School of Broken Hearts: Academy of Souls Book 2

by C. R. Jane

  Several days later of avoiding Connor and being escorted everywhere by Alexander, I need a break from all the smothering, so I sneak out of Literature early and take my time strolling toward the library. Mercy plans to meet me there later for our study period, but for now, I plan for some alone time, some researching time. I want to find anything I can on the backstory of Raven Academy to help me understand its roots and why it seems so many of the non-scholarship students don’t attend normal classes, why they take training classes. When I queried Professor London about it, he dismissed me, saying it was a special form of P.E.

  Right. Special P.E. All we’ve done in my P.E. class is run until I can’t breathe, then play dodgeball in the yard.

  The library is quiet and has a tiled chessboard floor with a dark timber on the walls and ceiling, almost looking a gothic mansion, and any minute now I expect a ghost to float down from the wrought-iron chandeliers. Rows of shelves stretch out through the room, crammed with books. Farther at the end are tables and chairs beneath the windows. Several students are back there, but I turn to my right to the computers and sit down in front of a monitor, punching in my search into the keyboard.

  Nonfiction books on the fourth floor.

  Raven Academy school yearbooks row J.

  It’s a start, and I get to my feet, noticing the librarian studying me with a cold stare. But it’s more than that, it’s like she sees me as something of interest beyond a teacher helping a student. A shiver slithers down my spine, so I hurry toward the staircase.

  Stop being such a chicken.

  By the fourth floor, my thighs ache and I should have searched for the elevator, but I was too distracted to think straight since I kept looking over my shoulder expecting her to be following me.

  Up here, I’m alone and it smells stuffy, the dust in the air tickling my nostrils. The dark wood theme continues, and I can easily mistake this place for a forgotten attic. No students are studying or checking out books, and a strange sensation washes over me. Like somehow, I’m the first to discover this untouched floor for centuries. An old paper smell floats in the air, and my gaze flitters across the rows of bookshelves. I head down the center passage, following the alphabetical order until I reach J, half-way down.

  The floorboards creak somewhere behind me, and I glance back, seeing someone moving amid the rows farther away.

  My stomach churns as I picture the librarian chasing after me, which is ridiculous. Why would she do that? I shake away the shivers, and scan the tightly packed books, their spines on display.

  Yearbooks fill the shelves, and I pull one out from ten years ago. It’s old, heavy, and dusty.

  Movement grabs my attention from someone darting down a row up ahead. Eeriness sweeps over my flesh, and my heart’s racing.

  Geez, calm down. It’s just a library.

  It’s probably a student trying to rush out of here… I don’t blame them. The fourth floor reminds me of a haunted house. No wonder no one’s up here.

  I pry open the mammoth book, and the spine creaks. There’s a gallery of photos of students with names listed underneath, everything alphabetical. I flip to the index, hoping to find some history on the school, but instead there are only surnames… pages and pages of them. As I flick through the pages, the name Dachnavar catches my attention. Did Alexander have a sibling who went here?

  I turn to the page number and discover an image of someone who looks almost identical to Alexander. The dark raven hair swept off his face, those piercing blue eyes, red lips, and that deep look in his gaze that always makes me second guess myself. The similarity is uncanny. Would his older brother look so similar?

  At the bottom of his page are smaller images, and one is him and two other friends. I gasp out loud at the image, my eyes bulging. I slump against the bookshelf, staring at the page.

  “What the hell?” I mumble to myself.

  Not only was it Alexander, but Dante and Finn were with him, all of them posing with cheeky smiles. They stood in front of the main building… in Raven Academy.

  I rocked on my feet and hastily flicked the pages to the front of the book to double check the date. Yep, this year book was from ten years ago, so what in the world was going on? Cracking open the book again, I keep staring at the photo of the three friends, refusing to believe they somehow each had older brothers who look identical to them. But how are they in this book from ten years ago? Did they fail class? Except they don’t look younger. And where’s Nyx?

  I’m lost in the fog in my head, trying to make sense of what I’m looking at while the image rocks my mind, leaving me so confused. What was I missing?

  A floorboard creaks right beside me, and I flinch in fright, the book slipping from my grasp. It hits the ground with a thud, inches from my foot. I jump back out of pure impulse, only to bump into someone. I jerk my head around to come face to face with Connor. His hands snap out, grasping me around the waist.

  “I got you.”

  I glare his way and pry myself free from his hold. “You scared the hell out of me. Why are you here?”

  He shrugs, the ruggedness of the way the collar of his school shirt sits uneven around his neck, and his dark hair wind messed makes me think he’s been running.

  “Was that you before?” I blurt. “Sprinting around here?”

  His brow pinches. “I just got here. The librarian said you’d gone upstairs.”

  The earlier unease collects in my gut as I glance around us at the now quiet fourth floor.

  Connor bends at the waist and picks up the yearbook from my feet before studying it. “Who are you researching?”

  I seize the book from his grasp and stuff it back onto the shelf. “None of your business.”

  When I turn to walk away, he grabs my arm and doesn’t let go. “Can we talk?”

  I sigh heavily, not wanting to face my past now or ever. “I’m not in the mood today.” I shake him off and march down the row of books.

  “How’s your dad doing?” he calls out, and his words are like a spear to my heart. Halting, I spin to face him. “Don’t. You lost the privilege to talk about him when you betrayed me.”

  His lips tighten, and he runs a hand through his short hair. “I didn’t betray you.”

  His words are like gasoline, burning me up, and my fists begin to clench. “Is that what you call it. For your information, I saw you that day, watching me, getting off seeing me get hit by Alexia. Hope it was worth it because I want nothing to do with you now or ever.” I hadn’t meant for my voice to climb or echo through the fourth floor, but shit happens.

  “I can’t apologize enough for being gutless, for not standing up for you. I’m sorry, Adeline.” Sorrow threads his voice, but the fire scorching my insides screams at me to shove him aside, to make him hurt like he hurt me.

  “I thought you cared about me, but you were like the rest of them. Cold and selfish.” Anger fuels my words, and my arms are trembling by my side. He once offered me strength during a time when my world fell apart, and I believed he cared for me. But I’d been a fool. Not anymore.

  His eyes remain steady, settling on me like I’ll offer him comfort. “You don’t understand. That day broke me, and it’s haunted me ever since.” There’s something behind his words… pain. And I watch his unblinking eyes. “All I can offer you are my words now. My actions to prove my sincerity.” Despite his explanation, he’s holding onto his stoic expression. Saying all the right things that I want to hear, but I struggle to believe him.

  I stay rooted on the spot. “I somehow doubt any excuse you give will be believable.”

  His features buckle slightly. I know he feels pain… I see it now in his gaze. Emotional heartache leaves invisible scars, and my heart is jagged. But I somehow doubt he ever felt the same way about me as I had him. So, he’ll never understand the depth of my anger to his actions.

  Except, my emotions are from so long ago, and now all I feel is bitterness toward Connor. “I don’t care why you acted like a jerk, just
stay away from me.”

  I turn and march out of there, my footfalls hitting the floorboards. My earlier bravery sits like tar in my chest, making breathing difficult. And despite what Connor did to me, all I can think about is the agony in his gaze and how I walked away when he reached out to me.

  Chapter 4

  The next couple of weeks fly by in the routine of Alexander walking me to every class, me chatting with Mercy, and doing homework. Connor keeps his distance, but I catch him from the corner of my eye sitting alone. Staying in the shadows. And I tell myself every day, it’s better this way.

  Today, I’m walking down the hallway when I see the flier. It’s a call for a tryout for the school choir.

  “They have a school choir here?” I ask Mercy excitedly, forgetting about everything else, and walking up to the bulletin board so that I can see the details closer.

  Mercy stares at me like I’m crazy. “What school doesn’t have a choir?” she asks.

  “It just didn’t seem like there were any extracurriculars here. I haven’t seen one announcement until now about sports, or band, or anything like that.”

  “Well most of the tryouts for things were for the first day. Choir is super selective, so they give students a few weeks to prepare for tryouts. I can’t remember the choir getting anything but first place in all of their competitions.”

  She proceeds to start walking down the hallway, but I’m frozen in front of the flier. “Tryouts are tomorrow.”

  I’ve always loved to sing. When I was younger, and money wasn’t non-existent, my parents had paid for private voice lessons for me. Dad and Mom had always said that I had talent and my teachers had always gushed about my performances, but looking back on it, maybe they were just trying to bolster my self-confidence since I was little. As soon as money became tight, voice lessons were the first thing to go. I had tried to keep up with the exercises that I had learned, but I hadn’t been consistent.

  “Are you coming?” I hear Mercy call from down the hall.

  I take one last longing look at the flier before I hustle down the hall.

  “Do you like to watch music performances or something?” she asks curiously as we continue to walk to class.

  “I like to sing,” I say quietly, not understanding why I seem so timid about this.

  “Oh girl,” she says, before she purses her lips.

  “What?”

  “It’s just that you’re thinking of trying out, aren’t you?” Mercy says sympathetically.

  “Maybe,” I tell her non-committedly. “Are you going to tell me choir is for nerds or something?” I ask with a laugh.

  “No. It’s nothing like that. In fact, choir is probably one of the coolest things you can be in at this school just because everyone is freakishly talented,” Mercy says reluctantly.

  “And...?” I ask.

  “Well, it’s just that there’s never been a scholarship student who made it,” she says, looking at my reaction out of the side of her eye.

  I stop in the hallway and a couple of students suddenly halt from crashing into me after walking far too close behind us.

  “Watch out,” the guy barks as he leads the girl around us.

  I ignore him.

  “You mean since you’ve been here, right?” I ask curiously.

  Her eyes widen. “No. Since forever. I’ve never heard of any scholarship ever making it. They don’t even really try out anymore just because there’s no point. No one is good enough compared to the non-scholarship students on the choir.”

  “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” I say with a snort. “We’re high school students. Not opera singers. They can’t be as good as you say.”

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Mercy sighs, shaking her head at me.

  I can feel my cheek twitch. I’m getting rather tired of being told all the things that the non-scholarship students are better at than me. Sure, they’re all freakishly gorgeous, and they have some amazing fighting moves, but just the fact that I’m a scholarship student means that I’m supposed to have better smarts than most...right? It’s not possible that their better at everything. In fact, I refuse to believe that.

  “I’m going to try out,” I say firmly, ignoring Mercy’s shocked look. We walk to class in silence, both in deep thought and it’s not until later that I even wonder what could have happened to Mercy to make her think so little of herself...and all the scholarship students.

  The next morning I’m wondering where all of the bravado I felt yesterday has gone. I meet Mercy in the hall for breakfast as usual, but I can barely stomach taking even a few bites...which shows how nervous I am since the cooks have prepared eggs benedict which happens to be my favorite breakfast food ever.

  Mercy hasn’t said anything about coming to the tryout to watch and I’m grateful for it. My thoughts are swirling with scenarios where I crash and burn, and my voice comes out like a squeak or something equally embarrassing.

  I’m distracted from my thoughts when a tray comes crashing down beside me and a cranky looking Alexander slides into the seat next to me.

  “What part of “I’m your guardian” do you not understand?” he asks snottily.

  “Whoops,” I remark, not sounding sorry at all for the fact that I “forgot” that I was supposed to wait for him for breakfast this morning so he could escort me from my room.

  “Maybe we should get your memory checked since there’s been an awful lot of “forgetting” the last few days,” he replies grumpily, stuffing a piece of bacon in his mouth.

  I stifle a smile at the fact that he looks so grumpy. He almost looks...normal.

  My smile quickly fades when the other three boys suddenly appear and slide into chairs at our table. Mercy looks like she’s about to start hyperventilating, and I kick her in the shin to try and get her to calm down.

  She looks at me, and then abruptly stands up. “I think I see my guardian over there,” she squeaks before grabbing her tray and running away.

  Delightful.

  “Long time no see,” Dante smirks as he slides into Mercy’s seat.

  I pretend that he doesn’t exist, because in this moment all I can see are his lips trailing down the side of that girl’s neck and her moan while he did it.

  “Don’t be an ass,” says Finn coolly from beside him, staring at me with those intense luscious green eyes.

  Dante looks at him surprised, giving me another look into the dynamics of their relationship. Finn must usually be the easy-going peacemaker of the group. I give Finn a small grateful smile that he spoke up for me. He answers back with a wide grin that makes my heart start to beat faster.

  Alexander’s watching the two of us interact and he snarls, making Finn’s smile just grow broader.

  I drag my gaze away from him and glance at the clock on the far wall. It’s almost time for the tryout.

  I’m suddenly tempted to run back to my room and get back in bed. What if I’m not good enough? I remember Mercy’s words about others being amazing.

  “So, what’s on the agenda today?” Alexander sullenly asks me, obviously still not over my lack of cooperation with his guardian efforts.

  Looking at him, I notice that there’s dark circles under his eyes, like he hasn’t slept in a while. His hair is also not in its usual perfectly styled state.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I blurt out, ignoring his question since I need to do another disappearing act to make sure he doesn’t follow me to my audition.

  It’s not that I don’t understand the importance of having someone watch out for me, it’s just that I’m too freaking prideful to let Alexander be the one to do it. If it was literally anyone else besides the four of them...and Clarissa, I would have cooperated. I’m not an idiot. It’s not like I want to die.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” he retorts, answering the question that I had forgotten already that I asked. I see him exchange glances with Dante though and my stomach curdles. Dante looks exhausted as well. Were they up all
night with another girl and that’s why they look like they haven’t slept at all?

  Not that I care or anything.

  “You never answered Alex’s question,” says Nyx from the end of the table. I look over at him in surprise. Out of the four of them, he and I had the least interaction besides that weird situation in the hallway where the sexual tension between us was for some reason off the charts.

  He’s staring at me now...and there’s a certain hunger in his eyes that does funny things to me. I’m attracted to him. I would have to be blind not to be. But it seems more than that. I just need to ignore the sensation.

  “Just a few things here and there,” I murmur, dragging my eyes away from him.

  “Does trying out for choir count as “a few things here and there?”” Alexander asks, a smirk widening his lips.

  My mouth opens in shock. “How did you...?” I begin.

  “Your conversation was a little loud in the hallway yesterday,” he says, his smirk growing.

  “But...”

  “Oh, you thought that I wasn’t following you yesterday since you sneaked out of class?” he asks, his hand reaching up to brush some hair off my face.

  Traitorous goose bumps immediately spring up across my skin. I shiver, drawing his attention to how close his hand is currently to my chest. A chest that is embarrassingly heaving up and down like I’m having trouble getting oxygen.

  I watch as his hand drops a few inches, hesitantly touching my skin. It’s like we’re not surrounded by people as we both stare entranced as his fingers dance across my collarbone. I’m painfully aware that my body is aching for him to drop his hands lower.

  Someone loudly clears their throat nearby, bringing me back to the fact that it’s Alexander that’s currently touching me.

  I jerk away from him and spring up from my chair, my face flush with embarrassment. There’s a red tint to Alexander’s cheeks and he seems to be breathing heavier than normal as well. I can’t even look at the other three guys to see what they think about what just happened. I can’t ignore the fact that none of them are making a sound though.