CONVICTION OF THE DAMNED: SUPERNO ACADEMY BOOK ONE

by Tierney Storer

All we could do was wait for her to calm herself down and then be normal levels of nice to her. She wouldn’t want us to treat her like she was made of glass. And later I can talk to her about all the ways we could kill the Vampiro in his sleep.

  “So Tory, tell us what classes you’re in?” I said, changing the subject and effectively ending any whispers about Kaida.

  Our table began their conversations again, but I wasn’t listening, far too busy being inside my own head daydreaming about all the ways I would get revenge on people when I was strong enough. I was going to figure out my class type and powers, and as soon as I did there wouldn’t be anyone in this entire damn country who would lay a finger on either of my sisters again.

  Laina

  The day of our reckoning had arrived, and I doubted there was even the slightest part of me that was prepared. Sure, Kaida had made sure we had the actual essentials like notepads and pens, but that was nothing in comparison to what we needed. Almost every person in the school had been here for two years already; a lot of them had even grown up with each other and known their class since childhood.

  They had magic in their everyday lives since they could walk, and we did not. There was no chance we could compete with any of them on the best day, but considering we were the biggest gossip at the school, it made it harder.

  We were going to be watched by everyone and expected to be powerful or laughed out of here if we weren’t. Ryder had warned Dari that there were plenty of people who would hate us for our name alone; being the daughters of one of the most ruthless queens in a century was not something one could move past easily.

  Queen Carissa had been the most merciless ruler the Kingdoms had for over a hundred years, her reign almost that of a dictator. According to Tory she had started out kind and fair but as the years passed, she became bitter and power crazed. Her husband George had only aided her.

  The better parts of the Kingdoms had flourished in riches and health, but the poorer parts had only become entrenched in more poverty and death. Those facts alone should have made me hate my parents, but I couldn’t stop myself from pining for the family I never knew.

  Last night I had stayed awake using my Portal to research anything I could on my parents, only to fall short with too many opposing articles and books. My sisters had woken me at the crack of dawn to begin getting ready, their energy to get this over with far more visceral than mine. I had always been a fan of school, but only when I knew what the hell we were learning about.

  The first lesson of the day was even something I was interested in; fortunes and religious studies. I loved reading my horoscope and trying to determine if the stars had anything set in store for my fate. Of course, they were never easy to decipher, but they were all good fun.

  It helped that the teacher, an elderly lady with greying hair, in floral robes and far too many bracelets, was teaching her lessons outdoors in the courtyard or the Whispering Woods. It was peaceful for the very first lesson in this new world.

  I much preferred being in nature, even if we couldn’t see the stars now, it was still nicer than being trapped indoors. Especially when we were stuck in a class with all the Heirs minus Bette, who seemed to be either absent or in a different lesson.

  “Welcome back to those of you who were here before, and good meeting to those of you who I have yet to see!”

  The woman introduced herself as Professor Luna, and the second her hazel eyes locked onto me, a wave of calm flowed through my entire being. She cocked her head and for a second her eyes turned grey, in an all too familiar fashion.

  “It looks like I have been honoured to have our very own celebrities in my lesson back.” Oh no.

  Luna smiled warmly, parting through the group of twenty students who stood in a half-circle and headed straight for us.

  “It is a pleasure to see you again my dears; I have long foreseen your return to our realm, and I am beyond thankful for the Gods to have you back with us at last. I must praise Haziel for your blessed and safe returns.”

  “The Gods?” I asked, “How many are there?”

  There was a mutter through the students, but I didn’t care. I wanted to ask as many questions as I could even if people hated me for it or found me to be a teacher’s pet. I vaguely recalled Ryder mentioning a God called Nakoa, but I had never heard of any of them.

  “Why yes my love, we have many deities; but for now, I will only be talking about the main three.” Luna replied kindly. “Those being Zephyr, Nakoa and Haziel. The three protectors of this realm.”

  Luna gave us a quick history of the big three, careful not to linger too long as the rest of the class already knew everything she said. Zephyr was the God of Life, the one who supposedly created the entire realm and everything inside it. Not only did he create the fae, but he could manipulate all the elements; and they truly meant all. He was the leader of all other Gods.

  The second was Nakoa, the God of War and Strength. His name was rather self-explanatory; he was the angry guy who made weapons, armies, and their strategies, and basically did all the bad things that were needed to be done.

  His followers were called the Guard and were the ones responsible for protecting everybody in this realm, sort of like the police. Which explained why Ryder had mentioned him when he first came to our apartment yesterday.

  “Your mother was an avid follower of Nakoa too. Even though he was a Phoenix and normally they do not get along with Chimera; too much hot headedness.” Luna added, forcing a few angry whispers from the students.

  It made sense our mother had followed the war God, what with her predisposition to violence. Believing in a deity who loved destruction and fighting was hardly going to get you anywhere and I knew I would not be a fan of his. Dari may have been into him but the final of the three Gods, Haziel, was more my speed.

  He was the God of Fate and Fortune. Pretty much the glorified version of fortune teller, who determined fae’s destinies, and in particular the span of a person’s life and their allotment of misery and suffering. Haziel could also see good things, but most of his prophetic visions were more towards death and darkness and hit a little too close to home for my liking.

  Haziel was the main subject of our lesson, as he was the one who supposedly had designed the way astrology and all things like that worked. He was able to manipulate the sun itself, and the shadows, and that is where most of his power came from.

  Just like me; I see things. I’ve seen the shadows Luna spoke of…

  “Are there many Seers now?” I asked hesitantly.

  “But of course, dear! I am one; and before me there was your father. George Theodosian Darklight, the last of the sun Seer’s, though I doubt he will be the last for much longer.” She knows. She must know.

  By sun Seer Luna meant he too could wield the sun. Nowhere near as well as Haziel, but still enough that he had been able to burn the Kingdom of Arle down to ash at my mother’s request.

  “Now let us begin with something simple. We are all going to see how many constellations we know, and chart them out on a map.” Luna began her actual lesson and I zoned out, too far gone in my own thoughts.

  A fae’s power was usually genetic, as Tory had said, which meant I was destined to be either a Chimera or a Seer most likely. Our grandparents were a little different, with one of our grandfathers being a Harpy, and one of our grandmothers being a Vampire. Considering I lacked the strength and violence of a lion and Vampire, and I was not able to fly, I would have already put following after my mother and three of my grandparents as a hard no.

  But even without that, the visions that had plagued my life were something my father and his mother shared too, which left me with only one viable option that I couldn’t stop thinking about for the entire lesson.

  Add in Caleb’s words from yesterday, when the shield of golden light had protected me from his bite, and the truth settled coldly in my stomach. I had to get out of here quickly after classes, and research everything I could on what a Seer was like. I
think I am a Seer, just like the God Haziel. Just like my father, and his mother before him…

  ***

  Our first ever Hunting class had been going on for ten minutes and I categorically hated it. At first, I presumed we were going to be hunting animals, something I would refuse to take part in, but I quickly learned that it was not innocent bunny rabbits we were being taught to hunt, but rather fae.

  “You must learn the characteristics of each class, and only then can you move on to learning how to fight their particular set of powers.” Professor Fox sneered. “And I know some of you will struggle to pass step one.

  The way her cold, mud brown eyes flickered towards my sisters was enough to know she meant we would be the ones to struggle. I knew she was a Werewolf, and that her cropped ginger hair was the same colour of her coat. But only because Allie had told us so.

  Professor Fox had made no attempts to introduce herself, or even be polite. The only time she looked our way was to throw veiled insults or scowl.

  “Don’t worry Laina; I can help you where I can. It’s easy enough once you get the basics.” Tory offered her help.

  I had no qualms with people disliking me. But when they were in a position of authority, and were supposed to educate me, it was kind of hard to sit back and do nothing but let them ignore me.

  “Professor?” I raised my hand, ignoring the evil look Kaida shot me as Fox came towards us.

  “What?” Fox replied. Rude much.

  “You’ve asked us to start with listing the characteristics of a Pixie, but we obviously have never met one, so wouldn’t know where to begin.”

  It wasn’t like there were students clamouring for her attention. The field we sat in was plain grass, and the sun was shining overhead. Most of the other thirty or so students were busy sunbathing and messing around with friends. But Fox rolled her eyes like we had interrupted a remarkably busy day.

  “I don’t think it’s my fault that you are uneducated,” she began with a snigger, “so I suppose you will have to read the beginners guide to Hunting on your Portal and figure out how to catch up. You’ll probably find the information in the kids section.”

  Fox turned her back and wandered over to the other side of the class, breaking into conversation with a pretty redhead who hadn’t stopped glaring at us all lesson long.

  “What a bitch.” Dari snorted, lying on her back, and catching some sun. “I guess we will figure it out for ourselves.”

  “Agreed. We’ll be fine on our own.” Kaida scowled, joining Dari to sunbathe despite her lack of skin on display. “I’m going to figure out how to kill a Vampire first.”

  At the mention of Vampires, the red headed girl flicked her gaze to us, her eyes narrowing as though she could hear everything we said. A shiver of unease trickled down my spine as I whispered my concerns.

  “Penso che dovremmo discuterne in privato; ci sono troppe orecchie di ascolto.” I think we should discuss this in private; there are too many listening ears.

  Both my sisters nodded, changing the subject to the oncoming lunch break as Allie listed all the foods they needed to eat. I turned my attention to Tory, hoping to at least have one good thing come of this lesson: one on one time with the stunning Phoenix.

  “So Tory, tell me a little about yourself. What’s it like growing up in Mirane?” I asked, tugging on a blade of grass.

  “Oh Gods, where do I begin?” Tory replied, launching us both into an animated discussion that made the rest of the morning fly by.

  Dari

  First lesson of the afternoon was combat, and I was over the moon. If not for the psycho leech putting Kaida in a foul mood by biting her again at lunch, I would have said my morning had been good enough for school.

  It was too early to have woken up and a Monday, but none of that had dampened my spirits just yet. The day so far had been relatively fun even if the subjects were complete bullshit.

  I wasn’t religious, nor did I believe in anything as ridiculous as astrology or palm reading. But either way it was still better than the subjects I was used to, even if I chose to mess around in every future lesson. Hunting had been a waste of time; something we would have to self-teach. But as it turned out that all the boring subjects I had hated in school; like maths, business and English were not part of our curriculum.

  Royal Heirs and certain important members of the Kingdoms only needed to do menial subjects for the first two years of Superno Academy, and as we had missed out on those already, we didn’t have to take part.

  It wasn’t like we were going to swan off and become accountants one day so I could hardly say I was upset. I knew Kaida would be mad about missing an opportunity to showcase her mathematical genius, but I knew she would forget all about it ten minutes into this lesson when she got to exact her revenge.

  I loved combat already. Everything I enjoyed in life; fighting, small groups of likeable people and hot guys, were here for me and it was perfect. The best part was the special bracelets each student had to wear, that temporarily disabled your class powers and totally turned Kaida’s vile mood around.

  “Wait so we’re like completely human in these, nobody has any bloodsucker powers or anything?” I had asked our new professor.

  The professor, a tall bald man with mahogany skin, and cheekbones that could cut glass, introduced himself as Professor Long before answering my question.

  “Yes. Vampires will have no extra strength, speed, or anything that they would usually. And neither will you. All of the fae power in your blood will be dulled down.”

  Long hadn’t commented on my Vampire insult, but the tiniest smirk pulled at the edges of his lips, and I had a feeling he agreed with my bloodsucker sentiment.

  “But why?” Kaida asked, her eyes darting nervously around our class as we waited for the Heirs to arrive.

  Unfortunately, we had to study with those of a similar power level, which meant we were stuck with all the Heirs, and only Tory to counteract them. It wasn’t the best start to the afternoon for my dear older sister.

  There were three other people in the group, but all had actively stood as far away from us as possible as they shot us dirty looks, so I doubted we would ever be friends. I didn’t know why the teachers presumed we would powerful as none of them said anything more than us having good genetics. But who was I to second guess them when a part of me still thought this entire thing was bullshit?

  The only other people present were some of the Guard. This squad was led by none other than Ryder himself which seemed an awful lot like fate shitting on me for no reason even if he did look cute in the Guard uniform. It consisted of black combat trousers, black boots and a skin-tight white t-shirt and matching black military jacket. There was some sort of logo on it, but I couldn’t make it out from so far away.

  Ryder had been asked to help Long teach us, and so when he removed his jacket, I settled in to watch the delightful way his muscles moved when he hit something.

  “Fae have many enemies. Most of which are kept at bay by the Guard and the magical borders that serve as a sort of barricade between us and the other realms.” I wonder if I could run through the barrier, or if it would shoot me backwards?

  Ryder said our current greatest enemy was something called the Shadows. As they were the only things that had been able to breach the protective walls in hundreds of years, and even then, they were not too common. Maybe a sighting once or twice a year if we were lucky.

  Ryder pointed at my family as he explained what the combat lessons were for.

  “When the shadows attack, they are able to immobilize the powers of your class, rendering you basically mortal. Your only hope is to learn how to throw a decent enough punch, that will give you time to run for the hills and wait for someone better trained like me, to come along and save you.”

  I scoffed at the idea of him saving me, so of course he had to make a spectacle. I was summoned to the mat opposite him and asked to help demonstrate how the shadows apparently grabbed people they
wanted to stick their slimy claws into.

  “Once they’ve made you human, they grab a hold of you with what sort of looks like arms.”

  Ryder had my back to his chest and slowly began wrapping his arms around my throat and waist in a way that wasn’t totally hot or making my heart race.

  “Then they use their coercion to get you to either submit and give up your powers to them, or they kill you. If they get their hands on you then you are as good as dead.”

  Before I could blink, I was spun around and thrown to the hard ground, the wind knocked out of me and Ryder straddling me like an idiot. He leant down close enough that I had no doubts he could feel my stupid pulse betraying my nerves, as he pressed a small knife over my heart.

  Fuck why am I enjoying this.

  “Shadows kill you by either poisoning you with the venom inside their veins, or by cutting out your heart and eating it.” Ryder chuckled and winked at me, not bothering to hide the fact he was enjoying himself too. “They don’t tend to be sadistic, and often go straight for the kill.”

  The group of Guards with him laughed along like he was way funnier than he was, each one fully cementing themselves as ass-licking jerks in my mind.

  “They want you dead because our magic is what holds up the barrier. If they can absorb the power of any class, it helps weaken the bonds that hold them back, and if enough of them do it they could create an escape into our world that would allow them to wipe us all out. As well as bring other monsters forth.”