InkSpelled (InkHaven Academy Book 1) Read online

  Docent Porter, who had gone back to his desk to grade papers looked up at that instant and pinched the bridge of his nose - something I noticed he did often. “Zeevar, Alec Gaius, let Miss Shaw go. If you’re going to go all suave on her, then at least have the decency not to do so in my classroom. Especially when I’m in it. Zeevar’s sake, you said you would help. So help.”

  Though I could not see it, I could hear the grin come over Alec Gaius’ face.

  “Relax, Gaylord. I’m helping, right, Kaia Wren?” His voice blew over my ear and sent a shiver down my spine, especially with the way he said my name.

  I chuckled nervously, and I had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what effect he had on me. “Sure, Alec Gaius, sure.”

  He chuckled, a soft sound that sent even more vibrations down my back. “I am glad to assist anytime, Kaia Wren.”

  “Stop teasing the poor girl, Alec Gaius, or I’m banishing you like I did Ronan.” Docent Porter’s voice was firmer, angrier, but I had a feeling that Alec Gaius wasn’t the least bit scared even as he let me go. My hands fisted involuntarily, missing the sensation of being cradled in his. I blew out a breath.

  Zeevar, I needed to get my priorities straight.

  “I do apologize, Gaylord.”

  “Oh shut up, AG. You aren’t sorry at all.”

  Alec Gaius stiffened and his eyes narrowed as he rounded on Gaylord. “Alec Gaius.”

  “No, AG. I’m punishing you.” Docent Porter crossed his arms over his chest and looked smug.

  I could not help it and I burst out, “AG?”

  Docent Porter started laughing as Alec Gaius turned his glare on me. “Don’t you dare, Kaia Wren.”

  I shrugged even as I felt a laugh bubble out in my throat. “Oops. It’s cute.” I pressed my lips together tightly to hold in my giggle.

  “Okay, class, let’s behave.” Docent Porter, still a laugh in his voice, rapped a knuckle on his desk. “Now, Miss Shaw, name the four founders of the Order and tell me which sect they founded.” He smiled at me, but I didn’t completely trust it. “Close the book please.”

  I did and closed my eyes a moment to remember. It was a surprise to realize that I did, in fact, know the answer. I opened my eyes and counted down with my fingers. “First, we have Chrilam the Stalwart, he’s the founder of Air. Next, we have Zimyle the Devoted, the first Ink Mage. Jator the Benevolent of Fire and Ifera the Ingenious, founder of Earth.”

  Alec Gaius clapped even as Docent Porter gave me an approving grin. “Well done. Now, who founded InkHaven Academy and why?”

  “Well, sixteen years after the Order was founded, Chrilam and Zimyle who by then had handfasted, realized that children who were reborn into their own personal sects needed more specialized and, well, intense training given the gravity of their work and the huge effect it had on the Outside world and the Inkeds who inhabited it. Thus, InkHaven was founded with the blessing of Jator and Ifera, who each had their own way of training children who joined their own sects. This same system exists to this day with very minor changes and additions over the years.” Zeevar, I sounded like a textbook, but I was damn proud of myself.

  “Good job, Ms Shaw. Indeed, that was how our beloved institution was founded. Read the rest of your book.” He pointed a finger at Alec Gaius. “You, behave, or I’ll call you AG again.”

  He pouted at Docent Porter who chuckled. “Fine, fine, you cruel bastard.”

  ✽✽✽

  And so my first weeks at Inkhaven passed by in a blur. My body ached with the exertion of the same grueling schedule - humiliation during classes in the day and my evenings spent pushed to my limits by the guys - be it physically or mentally - so that I could pass my exams.

  “Earth to Kaia,” Lottie’s voice drew me out of my trance as I massaged my aching calves while staring at an open book and reading the same sentence on repeat while understanding not a word. Despite the pain, I couldn’t deny a notable change in my muscle tone even after such a short time.

  “There you are.” She giggled when I looked up. “I’m going down to train with some of the others. Did you want to come along?”

  I groaned and flopped back onto my bed, my book slipping from the bed and falling to the floor with a thud. “Couldn’t we do something a bit less painful?” My thoughts fondly drifted to a sauna - hot, steamy air billowing around me. I’d need a chair though, and a comfortable one at that. I was far too sore to sit on a wooden bench.

  She took her hand off the doorknob, giving me a rare and pointedly serious stare with her brows raised, as if to tell me to get off my lazy butt. “The Tumult is coming, doll. In case you haven’t been told, it’s the first big Air event, and it’s a doozy. The catch? We never know when exactly, so best to be prepared for it at any time. Are you ready?”

  “I’ve improved, yes but you know I’m not. And I have all this other shit I have to read.” I dragged my hands over my face in exasperation after I waved at the stack of books on my bedside table.

  “I do know. Unless you’re gonna stay here and keep reading, I think you should come down, even though we both know you’re hurting. You need all the practice you can get.” She turned the doorknob, but her eyes never left mine.

  “No, you’re right. No more reading. You go ahead, Lot, I’ll be down in a minute. Just need to change.” She laughed at me when I made no move to get up.

  “Ten minutes, Kaia,” she ordered as she put her hands on her hips.

  “Yes, mother,” I teased with a smile I didn’t have the energy to commit to.

  “Zeevar, that was pathetic. You could at least smile like you aren’t half dead,” she quipped as she opened the door and strode through. It closed behind her with a soft click.

  Laying in bed like a corpse lost its appeal when she made me feel guilty about it. Whimpering as I sat up, I paused a moment to let my muscles adjust to the change in position. My shoulders pulsed with pain as I stripped my sweaty tunic off my head and threw it towards the general direction of the hamper. I stood, massaging my back as I did and opened the door of the wardrobe.

  Creak.

  An abnormal sound, one that my wardrobe never made. A glance around revealed nothing, but set my nerves on edge nonetheless.

  Thump.

  Eyes to the ceiling, I wondered what whoever was in the room above was doing. I took my training clothes and turned around, having only taken one step away from my wardrobe before a heavy weight slammed into the back of my knees.

  Down. I went down, face first, and knocked my brow against the bed frame before collapsing to the floor. I waited, frozen in a mix of fear and confusion even as my head swam and my vision swayed. When nothing else happened, I rose up onto my elbows, one eye half-closed against the blood that dripped down and blurred my vision.

  The wardrobe sat heavy on my calves, and even as the room spun, I forced myself to turn over against the pain - ignoring the way the wardrobe dug into my flesh as I did. Since I’d let go of my training clothes upon falling, I snatched up a clean tunic that had fallen from my wardrobe and shrugged it on. Only when it was tied did I attempt to lift the weight from my legs. It barely budged, and I didn’t even have my sword to help me. Why in Zeevarna I had left it leaning near the far corner of my bed, I didn’t know. But as I tried to push, I gave up - my arms were just not long or strong enough to get the leverage I needed.

  “Kaia?” Emerson said through the door with a light knock. “You okay in there? Someone said they heard a crash.”

  “Emerson? Help!” I whined, not even caring how my voice cracked and pitched.

  The door flew open, and Emerson hurried into the room, taking in the sight of me buried under furniture. “What in Zeevar happened?”

  “I-I don’t know.” I shrugged. “The wardrobe just fell on me, and I hit my head.” Turning his attention to the wardrobe, he managed to lift the heavy piece off my legs just enough for me to scoot back and free them.

  “You’re lucky it only caught your legs.” He dabbed at my head wou
nd with one of the washcloths he found on the floor. “Leave it to you to be crushed by a wardrobe, Precious Kai.” The unfamiliar seriousness on his face was the final straw for me. I failed in my attempt to stifle my laughter, chest shaking with the force of it. His lips thinned like he was mad, but his eyes crinkled with amusement. He too lost the battle, and the room filled with his laughter, mingling with mine.

  “I could have been killed by a wooden piece of furniture! I’m at an Academy where I have to worry about being poked with a sword or skewered by an arrow, and instead I was nearly crushed by a wardrobe!” Emerson’s laugh became hysterical in the face of my outburst.

  “Are you planning on simply sitting there and laughing, or do you intend to train tonight?” Ronan’s voice said from the open doorway. He kept his distance, but his eyes narrowed in on the bloody cloth Emerson still held to my head and the mess that had been created by my wardrobe falling.

  “By all means, Ronan, I’m sure Kaia intends to train tonight. Perhaps she can even give you lessons on how to avoid death by wardrobe,” Emerson teased as he helped me to my feet. “You good?”

  “Not horrible anyway. Thank you for saving my life, noble knight,” I grinned at him, choosing for once to ignore Ronan’s scowl as he stood at my open doorward with his arms crossed. “I should clean up then change. I’ll decide what to do after I’m done with that.”

  “Are you sure you can handle that? I could stay and supervise, you know. Wouldn’t be a hardship, and we can’t have you being strangled by your shirt.” Emerson’s wink made a flush come to my cheeks, and all I could do was shake my head at the outrageous, cheeky little flirt.

  “Are you quite done, Emers?” Ronan asked.

  “Don’t be jealous, big guy. Plenty of me to go around.” Another wink and Emerson was gone, taking Ronan with him. He closed the door to give me privacy. My knees twinged with pain as I turned to find fresh pants, wondering how in Zeevar I was supposed to survive when even the furniture at InkHaven wanted me dead.

  ✽✽✽

  After I’d gotten dressed, I realized there was no way I was going to be able to do any physical training that night. I could barely walk, one of my knees swollen from the impact. I did need to let Lottie know that I wouldn’t be able to train, or I’d never hear the end of it if I didn’t show up.

  I limped slightly with a wince as I lumbered down the hall towards the student’s area. I passed the study hall and entertainment areas before stopping before the training room that students could use even without a docent’s supervision.

  I stood in front of the open door and listened to the sounds coming from inside - grunts and shouts, metal hitting metal, and flesh hitting flesh - a cacophony of noise. Lottie was right, Airs really were a violent bunch. I poked my head in, and she must have been waiting for me because she spotted me instantly from the corner where she was pounding on a wooden dummy with her deadly fan.

  She waved at me with a wide smile, but I must have looked like shit because she didn’t wave me in as she would have normally done. I saw her tuck her fan into its holster slung low on her back. She scooted around pairs of students who fought hand to hand or with a variety of weapons. When she reached me, she gave my hands a tug.

  “Kaia, honey, what’s wrong?”

  I winced. “I can’t train tonight, Lottie. My wardrobe fell on me.” I winced again. “Speaking of which, I tried to fix it but the room is a little messy.”

  She waved that away even as she asked, “What?” Her eyes darted around to see if any of the others were listening, no doubt embarrassed for me with my misfortune.

  Some students turned to stare at us and her mouth formed an ‘o’ before she pushed me out into the hallway. When she spoke, her voice was softer but no less urgent. “I don’t mind the mess, honey, have you seen my side of the room? But, tell me more. What happened?”

  I shrugged and instantly regretted the action. Apparently, falling on the floor had jarred that part of my body as well. “I really have no clue, Lottie. I was getting changed so I could come train with you and then suddenly the wardrobe was on me and had me pinned to the floor. I think I hit my head on the back of the bed too.”

  Lottie held the sides of my face gently. She touched a finger to the wound on my forehead. “Oh, Kaia sweetie, that’s frightening. How do you feel?”

  “Honestly? Like I’ve gone ten rounds with the champ. Battered.” I ran a hand down the side of my body and felt what must have been a thousand bruises. “And I’m pretty sure I’m all black and blue, but I didn’t break anything besides my banged up knees.”

  “And the forehead wound. But I suppose that’s lucky, if lucky is a word we can use in this instance. Anyway, I give you dispensation from training tonight. Perhaps I should take you to the infirmary.”

  I grimaced at the thought of that. I had never been fond of medical institutions. “Zeevar, Lottie, no need for that. As I told you, I didn’t break anything.”

  She rolled her eyes at me but did smile. “Oh fine. Wait here.” She dashed inside, and I leaned against the wall gingerly, tired of standing.

  She burst out of the room and handed me a tiny bottle. “Here you go, honey. Take this instead, it’s one dose.”

  I eyed the bottle before taking it from her. “Well, aren’t we prepared?”

  “Well, I was dragging you along to train with me so I figured you’d need it.” She chuckled at that and had the grace to look sheepish as I glared at her.

  I rolled my eyes because she’d been right and swigged the contents of the bottle. “I guess you were right. You just didn’t know I was going to end up being attacked by a piece of heavy furniture.”

  I handed her back the small bottle, which she stuck into her back pocket as she leaned next to me on the wall. “So, what are your plans now?”

  “I might just go to the library, really. I don’t want to waste the night simply sitting around.”

  “Good call. I’ll go with you.” Lottie rushed into the training room once more, and I closed my eyes for a moment. I hadn’t been exaggerating when I’d told Lottie how I felt - I was exhausted.

  I opened my eyes as I heard footsteps and saw Lottie come out with her training bag. “Let’s go.”

  Before following her, I stopped her with a touch on the arm. “Lottie?”

  “What is it, honey?” Her voice sounded so worried I wanted to hug her. If I hadn’t been worried by how much more battered it would have made me feel, I’d have done just that.

  “I’m fine, Lottie. I just wanted to say thank you. You’re a great friend, you know that?”

  She gripped my hand and gave it a squeeze. “Aww, that’s awfully sweet of you to say, Kaia. Right back at you.” Then she grinned at me, just a hint of mischief, as she rubbed her hands together. “Now let’s study.”

  “Yay.” I was properly scared even as Lottie threaded her arm through my elbow and guided me gently towards the library.

  ✽✽✽

  “Before we begin, congratulations to all our first year Air students on acquiring their conduits.” Headmaster Stewart sounded enthusiastic but his glare towards me proved that he did not mean it for me. The rest of the students applauded, and it stung rather than brought me pride. I eyed the sword I held - it seemed to fit my hand more comfortably now, yes, but it also didn’t. There was something off about it yet. I felt none of the connection people spoke of or I read of in books upon books in the library.

  “Yes, yes, good job. Now, the Tumult will commence shortly. To a majority of you, this is familiar but the rules are simple enough to understand. All you need to do to pass is to still be standing at the end of thirty minutes.” Apparently, Lottie hadn’t been kidding - the Tumult was no joke.

  “You want us to kill each other?” Coleman spoke up, his voice tremulous as his grip on his scimitar tightened.

  “Of course not.” The Headmaster grinned as he waved his cane. “You Airs are pretty enthusiastic fighters so it might be best if I have one of your own explai
n it to you.” He banged his cane, and Docent Porter stepped up and cleared his throat. In his right hand, he had on his finger knife, which to me didn’t particularly bode well.

  “Thank you, Headmaster. Accidents do sometimes happen, Mr. Coleman, but the intent should be to temporarily disable your opponents, not maim or kill them. Should you be fatally injured, you can rest assured that the Fires are very good at their job. However, it would mean that you have likely failed. This could have dire consequences.” His face was grim as I swallowed hard.

  “Just a few rules for you to remember. You can all use your primary weapon - no one can deny that your familiarity with it will serve you well; however, you are not allowed to use it to wield Air nor are you allowed to wield Air during the Tumult. The only exception is to call back any thrown ranged weapons. We will watch to ensure you all follow. You are all equipped with defensive weapons so you may use those as well.”

  I clutched the sword in my hand - the sword that was fraudulently mine - tighter, knowing my only hope would be to stay below the radar. I scoffed at the ridiculousness of that. I didn’t stand a chance, which was just the point. Emerson turned to me and gave me an encouraging smile but I could see it in his eyes - he was concerned. I’d have been more surprised if he weren’t.

  “We will all be watching.” Docent Porter smiled and bowed before stepping back.

  At this, the headmaster banged his cane against the floor once more and grinned. “Thank you, Porter. Everyone, you may begin.”

  The room devolved to chaos.

  Instant chaos.

  Everyone turned on their classmates and their friends. Coleman was swinging his scimitar with very little finesse and a lot of aggression at Lee who lunged and leapt gracefully with his double-ended hammer twirling around. A heavy dull metal ball swung towards me and with an instinct I didn’t know I possessed, my sword swooped forward to stop it from hitting me in the gut. I looked over to see Roberts flinging out the balls and calling them back slowly.

  As if being attacked by other students wasn’t bad enough, daggers, spears, arrows and other flying weapons like darts and balls flew through the air and added to the chaos and danger element. A quick glance showed me that they were coming from outside the general fray created by more than three dozen Air students. The Docents were toying with us.