Shadow Prophet
Scythe Grove Academy #2
Laura Greenwood
Contents
What Happened Before
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
Author Note
Also by Laura Greenwood
About the Author
© 2021 Laura Greenwood
* * *
All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise – without prior written permission of the published, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address; [email protected].
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Cover by Taurus Colosseum
Shadow Prophet is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Blurb
I’ve never known who I am or where I came from, and now that's going to change.
* * *
The Shadow Association want me back under their control, and I'm sure their hold over me has something to do with my parents.
* * *
Between trying to discover my past, staying out of the Association's clutches, and keeping up with my reaper studies, I have my hands full. But I'm determined to achieve everything I need to. I'm going to find out who I am, no matter how long it takes.
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Shadow Prophet is book two of the paranormal academy series, Scythe Grove Academy. It includes a slow burn m/f romance.
What Happened Before
Shadow Seer
Syxe has lived her whole life as part of the Shadow Association with no idea of who her parents are or where they're from. Now she's eighteen, she's expected to take the Shadow Oath despite no one ever explaining to her what it is.
While outside, she meets a ghost named Agatha who accuses her of being a reaper. Normally, Syxe goes out of her way to avoid the ghosts she sees everywhere, but this time she seeks out the older woman in the hope she can learn more about who she is. While talking to Agatha, she is interrupted by two reapers and asked for contact information.
Syxe finds herself offered a place at Scythe Grove Academy, an academy for reapers. She learns she's a seer who has the ability to talk to ghosts, and is paired with Mathias, a porter who has the ability to help send ghosts to the next plane. He takes her on a tour of the academy and has her placed into Sakura Grove. Along with their House Captain, Juliet, Mathias helps Syxe learn about her reaper powers, including what their role is in helping ghosts crossover and making her first scythe.
Eventually, Syxe is summoned by the Shadow Association and even threatened. Knowing they won't leave her alone, she goes to the Oath and refuses to swear, walking away from the Association.
You can download a free copy of Juliet’s story, Grove Captain here: https://books.authorlauragreenwood.co.uk/ja6lf07zkg
1
I copy the stance of the teacher at the front of the grove, loosening my grip on my scythe when I realise I've been holding on so tightly my knuckles have turned white. I'm still worried about dropping it, probably because I don't have much experience with it at all.
"Swing like this," the teacher shouts, demonstrating the move.
I take a deep breath. This isn't coming as naturally to me as to some of the others, probably because they all grew up knowing they're reapers. While no one gets their first scythe until eighteen to stop there being ill-equipped children running around and trying to port ghosts, they probably had toy ones to practice with.
Maybe I need to ask Mathias or Juliet about it. They've been good with helpful hints and tricks so far, hopefully, they'll want to continue that.
I step forward and swing my scythe through the air in a tight but elegant motion.
Or it should be one. I don't manage the same way the others in the grove do.
A soft grunt of frustration leaves me. How am I ever going to graduate if I can't even get the basic moves right? I know that's still years away, but I want to do well at this reaper thing.
"Your feet are too far apart," the girl next to me whispers. "You need them closer together if you want to keep the scythe's arc neat."
"Oh. Thanks." I flash her a wobbly smile. I'm still getting used to how nice people are here. Growing up in the Shadow Association, I didn't have many pleasant interactions with people my own age. While I'm sure I'll find people who don't like me at Scythe Grove Academy, I haven't encountered anyone who has been rude yet.
I shift my feet as she's suggested and try the move again. I don't think anyone will be calling me graceful any time soon, but my movements are definitely better than before.
I glance at the girl to thank her again, but she seems zoned out, probably concentrating on the moves we're supposed to be copying. I'll make sure to tell her how much of a difference she's made once class ends.
The rest of the class passes with relative ease. Kind of. I manage to avoid making a fool out of myself by getting the movements wrong, so that’s a win. Not that anyone here ever laughs at me. I don't know if reapers are just overly polite, or if there's another reason, but no one's made fun of me for not knowing anything.
Maybe it's just good training. The majority of reapers grow up to help ghosts pass over to the other side. That means being privy to a whole host of potentially embarrassing things.
That's probably it.
"All right, that's all for this class," the teacher calls. "Don't forget to properly clean down your scythes. If you let them get damaged, it can cause problems when you're trying to use it later."
Around the grove, twenty trainee reapers nod their heads, and I do along with them. There's so much to get my head around, but I think I'm doing an okay job of it.
I sling my scythe over my back in a move I've seen Mathias do several times when we're out and about. Some of the other students are making themselves comfortable around the grove to do their scythe maintenance, but I prefer to do it in my room. That way, if I'm not sure of something, I can either look it up or ask my friends without everyone staring at me.
Maybe I'm being paranoid, I think I might be, but while I'm new to this reaper thing, I want to be as careful as possible.
The girl who helped me has disappeared already. I scan the grove for her, but don't see her among the students currently sitting around. Hopefully, she'll decide to stand next to me when we're next in the grove so I can thank her.
With nothing else to do here, and only a small gap between lessons for me to tend to my scythe, I turn and head towards one of the doors into the academy building.
I look over my shoulder as I leave the grove, half expecting to find
someone watching me. Unsurprisingly, there's no one there. The Shadow Association haven't tried to contact me since the day after my failed oath, I shouldn't expect that to change now. But I can't shake the feeling they're not done with me. I know I'm not the kind of seer who makes prophecies, but the weight in my gut can't be shaken.
Maybe it's just because I grew up under their control and know what they're like.
I shake my head in an attempt to rid myself of the notion. It's probably nothing to worry about.
"There you are," Mathias says, finally pulling me out of my thoughts.
I look up to find him closing the distance between us.
"I was in class," I say by way of explanation.
"I know, I checked your timetable. But I thought you might want to hang out before our history class?"
"I need to clean my scythe, but you could come with me?"
A cheeky grin spreads over his face. "Do you think Jules will mind if we raid her coffee machine?"
I chuckle. "No, probably not."
"We're going to owe her so many coffee grounds by the end of the year," he says.
Bemusement fills me. He isn't wrong. Her coffee is so much better than the stuff we can get from the vending machine in the Sakura Grove common room. And to think I thought that stuff was good when I arrived.
"Why don't you go and get yourself comfortable and I'll grab the coffee. Do you want any snacks too?"
"I think she'd draw the line at us stealing those," I point out.
"She would," he acknowledges. "But I can stop by the shop..."
"I don't think we have time."
"I could be really quick."
"We shouldn't risk it. You know what Professor Haines is like, he'll lock us out of the room if we're late to history," I remind him as the two of us make our way through the academy and towards the Sakura dorms.
Everyone is going about their own business, and now I'm with Mathias, I'm finally able to relax a little bit and stop thinking someone is following me at every turn in the corridor.
"Hmm. True. Though maybe skipping history..."
"Nope. I'm not doing that," I say firmly.
"But it's nothing interesting," Mathias counters.
"To you, maybe not. But this is stuff I never learned as a child. To me, it is interesting." Though I'll admit Professor Haines doesn't always do his subject matter justice.
Mathias sighs, but I can tell there's no malice in it. "Fine, I'll go be bored to tears with you."
"Thank you, I appreciate it." I flash him a smile so he knows I'm telling the truth.
"All right, you head back to your room and start your scythe stuff, I'll grab us some coffee. Let's hope I don't get waylaid by Juliet."
"I think she and Tobias got called out to a ghost this morning," I assure him. "You're safe." Though perhaps my friend should think about locking her dorm room door more often. Something about the atmosphere in the dorms makes it feel safe. I don't think anyone from the groves is going to sneak in.
Not that it's enough to stop me from locking my door, both when I'm out of the room, and when I'm asleep. I don't want to risk the Shadow Association sneaking in and doing something untoward. I don't know for sure that they will, but it's safe to assume they can get here. The academy is secure, but not that secure. I need to be sensible or I'll end up in more trouble than I want to be.
At least I have friends and allies here who will help me if things do go wrong.
That's the only thing stopping me from losing control over my fear.
2
"Class C crimes and above should be reported to the Supernatural Retrieval Agency," I mutter as I read the section of the textbook about this. "But what's a Class C crime? Why aren't you telling me this?"
No one can hear me, but that's probably a good thing. I don't want anyone to know quite how much knowledge I'm lacking. I learn quickly, but nothing can replace years worth of acquired knowledge.
A knock sounds at my door, pulling my attention away from the book in front of me.
"Come in," I call.
It creaks open and Juliet steps inside, a frustrated expression on her face.
"Grove Captain duties?" I ask.
"Eurgh, so much red tape. It's not as fun as everyone makes it out to be."
"Didn't you know that going in?" I ask.
I don't know much about why she became the Sakura Grove Captain. I know there was a competition involved, and that she and Tobias won it to become the Captains of Sakura and Ilex respectively, but it was all before I arrived at Scythe Grove. I have no idea what any of it actually means. Though if Juliet is to be believed, I'll find out next year when the competition is held again and she'll have to decide whether or not she wants to be the Captain again.
She sighs loudly. "Sort of."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Maybe later," she dismisses. "I actually came here to talk about you."
"Oh?"
"Someone said something during the meeting that reminded me of your search for your parents."
Intrigue and wariness war for control within me. "What about it?"
"I was wondering if you'd thought about using a genealogy site to try and find them?" she asks. "I know it's not very fancy, and pretty much the basics, but it might be a good place to start. If it works, you might have answers. If it doesn't, you're no further behind than you were before."
I nod. "It's a good idea."
"Great. Hand me your laptop. I know the one you want to use."
"How?"
"My friend in school was adopted and looked into what she wanted to do when she turned eighteen. She did a lot of research."
I hand my laptop over and Juliet starts tapping away on the keys. I don't know if she's on the right track, but it's worth a try at the very least. Like she says, if it doesn't work, I'm no further behind than I was already.
"Here," she says, turning it around so I can see the screen.
Happy models peer up from the screen with their results photoshopped onto screens in front of them. It doesn't seem like an accurate representation of people who might be using a service like this, but what do I know? Maybe they're happy to get it over with.
"Where do we even start?" I ask.
"We'll make an account and order you a testing kit. Then you can take it and drop it off in a post box when you're in town."
I nod. "Okay. Let's do it. I need to find out where I came from."
"Do you think it will help you avoid the Shadow Association?"
I do a double-take.
"Please, as if we don't all know that's what you're worrying about all the time. We're not blind, Syxe."
A blush rises to my cheeks and I glance away, not wanting her to see how embarrassed it's making me.
"We don't mind," she says softly. "Well, that's not completely true. We do mind. But only because we don't want you to be uncomfortable, we don't judge you for being on edge. I'd be ten times worse in your position."
I snort. "I doubt it. You're always so calm and collected."
"Maybe on the outside, but I worry about things a lot inside."
"Hmm."
"You don't believe me."
"It's hard to when I've seen how easily you take charge of everything." But at the same time, why would she lie? Especially to me. I may have made a harsh judgement about her when we first met, but I was wrong. She's one of the kindest people I've ever met.
"Everyone has a front. But that's not the point. We're supposed to be focusing on you right now, not me. I've ordered the test, it says it should arrive in the next couple of days."
"Thanks, it's a good idea."
"Of course it is, it's one of mine," she quips, her normal confidence returning a little.
I don't comment on her change in demeanour. Like the Grove Captain meeting she's clearly annoyed about, she'll talk about it when she's ready.
"Can I ask you a question?" I'm only partly trying to change the topic of conversation.
&nb
sp; "Of course," she responds without a moment's hesitation.
"What's a Class C crime?"
"What?" Surprise and confusion cross her face.
"I was reading about them before you came in. It says we need to report them to the Supernatural Retrieval Agency, but I have no idea what Class C is. I feel like I'm missing something." I'm glad I can ask her while we're alone so I don't end up looking like an idiot in front of our other classmates. It's much easier to ask my friends than strangers.
"Oh, right. I'm sorry, we should have known you wouldn't know that. Class C is any kind of non-fatal violence. So if a ghost tells you about a crime like that, you have to fill in a form and submit it to the Agency. Have you not had that happen yet?"
"Mathias has been dealing with all the forms," I admit sheepishly. "I know I need to learn them, but I'm too nervous to ask him to show me."
"I can do it, if you want? We can get some ice cream and go through them all and what you need to do for what. If you fill out a form right, I'll even let you pick the sprinkles that go on top."
I snort. "There's no need for sprinkles, ice cream and bureaucracy sound like a fun combination without them," I quip.
Amusement dances over Juliet's face. "They're not that bad, I promise. But maybe make sure there's some chocolate fudge sauce too."
"If that's what you want..."
"It's my price for teaching you which boxes to tick."
"Thanks, Jules. For everything."
She beams at me. "You're welcome."
"Isn't this where you say you're just doing your job?"
"I'm not," she counters. "My job was to welcome you to Sakura Grove and make sure you settled in all right. That ended weeks ago."
Shadow Prophet (Scythe Grove Academy Book 2) Page 1