Nightgrove Academy Book One

by Bailey Blackwell

  Izzy groaned as the others laughed. "First of all, Bex, he nearly five-finger-death-punched you. Second of all, I'm pretty sure, if he returned your crush, he could go to jail. And third of all, he's a douchebag of the highest order. Cocky, annoying, and what's with all the brooding? Not to mention, I'm pretty sure he was the one who ratted us out."

  "Hmmm," Aiko said, exchanging a furtive look with Ashley, who just smiled.

  "What?" Izzy demanded, dropping her fork with a plunk.

  "Nothing. It's just...we thinks the lady doth protest too much," Max piped in with a giggle as she reverted back to her old renaissance persona for an instant.

  Izzy glared at her and then at the other smiling faces in turn. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

  "Dunno...could it be that you like him? Maybe that's why everything he does rubs you the wrong way. Unrequited passions?" Max added with a snort-laugh.

  "I liked you better as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo wannabe," Izzy muttered, scooping her tray up and standing. "All of you are crazy. I don't have a crush on Jake. In fact, I can't stand him. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to punch an inanimate object and pretend it's his face for a while. Later.."

  “Bye, Izzy. Say hi to your fake Jake doll for us all!”

  Izzy rolled her eyes as she returned her empty tray and pushed her way out of the cafeteria, blood already humming in anticipation of her workout. Weird, she’d always liked the feeling of exercise and moving her muscles, but now it was a must. She felt like a caged lion if she went too long without moving and sweating a little.

  She made her way to the gym, stopping off at her room to grab her headphones. When she shoved the door open, she let out a sigh of relief to find it empty. It usually was in the evenings, but the way her luck was running today, she had been holding her breath the whole way.

  She took a minute to stretch, reveling in the elastic feeling of her muscles and tendons as she did. Then, she pulled out her iPod and plugged her headphones into her ears as she headed to the punching bags. For the next hour, she cranked up the tunes and let it rip. Uppercuts, jabs, hooks, and vicious roundhouse kicks, one so hard she actually split the seam of the heavy duty bag.

  She paused, just long enough to strip off the hoodie she was wearing down to just a tank top and her leggings, and took it up a notch. By the time she was done, her body was bathed in sweat and she was gasping.

  Now that was a workout. She felt better already. Jake's face would've been pulp by now if he'd been where that bag was.

  She felt a tap on her shoulder and wheeled around with a gasp.

  "Done there, Rocky?"

  Speak of the devil, Satan himself stood there, one hand cocked on his lean hip. His own face was slick with sweat and she looked around the gym in surprise.

  "H-how long have you been here?"

  He shrugged, his gaze impassive. "Probably an hour. You were really focused so I didn't want to interrupt, but I need the bags if you're done."

  Her already over-warm cheeks burned at the thought of him watching her this whole time, and she crossed her arms over her chest.

  "Actually, we need to talk," she said, lifting her chin.

  His jaw clenched and he blew out a sigh as he took a step back. "You know what, forget it. I don't feel like getting into it with you right now. I'll use the bags tomorrow. Have a good night, Izzy."

  He turned and walked away, but she was far from done with their conversation.

  "How do you hit a kid like that, Jake? Are you some sort of psycho masochist or do you just not care that you could've seriously hurt her?"

  His steps didn't falter and Izzy's fury came back tenfold.

  She bent and scooped up one of her discarded boxing gloves and hurled it at Jake's head.

  Weapons training had made her aim balls-on accurate, and the glove connected with a thwack.

  Jake turned and glared at her.

  "What's your problem?" she demanded. "I want to know why you have to act like you're the star of some war movie where you lost all your friends in battle or something. But you don't even have that excuse. You're just a jerk and a snitch."

  He moved so fast, she didn't even see him until he was in her face, so close that she didn't even need to engage her super senses to smell the spearmint on his breath and the sandalwood scent of the soap he used.

  “I didn’t snitch. And anyway, this isn’t a damn game, Izzy. I went way easier on Rebecca than I should’ve. Not pushing herself hard enough could wind up getting her killed someday.”

  "What the hell does that even mean?" she demanded, brain scrambled as much by his proximity as his cryptic reply. “Killed doing what? It’s not like we’re training to be Army Rangers or assassins or something.”

  He scrubbed a hand down his sweaty face and scowled. “Look, I’ve said too much already. Far more than I should've when I don't even have it figured out myself, yet. Just keep your head down and try to stay out of trouble, Izzy."

  With those strange and chilling words of warning, he walked away and didn’t turn back.

  Chapter 15

  The next two weeks were the busiest weeks of Izzy’s life as Baxter ramped up weapons’ training in preparation for a school-wide exhibition. Between that, her normal workout routine, and the extra tasks Dean Cassandra had given her, it was nothing but work work work. It was probably for the best. Her mind was too busy to dwell on the disturbing conversation between her and Jake.

  Jake.

  He had been even gloomier than usual lately, and had been avoiding everyone for weeks, especially her. He took all his food to his dorm, trained with over-ear headphones blasting, and was even more silent than usual in class. She crossed her fingers, hoping he could perform the way he was supposed to tonight in their demonstration.

  Despite all that drama, she could barely contain her excitement. Tonight marked the end of her punishment, and she also would have then to show off her new skills. She knew her long hours practicing was finally really paying off.

  As she pulled her uniform shirt over her head, Rebecca walked into the locker room.

  “Hey, Iz, you feel like you’re ready? It’s almost time,” she said as she opened her locker and began changing.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said with a shrug. “Are you going to tell me what you and Max have been up to these past two weeks, yet?”

  “Nope,” Rebecca said with a sly smile. “You’ll see in a few minutes, no need to rush it.”

  Izzy waited for Rebecca to finish putting her uniform on and they left together, headed to the large room where the obstacle course had been.

  “I wonder how much it costs to change the whole room around like this,” Izzy said, marveling at the open space and bleacher seating. “It’s like a damn coliseum now.” The huge mirrors on the walls were even more off-putting and noticeable now that the room was so open, and Izzy had to remind herself not to let them distract her.

  They made their way toward where Professor Baxter was standing in front of a bench, where the rest of their classmates sat, waiting for the event to begin. They took their seats next to a grinning Molly and waited a few minutes as the final stragglers got into the arena.

  Dean Cassandra entered the room to a smattering of applause, and then made her way to the center of the arena, microphone in her hand. The students went silent before she even began to speak.

  “First off, welcome to our first exhibition!” The place rang out with cheers and Izzy’s blood began pumping. It wasn’t a large school attendee-wise, less than one hundred people, but with all the staff and teachers present, she felt a little like she had at her first dance recital, age three.

  “We will be having one per semester and they should be looked upon as the best opportunity for each class to show off what they’ve learned,” the Dean said. “As I’m sure your professors have told you, it will have an impact on your grade, as well as the rankings, but you should still treat it as a time to enjoy yourselves and show off a little,
all right?”

  Izzy was bristling with excitement now, and couldn’t wait for her to finish her speech so they could get started.

  “Every class has had a chance to prepare a short presentation that will show off the skills of your group, but we will begin with a short bout between our very own professors, Victoria Kristoff and Tyson Sloane.” Izzy caught sight of Aiko and Max hooting and hollering on the other side of the room, cheering for their respective teachers as the Dean swept her hand to the right. “The man off to the side of the ring is a water Elemental, under my employ, that will be on standby in case anything catches on fire so that Tyson—Professor Sloane, to you—is able to use the full extent of his abilities. Now, let’s sit back and enjoy the show!” she said with a wide grin. This time, she didn’t walk off stage. She just winked off, only to appear sitting regally in a huge throne-like chair off to the side.

  Apparently, show off time had begun.

  Izzy saw Aiko’s face light up on the other side of the massive room and she pumped her arm, yelling words of support that Izzy couldn’t hear. The two teachers stepped around the large boulders that were scattered around the arena, presumably to be used as cover until they reached the center. Kristoff wore a tight floor-length dress that had Trent staring at her, mouth gaping, drawing a scowl from Molly. Sloane wore a white tank-top that nearly had Izzy open-mouthed, as well.

  “This is gonna be friggin sweet. I wonder who is going to win,” Molly murmured from Izzy’s left.

  “My money’s on Victoria,” Baxter said, turning to look at them, looking almost as excited as they were, “she is incredibly talented.”

  The two professors shook hands in the center of the ring before turning and standing at the ends, one on each side. After a few moments, the Dean shouted “Go”, which prompted Sloane to charge forward toward his opponent.

  “Ah, a good plan,” Rebecca said thoughtfully. “He wants to remove the disadvantage of the fire being delayed by having to come from his body.”

  Kristoff raised a hand, and the massive boulder to Sloane’s right shot towards him like it had been launched from a catapult. He agilely leapt behind another nearby rock, which seemed to come to life and began to pursue him. He continued moving towards her, but the massive boulders were closing the distance. Izzy’s jaw dropped as he spun around to face them head on, put his hands together, and unleashed a monstrous torrent of flame. Before the speeding boulders could reach him, they melted into bright red magma.

  “Holy shit!” Rebecca said, eyes opened wide in awe.

  Holy shit, indeed.

  Kristoff just smiled and backed up, using the opportunity to create more distance between them. Unfortunately for her, Sloane was faster. When he was within ten yards, he put his right hand up and shot a huge gout of flame into the air that split into dozens of snakelike whips of fire that shot towards Kristoff. She dodged them while moving boulders towards him to counterattack, but the massive whips deflected them whenever they got close. Izzy gasped as she realized he was attacking in such a way that she had no choice but to close the gap between them, rather than run further away.

  She was almost within arm’s reach when he pulled his hand down and began to charge her once again. Her formerly distraught expression turned to an ear-to ear grin as she raised a single hand in his direction. He stopped like he had been frozen in time. As she stepped closer, his legs began to wobble and shake, until he gradually dropped to his knees, every muscle in his body tensing, bulging in stark relief. But resistance was futile. Kristoff was just too powerful. She reached out and, pressing a finger gun to his forehead, pulled the “trigger” with a grin.

  “Look!” Molly shouted, pointing behind Kristoff. A small but growing fireball was flying towards Kristoff from behind, unbeknownst to her. The fireball changed shape as it moved closer, until it resembled a massive bull. She turned to see it, eyes widening in terror, but there was no time to dodge such a huge attack. “That’s enough,” the Dean, who was now standing right beside the combatants, shouted. The bull did a 180 and ran into the distance, shrinking back into nothing. The crowd erupted in a roar of applause and chatter.

  “That was incredible, she’s so cool!” Molly said enthusiastically.

  “I told you she was good, and keep in mind it apparently takes way more skill and effort to use her ability on people than just objects. Most telekinetics could never hope to achieve such a feat,” Baxter said.

  “I thought Matter Manipulators could only use their abilities on objects?” Izzy said.

  “No, they can influence anything in the physical world, they’re just not able to affect the mind with their abilities,” he said as he turned and motioned to Rebecca. “You’re up next, kiddo.”

  Rebecca nodded and shot Izzy a thumbs up. Then, she stepped into the ring, red-faced. Max met her at the center from the opposite side, followed by Sloane and Kristoff, who brought a microphone and handed it to Rebecca. Sloane carried a small log and placed it beside him.

  “Max and I have been working on some devices that are meant to counter the abilities of telekinetics and fire Elementals. I came up with the designs and Max implemented them and made them more practical,” Rebecca said, stuttering all the way through.

  She grabbed a baseball-sized sphere from her pocket and gestured to Sloane. He activated his ability by setting the log ablaze. She put the device next to the fire and twisted it before quickly running back.

  “This device eats oxygen in a small area around it, making it impossible for a fire to stay burning,” Rebecca said as the fire fizzled to nothing. “The current version works for a few minutes, but Max thinks she might be able to construct it to go longer.”

  Rebecca signaled awkwardly to Professor Kristoff and pulled out a second sphere of the same size. Kristoff used her powers and lifted a boulder a few feet away as Rebecca twisted the device, rolling it in the direction of the boulder.

  For a few seconds, nothing happened, and Izzy’s heart fell. But as the little ball came rolling to a stop, suddenly, the boulder came crashing to the ground so hard, the bleachers seemed to tremble.

  “This one traps its surroundings in a sort of invisible bubble that telekinesis can’t seem to reach through,” Rebecca said, gesturing again to Kristoff. The professor moved towards the boulder until she was a foot away, and activated her ability again, lifting it.

  “Notice that she is still able to affect things inside the bubble but would now be unable to lift anything outside of it,” Rebecca said with a bow as Kristoff waved her hand at a distant boulder in demonstration. “Thank you, that’s all.” She awkwardly jogged back towards the bench as the Enhancement students erupted in applause and the other two classes began chattering.

  “Simply incredible,” Dean Cassandra said into the mic. “This could change how magic is used forever! Revolutionary in terms of defense.”

  “Not sure how anyone could possibly top that, was it just the two of you working on it?” Izzy said, shouting over the applause and compliments coming from the rest of their classmates.

  “Yea, they gave us access to a few studies and let us do some trials with the professors, but it was just us working on it,” Rebecca said, cheeks still crimson but now glowing from the attention of her classmates.

  “Next up, Professor Sloane and his class will show us what they’ve been working on all this time,” the Dean said.

  The Matter Manipulators and Elemental classes did an awesome job. Aiko did the choreographed battle against Miguel that she had been talking about, and they both showed excellent control of their powers as bolts of lightning and fire tangled in the air between them, culminating in an incredible clash of their abilities that had nearby rocks turning red with heat.

  When it got to Ashley’s turn from Professor Kristoff’s group, she did a stunningly graceful ballet, tutu and all, while spinning rocks all about her, and ended by jumping onto a huge board she was levitating and landing on the tip of one, pink shoe, en pointe.

  A
gain, the crowd went nuts, but no one more so than Miguel, who kept pumping his fist, yelling, “That’s my baby! Get it, girl. Show ‘em what’s up!”

  Before she knew it, it was Izzy’s turn. Her anticipation was like a razor’s edge, so fine she nearly shook with it. She might not be able to throw fire, but she had gotten damn good at the stuff she could do. Hopefully, she’d impress.

  She sucked in a breath, and stepped towards the small case of bows that had been wheeled into the entrance of the huge hall and picked hers up, aggressively ignoring Jake in the process. She needed her focus if she wanted to nail this. She’d been consistent in practice, but how she controlled her nerves would be a serious factor in her success. Jake and Molly pulled up beside her, grabbing their own bows.

  A large platform, sort of like a stage but with metal bars on the front and sides, was brought in next, and Trent took his position in front of it as they walked over.

  “You got this Trent, keep us steady,” Izzy murmured, flashing him a smile as they stepped onto the platform.

  Trent rolled over onto his back and used his arms and legs to lift the huge platform with all three of them on it. It quickly steadied once he got it up into the air. The crowd roared in amazement at the feat of strength. The platform alone must’ve weighed at least a few hundred pounds, and to be able to keep it steady with the three of them on it was incredible.

  Baxter and a few other staff members stepped up and placed three huge wooden boards on the far side of the room, which must’ve been at least a hundred yards out. When they were out of the way, Baxter shot them a thumbs up and Molly drew her bowstring back.

  Molly nailed the board, making a perfect circle of a dozen arrows and then aiming her final shot at the center. While she was firing her last shot, Izzy was leashing her first, just like they had practiced. She was moving so quickly that the next arrow was knocked before the first had even reached the target. Just like in practice, her arrows laid out a perfect pattern.