Shadow Weaver: The Nightwatch Academy book 2

by Cassidy, Debbie

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Other books by Debbie Cassidy

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2019, Debbie Cassidy

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Cover by Carol Marques

  One

  Two Weeks Until Term Two

  The critter spat a stream of green goop at me and then lunged, its teeth chattering in anticipation of taking a bite.

  “Now,” Brady ordered.

  I sliced with my axe, timing it perfectly to cut the critter in half. Green goop exploded out of it, splattering my chest.

  Not that it mattered, I was already covered in the gunk.

  I turned to my broody mentor for the day. “How many is that?”

  “Six,” Brady said from a safe distance, arms folded across his breastplate. “You’re doing good.”

  The critter nest was barely visible through the mist. It rose up past the red posts that indicated where sector one ended and sector two began. Only two more weeks to go and we’d be introduced to the rest of the monsters that called the mist their home. The monsters of sector two. Meanwhile, it was our job to keep them out of this sector.

  “Eyes up,” Brady called. “Stay alert.”

  I fell into a defensive stance and scanned the mist. The mound that housed the critters was five feet high and freshly risen. According to Brady, this breed of critter used to be prevalent in sector two for years, but activity had dropped to negligible over the past six months. Until now.

  The past few weeks, the critters had emerged in force. This nest was the closest they’d ever gotten to sector one. Carlo had explained that a nest could house anything from ten to twenty critters at a time. Today, it was our job to clear this nest, which meant smoking it out and cutting the beasties down.

  I played defense of sector one while Aidan and Carlo cleared the area surrounding the mount in sector two.

  Carlo’s whoop rose up in the air somewhere ahead of us, followed by Aidan’s cursing.

  The mist shifted, and two critters were visible barreling toward me.

  “You got this,” Brady called out.

  And then the critters were on me, and I was in motion, slicing, stabbing, ducking, and rolling to avoid their teeth.

  It was over in a matter of seconds, leaving me covered in even more gunk and reeking of rotten eggs.

  I turned to Brady and raised my axe. “Whoop.”

  He arched a brow, his mouth twitching as he suppressed a smile. The almost-smile didn’t last long, though; it dropped as his attention slipped over my shoulder. I followed his gaze to see Aidan and Carlo strolling toward me.

  Strolling.

  Laughing.

  Not a speck of green gunk on them.

  What. The. Fuck.

  They slowed when they caught sight of me. Aidan’s gaze raked me from head to foot, and Carlo snort-laughed before covering his mouth with a hand. A clean, ungunked hand.

  “What did you do?” Aidan asked me. “Bathe in the secretions?” He shook his head with a frown. But there was definite amusement in his hazel eyes.

  I indicated their spotless armor. “What did you do? Shoot lasers at them from a distance?”

  “Practice, baby.” Carlo wiggled his eyebrows. “We got the moves.”

  Brady joined us, shooting the guys a confused glance. “You got lucky,” he said. “Best get back and wash off before it stains.”

  “Stains?” I looked from Aidan to Brady. “You’re joking, right?”

  Carlo winced and looked at his watch. “I say you have around twenty minutes before the pigment in the critter blood seeps into your skin.”

  I backed away. “Brady?”

  He shrugged. “It’s a thing.”

  We were fifteen minutes away from the barracks. They could have fucking warned me before. With a final death glare that swept over them all, I turned and ran for base.

  * * *

  I trailed green gunk across the barracks.

  “What the fuck is that stench?” Harmon snapped as I rushed past him.

  “Oh, damn, Justice.” Thomas’s laughter followed me as I ran for the shower room. Armor dropped to the ground with a thunk. Shit, the gunk had found its way under the breastplate and was plastered to the skin. A skin that was designed to be permeable but impregnable.

  Oh, God, I couldn’t look. I peeled off the feytech armor to find that, yes, the gunk had reached my flesh. Please, don’t let it be too late. I stepped into the warm spray and turned it up to hot. It hammered against my naked body, and I began to scrub. The eggy smell surrounded me, choking me. More raspberry shower gel needed.

  I slathered it on and scrubbed at my skin, at my hair, at my face until the rotten smell was smothered by fruity tones. Twenty minutes of scrubbing later, the green tinge to my skin had almost faded. Wrapping up in a towel, I stood staring at my messed-up armor.

  Dammit, it was the only set that fit. Vince had made it specially, and now it was ruined. I skirted the pile and headed to the door. I’d come back wearing gloves and a mask to dispose of the armor.

  I opened the door to find Vince standing in the corridor. He glared at me, then into the bathroom, his attention dropping to the floor.

  “I’m sorry.” I met his gaze levelly. “I didn’t know it would stain. I’ll make do with whatever armor we—”

  He cut me off with a slash of his hand. “It stains human skin, lass, not feytech. Just leave the armor overnight, and it’ll clean itself.”

  My theory from a few weeks ago about the feytech being self-cleaning was obviously right.

  “Get dressed,” Vince ordered. “Hyde’ll be here any minute. He’s called a meeting.”

  Hyde … as in the man who’d been dodging me for weeks, ever since that night in my room. Ever since he’d told me there could never be an us. That Hyde?

  Vince’s expression softened. “You look pale. Are you feeling all right?”

  I swallowed the lump of nerves in my throat. “I’m fine.”

  “Good. We meet in five.” He walked away but paused at the top of the corridor. “Oh, and next time, use the protection spray before going up against critters.”

  “Protection spray?”

  His brows shot up. “They didn’t tell you about it? Figures. The bastards love to play pranks on the first years. And considering you ain’t gonna be first years for much longer …” He sighed. “S’pose I should fill you in. It’s relatively new feytech. The spray
acts as a shield and makes foreign secretions dissolve on contact.”

  And they’d sprayed themselves with it, which was why they’d been clean.

  Got moves my fucking ass.

  Anger flared hot in my chest. I stormed past Master Vince and into the main lounge. The guys looked up from their poker game at the sight of my towel-covered form.

  “I thought we were past this.” I stood hands on hips, chest heaving.

  “Uh-huh,” Carlo said. “Looks like Master Vince spilled the beans.”

  Aidan bit back a smile, but Brady looked confused.

  “What’re you talking about?” he asked.

  “The protection spray? The one these two had on to dissolve the critter gunk.”

  Brady looked to Aidan and then Carlo. “What spray?”

  Aidan winced. “Yeah, new tech came in a couple of weeks ago when you were manning barracks four.”

  “And you didn’t think to tell me?” Brady’s lip curled. “You two need to grow the hell up.”

  Aidan pushed back his chair and stood. “Whoa, chill the fuck out. It was just a prank. We play pranks all the time.”

  Brady’s eyes narrowed, and his huge shoulders rippled with tension. “We used to play pranks all the time. But that was before the mist started getting attacked every other day. That was before we lost three cadets in a cave-in. That was before the shadow master decided to fast-track the first years.” He stepped up to Aidan, looking down his nose at the dark-haired moonkissed. “No more fucking pranks. Got it.”

  Yeah, you knew Brady meant business when he started spewing sentences.

  Aidan’s throat bobbed, and then he nodded. “Got it.”

  “Justice, go put some clothes on,” Brady said softly, his back to me.

  My anger melted. Brady had my back. I gave Aidan and Carlo the finger, then headed to my room to change and compose myself. To look as if I didn’t give a shit about … About anything but the job, because Hyde was on his way, and he couldn’t know how much it meant to me to see him.

  * * *

  The guys had set up a screened area for me to change behind in the dorms. I pulled on slacks, a cream tee, and slipped on gray slippers—courtesy of Carlo—before stepping out from behind the screen to find Harmon waiting for me.

  “You okay?” he asked in that gruff voice of his.

  “I’m fine. But Carlo and Aidan are asking for trouble.”

  “I wasn’t talking about them.”

  My shoulders sagged. “I know.”

  “You got this.”

  “I’m over it.”

  “Riiight.”

  I grimaced. “Fine, I’m not over it. But I want to be.”

  “I know.”

  Harmon and Thomas knew about the Hyde thing. About the relationship-can’t-go-anywhere issue. Over the past few weeks, being able to confide in them had kept me sane. It had also pulled us closer together. Harmon and Thomas were fast filling that Minnie-shaped hole in my life.

  “It’ll get easier,” Harmon said.

  There were days when I believed that, and days when I didn’t want to move on. When I wanted to understand why we couldn’t make it work between us. Hyde hadn’t made it easy by hiding from me. If he’d just carried on, business as usual, then maybe I could have worked at getting over him, but the whole dodge-and-peek routine was making everything worse—raising questions and possibilities—and I was not one of those clingy, swoony types that built castles in her head.

  Thomas popped his head around the door. “Hyde’s here.” His expression was grim.

  Ice filled my veins. “Oh, God.”

  “You got this, Indigo,” Harmon said.

  * * *

  Hyde’s citrus scent permeated the air like a lethal toxin aimed for the heart. He’d been away for five days. Working with second years in sector two. Dealing with admin issues, anything else but managing his first years. It was obvious he was avoiding me. Avoiding this thing between us. He’d made it clear he wanted a tutor and student relationship, but I’d had time to think it through, and it didn’t have to be that way indefinitely. Based on the fast-track program, I’d be graduating with the second years at the end of next term. Fourteen weeks. That was all that lay between us being student and master, and knight and master. Then there was nothing stopping us from being together, so why not just wait?

  Why try and suppress these feelings?

  Ah, there I was, building castles.

  Stop.

  Just stop.

  He stood before us now, dressed casually in cargo pants and a black vest that left his muscled arms bare and revealed the tattoo that snaked down his neck and over the top of his right pectoral. His arms were crossed in his classic I-mean-business pose.

  I had yet to look up at his face. To lock gazes with him. To see that spark in his eyes before he squashed it.

  “Two more weeks,” he said. “After that, you’ll be moved to the fortress for fast-track orientation with Master Venerick.”

  I couldn’t help it. I had to look at him. I lifted my attention to his face and grazed his hard jaw and firm lips before roving over the brutal scars that ran diagonally across his face to pause at his blue-green eyes. Eyes that didn’t look back at me, that were studiously fixed on the other side of the room.

  My heart sank a little.

  “You’ll be allocated a bed in the dorms for your orientation week,” he continued, “after which you’ll be given your training schedule and work orientation rota.” He skimmed the group, skipping over me as his gaze went back and forth. “I’ve let Venerick know you’ve worked well as part of this troop so you may get lucky. He may not reallocate you. Either way, you’ll be spending most of your time in barracks three through five, which are in sector two.” He dropped his hands and flexed his fists. “With the holidays almost at an end, most of the masters at the Academy will be taking portal leave. The Academy will be running on a skeleton staff, but if you need anything, you can go to Master Vince, myself, or Larkin.”

  “You’re not taking leave?” Carlo asked out of turn.

  Annoyance flashed across Hyde’s cut-glass features. I waited for the reprimand, but it didn’t come. “No. I’ll be … around,” he said quickly.

  Around. No specifics then. And he still hadn’t looked my way. My heart squeezed painfully in my chest.

  Harmon’s hand slid onto my lap palm upwards. The knot eased a bit, and I slipped my hand into his to receive a squeeze. I shot him a quick, grateful smile, and when I looked back at Hyde, it was to find his intense gaze fixed on my face.

  Finally.

  His attention dropped to my hand, entwined with Harmon’s, and heat flared in his eyes, but it was gone in a blink.

  “Dismissed,” he snapped before striding from the room.

  Brady got up and walked off to the control room with Lloyd in tow. Aidan, Devon, and Carlos began to chat amongst themselves. I could feel Harmon’s and Thomas’s hot gazes on either side of my face.

  For a moment, there was nothing but an empty pit in my belly, and then that pit was filled with a bubbling lava of indignation. How dare Hyde treat me like this? Like I was invisible one moment and a burr the next? Fine, so he didn’t want anything to happen between us, that didn’t mean he needed to be a wanker about it? Why not just be civil?

  I made to stand, jaw tense.

  Harmon gripped my hand tighter. “Justice … don’t.”

  I shook my head slowly. “I have to.”

  “Let her,” Thomas said softly. “I think she needs to do this.”

  He released me with a sigh. “Then be cool about it. Take a breath.”

  I nodded, took a deep breath, and headed after Hyde.

  * * *

  I caught Hyde inside the workshop, on his way to the garage door release.

  “Master Hyde?”

  He froze with his hand on the release button. “If you have any questions about the fast track then you can speak to Vince.” His tone was clipped.

  �
�No.”

  “No?” He turned to face me slowly. “No, you don’t have questions about the fast track, or no you don’t wish to address them to Vince?”

  He had his hard face on, the mask of the master, and I could almost feel the ice between us.

  I took several steps into the room, eating away at the distance between us. “I doubt Master Vince will be able to answer the questions I have.”

  He looked down his nose at me. “Go on.”

  My stomach quivered beneath his unaffected stare. “Why are you being so distant and cold toward me? I know shit happened last term. I remember what we agreed, but I don’t recall that you being an ass was part of the agreement.”

  His mouth thinned. “I’m just doing my job.”

  “And does your job include ignoring and dodging students?”

  His throat bobbed, the first sign that my presence was affecting him. “Justice, I—”

  I held up my hand. “I may be younger than you, but I am not some weak-kneed adolescent. I am perfectly capable of taking a hint. You don’t have to keep shoving it down my throat with the frosty treatment.” I took another step into his orbit. “Stop treating me like I’m invisible.”

  His gaze tracked my features, flicking down to my mouth and then quickly back up again.

  “Let’s just go back to the way things were before …” I ducked my head. “Just let’s move on.”

  “Yes. Move on. I see you’re doing that well.” Was that bitterness in his tone?

  My head whipped up and our gazes locked. “What?”

  “You and Harmon.” His smile was tight. “You’re well matched.”