Merlin's Supernatural Academy: Complete series (Books 1-4) : A Young Adult Supernatural Academy Series

by K L Rymer

  Yet I notice Shadow Stalker is missing. What a surprise...

  I still think he’s pure evil. He was the only juvenile dragon who didn’t look all that pleased when I came back home.

  Though Mattie has told me that he seems to be getting close with Sparkle Hearts, and upon my arrival, I saw it myself. He’s softer around her (he doesn’t hiss so much).

  Their budding romance reminds me of a certain demon and pixie when they first met...

  But enough of that creepy, hissing weirdo.

  He freaks me out.

  I resume my ascent up the mountain path again, passing a small cave. It’s not too narrow, but it could fit a full-grown horse...

  That’s when I’m convinced that the cave hisses at me next, and I freeze, gazing into the black chasm.

  A glowing pair of red eyes stares back, and I yelp, tripping over loose rock.

  It’s a monster!

  The creature growls, keeping those burning eyes trained on me. “If you dare tell anyone where my secret hideout is, then I will kill you...”

  It’s Shadow Stalker, and truth be told... it doesn’t make me feel all that better. Felicity is convinced this wyvern is a sweetheart deep down, but I’m not.

  His voice is just what I imagined it to be. He sounds just like a moody, thirteen-year-old goth boy hiding in his dark bedroom with the curtains closed.

  I’m convinced he still wants to eat my soul.

  Yet I know he won’t dare breach that cave with the sun shining and whatnot as I rise again, wiping my hands. “Why? You afraid a certain pink dragon will find you?”

  Shadow Stalker roars, sending a streak of black fire my way. I dodge the flame, feigning a yawn.

  Does he not think I’ve fought bigger dragons than him? He’s only as big as Black Beauty at the moment.

  “Yeah, I saw that coming from a mile off. Look, I get it... you’re going through puberty, Shadow Stalker. This is your edgy phase. We all go through it at some point...”

  Those floating scarlet orbs narrow. “I will kill you while you sleep...”

  I roll my eyes and march back up the hill. “Whatever...”

  I leave the sulking, teenage dragon alone to commence my search of Myrddin, and soon enough I reach the top of the hill, finding the beautiful waterfall inside a picturesque valley.

  Unfortunately, I have to go back downhill again, and I’m reminded of the day I stumbled on my field trip back in Snowdonia, ending up in the supernatural realm.

  And then this whole crazy adventure began.

  If I had my pin, I’d have used it to teleport to Myrddin and the waterfall, but I gave it to Megan.

  By the time I reach the crashing water, I’m out. I collapse onto the grass, burying my face into my hands.

  “Why, hello, Bryn...”

  I look up.

  Myrddin perches on a rock in the middle of the lake, showing off once again. This time, he sits cross-legged on the blunt end of his staff, and that’s gotta hurt.

  His poor ass...

  I wave tiredly as I’m still trying to catch my breath.

  The wizard breathes in the fresh, aqua-scented air, and I do the same.

  I can’t describe the scent, but I reckon it would be what the color turquoise smells like.

  It’s just so blue, cool, and fresh.

  “Come and join me, Bryn.”

  My eyes fall on the second rock beside him and I groan. Once again, he wants me to swim across to him and climb up sopping wet.

  So I strip down to my pants and shirt and paddle across like a dog. It’s only shallow water. No need to act like I’m at the Olympics.

  I grip my hands onto the wet, slippery rock and haul myself up, and Myrddin tsks. I scowl at the wizard from the corner of my eye.

  “I think it’s about time we finally taught you to teleport. It’s been two years since you joined the academy. Now that you’ve given up your pin to that delightful Maloney girl, there’s nothing stopping you.”

  I sit cross-legged and close my eyes, channeling my powers. I summon a red ball in my hands. “Fine. So long as you promise me one thing, Professor...”

  Myrddin keeps his eyes closed. “And what’s that?”

  I smirk. “You reunite with my mother at last and bring her to the oasis. It’s only fair now that Megan’s family are all here. What’s one more human? Besides, it’s obvious you still have the hots for her any—”

  I’m cut off as someone splashes into the water, and I whirl around, gaping at that fallen staff. It rattles against the rock, and I spring to my feet.

  The great wizard Merlin has fallen into the water...

  It seems I broke his concentration.

  No doubt a certain human woman was the cause (one by the name of Jennifer Williams).

  Myrddin soon breaches the surface again, coughing up water. His angry eyes find mine as he clenches his teeth. I supress a snort.

  “Stop laughing, Bryn! I... I merely tripped.”

  Finally, I laugh out loud, and now the sound of my mirth echoes through the valley.

  I’m never going to let this one go.

  Chapter 16 - Bryn

  My stomach roils as we stand outside my childhood home, and I take it all in with a mixture of love and contempt.

  Thankfully, Diafol’s shadow hasn’t spread to Texas yet. It’s dull and cloudy, and the sun appears to have gone on vacation, but so far we have no trouble navigating around my front yard as we approach the porch.

  We pass the step where I fell and chipped my tooth at five and the rose bush where I used to hide from Larry when he beat my mother.

  Such wonderful, happy memories...

  I don’t have the guts to stand up to that pig inside. Not quite yet. Even now when I can shoot fireballs from my palms and have the most badass wizard who ever lived by my side, I’m shit scared.

  Larry terrorized me for years. All the monsters of my nightmares were him in disguise.

  This man abused me, and he’s going to pay.

  I was around the age of six when he met my mom, and the couch potato has created a rift between our small family ever since. Hence why I was so desperate to escape, but I’m ashamed to admit that I lost a little respect for my mom the day she decided to bring him into our home.

  Sure, Larry wasn’t such a slob back then, and he was actually pretty respectable. But ever since his career as a ‘magician’ took a nosedive, well... he degraded.

  I’d do anything to go back to when it was just mom and I. Absolutely anything... We didn’t need a man back then, and we sure as hell don’t need one now—unless we want one.

  Well, I’m about to get those precious years back, because Larry will soon be out of the picture. Finally.

  It was about time.

  Myrddin’s just as nervous as I am. He hasn’t seen this woman in twenty years after all, but he does wear his best bowtie and blue starry suit. He’s even groomed his beard and hair, and he’s never looked so sharp.

  All he has to do is wipe that sweat off his shiny forehead, and he’ll be good.

  The three of us wait on the wooden porch outside, staring at the door as if it will open of its own accord.

  We’re all a little too used to magic by now, but still... someone needs to make the first move.

  Mattie peers my way, hiking up a prominent brow. “Well, what are we waiting for? Knock.”

  I nod. “R-right.”

  Cautiously, I reach my white knuckles to the door and freeze. Somehow, I just can’t close that small, five-inch gap between my hand and the door...

  My heart palpitates, and I suck in a series of deep breaths. Myrddin’s in as much as a state as I am, and now we truly are like father and daughter.

  “Oh, for frig’s sake...” Mattie whispers, tapping his knuckles against the door, and Myrddin and I draw a simultaneous gasp.

  The silence next seems to echo like thunder.

  I’m so not ready for this...

  Someone shuffles on the other side of the do
or, and then a soft, feminine voice asks, “Who... who is it?”

  Emotion soon gets the better of me, and now a whimper spurts from my lips. It’s been two years since I’ve seen her.

  “Mom... it’s... it’s me...”

  She doesn’t even hesitate. Jennifer Williams removes the latch on the door, swinging it wide open to reveal her beautiful face, and the tears pour from her eyes. “Bryn...”

  Unfortunately, Myrddin pops out of thin air, making poor mom jump in fright, and now a white rabbit takes his place.

  My eyes swell.

  I never knew he could do that. He has to teach me...

  The snowy bunny still wears the smart bowtie as it wiggles its nose up at the three of us now.

  Mom throws her hand on her chest. “What... Where did that rabbit come from?!”

  I’m not sure if she’d had a chance to see Myrddin. Her eyes were only on me, her daughter, but it’s clear she has no idea who that rabbit once was.

  Recognition doesn’t dawn in those glittering blue eyes.

  I sigh, bending down to pick up the white rabbit, and fuck Myrddin makes an adorable bunny. He’s small and soft and fits right in the palm of your hand.

  Mom still watches the rabbit with a mixture of confusion and awe. Next, her gaze flickers over to Mattie, and her lips part. “M-Matthew...”

  That’s right. They’re both acquainted with one another now.

  Matthew smiles handsomely. “Jennifer...”

  I roll my eyes. Does he have to call her by her first name? It just sounds so weird, especially as my mother blushes hard now.

  Mattie makes anything sound sexy from those gorgeous lips of his, but he needs to stop. Even the little rabbit in my hand squirms with jealousy, and if Mattie’s not careful, we’ll both gnaw his face off.

  Finally, I gaze deep into Mom’s pretty blues, and say, “Pack your things. You’re staying with us from now on...”

  Her eyes turn the size of a child’s on Christmas morning, and soon tears form. “You... you’re taking me to the magical world?”

  I nod. “Yes. We’re finally coming to rescue you. Now hurry, before that pig wakes up from his nap.”

  Larry will be snoozing right about now in his dirty lounger chair. If we’re lucky, he won’t grace us with his stench.

  But before Mom even has a chance to turn on her heels, a loud, coarse voice hollers from inside the house, “Jennifer! Who the hell you talkin’ to?!”

  A shaky breath leaves my lungs, and now I straighten my posture, placing Myrddin the bunny back onto the floor.

  This is it. I am finally going to stick up to Larry.

  A large, hulking man waddles onto the porch, pushing Mom aside, and I clench my teeth when I get a good look at that pig.

  He’s still wearing the white vest that he had on the day I left for the airport.

  There are two-year-old stains on that once white/turned yellow shirt now, and he really is a slob. Plus, his body odor...

  A sneer stretches across Larry’s cruel and unshaven face, exposing his yellow teeth for all to see. “Well... look what the cat dragged in.”

  My fingers twitch as I ready my fireballs. Myrddin said we are not to attack a human as it is against supernatural law, but it would only be self-defense. Knowing Larry, he will swing a meaty punch my way any moment...

  Sure, I have my sexy boyfriend by my side, but I don’t need Matthew’s help. I can beat him on my own.

  I’m not a helpless little girl anymore.

  “Heard ya joined some fancy hoity-toity British school. What... ya think you’re better than me now? Are they teachin’ ya proper etiquette? Go on... let’s see ya curtsey.”

  I grind my jaw, balling my hands to fists. “No... Like hell I will bow for you...”

  Larry’s eyes flash, and my heart spikes. Fuck. That was the expression he always made when he was about to strike. He’d go completely silent, and then out of nowhere, he’d swing that fist.

  “Well... if that fancy school ain’t gonna teach ya... then I will!”

  Larry throws all of his weight at me next, and instinctively, I jump back.

  “Stop!” my mother screams, covering her face as Larry chases me around the yard.

  Matthew’s eyes burn as he descends on that poor excuse of a man. But then a snowy rabbit hops from the shadows, stretching to the full height of Myrddin Emrys, and now the wizard takes out my stepfather with one cold, hard punch to the eye.

  Bluebirds twitter around Larry’s head as he crashes to the ground, causing a mini-earthquake, and now the dust flies up in his wake. But all I can do is stare at Myrddin.

  I never knew he could fight like that, and I can’t help but be proud.

  That’s my dad...

  Yet I don’t think Myrddin even knew he could punch like that as he wiggles his fist, wincing in pain. “Ow! That hurt! How exactly do you humans cope without magic? It’s baffling!”

  Larry answers with a simple groan as he still face-plants the floor, and now he resembles a whale washed up along the shore. Sounds like one too.

  Myrddin tends to his fist. “I think I actually broke something. Aw, poo... That’s my staff-wielding hand!”

  I cough for the wizard’s attention, inclining my head toward the porch.

  He follows my gaze, and his eyes expand when they land on the speechless face off my mother.

  Jennifer Williams’ lip shakes as she looks as if she’s seeing a ghost. “M-Myrddin...”

  The famous wizard Merlin becomes a bumbling fool at last, and now he can’t string a sentence together. “H-hello, Jen... n-nice to see... Have you changed your hair?!”

  He produces a nervous, high-pitched laugh, scratching the back of his head, and now Mattie and I offer each other questioning looks.

  Seriously, could he be any lamer?

  Well, at least he did what my mother and I were too afraid to do all these years— stick up to Larry.

  And he didn’t even have to use magic in the end.

  Now that’s what I call a real man.

  Chapter 17 - Bryn

  It was a good job we fetched mom.

  The day after we teleported her away from Texas and brought her to the oasis, Diafol’s shadow had spread.

  It managed to reach every corner of the earth, and in no time the spread of a mysterious black shadow ate up every news outlet of the world.

  There are awful stories of protests and looting in every major city of the world, and the human population has gone into a state of panic.

  Lucky for me, there’s no one left that I truly care about on earth. Megan went and grabbed Sophie and her family too, and Brynmawr found my grandparents and brought them to the oasis.

  The world is in decay. The sad thing is that the shadow only affects certain humans as it’s more of an illusion. Diafol is not stupid. He would not really block out the life-giving sun. One of his reasons for hating humans was that they were a plague to the earth, causing pollution and global warming and whatnot.

  His home is in the arctic after all.

  Judging by the news, many can still see clearly, yet their loved ones and neighbors are being driven insane by an unseen entity, and I’m starting to notice a theme.

  Why are some people spared and others not?

  Maybe those who bring darkness onto others can only see the shadow? Only the purest of the human race will be safe.

  Who knows... Whatever Diafol’s plan, he needs to stop.

  Innocent lives will be lost. It doesn’t matter what these people have done in the past, he and Matthew senior do not have the right to pass judgment.

  Meanwhile, we’re all having the time of our lives in the oasis while the human race crumbles.

  The supernatural watches along the sidelines and there are mixed feelings. Many races abhor what is happing to the humans, but others relish.

  I just wonder how Orion, Katy, and Clara are holding up at the academy. They’re with me in the end. They don’t agree with Matthew senior’s wanton
destruction.

  It’s immoral. Even Mr. Higgles agrees, and he’s the most anti-Homo sapien supernatural that I know of.

  Mom’s the happiest she’s been in years. The moment she breathed in that fresh air of the spirit oasis, she looked twenty years younger.

  Larry had aged her significantly. She never looked too bad to be fair (all she had were a few lines and gray streaks in her brown hair), but now she’s young and vibrant once again.

  Which is a relief, considering she’s only forty-three.

  Myrddin still can’t speak to her. He gave her and my grandparents a quick tour of the oasis, but he was clipped and formal all the way through, and it’s as if he stuck his staff up his ass.

  It’s just ridiculous. How can he be shy? He wears a suit with stars for crying out loud.

  I suppose it’s rather adorable. We all tease him when my mom’s out of earshot and the wizard is not pleased. He will stomp his foot, and then with a poof, he will disappear to go and do some meditating by the waterfall.

  It’s a welcome distraction with all the shit going on in the world. Our professor is in love and we’re never going to let him get over it.

  Of course, the love of his life is my mother, and I had to punch Damien when he offered Myrddin tips on how to win her affections back, but it’s still all good fun.

  It’s been several weeks now, and Myrddin still hasn’t made his move. He hasn’t even spent a moment alone with her. Instead, he will grab my shoulder and wedge me between the two of them and say, “Look at our daughter! So beautiful!”

  I’m aware that what Myrddin and my mom had was casual and they never married (hey, I’m not the first bastard child to do awesome things with their life).

  I always wondered if he appeared as a middle-aged guy back then. Mom was twenty-two when she had me. Surely, she wasn’t into an older man (older by a millennium).

  The wizard can make himself appear any age as far as I know. So he must have made himself look young too.

  It’s creeping closer to Christmas, and the babies have finally grown.

  They’ve reached full maturity and are now considered adults, but they’re still not quite as big as Brynmawr or Gwyneira yet. Only Buddy manages to surpass the White-Dragon, but he’s still got a way to go before he can beat the famous Welsh dragon Brynmawr in terms of power and strength.