by Zenia, Zara
Magic and Misconduct
Sleep Hollow Academy - Book 1
Zara Zenia
Illustrated by
Natasha Snow
Edited by
Elizabeth A Lance
Copyright © 2019 by Zara Zenia
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Natasha Snow Designs
Edited by Elizabeth A Lance
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the authors’ imagination.
Contents
VIP Reader Club
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
Preview of Alien Prince Charming
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
About Zara Zenia
Also by Zara Zenia
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1
Marina
I took a big bite out of the burger on the plate in front of me even though I wasn’t really hungry. Excitement had killed my appetite.
But my mom had spent the money, and I wasn’t going to waste it.
We sat in a diner in the town of Sleepy Hollow. It had come a long way since the Great Awakening sixty-eight years ago, and the Washington Irving themed hayrides had been replaced by a thriving college community. The sudden change of ten percent of humanity into supernatural and paranormal creatures had turned society on its head, and although it had almost broken down completely, an uneasy equilibrium had prevailed. Humans and supernaturals lived side-by-side for the most part, though recently the media had been reporting on a sharp uptick in hate crimes.
It wasn’t something I thought about.
I was about to start college. All I cared about was learning as much about supernaturals as possible, in one of the best colleges in the country. Sleepy Hollow University was one of the oldest institutions for supernaturals in America, and its reputation was right up there with Harvard and Princeton. I would finally get to meet other people like me— a Witch —and people from various other races too. Shifters, Vampires, Grays, Fae. We would all be living there together.
It would be so different to my tiny little town and my all-human family.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” my mom asked, pushing her fries around her plate rather than eating them. “You could have waited a year, you know. Taken some time out to do some work, to see if this is really what you want. I know you’ve had these powers since birth, but you’re only just starting to get used to using them.”
“I’m certain.” I might not have had much guidance in my supernatural abilities back in Fort Ann, but I’d learned enough to be accepted into Sleepy Hollow, and I might not be that lucky next year. They’d obviously seen something in my luck-based abilities that could bless or curse people, and my extensive knowledge in cryptids, that they liked. Maybe that wouldn’t be the kind of candidate they were after next year. “I’m ready for this, Mom. It’s been my dream even since I was old enough to understand what being a Witch meant.”
My mom shifted in her seat, but nodded. “I know. I just worry about you. Things were simple in Fort Ann. People might not have liked that you were a Witch, but they never said anything because you were their Witch. Here, things are different.”
I’d noticed it just being in the diner. We were in Sleepy Hollow proper, and the college was just a little ways outside of the town. People had looked at me and must have guessed I was here to join the college, and that had led to plenty of skeptical, and even some downright hostile, looks. I didn’t know whether they had a problem with the university, or with supernaturals in general.
I didn’t want to find out.
“I know, but I can’t stay in Fort Ann forever. I don’t want to. And Sleepy Hollow is the safest place for me to start exploring the world. I’ll have the college. It keeps its students safe.” There had been plenty of incidents at supernatural universities in recent years, but Sleepy Hollow had normally been left alone. Their biggest problem was pro-human protesters, but these were peaceful. Hunters— groups of humans waging a violent crusade against paranormals —regularly targeted some of the lesser known supernatural college campuses to get maximum devastation and exposure, but Sleepy Hollow would be a tough target. There were some of the best paranormal students in the country— and some of the best paranormal teachers teaching them. They could look after themselves.
My mom gave an almost sad smile. “I know, sweetie, I’m just going to miss you so much.”
“We’ll still talk on the phone every day, and I won’t be that far away. You can come and visit me and I can come and visit you.”
I knew what the real problem was, but my mom was too proud to say it. She was trying not to even show it. Since my dad had left a few years ago, she’d been lonely. Having a paranormal child had set her apart in the small, mostly human community even if no one was going to admit it, and with me leaving that left her on her own.
“Of course we will.” She grinned. “I’m so excited for you.”
I tried not to feel a little bit guilty for moving away. “I’m excited too.” I finally put the mostly-eaten burger down. I couldn’t force myself to eat any more of it. I’d done a better job of the meal than my mom had, anyway.
“And be careful. You know, when people find out what your powers are they might try and manipulate you into using them.”
“Not everyone is like Dad,” I said, averting my eyes back out of the window. My dad had been a gambling addict, and he’d repeatedly tricked me into using my blessings and curses to help him come out on top at the bookies. It was why no one in the town was missing his departure, especially not me or my mom.
“I know, but plenty of people are. You trust too easily.”
“I’m not that naive,” I argued, then took a deep breath. I wasn’t going to argue about this. “But I’ll be careful. I promise. At least I know what I’m looking out for now.”
“I suppose that’s one good thing he led to, then.” She shook her head. “I’ll get the bill and then we can head over to campus. We should get you moved in before there’s a big rush.”
I grinned, bouncing a little in my seat as we waited for the waitress to notice us so we could pay the bill. Even though Fort Ann wasn’t that far away in the grand scheme of things, I’d never actually been to Sleepy Hollow, and the thought of walking onto campus was intoxicating. I’d seen a billion pictures, but I knew it wouldn’t compare to standing on the grounds.
It was only a ten minute drive to the college, and I spent the entire time staring out of the window even though the dense, deciduous forest that surrounded the grounds meant I didn’t get a glimpse of the huge, Gothic buildings of
the campus until we were practically on top of them. They’d been built decades ago now, back when supernaturals still had the air of something foreign and mythological around them. More recent colleges tended to look like universities always had, with modern architecture, but Sleepy Hollow University had been built with historic European buildings in mind.
They were a collection of short but intricately crafted buildings with gargoyles and patterns carved into white stone. I’d been right, it was all even more incredible in person. I’d wanted to come down to Sleepy Hollow for my interview, but my mom had to work and the three hour drive from Fort Ann to Sleepy Hollow would have meant too much time was taken. So I’d taken my interview via video call.
Now I was driving through the campus of my dreams, and I could barely contain myself.
Even my mom looked impressed. The doubt was gone from her face, and she gave me an equally excited smile. “This is incredible.”
There were signs everywhere about where new students should go to check-in and pick up keys for their dormitories— if they were staying in dorms, which I was. I wanted to be as surrounded by other students as I could be. I went to pick up the keys and fill out the forms by myself, and it was a surprisingly quick process. There was no one else in the office, so I didn’t get to meet any of the other students yet.
“Okay.” I dangled the keys on my fingers to show them to my mom. “I’m ready to go! Here I got a campus map. There’s some parking outside my dorm so we can unload the car from there.”
I bounced my legs as we drove to the dorm, and immediately fell in love with the building I’d be staying in. It was small, as far as dorms went, with just four floors and about twenty windows on each floor. It was made of an ominous black stone, unlike most of the white buildings, and had big windows that would give us a lot of natural light. I supposed there were plenty of floors beneath ground as well for the vampires, who wouldn’t be able to cope with the sunlight.
“Let’s go!” I hopped out of the car and headed to the front of the dorm building. There was a keypad to the side of the door and I input the code I’d been given at the office. It clicked open. I was on the top floor, but there was an elevator, thankfully. The architecture might be in an old style, but inside Sleepy Hollow was very much in the twenty-first century.
My dorm was as gorgeous as I’d expected. It wasn’t large, but it had two single beds, two large desks and a wardrobe. A door led to an adjoining bathroom. The large window had an incredible view over the rest of the campus. It was everything I could have hoped for. I claimed the bed nearest to the window as my own.
“Let’s go and get my things.”
It didn’t take long to bring up my belongings from the old car we’d driven down in. I didn’t own much really. Just clothes, an endless collection of books on cryptids that I knew was going to increase exponentially when I found out where the college bookstore was, and some knick-knacks.
My mom helped me unpack and put things in their place so she could take the cardboard boxes back to Fort Ann with her.
It was all done in under an hour.
My mom hovered awkwardly near the door. “As much as I don’t want to, I’m going to go and let you settle in. Go and meet people on your corridor, and get used to your room.”
I felt a sudden stinging in my eyes, and blinked back tears. “Thank you for helping me move in.”
She enveloped me in a big, tight hug. I hugged her back just as tightly, and managed to limit my crying to two solitary tears. My mom had been my best friend my entire life, and I would miss her like nothing else, but this was Sleepy Hollow College, and I knew I was going to be happy here.
“Be careful,” my mom said, pulling back and wiping tears from her own eyes and gripping my upper arms. “Be so careful, and take your studies seriously and work hard. And have fun! And meet amazing people! I love you, sweetie, more than anything.”
I hugged her again. “I love you too, Mom. I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too, but we’ll speak all the time and I’ll get to hear about what an amazing time you’re having. That’s all that matters to me.”
We hugged a few more times, and then my mom dragged herself away from my room and back down to the car. I waved to her from my window and she waved back.
Then she was driving away, and my Sleepy Hollow College experience had finally begun.
2
Marina
I kept my door open while I unpacked the last few bits and bobs that my mom hadn’t helped me with. There were ten rooms on my corridor, but I hadn’t actually met any other students yet. I was hoping that someone would show up eventually and I could start getting to know people. There had been no information from the person I’d collected my keys from on who my roommate would be.
There was a whole week where people could move into their dorms before classes started, and I’d come down on the first day because I wanted to get settled in as soon as possible. Maybe others wouldn’t move in until closer to the end of the week.
Though I didn’t understand how anyone could get into Sleepy Hollow University and not be excited to get there as soon as possible.
I put some music on quietly and started pulling clothes from my suitcase and hanging them up, humming along to the familiar tunes. Then, finally, there was movement in the corridor outside.
I popped my head around the door and spotted someone at the end of the corridor. It was a girl, tall and athletic with close-cropped silver hair, dragging a huge suitcase behind her.
“Hi!” I called.
“Hey,” she replied, stopping in front of my door and sticking her hand out. “I’m Laurie.” She had a huge, lopsided grin.
“Marina.” I shook the hand she’d offered.
Laurie double-checked the number on her key and on the door. “And I looks like we’re roommates!”
My smile mirrored hers. “Great! It’s so nice to meet you.” I moved out of the doorway so she could enter the room. “Let me know if I’ve taken any space you want or anything. I’ve just been kind of pottering around and unpacking things.
“I’ve still got a couple more suitcases to bring up,” Laurie replied, putting the one she was dragging behind her beside her bed. “And then I’ll take a proper look around.”
“I can help.” I slipped my feet back into my sneakers. “Then it’ll just be one trip.”
“Thanks!”
We took the elevator back down to the first floor, where two more large suitcases were waiting. “My family are from Nebraska so we couldn’t really drive all the way here. I ended up catching a flight and getting a cab instead. The most expensive cab of my life.”
“That’s a long way to come for college.” I grabbed one of the suitcases and wheeled it behind me. It weighed a ton.
“Yeah, but it’s Sleepy Hollow! There was no way I was passing up a chance to come here if I could. Are you from nearby?”
“Fort Ann. It’s a little town about three hours drive from here. Upstate New York still though.”
“Perfect then, really. Not too close and not too far.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t have minded being a little bit closer. It’d be nice to be able to go and visit my mom more often. I’m going to miss her.”
The doors on the elevator opened and they wheeled the cases down the corridor and back to the room. “Yeah, I’m going to really miss my family. I— wait, are those your books?”
I looked at the stack of books I hadn’t organized on the bookshelf yet, wondering what was wrong with them. “Yes?”
“I’m so glad you’re interested in cryptids too!”
Relief surged through me. Cryptids were new creatures that had started being born from regular animals after the Great Awakening. Animals had about a twenty-five percent chance of giving birth to a cryptid. Deer and horses started birthing unicorns. Eagles hatched gryphons. A lot about the human-animal relationship changed after that, with more people pushing for animal rights. But it wasn’t all good: the n
ew danger meant more expensive meat and tighter regulations on pets and livestock.
“You interested in it too?” I asked, going to stand next to where she was looking over some of the titles.
“Absolutely. I’m hoping to be a crypto-botanist one day.”
“I guess that’s why they put us together then. We must be doing a similar major. I’m doing cryptozoology.”
“Me too!”
My heart soared. I’d been worried that the roommates would have been assigned randomly, but they’d obviously put some thought into how well people would get along with each other. I already liked Laurie, and having someone who I could do homework and reading with was going to make all the difference. “Have you interacted with cryptids much?” I asked excitedly, perching on the edge of my bed to stop me bouncing excitedly on my heels.
“Not that much, actually. The town I’m from in Nebraska is pretty tiny, we haven’t really got that many cryptids around there. But my family owns a farm and we’ve got chickens. One gave birth to a cockatrice.”
My eyebrows shot up. Cockatrices were a cryptid that had made farming chickens a lot more difficult. More dragon that bird, they were like supercharged chickens with the ability to petrify things when looking at them. “No way!” I said. “They’re pretty dangerous, though I suppose if you have chickens you’ve had to deal with them before.”