Nightshade Academy Episode 5: Deadly Contract Read online

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2020 Kestra Pingree

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  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Any unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.

  This is a work of fiction.

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  Summary

  Nightshade Academy is going to burn, and it's all my fault.

  Kian and I thought the witch called Helena would start the fire in his visions. We were wrong. It's Eduardo, my father, the vampire who made me and my twin, Archer, what we are.

  Madeline, Nightshade's headmaster, saved me before Eduardo could torture me, but Archer wasn't so lucky. Eduardo knows Nightshade's location because he's been tracking Archer's every move. If Madeline hadn't taken pity on us, Nightshade would be safe.

  But there's no time to dwell on what-ifs. We have to save everyone before it's too late.

  Eduardo started all of this. Now we're going to finish it.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  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

  Newsletter

  Kestra's Books

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  Message from the Author

  About the Author

  CHAPTER 1

  Any traces of the intruder vampire had been erased—aside from his discarded clothes and the blood staining the floor. Ginzo devoured every bit of him. Somehow, the demon didn’t look any worse for wear. His stomach should be bulging at least, but he’s sleeping it off as if it was no big feat. Maybe for a demon, it wasn’t.

  I sit cross-legged on the ice, back against a slick wall. The cold is more uncomfortably noticeable when I’m touching it like this, but I want to be ready to move. Besides, the quiet dripping inside of my ears is much worse: impending doom.

  It shouldn’t be much longer. Kian will come back to the lab once the sun goes down. If it wasn’t for this stupid vampire aversion to sunlight, we would have been on our way to Nightshade.

  “Spit it out already.” Archer holds out her hands to an ice fire doing figure eights in front of her face. “I’m not going to hurt anyone with it. We might need it to help Kian. You heard, didn’t you? His precious Nightshade is in danger.” Her voice cracks at the end. She might feel it’s ‘Kian’s precious Nightshade,’ but it means something to her too. I’m sure she’s thinking about Emery.

  The serpent-like ribbon of blinding light, or blue fire as Kian described them, halts mid figure eight. It hovers, the latter half of its body swishing as it seems to stare down Archer. She doesn’t blink; her piercing blue eyes are a good match for the otherworldly being.

  Its body ripples like the surface of a pond disrupted by a tossed pebble. A small sizzling hiss travels up its spine, and then it spits out the marble-sized watermelon tourmaline. It lands in Archer’s gloved palm. Good thing she has gloves. With the way the tourmaline crackles and lets off a wisp of ghostly white, I’m willing to bet it’d burn like dry ice.

  Hazy purple particles catch my attention from out of the corner of my eye. They slowly gather into the shape of a curvy woman, or at least the impression of one, before most of it is hidden by winter clothes. Helena’s back. I wonder where she keeps disappearing to. Ginzo is sleeping our wait time away while Helena keeps evanescing and coalescing.

  “No use trying to hide it,” Helena says. “I saw you pocket it.” She’s looking at Archer.

  “What? Do you want it?” Archer digs inside a coat pocket and produces the watermelon tourmaline. Pink and green shine blue with ice-fire light.

  “Keep it, darling. Keep it. As you said. You may have use for it.”

  She saw. She wasn’t here, but she saw.

  I already had a bag of rocks sitting in my stomach, and now another one piles on top of them. How much has Helena heard? How often has she eavesdropped when we thought she had completely disappeared? Whatever the answer, it hasn’t been anything too damning, I guess.

  I decide to risk asking it. “Where do you go and what do you do when you disappear like that?”

  “A good question, and one I don’t feel like answering.” Helena sighs and tosses perfect black curls over her shoulder.

  The rest of us haven’t gotten to shower out here, but her curls are perfect like this every day. If I could see past her Color, I wouldn’t be surprised to see newly applied makeup too. She gives off that vibe. If it wasn’t so damn cold, she’d likely wear a new party dress every day. She’s switched out her coat again. Actually, she’s done it several times while blinking in and out all day.

  Helena taps her fingers against her plump lips. “Eduardo sent more than that single messenger.”

  “Why do you think that?” I ask.

  “I saw them, girl. One hundred, I’d say. They’re planning to ambush us. Eduardo must be able to sense distance with your bond. They sent the messenger as a scout, and that scout is to return within a certain amount of time, but he won’t, and we’ll start moving before then. You don’t really think that messenger came all this way on foot and avoided burning up, do you?”

  I say, “Zanza’s made some pretty effective sunscreen.” I’ve never used it, though.

  Helena’s fingers stop tapping. “Yes, I’ll want to try that myself eventually. When it’s out of the testing phase and works at one hundred percent.”

  “But why send so many?” Archer asks. “Eduardo knows I wouldn’t be able to take on ten of his people, or does he see more than me?”

  “He sees nothing, and all he feels is you, according to what I heard. But it’s not you he’s prepared for. It’s my lovely demon.” Helena rises on her tiptoes and pats Ginzo’s cheeks; he snorts and turns away. “Madeline squealed. She doesn’t know where we are, but your little blood bond has made that easy enough to figure out. It’s not as if we’ve been moving around much. We’re nicely contained inside this one area.”

  “Madeline wouldn’t do that,” I say, somewhat unsure.

  “Oh, don’t be mad. She’ll have done it to ‘protect’ everyone. That’s the type of person she is. It’s hardly effective because it does nothing but buy some time, which wouldn’t work out for her if we weren’t coming to save the day. Lucky Maddie.”

  Helena bends her back and curls her hands into fists, face tilted toward the ice ceiling. “I’m done with this shitshow!” She shouts loud enough that the ice fires hanging overhead shudder and let out tones to match her. When she bares her fangs, they fall silent.

  She gathers up the glass containers lining the counters, as many as she can hold anyway, and fades out of existence. She comes and goes again and again, as fast as the blink of an eye, until the lab has been cleared out, leaving it a bare ice room.

  That has to be a good sign. If she’s given up on this place, she’ll never find that probably-portal the ice fires revealed to me and Kian. But maybe that’s being a little too optimistic. I don’t know if Helena will be able to keep her end of the deal, but if she can, Nightshade will be safe, and then I’m essentially hers for life.

  I slip off my glove to stare at the thumb I pricked. I imagine the blood beading and recall the rough texture o
f the dated parchment underneath my thumbprint.

  “Take what you need and/or want,” Helena says. “We’re not coming back here. I’ve simply had it.”

  Other than the few things I’ve stowed away inside of my backpack, and my missing blood bottle, I don’t need anything. I consider asking Helena about my blood bottle but decide against it. She’ll play coy. If she wanted me to have it, she would have given it back.

  Bitch.

  “Looks like that usually encourage fights, Nova dear,” Helena singsongs. “Be careful who you pick fights with.”

  “After all this waiting and doing nothing, you think everyone is going to be alive? Surely you have a way to get moving regardless of the sun. At least you and Ginzo.”

  “Feisty today, aren’t we?”

  “Answer the question.”

  “What I said stands.” She checks her fingers as if she can see her nails through her gloves. “Besides, if someone dies, you’re out of the contract. Isn’t it a winning situation either way this falls?”

  Like everything else, this is nothing but a game to her. The tension in my jaw grows until it pops.

  The sound of boots clapping against ice echoes down the tunnel leading to the bone room/entry room. I push off the ground and get to my feet, anticipating Kian’s arrival. The moment the soft chartreuse gradient of his face appears, my shoulders relax.

  “Sun’s down,” he says.

  At last.

  A gust of wind rips through the lab; I have to close my eyes when my hair tries to cut into them. It’s gone as quick as it came, though. I brush the pink strands away from my face and glance at the space Ginzo occupied before. It’s empty.

  “Ginzo’s waiting and ready inside the helicopter,” Helena says. “As will I be. Five minutes, darlings.” Hazy purple breaks apart and disperses into nothing.

  “What do you see when she does that?” I ask Kian as I grab my backpack. Archer and Kian do the same, and we start jogging.

  “Nothing, really,” he says. “It’s sort of like she fades out of sight.”

  “Yeah,” Archer agrees. “It’s like that.”

  That’s way less morbid than I imagined based on what I see.

  “I thought you saw Colors,” I say to Archer, but I also remember her calling me a freak when I told her I can’t see most people’s faces—though I can see hers.

  “I do,” Archer says, “but apparently not the same way you do. I see people’s faces just fine. It’s more like an afterglow.”

  Well, damn. That doesn’t sound fair. No wonder Archer fits in fine with everyone else. She isn’t handicapped.

  Kian catches my hand and laces his fingers through mine. It’s clunky with our gloves, but the gesture is warm, and I like it.

  “You’re perfect the way you are, Nova,” he says.

  “Do you read minds, too?” I ask.

  Kian smiles, deep chartreuse, and shakes his head. “Nah, but maybe that’s for the best.”

  Archer digs her knuckles into the back of his head. “You’re already a huge pain in the ass, so yes.”

  I’d say it’s amazing either of them can joke around in this situation, but Kian’s holding my hand a little too tightly. That gives him away.

  We reach the bone room, and the ice fires retreat farther inside of the cavern. Each of us is careful not to disturb the skeletons, though the sudden loss of light means our eyes have to take a moment to adjust. Then we hike our way up the stairs. Silver moonlight trickles down through the opening to greet us with a clear night sky.

  “What happens if Helena changes her mind and doesn’t help us?” I ask, voice barely a whisper.

  “Then we do what we can,” Kian says.

  But we’re nothing.

  I don’t say that. I glance behind at Archer on my heels, and she catches my eye. Kian isn’t stupid. He knows this, too. Our power is nothing compared to Helena’s and Ginzo’s. Helena wanted me and Archer. Once she decided that, she was always going to get us. One way or another.

  The loud thrum of the helicopter’s engine and the whir of its propellers cut through the air when we emerge from the ice cavern.

  “Hurry along, mortals.” Ginzo’s booming voice explodes through the noise.

  We break out into a run across the tundra, yank open one of the helicopter’s back doors, and clamber inside one after the other. Archer barely pulls the door shut again before the helicopter lifts. We reclaim our headsets to cancel out the worst of the noise and watch as the world shrinks below us.

  I think of Nightshade: sunny orange, rose red, turquoise, vermilion, all of its unique Colors.

  Hold on, everyone.

  I pull Kian’s hand into my lap and consider apologizing, but I don’t know how or what to say.

  Archer and I are the worst things to happen to Nightshade, but we’ll fix it. We won’t let Eduardo have his way, and we’ll play Helena’s game to win.

  CHAPTER 2

  A blizzard came out of nowhere.

  I can’t see a thing out either Archer’s or Kian’s window; everything is washed with white. We’re in the sky, so I guess there isn’t much we could run into, but Ginzo must be flying blind.

  I jolt when the helicopter bounces. The bottom drops out of my stomach, and I’m lightheaded with the worst-case scenarios swirling in my mind. Will the helicopter hold out?

  “Nova, you’re going to break my hand,” Kian says.

  I try to let up on the pressure, but I can’t. My breaths come in too shallow and too fast as I say, “I think we might die and never reach Nightshade.”

  Archer clamps a hand down on her seat, teeth grinding together. I lean over Kian and snatch her hand as if that’ll be enough to keep us all together and safe if the helicopter goes down.

  Helena taps the tiny microphone attached to her headset. “Don’t be so dramatic. It’s just a little storm.” She turns to Ginzo and glances at the helicopter’s console. “Are we going the right way, though?”

  “Yes.” He grunts.

  “We haven’t hit Nightshade’s borders, but this storm is much like the fairies’.”

  “Perhaps.”

  Is it? I see no thunder or lightning, but the crazy wind and snow caking onto the helicopter, layer after layer, are plenty fierce. Our windows are white walls.

  Ginzo growls. “This is bullshit.”

  Helena lays her gloved hand on his huge bare arm. “Maybe we should touchdown, darling. For the sake of the little ones in the back.”

  Another superpowered burst of wind rocks the helicopter; it wipes away some of the snow plastered to it.

  Ginzo squints and leans forward in his seat. The smooth ocean waves of his Color seem to tilt forward with him, like water in a bowl.

  Helena’s mouth assumes an O shape. “That’s interesting.”

  “What?” I ask. “What’s interesting?”

  “Hush up.”

  She tilts her head as if that’ll allow her to hear something beyond the helicopter and the storm.

  Kian leans forward, trying to get a look out the windshield. “There’s a speck of gray. It isn’t part of the storm,” he says.

  Archer mirrors Kian. “And it’s… on fire?”

  Just when she says it, I see it. A drone? Or a flying sparkler.

  “They’ve found us,” Helena says. “Good luck.” And then she’s gone. A puff of smoke, just POOF.

  Kian bristles. He unbuckles his seatbelt and throws himself on top of me and Archer, doing his best to bury us underneath him.

  “Hey!” Archer protests.

  “It’s going to explode!” Kian shouts over her.

  Ginzo lets go of the control stick as the little flying object goes supernova. As light and heat engulf us, he leans back in his seat and says, “Ah shit.”

  Reflexively, I close my eyes to shield them from the bright light and heat, but then the sensation is gone. Ocean waves hover over us, about to swallow us whole. That’s all my mind can process before the front of the helicopter is blown open
and wind tears at us while something strong smooshes Archer, Kian, and I together.

  Ginzo. It’s Ginzo. His blazing-blue Color shines brighter than ever as he grows before my eyes. He kicks his powerful legs against our falling bench, and he launches us out of the crumbling, smoking helicopter; our headsets and backpacks go flying in the opposite direction.

  His jeans rip and a button pops loose. As he grows, his body changes shape, into something more animal than man. He maneuvers us midair, his back facing the ground with us trapped safely inside the strong hold of his arms, pressed against his stone-hard chest.

  Before, maybe Ginzo could have passed as human. Now there’s no way. He looks sort of how I’d imagine a bald grizzly bear with terrifying claws as sharp as knives.

  The ground comes up too fast. My head is already spinning, and the jarring impact does nothing to help. I close my eyes and bite my tongue way too fucking hard. Blood pours in and out of my mouth, but my nearly severed tongue is already busy reattaching itself.

  Every bone in my body should be crushed. I should be dead, but I’m relatively uninjured. A quick glance at Kian and Archer proves neither of them bit their tongues. We all might have a couple bruises, but that’s nothing considering what just happened.

  The stone demon underneath us vibrates, and the shattered, icy earth groans a protest. Ginzo’s thick arms release us. More than two. He has four now. He sits up, and we slide off his monstrous belly, hitting the ground in a clump. When my trembling legs still long enough for me to look up at the demon, I can’t get a clear view of his face, and then I see the wall of earth around him, a perfect circle of frozen dirt many feet high. Down here, the storm doesn’t touch us, but overhead it’s an impenetrable white.

  Paw-shaped feet carefully nudge us aside; I know it’s careful because he doesn’t stick us with one of those glistening blades for claws. He opens his bear-like jaws, mouth at least as big as my head. Probably bigger. Definitely bigger. His mouth opens wider and wider, to the point I’m certain he could swallow me whole.

  “Holy. Fuck.” Archer’s jaw drops as she stares up at the giant with me.

  Kian shudders and points to the crater’s rim. “Look.”