InkSpelled (InkHaven Academy Book 1) Read online

  He addressed the man beside me - Gaylord Porter, the man I had been assigned to shadow for that night. I had always wanted to become an assassin and it was an honor to join him on assignment. Gaylord Porter was a great and talented docent and assassin but, more importantly, he was a good friend and my personal inspiration. As such, it was a privilege to be able to accompany a man I’d looked up to for so long on a rebirth, doing something he was good at. Something I was determined to be the best at.

  “Anyway, mine too, though this one is pretty sure she’s going down this path.” He gave a brief nod towards the girl who shrugged at me.

  Porter smiled and nodded towards me. “This one too.”

  “Well, that’s good. This should be simple enough then. Here.” He handed the girl a piece of parchment. “Your turn.”

  She gulped, her long fingers twirling a bright red stylus with a glittery black tip in her left hand. She made a few sharp gestures over indiscernible words written in gold in the big ornate book. “Here I go.”

  A trail of gold curled out of her right hand and spun around the tip before landing on the parchment, making it glow. I’d seen it done before and found myself impressed by how easily a student was able to do it. Ink Docent Hughes was right, she was likely suited to this path.

  There was a golden flash before the glow dissipated and revealed a scroll resting in her palm. She turned towards the man who just gave a curt nod. She held out her hands palms up and offered up the scroll to us with a solemn bow. “Your assignment.”

  When he didn’t reach out to take it, I turned towards Gaylord, who smiled at me encouragingly. “Yours, Alec Gaius.”

  All the other times before, the assassin I’d shadowed had always just asked me to observe. This level of involvement was new. I was confident it wouldn’t be hard, this new task, but it still felt monumental as my hands reached out and took the scroll. I gritted my teeth as my fingers trembled before taking hold of the scroll and as I did, I felt something pulse in my hand and heat before I handed the scroll to Gale.

  “Thanks, Hughes. Miss Chesson, have a good shadow night. We’re off. Alec Gaius.” And without waiting for a response, Gaylord twirled around and his long black coat flapped behind him as he stalked off. I saw the glint of the dagger he preferred to carry holstered inside his coat.

  I gave the Ink Docent and my fellow student a curt nod before I followed Gaylord. I adjusted my red sash as I did so along with the leather shoulder sling I wore that held my long sword. It was important that I looked just right - I told myself this even as I inspected my reflection on the window we passed.

  “Did you feel it?” Gaylord asked when I caught up to him, still walking briskly against the strong wind.

  “I did,” I answered, and I couldn’t help the surge of pride that ran through me. I knew that not everyone felt it on their first try, which was how most people knew they weren’t meant to be assassins, but I never had a moment of doubt. There was nothing I’d wanted more than to be one. And the universe agreed with me.

  He nodded and smiled. I eyed the long black hair he had tied behind him whip in the strong wind outside the Academy. “That’s good. I was certain this would be where your path would take you.”

  I briefly wondered if my hair was holding even as Gaylord opened the scroll. On his right hand, he had on a finger knife of dull silver - his conduit, a very rare one. He wore it with that same mysterious and rugged elegance he’d had ever since I’d first met him after his rebirth at fifteen. Its sharp tip almost pierced the parchment as he offered it to me. I avoided touching it and took the closest corner.

  “We’ll fly there.” I must have looked a little surprised and he grinned mischievously in return. “It’s time, Alec Gaius.”

  “Well, we used to take more traditional transportation.” I shrugged even as excitement surged through me.

  “Sure. For fourth years and below a transportation orb makes sense but not for certified Air Mages out alone.” He pointed up, and I saw a few shadows dart into the air - Air Mages going out for the night as we were.

  We were not allowed to fly in the Academy outside of Air Wielding class so I was also a little nervous as I bounced on the balls of my feet. For that moment, I forgot dignity in the face of sheer excitement. I was taking a deep breath when Gaylord’s finger knife flashed, and he zoomed up. I took my sword from its holster and allowed the light to swirl and wisp around it, boosting me up to follow Gale.

  The clouds whipped by me and after all the training in the Academy, I welcomed the freedom of flight - reveled in it even as the freedom messed up my hair. For once, it was a worthy trade off.

  Gaylord slowed down and gestured for me to do the same as we lowered down into a dense, forested area. I swung my sword to guide me and when I landed beside him, he started to stride forward so I walked beside him, leaves crunching under my feet. I reached up to try and fix my mussed up hair.

  “Where…” he held up a hand to stop me and simply pointed forward, the red light pulsing from his finger knife. In his left hand, he was looking down at the parchment, which was glowing brighter. He folded it back up with a brief nod.

  “Look.” He fisted his hand so the light was extinguished and in the dark, I squinted, not seeing anything until a pinprick of light shone on the dark road. “Is that a... car?”

  “Yes. That’s her.” Face sober, he turned towards me. “What we do, we do for Zeevar. But we try, as best as we can, to make it as natural as possible. To shed blood, take the Inked yes, but in a way that doesn’t bring about death but leads to a rebirth. We do so to respect the balance.”

  I blew out a breath. “Okay.”

  “Tonight, we help her reach hers.” Gaylord turned towards me and in the low light, I only saw the green halo in his eyes glinting. “What would you do?”

  At the question, I had a moment’s pause before I told myself to think rationally - use all the training I’d gotten in my previous classes. I saw the bridge and knew that was the easiest way to do it.

  “Bridge,” I said simply.

  “Your call, Alec Gaius. I’m here to observe and only offer assistance when really necessary.”

  The feeling of trust was heady but I was ready. “Yes, bridge. Distract and confuse. Simple and clean.”

  “Go ahead.” Gaylord’s nod was encouraging so I took a step forward.

  With a swing of my sword, I moved my Air over the water, allowing the light to flash as a distraction. I moved swiftly and almost automatically and, as expected, the car flew over the edge and into the water. The writing in the scroll Gaylord held glowed as he held it aloft once more.

  “Ten minutes.” He handed me the parchment and I accepted it, glancing down at the name - Kaia Wren Shaw. I was going to remember it, I promised myself.

  Gaylord snapped me from my thoughts, “Make sure she doesn’t get out, we’re cutting it quite close.”

  “I’ll handle it, trust me.”

  ✽✽✽

  Kaia

  My car hit the water with a violent force that brought me abruptly back to consciousness. I struggled to get my seatbelt off, but it had gotten tangled after the car flipped midair. Looking through the windshield, I saw nothing but darkness. The water hit my feet first, and I shivered as the icy wet soaked my socks and shoes.

  I knew this was it, this was my time but a basic, almost primal, instinct within me told me to take a big gulp of air before the car completely filled with water. I did so with a strangled gasp as the dark and the cold completely engulfed me. I closed my eyes, forced myself into a state of calm, and allowed myself to remember the people who might miss me in my rebirth. It was shameful to think that there were so pitifully few of them, even considering I’d had a farewell party. I realized, too late, that my life had been so meaningless so I could only hope my rebirth would mean more.

  I felt only acceptance at my fate come over me and the cold dissipated as a light glowed through the windshield. I must have passed over since I saw two men in f
ront of me enclosed in swirling tendrils of bright red light. Their faces were hazy but it was clear their mouths were rigid and unsmiling.

  One with long black hair waved his hand, and the windshield of my car detached and lifted out of the way. I felt myself being tugged forward. His hand gripped my wrist when I reached him and something sharp dug into my hand but not break skin. He held a glowing parchment and unless I was mistaken, my name was written on it.

  I spun around as I felt the other man grip my shoulder. He held a long, narrow sword that was glowing red. “What happened?”

  “Uncertain but it’s too late to fix it now. Let’s just take her and see,” the long-haired man replied, and I wondered how I could hear so clearly when it was very obvious that we were still underwater. Maybe that’s what happened when you were reborn - the sheer fantasy and fractured reality disorienting you until you couldn’t tell what was real anymore.

  I closed my eyes as a bright, red light flashed and seemed to wrap around me. I felt myself being propelled upwards and the nausea hit me as I felt my world spin even harder than it had when my car flipped over that bridge. I wanted to heave but my head flopped backwards and all I could see was black.

  Goodbye.

  Three

  Kaia

  I opened my eyes and squinted as a bright white light shone directly at me from overhead. Blinded, I squeezed them closed and instead concentrated on my other senses.

  “She’s fine,” a clipped voice said from somewhere to my right.

  An exasperated voice replied, louder and angrier, “That’s not exactly good news.”

  “I’m aware, Hughes; however, she exhibits all the characteristics of someone having survived a death day much like the other children in my ward,” the same clipped voice replied with an air of authority, as if daring someone to question her.

  “But she’s not a child.” This voice triggered the memory of my last few moments before I blacked out. As I pondered that, I was shocked to find I still remembered the details of my life. I thought that being reborn meant I would have a new life, but it wasn’t as though people frequently came back from the dead.

  “I’m aware of that, Porter. Oh, and she’s awake,” the voice came from right above me which I took as a safe sign that I could open my eyes. When I did, all I saw was a dark silhouette that blocked the light.

  “Where am I?” I asked as I struggled to sit up.

  A hand reached out to push me back. “No, you’re too weak yet. But, to answer your question, you’re in the Reborn Fire Ward, child.”

  “How are you alive?” My head whipped towards the other side of the bed where another silhouette stood. My head swam from the motion, and I swayed where I sat. Confusion flooded through me. “What?” I whispered with a groan, my voice coming out in a harsh rasp.

  “How are you alive?” another voice asked, the one I vaguely recognized. It came from the foot of the bed, and I narrowed my eyes to get a better view.

  “I’m….” I stopped as I pondered what his question meant. “I am?”

  “Yes, you are.”

  “But,” my voice trailed off as I touched the back of my ear. It wasn’t something you could feel, but some part of me knew that the writing there had disappeared - I was no longer Inked. “Today was my death day.”

  “Not today. Yesterday.” I forced myself to sit up and held up a hand to the woman hovering at the right side of the bed when she motioned to push me back down. I peered at the man who stared at me so harshly; he was short and squat with closed cropped brown hair streaked with gray. He met my stare with cold blue eyes.

  “Yesterday?” I asked dumbly.

  “Yes. You were supposed to go yesterday.” The familiar voice answered again and it was the same man with long black hair that were in my hazy memories. My eyes abandoned his to trail down to the intricate geometric design tattooed on his right arm, only cutting back up to his face when he cleared his throat pointedly. His serious black eyes remained pinned on me, perhaps made all the harsher for my obvious distraction.

  A part of me was drawn to those hard eyes that were still more welcoming than the other man’s. “And I didn’t?”

  A smile curled the edges of his hard mouth as he addressed me as a teacher would a slow pupil, “Yes, that’s right.” The faintest hint of amusement colored his tone, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the way that lip curl transformed his face.

  “But how?” I didn’t understand.

  “That’s exactly our question.” The man to my left was even angrier as he addressed the tattooed man, “Maybe it was your shadow’s fault, Porter. He wasn’t ready.”

  The other man crossed his arms across his chest and made his muscles bunch. His voice came out as a low growl, warningly, “Hughes, Alec Gaius Williamson is the best Air student at InkHaven. I am certain of him and his abilities.”

  The man called Hughes gestured to me. “Well, he failed. As evidenced by this.”

  I watched as the man called Porter pinched the bridge of his nose. He gave me the briefest of glances. “She is an anomaly. I was there and when I saw a simple accident wasn’t working, I personally took all the air from her. Through some twist of fate or Zeevar’s intervention, she breathed until the last second of the day passed and her rebirth was no longer called for.”

  “You must not have done enough,” Hughes shouted.

  “You were not there. Not even you could have survived what we did to her, Reginald.” The long-haired man crossed his arms across his chest.

  “Gentlemen,” the woman from earlier came scurrying back. I hadn’t even noticed she’d left - so caught up in the tension between the men. “Please, you’ll wake the other children.” She looked back down at me and her eyes were kind. “This one also needs more rest. I must insist that you go outside and continue your argument there.”

  The two men sulked but they quieted. The taller man spoke softly, “Sorry, Angela.”

  She sighed. “Just go.”

  I watched the two walk away, shoulders rigid, their whispering voices angry. The lady caught my attention by pushing me back down.

  “You need to sleep, child.”

  “I…” I had meant to ask her more questions but stopped when a blue light, like fire, engulfed me, warming my bones, which I had not noticed clenched in ice cold shivers. I surrendered to the fatigue and allowed myself to go under.

  ✽✽✽

  A hand shaking my shoulder dragged me from my sleep, and I opened my eyes to natural light shining through windows I had not noticed during the night.

  “I’m sorry to have to wake you up, but luckily, you’ve had a long time to sleep.”

  “No, it’s fine. Thank you.” I smiled at the same woman who’d been there the last time I’d woken up. I felt rested, any aches and pains gone.

  “You look better at least.” She laid a pile of gray folded clothing at the foot of the bed. “Fifty-six hours of sleep definitely helped.”

  “Fifty-six?” I asked incredulously.

  “Yes, a deep healing sleep - restorative. Some need even more after surviving their rebirth.”

  “You drugged me!” I hated the accusatory sound of my voice but felt powerless to stop it.

  “I had no need to drug you, Miss Shaw. The blue fire was enough since it innately knows how much you need.”

  Shame filled me as I remembered the warmth of the fire that had wrapped around me. “I… I’m sorry, thank you,” I mumbled sheepishly.

  “Don’t fret.” She came over and touched a hand to my forehead and nodded encouragingly. “It can be a shock to the system. Now, get up and dressed.” She gestured to the foot of the bed with a jerk of the head.

  I nodded. “Okay, thank you.”

  “Just pull the curtain around you for privacy, dear.” She bustled off, and I did just that with a quick flick of my wrist.

  About ten minutes later, I wore the matching grey top and pants that looked like some sort of uniform. They fit much better than the clothes I usuall
y wore. After tugging on the sturdy gray shoes at the foot of the bed, I stood up and tested my legs, which were surprisingly steady given I’d been horizontal and likely unmoving for more than two days.

  As I bent my knees and stretched, I noticed that Angela stood nearby with a slim young man of about fourteen or fifteen beside her. “This is Bryce Ryder. You go on with him now. It’s Ritual day.”

  “Ritual day?” My brow furrowed in confusion, and even the long and restful sleep had not been enough to give me some clarity to the situation I found myself in.

  “No time to explain, but you’ll see soon enough. Go on then, Bryce, take Miss Shaw with you.”

  “Okay, Miss White. I hope I can come right back after and be officially blue.” He turned an excited smile her way and looked up the small gap between them.

  “Of course you do. Now get.” In spite of her harsher words, there was nothing but a gentle affection to her tone as she looked down at the young boy and scurried him on.

  The teenager gestured me forward, and I had no choice but to follow when Angela waved me off cheerily.

  “So, did you really just come in three nights ago? And on your adult death day?” His voice held a touch of wonder but none of the judgment I’d gotten from the strange men from two nights ago.

  “Yes, that’s what they tell me,” I said dryly, not really knowing how to respond to the enthusiastic curiosity that colored his tone.

  “But, you’re older than sixteen aren’t you? They say you are even though you’re shorter than me.”

  He was but it wasn’t hard to be when I was about four or five inches smaller than the average female height. “So I am. To both of those things.”

  “That’s wicked!” he exclaimed even as we reached a sparkling, white, one-floor building. He opened the door for me and gestured me inside, someone had clearly raised him to be a gentleman. “Good luck,” He gave me two thumbs up before rushing over to join a group of boys close to his age.