplets skated down his powerful chest, over the ink that wound its way across his pectoral to skim the base of his neck. Droplets skidded over his eight-pack and down to kiss the lip of the towel hugging the V at his hips.

  Heat climbed up from my toes and blossomed in my head. I tore my gaze up to his face, and my breath locked in my throat. Beads of water hovered on his lips and lashes, they licked at his scars, softening them somewhat. But it was his hooded gaze that trapped me. There was heat hidden in the depths, a dangerous devastation that called to me, inviting me to drown in it.

  “It’s all yours.” His voice was gruff, as if these were his first words of the evening.

  His tone had a delicious abrasiveness that rubbed against my senses and made my skin tingle with the need to be touched.

  He made to step around me and his citrus scent hit me, short-circuiting my brain. I sidestepped to block him. Fuck. Wrong way. We both stepped the other way, once again blocking each other.

  Shit.

  “Stop.” His hands came up and cupped my shoulders.

  The heat of his hands seeped through my shirt and kissed my skin, making it blush. My breath caught and then I was trapped in his blue-green gaze, being pulled into the darkness of his darkening pupils.

  “Don’t move.” His voice was low and husky.

  My body
leaned toward him as he passed, but then the heat of his hands was gone. He stepped around me, leaving me staring at air.

  I looked over my shoulder to see raised welts edged in puckered scar tissue. They crisscrossed his back, telling a horrific story.

  Were these wounds from the attack that had taken his leg? And if so, why hadn’t they completely healed? My attention dropped to his legs, and there it was—the glint of metal, gold and silver entwined into the shape of a powerful limb. It didn’t look mechanical, but then it was feytech, so …

  He stopped and turned his head, offering me his profile. “Had a good look?”

  “I’m … I’m sorry.” My voice cracked.

  “Don’t be. Survival is nothing to be sorry about.” I caught the corner of his mouth lift slightly. “And a feytech leg is better than two flesh and bone ones.” He strode off, taking his bionic limb and his compelling scars with him.

  But he took my breath with him too and left me standing there with my heart in my mouth and my body blazing with the heat of desire.

  The bathroom door shut firmly behind me, and I leaned up against it. His citrus scent was infused in the steamy air. His scars were burned into my mind. He was damaged, but he was far from broken, and that, to me, was beautiful.

  Fuck. I’d need to take my shower cold.

  * * *

  The shadow cadet quarters were an open lounge space with several corridors shooting off from it. The lounge also had a small kitchenette area with a counter that ran around it to separate it from the seating area. My feet dragged me across the wood floor, lured by the smell of coffee that permeated the air.

  A golden-haired figure stood with his back to me at the coffee pot.

  I’d recognize those broad shoulders and slender hips anywhere.

  Lloyd looked over his shoulder, sensing my approach. “Early bird?”

  I crossed my arms, not sure how to gauge his tone. It sounded neutral enough, but Lloyd had never been anything but dismissive and derisive of me, so waiting for the other shoe to drop was standard procedure when it came to him.

  I hung back, keeping the counter between us. “I was hoping to check on Harmon.”

  Lloyd spooned sugar into his mug. “He and Thomas left a few minutes ago. I assume they’re heading to the med bay before training.” He turned back to his coffee-making task.

  I cleared my throat. “How did he look?”

  “Tense, worried.” He turned to me and leaned up against the counter behind him. “All the things a brother might look like if his sister had just lost her memories.” He ran a hand over his face. “I’m not sure I’d be as calm as he is.”

  He turned away to pour milk into his coffee and then carried his mug into the lounge area.

  I took his place at the coffee pot and poured hot, fragrant wonderfulness into a mug. “This smells amazing.”

  “Yeah. Larkin gets it imported from somewhere or other. Specially for the shadow cadets.”

  I took a sip and couldn’t help the involuntary moan of pleasure that escaped my lips. “God, that’s good.”

  Lloyd’s attention was on my mouth, but he looked away quickly when my gaze flicked to his face.

  He and Minnie had the same almond-shaped eyes, but whereas hers were a warm jade, his were a cool blue. There were very few similarities between them, aside from that. Lloyd had sharp, harsh features that some would find compelling, but I’d always found haughty. But the way he was studying me now was devoid of his usual contempt. In fact, there was a spark of interest there that had my insides squirming with confusion.

  “What?” I held my coffee mug like a shield. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  He shook his head and took a gulp of his coffee. “Nothing. You better get to the dining hall.” He jerked his head toward the corridor to my far left.

  “You have your own dining hall?” That would explain why I rarely saw shadow cadets in the Nightwatch Academy dining room.

  “Grab a bite. You have your oath, then sector one orientation today. You’ll probably be late for lunch.”

  Master Hyde had mentioned sector one last night. “What is that? What is sector one?”

  A slow smile curved his lips. “Oh, you’ll see.”

  “Got the coffee on, Faraday?” A dark-haired guy with tousled waves falling into his eyes ambled into the lounge followed by three others.

  The one directly behind him could have been his twin. Hang on … he was his twin. They had the same twinkling hazel eyes and pouty mouths, but the one behind was stockier, as if he worked out more. The guy directly behind stocky dude was slight and wiry with sandy hair that was cut short at the back and sides but left longer on top. He yawned, showcasing even, white teeth with a hint of fang. The final guy kept his head down, but it was impossible to miss the claw marks on the side of his neck. Red angry welts cut down and vanished into the collar of his T-shirt. He caught me staring and bared his teeth in a growl.

  “Back off, Brady,” Lloyd said evenly.

  Brady’s lip curled, and he slumped into the nearest seat, his angry eyes fixed on my face as if daring me to stare, to speak, to breathe.

  I glared back at him. Like hell would I let him intimidate me. He was big, but I’d taken down bigger.

  His dark eyes narrowed, assessing me, and then he reached up to scratch at his stubble, and the stare-off was broken.

  By him.

  Ha.

  “Ignore Brady,” the slender twin said. “He’s a beast until he’s had his morning brew.” The other twin passed him a steaming mug.

  Brady took a long swig and sighed. His shoulders relaxed, and the rage in his expression ebbed a little.

  “I’m Aidan,” the slender twin said. “And this is my brother, Devon.”

  Devon grunted at me and ran a hand through his thick, dark hair.

  “Carlo.” The fair-haired guy smiled. “Is it true you ate your brother in the womb?”

  The coffee I’d just sipped went down the wrong hole, and I ended up coughing it back up. My eyes watered, and I blinked back the sting of embarrassed anger.

  “Fucking hell, Carlo,” Brady grumbled. “They should fucking teach you some tact.”

  “Says the dude who growls to greet people,” Carlo sing-songed.

  I took a deep breath and stood tall. “I got the gene from my twin, yes.” I stared them down one by one. “Anything else you want to know?”

  “Shame you didn’t also get his penis,” Carlo said.

  “You think a woman can’t do the job?”

  He shook his head. “Nah, you have the gene, you can do the job. But this is a male-dominated environment. Throw in a beautiful woman, and things are gonna get crazy.”

  Beautiful. Me? I filed that away for later examination. Possibly in front of a mirror. “I can take care of myself.”

  He chuckled. “I’m sure you can, but the cadets who’ll be forced to bunk with you will be wondering how they can get you to take care of them.”

  What the … My neck heated.

  He held up his hands. “It’s a lonely road. No women till we retire after twenty years of service. It’s a hard life, if you catch my drift.” He winked.

  They didn’t get to have sex?

  Lloyd tutted. “It’s not that bad. Shadow knights get the odd day’s leave when we can portal to the mortal world and … indulge.” He cleared his throat. “But relationships and marriage have to wait till retirement. If we make it that far.”

  The guys flopped down onto the sofa against the wall, nursing mugs of brew.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Aidan asked me.

  “Not like she gets a fucking choice,” Brady said.

  I took a measured sip of my coffee this time. “I can handle myself and whatever comes at me.”

  “Comes …” Carlo sniggered.

  “Seriously, dude, grow the fuck up,” Brady snarled. “Fucking twenty-year-old virgin.”

  Carlo sobered immediately. “Hey. What? No.” He held up hi
s hands and looked to me. “I am not a virgin.”

  The guys chuckled, and the tension that had pervaded the air eased. Long moments of companionable silence passed. This wasn’t so bad. I mean, if these guys could be okay with a woman in the ranks then—

  “What did you do?” Carlo’s attention was on the cuffs at my wrist. The shackles that prevented me from escaping this place.

  I looked down at them. Heck. I’d almost forgotten they were there. “I killed a human.”

  Saying the words out loud, simple and devoid of excuses, felt good.

  Carlo held my gaze and nodded. “Sucks, doesn’t it?”

  “You say that as if you can relate.”

  Carlo lifted his hand and pulled back the arm of his gown. A silver cuff circled his wrist. “What? You thought you were the only criminal ever to get relegated to the Academy?” He grinned. “Legacy family move, baby. We fuck up, they shove us here.”

  “Legacy?”

  “Harwood.” He winked. “If you’d hung out in the social circles, there is no way you’d have missed my moves.”

  Aidan groaned and shook his head. “Here we go with the moves. You have two left feet on the dance floor; you know it, we all know it.”

  But my mind was on his previous statement. My father had known transferring a sentence to the Academy could be done. He’d manipulated events to get me here, to trap me here, and he’d been confident his plan would work because it had worked for others before him.

  I wanted to ask Carlo how it had happened for him? If he remembered, if he had been conscious, in control, something. But the words stuck in my throat as the memory of what I’d done filled my mind.

  “Don’t,” Carlo said. “Waste of fucking time. You can’t change it. You can’t change what you are. Just got to live with it.” He peered at me from under lashes the color of wet sand. “I heard you used to kick ass in the pits. True?”

  Oh, good. Solid ground. “Yeah. I fought in the pits.”

  “In that case,” Devon said, his voice surprisingly soft for his size, “welcome to the gang. You need to be a fighter to survive here.”

  “These guys are my troop,” Lloyd said. “We’re in sector two training at the moment.”