Blackthorn Academy: Six Years After

By Arielle Alia

Imogen, an ex-assassin, and Rai, a retired thief, have decided to open and manage a coffee and pastry shop called Equalizer.

 

Soon, every alumni of the Blackthorn Academy started hanging out in the shop.

 

The shop becomes a witness to the former students' adventures and misadventures in life and love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arielle Alia
• Release date: Feb 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393736400

Book preview

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

This e-book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead or actual events is entirely coincidental.

Find out more about the author and her upcoming books online at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arielle/261797261752

and

http://arielle-ebooks.weebly.com

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This e-book would not be possible without the help and support of a lot of people.

To my family, especially my mother, Mrs. Josefina L. Alia who helped me review this novel.

To Magdalena ‘Sachi’ Mangulabnan, who helped me proofread this novel.

And to the girls and guys of Eternal Equinox who continued to give me support as I embark on a new stage in my life as an independent publisher/writer.

To all of these people, I give my utmost thanks and gratitude.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

This novel is set six years after Sentimental Mayhem which is the first book of Blackthorn Academy: Sentinels. This is a peek at what has been happening to the former students of Blackthorn Academy.

This novella suddenly popped out of my head while I was busy creating character cards for each of the students of the Blackthorn Academy. The carrot boys are quite prominent in this novella because this is also the story of how they were able to create their unique agency.

Arielle Alia

"A Blackthorn is someone who wants to be strong.

He may not be brave but he has the courage to be brave.

And he would always use his talents and intellect to succeed without using or stepping on others."

- River Martin, founder and president of Blackthorn Academy

PROLOGUE

It was another Sunday at the compound of the Blackthorn Academy. And like most Sundays, the carrot boys could be found on the small beach near the academy. The four boys earned the moniker carrot boys in the academy after they accepted the challenge of their instructor, Miss Cyra. Miss Cyra was a chemist and she was explaining to the class that eating too many carrots could make the skin of a person turn orange. The mischievous four composed of Trash, Bery, Test and Cast refused to believe such a thing was possible. Miss Cyra then challenged the four boys to eat carrots until all of them turned orange. If the four boys didn’t turn orange, Miss Cyra would owe them a favor. But the moment the four turned orange, Miss Cyra would be proven right and would earn their respect.

The truth soon came out when after several days of eating a lot of carrots, the four boys turned orange. Since then, everyone in the academy started calling them the carrot boys.

At the moment, the carrot boys were having some serious talk on the beach. Trash, their leader, was detailing their future plans once they had graduated from the academy.

I have finally thought of a business the four of us could go into once we finished studying. We are going to create our own agency! said Trash excitedly.

What kind of agency? asked Bery.

Our agency will be unique since it will solve all kinds of problems, except of course money problems, since we would require money as payment for our services.

Would it include love problems? Test wanted to be sure.

Of course! was Trash’s quick reply. We will also be solving crimes but we must first make sure that only innocent people get to hire our services. Then there are business problems, family problems and a whole lot of different problems! We won’t lack clients since everyone has a problem!

How can we solve or fix such problems? Cast was frowning.

Using a stick, Trash began to illustrate his plans on the sand.

To solve problems, all of us must be prepared. And for us to be problem solver experts, one of us has to become a doctor. We would need access to medicines as well as connections to the medical community.

Test quickly raised his hand.

Do you know how hard it is to study medicine? To become a doctor, one would have to study several years and spend a lot of money! Why don’t we just open a drugstore? Or let one of us take up a course in BS Pharmacy? That way, we will have access to medicines as well as contacts to the medical community.

Okay. Trash erased the word doctor in the sand and replaced it with drugstore slash pharmacist. We also need someone good in computers.

No one voiced any objection since all of them were interested in computers.

And then, continued Trash, we need someone to become an engineer-

Wait! protested Bery. Taking up an engineering course is very, very hard! It is also expensive. Do you know how much headache you will have to endure by studying mathematics, algebra, calculus, physics and other related subjects,? You should replace that with a technician or any vocational course related with fixing things, cars and equipment. Not only is that easy, one only needs to study for several months and he would become a qualified technician.

Trash replaced the word engineer and wrote technician. The only thing left on what he original wrote was the word, lawyer.

We really need a lawyer. One of us must take this course and become a lawyer. The moment we start solving our client’s problems, we might have to bend some laws and rules. We need someone among us who would be able to defend us in court or prevent us from going to jail.

Three pair of eyes suddenly turned toward Cast.

Why are you all looking at me? Cast protested loudly.

You are the youngest among us. And it would take several years before someone could become a lawyer, explained Trash.

Bery is only ten months older than me! It is very unfair if you guys would require me to study law! That course would require a lot of memorization and late night studies! By the time I am finished, I would look ten years older than you guys!

If you want, suggested Bery, let’s play rock, paper and scissors. The loser will become the lawyer.

I don’t want to! You are quite an expert in playing that game. I would lose immediately. Cast turned to their leader. Trash, you create a game for me and Bery. Make sure that neither of us would have an advantage. The one who loses that game will go on to become a lawyer.

Okay, okay. Trash turned his back from them. He broke the stick he was using into two pieces. One was shorter than the other. He leveled the sticks making it look like they had the same size. He covered the other ends of the stick with his hand