Shadow Caster: The Nightwatch Academy book 1

by Cassidy, Debbie

  So much for no threat around the Academy. “And the weaver. I haven’t seen her about.”

  “And you wouldn’t. Mariana Latrou works at the fortress now. She used to teach Defense Against Weaving. But Master Payne took over the class, and she was … promoted, I guess?” Minnie was silent for a long time. “You know, this makes no sense. That was a youngling. Younglings born on this side of the mist are tame, at least they’re supposed to be. I know the knights use hounds raised here against the hounds born on the other side when they patrol the mist.”

  “So? This one wasn’t trained properly. They’re beasts. Otherworld beasts.”

  “But there was more than one out there. Seems odd to have two or three untrainable younglings in one batch …”

  “Do you train younglings often?”

  She laughed. “Point taken. Thank God Master Hyde showed up.”

  “Yeah, I doubt Archer would have let Redmond off the hook about Brunner if the youngling thing was a huge issue.”

  “Archer, is it?” There was a smile in Minnie’s voice. “I knew he’d catch your eye. The dangerous-looking ex-shadow knight. But I doubt he’d appreciate you calling him by his first name, not that you’ll ever have reason to call him anything. We won’t be working with him. He trains the shadow cadets. Also, technically, Redmond outranks Hyde. I heard that Hyde used to be Trial Master before Redmond. It’s a position that comes with some major perks, so Hyde had it good. I guess if you’re going to go into the mist and catch wild hounds, then you deserve extra benefits. Didn’t work out too great for Hyde, though. They say it’s how he lost his leg. Anyway, once he was injured, Redmond was given Hyde’s job.”

  Master Hyde … Archer Hyde. There was something about him. A pull, a presence. My body tightened at the memory of his proximity. I blew out a harsh breath. It had obviously been too long since I’d had sex.

  I rolled onto my front and tucked my arms under the pillow in my comfy position. “He took that youngling on single-handed. Just held its jaws open with his bare hands.”

  “What about you? I thought it was going to bite your head off, and then you kicked it across the clearing.”

  Yeah … Yeah. I had. Thinking back on it … How the fuck had I done that?

  “Get some sleep,” Minnie said. “We hit the books hard once the goblet ceremony is over.”

  * * *

  “This is the library.” Minnie swept through the huge double doors and did a cute little wave thing as if introducing me to an actual person. “Library, this is Justice, she will be nestling in your bosom soon.”

  I shook my head and laughed softly. “I don’t nestle.”

  But there was no denying the room had allure. Moonlight streamed in from tall, thin gothic windows but was overshadowed by the lights from two huge chandeliers hanging high above us.

  The ceiling was a floor high, and balconies ran along the periphery of the room, but both floors were home to sofas and desks, not books. In fact, the only floor with any books was the one we were standing on. They filled a wall to our left and several stacks in the center of the room. Students sat at long tables, heads down, studying. Others sat on comfy sofas arranged in clusters with coffee mugs and fiction novels. A warm hush filled the room, the hush of knowledge being absorbed and worlds being explored.

  Minnie leaned in. “Reference books to the left. Most of the stacks contain plastic slip-covered articles and accounts of attacks and supernatural events that have occurred over the last few centuries. We have a ton of history books to help us study the evolution of man. We also have a cool fiction section, mainly contemporary romance and literary fiction. I mean, who wants to read fantasy when you’re living it, although we do have a few novels that are on the required texts for Supernaturals in Human Society classes.” She led the way through the stacks. “It helps to blend in and to understand the human psyche if we look at what’s prominent in fantasy literature.”

  It was cool and silent in the stacks, like a different world. The shelves rose high on either side of us, and even though the ceiling was a floor above us, there was still a sense of being cocooned.

  “You’d be surprised how many books haven’t been written on the supernatural and the mist,” Minnie said. “The ones that matter are kept at headquarters. But we have what we need, and at the Academy, the tutors are the real books.”

  I stared at her. “That was kind of poetic.”

  Her cheeks flushed. “I suppose it was.” She took a left, and there was a cluster of sofas, a coffee table, and a desk for two. “This is our spot.” She smiled. “I like to come here to study. It’s been a Faraday haunt forever. Lloyd left it to me.”

  “You can’t just leave someone a spot in a library.”

  She snorted. “Have you met my family?”

  “Point taken.”

  “This will be our hangout as of tomorrow. Come on, we better get to class.”

  * * *

  Madam Garnet, the sim tutor, also taught Endangered Supernatural Species in a small room on the first floor of the study wing. It was cramped, but the class was small because it wasn’t a required class, but an elective, one my father had thought it prudent to have added to my schedule.

  It was also our last class for the evening. With the goblet ceremony ball pending, the scholastic day had been cut short.

  But even though the room buzzed with excitement and anticipation for the festivities to come, there was no tuning out in Garnet’s class, plus, since I needed to keep my grade up, I’d better pay attention.

  A couple of months ago, my only worries were which fights to pick, and how to make enough money to avoid having to dip into the fund daddy had set up for me. And now I was wearing an actual uniform and sitting in class, paying attention like a good little student.

  It made me sick.

  Because this wasn’t me. It was another attempt by Daddy Dearest to make me into the person he wanted me to be. The person I’d given up trying to be months ago.

  I wasn’t a student or a scholar. I led with my fists and lived on instinct, not logic. But this was survival. Pass and live, or fail and die. Simple. Once this was over, we’d be given a choice—take up the Nightwatch mantle or decline. I could walk away having kept my part of the deal, because nothing in the deal said I had to actually be a Watch agent, just that I had to come to the Academy and graduate.

  “Miss Justice!” Garnet’s voice snapped me out of my reverie. “Morphs. Go.”

  Morphs? What the … I looked to Minnie in a panic.

  Garnet rolled her eyes. “Points for attending, Miss Justice, but you won’t get the grades if you don’t bloody pay attention. Miss Faraday, how about you educate your friend.”

  Minnie shot me a sheepish look. “A morph is a creature that can take the form of any other living thing as long as that living thing has just died.”

  “Correct.” Miss Garnet perched on the edge of her desk, booted legs crossed. “Morphs have been hunted for generations, considered dangerous because of their ability to take on not just someone’s form but also their memories. The council has issued a law to protect the species, but it’s been several decades since a morph has been seen.”

  “And how would you know even if you did see one?” Harmon asked from the back of the class. “I mean if they can take on any form.”

  Garnet grinned. “I guess you wouldn’t.” She clapped her hands. “Next up, the Impox. Who can tell me about those?” She scanned the class. “Mr. Carmichael?”

  Thomas lounged in a seat by the window, his long legs stretched out under the table. “Fox spirit and imp hybrids. Feybloods renowned for their ability to control the minds of others once they’ve tasted their blood.”

  Urgh. I was beginning to sense a theme with the whole endangered thing. Mind manipulation, shape shifting, it was like the Watch strived to eliminate any threat to the status quo.

  “Aren’t they extinct?” someone else asked.

  “Not quite,” Garnet said. “We have a few in c
aptivity.” She stood and rounded her desk and flipped through a huge book. “You’ll be tested on endangered creatures at the end of the term. I suggest you all brush up on them.” Her gaze fell on me. “I’m always here if you need help.” She stood tall and glared at us. “Now, get your arses out of here, and get ready for the ceremony.”

  A collective whoop went up, chairs scraped as one, and bodies headed for the door.

  The weight of how much I didn’t know would have to wait. I had a party to go to.

  * * *

  Minnie smoothed down her uniform and fiddled with her hair, which was perfect as usual. Her side of the room looked like a bomb had hit it, which was strange considering the dress code was uniforms.

  I tugged at the neck of my tunic. “Why do they have to make these things so uncomfortable?”

  “It’s only because you haven’t bothered with a uniform since you got here,” Minnie said. “You’ll get used to it.”

  “It’s a fucking party, and we have to wear this shit?”

  “It’s a ceremony.”

  “With food and booze, right?”

  “Not booze.” She turned to me with a shocked expression. “The revelation nectar. Seriously, Indie, how do you not know this stuff?”

  “Because it’s the kind of stuff you learn from your parents, and mine had no interest in teaching me.” I turned away and grabbed a hair brush off my dresser. “I wasn’t worth the effort.”

  “Indie …”

  I shot her a wry smile. “It’s fine. I’m not feeling sorry for myself. It’s just a fact. They wanted a son to carry on the Justice name for our line—sons mean a larger cut of the pie when it comes to inheritances and legacy money. But they got me instead.” I began to brush my hair. Why was I telling her this stuff? I never talked about this shit. But the words were pouring out now. “I was five when I heard them talking about it. I’d just learned to tie my shoelaces, and I ran to their chambers to tell them. I heard them talking about me. My mother said they’d need to make the best of it, and my father was adamant they should keep trying for a son. I had toys and clothes and a pretty room, but I didn’t have their love, and suddenly, it made sense why. They wanted a boy.” I began to braid my hair. “So, I decided to become one. I put away the pretty dolls and picked up a rapier. I learned to fence and box. I got into sports and athletics. But nothing mattered. It took me a while to figure out the whole money thing, the legacy inheritance, and the way it was determined by male bloodlines. I knew then they’d never love me the way parents are supposed to. So, I left.”

  “Indie, I’m so sorry.” Minnie stroked my arm. “That’s harsh.”

  “It’s life, and I’m over it. Once I finish my sentence here, I’m out. Like hell am I dancing to anyone else’s tune ever again.”

  She blinked up at me. “But you won’t forget me, will you?”

  My heart squeezed painfully in my chest. Should I tell her she was my first real friend? The first person not paid or coerced to spend time with me? Should I tell her that she was the only person that made this place bearable?”

  “No, Min, I don’t think I could ever forget you.”

  She grinned. “Good, because if you try and do a vanishing act on me, I will have no problem using my Nightwatch skills to hunt you down.”

  I didn’t doubt her.

  She tucked her hair behind her ears and pouted at herself in the mirror. “Now, let’s go watch some shadow cadets be crowned. I hear they have seven different kinds of cake at these things.”

  Despite my general derision and disinterest in everything Academy, there was a definite pique in my curiosity. Not many people could say they got to experience a Revelation ceremony. And they had cake.

  It might be fun … right?

  Eleven

  There was a general aura of high expectation on the air, especially among the males. After all, the shadow knight gene was passed down from male to male. How many cadets would be identified tonight? How many would be marked once they drank the revelation nectar?

  Cadets swept down the main staircase into the huge foyer that was lit up like it was winter solstice. Usually, the Academy conserved energy—after all, we all had excellent night vision and senses here—but not tonight. Tonight, they’d gone all out to make the place shine. We turned left at the bottom of the staircase, away from the study wing and into the main section of the Academy—one opened up only on special occasions. This was the hub portion of the structure where all the main events and ceremonies were held. And tonight was the first huge ceremony of the year.

  Identification of the next batch of shadow knights.

  And boy, did the guys look happy with the thought of being marked for death.

  Idiots.

  A glimpse through the huge double doors that had been pulled back showed a vast room with high, vaulted ceilings and huge gothic paned windows decorated in the classic fleur-de-lis design.

  Round tables had been set up, each fit to seat eight, but this wasn’t a sit-where-you-please affair, there was a table plan parked outside the room. A crowd had gathered around it, and Minnie craned her neck to check it out.

  We pushed into the excited buzz of voices, trying to get closer to the plan. We were almost at the front when the hubbub dulled and the foyer fell into almost silence. Minnie grabbed my arm and tugged me back slightly.

  “What?”

  The scent of jasmine and roses hit me in the face, and then a group of cadets dressed in eveningwear swept past us and right to the front of the crowd. I caught a glimpse of silk and the tailored back of a dress coat.

  “What the heck?”

  Minnie sighed. “Weavers. They think they’re better than everyone else just because they can manipulate the arcana in the air.” She shook her head. “Or turn us into toads.”

  The weavers were the linchpin of the Nightwatch. The whole system would fall apart without their abilities. I bit my tongue and watched as a chestnut-haired beauty with startling gray-blue eyes studied the chart. She dimpled at her escort and then swept away from us and toward the ceremony hall.

  “Fiona Payne is sooo hot,” someone behind me muttered.

  Payne, like Master Payne. There were only three weaver families—Latrou, Raj, and Payne—and they were a close-knit community that kept to themselves. The weavers even had their own wing here, and separate lessons entirely. I don’t think I’d ever seen one in the dining hall. I turned to Minnie to ask her where the weavers ate.

  “Table three,” Minnie said. “Urgh. Thomas, Harmon, and Oberon are with us.” She pursed her lips. “Harper, Lottie, and someone called Nettie.”

  My questions could wait. “Well, let’s get in there.”

  The smell of roasting meat was strong on the air. The moonkissed were probably salivating. Bowls overflowing with fruit lined the side of the room, and in the center of each table was a huge golden goblet embedded with rubies. The precious stones winked like drops of blood.

  My stomach rumbled.

  Minnie wove her way between the tables, cutting a path through the other cadets. Our table was halfway across the room and left of center.

  Minnie pulled out a chair and sat down. “You’re next to me.”

  I took a seat, relieved to no longer be part of the throng. A door at the back of the room opened, and the tutors began to file in. Garnet, Master Payne, and Master Decker, followed by several faces I didn’t recognize. They took seats at a long table that faced the room. Brunner came next, followed by the bearded dude—Redmond—and finally, Archer Hyde. Tonight, he was dressed in a form-fitting black shirt and gray cargo pants; ink peeked from beneath the collar of his shirt and curled up around his neck. How had I missed that? In profile, his scars weren’t as evident, but the cut of his jaw and the sharp line of his aquiline nose were. The shorn hair just made him look more dangerous.

  “Um, Indie, you’re staring,” Minnie said.

  Shit. The guy was a veteran shadow knight—probably late twenties—seasoned and too old for
me. Plus, he was a tutor for God’s sake. I needed to get my shit together.

  But the air of danger that cloaked him was an aphrodisiac that called to me. It was fists and daggers and freedom. It was sexual heat and want. The pulse at my throat fluttered at the thought of being close to him, of inhaling that citrus scent again.

  I needed to get laid. Bad.

  “Lady and not so lady.” Thomas took a seat opposite us.

  Harmon joined us a moment later. He looked on edge. “Fuck, I wish they’d just get it over with. All the pomp and shit. Unnecessary.”

  Thomas’s jaw ticked. “We talked about this. It’s tradition.”

  Harper appeared to Minnie’s left. “Excited?” She took her seat.

  Minnie laughed. “For the cake, yes.”

  “Yeah, you guys have nothing to worry about,” Harmon said. “Not like you’re about to get the death stamp.”

  I locked gazes with him, shocked.

  “What?” His lip curled.

  I shrugged. “Nothing. Just thought I was the only one who thought of it that way.”

  Harmon snorted. “Well, you’re not. Trust me, I’m not the only one who feels that way. Did you know that they send moonkissed shadow knights into the mist first? They use them like fucking hounds.”

  “That’s a vile rumor,” Thomas snapped. “The Watch would never do that.”

  “Oh, and you know this because you happen to come from a legacy family? Well, moonkissed aren’t part of the legacy posse, we only get a cursory place on the council.”

  Thomas’s face fell. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but the system works.”

  “Does it?” Harmon glared at Thomas.

  I looked to Minnie, who was sharing a wince with Harper.

  Fuck this. “Hey, drop it. Both of you. It is what it is. We can’t change it. And if you get picked, you don’t have to accept the position as shadow cadet. You can decline.”

  All eyes were suddenly on me.

  Harmon let out a bark of laughter and shook his head. “You really have been out of the loop, haven’t you? Not that it affects you, but the law changed last year. If you’re marked, then it counts as conscription. There is no way out. You try and leave, and they will execute you for treason to the council.”