Second Chance Hope: a paranormal reverse harem academy adventure (Second Chance Academy Book 3)

by Ella J. Smyth

  Beth whispered, “Actually, that looks like fun."

  The next batter wasn’t as good. Although he was a fire mage, he also decided to use his secondary wind magic. The ball hit him in the face with an audible slap before it veered off. I winced in sympathy. That had to hurt.

  The next girl up had joined the academy only a couple of weeks ago. She crouched low, squinting to keep her eyes on the ball. Her lips were puckered, ready to release.

  A guy behind me muttered, “I didn’t realize Raeni uses wind power.”

  As we watched in fascination, it turned out she couldn’t. Instead of a blast of air, she hit the ball with a swell of water, drenching both the pitcher and the kids standing behind him.

  Castle thundered, “Raeni, what the hell was that?”

  The girl dropped her head and burst into tears. She wailed, “I’ll never get this.”

  Castle sighed, like he wanted to be anywhere else but here. He walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Look at me.”

  Raeni lifted her face, embarrassment written all over it.

  Castle cleared his throat. “You just got here. I know how scary it is when you come into your power without any preparation. Don’t give up, okay? If you feel like you’re not progressing, I can set you up with a more experienced student to tutor you.”

  I stared at both of them. Was that the same Mr. Castle who’d attacked and ridiculed me ever since I’d gotten here? The P.E. teacher ran a hand down his face as if to wipe away his display of human emotion. Then he turned to the drenched kids. “Go and change your clothes before you get sick. I don’t want to have to explain to Ms. Farkas why half the P.E. class is out with a cold.”

  Beth muttered, “So he’s only a complete bastard to you?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know why he’s so nice to her and so nasty to me.”

  Lance had wandered over and joined us. Whispering loud enough for the students standing behind me to overhear, he said, “Maybe it’s because you always attract the wrong kind of attention.”

  I turned around, my mouth dropping open. What? Where is that coming from? Out loud, I said, “Excuse me? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Lance smirked. “Well, first there was Strickland, then Castle, then Sibelius. And you’re still the only one in the whole Academy who is under threat of a lifelong sentence, aren’t you?”

  What the actual fuck?

  “What are you saying?"Beth was as aghast as me. “Why are you so mean?”

  “She knows why."With those cryptic words, he sauntered off back to his position.

  Castle had watched our exchange. His grin was downright evil. “Amber, Lance, Beth, your turn. Beth, you’re the catcher. Lance, you’re throwing.”

  We lined up, my head still swimming with Lance’s insinuation. I couldn’t believe he’d just thrown that at me. He knew I’d nothing to do with Strickland approaching me. And I hadn’t exactly been willing with Sibelius, either.

  There was something in Lance’s eyes when I glared at him. As if he were warring with himself, feeling both apologetic but also pissed. One moment, I thought I saw an apology in his eyes, but the next, they were filled with an iciness that scared me.

  When I’d first met Lance, he’d been nasty to me as well, but I’d hoped we’d gotten past that. Beth was saying something to him that riled him up. I didn’t hear what he responded, other than the word, “Whore.”

  I saw red. The anger building overwhelmed me. My power roared through me, and I fought with all my might to keep it contained.

  Lance threw the ball at me, and I let rip. It wasn’t my lightning or even wind magic. Something else put so much force behind my defense, shooting the ball back at Lance so hard, it might’ve killed him. His eyes widened before impact, and he moved his head just enough that the ball missed him and hit the back of the wall. The red stitches burst, and the yellow leather tore, exposing the interior.

  A deadly silence fell on the spectators. Lance’s face had lost all color, and he stared at me, white as a ghost.

  Castle didn’t say a word. His eyes were blazing with a cold fury I’d never seen on him. He squeezed the words out between his teeth. “Amber. Lance. Leave my gym now. And don’t come back until you’ve sorted out whatever lovers’ quarrel you got yourself into.”

  19

  Shit. I couldn’t believe what I’d just done. I’d lost my temper and nearly killed Lance.

  I’d tried to apologize, but Lance had waved me away and stalked off. I had no clue what had brought on his behavior. Obviously, he hadn’t been as cool about Sibelius’s assault as he’d let on. I wasn’t in the mood to indulge his conduct if I were honest with myself. But something was off.

  Was he blaming me for the incubus’s attack. Rage threatened to overtake me again. I battled it down. No matter how angry he made me, it wasn’t an excuse to nearly kill him the way I’d done.

  I needed to clear my head and sort through my thoughts. I had a good hour before my next class, so a walk in the quiet woods was just what the doctor ordered.

  The Academy was surrounded by a dense, coniferous forest with several trails running through it. There were tales about bears and wolves, but they were just stories. I didn’t know anybody who’d ever even seen an animal larger than a fox.

  The main path rounded the school, providing us with a large loop. But if we walked perpendicular to the academy walls, we couldn’t go more than half an hour. I’d tried and come across a fence. It wasn’t electrified, but dangerous, nonetheless. When I’d attempted to climb over it to escape, a magical barrier had nearly killed me.

  Like everybody else in the Academy, I’d resigned myself to rounding the massive building. The leash we were on was long enough to keep us going for several hours, if we wanted to. Some older students had even organized the Academy Marathon, but eventually, interest had fizzled out.

  I walked on autopilot, barely taking note of the birdsong and the sun breaking through the dense tree canopy. A particularly loud cry of an invisible bird made me look up, and I took a deep breath, relaxing as I exhaled. It never got uncomfortably warm in the forest, and the cool air was scented with the acrid, but pleasant scent of fir needles and sap. I loved it here.

  Near where I’d grown up, there was a national park, but my parents had never been interested in hiking. The first time I’d entered a forest, I’d been scared of everything: the shadows under the trees, every little rustling in the undergrowth. Now, I reveled in the peace and quiet.

  Despite all my worries, a smile broke across my face as I continued walking along the packed dirt path. Ahead of me, a gray squirrel ran up the tree. A woodpecker clung precariously to the bark.

  Rounding a bend, something blue flashed among the trees, and I stopped. Even though I didn’t believe there were predators roaming the woods, the Academy had never been a safe place for me. It was prudent to take a moment and assess if the blue jacket belonged to a friend or foe.

  Cautiously, I approached as silently as possible. To my relief, I recognized Julian, who was bent over something lying next to the path.

  A few days ago, a badger’s body had been decomposing right about there. After disturbing the huge cloud of bluebottles, I’d avoided the spot, but today, I’d forgotten all about it until now. I was wondering what Julian found so interesting in a dead animal.

  I was about to call out, when a strange white light, like wisps of dense fog, emanated from Julian’s skin. Swallowing down the sound, I stared.

  Julian held his hands above the ground, and the white glow stretched all the way down. Julian’s body was hiding the cadaver from my sight.

  Something shuffled. Next, a large badger ran across the path and fled into the undergrowth.

  My eyes nearly fell out of my skull. What just happened? Where had the badger come from? My gaze flew back to Julian, who’d straightened up. His back was to me, but his face was angled to the side. He was looking at the brushes in which the animal had disappeared, a sati
sfied grin stretching his lips.

  This is insane. Are you telling yourself Julian just brought a bloated, maggot-ridden corpse back to life? How would that even be possible?

  I was so freaked out, I turned and crept back around the bend before Julian could see me. Ten yards further, another path led off at an angle. I took it, still muttering, “No way, no way, no way."

  I felt like I was walking through a dreamscape, disconnected from reality. As soon as I could, I veered in the direction of the main Academy building, hoping to avoid running into my boyfriend. I made my way to the Elemental class, only to have a senior tell us that all classes were canceled for the rest of the day. Which was fine by me. There was no way I’d be able to concentrate. This place was driving me even more crazy than I already was.

  When I got to my room, I sat on my bed and wrote down what I’d seen. I didn’t know what else to do to work through it. If I told Beth or Lance, they’d think I’d gone insane. I wasn’t even sure myself if I wasn’t.

  There were a lot of things about the magical worlds still hidden to me. But this… this seemed so outrageous, I didn’t know where to start to make sense of it.

  Elemental powers didn’t fundamentally change the laws of nature. No, they were just a different way of manipulating them. When people conjured up wind, all they did was accelerate air that was already there. When somebody created clouds and made it rain, again they worked with what was already there.

  My lightning magic was special because the power came from within me. But I couldn’t throw a lightning rod and turn it into gummy bears. Magic followed a logical framework and didn’t randomly zig and zag.

  But what Julian had done was take something rotten and restore it back to life. That was beyond what should be possible. Like, way beyond.

  Slug jumped on the bed and laid himself across my hands, stopping me from writing anymore.

  I grinned. “Hey, Buster. I wish you could’ve seen it. It was the weirdest shit ever.”

  Slug pushed himself up with his front paws into a sitting position and stared at me intently. I tilted my head, returning his stare until I blinked first. Slug stood up, and before I could react, slapped me across the face with his paw.

  Not for the first time I thanked my lucky star that Slug never, ever used his claws on me. It still hurt, though. I held my cheek and said, “Ow.”

  Slug stared. The meaning was clear. Tell me.

  My eyes narrowed as I regarded his posture. The cat was waiting. So I told him. I told him everything I’d just witnessed. When I was done, Slug came close again while I watched him warily. If he wanted to slap me for a second time, I’d shove him off the bed and not allow him back, ever.

  But instead, he pushed his head under my chin and licked my jawline, as he did when he was happy. I sprawled on my pillow and pulled him against my chest. “I love you. I can always rely on you, can’t I?”

  I remembered the weird scene I’d witnessed between Ms. Farkas and my cat. She’d talked to him as if he were a person. And she’d called him a strange name I’d never heard before. It was branded into my brain.

  “Macha.”

  Slug’s head flew up, and he stared at me with wide eyes. I realized I’d said the name out loud. I tried it again on my tongue. “Macha”.

  Slug recoiled, and quick as a flash, he disappeared under Beth’s bed.

  My brows drew together, and I sat up. “Slug? What did I do? I’m sorry, but I don’t know why you’re running off.”

  Damn, now I was talking to him as if he were human. I’ve got to stop doing that. Smart or not smart, he’s still only a cat. But this thing with Ms. Farkas was proof he wasn’t just a cat, was he?

  20

  My head was swimming. I lay back, staring at the ceiling until Beth returned. We did homework together until bedtime.

  Neither of us wanted to talk about Sibelius, Julian, or any of the other weird things happening at the academy on a daily basis. Instead, Beth talked about Luke and Kenzy, and I told her about how I’d lost my temper with Lance. All of that felt more normal than what we’d been through.

  Julian had been given permission by the head witch to visit Kiernan. I’d only found out because Ms. Farkas casually mentioned it as I spent my daily hour organizing her office.

  “I imagine you’re glad to have your boyfriend back soon,” she said out of the blue on Friday afternoon.

  My head flew up. “Is Kiernan coming back?”

  She frowned before laughing. “Oh, I keep forgetting you have more than one.”

  What did she mean by that? I narrowed my eyes, but she was already moving on.

  “No, I’m talking about Julian. He’s gone to visit Kiernan. Kiernan asked to be kept abreast of the lessons he’s missing while he’s studying from home.”

  “When will Julian come back?”

  “Sunday afternoon.”

  I nodded and sorted another boring grant application into the appropriate folder.

  The following day, I had my first proper mentoring session with Farkas, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. The stakes had grown considerably with Sibelius’s attack on me, and I regretted my decision to spend several hours alone with Farkas.

  I sighed. Beth, always perceptive, asked, “Worried about tomorrow?”

  I nodded, unwilling to put my thoughts into words. But Beth understood anyway. She got up and joined me on my bed. “Shall I sing you a song?”

  Astonished, I asked, “I didn’t know you sang?”

  Beth giggled, and even her voice had taken on a different quality. She sounded like silver bells when she was happy, and I smiled at the sound.

  There had been moments before when I was convinced I was picking up Beth’s emotions. Now it was happening again. I took her hand, pushing my fingers between hers.

  “Beth,” I began, not knowing how to put this into words. She looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to continue.

  “So do you think being half-Fae means you have mind control over humans?”

  When I said it out loud, it sounded stupid. But she looked thoughtful for a moment.

  “I don’t know. I don’t think I can control minds. Believe me, if that worked, there are quite a few people at the academy who’d be acting differently.”

  I grinned because we both knew she was talking about Castle, who had chased Beth up and down a rope hanging from the ceiling during P.E. Beth still had blisters on her hands from that ordeal.

  She continued, “But I do wonder. I have read somewhere that the Fae are supposed to be able to. I’m not fully Fae, so I don’t know. But sometimes, people seem to echo my feelings.

  “One day, I was sad, and Luke and Kenzy got really depressed. Even though they had no reason to. I mean, I was happy they were so in touch with my emotions, but it was weird. I was upset about my dad. Kenzy was crying. She’s not that kind of girl, you know?”

  I nodded. Kenzy was tough as nails. But hadn’t I experienced something similar when Beth was making out with Luke? I’d gotten turned on for no reason at all. So maybe there was something to it.

  “Perhaps it’s a skill you can train. A bit like our elemental powers, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, you might be right. Wouldn’t it be so cool if I could make people do things?”

  “As long as you don’t make me do stuff.”

  Beth laughed. “Of course not. You’re my bestie.”

  I felt better and less confused after our talk. In the back of my mind, I wondered if Beth had influenced me subconsciously. But I couldn’t bring myself to care much.

  The next morning, I had my alarm set for eight o’clock. Much earlier than I’d usually get up on the weekend. But today was no ordinary Saturday. In fact, the whole week had been strange. All of Sibelius’s classes had been canceled. The rumor mill was working overtime, but nobody knew anything concrete about his whereabouts. I was just glad I didn’t have to see the bastard.

  After getting up, I got ready, grabbed a notebook and a pen, and m
ade my way to Ms. Farkas’s office. When I knocked on her door, there was no answer. Had I gotten the time wrong? But no, she’d made a point of reminding me the night before to be punctual. I knocked again, louder this time. It seemed to take an age before I heard Farkas’s voice asking me to enter.

  After I did, I stopped. The room was dark, illuminated only by the daylight streaming through the door opening behind me.

  “Close the door, Amber.” Ms. Farkas’s voice came from the other side of the office.

  I did as I was told and found myself in total darkness. There was not a sliver of light coming in through the windows. A shiver ran down my spine, and again the fear of being all alone with the woman who might or might not have ordered Sibelius to kill me gripped me.

  “Ms. Farkas?” My voice sounded weak and hesitant.

  “Don’t worry. Your eyes will adjust very quickly.”

  I stayed where I was, and gradually, I began to make out shapes. It wasn’t as completely dark as I’d initially thought. There was a diffuse light source near where the head witch was.

  “Come and join me.” I jumped a little at the sudden sound of her voice.

  I kept my hands in front of me just in case, but I managed to cross the room towards the head witch’s desk without tripping over anything.

  Ms. Farkas sat on the ground, holding a faintly glowing orb in her hands. My stomach dropped as I remembered seeing something similar before. Last time, she’d shown me images of people dying because of me.

  “Come, don’t be shy. Sit down next to me and put your palms on the globe.”

  I lowered myself to the ground and followed her example.

  “Why are we sitting here?” I couldn’t help asking.

  “Because we need to be inside a Circle of Power to do this. I prefer to be on the ground for that.”

  Circle of Power?

  “I will teach you in due course. For now, focus on the inside of the orb.”

  I stared at the milky-pale light, like the halo of a streetlamp in the fog. The more I looked, the more I saw. At first, there were only shapes. They became clearer until I recognized trees. We were looking at a reflection of the forest.