Nightborne Academy Read online

  "Why would you think that?"

  "Because I left." He gestures at the car. "We've been on the road for almost ten years. I haven't seen her in so long."

  I click my tongue in irritation. "You've seen her more than I have. At least you got to see her during the summer and holidays. I only have pictures and memories of a six-year-old that aren't very accurate."

  I look over my shoulder at Lacey. She seems to be leaning forward on the bench seat, but her body sits eerily still as we rumble along the dark back roads. She’s focused on me, but her expression is impassive, without emotion. If anything, her spirit seems weaker than before. Dad’s banishment spells are powerful.

  "Is she trying to communicate with you?"

  "No. I don't think she has enough spirit energy to keep herself with us for very long."

  "She's still with us. That's all that matters."

  Funny how he wasn’t saying that before. What happened to helping her pass on? Maybe he’s trying to comfort me in his own way.

  I turn in my seat and look at her. The wounds on her body glow slightly, but there are marks on her wrist and neck that draw my attention. Dark rings, almost like burns, appear on those places. Who killed you? I want to ask, but the words lodge in my throat. Pain envelops her whole body and her form breaks apart, leaving a small ball of light near me. It hovers close to my face and warmth returns to my icy fingers.

  Exhaustion makes my eyelids grow heavy.

  "What's happening?" The SUV slows to a stop and I try to force my eyes open.

  "She's tired, Dad." My voice is lethargic, thick with exhaustion.

  He chuckles and ruffles my hair. "Looks like both of you are. Get some sleep. We'll be back home before you know it."

  I knock his hand off my head and grumble.

  He pulls back onto the road. The vibration of the drive rocks me gently to sleep as Dad turns up the radio.

  Bright lights jerk me awake and I'm standing close to an ornate streetlamp. A golden glow envelops me as I glance around. The light blinds me, but I can see a few silhouettes approaching through the darkness

  Did I step into Lacey's memories? Is this a nightmare? Or is it a vision from another spirit? Sometimes, I'm like a radar for this stuff.

  I glance down and see a button-up white shirt and a calf-length red plaid skirt. Icy wind rips through the area, leaving chills and chattering teeth in their wake. Why don't I have a jacket?

  A dull pain throbs in my chest and my eyes clench shut against my will. Sounds change and voices speak in muffled undertones. The world shifts and I'm somewhere else.

  Cold stone digs into my back as a weight crushes my chest. My gaze opens to a moonless night. "Your sister needs you." Distorted sounds turn into conversation around me.

  Hearing low incantations, the weight on my chest increases. I struggle and it cracks my ribs, tearing a scream from my throat. Heat sears my wrists and I cry out in raw agony as fire burns along my nerve endings.

  Blood drips down my wrists and my fingers move, tracing a pattern I don't recognize. A firestorm of energy flows from my chest down my wrists and out, empowering the thing I'm drawing. My wrists and throat tighten as I desperately try to finish my spell before they finish theirs. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see a glint of metal on my wrist. Is that a bracelet? In my heart, I know it will kill me if I keep these metal bands on me, but I can't do anything about it.

  War explodes inside my body as that energy meets resistance. Bitter tears pour from my eyes as I dig my nails into the cold stone beneath me.

  "Why are you doing this?" Words that aren't mine spill out. "You promised." I gasp the words, wheezing through the pain in my chest and the pressure that increases with every cycle of the incantation.

  What promise?

  "Don't cry." A woman laughs. Another cries. Their distorted voices twist my memory.

  The bottleneck of energy at my wrists and throat bursts free. Words I've never spoken before slip from my lips, chanting quietly as my energy flows into the mark I've made on the ground. The inferno flows out of me, leaving a barren tundra of ice in its wake. I'm dying. I draw in one small gasp after another, forcing my fingers to stay connected to the circle I've drawn on the ground.

  "What is she doing? Stop her!"

  My lips twitch in a smile. It's too late. My breath hitches again.

  "Lizzie." A voice just like mine bellows in my ears. "Wake up. You shouldn't be here." A fist clenches in my hair.

  "Lacey?" A painful rip tears me from the body. I collapse and gasp for air, desperately dragging in breath after breath. I force my gaze back to the girl. Is that Lacey?

  No, she's not my sister. Who is she? She looks young, maybe my age. Her body lies on the ground, chest rising and falling in shallow gasps, an eerie smile on her face. There's a stone circle beneath her. Everything else is shadow.

  I catch the flutter of a dark red plaid skirt in my peripheral vision.

  "Are you trying to get yourself killed? You shouldn't be here." Anger burns through her voice, but I refuse to tear my gaze from the scene in front of me. This isn't my dream. This is Lacey's.

  "Who is she?"

  "The one who died before me."

  "Who killed you, Lace?"

  My sister's hand comes into my sight. I put my hand in hers. Warmth. Like she's alive. I jerk my gaze away from the girl in the circle and let my sister pull me to my feet. She doesn't have the stab wounds now, but the burn marks on her throat and wrists are more prevalent than before. The scar on her throat draws my attention, but she stops me before I can touch it.

  "We need to leave before they know you're here."

  I gaze into Lacey's eyes. "Are you really with me right now?"

  She grabs both my hands and clenches them in hers. "You can't see this part."

  "Why?"

  She jerks my arms toward her and I stumble forward. Her palm touches my forehead. "I didn't die so they could find you, idiot," she mutters. White light envelops me and the scene fades, leaving a few lingering voices.

  "Kill her."

  "But the ritual—"

  "Do it before she breaks free."

  "Lizzie!" The shout tears me from my sleep and I spring forward in my seat. Dad has my biceps in a death grip.

  "Ow. Let go, Dad."

  He huffs out a breath and drops my arms. "Here, drink this. Were you having a nightmare?" He hands over my travel mug.

  I realize we're on the road, it’s nighttime, and Lacey's ghost is still hovering somewhere in the backseat. I run a palm over my face and then down my throat, lingering where the skin feels sensitive to the touch. Lacey and that girl had the same marks. The one on their throats was slim, like a choker. My arms ache from being gripped so hard, but it’s better than that agonizing pressure on my chest from the vision.

  "Sorry, Dad." I grip my travel mug and take a long cold gulp of watered-down soda. "Where are we? Is it time to stop yet or are you pushing through to home?"

  He sighs. "There's been a change in plans. We're not going home."

  Relief and worry mix in my gut. Glad to avoid home and Mom, worried that Dad has found another case to take on in the middle of the night. "Where are we going then?"

  "To the Nightborne Academy."

  "Are you serious? Why?" My sister's school for the gifted. The Nightborne are magic users, shapeshifters, and it’s basically home to everything that goes bump in the night. Why would we go there?

  "They want to talk to us."

  "About what?"

  Dad glances at me then focuses on the road. "About something Lacey left for you before she died."

  3

  No matter how many questions I ask, he won't answer. I stretch, trying to ease the ache of lying in one position for too long.

  We pull up to an ornate gate. The letters NA stand out on a silver emblem. The gate is black steel, an entrance and exit point, and there is a security guard waiting for us. Next to him stands a man in a black suit and tie. He sees Dad pull up and l
eans over to speak to the guard. His hair is bright silver in the sunlight. Silver hair would make most people look old, but not him. Was he around my age?

  He glances up and catches me staring at him, smiles, and then disintegrates into smoke. I gasp and watch the tendrils split off to rush through the gate ahead of us.

  I jerk forward in my seat and stare after him. "Dad, did you see that?"

  "See what?"

  "The guy in the suit. He—" I'm trembling.

  "What guy in the suit?"

  "ID, please." The guard's voice jerks my attention back to the driver's side.

  I move over the console to see his face. "Excuse me, sir. Who were you talking to just now?"

  He tilts his head down to see me. "I'm sorry, miss. I'm not at liberty to discuss guests of the Nightborne Academy."

  "So you do admit there was a guy talking to you."

  "Yes." He holds out his hand. "ID, sir."

  I flop back in my seat. The fear from before fades away. That's right. He's just one of a thousand wonders at this insane place. Nightborne Academy. I'm here. My gaze takes in the fence leading around the school grounds. It seems so much larger and, at the same time, so much smaller than Lacey described in her letters. Letters Dad and Mom never knew we wrote to one another.

  Dad hands over his ID and, after a few moments, the guard waves us through. The gate lurches open and I settle back against my seat. I rest my elbow on the door and push my thumb into my bottom lip, looking for any sign of that black cloud.

  The guard's gaze weighs on me as we pass through the gate. I glance out the passenger window, ignoring him.

  Morning light spills across the horizon, bathing the grounds in golds and yellows. Everything around us is neatly trimmed and perfectly maintained. Buildings peek out from behind trees as we pull slowly onto the grounds. There are gates everywhere leading to different parts of the campus. "Why is there so much security?"

  "The Nightborne Academy is a school for people like Lacey. Dangerous people who can't control their powers."

  Jerking my gaze to Dad, I notice the grim expression lining his face. "Why was Lacey sent here?"

  "You should know that better than anyone, Lizzie." He glances my way and I turn back toward the window.

  Yeah, I know. That doesn't make it easier to deal with. "We were kids."

  "Age doesn't matter here. She enrolled at ten."

  This is the place she always described. My fists clench in my lap and nails dig into my flesh. If my sister attended this Academy since she was ten years old, what happened to her in the first four years after we were split apart?

  "Tell me more about this guy at the gate. How did he move?" Dad’s an expert at changing the topic.

  "Did you really not see him?"

  "Was he a ghost?"

  "No. At least, I don't think he is. He turned to smoke and moved through the gate. It was nothing I've ever seen before."

  He curses under his breath and I see him grip the steering wheel until his knuckles turn white. "Let me know if you see him again."

  Dad's acting stranger than usual, but we're all out of sorts with Lacey's death. I know I'm holding back my emotions. With her ghost near me, I've spent more time with her after her death than in the past ten years while she was alive. "Sure, Dad."

  "While you were sleeping, I talked to your mom. They're going to hold her memorial service here. The Academy is taking care of everything."

  "Is that why we only made pit stops along the way?" I expected to stay at a motel or something to help me sort through Lacey's attachment to me and why she's so much stronger than other ghosts. Is it because we're twins? Or is there another reason? Her voice is clear in my mind when she speaks instead of the distorted wails I normally have to sift through.

  "You needed sleep and I didn't want to wake you. I've never seen you like that."

  Vague memories of bathroom breaks while barely keeping my eyes open float to the surface of my mind. My body isn't as stiff as I expected. If anything, I feel rejuvenated. "When will Mom show up?" I don't think a public appearance should be the first time we see each other again. Then again, I've had a decade to run every horrible scenario after another in my mind, coming up with witty ways to stop her in her tracks before she leaves my heart in shreds. Again.

  "Your mom has been invited personally by the headmistress. They're handling all the arrangements." He glances at me and then back at the empty road. "There's no place in the world like the Academy. Only special individuals are allowed on the grounds." I hear a lilt to his voice that tells me he's buttering me up for something I don't want to do.

  "This is the place where she was murdered, right?"

  "Shh." Dad hushes me and brings his speed down to a crawl. "Lizzie, look at me." He stops the vehicle at yet another gate. It automatically rolls open, splitting to each side and revealing a cobbled pathway. "From this point on, we have to work as a team. Look at me." His demand forces me to turn in the seat and face him. "No one can know the powers you have. This isn't the kind of place that accepts people like you."

  His words kick me in the gut and I blink in shock. My face, I'm thankful to say, barely twitches. What's wrong with people like me? Lacey is—was—more powerful than I am and she loved it here.

  "Lacey attended this school for six years. She knew more about the monsters in the dark than you've ever faced on your own. What we've seen out there is nothing compared to this place."

  "Why are you telling me this, Dad?" His voice tells me he's more excited about us being here than worried. I stare at my hands, afraid to look up and see a glimmer of his joy. "We're not here to hunt, are we?"

  "Your mom and I are only here because they asked us to bring you. Otherwise, this gate would never open for us, and Lacey would be laid to rest without us there." He shifted into drive and turned his attention back to the path. "You will be taking Lacey's place in school."

  Irritation and bitterness makes my stomach twist into knots. "You said they wouldn't take someone like me."

  "The reason why we're holding the funeral here is to protect you. You'll be taking Lacey's identity."

  My mind freezes and then kickstarts into a thousand questions. I blurt the first two that come to mind. "What? Why?"

  "It's not my idea, honestly, but we can use this to our advantage. Learn as much as you can about the students here. They come from powerful families. Even monsters have murder plots they can't solve. Just make sure you don’t trust anyone. Especially people who were close to your sister."

  Ahh. Good job, Dad. Way to turn your daughter's funeral into a job opportunity. I sigh and force my gaze up to take in his expression. "You said it yourself. She's had how long with these people? I don't know anything about the Academy or even how to go to a normal school. You've homeschooled me since I was in kindergarten." Take homeschooled with a grain of salt. I've had to pick up everything on my own through school courses I had to beg him to set up. "Just tell me you passed," he'd say. My only human interaction involved mourning families and desperate criminals trying to hide their crimes. I don't think that'll help me much here.

  His smile becomes one I'm all too familiar with. The one where he's going to force me to use my power again. "You have a shortcut."

  Since Lacey is already with me in spirit, that can only mean one thing.

  My stomach lurches. "Not gonna happen."

  "It's the only way, Lizzie."

  I drag in a shaky breath. "Dad, don't make me do this." I'm pleading with him, begging him to look at me, but he has that grin I hate on his face.

  We pull up to an oppressive building of dark stone and harsh angles. The windows are thin slits of glass. They look more like prison windows than anything. Is Lacey's body inside?

  I notice the smoke guy standing by my car door. Why is he here? I open my mouth and he puts a finger on his lips, telling me to stay silent. Lacey's hand sinks into my arm. She doesn't speak, but there is a steady calm in our connection. You want me to stay qu
iet?

  A pulse of warmth and then she withdraws from the SUV, appearing next to the smoke guy. She smiles at me. "You want me to go in," I mutter under my breath. Don't you know what Dad wants to do?

  "Lizzie." He's using that tone again. "Why wouldn't you want to say goodbye to your sister?"

  Tears fill my eyes and I refuse to let them spill over. "Dad, let's just drive away." I watch her drift toward the door, gesturing for me to follow.

  "I don't want this either, but we don't have a choice." He leans closer to me and lowers his voice. "She's not the only one. There are others who have been murdered. The Academy wants this solved." I glance at his face and see him stare beyond me to the building. "The sooner we do this, the sooner we can leave and never come back."

  Enlightenment calms my panicked heart. "How much did they pay you?"

  "Come on, Lizzie. It's not like we weren't coming here anyway."

  Raw anger bursts forth into helpless rage, frustration that, once again, money is the answer as to why I suffer. "What did you promise them?"

  "This investigation is run by the enforcement and investigation division of a police force you've never heard of. They fight dirty and they never lose." He puts his hand on my head and I brush off his touch.

  "What about Mom?"

  "She's given her permission already."

  "Ahh," I say, and jerk open the door.

  Dad clenches my arm to stop me from moving. "Don't tell them anything about your power. We'll play it by ear."

  "Yeah. I know, Dad." Like always.

  Smoke guy's smile slips from his face when I step out of the SUV. I clench the straps of my backpack and drag them on my shoulder.

  Dad shuts the door and follows me, his heavy steps echoing in my ears. Smoke guy steps back into the doorway and disappears like before. I run a hand over my face and stare up at the giant building. A Latin phrase dominates the entrance. In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni

  I murmur it under my breath.

  "You know Latin?" A woman's voice jerks me out of my thoughts. I realize there's a lady at my side in a black dress and heels to kill. Is she here for my sister?