Hybrid Academy Box Set

by L. C. Mortimer

“Too long.”

  They embraced, holding each other, and for a long time, they just stood there.

  “She’s safe,” Erin said. “Everything is going to be okay. Max is safe, and now we know that you are, too. How did you escape? The vampires had you, didn’t they?”

  “They did,” Grandma said. “But as it turns out, they were no match for an old woman.”

  “Gave ‘em hell, did you?” Erin smiled knowingly.

  “Of course,” Grandma said. “What kind of witch would I be if I hadn’t?”

  “And the professor?”

  “He captured me,” Grandma shook her head. “Not more than half an hour ago, actually. Caught me looking in his magic box up on the hill.”

  “What?”

  “He has a cabin up on the mountains,” Patricia said helpfully, filling us in. “He hides things there.”

  “How do you know?” Grandma asked, obviously trying to figure out how Patricia seemed to have all of the answers. I’d have to fill her in on the whole invisible-roommate thing later.

  “I followed him once. Looked in the treasure chest, did you?”

  Grandma nodded.

  “I was coming to the school to find Maxine when I came across the cabin. It absolutely reeked of magic. I knew there was something important there, but I didn’t know what.”

  Patricia seemed unfazed by this revelation. Apparently, she was very familiar with all of Professor Elkridge’s comings-and-goings.

  “He keeps potions there for use. There are some permanency spells in there, but he also has the antidote, at least as it stands now, to the spell your daughter and son-in-law were working on when they passed away.”

  “Patricia,” I said, completely impressed. “We couldn’t have done this without you.”

  “It’s true,” Kiera said. She pulled Boo close, holding him tightly. He meowed and once more tried to jump over and grab Mr. Elkridge who was now so very small that he fit right into Patricia’s hands. Patricia glared at Boo briefly and wrapped her hands a little tighter around the professor.

  “Thanks,” Patricia said. “I’m just sorry it took me so long to get myself back into human form. I wonder what Jeremiah is going to think when he sees me.”

  “Trust me,” I said. “There’s going to be hell to pay.”

  Grandma looked confused, but Erin took her arm gently.

  “Let me fill you in quickly,” she said. Grandma and Erin started talking in low tones, and they moved away from the crowd of us girls. Kiera and I looked at Patricia.

  “So, what’s the story?” Kiera asked. “I know there must be one.”

  “Jeremiah cast an invisibility spell on Patricia,” I said. “She was actually my roommate this entire year.”

  “Wow,” Kiera said. “So, she definitely knows all of your secrets.” She wiggled her eyebrows lightheartedly, but we all knew that many of my secrets were actually very serious and important.

  “Most of them, I suppose,” Patricia looked at me.

  “Did you read my diary?” I asked, suddenly wondering just how many things Patricia really knew.

  She shrugged, and I blushed a little.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “I won’t tell anyone.”

  “You know about the book,” I said.

  “Yep.”

  “And you know about Maxine talking in her sleep,” Kiera added helpfully.

  “Yep.”

  “And you know that Boo is actually a shapeshifting boy she keeps around but doesn’t tell Aunt Erin about.”

  “Yep.”

  “What?” I practically shrieked, but Kiera slapped a hand over my mouth.

  “Come on,” she said, her eyes glowing. “We’re best friends, Max. You really think I didn’t know?”

  I shook my head, and she just laughed, hoisting Boo up on her hip. She was holding him like he was a little baby, but he didn’t seem to mind.

  “I love you to bits, Max, but you have a lot to learn about magic.”

  I knew she was right.

  She was so, so right.

  My second year at Hybrid Academy was almost over and I still had so much to learn. I knew that my next and final year was going to bring even more changes. There was going to be even more to learn. It didn’t matter, though. I was up for the challenge.

  Patricia smiled. She was standing with her hands cupped around Casper Elkridge. He was squeaking and obviously trying to get away from her. She seemed completely unbothered by the fact that just moments ago he was threatening to kill my grandmother.

  “Do you need a cage for him?” I asked, motioning toward the little creature. We’d have to think of a new name for him: something that was a little more “pet-like” than “Professor.”

  “Here,” Kiera said, coming over. “Here’s a little box I found on the table.”

  “Thanks.” Patricia dropped the professor into the little cardboard box. Instantly, he started screeching and running around, trying to escape. She looked down at him and closed the top of the box so that he couldn’t get out. It was a deep box, probably about ten inches high, so there was no way for him to reasonably jump out of the box.

  “What are you going to do with him?” Kiera asked. “You can’t very well let him go.”

  “We could,” I said. “We could release him out in the mountains. He might not survive very long, but he couldn’t cause any trouble out there.”

  “Nah,” Patricia shook her head. “I think I’ll keep him. Our dorm room could use a new pet.”

  “You already have one,” Kiera said.

  “What’s another?” Patricia shrugged. “Besides,” she looked at me. “It could be fun.”

  “Sure, why not?” I asked. “But I think we’re going to need to get a cage with a tight lid and a lock. I get the feeling that Boo doesn’t like him.”

  We all looked over to see Boo growling at the little hamster, teeth bared. He was practically hissing at the little creature.

  “On second thought,” Patricia said, looking at the Kiera. “Maybe this hamster should stay with you.”

  Kiera chuckled but nodded.

  “Sure, why not?” She said. “I could use more animals in my living quarters, anyway.”

  Grandma and Erin finished speaking and came back over.

  “What now?” I asked.

  “Now we leave quietly,” Erin said. “And not all in a group, either. You two,” she motioned to Patricia and Kiera. “You leave first. The rest of us will meet you back in Maxine’s room.”

  Patricia and Kiera nodded and took off. They left the room quietly and I turned back to my aunt and grandma.

  “The book,” I started to say.

  “Is safe,” Grandma and Erin said together.

  “But who knows for how long,” Erin added. “Maxine, I have no way of knowing if Casper told anyone he’d figured out who you were. If he did…”

  Her voice trailed off, but I nodded.

  “Then we’ll deal with it,” I said.

  “You could go into hiding,” Grandma said. “Lie low until this whole thing blows over.”

  I looked at her for a long minute, considering what she said. A year ago, I might have agreed, but things had changed a lot for me in the time I’d been part of the world of Hybrid Academy. I had magic now. I had strength.

  I had friends who had my back no matter what.

  “Nah,” I shook my head. “Let them come.”

  Erin and Grandma exchanged looks.

  “They’re not going to stop,” I said. “They’re going to chase us forever, Grandma. We have to find a way to fight them.”

  Besides, I had the feeling there was something that Grandma and Erin weren’t telling me. Erin had placed me at Hybrid Academy in order to keep me safe, but that hadn’t worked out as well as we’d hoped. In fact, Hybrid Academy had turned out to be just as dangerous as the outside world.

  I still felt like I was missing something important.

  Why had Casper decided that I was the one he was after?
r />   Why had he tried to catch my grandmother?

  Why had he gone after my family at all?

  And why was he helping the vampires?

  There were so many questions spinning around in my head that it hurt to think about, but I knew one thing for certain: my grandmother was back. She was with me. She was here. Together, we were going to find the answers we were looking for. We were going to figure out what our next steps were.

  Everything was going to be okay.

  We just had to take things one day at a time.

  “All right,” Erin said. “Are you ready to leave?”

  “Hold on,” I said. “Grams, watch this.”

  “Oh, no,” Erin rolled her eyes as I snapped my fingers and shifted into my wolf form. My clothes ripped, my robes fell to the ground, and my wand hit the floor where I stood as a big, beautiful wolf. I shook my fur briefly, fluffing it up, proud and happy to be showing off to my grandma.

  Grandma knelt down beside me and wrapped her arms around me. She didn’t even hesitate. She just reached for me and held me tightly. She petted my soft fur gently as she hugged me, and for a moment, I had the feeling that everything was going to be absolutely fine.

  Everything was going to be okay.

  “Oh Max,” she whispered. “I knew you could do it. I always believed in you.”

  Just as I’d believed in her.

  Grandma was safe now. She was protected. She wasn’t going anywhere. No longer did I have to lose sleep wondering where she was and if she was being fed and if she was okay. Now I knew without a doubt that she was all right and that moving forward, everything was going to be all right. I had her strength, now, and her love. Nothing could stop me now.

  I felt, quite suddenly, like I was on top of the world. I’d found out who was responsible for the acts of craziness around the school, and I had finally figured out who my roommate was. I didn’t know what was going to happen next at Hybrid Academy, but I knew one thing: I was ready for the adventure.

  I looked at my grandmother and my aunt, and they waited expectantly for me. Without a word, I nodded and led the way out of the little office, happily prancing down the hall in my wolf form. I had fought so hard to be able to shift, to be able to learn magic, and to be able to walk freely in my animal form.

  Now I knew that everything was going to be okay.

  I had my family, and I was ready for everything that would come next.

  Together, we would fight any threat that faced us.

  Together.

  Epilogue

  Losing my parents was the worst thing that ever happened to me, at least until my grandmother disappeared. It was only then that I realized no matter how much you’ve lost, you can always lose more. Life isn’t simple the way I thought it was when I was young. It’s messy and complicated and sometimes, you feel like you have all of the answers, but you don’t.

  More importantly, that’s okay.

  It’s okay to feel lost.

  It’s okay to feel alone.

  It’s okay to let all of your emotions run over you like a waterfall.

  That’s what friends are for.

  That’s what hope is for.

  I finished the year at Hybrid Academy with some answers. I found out who my mysterious roommate was. I learned who had been turning students into other animals. I found out that my grandmother was more badass than I could have possibly imagined. I learned that even when you thought you were safe, sometimes darkness and danger still lurked nearby.

  But I still had some questions, and most of them weren’t going to be answered very easily.

  What had happened to my parents, for instance?

  Where had they gone?

  And why did everyone know, with such certainty, that they, too, were dead?

  My magic skills were still underdeveloped. Gram and Aunt Erin said they’d help me more with that over the summer. In fact, they promised we’d all buckle down and do daily magical exercises to help me truly develop my abilities as a witch. I was looking forward to it because they’re both incredible witches. Between the two of them, I had no doubt that I’d be able to hold my own no matter what sort of magical problems I came up against.

  When Aunt Erin came to pick me up from the dorms, she came up to my bedroom. I was sitting on the bed when she walked in and I looked up at her. She looked so much like my dad that sometimes it hurt to think about him. I missed him so deeply.

  When he first left, I could still tell exactly how he smelled. I knew exactly what his voice sounded like. I could identify every little line in his face.

  Then, over time, those memories faded.

  When I looked up at Aunt Erin, I realized that maybe my memories weren’t as far gone as I thought they were. Maybe things weren’t quite as sad or as bleak as I always thought. Perhaps there was hope that somehow, things would get better.

  Things could always get better, right?

  “Are you ready, kiddo?” She asked, sitting down beside me. Patricia’s parents had already come to get her. She had neglected to let her parents know about her problem with invisibility, instead choosing to let them think she had simply messed around the first part of the year and that’s why her grades were poor.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said, looking around the room.

  Boo purred and hopped up beside us. I reached for him and petted his head. I knew that in spite of everything, I’d never have been able to make it through the schoolyear without Henry by my side. He was more than a cat. He was fantastic.

  “Well, your room is all ready at the house,” Erin said. “Freshly painted. It’s dark blue this year. I’ve got your bed all set up and your favorite snacks are all ready for you. I even baked some cookies.”

  My stomach rumbled and she laughed.

  “Come on,” Erin said, standing. “Let’s get you home.”

  But something had been nagging at me, something I couldn’t quite pinpoint. It was something I’d learned about the potion my parents had been researching and searching for.

  “Erin,” I said. “If the potion they were looking for makes people turn into shifters, but makes them unable to shift back, then how do we know Mom and Dad didn’t just take the potion? What if they ingested it somehow and they aren’t dead at all?”

  It had been plaguing me.

  It was a question burning deep within me because so much in my life hadn’t made sense.

  My grandmother’s death wasn’t what I expected. She hadn’t died at all. Was there a chance, any chance, that my parents weren’t dead, either?

  Was there a chance that they had simply been victims of the great experiment?

  More importantly, was there a chance that we could somehow use Elkridge’s potion to bring them back?

  Erin looked at me, and when her eyes met mine, I knew. I knew all of the things she hadn’t wanted to say to me. I knew all of the things she’d been afraid to voice out loud.

  I knew.

  And I knew something else.

  I wasn’t going to rest until I found them.

  Hang on, Mom and Dad.

  I’m coming.

  Hybrid Academy

  Year Three

  L.C. Mortimer

  Story copyright by L.C. Mortimer

  Cover design by Melody Simmons//www.ebookindiecovers.com

  *

  He is young, so full of hope

  Reveling in tiny dreams

  -Five Iron Frenzy, Dandelions

  For everyone who still believes in magic.

  Fans of Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Supernatural – get ready to dive into a world where magic is powerful, clever witches rule the world, and vampires lurk in the darkness.

  Mystery. Magic. Motive?

  My third year at Hybrid Academy is in full swing when I realize that my entire life has been a lie. I might have learned about magic and I might have developed my ability to shapeshift, but that doesn’t stop the shock of betrayal when I find out what really happened a
ll those years ago.

  Now I’m forced to make a choice, and it’s an impossible one.

  Hi.

  I’m Max.

  And this is my story.

  Prologue

  Twelve Years Ago

  “Are you sure this is the right way?” Cara pushed back her mop of frizzy, bright red hair. It was sticky now, and damp. Normally, she wore it pulled tightly back in a lovely bun, but today, that wasn’t an option. Nothing was ever really an option when you were trying to make a life for yourself in the middle of a jungle. Not when it came to beauty or self-care.

  Sure, she could do a lot when it came to making herself presentable. Cara had gotten good at that, but managing her hair was an entirely different beast. She could slay any creature that tried to attack their little trio. She could conquer the greatest monsters around. She could do anything.

  But she couldn’t seem to keep her damn hair out of her face.

  “I’m sure,” Falcon said. He looked over his shoulder and smiled at her. Damn, when he flashed those pearly-whites, it was all over for Cara. She had known it when she first met him, and she knew it now. No one managed to have the effect on her that he did. She didn’t know why he was able to make her heart melt so very quickly when he looked at her like that, but it was all part of Falcon’s magic.

  He was more than a man, she knew. He was more than a wizard, more than anything she’d ever met. He was the very first shapeshifter Cara had ever met. Aside from their daughter, he was the only one she’d ever met. She’d watched him change from man to wolf before, and it had been incredible. She’d never seen anything like it.

  When Falcon shifted into his animal form, he was brilliant. Beautiful. Strong. He was handsome as a man, but as a wolf, he was purely beautiful. It was a strange way to describe a man, she knew, but that was Falcon. He was lovely to look at. He’d even let her pet him in his wolf form. She wasn’t sure, at first, if that was okay. She’d been nervous when she asked, but he had laughed and assured her that she couldn’t hurt him.