Shadow Caster: The Nightwatch Academy book 1 Page 5

  The man nodded. “Yeah, just. This is the weirdest dream I’ve ever had. I mean … I keep thinking I should wake up now, but I can’t.” He poked Thomas’s arm. “So real.”

  Ice did a slow trickle through my veins. “You think you’re dreaming?”

  He blinked at me and pushed his spectacles up his nose. “Oh, yes. I went to bed, and then I was here, so it’s a dream. I have vivid dreams all the time, but this one is the best so far. Although those monsters were more of a nightmare, but I was like, I need to get help, and there you were.” He grinned and nodded. “Lucid dreaming. I made you guys appear, I guess. But I can’t … I can’t seem to wake up.” He gave an awkward little laugh.

  “Fucking hell,” Harmon said.

  “They wouldn’t.” Thomas sounded unsure.

  Oberon let out a wry bark of laughter. “Yeah, well, looks like they did.”

  The human was real. He was real, and he was in the sim.

  * * *

  “What the fuck?” Thomas whispered.

  We huddled a little way from the fire, one eye on the human and a sleeping Minnie.

  “They took a human and stuck him in a pod.” Harmon scratched his stubbled chin. “How many more?”

  “One for each team, probably,” Oberon said.

  So, we’d established the human was not a computer-generated character, unless … “That could just be his script.”

  “What?” Thomas made a face. “You mean they created him to say that?”

  Oberon stood, tongue in cheek, and nodded. “It could be.”

  I sighed. “It doesn’t matter. We’re stuck with him for now. We can’t leave him out here alone. It’s probably part of the test, the whole save the human thing.”

  Minnie moaned and rolled onto her side. “Indie?”

  I left the guys and rushed over to her. “You okay? You in pain?”

  She smiled up at me. “Nah, it’s gone.” She ran a hand over her abdomen. “All healed.”

  I held my hand out to her. “In that case, let’s get a move on.” I hauled her up and looked up at the rapidly pinkening sky. “Looks like we’ll be hiking during the day.” I couldn’t help but smile. “Been a long time since I saw the sun, even if it is a fake one.”

  Harmon kicked earth over the fire, and we were off.

  * * *

  It was strange feeling the kiss of the sun on my skin, feeling my lungs work with exertion, and feeling my limbs tire. Harmon and Oberon were unaffected by the sun, but Thomas, Minnie, and I lagged a few meters behind the two guys.

  Oberon said something, and Harmon threw back his head and laughed.

  Thomas snorted derisively.

  “Oh, for goodness’ sake,” Minnie snapped. “If it bothers you so much why continue to date him?”

  Thomas’s jaw clenched. “None of your business.”

  “It’s not like you hide your feelings on Harmon’s wandering eye.”

  It was obvious. “He’s in love with him. He thinks he’ll change.” It was my turn to snort. “People don’t change.”

  “Fuck you, Justice.”

  “Ain’t gonna happen.”

  “Looks like we’re out of the woods,” Minnie said. “Literally.”

  The forest opened onto flatlands, green fields, and the odd shrub or bush. Green, bright green. Colors so vivid in the warm buttery rays of the sun.

  “Back home, I sometimes wake early to watch the sunset,” Minnie said.

  “Me too,” Thomas replied with a sigh. “I went out during the day once, and my parents went insane. I got grounded for a month.”

  “How old were you?” Minnie asked.

  He ducked his head. “Fifteen.”

  The Academy took cadets aged from seventeen to twenty-one and some even older if the Watch felt they’d be valuable assets or if their families happened to be legacy. But everyone did three years at the Academy unless you were a prodigy like my cousin, Kat, who’d completed all the requisite programs and exams in a year and a half.

  “So, when do you think they’ll throw another curveball at us?” Thomas asked.

  The vista was too serene, and his words put me on edge. “Let’s hope whatever it is, it’s not till tonight. We’ll be three men down if we get attacked again during the day.”

  “Look!” Harmon picked up the pace. “Fruit.”

  Bushes laden with colorful fruit dotted the ground ahead.

  “Ah, the opportunity to gather supplies,” Oberon drawled.

  Thomas let out a whoop and rushed ahead.

  “Not sure why he’s getting so excited. It’s not blood,” Oberon said.

  “Nightbloods eat food,” Minnie said.

  “But only for show,” Oberon countered.

  “Some of us do enjoy the taste,” Minnie countered.

  She was right, but our bodies weren’t designed to digest it. Eating regular foods too often made us sick.

  We joined the others in the grove of fruit. Oval-shaped pink fruit, and what looked like oranges but much smaller.

  “I recognize these,” Oberon said. “We have them at home. Mother grows them in the hothouse. Seeds from Faerie that have been cultivated over generations. This fruit is rare.”

  I picked one and turned it over in my hands. It had velvety skin like a peach and felt warm from the sun. Nice touch. “Are they safe to eat?”

  “We have them on special occasions.” Oberon shrugged.

  “That doesn’t mean they’re safe for us.” Harmon leaned in to sniff one.

  Thomas was reaching for a peachy fruit but dropped his hand. “Good point.”

  “Come on.” Harmon set off again. “We’ve made good time. Let’s keep up the pace, and we can be at the water body by nightfall.”

  If I hadn’t fucked up and used the herbs on Minnie instead of sticking the human under her nose, then we would already be strolling up to our mark by now. Instead, we had several more hours of walking left.

  An hour later, and the human was flagging.

  “We’ll have to stop,” Minnie said. “The human needs to rest.”

  “Henry, my name is Henry.”

  My stomach twisted in guilt. We’d pretty much ignored him, and no one had bothered to ask him his name. The whole is he real or is he a computer-generated construct was messing with all our heads.

  “I need to sit,” he said. And then he just dropped where he was. “Maybe if I go to sleep here, I’ll wake up in my bed.”

  The ground had become uneven and rocky, and there was a definite incline to the terrain. We couldn’t be more than an hour or so from our destination. If we kept going …

  The human groaned. “My feet ache.”

  “I could do with a rest,” Minnie said. “This day walking is kinda tiring.”

  “Yeah, now I understand why we use golems to do our day bidding,” Thomas said. “I can’t wait to get mine once I graduate.”

  Golems were a luxury the legacy families got to enjoy. Woven into existence by the head weaver and his team at Nightwatch headquarters, they were custom designed to suit their masters.

  I found a flat-looking rock and parked my butt. “Fine, we take a break.”

  Harmon and Oberon exchanged glances and then shrugged and joined us.

  “Minnie, how about one of those energy bars?” Harmon asked.

  Minnie passed the energy bars to Harmon and Oberon, then retrieved the blood bags for us.

  I shook my head when she offered me one. “No, thanks. I’m good.”

  Thomas accepted his.

  “Funny?” Oberon said, eyes on the sky. “Sun’s setting. Early.”

  “I guess someone on the outside wants to hurry us along.” Thomas sucked on his blood bag. “Not bad for a simulation drink.”

  “How long do you think we’ve been under in reality?” Minnie asked.

  “Couldn’t be that long.” I shrugged. “It’s a double period, so they probably want us done in two hours.”

  “Hence the fast sunset.” Oberon nodded. “Makes s
ense.”

  The sky pinkened and then darkened. A tingle ran over my skin as my nightblood powers surged back to the surface with the waking of the moon, but then my fingers and palm flared with prickling pain that quickly turned into a burn.

  “Shit!” I shook my hand.

  “You okay?” Minnie reached out to take my wrist and studied my palm. “Shit, what is that?”

  Even with the rapidly setting gloom, the red smudges on my fingertips and palm were clearly visible.

  “Fuck, it burns.” I pulled away from her as the burn sank into my skin and was gone. “Okay, that was weird.” I wiggled my fingers. “It’s gone.”

  “What happened?” Henry asked.

  I glanced over at him, suddenly hyperaware of his presence—the smell of him, the sound of his blood whooshing through his veins. My gums throbbed, and hunger squeezed my stomach.

  Oh, God.

  I stood and backed away.

  “Indie, what is it?” Minnie reached for me, but I jerked away.

  This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not again. I couldn’t go through this again. But there was nothing but the thud of Henry’s pulse and the gallop of my heart, nothing but the hunger. It rose up like a blanket to cloak my consciousness—a crimson tide of ravenous intent. I had to fight it. I needed to get away before it took over, before the bloodlust claimed me and I killed the human.

  But there was no getting away.

  We were stuck in a simulation until we passed the finish line or until we died.

  Died.

  My fangs elongated. The hunger was about to take over. There was only one thing to do.

  I yanked the dagger from my leg holster.

  “Indie? What the fuck?” Minnie said, wide-eyed.

  But my vision was darkening, senses zeroed in on my prey. “I’m sorry. I just. I can’t let this happen …”

  I plunged the knife into my chest.

  Eight

  Principal Brunner tapped her desk and studied me from behind her neat round spectacles. She was a minute woman with sharp, inquisitive features and pale blue eyes that seemed to peer into your soul. She was dressed in her signature long-sleeved, high-necked navy-blue shirt, hair up in a chignon and face free of any makeup. Not that she needed it. She had the clear, glowing skin that was common among the feybloods and a sweet honeysuckle scent which was probably her natural body odor.

  Her office was small, sparse, and neat, just like the woman herself. Dark wood paneling was interrupted by a wall-to-wall bookcase lined with impressive-looking tomes. Two freestanding lamps parked on either side of the room lit it up in warm light. There was an old-fashioned coat rack with an umbrella stand attached, and the desk was one of those antique things, polished to such a shine that it made you afraid you might scratch it.

  It was a pleasant, soothing space, and despite the knot in my stomach, I found myself relaxing. I was no stranger to being reprimanded. All that mattered was the sim was over. No more murder. I’d stopped it from happening again. No need to dwell, just shove it in a box and move on.

  “Madam Garnet explained what happened in the sim,” Brunner said. “The fruit you came across was another test. Only feybloods can consume it. It has strange effects on other supernaturals, bringing their worst fears to the surface.”

  In my case, my fear of draining a human. I took a measured breath. It was over.

  She frowned. “You’re afraid to hurt a human. Not the modus operandi of a killer.”

  “But I am a killer. I killed a human.” My voice was bitter.

  “On purpose?” She canted her head.

  I looked away. “Intent doesn’t matter. Only the outcome.”

  “Hmmm. Yes, I guess to the council …” She pursed her lips. “I understand why you chose to exit. But in doing so, you’ve caused your teammates to fail the exam, and you’ve failed the class.”

  I stared at a point behind her, a fraying edge of the heavy cream drapes that hung at the tall window. “I’m not here to pass classes.”

  She frowned and sat forward. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean? You accepted the deal to come here, did you not?”

  “Yeah, and I’m here. Doesn’t mean I have to participate.”

  She made an ‘o’ with her mouth. “Miss Justice, I believe there’s been a huge misunderstanding. As far as I was informed, your grade must remain above a C average for you to remain here. If it drops below that, then the deal your father struck with the council will be void, and you’ll be handed over to the council for sentencing.”

  The words coming out of her mouth took a moment to register, and then panic gripped me. They hadn’t said anything about grades or passing. That hadn’t been the deal.

  “Indigo.” Brunner sat forward, her hands clasped in front of her. “At the risk of sounding cliché, you have much potential, and the only person holding you back is you. I don’t want to have to hand you over to the council, but I’ll have no choice if you can’t keep your grades up. There are four weeks until the end-of-term exams. Your test and coursework grades are low to non-existent. If you’re going to pass, then everything will ride on those end-of-term papers.” She sighed and sat back. “It’s up to you.” She looked to the door. “You may go. I believe Miss Faraday is in the lobby waiting for you.”

  The ice that had filled my veins crystallized. Minnie … I’d let Minnie down. How the heck would I face her?

  * * *

  Minnie looked up from her magazine as the door of the principal’s office closed behind me. Her brow furrowed in concern and she stood quickly.

  “Are you okay?”

  Was I okay? “Are you serious? You’re worried about me?”

  Her frown deepened. “You stabbed yourself in the heart, Indie. Yeah, I’m worried. You were gone from sim class before we could exit the sim, and then Garnet tells me you were summoned to the principal’s office … I didn’t know what to think.”

  “I just cost you the exam.”

  Minnie reached for my hands. “I don’t give a shit about that right now. I’m worried about you. I need to know you’re okay.”

  Something bubbled up inside me. A welling feeling I’d kept at bay for the longest time. It expanded to fill my chest, rose up my throat, and pressed the back of my eyes and nose with a familiar sting.

  And then my vision blurred. No. Fuck no.

  “Indie? Oh, shit. Indie.” Minnie pulled me into a hug, and a strangled sob broke from my throat.

  “Shit.” My voice sounded odd. I cleared my throat. “I’m fine.”

  I pulled away, and she let me go, but the look in her eyes was determined. “No. Not this time. We need to talk. You need to tell me what happened, not just in the sim, but before you came here. It’s eating away at you. I know it is.”

  The fight bled out of me. Maybe she was right. Maybe it was time to offload.

  “Not here. Let’s go back to the dorm.”

  * * *

  Once I started talking about that night, about the loss of control and the blackout, the words poured out. My father’s face swam in my mind’s eye, cold and uncaring. His voice matter-of-fact as he laid out the terms. He’d done this to me. He’d somehow orchestrated my crime and was now forcing me into a role that would never fit.

  “I don’t understand why.” I picked at the edge of the throw on my bed. “He hates me.”

  “That can’t be true …” But she didn’t sound too sure.

  I looked up at her with a wry smile. “My father has been very vocal about his desire for a son. I doubt anyone in the legacy circles could have missed that.”

  She winced. “Yeah, it may have come up now and then.”

  “Unfortunately, my mother never conceived again. I’m all he has, a reminder of what he considers his failure, and my father does not like to fail. He’s the first Justice not to produce a male heir.”

  “Oh, babe.” Minnie sat cross-legged on the rug between our beds. “And then you had the bloodlust come over you—your worst fear �
� No wonder you bailed.”

  “And now you failed the class.” I swallowed the lump on my throat. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. So, my A minus drops to a B.” She flashed her teeth in a cheeky grin. “I’ll make it up.”

  She was covering. Faradays were renowned for the pressure they put on their offspring to succeed. A B average would not be enough.

  Her expression sobered. “But what about you? I caught something about grades?”

  Nightblood hearing had its perks. “If I don’t maintain a C grade or above, then I’m toast.”

  We sat in silence for a long minute.

  “You’ll keep the grade,” Minnie said. “We’ll cram for the end-of-term tests, and we’ll both ace them.” Her eyes lit up. “Indie. You can do this. You know you can.”

  The confidence in her tone was infectious. I was far from dumb, I just preferred not to work at the academics. But with my head on the line, there was no choice but to employ the brain cells.

  “We’ll get to work right after the goblet ceremony tomorrow.” Minnie got up and hurried to her wardrobe. “In the meantime, we’re going to get dressed and go to a party.”

  “Urgh.” I slumped back on the bed. “I am in no mood to party.”

  She threw some silken fabric at my face. “Put that on. I won’t take no for an answer.”

  “Nothing new there.” But I couldn’t keep the smile out of my voice.

  The fabric was a cerulean halter-neck top. Sod it. After the shitty day, and the shitty news, maybe a party was just what the doctor ordered.

  * * *

  The party was in a clearing in the forest behind the Academy that everyone had dubbed “the grove.” The cadets of the Academy had used the grove for generations, and even though the gatherings weren’t authorized by administration, everyone knew they turned a blind eye to the merrymaking.

  We slipped out from the hulking shadow of the Academy building and joined the train of students dressed in jeans, flats, T-shirts, and fancy tops heading into the forest. I’d opted for sneakers, dark jeans, and the cerulean halter neck Minnie had lobbed at me. I’d pulled my hair back into a French braid, added a lick of gloss and a dash of mascara—my tribute to makeup.