Magic and Misconduct: Sleep Hollow Academy - Book 1

by Zenia, Zara

  Zap spotted someone he recognized not long afterward, and that left me alone. I wandered toward the buffet and drinks table, and poured myself some lemonade while looking at the crowd.

  There were already plenty of Salem students, and I looked for anyone I found interesting. My gaze settled on a male student. It wasn’t obvious what kind of supernatural he was, so I assumed witch or shifter.

  What drew me to him was purely superficial. He was hot. Tall and dark-haired with an almost arrogant look on his face. He was standing alone, sipping on a cup of something and doing what I was doing. He was wearing well-fitting jeans and a tight top that was open at the collar.

  Cup of lemonade in my hand, I meandered my way over to him. The whole point of this thing was to get to know people, anyway, and we were both standing alone.

  “Hi,” I said, coming to stand opposite him and looking up into cold blue eyes. “I’m Marina. I’m from Sleepy Hollow.”

  He looked down at her with a blank face, as though she’d said nothing at all, and then turned his nose up. “I’m not interested,” he said, then walked away.

  I stared after him, forcing my jaw not to hang on the floor. How rude! I’d only wanted to say hello, the least he could have done was given me a greeting back. He might be hot, but he was a raging asshole. I hoped all the Salem University students weren’t that impolite just because we went to a different college.

  I had a look around the room. It seemed to be fifty-fifty. Some people were mingling with the other university, and others were stood in insulated groups. I followed the rude guy’s progression through the crowd, and he’d easily joined a large group of Salem students and started chatting to them. It wasn’t that he was socially awkward, then. He’d just really not wanted to talk to me.

  I scowled at him, and then turned around. I wasn’t going to waste another thought on him.

  Despite the rocky start, I had a great time at the party. Daniel and I spent a lot of time on the dance floor with each other, and then Vlad took me for a walk around the town to show me some spots I hadn’t seen before. Colin didn’t show up, which was probably for the best.

  When it was getting late and I was getting tired, I went to find Laurie. Brian had already gone home, and she was chatting to some Salem students. I told her I was getting ready to leave, and she said she was ready too. So, we headed out of the community center and started back toward the campus.

  “Good night?” she asked. We hadn’t actually spent much of the evening together.

  “Definitely. You?”

  “It looked it for you. I saw you and Daniel on the dance floor. You look cute together.”

  I beamed. “I feel good when I’m with him.” We turned the corner off the main road and toward the alley we always cut through to get back on the path that would take us back to campus.

  “You look it. And yeah, I’ve had a good night. Brian left early. He was feeling a bit ill. I hope he’s okay.”

  “I’m sure he’d have let you know if he was feeling worse. He’s probably just gone straight to sleep.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. And Colin didn’t—”

  Laurie was cut off by two people entering the other end of the alley. It wouldn’t have been worrying if they hadn’t pulled knives from their pockets and immediately thrown them toward us.

  14

  Marina

  I almost didn’t react in time. I wasn’t used to using my magic in combat like this, and my reactions weren’t honed for it. I brought up a basic barrier spell that the knives hit instead of us, and dropped to the ground.

  Beside me, Laurie had disappeared. It took me a moment to realize she was still there, but was a white Labrador instead. I’d never thought of Labrador’s as anything other than adorable, but Laurie was bearing her sharp white teeth at the attackers and I definitely would have wanted to be on the wrong side of her.

  She growled low, and I swallowed thickly, my heart beating a mile a minute. I’d never been in this kind of situation before. I’d never even trained combat spells. I was an academic witch. That was all I’d ever wanted to be.

  The guys weren’t academic in their knowledge of fighting. They lunged forward with more knives in their hands and I moved backward quickly. If I could just get out of the alley then maybe I could get some help. The main street might have some people on it that would come and assist me against these people.

  I didn’t even know why they were attacking. If they were just common muggers, or if they were Hunters. Hunters were humans that violently rejected supernatural beings. They worked in cells normally and killed as many supernaturals as possible. They were responsible for a lot of the violence that had been happening on paranormal college campuses.

  These people hadn’t demanded money. They’d gone straight to trying to kill us.

  They were probably Hunters.

  That just made my blood pound harder, and I racked my brains for a strategy that would actually work.

  But even though I was planning to run, Laurie had leapt toward one of the men and clenched her teeth around the arm that was holding the knife and shaking it violently.

  The other man was going toward Laurie with his knife. If I left now, she might be stabbed somewhere vital.

  I murmured a curse under my breath, directing it at the man who was turning toward Laurie. The curse messed with his center of balance and meant he fell on his face. While he was down, I cast as many blessings as I could think of on Laurie. I’d practiced my blessings longer and it meant I could do them non-verbally and therefore much more quickly.

  While I buffed Laurie with as many blessings as I could think of, I called, “Help!” at the top of my voice. We weren’t that far from the community center yet. This was a shortcut for the way back to campus. Someone might here us. Someone might be nearby enough that they could help us before one of us got seriously hurt.

  The man on the ground got back up and continue toward Laurie. Nothing I had in my arsenal was going to stop him. I could curse him to have bad luck, and did so, but that wasn’t a good solution. I shut my eyes for a second, trying to block out everything except the journal that I kept progress on my spells on. That contained everything that I’d ever learned. If it was any other situation, I would have been able to recite it all perfectly and immediately. Now it was just out of reach.

  My eyes snapped open and I realized what I was missing. I didn’t necessarily need to injure him, I didn’t really have any abilities that could do that. For now, I just need to distract him enough that he stopped trying to attack Laurie. She was doing well against the one guy, but she wouldn’t have able to take both.

  I shouted a final, “Help!” before launching into a barrage of curses against the Hunter. One made his skin uncomfortably warm, the other itchy. I affected him with one that made his eyesight blurred. If I had more practice with that curse, I would have been able to blind him completely, but that was something I’d never thought I’d need to use. I used the same curse that would set him off balance, and another that made him feel nauseous.

  I was much more proficient in my blessings that my curses. I’d always rather be able to help someone than hurt them. But this was going to have to do for now.

  The man turned, fixing me with angry blue eyes. Ice cold fear shot down my spine, and I backed up, knowing that now I had his attention there was nothing I could do with it. The man charged with his knife drawn and I said curse after curse, scuttling backward. I wasn’t fast enough, but at least Laurie would be safe for now.

  He was about to get me when a blast of air forced him backward and onto the ground. My breath caught in my throat and I didn’t dare to look over my shoulder in case the man got up and came at me again.

  Laurie was still biting the guy’s arm and trying to drag him to the floor. There was a red line on her back, and I hoped it was his blood and not hers. The person who had appeared behind me shouted another spell and lightning exploded in the alleyway. It bounced off the walls and I was terrifi
ed it was going to hit Laurie, but it was precise and hit the man that had been about to attack me in the leg, making him stumble and fall.

  The guy Laurie was attacking broke free of her hold and ran to where his comrade had fallen before she could attack him again, dragging him to his feet and running back the way they’d come.

  My body was shaking as I turned to the person who’d saved us.

  My mouth threatened to hang open for the second time when I saw it was the rude Salem student who’d shunned me earlier at the party. His expression was less aloof this time. It looked angry.

  “What the hell was that?” he asked.

  I stepped back, eyes wide. He was saying it to me, but he must have just been angry that they’d dared to attack people in the first place. “I don’t know what happened. We were just trying to get home and they attacked us. They must have been Hunters. I heard there’s a group in Kingston that have been active, and it’s not that far.”

  “I know what a Hunter is,” he spat. “I mean, you. You didn’t do anything. You just stood there.”

  I frowned. “I don’t know that many offensive spells. Well, I don’t know any really. My specialty is curses and blessings.”

  “Something being a specialty doesn’t mean it’s all you can learn. You should have more than that in your arsenal. How can you be a Witch and not know a single offensive spell?” he sneered.

  My temptation was to back down in the face of the man who had just saved my life, but I scowled right back at him, crossing my arms defensively. The fear that had been all-encompassing moments ago was replaced by anger. “There’s nothing wrong with not wanting to have to fight.”

  “Sometimes you don’t have a choice.”

  “I’m fine, aren’t I?”

  “Only because I stepped in and saved your ass. Sleepy Hollow students are always so over-confident.”

  “I come from a tiny little town with practically no crime. I’ve never needed to fight before. I thought that I’d be safe at Sleepy Hollow too.”

  “Well, you’ve just been taught a lesson, then. No one is ever safe. Learn some spells like a competent adult.” He pulled something from his pocket. “And if you want to learn them from me, give me a call.”

  He turned on his heel and strode away, leaving me staring, open-mouthed after him.

  He was strange. He’d just saved us and then walked away without even waiting to see if we were okay to get home? He wasn’t going to come with us to make a report to the faculty, or the police?

  He’d been more concerned about telling me off than making sure I was okay?

  My open-mouthed look returned to a scowl. I looked at the card in my hand. Thomas Corey.

  My mind reached the only conclusion it could.

  Thomas Corey was an asshole.

  15

  Thomas

  I lay awake for a long time that night, trying to decide if I’d been too harsh on Marina.

  Everything I’d said was true. She was from a pretentious school that thought it was better than anyone else, and she was just as pretentious herself. Who, in this day and age, really believed they could get away with not learning how to fight? It was such a naive attitude it was embarrassing. And she’d even dared to defend it when she’d just almost been killed because of her lack of combat training.

  And yet I’d given her my card.

  I’d asked her to call me, offered to train her.

  I had no idea what I thinking. Adrenaline from the fight. That must have been it. That and I’d wanted to make sure the insult hit home. I was a first year, from a lesser university and I knew more than her. More than enough to the point that I could tutor her.

  I’d just been showing off.

  That was it.

  It had nothing to do with wanting to see her again, because she’d been friendly and come to speak to me without prompting at the party, looking at me from her small stature with smiling blue eyes.

  I turned over in my bed and stared out of the window. We were staying in buildings on campus, unfortunately, and I wondered which of the buildings, of the ones I could just about see, was Marina’s. If she was even in dorms. Maybe she was wealthy and stayed off campus in private accommodation like me. No, she’d said she was from a small town with no crime and hadn’t understood the importance of combat experience. Any wealthy family with paranormals wouldn’t have been that naive.

  I checked my cell.

  No calls, no texts.

  I shoved it back under my pillow and resolved not to check it again. I shut my eyes more forcefully. Sleep would come eventually.

  When it did, I found myself back in the alley in Sleepy Hollow, but it was slightly different. I was watching the fight happen, giving myself a couple of seconds to get a read on the situation before intervening. The dog shifter was doing well, attacking one man and keeping him distracted and injured with her teeth.

  Marina, on the other hand, was floundering. All she’d done was give the Labrador some blessings. It wouldn’t be enough to sway a fight. Then she started slinging curses. It was a terrible battle strategy. There was no way she could have beaten someone with that technique. It was an irritation, the kind of thing you’d prank someone with, not fight for your life with.

  I shook my head, waiting until the last minute before using my magic to propel the Hunter backward. Using my lightning was something that came naturally at this point and it hit a non-fatal point on the Hunter. Enough to surprise and hurt him, but not to give him a heart attack. The last thing I wanted was the legal trouble of having killed someone, even if the bastard deserved it.

  The Hunters ran away and I fought the urge to go after them. I should have given chase and incapacitated them, but I had no idea if there were more of them in the city and I didn’t trust these two to have my back if I ran into something unexpected.

  So, I had no choice but to stay there and deal with the useless mage that had almost gotten herself killed due to incompetence.

  But when she turned around, her eyes were wide and startled. She looked at me as if I was a hero.

  “Thank you,” she murmured, stepping forward and gripping my hand with hers. “Thank you so much. I… I would have died.”

  The insult was on the tip of my tongue, you deserved it. You’re at this pretentious school and you don’t even know a basic combat spell? “Are you okay?” I asked instead.

  She squeezed my hand and took her own back, wrapping her arms around her waist. “Yeah, I’m okay I think. Just surprised. I’ve never had to deal with anything like that before. I always thought it was safe here.”

  Over her should, the Labrador had given chase, but I didn’t say anything. I could see the white dog at the end of the alley, it probably wouldn’t go much further after them.

  “It’s not safe anywhere,” I replied, missing the touch of her hand on mine.

  “I’m lucky you were here.” Something in her eyes was darker than it had been a second ago, and she took a small step forward. She stood on her tiptoes and looked at me in the eyes as if considering something, then pressed her palms to my cheeks and kissed me.

  It was surprise that stopped me pushing her away, that’s what I told myself. It was surprise and adrenaline that made me kiss her back, wrapping my arms around her waist and guiding her backward until her back hit the wall. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was gorgeous and that I’d been unable to stop thinking about her since I’d shunned her at the party.

  Then she disappeared from in front of me, as did the rest of the scene.

  My eyes flickered open and were met by the unfamiliar ceiling of the Sleepy Hollow dorm room I was sleeping in. My cock was hard in my pants and I groaned, wishing I wasn’t sharing a room with another student.

  Marina was the last person I wanted to be having sex dreams about. She was just an incompetent Sleepy Hollow student who I could have been hurt trying to save.

  But when, a couple of days later, I was catching up with some textbook reading and my
cell rang, I was deeply satisfied to see an unfamiliar name cross the screen. It might have been her.

  “Hello,” I said.

  “Hi,” came the familiar voice on the other end, sounding a little awkward. Sounding as if I was the last person she wanted to speak to.

  I grinned because she wouldn’t be able to see it.

  “It’s Marina. You told me to call you about learning some more offensive magic.”

  “You want me to tutor you?”

  “I’d at least like to talk to you about it. I thought we could go for coffee.”

  “When did you have in mind?”

  16

  Marina

  I shouldn’t have called him.

  After how rude he’d been, there was no way that I should have called him. He was an arrogant, stuck up asshole and I was only going to boost his ego by going for coffee with him.

  I knew that, and yet I’d been unable to stop myself. It had been taunting me for days, since the moment he’d saved my life. I’d spoken to campus police that night with Laurie and we’d filed a report about the Hunters, given all the details that we could, but they weren’t a lot by the time we got back to campus and actually spoke to someone. Laurie had minor injuries on her back, but it was nothing that some spells from the campus nurse hadn’t been able to get healed up pretty quickly.

  Beyond that, I’d been absorbed in the competition. At least, I’d been trying to be.

  But Thomas’s words kept forcing their way back to the forefront of my mind. I hadn’t ever had to fight before, but if there were Hunters in Sleepy Hollow then I might be in that situation again. There was no way I was going to just not go out ever again because of a couple of bastards with knives.

  So maybe learning some offensive magic would be a good thing. I didn’t have to use it unless it was necessary, but if it was necessary, it would be good to have it.