The Coven - Academy Magic Complete Series

by Chandelle LaVaun

  I chuckled and bumped my shoulder into his. “I’m as surprised by that as you. That was an awful turn of events.”

  “So you liking Edenburg, then? How are your classes?” He turned toward me. “How’s life as a Sword? Are they being nice to you?”

  I opened my mouth then shut it. For the most part, everyone was being nice. It was only Jackson, Erin, and Genevieve who’d been unpleasant. But Erin was coming around, or at least I was hoping so. Genevieve hadn’t, but I wasn’t being outright bullied so it was okay. And Jackson… He was confusing me more than ever.

  Last Saturday, he’d voluntarily taken Timothy’s place and helped me train. For two hours. And he’d been nice. But then ever since, he’d been distant. He hadn’t said much to me, but the things he did say were only slightly less snarky than before. I’d been hoping to see him tonight for the Equinox celebration, but he was nowhere in sight.

  “Bettina?” Dean tapped my elbow. “You okay?”

  I forced a smile. “Yeah, sorry. I’ve been training nonstop, so I’m kind of exhausted. But everything’s pretty good.”

  “BETTINA!” Freddy and George yelled in unison from behind me.

  I spun and gave them high fives. “Hey, guys!”

  “Betty, what ya’ doin’ standin’ here?” Freddy waved his arms around. “The party is starting back there!”

  “Yeah, the drum circle is gonna start any minute! Let’s go get a spot!” George yelled, then took off running with his brother on his tail.

  Lennox laughed. “They’re right. We don’t want to miss this. Let’s go!” She chased after the two red-headed boys.

  “Come on, you won’t regret it!” Dean smiled then ran to catch up.

  I meant to follow them, but I wanted to just look for a second. This memory would be a cherished one for years to come, and I wanted to soak in every detail.

  “Are you and Dean together?”

  I jumped at the sudden sound of his voice. My heart did that weird thing it always did when Jackson Lancaster was around. If these butterflies didn’t stop showing up every time he did, I was going to have to name them after him. I looked up into his light eyes and sighed. They perfectly reflected the flickering bonfire behind me. Dressed in his all-white cloak, his tan looked dark, which only made his eyes pop even more. I could’ve stood there all night looking at him.

  “Is that a yes, or do you usually get that dreamy look on your face when you think about Dean?” Jackson growled and crossed his arms over his chest.

  My cheeks warmed. My lips had the audacity to try and smile. Dreamy look? Do I have a dreamy look? And then I realized what he’d said. He thought I was thinking about Dean. That made me lose the battle, and a smile tugged at my lips. If you only knew. Liking Dean would be so, so much easier.

  “Um, no. Dean and I are just friends.” I cleared my throat. “Why, did he say something?”

  Jackson’s eyes narrowed. “Did you want him to?”

  I rolled my eyes. “No, Lancelot.” I want YOU to say something.

  Wait…I do?

  No, I don’t. I definitely do not want Jackson to like me.

  “Why do you call me that?” His voice was barely more than a growl.

  Under his sharp, heated gaze, I felt like a zebra being hunted by the lion. It made me uncomfortable, but only because I wanted him closer. I shrugged, trying to keep myself sounding casual. “Why do you call me Barbie or Princess?”

  He arched one eyebrow. “To annoy you,” he snapped.

  That definitely didn’t make my pulse pick up speed. Definitely not. “Well, right back at ya’…Lancelot.”

  He narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth. I braced myself. I’d seen this side of Jackson. It was the one I knew best. The one with any excuse to bite my head off. Except then he closed his mouth, made this strange growling sound, and shook his head. He turned and stormed off, but after only a few steps, he spun back around and marched up to me.

  His eyes flashed bright. He held his pointed finger up between us and raised both eyebrows. “I like your hair long.”

  I blinked and shook my head. What?

  He cursed, and it sounded beautiful in his British accent. “Rubbish,” he whispered and spun away again. This time he practically ran away from me.

  I stood there staring at his fleeing back. That boy was impossible, insufferable, infuriating, and far too adorable. As he disappeared from sight, a smile spread across my face.

  I am so screwed.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  BETTINA

  It was right near the end of Demonology class, while we were learning about these demons referred to as Oozers, when a high-pitched scream ripped down the hall.

  Then another.

  Then a few more, but farther away and from different voices.

  Our class froze in place, only moving our eyes to look at each other. Everyone stayed put for a few seconds, then we all leapt to our feet and sprinted for the door. By the time I got out to the hallway, it seemed the entire student body was there. And they were all headed to the same spot—the courtyard.

  The double doors were already open wide as we all poured out. When I got outside, girls shrieked in horror and guys shouted. Everyone was pointing up. I glanced up—then did a double take. I stopped running. Up ahead, circling the school’s courtyard was a massive black dragon with wide wings and a long spiked tail.

  “Landing!” some girl yelled from the back of the dragon.

  And then it dropped to the ground.

  By the time I got over there, I was about twenty rows of people back. There had to be hundreds of us out here on the lawn trying to see. I didn’t even know dragons existed, but there was one right in the middle of the courtyard. I glanced left and right only to find everyone as shocked as I felt, with their wide-eyed, jaw-dropped expressions. No one spoke. No one pointed. No one screamed or ran away. There was a freaking massive black dragon sitting in the middle of our courtyard, and we were all frozen in place.

  I tried to push my way forward, but at five foot ten, I wasn’t exactly a small and elusive person. In the end, I only made it three people forward, and then I found Freddy and George. If anyone was going to know what was going on, it was these two. And if they didn’t know, they were tiny and elusive. They smiled and waved at me, but quickly returned their attention to the dragon.

  Suddenly, everyone gasped.

  “What? What is it?” I whispered.

  “It’s the Emperor!” Freddy whispered back.

  “And he’s injured!” George added just as quietly. “I’m gonna go get a better look.”

  Freddy shivered and whispered, though not very loudly, “If something hurt the Emperor, we’re screwed.”

  I couldn’t see what was going on through the chaos of student bodies, but I got the general sense of someone in dark clothing and dark hair walking up to the front of the huge black dragon with glowing red eyes.

  “Thank you, Lonan. If we want to find you again, do we go to the place?” he asked.

  The dragon, Lonan as he was just called, snorted, and a big puff of white smoke came out.

  “Okay!” a girl yelled cheerfully, but I couldn’t even see where she came from. “I’ll tell him.”

  I stood up on my tiptoes to try and see…and failed.

  “Perfect. Take care of yourself,” the man with a deep, velvety voice said.

  George reemerged from the crowd and shook his head. “It’s the Emperor, all right. And he’s bleeding bad from his shoulder. They’ve got him tied up in a sling made from a belt.”

  Freddy visibly paled. “The Emperor is that hurt?”

  That was a scary thought. The Emperor was supposed to be the most powerful person in The Coven. If he was hurt…then it was my turn to shiver.

  The black dragon pushed into the sky like a rocket. He flapped his wings then shot out of sight. There was a rush of whispers in the crowd around me as we watched this creature fly away.

  “Hello, Daniel,” the Emperor sa
id. “Sorry about the dragon. He’s a friend of ours.”

  Daniel? I hadn’t even seen the Headmaster walk up. Then again, I couldn’t see a damn thing. If the Emperor was here, then that meant they were back from the Old Lands. Which meant the Empress and High Priestess should’ve been right beside him. I wanted to see so I pushed through, but in the end, all I could see was our Headmaster.

  Daniel flushed and pushed his tortoiseshell glasses up. He swallowed and looked at the sky. “A friend, you say? With a dragon?”

  “Well, at least that dragon,” the Emperor said in a low voice. “Where are Constance, Kenneth, and Timothy?”

  Daniel blanched. “They went to Tampa to help. The demon attacks have intensified.”

  “Help? Attacks? What are you talking about?”

  Daniel’s face was ashy and sick-looking. “Emperor…you’ve been missing for five weeks.”

  “WHAT?” The Coven members screamed at the same time.

  “Um…” Daniel cleared his throat. His light blue eyes were dark and bloodshot, like perhaps he hadn’t slept in a while, and his five-o-clock shadow didn’t look like a fashion statement. He sighed. “The eight of you left Eden for the Old Lands on August 26, yes?”

  “Correct.”

  Daniel pushed his glasses up his nose. “Today is October 1. It’s been five weeks.”

  Holy shitballs, Batman. Five weeks. It’d been five weeks. That was how long I’d been in Eden…yet that was how long they’d been inside the Old Lands. I couldn’t imagine what that was like, and it really put my struggles into perspective. I was trying to get ready for midterms in two weeks, and they’d been trying to get out of the Old Lands for five. I was trying to get Jackson Lancaster off my mind, since he wasn’t actually speaking to me, yet they came back with an injured Emperor—who was supposed to be invincible.

  It shook my foundation.

  It’d been two weeks since Jackson was nice to me for one afternoon. One week since he actually gave me a compliment, even if it was done weirdly. And yet, standing here listening to this made me realize this stuff wasn’t that important.

  “Daniel. Has a new Moon Card been chosen?” The Emperor asked sharply.

  “No.” Daniel shook his head then scratched his jaw. “Kenneth told me this morning our young Hierophant had a vision of her, so he’s confident Henley is still alive.”

  The Emperor whispered something.

  Daniel pulled out his phone. “I have strict orders from the Leaders to get you back in Tampa as soon as you’ve returned. Come with me.”

  And then, just like that…they were gone.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  JACKSON

  “Guys,” Hewitt shouted over my classmates’ whispering. When no one listened, he whistled real loud then yelled, “Oi!”

  Everyone froze and turned wide eyes to our combat professor.

  Hewitt sighed. “I realize that The Coven landed on campus yesterday on a freakin’ dragon, and that the Emperor was injured. I know you want to talk about it. I know you want to know what’s going. But I also know you’ve got midterms in two weeks, and you might want to be ready.”

  The energy in the room turned cold and panicked.

  “If you’re not a First Year, then I want you outside for drills.” Hewitt stepped over to the side to where I stood, then lowered his voice. “The First Years haven’t had a real one-on-one spar yet. I want you to run mocks for midterms, so pair them off. But don’t use yourself. I don’t want them to know what you can do before they have to fight you for midterms.”

  I nodded. This had been standard operating procedure for at least five years now. I helped train the rest of the Swords in the morning, then Hewitt and Timothy gave me private training sessions in the afternoon catered to my needs. “I was thinking about turning it up a notch this year. Can I borrow Gen, Erin, Warner, and Trey for a half hour or so? I figure give them a real fight, with those four not holding back. That way we can see where they’re really at and then have time to adjust training before midterms.”

  Hewitt looked at me for a second then smiled. “You’ll make a great Knight Commander one day, Lancaster. I like your plan. Go for it.”

  We nodded to each other then both turned to head to our group of trainees. Hewitt yelled out for my four friends to join me. When I got over to the First Years, I forced myself to not look at Bettina. I knew where she was. She was like a lighthouse flashing for my attention—even if she just stood there. I hadn’t looked at her once this morning since I needed to pay attention to the other First Years.

  The students in front of me were quiet and tense. Hewitt’s dropping of the word midterm sent them into nervous spirals. They all knew already what was expected come test day. Each and every one of them had to fight me, and I was told to not hold back—though I always did for the First Years’ first midterm.

  I cleared my throat. “Today we’re doing mock midterms. Relax, it’s not being graded. We just want to measure where you’re at right now so we know what you still need work on before test day. Everyone, take a seat. When I call you, you’ll come up and spar whoever I’ve instructed. We’ll be using talisman weapons only, with the shields on. Everyone got it?”

  They all nodded, despite their wide-eyed looks of terror.

  “Anyone want to volunteer to go first?” I asked, because I was always the kid who wanted to go first and get it over with so I wouldn’t be nervous. Just when I thought no one would volunteer, I saw a hand go up. “All right, Matt. Come on up.”

  First Years weren’t tested with weapons until midterms, but I thought it was unfair to not at least give them a trial run before it was graded. Besides, their talisman blades all had a magical shield on them so no one would get cut. We only used the real ones so they’d grow comfortable in their hands.

  Now, who should he fight? Matt was a little cocky. He moved too fast and too recklessly. He needed to have his ass handed to him quickly and deliberately. I smirked.

  “Erin?” I glanced over my shoulder to her and met her light brown eyes.

  She grinned and flipped her red hair over her shoulder, then walked to the mat with her short sword in hand. Poor Matt didn’t know what was coming for him. I stepped back and focused on their sparring. Matt tried to do some fancy spin-kick move he definitely hadn’t learned here…but Erin saw it coming. She ducked and swept his leg out from under him before he’d even swung his kick out fully. His eyes widened, and then his back slammed into the ground. Erin stood over him with her sword tip pressed against his throat. He groaned and stared at the ceiling.

  I made a note on the clipboard. “Thank you, Erin. Matt, reclaim your seat.”

  Next up is… I glanced over the small group of First Years to see who I wanted to go next when my gaze accidentally landed on Bettina. Her now long blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail behind her head. Her eyes were clear and sharp, like she had all the confidence in the world. But the way she gnawed on her bottom lip and shifted her weight around told me otherwise. Part of me wanted to make her go last so I wouldn’t lose concentration while watching the others.

  But that hardly seemed fair to do to her, and it sure didn’t make me a great teacher.

  I sighed and looked down at my notebook, not because I needed to read something but so I had an excuse to take my eyes off of her. Bettina had had a rough start here, no thanks to me. I’d failed her in the beginning by letting my own emotions get in the way. If not for Timothy’s private training sessions, she’d be ridiculously behind. It was time to be better than that. It was time I acted more like myself. And that meant treating her fairly and doing what was good for her in class. Hewitt needed to know where she stood skill-wise, and making her sit through everyone else would only make her nerves and confidence sink.

  “Next up is Bettina and…” I frowned and glanced back at my friends. Warner would take it easy on her because he felt bad. Erin had just fought. Trey would be good, but Gen was easily the second best fighter after me. And she wouldn’t
hesitate to really attack. “Genevieve.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bettina freeze mid step. Those brilliant blue eyes turned to me and widened. I arched my eyebrow and nodded my head once, to annoy her. I wasn’t proud of the way I’d been acting toward her, but if I could use it to help her, then I would. Because a pissed-off Bettina had the potential to wreak havoc, even if she didn’t know it yet.

  The two of them met in the center of the mat and bowed once, then moved back to take their stances. As expected, Genevieve didn’t hold anything back. She charged at her immediately with her talisman long dagger, swinging and slicing…and Bettina blocked. That crystal falchion sword looked good in her hands, and she seemed comfortable with it. My heart skipped a beat. Gen was still pushing her back across the mat, but she hadn’t gotten a single hit in yet. This was huge progress for Bettina.

  Gen switched her dagger to her left hand and attacked faster than Bettina could process. Her crystal sword was knocked out of her hand and sent flying across the room. Bettina’s eyes widened like a deer in headlights. Gen jabbed her left fist forward like a snake. Bettina leapt toward her, blocking Gen’s punch with her right hand while planting her right leg behind Gen’s. Without missing a beat, she turned and threw her back into Gen, then flipped Gen over her shoulder.

  I bit down on my pencil to stop myself from cheering. Holy hell. The other First Years gasped in surprise.

  But Gen was an experienced fighter. She tucked her dagger into her body, ducked, and rolled out of the way. When she rolled back on her knees, she had a wide, devilish grin on her face. She slammed her palm against the mat and yelled, “Hell yeah!” Then she leapt to her feet and charged at Bettina.

  Bettina didn’t really have a chance against Genevieve, especially without a weapon, but I couldn’t believe the progress she’d made so far. I wanted to go back in time and punch myself for ever assuming she was some delicate princess or Barbie doll. Bettina Blair was no damsel in distress, and I should’ve known better. I never liked those kinds of girls. Her magic may have been suppressed, but she had raw talent and I admired her drive.