InkSpelled (InkHaven Academy Book 1)

by Kenna Bardot

  “Hi, Kaia! Didn’t see you down at breakfast. Would have walked with you.”

  I hummed, my shoulders slumping for a moment with fatigue. “I was there, but Lottie and I went quite early and went back up to our room after eating.”

  “Oh. Ok then. I like Lottie Montgomery. She’s one of the interesting ones and nice too. Besides you that is.” He laughed a bit at that before ruffling the hair piled on top of my head in a sloppy knot. “How are you?”

  “Tired, so very tired.” I rubbed the back of my neck where a hard knot of tension tormented me. It cracked beneath the pressure I applied. “Ouch.”

  “Poor Kai, stretched so thin.” Emers’ stroked my back with circular motions, and I resisted the urge to purr and stretch.

  “Thanks Emers, you’re a sweetie.” I smiled at him. I gave his cheek a soft pat but nearly slapped him when I startled from the door slamming open.

  A tall man walked in, and I barely restrained myself from gasping out loud when I saw his face - he was the same man who’d guided me towards the Headmaster’s office that first day I’d arrived at Inkhaven - only this time he had a bow slung around his shoulder and a quiver of arrows on his back.

  “Good morning, class. I am Air Docent Maksim Frost, and I will be teaching this Air Wielding class.” As he spoke, Docent Frost unslung the bow and laid it down on the table. He drew an arrow from the quiver, which he held casually in his right hand.

  Another arrow floated beside him, shorter than the one he held in his hand which was now wrapped in red light. It twirled as he continued speaking, “As potential Air Mages, you need to learn how to control your most innate skill.” He raised his right hand where he held the arrow and the floating arrow zoomed straight towards me, stopping an inch from my face. I fought the urge to either swat it away or run, and my pride made me stand my ground. Though, I could not tear my eyes from the pointed arrow tip that was a little too close for comfort. I bit back my nerves with a swallow.

  His voice lowered, “And understand its strength and power; respect the danger of it.” He turned his hand palm up, the arrow resting on it, the red swirling even faster around it. More arrows flew all over, one stopping in front of all the students. He smiled, just a little maliciously, and I was sure it had to do with the startled jumps from my fellow classmates.

  “Take the arrow currently floating in front of you. You will use them to practice for the rest of the year. However, a few warnings before you start. Respect what you are given, trust Zeevar and be careful or you might see an arrow fly directly into you in quite a painful way.”

  I tightened my grip on the arrow, quite sure that it was going to turn around and spear straight into me.

  “All Air Mages, certified or in training, have a red light in them - the same light that appears during the Choosing Ritual.” He held out his arrow. “I see that you all have your conduits, congratulations. For this class however, you will learn to access and control your Air without the use of your conduit. We’ll leave that to your classes with Docent Porter.” He sneered at the name and placed his arrow back into the quiver, holding out his empty hand after doing so. The light flowed from it, a swirling, glowing red no less impressive than with the arrow.

  I wanted to say that I shouldn’t be there, but clamped my lips together to stop myself and strove to pay attention. “And this light, while multifaceted, is at its most basic our element - Air. Used for manipulating the air. This is what you are all going to attempt to do today.”

  “We will start without using the arrow. Hold it in your non-dominant hand and reach out with the other.”

  I followed his instructions along with everyone else. He continued, “Imagine that light flowing straight through and towards the tip of the longest finger of your hand. Think of a gust of wind flowing from there and blow it towards me.”

  Sensing nothing inside me, I felt ridiculous wagging my finger back and forth. I felt a soft breeze coming from beside me - Emers - and knew I was the only one who was completely and utterly useless.

  I looked up when a shadow fell across me to see Docent Frost standing in front of me. He said nothing and my eyes tracked to my right to avoid his piercing, judgmental gaze.

  “Miss Shaw.” I gulped nervously before staring up at him. “It seems you aren’t doing anything.”

  “Docent Frost-” I started weakly but was cut me off.

  “Miss Shaw, stirring the air is a very simple skill but one only a real Air Mage is able to accomplish.” He smiled again, that creepy smile that failed to reach his blank steely eyes.

  “Demonstrate,” he commanded.

  I felt the eyes of everyone in the room trained on me, so I closed my eyes and tried to reach the red light that Docent Frost had spoken off. Not everyone had blown air, of that I was certain, but everyone had produced even the most insubstantial of red wisps.

  A cold metal object hit the top of my outstretched hand which caused me to drop it. “Open your eyes, Miss Shaw, I didn’t ask you to sleep. I suggest you practice your Air wielding or your stay at InkHaven might be even shorter than expected.”

  I went numb as he walked back towards the front, continuing his lecture. I heard nothing but a ringing in my ears. I felt Emerson studying me, but I pretended not to notice. Whatever last vestiges of respect I’d gained during Air Docent Porter’s class disappeared after the humiliating encounter with Air Docent Frost.

  When class ended two and a half hours later, Emerson grabbed my hand. “Lunchtime, Precious Kai. You'll feel better." He rubbed my back with circular motions just as he’d done at the start of the class.

  "I'm too tired for lunch, Emers," I sighed out. "I'd really rather just…."

  "Kaia!" That familiar voice shrieked, and I turned to see Lottie sprinting towards me. She came to a halt next to me, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she fanned a hand over her face and beamed at me. “Kai! I’m glad I caught you. Lunch together?”

  “Actually,” Emerson started, but I gave his arm a gentle touch to stop him. “Emers, it’s okay.” He shrugged at that and gave us a smile and wave before practically skipping away.

  “Zeevar help us, that boy is a bundle of energy, isn’t he?”

  I stuck my tongue out at Lottie. “So says the girl who ran to catch up to me a minute ago?”

  “Touche, Kai! Look at you.” She bumped her hips against mine, and we walked towards the dining area. I still had no appetite, but I figured I could just pretend to eat and spend time with Lottie.

  “How was class?” I asked, curious about Annal class. I was going to have an Annal class soon and was looking forward to it.

  “Meh. It was okay, a little boring at parts. It was nice to talk about the different sects you can join in the Air Mages, though. I’ve just learned a lot of that shit before.”

  It was something I’d come across what with all the reading I was doing on a nightly basis, but I was still curious, “Oh?”

  “Sure. Assassins kill, protectors preserve, and the guards defend.”

  “Way to mince words, Lottie,” I replied as I wondered what the guys were even though I assumed Alec was training to be an assassin since he had been there during my rebirth but I had no idea about Ronan or even what Emerson was thinking of. “Ah. And where are you going?”

  “Protection’s my jam. I can’t spend my days and nights going out and ensuring people get dead, you know?” She laughed at this and glanced towards me. “How was your class?”

  I rubbed my hands over my face as I remembered. “Oh hell, I failed big time. Frost made us demonstrate our light and, well, I couldn’t.”

  Her eyes widened as she turned to me, grabbing my wrist as she did so. “Nothing whatsoever?”

  “Nope,” I punctuated with a shake of my head.

  “But during the choosing ritual…”

  “Oh Lottie, I thought you knew! I was sent here without actually doing that. That was sheer humiliation.”

  “Zeevar,” she breathed out. “That’s shit. But
the sword! You chose the sword.” She gestured at it using her fan, which was her own conduit and with a flick of her wrist to open it, displayed the black raven printed on it.

  “Well, yes, it’s shit.” I gripped the strap of my shoulder leather holster and sighed. “The sword was a happy accident, I can’t explain it.” I gulped nervously and hoped to change the subject.

  “Well there you go then! You’re just a really late bloomer considering you were just reborn.” She tapped me with her fan. “I can help you if you like.”

  “Thanks, Lottie, I appreciate it and you….” And for the second time that day, I was interrupted but this time the voice that did so was like sugar-coated velvet.

  “Well, if it isn’t Montgomery.” I turned and found a tall, golden-skinned, curvy goddess with platinum blond hair and hooded blue eyes who looked at Lottie with undisguised hostility. In her hand, she held a short, really sharp dart. Even with that hint of violence, she reminded me of the girls I went to school with in grade and high school.

  I had despised them.

  Lottie crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you want, Ramos?”

  The angry goddess looked me up and down unabashedly before turning to Lottie. “Nothing. Who’s your friend?”

  “Kaia. She’s new.”

  Her full bottom lip poked out as she smirked. “Oh. The unwanted. I heard Headmaster Stewart forced her to attend the Academy. I’m surprised she’s still alive.”

  I spoke up, a little annoyed, “Must be bored if you spent time talking about me.”

  She cocked an eyebrow at me, her hand fisting around her dart. “Ha. It’s like watching a train crash, sweetie. Can’t exactly look away from the horror. Anyway, the rumor mill talks about Alec Gaius taking an interest in you, so I wondered. I’m a bit like a curious cat, you see. But, well, you barely look like anything, don’t you? Must be a novelty for a sexy man like him.”

  Lottie’s fan whipped towards the other girl’s chin. “She’s worth ten of you, Ramos.”

  “And yet I’m the one with ten men to play with.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder as she flicked the fan away. I felt a burning urge to tear her hair out.

  “And yet no one sees fit to commit to you. Slut,” Lottie hissed out. The vehemence in her tone was a shock to me.

  “You’re just jealous, Montgomery.”

  “In your dreams, Ra-”

  A man passed by without stopping. He glanced at Ramos and I got the impression of lean muscles, tanned skin and dark hair. “Pia, be a bitch another time. I want to eat.” Just after him, a heart-stoppingly handsome man let out a chuckle and gave me and Lottie a wink before walking off to follow the darker man. I snapped my mouth closed, and shook the daze out of my head.

  Ramos turned from us without another word and ran after the guy. Her voice took on a sickeningly cutesy quality. “V! You’re back. I missed you.”

  Lottie let out a disgusted breath. “Zeevar, she knows how to ruin a day.”

  “Who was that?” I was amazed to see that Lottie was still bristling.

  “That was Pia ‘the slut’ Ramos, my former roommate. And that was one of the men she has twirled around her finger and his best friend, Cel. Cel’s not bad, but she’s toxic so don’t mind her. She’s used to being the queen, so she’ll want to make sure you’re not about to have all the men chasing after you.”

  “Well, she’s safe.” I gave Lottie a small shoulder bump. “How’d you survive living with that?”

  Lottie strode over and pushed the door to the dining area open. “Oh, stop underestimating yourself, Kai. But, barely and not even for a whole year.” She sniffed the air. “Smell that! I can have two servings of everything.”

  “You’re scary when you’re mad,” I admitted.

  “So I am. Anger burns a lot of calories. Come, we need energy for the rest of the day.”

  I followed, feeling my appetite coming back. Perhaps Lottie was right, arguments were the best appetizer.

  ✽✽✽

  I walked into my afternoon class, trembling slightly - Docent Frost had certainly done a number on me. Turning down Emerson’s offer to walk with me to class, I instead decided to escape to the library to calm myself down by studying a little bit more.

  When my break period was over, everyone stared at me when I walked into the classroom. Feigning confidence I did not feel, I thrust my chin out and made a beeline for the seat next to Emerson. He leaned towards me. “Don’t mind them.”

  I sighed and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. I could not explain that such a thing was hard for someone like me to do. “Thanks, Emers. Dunno how I’d survive without you,” I murmured sleepily.

  The door swung open gently and an attractive woman with long black hair walked in. She wore the same uniform that all the other Air Docents did, but wrapped up in a petite package that made me sit a little taller in my seat as it was so similar to mine.

  “Good afternoon everyone!” Her voice came out tiny and cheerful, a little bit like that of a child’s. “I’m glad everyone is here. I’m Air Docent Abigail Ho, and I welcome you all to your first Annals Class. To be more complete: “The Annals and Records of the Order of Zeevar” Class. Whew, that’s a mouthful, isn’t it?”

  Most of the class laughed, but I gripped the book on my desk - desperate to learn what I needed to learn as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

  “Today, we will be discussing something that is common knowledge. How many sects are there in the Order?”

  No one spoke up although it was a relatively simple question - one that I knew the answer to as well. Docent Ho looked down at the parchment on her desk and tapped it with the knife I hadn’t noticed she held. “Hmmm. Shaw.”

  I started and my eyes met kind brown eyes. “Ah, four, Docent Ho.”

  “Correct! Thank you, Miss Shaw. So, yes, there are four sects - Air, Earth, Fire and Ink. Sorry, no water.” She chuckled as she counted them out with her fingers. “Red, purple, blue and gold.”

  She pointed the knife behind her and a board swung down with a flash of red. “We’ll start with our own. Air, Red. The Air Mages’ primary function is force. This is the reason that out of all the sects, we are the one ones who use a weapon as our skills conduit.” She held up her knife and ran a finger down the curved part of the blade even as a light swirl of red ran around it.

  “Next, we move to Earth, Purple. Does anyone know why their color is purple?” She looked back down at her list. “Lee.”

  The black-haired guy slumped forward and shook his head.

  Docent Ho hummed a bit as she tapped the knife against her lips. “Very well. Purple is the color, or so they say, of wealth and excess. This ties in quite well with the Earth Mages’ primary function - production.”

  “Third, we go to Fire. Their color is blue and that’s because blue fire is powerful, yes, but also because blue is the color of calm. That’s the Fires’ primary purpose - nurturing. Does anyone have any questions so far?” She paused and stared at us. Nobody moved a muscle, entranced by her voice. Or at least I was as I wondered how on earth I landed myself in the situation I was currently in.

  “Finally, we end with the Inks. If we’re being honest, their real color is yellow but it’s certainly such a bright golden hue it becomes easier to call it gold. Of the four sects, Inks have the most mysterious task because of their proximity to Zeevar. Their purpose is simple, balance. Of the four sects, we work most closely with them.” She smiled at us then, slightly naughty. “As I’m sure you know. InkHaven only houses and educates Airs and Inks because one without the other has no purpose.”

  “Now, let us discuss how 738 years ago Chrilam, Ifera, Jator and Zimyle were spared from their death by Zeevar and were instead reborn. Thus the Order came to be.”

  I pulled out a piece of parchment paper - I was going to need notes for my exam.

  ✽✽✽

  “So, Fires don’t have conduits?” I furrowed my brow as I stared at the book I was reading. I tapped it wit
h my stylus. I was reading instead of training, because my taskmasters had taken one look at me and had probably thought I looked pitiful enough to need a break. My eyes were starting to blur from all the reading though, given that I read a lot on my own too sometimes until quite late at night.

  Alec Gaius tapped his fingers impatiently on the table. He sat, as he always did, with his hands crossed lazily behind his head. “Yes, Kaia Wren, that’s right.”

  “But everyone else has conduits - Airs, Earths and Inks. Why don’t they?” Even though I didn’t really have anything I needed a conduit for, I’d seen in my Air Wielding class that it was much harder to make more controlled actions without it.

  Docent Porter gave Alec Gaius a gentle tap on the head to have him straighten in his chair. Alec Gaius complied, but not before throwing Docent Porter an angry glare.

  “Miss Shaw, the Fires prefer the human connection that using their hands and fingers give.” He held his palm out.

  Alec Gaius had stood up and walked over. He bent down behind me to grab my hands. “The hands are personal and raw, Kaia Wren.” I swallowed nervously at the close contact, taking a sharp intake of breath. I instantly regretted it when my nose was flooded with Alec Gaius’ scent - crisp, fresh and somewhat earthy. How was it he still smelled so wonderful even after such a long day? It didn’t seem fair. “It is so much more appealing to form a connection through contact, don’t you think?”

  Get it together, Kaia Wren. I berated myself and struggled to concentrate on the words that were swimming in front of me even with Alec Gaius still semi-wrapped around me.