Shadow Academy: Shadow Academy, #1

By Jamie Campbell

My new school is trying to kill me… Literally.

 

All supernatural creatures don't have a choice--we must attend Shadow Academy. Unfortunately, we're also supposed to have magical powers. Which I don't.

My existence at the Academy hinges on staying undetected, even once they start picking us non-magicals off one by one.

 

It seems like everyone is watching me and it won't take a genius to work out I'm powerless. I can't trust anyone. Not the infuriating gorgeous warlock or the awesome werewolf who has been so nice to me.

 

To make matters worse, I think the supernatural council is hiding things from us. Information that could open up a whole new world of possibilities, especially for me.

I have to blend in if I hope to survive Shadow Academy. Pity I've never been good at fitting in.

 

Shadow Academy is the first book in an exciting new urban fantasy series featuring witches, werewolves, vampires, shapeshifters, seers, and everything magical.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jamie Campbell
• Release date: Nov 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201642273

Jamie Campbell

Jamie was born into a big, crazy family of 6 children. Being the youngest, she always got away with anything and would never shut up. Constantly letting her imagination run wild, her teachers were often frustrated when her 'What I did on the weekend' stories contained bunyips and princesses.Growing up, Jamie did the sensible things and obtained a Bachelor of Business degree from Southern Cross University and worked hard to gain her membership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.Yet nothing compared to writing. Quiting the rat race to spend quality time with her laptop named Lily, Jamie has written several novels and screenplays. Spanning a number of genres and mediums, Jamie writes whatever inspires her from ghost stories to teenage love stories to tantalising murder mysteries. Nothing is off limits.A self-confessed television addict, dog lover, Taylor Swift fan, and ghost hunter, Jamie loves nothing more than the thrill of sharing her stories.

Book preview

Chapter 1

I have dread this moment for the past year.

I always knew it was coming.

I guessed I just never expected it to be like this. I’d envisioned something more exciting. Leaving home and attending Shadow Academy was supposed to be a good thing. My parents should have been proud of me. They both attended this college when they had come of age. They graduated with honors. I must have been such a disappoint to them.

If it wasn’t so dire, I would have laughed.

We should get going, my father said. His hands were in his pockets, his gaze everywhere else but on me. It’s going to be dark soon. I’m sure you’ll want to find your room and get some dinner.

Yeah, I replied awkwardly. A tiny voice inside my head was screaming at them not to leave me here. How could they leave their only daughter when she was most likely going to get killed here?

Mom stepped forward to give me a hug. I’ll give you a call in a few days, see how it’s going.

Thanks, Mom.

My father was next. He didn’t do hugs anymore so he held out his hand so I could shake it. Good luck, Eden. I hope it works out.

Yeah, I hope so too, I replied.

They couldn’t get in the car fast enough. I could practically see the skid marks on the road that they left behind.

I guessed I wouldn’t be able to run away now. I couldn’t throw myself at my parents’ feet and beg them to take me away—as if they could. We all knew attending Shadow Academy for the Supernatural was compulsory for anyone blessed once they turned nineteen.

Blessed. That word still made me cringe. I’d had nineteen years to get used to the idea and one year to absolutely dread it.

I turned away from the driveway to look at the academy. It was massive. Three floors of classrooms in one building and two more just like it that housed the dormitories—one for boys and one for girls.

It looked as imposing as it did grand. Marble statues lined the path all the way up to the oversized entrance. With walls made of thick stone, none of the academy’s four hundred years had an impact on the appearance. Whatever charm or spell they used to keep it in such pristine condition would make a million dollars if sold to regular humans.

My favorite part of the building were the gargoyles. They were so immaculate that they could easily unperch themselves and come swooping down. It wouldn’t have surprised me in the least if they did. Maybe that was how they dealt with people like me. A slow death by gargoyles.

I shrugged. I couldn’t stand there all day. I picked up my single suitcase and forced myself to move. It was no use delaying the inevitable. If I didn’t show up today there would be a whole army of supernaturals hunting me down tomorrow. And there was no way of hiding from those with the abilities of finding you with one simple spell.

My boots crunched on the white pebbled path all the way to the front door. It opened automatically—not from electronics but a spell that made the door come alive. It could have easily refused me entry. I couldn’t have been that lucky.

With every step I took, I expected someone to point and yell at me. But the few people milling around the garishly oversized hallways didn’t even look my way. Perhaps I would last more than a few hours here.

I checked in with the receptionist who gave me a map and circled my dorm room with red felt pen. She didn’t smile, her cheeks pulled too tightly from her last anti-aging spell. I wondered if she would ever admit her real age to anyone.

The thought of those kinds of spells used to excite me about magic. I would stare in the mirror and plan out what I would change about my appearance. My nose could be smaller, my hazel eyes a little bigger. My boobs ended up quite a good size naturally but then my hips grew to complete the hourglass. I was going to tweak everything. Was being the operative word.

There were plenty of students in the corridor of the girls’ boarding building when I finally got there. I was starting to wonder if it was just a mirage and I would never get there.

My new home was on the third and top floor. Number 396. I prayed for a single room. I was an only child, sharing wasn’t in my nature. Plus, with what I had to hide, having someone watch my every move wasn’t ideal. I couldn’t hide things like the other students could.

I took one more deep breath for luck and opened the door.

Two beds. I was screwed.

One was neatly made and a girl was lying on the other one. At least the room was bigger than I expected it to be. It held little more than two beds, two desks, a bookcase, and a kitchenette. Two doors on either side of the room probably led to closets.

The girl looked to be my age. Her long black hair was swept back in a ponytail. She wore the neat uniform of the academy—blue and red check skirt with a navy blazer. The collar of her white shirt peeked out over the collar. She could have been the academy’s posterchild.

She was also wearing headphones plugged into her cell phone. Her gaze flickered over to my direction where she assessed me from head to foot. Her ruby lips pursed with something like disgust.

I guess I’m your new roommate, I said with a small wave.

I told them I don’t do roommates, she replied. Are you sure you got the number right?

I was older than a toddler so of course I read the damn number correctly. I held up the slip of paper the receptionist had given me as proof. 396. Sorry, they must have misplaced your memo.

She slid off her headphones and sat up straight. Don’t get too cozy. I’ll be lodging my complaint after dinner. Until then, there are rules. Number one, don’t touch any of my stuff. Number two, don’t make any noise. Number three—

Pretend I’m invisible? I cut in. I really wasn’t in the mood to listen to anything that psycho said. The look I earned in return was worth every word.

Like I said, don’t get too cozy.

There was something about her sarcastic smile that put me on edge and reminded me how much I had at stake there. One wrong move and this girl would definitely notice. She would have run to the principal as fast as her skinny legs would take her.

I dumped my bag on my bed and bit my tongue so I couldn’t retort. I had to play it safe here or there would be the harshest of consequences. It was literally a matter of life or death and I really didn’t want to die.

If anyone found out about my powers, or lack thereof, I would be reported to the authorities. Every single supernatural had a duty to the community to notify the bigwigs. Just one little telephone call and I would be hauled away.

They said those reported got taken away for some kind of reeducation program. That if they were caught early enough, there was enough time to intervene and ensure the rest of the community remained safe.

I knew better.

I knew they killed them. Each and every one of them. Which meant that I was most certainly going to die before the year was out.

Unless I kept my secret.

Which was seeming more unlikely by the minute.

Chapter 2

Curling up in my new dorm room wasn’t going to be an option for me. Especially when I was hungry and hadn’t thought to pack any snacks in my bag.

So it was off to the cafeteria for me.

I stalked out of my new home without saying goodbye to my new roommate. According to the birthday card on the kitchenette counter, her name was Rosa. It was a pity such a pretty name was wasted on someone so vapid.

The map the receptionist had given me was full of handwritten scrawl for the names of the rooms. I turned it upside down and all around while trying to work out where the elusive cafeteria actually was.

It had to be in the main building. There wasn’t any of the delicious food smells in the girls’ dormitory. Everything communal was located in the central building. It had made sense when the receptionist explained. Unfortunately, understanding the cursive letters that seemed to run into themselves was far more difficult.

It was while I squinted at the map that I collided with someone.

My gaze snapped up as the map fell to the floor. I had turned a corner and run straight into the bluest eyes I think I’d ever seen. They were almost covered by his shaggy brown hair.

A second later I regained my composure. Sorry, I muttered.

He bent down and picked up the map, spent a whole two seconds looking at it before returning it. You new here?

Yeah. Just arrived today. How was it possible his eyes were the exact same color as the sky on a summer day?

You should be more careful where you walk, he said with a scowl creasing his brow. There are people here you don’t want to run into. What are you looking for?

The cafeteria.

He pointed down the long hallway. Third door on your right.

Thank you, I said, but he was already on his way.

Now I could only see his back, I could get a better look at him. Those eyes were mesmerizing, I couldn’t see anything else when he pinned me with his gaze.

Dark brown hair with a golden twinge when the artificial lights hit it. Taller than me but not lanky. Well built, solid—my mother would say ‘dependable’. Whatever that meant.

I had no idea who he was but so far the people of Shadow Academy weren’t trying to make any friends with me. Was everyone going to be like that? Surely out of the hundreds of students there, one would have to be nice? Law of averages would surely say so.

At least food would comfort me. No matter what else was going on, a hearty meal would help to warm me from the inside out. Let’s face it, it was pretty much all I had at that moment.

The smell hit my nose as soon as I was through the cafeteria doors. If Mr. Grumpy hadn’t pointed it out, I would have eventually found it by my sense of smell alone.

I didn’t need him.

The entire academy must have been hungry as there were hundreds of people in the vast expanse of the cafeteria. It was so large, I couldn’t see the end of it.

The term ‘cafeteria’ wasn’t really appropriate here. There were no stainless steel chairs that froze legs in the wintertime. No checkered tiles with grease stains on the floor. No, there was nothing middle school about this cafeteria.

Large mahogany tables were scattered everywhere, all facing different directions so there were no straight rows. The floor was carpeted with a pattern that reminded me of Persian rugs. The chairs were all high-backed and in the same mahogany finish as the tables. Stained glass windows lined two walls.

It was bright inside, despite nightfall outside. The light was coming from bewitched lanterns hovering just below the ceiling. They weren’t attached to anything but shone just like little suns.

Magic.

I guessed I should have expected things like that at a supernatural academy. Still, it took me by surprise. If my human friends could have seen it, their minds would have been blown.

Remembering what I’d left behind brought me