Broken Girl: Shadow Academy, #6

By Kat Cotton

Shadow Academy has many secrets…

Cherry and Ren return to Edgewater Academy to complete their final year but with an evil underground organisation trying to get their attention, it seems no one is safe.  

Tough decisions have tough consequences.

How can they protect their friends, and themselves, when they aren't even sure who the enemy is?

Shadow Academy has many secrets… and the worst is yet to come

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kat Cotton
• Release date: Jun 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223846253

Book preview

Chapter 1

We will kill everyone that you love.

That stupid voice replayed in my head, but I pushed it down, deep down, trying to bury it far enough that it couldn’t escape. Sometimes, actually most times, all I wanted to be was plain old Cherry Love. Stressed about university entrance exams and in love with my boyfriend and escaping on weekends to eat extravagant parfaits.

What I didn’t want was to be was savior of the world.

I didn’t want to be special, I just wanted everyone I knew to be safe.

Seemed the world had other plans for me.

Hurry up. I frowned at Ren as though the force of my will could make him work faster.

He tapped away at his keyboard with a furious pace but I’d finished my homework ten minutes ago. Normally I wouldn’t care about him being slow but not today. Today, when we finished our work, we had a zoom date with our besties, Lucas and Britney.

It’d been a week and I needed to see them, actually see them with my own eyes. I needed to know they were breathing and living and joking around. I still hadn’t told anyone about that voice I’d heard, the one saying that they’d kill everyone I loved, but it haunted my thoughts. Haunted them enough that I’d texted at least once an hour after Ren and I moved into the vampire house.

That lasted less than a day before Mr. Norton found out. And boy, did I get a lecture on security. I couldn’t even argue because I’d been stupid. So stupid. Texting that often was like drawing an arrow with a big yellow highlighter pen, an arrow that pointed directly at Lucas and Britney.

I checked my watch and sighed. The tip of Ren’s tongue hung out the corner of his mouth so I couldn’t be too angry with him but sheesh, how long did it take to answer a few history questions?

That fluffy blue sweater he wore just screamed for me to pat it. It really looked good on him.

Wait? Was that new?

It wasn’t the first time I’d seen Ren in new clothes and not cheap clothes at that. I mean, he probably had enough clothes from his rich boy days to last him a lifetime but they were back at school. So where did he get it?

I couldn’t really ask him about it. Well, I could but... I don’t know. Since our reversal of fortunes, I didn’t like to discuss money with him. Of course, he could use any of my money he wanted since it was his, well his father’s, to start with. But he never asked and always said no when I offered.

While I waited, I paced the room. A makeshift classroom in the vampire house but as fancy as you could get. The state-of-the-art ergonomic chairs did all but massage my butt as I worked. And that whiteboard at the front would turn into a hi-tech screen as soon as our call started.

We’d lived in the vampire house for nearly a month now. We couldn’t return to Edgewater Academy because the whole evil paranormal group out to kill us thing put all the other students at risk. So we’d decided to transfer to Dragon Ridge Academy instead, figuring an actual paranormal academy would have stronger safeguards in place. That'd backfired in a dire way, with the academy being destroyed. Luckily, no one had been killed but half the school buildings had been destroyed and we were no longer welcome there.

At least in the last month nothing terrible had happened. Maybe that evil group, the Himawari, were scared to mess with vampires or maybe they were just lulling us into a false sense of security. Either way, we had two months until graduation and I wasn’t going to let them mess with my academic record.

As well as this classroom, we had a bunch of specialized tutors here to help us out and a suite of rooms upstairs. It wasn’t an ideal place to live, what with them being vampires and all, but it wasn’t so bad and I’d gotten way ahead on my schoolwork. Bring on those exams. I’d ace them right now.

Ren, not so much. Ren hated living here even though he tried to make the most of it. He hated this house with no sunlight, he hated studying and he hated most of the vampires.

But, all that aside, he could hurry up a bit with the homework!

He must’ve sensed my thoughts because he glanced up. I tried to smile but he wasn’t fooled.

The problem... He tapped his pen on the edge of the desk, a rapid beat to emphasize his frustration. The problem is that guy gives us too much information. Vampire tutors are the worst. Just because they actually lived through this stuff, they don’t have to tell us every single detail.

Ha, I loved the every single detail aspect of our lessons. I liked knowing about how regular folk lived back then, what they ate and even where they went to the toilet. That was so much more relatable than just listing off a bunch of kings and battles.

It’s lived experience.

More like undead experience. Ren grinned, amused at his lame attempt at a joke. Then we both laughed.

A dry cough for the doorway interrupted us.

Chester. Everything was dry and rattly about that ancient vampire.

Long story, but the head of the vampire clan, well, previous head, had sacrificed himself to save me in way that meant I somehow inherited the head of this clan title. Obviously, I’d refused the role, not wanting all that vampire-leading responsibility. Chester had assumed that I’d just quietly hand the role over to him but I’d been too smart for him. That dry, rattly old man really rubbed me the wrong way. In a snap decision, I’d appointed a random vampire – Darsh – head of the clan. An incredibly wise choice as it turned out.

Mr. Worthington. Pause. Long pause. A moment.

I sighed. It wouldn’t be a moment. It’d be so much more than a moment. Chester the pester, that’s what he’d become ever since Ren moved in.

Ren doesn’t have a moment. I stomped to the door, getting in his face so he knew I meant business. Ren doesn’t want to talk to you at all. Because we know what you want and the answer is still the same. No. Nope. A whopping great no siree, Bob, with a cherry on top. A real cherry, I mean. Not me.

Chester wanted to talk back. He wanted to so bad that it almost choked him but I had privileged position in the vampire house. That meant no talking back to me and definitely no arguing.

He put a hecking lot of meaning into one drawn out sigh and didn’t move out of the doorway.

I sighed right back at him.

Now, if you don’t mind, we’re about to take a private call, so please shut the door behind you.

I sat back down, folding my arms, until Chester left.

You love that, don’t you? Ren grinned, all arrogant and full of himself, and no one did arrogant like Ren did. You love the power.

Do not. I’m not a power loving person.

That smug grin on your face says otherwise.

I grabbed my phone and took a selfie. If I had a smug grin, I wanted to see it. Then I held my phone up to Ren.

You call that smug? Excuse me. I’m a rank amateur at smugness while you’d surely win a smug Olympics.

That just makes me an expert at recognizing smugness, right? So, I know it when I see it.

Instead of arguing, I grabbed the last cupcake. Ren wouldn’t mind. He didn’t love sweet food the way I did. This place had a steady supply of cupcakes. I think word had gotten around that I loved them, so any vampire who wanted to get into my good books offered them to me. I just wished they’d realize that I liked other sweet food too. Ice cream, candy, waffles... some variety’d be nice.

Ren raised his eyebrows. There were six of those.

Your point? Then I noticed the six cupcake wrappers in front of me. If you’d wanted one, you only had to say.

I didn’t want one, it’s just that’s an awful lot of —

My computer beeped. Time for our call. Thankfully.

You’re still smug. Ren nudged me and pointed to my face on the big screen.

I elbowed him back but he did have a point. If we had to live in the vampire house and rely on them for our safety, having a bit of power helped. And I took extra delight in making that guy back down.

Unfortunately, living in the vampire house also meant that Chester and some of the other older vampires took every chance they could get to try to persuade Ren to work with them. Ren’s father and his entire family line from way back had worked for the vampire clan, facilitating their interactions with the human world. That’s how the Worthingtons had acquired their fortune. Ren had other plans for his life, though. And I’d do anything I could to protect those plans and his freedom.

The screen flickered and Britney and Lucas came online.

How’s things? Britney’s grin seemed to brighten to the screen.

Things had to be great because the two of them sat on the other side of the screen, as alive as they could be. But my happiness faded a little. Most of the time, living with the vampires was okay but it wasn’t the same as being at school and being part of the group. I missed hanging out with Britney more than anything. Still, just being at the school put the other students in danger. I couldn’t forget that voice. We’ll kill everyone you love. I shuddered at the memory.

Britney and Lucas got into a story about how Naoki and Susan both had spells backfire in their after-school lesson with Mr. Norton. Britney talked over Lucas and Lucas finished all her sentences.

I laughed along with them but heaviness dragged at me.

Darcy and Jun say hello, Lucas said. They wanted to join in on our call but... well, you know.

Yep, I knew. Darcy and Jun had been Dragon Ridge students who transferred to Edgewater after their school got destroyed. Unlike most of the other students who’d opted to either continue their year at the fully paranormal Mount Penriffe Academy or study from home, the two of them had actually pushed for Edgewater. 

Edgewater Academy didn’t have the same focus on paranormal studies, since it was a school for humans. All of us paranormal students had been recruited as a line of defense against the rich kids being attacked. And all of us were on scholarships except Darcy and Jun.

Even though Darcy and Jun were awesome, I got what Lucas meant. The four of us were a team. Best buddies forever, even if we had our issues. Jun and Darcy might be super cool but Ren and I needed Lucas and Britney time.

How are things going for you two? Britney leaned forward, suddenly all serious.

Same old, same old. Ren tapped his fingers on the table as though it was almost too bothersome to answer.

Yep, nothing changes around here, I added. Nothing’s changed in decades, centuries even.

That’s good, though, Britney said.

Lucas nodded.

I guess. I reached over and slapped Ren’s hand to stop that tapping. It’s pretty deserted around here during the day, obviously. No one’s awake in daylight except our tutors and the elders and —

And Aran. Ren frowned. Aran doesn’t even need to be around and yet...

Aran has a sacred vow to protect me. He can’t sleep.

Ren rolled his eyes. No matter how often I tried to talk sense to him, he couldn’t help but be jealous of Aran’s good looks and incredible fashion sense. He also couldn’t forget that Aran was the vampire who’d turned me and we had a special bond.

Anyway, I continued, Have you spoken to Mr. Norton about coming here for the long weekend?

I clutched my hands. Mr. Norton had to say yes. He just had to. Maybe I was being incredibly selfish wanting them to visit but the vampire house had better security than anywhere. They’d be safe here.

Britney nodded. Then the alarm on her watch beeped. Lucas’ too.

All of us paranormal students at Edgewater wore special watches. Watches that beeped when Mr. Norton needed us. When that alarm went off, you dropped everything and ran.

Yikes, got to go. Lucas grimaced. But he kind of said yes. Maybe yes. He has to talk to you and Darsh and the other vampires.

The two of them stood, turning off the chat.

I stared at the black screen.

It’s just a drill, Ren said.

Of course. I nodded.

Mr. Norton loved drills. He loved them way too much. He’d have no issue with calling for the scholarship students even when they were in the middle of a very important zoom call. It had to be a drill and nothing more serious than that.

Chapter 2

Ren and I waited a while to see if Lucas and Britney called back, then Aran came to remind us about our self-defense lessons.

Ren groaned as we followed Aran to the training room. I hate lessons with Aran. Why can’t we just train with Darsh?

I bit my lip. I didn’t want to say it but Ren didn’t just hate lessons with Aran, he hated Aran. And that made him get all attacky in the lessons. Not a good move when you’re sparring with a vampire. In pretty much any situation that required physical strength, Aran could beat Ren. And Ren hated that. He’d get increasingly aggressive and increasingly beaten, rather than listening to Aran and actually learning anything.

There wasn’t much I could do about it and, if I said anything, Ren would only get more worked up, so I just ignored them. It wasn’t like Aran would ever really hurt Ren. Well, I didn’t think so. Aran had told me recently that his sacred vow was to protect me, and only me. But Aran also knew that if he hurt Ren, I’d jump in to stop it at any cost.

Of course,