Shadow Academy Read online

  She giggled. “I think that’s for the doctors but it applies here as well.”

  I relaxed a little as the lesson started. Ethics was something I could easily bluff. Do the right thing—always—and it should be sweet. I didn’t have to be a supernatural to grasp that concept.

  Professor Murtough was a spritely vampire. He declared proudly that he was two hundred and seven years old so he should ‘know a few things or two that we don’t’. His lecture was lively and interesting. So much so that I almost forgot that I didn’t belong there.

  “Miss Musgrave,” Murtough started, looking directly at me. “Can you give an example that explains how one could be caught in an ethics conundrum?”

  I didn’t have to think too hard. There was an excellent example taught at my old high school. “A train driver sees a man on the train tracks. There isn’t time to slow down. If he proceeds, the man will definitely die. However, if he pulls the emergency brake, chances are the train will derail and kill all those on board. Should he kill one to spare dozens? Or kill dozens to spare one?”

  The professor clapped his hands together as he smiled so widely his fangs were on display. “Someone has been reading their textbook. Excellent example.” He turned away to address the whole room. “Now, what is the right thing to do here? We have to murder in order to save. It isn’t our fault the man is on the tracks. Nor is it on us that we can’t brake in time without derailing. We didn’t cause this situation so how could we be held accountable?”

  Perhaps I could last a little longer at this academy. If I could manage to pass all the theory-based subjects I might have been able to go under the radar. Surely not everyone was good at their ability? Maybe I could say I’m a slow learner.

  The door to the classroom banged open so loudly, everyone jumped—including Professor Murtough. We watched on as two men in black capes strode in, scanned the room with their gaze, and then zeroed in on one of the students. Her eyes were as wide as saucers as she was hauled to her feet and taken away.

  “No! Please don’t,” the girl begged and pleaded. She was fighting every step they took but there was no way she was going to escape their grasp. “There must be a mistake, please let me go!”

  “Roach!” a boy in the second row called out.

  The Black Cloaks had come to take away their first victim.

  Chapter 4

  A few stunned minutes passed before anybody else dared to move or speak. The boy that had called out settled back into his seat, a smug look on his face.

  Professor Murtough ran his deathly-white hands through his hair as he regained his composure. “Now, let’s start reading chapter one. I’m sure we don’t need to discuss the ethics of what just occurred.”

  “Roaches don’t belong here,” the same boy called out. A murmur of assent ran through the room. Apparently everyone did want to speak about the incident.

  “Good that they caught her early,” the girl beside him said.

  “Did she really think she could hide here? Filthy beast.”

  “They’ll have her head rolling before sundown.”

  “She should never had stepped foot in here. Her parents should have reported her as soon as they knew.”

  “She probably lied to them too. Roaches never tell the truth.”

  And there was my ethical dilemma. If I joined in, I was validating that they were right. If I didn’t, they might have noticed and then turned their accusations in my direction.

  I was too stunned to really think straight. Those men in the cloaks had been so hard, so determined. They just strode right on in and took her without even explaining to anyone. They had free reign. There was no telling when they would come back and do the same to me.

  That poor girl.

  If I’d have known we were the same, perhaps we could have worked together to get through the academy. Perhaps we could have come up with a plan to stay undetected. We could have helped one another. But now she was gone and I was shaken to the core.

  Of course I was going to get discovered. Any moment now my life could be over. As if I could do anything to avoid the inevitable. Any traces of hope that had sparked were now fizzling out.

  It was almost worse hearing my classmates go on about roaches than actually seeing one taken away. There was so much hatred spewing from their mouths. So much disdain for someone they didn’t even know. We’d been at classes for what, one day? They had no idea what she really like. Perhaps she was the nicest person on the planet.

  My stomach churned and tied in knots. I studied the faces of those loudest in the room, committing them to memory so I knew who I should avoid.

  It wasn’t long before my gaze spotted Liam in the back row. His mouth was closed as he managed to pull off a bored look. He wasn’t participating in the discussion at all. He looked to be a million miles away in his mind. Perhaps he was pretending to be somewhere else.

  Cress wasn’t talking either, which made my heart beat with relief. I don’t think I could have withstood her hating roaches to the extent of the others. Of course, I could also be wrong about her. Perhaps she was just too shy to speak so loudly in a large class.

  Professor Murtough eventually asked everyone to be quiet and resumed the lesson. I tried to pay attention, I really did, but all I could think about was seeing that girl being taken away.

  She had screamed with everything she had while they were hauling her off. How quickly would they kill her? Would she get to say goodbye to her family first? How would they do it? Swift and painless? Or would they make her die a slow and painful death?

  Perhaps the Supernatural Council could use a class on ethics. Not everyone without powers is going to snitch to the human world. Some just want to be left alone in peace.

  Like me.

  When the alarm sounded the end of class, I needed to escape from there. It was lunchtime but I had no stomach for eating. I made up an excuse about needing to get my things and hurried off in the direction of the female dorms.

  My cell phone rang when I was halfway to my room on the third floor. It was Mom. I rushed into the stairwell and took the call. “Hello?”

  She rushed out a relieved sigh. “Oh, thank the goddess you answered. I just heard a girl was taken from the academy today for not having any powers.”

  We didn’t use the term roach in our household anymore, for obvious reasons.

  “I saw her taken from class. It was horrible, Mom. I was so scared for her.” A lump formed in my throat and threatened to choke me again. I was already exhausted from the physical stress on my body and mind. I hadn’t realized I was shaking until that moment.

  “I was scared for you, my darling girl. How are things going there? Is it terrible?”

  Just hearing my mother’s voice was enough for a few tears to escape. I thought I was doing a great job of keeping it all together. I guessed I couldn’t lie to my mother. She could see through any pretenses too easily.

  “It’s okay, I guess. I just have to be so careful. I have no idea who that girl was but it’s only the first day. Something really bad must have happened for her to be discovered so quickly.” All the words rushed from me in a tidal wave. “How did you hear about it?”

  “It was on the news.”

  The supernaturals had their own television stations. They were cloaked to all humans so they couldn’t see it. With seers on the council, the news was always super fast and super accurate.

  “Did they say what happened to the girl?” I asked. I was debating whether I really wanted to know or not. My stomach churned incessantly.

  “You know what they say: reeducation. The girl was apparently off to reform classes to ensure she would never speak of supernaturals again.” I could picture Mom shaking her head on the other end of the phone. Her forehead would be covered in worry lines. I think I was the cause of each and every one of them.

  “I’m going to have to be so careful here,” I admitted.

  “I know, darling. I’ve spent every second thinking about you.
I’ve come up with a million plans to try to get you out of there but none of them will work.”

  “There’s nowhere I can go so I can hide from the council, is there?

  “Sorry, darling. They can always do a locating spell and pinpoint your location. All they need is your name.”

  “What if I changed my name?” Surely there had to be a loophole somewhere. There was always a loophole. I just had to find one.

  “It won’t work.”

  “What about a cloaking spell? You and Dad could perform one together to hide me. That would work, wouldn’t it?” My voice was growing more desperate by the minute.

  I knew the answer before she said it. “Nobody has magic stronger than the council. Trust me, darling, I’ve gone through all these scenarios in my head. There is no way of hiding from the council. The best place you can be right now is at the academy—right where they need you to be.”

  Silence hung in the space and distance between us. Mom sounded so tired. My inability to do any magic and claim my heritage was hurting her more than I ever could have imagined.

  Guilt was pouring through my veins. “Don’t worry about me, okay? I’ve already made some friends and classes seem to be pretty basic.”

  Cress and Liam kind of counted as friends, didn’t they? Doubted it.

  “Stay safe and out of trouble.”

  “I will,” I promised, even though I doubted I would be able to keep it.

  When we ended the call, my body felt hollow. I needed to be something I wasn’t and I didn’t know what I could do to change that. It was impossible for me to suddenly be a perfect witch with all the powers that came with it. I was nothing. Worthless amongst the students and faculty of this academy.

  Footsteps bounced off the walls of the stairwell. It took a few moments before I could move. I raced up the last few steps and hurried toward my dorm room before the person could catch up with me.

  I prayed they hadn’t heard my telephone discussion. It wouldn’t take too much to take my side of the call and report me. But, if they didn’t see me, they couldn’t know for sure who it was.

  All I needed was my stupid roommate to have unlocked the door. I sent up a silent prayer as my hand reached for the knob.

  It turned.

  I slipped inside and closed the door. Rosa wasn’t there. He bed was made with frilly blue sheets. Mine was still exactly as I’d left it—barren.

  The sound of the door opening gave me a heart attack. I spun around as my heartbeat raced up a storm. My lovely roommate stood in the doorway, leaning against the side like she was the cat who got the cream.

  Was she the one on the stairwell? Please, Goddess, no.

  It was best to be on the offense. “You need to give me a key to this room,” I said boldly. “It wasn’t fair locking the door last night. I had to sleep in the library.”

  “I told you I didn’t do roommates,” she replied, clearly without an inch of sympathy or regret.

  “It wasn’t me who said I had to share with you. You can’t blame me for something the academy did.”

  She arched one perfect eyebrow. “I can’t? What, is there a rule about it or something?”

  “You know it’s wrong.”

  “There’s a lot of things wrong here.” She brushed past me, picked up a notebook off her desk and waltzed right out of the room again. She didn’t look back. Didn’t retort. Didn’t do anything.

  She had to have heard everything and knew it was me. All she had to do now was relay the conversation to a teacher and I was done for. The Black Cloaks would come for me next. I would end up on the evening news too. Two female roaches taken from Shadow Academy in one day. It would be a sensational headline.

  My survival instincts told me to run as far away from that place as possible. Staying there was going to get me killed. But running would too. Like my mother said, they would be able to find me with one simple spell.

  The best thing I could do was continue on like nothing was wrong. The guiltier I acted, the faster they would suspect me. When it was my word against someone else’s, I needed some good grades to be on my side.

  As much as I didn’t want to, I dragged myself to my feet, picked up my bag, and headed to my next class. The alarm signaling the end of the lunchbreak would blare at any moment. I hadn’t eaten but I had no stomach for it anyway.

  My afternoon classes were Basics of Nature and Understanding Supernatural Species. They were both interesting if I could have concentrated. They were also theory-based with no displays of magic being necessary.

  When the final alarm sounded for the day, I let out a sigh of relief and headed straight to the dining hall. I was starving as my stomach rumbled. Thankfully, the nausea had ebbed away sometime during the afternoon.

  Cress was already seated with a tray piled high with food. I wish I had the metabolism of a werewolf. If I’d eaten the same amount of food, I would have been the size of a house. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but I would need to buy all new clothes and had no money to splash around.

  I chose a pizza and a soda and joined her at the table. She was already halfway through her tray. “Do you mind if I join you?”

  She gestured to the table. “Sure! As you can see, I’m sitting here with all my friends.” She was alone at the table.

  “Well, I’d be happy to call you my friend,” I replied, smiling. “How was your afternoon? Less eventful?”

  Cress nodded. “Nobody got hauled away so I guess so. I had classes on the senses—how to use your nose to the best of your ability and stuff like that. It’s all basic.”

  While she mentioned the incident, I could bring it up casually. “Did you know the girl who was taken?”

  “I spoke with her once. She was in the same orientation group when I arrived. She seemed nice but…nervous. I didn’t think anything of it because plenty of people were nervous on the first day,” Cress explained.

  I didn’t want to seem overly-curious but I craved information. Cress was going to be my best shot at discovering anything. If I knew what the girl’s mistake had been, I could avoid doing it too.

  “Did she say what her species was supposed to be?”

  “She mentioned she was a seer.”

  “I guess she didn’t see the Black Cloaks coming for her,” I joked.

  It made Cress laugh at least. “That’s a good one. I guess she didn’t see it coming! We probably shouldn’t make fun of her, though. Poor girl. Imagine having to pretend and all the while knowing the Black Cloaks would come eventually.”

  “Yeah, must be difficult. But not many people feel sorry for roaches. They could risk the lives of all supernaturals.”

  “That’s true. I still can’t help feeling sorry for her, though. She’s a person too. The council should be able to come up with some solution so they don’t expose us.”

  “Like a binding spell?” I offered.

  “Yeah, you’re a witch, is that possible?”

  I wished it was. I’d asked my parents that same question dozens of time. “Binding spells don’t exactly work like that. Plus, there is no guarantee someone else won’t take it off and cleanse them of the spell. There will always be that chance.”

  “I overheard some of the others talking about the girl in my last class. They said she comes from a wealthy family so they might be able to buy her freedom,” Cress said.

  “I doubt the council is open to bribes.”

  “Yeah, me too. But I guess we can hope for the best.”

  We ate in silence for a few moments while the fate of the poor girl lingered around us like a ghost. We both knew she was probably already dead but we wouldn’t say so.

  Cress was the one to break the quietness. “I haven’t known a witch before. How was that growing up?”

  That was something I could actually talk about and not have to lie. “It was kinda fun, actually. Weird too. My parents would use their abilities to do all the mundane tasks like cook dinner and clean the house. It was a normal thing to come
home and find pots stirring themselves on the stove and the vacuum cleaner purring away in another room.”

  “That must have been very handy!”

  “It was. Plus, there were always so many people around. Their entire coven was like family. There were always extra people at the dinner table every night and the house was never really empty.”

  “I totally get that,” Cress said. “The members of a werewolf pack are closer than most families. It was like growing up with dozens of parents and siblings.”

  “Do you have many real siblings?”

  “Just a little brother. He’s annoying as hell but I kind of miss him. How about you?”

  “Only child. My mother said one was enough.” Thinking about it now, I’d bet my parents regretted that decision. They never expected to have their only child turn out to be a roach. They should have had more kids and lessened the odds.

  Cress brightened as she spoke about her family. “Werewolf families are normally much bigger. They’re crazy and full of rowdy pups. My mother had complications after having my brother so she couldn’t have any more. Being in the pack more than makes up for it, though.”

  I guessed Cress and I were pretty similar. Both werewolves and witches had large families that weren’t bound by blood. I wondered if the other kinds of supernaturals lived that way too. I would probably find out soon with my classes.

  We exchanged stories until all the food was eaten and our drinks were empty. The dining hall filled in waves as students came in, ate, and then left again. We’d been through several waves when I spotted Liam for the first time.

  He was eating alone.

  Cress noticed that I was staring at something and turned to see. “Seems the principal’s son is lacking in the friend department.”

  “I kind of feel sorry for him. I’ve never seen him sitting with anyone.”

  She shrugged. “Maybe if he was nicer to people…”

  “Is he really that awful?” I asked.

  “I’ve heard stories. Nobody has anything good to say about him. From all accounts, he’s an arrogant bully.”

  A part of me really wished she’d said something different. Liam didn’t seem so bad to me. Sure, he was a jerk when we collided the day before but I sensed there was more to him now.