Nightfall (The Huntsman Clan Book 1)

by Rose Alexander

  "It's always been that way," Jack shrugs not taking his eyes off the road.

  We drive for a while then pass under a large stone arch with a giant spider on it. I stare with my jaw gaping wide open.

  "Why the heck is their a giant spider on that arch?" I ask freaking out internally.

  "That's the symbol of the Huntsman clan. I forgot you didn't grow up clan. It's some heavy shit to find out today," Vance answers staring at his feet.

  "If you guys don't want to hang out with me because of it, that's ok," I tell them, feeling a bit rejected.

  "Oh no! I just feel bad that we outed a huge secret on accident and you didn't get the chance to tell us in your own time," he assures me, putting his hand on my shoulder.

  "I'm ok with you knowing. Besides, it allowed me to learn that I don't know enough about my own situation," I reply staring daggers at Jack.

  "Hey, I was going to tell you anyways. I was trying not to overload you all at once," he says defensively, the tips of his ears turning crimson.

  "Let's talk about this later and focus on this school thing. The building looks creepy to me," I say staring out the front window at the large dark stone building looming in front of us.

  “Home,” Kylah purrs, excited to see the school.

  The remote location, paired with the dark stone and spiders, gives it a creepy ominous feel. Hopefully that goes away once we get inside.

  "It's better inside, I promise," Jack assures me, using his gift no doubt.

  We park in the tiny parking lot and unload from the car. Kenton pulls up beside us shortly after. We all grab our bags and follow Jack to the front door. I feel hesitant, but my companions look excited. When we approach the door, the man from the airport is waiting; his eyebrow raised in surprise at the group.

  "You've made fast friends with an interesting bunch, Amelia," he says drawing my name out into four syllables.

  "Just trying to fit in, Sir," I reply, remembering not to stare him in the eye.

  "It looks like you remembered something. Very well, I'm sure Jack can show you all around, and the staff is around if you have any questions," he says then walks off without looking back.

  "My dad said he was creepy, but I didn't realize how much until now," Spence whispers in my ear.

  It takes everything in me not to giggle, but there was no way I want to draw Sir's attention back to me.

  "Let's start with the dorms so we can drop off your stuff. We'll get your keys from the dorm master," Jack says, taking on a air of authority in his voice.

  "Yes Sir," Reid says, saluting him, lips turned up in a wide smile.

  "You guys know that Sir takes his Sir very seriously right?" I ask them, causing Reid to pale a bit. "Please lead the way, Jack."

  "Thank you, Amelia. Now, all of your classes will be in the west wing and the dorms are situated in the east wing. They are separated by class; common dorms are on the first floor, noble dorms are on the second floor, and royal are on the third," he explains as we walk.

  "Where am I going to be?" I ask, suddenly self-conscious.

  "That's a good question. It's wherever the panther queen placed you," Jack gives me a nervous look.

  "What if she actually places me on the royal floor?" I whisper, freaking out.

  "That could actually make it easier to hide in plain sight. Some royal children are sent off as young children to learn elsewhere. We would just have to work hard on getting your politics caught up before school starts," he whispers back, the other guys all leaning in to listen.

  "I guess we'll find out soon," I reply, finally bringing my attention to my surroundings.

  The walls inside are still stone but a much lighter color. The ceiling is high, and there are tapestries of different cat shifters every so often as well as paintings of various men and women.

  We approach a large staircase and head up to the first floor. There's a large, dark mahogany wood desk as we exit the stairs with hallways branching off in either direction from it.

  "Hello dears, I'm Ms. Blackburn the dorm master, can I have your names to find your rooms?" A kind dark haired woman asks. She's tall and thin with grey eyes and deep smile lines.

  "We have Vance Avery, Dominic Perrie, Spencer Williams, Reid Thielman, Kenton Huntsman, and Amelia Huntsman," Jack lists off our names.

  "Give me a few minutes, and I'll get you all sorted," she replies as she shuffles through a stack of paperwork.

  After finding each person’s paperwork, she gets on her computer then produces a key card for each of us with our names and room numbers written on them.

  "These are your student ID as well, don't lose them," she explains in a stern voice, the crinkle of her eyes betraying her smile.

  "Yes ma'am, thank you for helping us," Kenton responds flashing her an award winning smile.

  "Now, Avery and Perrie, you're on this floor to the right. Williams and Thielman, you're on the second floor to the right. Finally, Amelia you're on the left, and Kenton you're on the right on the top floor. Here's a list of dorm rules. Have a nice day," she smiles as she hands us each a packet of paperwork.

  We split up, Dom and Vance taking the hallway to the right of the desk, the rest of us heading up the stairs. At the next landing, we lose Reid and Spence; the three of us who are left continuing up.

  "I should stay in good shape living up here," I comment offhandedly.

  "I agree; I wish we weren't separated like this," Kenton replies his eyes turned down in sadness.

  "I'm sure there are plenty of places to hang out regardless," I try to reassure him. "There's a whole packet of rules to dictate it."

  He turns up one corner of his mouth in half a smile, " At least I can walk you down every morning."

  I shake my head with a small smile as we reach the top landing. I turn left while Kenton turns right, and Jack stands there looking lost.

  "Are you waiting there? Or..." I ask Jack confused as to why he's stood there.

  "I wasn't sure if you wanted me following you," he rubs his hand on the back of his neck.

  "I'd rather have company, and you are my guardian," I reply, hoping he follows me.

  I look at my key card, and it has the number one on it. There are only ten rooms on this hallways and a good distance between each door. I'm thankful my door is right off the stairs. I use the key card and the room is huge. The furniture I picked out is already taking up the area that was clearly made for the bedroom. It looks like I need a desk and some sitting room furniture if this room isn't going to look empty.

  "Sorry, I honestly didn't know what all you would need. We can go to the furniture store and see what they have that will work after this," Jack says; his lips scrunched to the side, like he's thinking really hard.

  There are two doors off to the right side of the room, I open the first and it's a huge closet. I set my suitcase down and start unpacking my uniforms and what street clothes I brought and the closet looks empty still. I sigh and make a mental note not to let anyone see how bare it looks. The next door is a private bathroom with a nice tub and shower. This was the part I worried about the most, sharing a shower with a group of girls.

  "So this is how the top floor lives," Jack says with amusement in his voice.

  "How was your floor?" I ask, curious what it'll be like for everyone else.

  "On the noble floor, you have your own rooms that are roughly the size of the bedroom portion with a bathroom shared to the room next door. The common floor they share two to a room and four bathrooms to the hall," he replies like it's normal.

  "That's horrible. There shouldn't be such a separation," I reply, then feel guilty that I'm glad to be at the top.

  "Don't feel guilty. You didn't even ask for this life or any of this stuff. Let it be compensation for how everything else went down," Jack hugs me rubbing my back.

  "I really needed that hug, thank you," I reply, genuinely feeling better at the small gesture.

  He releases me from the hug then grabs my suitcase and w
alks towards the door. "I bet the boys are waiting on us by now. Ready to see the rest of the school?"

  "Sure, why not," I shrug and follow him.

  "We can go back to LA tomorrow and get more clothes," he says bumping my shoulder when I catch up to him.

  "Oh, and stuff to decorate with?" I ask, excited about personalizing the space I'll live in.

  "Anything you want," he smiles, his eyes crinkling with a faint sparkle. "I think having you here is going to be good for me."

  "Glad to be of service," I roll my eyes, but break down giggling.

  When we exit the door, Kenton is standing there staring at his shoes.

  "What's up buttercup?" I ask, thinking of his lion’s mane.

  "Just waiting on a slow princess to finish checking out her room. Are you ready, Trouble?" he asks, then winks at me.

  "Let's go see what else this place has to offer us," I answer heading down the stairs.

  No one is at the next landing, so we proceed past and find the rest of the group chatting with Ms. Blackburn.

  "Thank you Ms. Blackburn," Vance says as we walk up.

  "No need to be so formal, call me Sarah," she replies, blushing.

  "We'll see you next week," he tells her then turns to us. "Did you get lost in your fancy dancy rooms?"

  "Yup, they were so big I fell in the bathtub and Trouble had to come fish me out," Kenton replies punching him on the shoulder.

  "Quit fooling around," Jack knocks their heads together while rolling his eyes in an overly exaggerated way." Let's show you the auditorium since you have to go there, and the cafeteria since you'll be spending most of your time wishing you were there."

  "Whatever you say, boss man," Spence, laughs as he walks up next to me and casually drapes his arm over my shoulder.

  I like the way it feels there and no one else seems a bit bothered by it so I let it stay. Wondering what it would feel like if I actually had a boyfriend who would do that.

  "Cat alert nine o'clock," Dom whispers suddenly.

  I look up and see a girl with really big blonde hair, a second girl with dark hair that isn't quite so overdone, and Krissy trailing their heels.

  "I thought you said you weren't doing anything with them today," Krissy walks up and demands.

  "Nice to see you too, and no, I offered to go do something without them to get to know you," I reply turning back to the group.

  "You should have specified," she grumps, crossing her arms over her chest.

  "Maybe you should have been interested in me for me," I throw back at her while she walks back to stand by two girls I haven't met yet.

  "Who's with you, Kenton? Krissy said you guys met with a new girl, but I thought she was just telling stories," the blonde girl asks, acting like the entire world owed her an explanation.

  "Hi, I'm Amelia, nice to meet you," I walk forward and hold my hand out to shake.

  "No one ever taught you to respect your betters? I can't believe you just addressed me like you were allowed to. Even Krissy knows better," she sticks her nose up and raises her hand as if she is going to smack me.

  “We should make her hurt,” Kylah growls, rumbling deep in her chest.

  Jack jumps up and walks in front of me, "Maybe you should check your lessons again, Amy. I don't believe that Royals have ever had to hold their tongue to a Noble. If you would like, I'd be happy to go look up how you should be punished."

  "Come on, Amy. We'll figure out more later," the dark haired girl tugs on her hand, leading her towards the stairs.

  "I have questions," I say looking around at everyone, including Spence who no longer has his arm around my shoulder.

  "We can have an answer session over food. Let's get this tour over first," Jack decides, pushing us forward. "Now this is the ground floor, then you have the subfloor below us and first, second, and third above us."

  "Why is there a ground, that's weird. Shouldn’t it be called the first floor?" Vance speaks up.

  "Generations of Nightfall Students have asked the same thing and no one has gotten an answer," Jack chuckles as we follow him.

  We make our way to the auditorium. It's behind two huge doors in the middle of the ground floor. There is a large stage surrounded by theater seating complete with a balcony.

  "There's going to be so many people here," I gasp looking around.

  "The balcony is only full when parents come up," Jack shrugs while turning the corners of his mouth up into a small grin.

  "Food, show me where the food is. I beg you," Reid drops to his knees hands clasped together in front of Jack.

  "Let's go eat lunch you bunch of heathens," Jack sighs throwing his hands in the air chuckling.

  "You're enjoying this. Admit it," I say poking him in the ribs with my index finger.

  "I am Lia, I really am," he agrees, slinging his arm over my shoulder leading me towards the stairs.

  I take a moment to notice how different it feels with Jack and Spence. Jack feels like family already even though that weirds me out in a different way, but Spence felt like putting kindling on a new fire. I shake my head pushing those thoughts away with the prospect of food. We go down the stairs to what Jack calls the sublevel and it exits into a giant cafeteria. There are stations set up all over the room boasting different foods. They take the lunch game serious here. My stomach verbalizes my hunger and I take off to the first station. Everything smells so good.

  The cook explains to me how each station makes a different type of food for the day. One station will focus on pizza and another on Chinese or Italian. I nod my head as I'm listening, but I just want to go and sit to eat what she's placed on my plate. The pizza smells amazing.

  We finally break free from the line and sit and eat. I make a stop to each station before I'm satisfied.

  "She's going to have one hell of a power," Dom says around a bit a food. "Look how much she already out eats us all."

  "What do you mean?" I ask looking around at them confused.

  "Remember when I explained special powers in the noble and royal classes?" Jack asks, and I nod for him to continue. "The stronger the power, the higher the appetite. Eat up."

  "Not sure if I should be happy or freaked out at this point," I mumble crossing my arms across my chest.

  "I say embrace it. Not going to change either way," Spence grins, his green hair falling to one side.

  He was right. I was here and that wasn't changing anytime soon, so it was time to adapt. "Well then I say I need more clothes if I'm going to keep up with the girls at this school. Can we go shopping now?" I beg Jack, in an annoying voice.

  "It's like I have a little sister of my very own," he rubs the top of my head as he stands up.

  He puts his dishes away and heads for the stairs. The rest of us scramble to catch up. Once we're in the car, he flashes me a grin and peels off out of the parking lot. I laugh at his playful side which is starting to come out. Somehow, my panther has decided he is family and that's just how it's going to be from now on. She purrs contentedly when she learns I've come to this realization.

  "Is it normal for your cat to pick your family?" I ask, wondering if she's unique.

  “He’s our brother. It took you long enough to figure it out,” she laughs at me.

  “Tell me next time so I know,” I sigh, so confused at everything being thrown at me.

  "It's totally normal. Most cats pick their husbands when they’re in school at Nightfall," Vance explains smiling.

  "I mean Kylah has labelled Jack as our brother in this short time," I explain burying my head in my hands in embarrassment. I feel lost at not knowing what they grew up learning.

  "Don't ever be embarrassed by who your cat chooses for what. Your cat knows best," Dom raises my head and looks me in the eye. "The guys here? Our cats decided we were brothers when we were young."

  "It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's some of the strongest bonds in our world, and Jace agrees that you're our sister," Jack says; his eyes crinkling in a genui
ne smile.

  “Our family is important in keeping us safe. Not all cats have a family; we are lucky,” Jace explains.

  “At least we have each other,” Kylah agrees.

  Chapter 11

  I sit back in the seat feeling content for the first time since my birthday. Maybe everything will be ok and work itself out. I close my eyes for a second and then pop awake when we stop. I fell asleep!

  "Are we really going shopping now?" I squeal getting out of the car when I see we're at the airport.

  "Your wish is my command," Jack gets out of the car and bows towards the plane.

  Dom, Vance, and Reid follow us to the the plane.

  "You guys are coming too?" I ask my eyes wide with shock.

  "Duh, Kenton and Spence will be here any second. We want to get off the island too, Jet," Reid replies bumping my shoulder with his.

  As he finishes speaking, Kenton pulls up, and they hop out of the car and jog over to us.

  "Besides Killer wanting clothes, what are we doing?" Spence asks the group, shoving his hands in his front pockets.

  "I don't want just clothes. I need to decorate the room; it's really bare," I explain.

  "Hey did you all look at the rules? Are we going to make Prince Kenton's room our hang out?" Vance asks, smirking.

  "We can read it on the plane, let's go," Kenton throws the packet at Vance then starts walking towards the plane.

  We load up on the plane and choose our seats. I sit next to a window and daydream while the guys talk about the rules. I'm feeling very strange about my current circumstances. On one hand, I feel guilty for already accepting the Huntsman clan as home, but the other side of me feels relief that I don't have to worry about not fitting in.

  As soon as we land, I rush off the plane and take a second to call my mom.

  "Everything ok, Amelia?" Mom asks, a hit of worry in her tone.

  "Yes, I just need, well... Is it ok that my panther, Kylah, and I feel at home here this quick?" I ask, worried what her response will be.

  "That makes my heart light to hear sweetie. I've been worried sick on how well you'll fit in. If your panther has found home already, I know you'll be just fine," she gushes, pride radiating from her voice making me feel truly at peace.