Nightshade Academy Episode 4: Den of Demons: Nightshade Academy, #4

By Kestra Pingree

Ice ruins permeated by death.
A deranged vampire and her pet demon.
Visions of Nightshade Academy on fire.
Just another chapter in the nightmare that has become the life of Nova Ray.

Helena, Nightshade's benefactor, wants me and my twin, Archer, to find some portal leading into another world, one full of angels and demons.

Kian, our clairvoyant tagalong, wants to stop Nightshade from burning to the ground, but he doesn't know who or what causes the fire in his visions. Helena is as good a bet as any after what she did to him, though.

Nightshade hasn't seen her true colors. We have. If Archer and I don't do what she wants, she'll kill Kian, and she'll make me watch every bloody second of it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kestra Pingree
• Release date: Nov 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393829041

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Kian’s head is warm on my lap. The rise and fall of his chest evens out and deepens. I don’t know how he can sleep when it’s so cold out here, but I can’t deny having him close puts me at ease, too.

I glance down the ice stairs behind me to peek at Archer again. I don’t think she knows I saw her, but she isn’t there anymore. Things would be easier if she’d talk to us. It’d be nice to know if we three were on the same side. I’m choosing to trust Kian, but should I choose to trust Archer too, or should I be as wary of her as I am of Ginzo and Helena?

How do we find the culprits of a future fire and stop it from happening?

Kian’s hair is soft, so soft I’m reluctant to replace my glove, but the cold is sinking down into my bones, making them ache and freezing up the joints.

Kian.

He doesn’t answer.

Wake up.

A cold breeze throws my pink hair forward. I pull the strands back and a low voice whispers in my ear. Yes, wake up.

My entire body seizes up. It hits my spine the worst, transforming it into an iron pole with no give.

A blazing blue silhouette screams in my peripheral vision, to my right. I have to crane my neck to see his head and carefully take a sweep of him with my eyes. Ginzo is shirtless and barefoot as usual. His hands lazily sit in the pockets of his jeans—it’s strange he wears jeans when he apparently hates clothes so much. His chiseled chin is tilted toward the dark sky absent of the aurora that was there not long before.

Kian shifts and I move my hand away, donning my glove as he sits up. Ginzo’s voice must have affected Kian the same way it did me. What a nightmare. I’d hate to wake up to these goosebumps, the deep resonance of Ginzo’s tone ringing in my ears. I’m not sure what expression Kian is making, but his too-yellow chartreuse pales further, betraying the actions of a calm exterior.

Neither of us say a word or move. Is the demon messing with us or did he tell Kian to wake up for a reason?

The silence carries on, Ginzo’s Color nothing but the ebb and flow of ocean waves lapping against the seashore. After he rolls his shoulders back with a crack that seems to go on and on, he says, Helena wants you back in the lab.

He takes a leisurely pace down the ice stairs. He doesn’t wait, and he doesn’t look over his shoulder. Kian stands and slightly cocks his head. He doesn’t have to say anything. I stand too and follow Ginzo first. The ice fires that led me to Kian have disappeared. I have to blink again and again to get my eyes to adjust to the growing darkness. Kian’s must not adjust too well, because he runs into me as soon as we’ve reached the bottom step.

Sorry, he murmurs.

I follow the faint blaze of Ginzo’s blue as the demon steps into the tunnel leading to Helena’s lab. Something crunches under Kian’s foot, and he bumps into me again; he must have slipped on one of those bones.

Sorry. Again.

I shudder and silently thank God for not gifting me with the ability to see ghosts as well as Colors. The tunnel is somehow darker than the bone room. I squint. When Kian bumps into me again, I grab his hand and place it on my shoulder.

Hold on, I whisper.

I have to strain my eyes, but I manage to follow Ginzo’s Color without much of a problem. Eventually, orange lights flicker from a circular opening leading into the lab, saving us from the pitch black. Kian lets go of my shoulder when we walk inside.

Ah, there you are, Helena says. She’s tapping a new glass bottle. She must have more of them somewhere, because all the ones in the lab before were shattered. I notice their glassy remains are gone too. And she has candles set on the ice countertops. Those definitely weren’t there before. Also, is Helena wearing a different coat? I swear it wasn’t this deep rose pink before.

The ice fires are revolting thanks to your little heart-magic blast, so now I’m resorting to candlelight, she says, as if reading my mind. For the moment.

Archer pushes off from a crevice in one of the ice walls, revealing herself and her fleeting blue-lavender Color. Heart magic. What exactly is that?

Helena sets down her glass bottle. The ting makes me think about my insulated bottle. I know I left it here, but I don’t see it anywhere. My backpack is propped up against an ice wall where I left it, but my blood bottle isn’t sitting in either of its bottle holders.

Don’t panic, Nova.

My heart doesn’t get the memo, though. It makes itself known, makes sure I think about it beating in my chest when each beat throbs.

The one and only universal magic, Helena says. Perhaps. Unlike other forms of magic, it isn’t picky. Mortal, immortal, living, dead… Like clairvoyance, however, it’s quite finicky. She turns around, leans back against the ice counter, gloves gripping the lip. I want you twins to drain some ice fires for me, just like what you did to those belladonnas in Maddie’s office.

My rib cage threatens to collapse the next time my heart pounds against it. Why?

I’m looking for a portal that’ll take me safely to another world. Didn’t I say this already?

But what can draining ice fires do? That’s not going to help you find a portal.

Helena drags naked nails across the ice counter, unbearably slow. They screech for ages.

I bite my tongue and taste metal.

Blue light so bright it’s almost white catches my attention from down one of the tunnels. It’s Ginzo, carrying something. His hands are clawed in front of him, high and low, holding a sphere of glossy ice the size of a beach ball. Inside is an ice fire, wiggling and squirming but failing to make any headway.

When did Ginzo leave?

Found one, he says.

Helena offers a sharp nod; her curly black hair bobs with the force of it. Don’t let it go until I give the word.

Ginzo huffs. You know this takes a lot of effort and concentration, right?

Yes, and I know you have more than enough willpower when given the right incentive.

Ginzo huffs again.

Okay, girls. Get ready. Hold hands. Do whatever it is you do.

Archer walks toward me. I step back into Kian; the only thought in my head says get away. I grab Kian’s hand and back us up against an ice wall. I even hold up my hand, signaling Archer to stop, if she’d only listen.

We don’t know how to control it, I say. We could kill everyone here.

Helena hums, and hazy purple buzzes like a swarm of bees. Is that a threat, darling?

Can’t Ginzo do it? He’s a demon.

"Even demons have their limitations. Ideally, I don’t want you to kill the things anyway. I just want them to obey. Ginzo, let it