Prophecy Girl (Shadow Academy Book 2) Page 2

  I rushed to my room to get changed out of my uniform before the scholarship group meeting. Now that I lived on the elite floor, I had about five minutes of actual clothes changing time between class and the meeting. I got out my swipe card while I was in the elevator, ready to hurl myself into my room.

  Except, a big obstacle blocked my way. Angela Blackstone and her gang of mean girls. Angela lounged against my door while the other two leaned against the wall.

  “Don’t you think it’s time you moved out, Cherry.” She drawled my name as though it left a bad taste in her mouth. “You’re not wanted here.”

  Her eyes flashed with a steely hatred. Fine. She could hate me all she liked, so long as she didn’t make me late for the meeting.

  “I’ll take that on board but right now, I need to get changed.” I tried to push past her but she didn’t budge.

  “She’ll take it on board?” The blonde girl, Fleur, I thought her name was, laughed. “Meanwhile, we all get murdered in our beds.”

  Really, I was in no mood for this. I pushed Angela harder, enough to make her get out of my way.

  Angela stumbled a little then screamed. “See that. See what she did to me. We aren’t safe with someone like her on our floor. Am I bleeding?” She held up her arm. “I’m bleeding, right? And I’m going to have a nasty bruise.”

  The last thing I needed to do was give Angela more ammunition. I backed away.

  “What’s going on?” Oscar strode around the corner.

  Oscar. Great. The only thing worse than Angela's bullying would be the Angela/Oscar bully combo.

  “That skank attacked me.” Angela dusted herself off.

  “No, she didn’t,” Oscar said. “You wouldn’t still be standing if she had.”

  I did a double-take. Oscar said that? I fully expected him to jump on the “bully Cherry” bus. I ran my finger over my swipe card, wondering if I could get into my room while the two of them were distracted.

  “She did attack me.” Angela’s voice turned to a whine. “Fleur, you saw her.”

  Fleur didn’t answer since she was too busy checking out Oscar’s butt. As far as hangers-on went, Fleur seemed subpar and easily distracted.

  “Go back to your room, Angela.” Oscar put his hand on her arm. “Looks like the charity case has better things to do.”

  I happily ignored Oscar’s insult since it meant I’d be left alone.

  Angela huffed and walked off.

  “Let’s go check out the new guy,” Fleur said as she trailed behind her.

  “Don’t think this means I like you or anything.” Oscar puffed out his chest. “I have to keep Angela in line but, if I had my way, I’d be as happy as her to see the back of you. Maybe even happier. Happy enough to dance a jig.”

  He walked off before I could ask him why he had to protect me. Even Ren didn’t have that kind of power over Oscar. Did he? That was something I’d worry about later. Right now, I was going to be late for the meeting.

  Chapter 3

  I QUICKLY CHANGED AND hurried to the scholarship room. I couldn’t afford to lose points. Even saving the school didn’t counteract that.

  Mr. Norton checked his watch as I rushed into the room but didn’t say anything. So, okay, maybe saving the school did count for something.

  I slid into my seat. Today we weren’t training, just discussing the current situation.

  “First order of business, now that Cherry has graced us with her presence, is to introduce Nova.”

  Nova? The new guy?

  Lucas and Britney exchanged glances. They’d been right. He was one of us. I checked out the new guy as he stood up.

  Whoa.

  One hot whoa, with hot guy sprinkles on top.

  No wonder everyone raved about him. Hot. So hot I wanted to fan myself. My insides clenched with bolts of molten lust.

  The hair, all blond and flopping in his eyes, his broad shoulders in that V neck t-shirt, and man, the way that t-shirt slightly rode up when he moved, showing off his abs. I couldn’t even look at his eyes because surely, I’d drown.

  Mr. Norton coughed, breaking the spell.

  “Incubus.” Lucas and Britney mouthed the word at the same time.

  “Do those things exist? I thought they were just myths.” We’d sure never learned about them in our training.

  “Incubus.” Nova nodded to confirm. That grin on the new guy’s face melted something inside me.

  I wasn’t sure how an incubus would help us protect the other students but Ren really did have competition

  I wanted to touch Nova. I wanted to stroke that blonde hair. I wanted to trace the outline of his lips. Everything about him screamed out for me to touch and taste and desire.

  “Your name isn’t really Nova, right?” Seth did a snarly thing with his mouth. “I mean, that has to be a nickname or something. A slightly over the top nickname.”

  “That’s the name on my birth certificate.” Nova shot Seth a smile so blindingly bright that I thought Seth would fall over, but Seth seemed unaffected.

  Personally, affected was all I was. Logically, I understood this attraction was due to his incubus aura but most of my body parts didn’t care about logic. They just cared about that luscious bottom lip of his.

  Lucas grabbed my head, forcing my gaze away from Nova. Then he pointed at the table. “I think you left a puddle of drool there.”

  What? No. The others laughed. Lucas had been kidding, but only just.

  Now my mind became my own again, a swell idea occurred to me. If Angela fell for Nova, she’d be off my case. I could be good old “ignored and overlooked” Cherry again. That’s all I wanted in this life. Nova would definitely be an asset to me if only I could keep my own eyes off him.

  Mr. Norton clapped his hands to get attention back to him.

  “Now you’re familiar with Nova, we can discuss our ongoing plans for protecting the school.”

  I put my hand up.

  “Cherry, you know you don’t have to do that. You have a suggestion?”

  I jumped up and down in my seat. “Yep. Sure do. Expel Angela Blackstone. She admitted to killing Farran. And now she’s running around the school like nothing happened. I’m pretty sure she should be rotting in a jail cell instead.”

  Mr. Norton ran his hand through his hair. “As much as I agree with you, we can’t do that. You know why.”

  I sighed. “But the principal has the power...”

  “He does but he’s chosen not to.”

  “How much did the Blackstones pay him?” Then I remembered what she’d said earlier and shot my hand in the air again, bouncing in my seat. “Oh, right, and she says she’s going to investigate us. Her family have all that high-tech equipment. She could be listening in right now.”

  I jumped out of my seat and began pulling the gym mats out of the store cupboard.

  “What are you doing?” Mr. Norton asked.

  “Looking for bugs. We can’t be too careful.”

  Mark helped me with the mats. “As harebrained as Cherry sounds, she might be right. She’s not the only one having issues with Angela. Since the dance, her friends keep calling me a thug and saying I’m one of Cherry’s henchmen, stupid stuff like that.”

  Mr. Norton sighed, then shook his head. “It seems impractical but I guess being able to detect surveillance equipment is an important skill for you to learn.”

  He made us sit back down while he gave us a lecture on sweeping for bugs.

  “You seem to know a lot about this.” Britney narrowed her eyes. “An awful lot.”

  “I have an extensive skill set,” Mr. Norton told her. “Now team up and get started.”

  But, of course, Britney and Lucas paired up together and all the guys got in their own groups. That left Nova.

  How could I search for bugs with him when I couldn’t even look at him?

  Aha, if I didn’t look at him then I wouldn’t fall into his evil incubus trap. I kept my head down and scanned the skirting boards for wires or the other signs of bugs that Mr. Norton had told us about.

  Bam.

  My head... I rubbed my cheek. Stupid cupboard getting in my way when I couldn’t look.

  “Are you okay?” Even without seeing his face, Nova’s sexy, smooth voice sent chills run down my spine.

  He reached out his hand.

  “Don’t touch me, okay. I’m fine.” If a single glance at him drove me crazy, I hated to think what his touch could do.

  Only, when I backed away, I accidentally glanced up at him again.

  Whoa.

  No guy had made me feel like this before. Heat and chills and all kinds of weird buzzing.

  One little touch wouldn’t hurt. I stepped closer, reaching out, just wanting to stroke that creamy skin. My stomach flip-flopped and my mouth went dry. Our bodies almost touched. His smile, so seductive and enticing, told me this was what I had to do.

  “Cherry?” Lucas’ voice broke my concentration.

  Lucas. I needed to focus on Lucas. Not Nova. Lucas was safe.

  My hand hung in midair. I’d been about to stroke a complete stranger. The others stared at me and a whole different kind of heat flooded my body.

  I yelped and slid under the table. I’d hide under there, all safe and out of sight.

  “What are you doing?” Nova peeped his head under.

  “Looking for bugs.” I frantically waved him away. “It’s fine. You keep doing what you were doing.”

  I thought that sounded convincing but Mark and Tarragon roared with laughter. Even Britney giggled. Great. I hugged my legs to me. I’d hide here under the table for the rest of the meeting and definitely until Nova left the room.

  The others rushed around the room, doing a full sweep.

  “Okay.” Mr. Norton clapp
ed his hands again. “We’ll finish up now. It looks like Angela hasn’t bugged our room.”

  “Not yet, anyway.” I popped my head out from under the table so my glare could reinforce that idea with Mr. Norton. “We can’t let our guard down

  “Maybe but there are wards on this room to keep out other students.”

  There were? No one had told me. He could’ve mentioned that up front.

  “So why have we been looking for bugs then?”

  “Because we need to be ready for threats of the human kind as well. It’s been good practice. Anyway, I’ll see you all tomorrow, ready for practical training.”

  I sighed but hung around waiting for everyone else to leave. Nova wore shiny black shoes. When I saw those shoes walk out the door, I climbed out from under the table.

  “You wanted to say something?” Mr. Norton asked.

  “Do you think this Nova guy is a good idea? He’s an incubus. How is that going to help? It seems like he’ll just be a distraction to everyone.”

  “To you, you mean.”

  I’d never live this down. “To me. We need fighting strength, not sexy feels.”

  “Those who select the scholarship students have their own criteria.”

  “Well, I’m not sure I agree with them.” I raised my brows. “Who are these people? Can I talk to them?”

  Mr. Norton laughed. “No, you can’t. By the way, have you spoken to Ren Worthington lately? I messaged him about private training with me but he hasn’t replied.”

  I shook my head. “Nope.”

  I’d have to contact Ren to organize our tutoring sessions and that was the last thing I wanted to do. If he wanted to ignore me, fine, I’d ignore him right back except that ignoring him meant no money and no special benefits.

  “Anyway, your attention should be on researching more about your birthmark and the prophecy now you’re well. Don’t worry about the incubus or the reasons he’s here.”

  “Yeah, well it’s a bit difficult to ignore him.” I rubbed the bump on my head. “He’s an incubus.”

  Mr. Norton reached into his pocket and pulled out a small green stone. “I thought you might need some protection, so I got this for you. It will dilute his powers.”

  I took the stone and rubbed my fingers over its smooth surface. “You could’ve given me this at the start of the meeting, you know.”

  “I would’ve if you’d turned up on time.” Mr. Norton turned his face away but I swear he had a sneaky grin.

  Chapter 4

  “HE’S JUST THE HOTTEST thing I’ve ever seen.” A voice broke the silence of the library making us look up.

  “I know, right. I have a class with him tomorrow.”

  The two girls giggled. We couldn’t see them but the sound came from behind the bookshelves, and we knew what they were talking about. Nova, of course. His reputation already spread throughout the school. During dinner, everyone had stared at him, not Ren, for a change.

  “I don’t get it. I don’t get it at all.” Britney flipped her hair. “I mean, sure, Nova’s good looking but he’s nothing special.”

  “Maybe you aren’t affected by him. Or maybe your heart eyes for Lucas overrule everything else.”

  Britney blushed and looked away. Lucas picked up the book he was reading and covered his face.

  I grinned. So much better that the two of them were embarrassed than me.

  “I just don’t understand why we need an incubus on campus.” Lucas lowered the book. “It’s not a useful skill.”

  “I know. I tried to tell Mr. Norton.” I crossed my arms. “Hey, did you ever think about why we’re here? Not in some existential kind of way, but here, at this academy. Who picked us for this?”

  “I kind of knew I’d come here. My parents wanted it for me but yeah, if you’d lived a human life, it would be strange.”

  Lucas leaned forward. Obviously, this was a conversation we didn’t want anyone overhearing. “Yep, I had this strange dude turn up out of nowhere. My parents seemed only too happy for me to come to this school, though. Maybe because I’d already started showing signs... My dad tried to help me but he’d never fully turned wolfie himself, he only knew what his father had told him. I’m only a quarter werewolf so I think they weren’t expecting me to turn.”

  I hadn’t known that. It must’ve been hard for Lucas.

  “For me, it was here or a shitty foster home. This was definitely the better option. Hey, have you guys found anything useful at all in those books?”

  “Nothing here.” Lucas threw his book on the table. “I’m not sure what we’re even looking for.”

  I sighed. “It’s a real stretch. Mr. Norton has some old book that mentions a prophecy and the star birthmark so he thinks that means something. But how many people in this world would have a star-shaped mark? It’s not that uncommon.”

  “Can I see it?” Britney asked.

  I screwed my face up. “It’s on my hip. You know that. I’m not flashing my hip around in the library. Anyway, thousands of people would have a mark like it. It doesn’t make me special.”

  “Oh yeah it does, because no one else in the history of star birthmarks has activated powers to take down a vampire army. So, it’s not like a random birthmark, it’s tied to your powers.”

  I picked up another book, not expecting it to have any more answers. “I’m a freak, yeah, I get it, but I’m not the chosen freak. I’m just a regular run of the mill freak.”

  I’d gotten through two books in the pile of ten in front of me. Britney had done three and Lucas four so that meant I was losing. I tried to flick the pages faster but that just made me want to sneeze. All that library dust.

  The whole time, my head darted around hoping no one saw me. We’d grabbed a table in a hidden back corner but if it’d been up to me, we’d have taken the books to the dorm. For some reason, these old books weren’t allowed out of the library. I’d have scoffed at the thought that anyone would want to steal them but I knew well enough that people would steal anything.

  “This is it.” Britney held up a book showing us an illustration.

  Lucas snatched the book from her hand before I could look. “Spawn of the day deity... extreme power... destined to save the world.”

  I scoffed. “These things always get so dramatic.”

  Britney sucked on the end of her pen, staring at me. I didn’t like that, not one little bit. She seemed all calm and serene but behind that mask, her brain ticked over.

  “It sounds authentic.”

  “Sounds authentic. Phht. That means nothing.” I grabbed the book off Lucas. “This doesn’t even look like my birthmark. It’s a sun, not a star. We’re back to square one.”

  Mark and Tarragon walked toward us carrying a pile of newspapers. I quickly shut Britney’s book. I didn’t want my birthmark up for discussion with the whole group.

  “So, this incubus...” Mark planted his hands on the table, leaning in to talk.

  “Not good, not good at all.” Lucas frowned. “Hopefully, he’ll be too busy fighting off his admirers to cause us any grief.”

  “We have more important things to worry about than incubi.” Tarragon slammed the newspapers on the table. “Look at this.”

  He showed us a bunch of articles, all from different newspapers from different areas. All about “animal” attacks.

  “Vampire attacks, definitely vampires.” Lucas grabbed the next newspaper from the pile. “Drained of their blood and bodies still intact. That’s no animal attack. Sure, you get occasional rogue vampires but a half dozen or more so close together isn’t normal at all.”

  Britney stood up, grabbing the newspapers and the book. “I’m going to photocopy this stuff so we can put it in our records.”

  We had records? Then I saw Britney’s folder. Bubblegum pink with a Care Bear on the front. Right, that was our “records”?

  “Do you need a hand with those newspapers?” Lucas asked.

  “Nope, I’m fine.” But that pile of papers did seem to weigh her down.

  “You know Mr. Norton is going to say not to worry about things happening outside the school. There are others to deal with that.” I leaned back, wondering if we should even pursue this.

  I had no idea who those others were but Mark talked about wanting to join some kind of paranormal policing organization after he finished school. It’d suit him too. As a half-war demon, he loved fighting and he had the bulk and prowess to make him a fearsome opponent.