She nearly freaked out when she noticed one of her bra’s hanging out on the side; it was a black lacy bra. One thing she was always pedantic about was wearing comfortable but classy underwear. Her mom always used to insist that a woman’s underwear was her pride.
“Uh… let me get that,” she said and reached for her suitcase, but Justin smirked and pulled it out of her reach.
“I’ve got it,” he said and turned left out of the living room into the corridor, “This is my room,” he said pointing to the door on the left, “This is my study, where you’ll find me most of the time when I’m home, and this,” he said, “is your room.”
Her room was a door down from his, which made her feel awkward but she tucked her emotions away. The room was beautiful, it looked like the rest of the place, perfect for a décor magazine, and in fact she’s almost sure she’s seen it before in a spread. The bed was queen sized, and the bedding was snow white, with embroidered leaves. She was almost too scared to sit on it in case she wrinkled it. At least the bedroom had curtains, which matched the linen. Other than a massive flat screen television that was mounted to the wall the walls were bare.
“This room is beautiful,” she said smiling as she ran her fingers along the smooth surface of the dressing table.
“Thank you,” he said and gestured to the door on the left, “That’s your bathroom, fully fitted with a bath and a shower.”
Jennifer glanced into the bathroom and it literally took her breath away. Gleaming granite tops lined the one side of the bathroom; in the middle was a Jacuzzi sized tub. The shower had no walls or glass; it was an open shower with a decorative tiled floor. Against the wall was an electronic panel where you could regulate the temperature and dispense soap, shampoo and conditioner. White towels were neatly stacked on an open shelf.
She stepped back into the room and smiled awkwardly, it felt as if her cheeks were jumping and she bit the inside of her lip. She had never ever been in such a grand place, not even when she stayed in the Hilton Hotel back when she visited Durban, in South Africa just after she finished college.
Justin looked at her curiously and then opened the closet door, “I’ve have taken the liberty of getting you an evening dress for dinner.”
Jennifer looked at the champagne colored dress. She looked at the tag and smiled, he had been smart enough not to leave the price on it, but he definitely knew her dress size. The name 'Elie Saab' didn't mean too much to her but she knew it meant the dress was foreign-made and expensive.
“You really didn’t have to go through all of this,” she said and closed the closet door, “I have clothes.”
“I know, but I thought I’d treat you to a new dress.”
Jennifer bit back a sneer. It’s already starting, Justin wasn’t happy with an average looking plane ol’Jane, and he was slowly going to try and transform her to fit into his glamorous life. It was something she was going to have to accept, and at least it would only be for a few months. Before she knew it, she would be back in her apartment with her cat Ratchet. At least she was able to get her neighbor to babysit Ratchet while she was pretending to be Miss Priss, and she had promised to visit him daily if possible.
“I’ll let you get ready,” he said and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.
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paranormal academy
Chapter 1
I am one of the lucky ones. Most gifted people, most commonly known as monsters, are killed as soon as they come of age. It is a human’s legal right to kill a marked individual on sight. When I was young, as with the majority of my classmates, I was brought to a magically protected boarding school—Edmund’s Academy for the Gifted. Humans are pinged across the world if they attempt to infiltrate, and the gifted with malevolent intentions are sent back from where they had come. As long as they enter the academy with pure intentions, they can stay, even if those intents change. As a student, I am safe.
At the age of nineteen, we gain a marking on our backs. It’s when the gifted become fully grown and legally able to be killed. To us, the marks are simply overdue birthmarks. They are different for everyone. They map out the destiny of their inhabitants, yet can be seen by anyone other than the wearer. After all, it is forbidden to know your calling unless deemed necessary by a prophet. Others are able to see pieces of the marking, but no one person can decipher the entire thing.
I turn nineteen years old in six minutes.
“What do you think your marking will say?” Coral asks from the bunk above mine. Her long red waves run down the side of our bed, and her excited voice energizes me. I am jittering from the anticipation of receiving my mark. What will the marking feel like? Will I feel an entirely new sense of importance once I am officially marked? I keep my eyes glued to the clock on the other side of the room.
“I don’t know. Do you think it will hurt?” I ask nervously. I was born at 4:36 PM on July 2, 2197, and I have been waiting for this moment my entire life.
“It shouldn’t. I call being the first to see,” she squeaks. I don’t allow my eyes to veer in Coral’s direction, but her hair disappears from my peripheral vision and I hear her walking around the room. Most people don’t have their best friend to comfort them while they receive their marks.
“What if I don’t have a great destiny?” I ask, biting my bottom lip. I pull my bleach blond hair over my shoulder and allow it to fall down my right side.
“Snow,” Coral starts, “your destiny is bound to be important. You are the only Elite mermaid in the academy.” I sigh and look away from the clock. Coral’s hair is the first thing that catches my attention, which is not unusual in any way. The mermaid warfare professor calls her Ariel, which is the name of an old movie character from the early 2000s. None of the students in the academy have lived nearly long enough to watch the film. All of the movies that gave monsters a positive connotation were destroyed. The average lifespan of a mermaid is about 300 years, so some of the professors were around to see the movies before their downfall.
“Being Elite means nothing,” I argue. It is simply the status a person gains if they are the leading individual in their species. They must have good scores in academics, battlefield strategy, ability control, and defense tactics. I just happen to have the best scores in each of the categories. Coral and I are both exceptional at controlling our abilities, so we room together.
“It means everything. You have more opportunities than any of us. We are all forced into the human world after graduation, but you can stay here forever because you’re an Elite,” Coral says. I nod and look back at the clock. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. “It’s time,” she says.
I feel a slight burning sensation ease up my back slowly, starting just above my coccyx and widening as it slides up my back. The sensation is unlike anything I’ve ever felt and it fills me with purpose. It continues for less than a minute before stopping at my shoulder blades. My entire back is covered and I run to our full-length body mirror. I turn and pull my shirt over my shoulders before looking into the mirror.
I see only tanned skin. “Is it there?” I ask.
She clears her throat, and I monitor her every expression through the mirror. Her eyes widen and she rushes forward. “It’s there,” she murmurs. I grin from ear to ear and attempt to decipher her shocked expression. She can only see a small portion of my prophecy, but what she’s seeing is causing her face to spasm with multiple different emotions.
“What is it? What do you see?” I ask.
She smiles and shakes her head. “Being Elite definitely means something,” she says with a smile. We both know that it is against the rules to divulge another person’s destiny, but I can tell by her mere facial expressions that she saw something important.
A scream echoes through the corridor loudly and my attention flies to the door of our room. Coral looks at me curiously and I do the same. I throw my shirt over my head before running from my room with Coral on my tail.
&n
bsp; The hallway is crowded with curious teenagers of all different origins. A few pixies float through the air and the magicians stand in the front of the crowd. Vampires make up the majority of the group. There are more vampires than any other species at the academy. A few mermaids are in the hallway, speaking among themselves curiously.
It’s odd to have so many different species gathered around when we are usually separate. We have classes with our own kind and avoid other groups the majority of the time. I try to push myself to the front of the crowd in general curiosity. Coral leads, but I am grabbed from behind and pulled backward quickly. I don’t struggle against the grip of the person. Once I am in the back of the crowd, I am met with the calculated silver eyes of the academy’s Headmaster.
“Miss. Annesley,” he greets me, “I have an important matter we need to discuss.”
Chapter 2
On the way to the Headmaster’s office, I can’t help but wonder what had happened. He walks silently and I follow closely. When we arrive, I am ordered to sit. “Snow Annesley, it looks like you have killed your roommate,” he says with a firm, unreadable tone.
I gasp and stand, ready to defend myself. “No, that’s impossible. I was waiting in my room with Coral. I received my mark and she saw it. Jasmine,” I begin, thinking about where my second roommate had gone. “Jasmine went to get an early dinner,” I recall. I look at the Headmaster in surprise, coming to a shocking revelation.
“That’s right,” he begins, “she was killed. She drowned in the dining hall, but there is no water near her and she is in her human form.” I look at my feet and take a seat. Jasmine was also a mermaid, so the only way to drown her is to ensure she doesn’t shift forms, and only someone with extremely advanced abilities would be able to kill a mermaid with water.
If even a drop of the liquid were to have fallen on her skin, she would have transformed into her fishlike form. If she had gotten wet, she would have been able to breathe both water and air, making it impossible to drown her. As a mermaid, we are able to control water and weather elements, so in theory, an exceptional mermaid should be able to use someone’s internal body fluids to drown them. After all, a human is roughly sixty percent water and a mermaid is eighty percent.
Out of everyone, I am the only person in the school that should be able to accomplish such a thing.
“Sir, I would never kill someone. You have to believe me,” I beg. I can’t bring myself to harm a fish, let alone a person.
“A month ago, a vampire was killed. His head was torn from his shoulders, and the only person strong enough to tear off a vampire’s head is another vampire. The Elite was framed. A week ago, a shaman was killed by a horde of angry spirits, and the only person able to do so is the Elite. Do you see a pattern, Miss. Annesley?” I stare into his silver eyes for a moment and nod.
“Or an assassin,” I whisper.
“Precisely my point. If the assassin were a magician, he would have access to the spells necessary to kill his classmates and frame the Elites,” the Headmaster says. He is a powerful magician, so he knows exactly what can be accomplished with a spell book.
Magicians can achieve almost anything with their books, but if they are also an assassin, they are far more powerful, thus able to mimic the abilities of another species. If we are dealing with an assassin who is a magician, it will be exceedingly difficult to find the party responsible—especially if the magician is being controlled by another creature.
Assassins can be any species, but they must be bound to a master. A magician ties the two together and the assassin becomes invincible. The assassin is then forced to obey every command of his master. He becomes mindlessly enslaved. We have a few known assassins in the school. Their masters are all intelligent, level-headed individuals, but it appears that one pair has gone rogue.
“Can’t you just evaluate each pair and find out who is committing the crimes. You know that the assassin must be a magician,” I say.
“That is the problem. No known assassins are magicians, and this one is covering his tracks very well,” he says.
“What would you like me to do?” I ask, knowing that I was not brought to his office for a mere discussion.
“This problem is much larger than just you, Miss. Annesley,” he says. “I am enlisting the help of each of my Elites.”
“Do you mean the Elites from each species?” I ask, realizing what that means. I will be working alongside people I have never attempted to associate with. How does he expect us to get along? None of the species hold any form of respect toward one another. We can tolerate each other, but people from different species have never gotten along well. We habitually remain with our own cliques.
“Yes, the Elites from each species,” he says, “but before they arrive, there is an urgent matter we must discuss.” I nod for him to continue, still shocked that I will be working alongside so many different people. “When you become marked, you have the right to any of the items you were left with as a child,” he states, pulling a sealed envelope from the table beside him.
I feel an overwhelming sense of betrayal and shake my head. My parents left me at the doorstep of the school as a newborn and never came back. I don’t want the letter they had left. “Keep it,” I say. I feel nothing but spite toward my long-lost family.
“After your assignment you may change your mind,” he says with a knowing smile.
The door to his office opens with a creak and a line of students step through. I don’t recognize any of them, but I know immediately who they are.
“Hello,” the Headmaster greets each of them with a smile. “Please, take a seat,” he says, signaling to the couch. I don’t make eye contact with any of the students as they take their seats, each spaced out enough to avoid contact. In total, there are six individuals seated around me. I am the only mermaid.
“Why are we here, sir,” a loud, graveling voice asks from the end of the couch. I can’t help but veer my attention in the direction of the guy. I gasp when I take notice of his appearance. He is handsome in a rough, unkempt way. His charcoal hair falls past his ears in a mess of waves and his sharp jaw looks as if it is forged from stone. I can tell from his pale skin and thin build that he is a vampire, but his lack of muscle is deceiving. Vampires are abnormally strong creatures.
“Mr. Lancaster, you know exactly why you are here,” the Headmaster states cryptically. “As for the rest of you, I will explain.”
He explains that people have been murdered and the Elites have been framed for each of the killings. He goes on with a long explanation, blaming an assassin duo for the shenanigans. “But with you six, I have the utmost confidence we can catch this killer,” he says.
“What do we need to do?” The vampire asks, cutting straight to the point.
“I need five of you to leave the academy and gather the ingredients necessary for a tracking spell. The Elite magician,” he looks at the magician beside me, “will stay here and set up the spell.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” A girl beside the vampire asks. Her shrill, whiny voice indicates that she is a pixie. They are very innocent creatures, but the kindest of everyone. Of all the species, fairies have the most diverse friend groups.
“It is extremely dangerous but very necessary. Do you all accept the proposition?” The Headmaster asks. Nobody protests, knowing that this is the reason behind our intense training. We have been taught to fear the outside world, yet we are all eager to experience it from outside the academy walls. “Great. Let’s get started.”
Chapter 3
We are each given a means to hide our true selves and blend into human societies. What we wear is disgusting and inhumane. I wonder why it is necessary. Is it common for people to dress in such filthy clothing? We are given the proper clothing and sent to a group dressing room to change. In the midst of changing, I notice the vampire’s eyes locked on my marking, but ignore him completely. We must learn to coexist with one another, and scolding him for looking at my marking is no way
to make a friend.
Once we are wearing our intentionally soiled clothing and back inside the Headmaster’s office, the Elite magician gives us each a list of ingredients we need to fetch. He appears to be uptight and unfriendly with his round glasses and immaculate posture. He looks down his nose at each of us as though we are here simply to serve him. “It is exceedingly important that you get each of these components,” the magician says. “Locater spells are challenging and I need each of these ingredients to get it right.”
I look at my small note card and read each of the ingredients. Witch’s spell book, demon’s spirit, ogre’s tear (small capsule), troll’s tooth x3. “How are we supposed to find all of these things?” I ask anxiously.
“That’s not my problem,” the magician says obnoxiously. “Just get everything in three days.” My initial judgment was correct. He is an uptight prick and I scoff at the tone he uses. He can’t order us around like we are objects.
“Wait, why in three days?” The vampire asks with a stiff tone.
“There is a full moon in three days. It’s the only time I can do the spell in the next month,” he responds as if the answer to the question is overly obvious.
The Headmaster makes sure the magician is secured in his office before he escorts us to the front door of the academy. No non-graduated student has left the confines of the building’s walls for years, so as we walk through the doors in our disguises, I look back at the building in awe. It’s unkempt with moss growing up the side of all four walls. From the outside, it looks like a stone palace surrounded by lively, overgrown trees and bushes. It is a fortress of nature and I am unable to look away from the scene. The school is breathtaking.
We have three days to conclude our journey, and I’m unsure if we can find the ingredients in double that time.
Chapter 4
We walk down the desolate streets of the outside world and I can’t believe what I’m seeing. We had learned in our history classes that The Great War had destroyed the majority of the United States and laid the ground for what soon became The Western Nation. I saw pictures of the world as it used to be, but not what it has become. Seeing it now is devastating.
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