Undercover Witch Academy Box Set

by Rachel Medhurst

  “Stop!” the teacher called.

  I couldn’t even remember his name, which showed how much I’d paid attention in his class. Had he sent the other students back to the academy?

  “What’s going on?” Frankie demanded. “Why are we here?”

  Although his gun was aimed at the teacher, his gaze slipped between the pair. His arms were solid as he held his frame, ready to shoot if needed. I had never seen my boss look so calm… and kickass. I’d assumed he was a bit of a loner, using other witches’ magic for his own cause. And yet, he was a cop in the human police force. Mind, baffled.

  Lifting his gaze away from me, the teacher glanced at Frankie. He didn’t acknowledge the gun, instead he flicked his finger, sending it spiralling out of Frankie’s hand and onto the floor, where it scattered towards the girls.

  “We have no need for that here,” the teacher said, his gaze returning to me. “We only want her.”

  “Where are the other students?” Although my voice was calm, my whole body shook.

  I kept my gaze away from my friends, just in case the men saw fit to harm them to get my attention. They obviously knew that the girls were close to me. Another dangerous piece of information for the institute to own.

  My small intake of breath made me almost light-headed. It had to be the institute who had instigated such a vulgar attempt to take me in. Although, I had been gullible enough to listen to the psycho teacher, who even now, eyed me like I was a piece of gold bullion. Well, if he tried to trade me in, I would fight until I died. The institute would not have the satisfaction of taking me in alive.

  “Ah, Alishia,” the teacher murmured. “I would’ve thought such an interesting Illusionist witch would’ve recognised one of her own.”

  Waving his hand, he grinned manically when the students appeared, their faces vacant too. Shit, he had tricked me. These weren’t the real students of the academy, I could see the slight shimmer of a hologram to them. How had I not realised? Did that mean…?

  My leg moved towards my friends as the students melted away. The house was probably an illusion, too. He must’ve been a powerful witch to be able to create such scenes that weren’t real.

  “They’re real.” Holding out his hand, he laughed when I bashed into an invisible wall.

  My gaze studied my friends. He was right, they were actually in the room with us. Their flesh didn’t have a shine to it, and their eyes suddenly grew alert, widening when they saw me.

  “What’s going on?” Isabel almost shrieked. “I can’t move!”

  Helissa stayed calm, taking in her surroundings. My heart popped into my throat, forming a lump of fright that wouldn’t go down, no matter how much I swallowed. I had no doubt that the institute would do anything to get to me, especially after seeing what they had done to James.

  “Your friend is about to play a game,” the teacher said, stepping closer to Izzy and Helissa. “With your lives.”

  “Leave them alone!” I ground out between clenched teeth.

  Frankie was edging ever so slowly across the room. The elderly man who accompanied the teacher clucked his tongue and wagged a finger at him, a warning for him to stay still. Frankie did as he was told, and yet, I clocked him eyeing his gun on the floor nearby.

  If I kept the two men distracted, maybe Frankie could reach his weapon and kill them both. I would play the game if it meant that my friends would be safe.

  “Okay,” I called when the teacher went to turn to Frankie. “I’ll do it. Just…” Holding up my hands in surrender, I relaxed my shoulders. “… Tell me what I need to do.”

  A smirk crossed the man’s features as he ran a hand through his wild blonde hair. I cringed as he winked at me, his attitude changing in an instant.

  “I told my friend here that you were smart, but also a little vulnerable.”

  “Vulnerable?” I couldn’t help my curiosity. “How so?”

  Indicating that the elderly tour guide should join him, the teacher moved to stand in front of Helissa. Both girls were still, obviously taking my lead. Which was a relief considering a wrong move by any one of us could make it all fall apart and put us in danger. Even Dracian was quiet behind me, encouraging me with a brush of a hand on my back.

  “The institute teaches you how to hone your power so you can be free from the constraints of those holding you back.” Eyes wide, the teacher touched a finger to his friend’s shoulder, laughter exploding from his mouth when the man started to convulse.

  As his legs gave out from under him, the teacher went down too, keeping his finger attached to the old man.

  Frankie nodded his head ever so gently when I glanced at him. My gaze traced down, catching sight of the weapon in his hand. Wait, how had he got the gun?

  Searching the floor, I checked to see if the firearm in his hand was an illusion. No wonder normal witches were afraid of us, even I couldn’t determine what was real or fake in a room full of Illusionist witches.

  When the floor came up empty, I realised that Frankie must have pulled an illusion in order to go to the gun and pick it up. He had left the image of himself standing where he was told, but picked up the gun in front of everyone without them even knowing. We were crazy amazing creatures, if I did say so myself.

  “Why are you draining him?” I shouted over the last gasps of the elderly man.

  Looking up at me from under his hooded eyelids, the teacher gave me an evil grin. I had to force myself to plant my feet on the ground as he slowly rose, leaving the man empty and dead on the ground. I hated to be mean, not wishing death on anyone, but relief flooded through me. One less evil man to try and stop.

  “I’m giving you an example of having no vulnerabilities. Don’t you want to be free of obligation from your friends?”

  Snorting, I held my head high, not allowing him to intimidate me as he took a step forward. I had no plan, but I hoped that Frankie did.

  “No, I love my friends, they give me strength.” As hokey pokey as it sounded, it was true.

  For too long, I had been a loner, hiding in the shadows at high school when other children were happy shining in the light. My loneliness had been a choice, and although I hadn’t been at the academy for long, my new found family had already made me feel at home.

  Releasing a snort of his own, the teacher paused in front of me, his sharp tangy breath travelling over my face as he let out a sigh. “It’s sad to see so much potential caught up in the emotions of young life. Listen…” Jabbing a finger into my shoulder, he punctuated every word. “You. Can. Stop. Pretending. To. Be. Something. You’re. Not.”

  “Is that what the institute teaches you? To be unloved?” My words must have hit a target inside his chest because he jolted, his breath hitching in his throat. “You’re like one of those human serial killers who excuse violence by believing that love is a threat. All because no one actually gives a fuck about you.”

  Dracian’s hand pressed flat against my back in warning. Okay, I was playing hardball, but the bastard fired my insides, making me want to reach through his ribs to rip out his cold heart. I had been too close to turning into him but not anymore. I wouldn’t allow myself to become dead inside.

  “You’ll learn one day, little girl,” the man hissed, “that you’re not loved either. These people will fall away and leave you all alone.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Frankie raise his gun. The teacher was too close to me for him to get a clear shot, but the threat was real. About to reply, I kept my gaze on the manic man who watched me closely.

  “Don’t even think it!” he suddenly bellowed, spinning and throwing out his hand.

  A fireball erupted from his fingers, shooting straight at Frankie, who rolled out of the way just in time. He shunted into the wood panelled wall before jumping to his feet, his gun held up in front of him. A shot fired, but as it propelled out of the gun, the bullet slowed, turning off its course.

  “You really think you can beat me? A pathetic Illusionist witch like you!
”

  The bullet headed towards Helissa, the slow movement giving me time to run across the room and shove her out of the way. We crashed to the ground as it plunged into the wood just to the side of the inglenook.

  Izzy screamed and ran for the door, her arms flailing as she dodged past the teacher. He tried to grab her as Frankie tackled him by the legs, apparently having jumped across the room in an illusion. It was hard to keep up with the shifting scenery around us as each Illusionist witch tried to confuse the other.

  “Get the girls out of here!” Frankie shouted at Dracian as he wrestled with the teacher.

  A shot fired, followed by a grunt, but I had no clue who actually had the gun. Helissa and I joined Izzy by the door. She was tugging on the handle, crying in frustration when it wouldn’t open. I pushed her out of the way and wrapped my hand around the handle. Taking out my inducer, I pressed the button, channelling the electricity through me and into the metal.

  “Hurry!” Izzy hopped next to me, her gaze flitting to the fighting men behind.

  Dracian joined us, his hand instantly coming to my shoulder and filtering more magic into me. I wanted to shake him off to prove that I could do it alone, but it wasn’t the time.

  “I won’t let you take her!”

  The handle clicked, coming loose in my hand, but before I could yank it open, intense heat closed in on us. Someone shunted me down to the floor as the girls screamed in my ear. Fire exploded on the ceiling above, sparks falling onto our heads. The institute wanted me alive, which meant that the others would be safe if they stayed by my side. The teacher wouldn’t risk killing them if there was a chance I could be killed, too.

  “Go through the door,” I whispered, throwing an illusion spell over them as I crawled out from under Dracian where he’d thrown himself on top of me, acting as a shield. “I’m safe from him.”

  Gripping my elbow, Dracian forced me to stop. “No, you’re not. He’ll take you straight to the institute.”

  Looking forward, I cringed when the man thrust his hand up into Frankie’s nose. It made contact, the crack audible throughout the room. The sound was almost drowned out by the raging fire that danced on the wood above us.

  Trying to get out of Dracian’s grip, I stumbled, not quite able to get my bearings. The teacher looked at me. The blood that had spurted from Frankie’s nose covered his hand as he raised it to point.

  “We shall have you!”

  A shot of the gun caused us to duck down, but no bullet flew towards us. Grunting, the teacher fell off Frankie, clutching his stomach. Frankie thrust the enemy off him, knocking him to the ground. The gun was still in his hand, although no longer aimed at his opponent.

  Looking over his shoulder, Frankie clocked that we were still in the room. Blood dripped from his nose, but he gave me a triumphant smile before turning, drawing back his leg and booting the teacher in the head, knocking him out cold.

  “Shit,” Dracian muttered, helping me to my feet. “Why did you do that?”

  Coming over to check on the girls, who were still huddled in the corner, Frankie raised his eyebrows when the flames on the ceiling disappeared.

  “An Illusionist witch can only hold spells when they’re conscious.”

  Dracian’s gaze shot to me as he wiped my hair out of my face. I batted him away, perfectly capable of making myself presentable. Although, my heart did sing a tiny bit at his caring attention. Still, I righted my skirt, which had skewed to the left, before running a hand over my dishevelled hair.

  “I didn’t know that,” he muttered.

  Leaving him, I went to Izzy, who was shaking uncontrollably. Frankie’s pat on the back hadn’t exactly eased her, so I gestured for him to sort out the teacher, who was completely limp on the floor, blood pouring from him.

  “Oh yes,” Frankie said, jumping to attention. “I’ve never caught a bad guy before.”

  “Really?” Dracian joined him, saying that when he became an agent, he was going to get all the bad guys.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Izzy and Helissa.

  Nodding, Helissa shuddered as she put an arm around Izzy. Their eyes were wide, their energy shell-shocked. I wasn’t surprised, the last few weeks had been nightmare after nightmare.

  “I think it’s best that you stop hanging out with me for a bit,” I muttered, pulling Izzy out of the room and into the hallway.

  The house was empty, the only sound the slow creak of old floorboards settling. Taking out my phone, I paused when I saw ten missed calls from the professor. Before I had the chance to reply to him, the front door slammed open and the man himself appeared, his hair all over the place.

  “What’s going on?” he demanded. “Your phone was blocked!”

  Mrs Hinley stormed in after him, her face stern as she rushed to Izzy, who started to cry. Soothing her, she informed me that she was taking the girls back to the academy. I didn’t have time to protest as she whisked them out the house, her chattering forcing them to go with her. Neither one of my friends looked back at me, both focused on leaving the house of horrors. I couldn’t really blame them, but a pang squeezed my chest as their backs disappeared.

  “Well?” Professor Seaton waved his hand, ordering me to tell him what had happened.

  A sound from the parlour made him burst into movement, rushing to the door. When his gaze landed on the dead elderly man, the unconscious fake teacher, and Frankie and Dracian tying him up, he sucked in a breath.

  “He tricked us into going on this field trip, said you agreed to it.” My words sounded pathetic.

  They had made me promise not to go off the academy grounds until their investigation into the institute had revealed more information. And what was the first thing I did? Trust a teacher I didn’t even like.

  Going into the room, the professor addressed Frankie, his voice tight as he spoke. “Is he dead?”

  Shaking his head, Frankie knelt down and pressed his hand into the man’s stomach. A small groan came from the enemy, but he didn’t wake up.

  “No, he’s still alive, but we need to stop the bleeding or we won’t be able to question him.”

  Ah, genius. I hadn’t even contemplated the idea of interrogating the man. Not only did we want to know who he worked for, I wanted to know how he had so much magic. I couldn’t have pulled off the illusions he did, even with my magic inducer thingy. Boy, did I have a lot to learn at the academy.

  As the professor joined Frankie, bending to cast a healing spell, Dracian came over to me. My hands started to shake as he took one, rubbing my cold fingers between his palms.

  “Well, that was… interesting.”

  Interesting? My mouth gaped at I looked up into his dark eyes. Scary, yes. Crazy, completely. Bloody shitting my pants cos I’m about to die – one hundred per cent. Somehow, interesting wasn’t a big enough word to cover the fear that had gripped my whole being.

  Maybe I wasn’t cut out to be an agent after all.

  Chapter Six

  “Our first interrogation.” Isabel almost skipped as we gathered our things.

  We had woken up extra early, determined to squeeze in some studying before we got to attend the questioning of the phony teacher. My doubts on becoming an agent were soon squashed when the girls had embraced me when I’d walked into our room.

  Helissa had insisted that she was well, which I believed. Izzy on the other hand, she had been pretty shaken, not even able to leave us to sleep. Instead, she curled up next to me as I laid awake and thought about everything that had happened.

  “I can’t believe Seaton is letting us watch,” Helissa muttered as she flung her backpack over her shoulder. “It’ll be like a true life Sherlock Holmes.”

  “Sherlock Holmes?” I spluttered. “Are we all going to be wearing 19th Century dresses and ogling Benedict Cumberbatch?”

  Screwing up her nose, Helissa laughed. “Okay, maybe not.”

  Opening the door as I laughed with her, I froze when Dracian and James appeared on the other side, appa
rently from nowhere.

  “Oh!” The sound left my lips as my gaze dipped down James’ arm.

  Poo, poo, poo. Trust me to stare at his awful injury. A decent person would’ve ignored it and acted completely normal. Instead, my cheeks heated as I avoided eye contact and glanced over my shoulder at Helissa, who smiled at her crush.

  “Are you ready?” Dracian took my arm, dragging me out of the room.

  “I’m so glad to see you,” I said to James as I trotted past.

  He nodded, not returning the small smile I had offered him. Maybe he would blame me for his loss. Or maybe he was just so focused on the girl coming out of the room behind me, he didn’t have time for a little old Illusionist witch.

  When Isabel moved around the pair, she widened her eyes at me.

  Helissa took hold of James’ damaged arm and pulled it up, stroking her free fingers down his jacket and over the bandage. His eyes closed briefly, a breath sucking into his chest.

  “We shouldn’t watch,” Dracian whispered.

  Shaking ourselves out of our staring, we all turned and headed down the hall. Izzy kept shooting glances back towards the pair, but stopped when we rounded the end of the corridor and started down the steps.

  “They’re so getting married,” she remarked.

  Chuckling, both Dracian and I glanced at one another, shaking our heads in disbelief. Trust Isabel to be the romantic one, even in a time of desperate fear.

  “So, the professor messaged me through Infinity...” Dracian pulled out a piece of paper. “…we’ve got to meet them in the room behind the swimming pool.”

  Infinity, the school’s secret postal service. I had completely forgotten about it, even though the boy who had killed Toby, Helissa’s familiar, had used it to threaten me. Maybe the service shouldn’t be allowed to be so secret. After all, it had been a way for someone mean to get to me. Maybe other students were having trouble, too.

  “It feels like forever since Toby was killed,” Isabel said, obviously picking up on my thoughts.