Spearwood Academy Volume Six (The Spearwood Academy Book 6) Read online

  A.S. Oren

  Rook Hilt Publishing L.L.C

  Copyright © A.S. Oren 2015

  Rook Hilt Publishing L.L.C

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locals are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, real locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental or used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2015 A.S. Oren

  Cover copyright © 2015 A.S. Oren

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  Book design A.S. Oren

  Table of Contents

  FUN STUFF!

  Sign up for my Newsletter here.

  The Strange Twin

  Minos

  The Ring

  P.A.M209/102005

  Kaliyah

  Bail Out

  Sparring Partner

  Fallen Binds

  Release Dates:

  Noteable YA Author!

  FUN STUFF!

  Who is your favorite Spearwood Boy 2015?

  http://goo.gl/fBXk6i

  Spearwood Academy Volume Six Playlist

  https://open.spotify.com/user/12149862702/playlist/0aFHZbaOJu5TfnZIHzUeWO

  Sign up for my Newsletter here.

  http://eepurl.com/bggTLv

  Previously on Spearwood Academy…

  A click awakens my brain, as a burst of cold air wafts over me. Where am I? Darkness prevails over the room, and I can tell I’m not in my bed. A couch? A hard body rests bedside me, a hand thrown onto my lower body. Could I be in the Cabin again? Was everything: Maverick dying, the survival challenge, and Jericho just some horrible, messed up dream?

  I can’t believe it. That dream felt so real and long. But to know it was just a nightmare lifts so much weight off my heart. I can breathe again.

  I snuggle deeper into his chest. The hand on my hip tightens its hold, pulling me closer to his body and further away from the edge of the cushions. I reach out and grip his shirt; warm tears have stained it a little bit.

  He’ll probably think I’m just being an over dramatic girl . . . freaking out over a dream so much. I’ll never be able to describe to him how real it felt. I swear his body convulsed in my arms as he took his last breath. Nothing in a dream has ever brought me more pain than in that moment.

  The darkened curtains have stopped the morning sun from invading the Cabin. I scoot my body further up the couch, so I can kiss him on the neck. I’ve always wanted to wake him up like this. We don’t need to be back at Spearwood just yet.

  “Mav, I had such a bad nightmare. I’m so glad it wasn’t real,” I mumble into his neck. I place feather light kisses on the lower side of his neck, marking a trail up to his warm and welcoming lips. He kisses me with no hesitation. His hand travels underneath my shirt in no time. Someone seems impatient. I smile into the kiss, but something about it just isn’t right. His kissing technique has changed, more relaxed than last night. It still feels good to kiss him though.

  His wandering hand moves out from underneath my shirt to cup my cheek. His thumb runs through a stray tear, and he breaks the kiss.

  “Why are you crying, Rosenip?”

  My eyes shoot open, and I move away from him, falling off the couch and onto the hard floor. I wince. That’s not Maverick.

  Fingers snap, and the lights in the room flare to life. Dante sits up. “Are you okay, Avvi? What’s wrong?”

  I pull my knees up and hide my face against them. If I don’t see it, then it means it’s not real and I’m just still having an incredibly long dream. Nevertheless, reality tries to regain her grip on me. No, this can’t be happening. It was supposed to all be a nightmare. Maverick was the one I just kissed with all of my soul, not Dante.

  “What the fuck? No, this isn’t real,” Dante stammers.

  What? He feels the same way? I lift my head up only to find someone standing at the end of the couch closest to Dante. I have to blink twice. I’m not entirely sure who, or what I’m seeing.

  “Hello, brother. It’s been a while.”

  “Minos.”

  To be continued . . .

  Minos

  “Yes, it’s me, brother.” He could pass as Dante with his semi-long ebony hair, tan skin, height, and attractive features. The only difference comes in the form of his lavender eyes, which are a shade I’ve only seen in anime.

  Dante stands and pats the pockets of his slacks. I frown. All of this makes no sense. Did I really just kiss Dante thinking he was Maverick? Is that why I liked it? Who is this other guy? Dante reaches into a pocket and pulls out his P.A. The black card flies through the air and shifts into the little boy I’ve seen before. I always thought Dante modelled the kid after himself, but, now, I can tell he represents this guy through and through. “What do you need, Dante?” the kid asks as he folds his arms over his chest. He can’t be more than eight.

  “I’m not your P.A. either, Dante,” Minos says. His lavender eyes stare at Dante. He hardly blinks. I grit my teeth.

  Dante faces him. Before I can blink, he’ tackles the new guy to the ground and punches him several times in the face. I have to admit, I never thought I would see Dante fighting himself, but it’s not him; it’s his brother, Minos. He has a twin too. Why hasn’t he ever mentioned this before?

  I stand. “Dante, stop it!” He just keeps punching him, and Minos doesn’t do anything to stop him. Why won’t he fight back?

  Horace and Amr jump up and grab Dante by each of his arms; they pull him off the guy. I forgot they spent the night on the other couch. I sigh.

  “What the hell i’s going on here?” Horace asks. Dante fights his grip.

  “Who the fuck are you? My brother i’s dead. Has been for eight years!”

  The guy gets up, his face not as swollen as it should be after such a beating. I cross my arms in front of myself. Every hair stands on end.

  “I am your brother. You just thought I was dead.”

  Dante growls. “I don’t fucking believe you!”

  Minos cocks his head to the side and smiles. “You honestly don’t see that it’s me?”

  Dante’s arms twists under the pressure of Horace’s and Amr’s’ grip. “The traitors have excellent magic and technology,” He says.

  “Could they fake this?” Minos lifts his hand, revealing a long, pale scar on his palm.

  “They could fake you down to your DNA.”

  “Yes, but not even their technology could fake this kind of magic.” Minos shifts a single nail into a turquoise talon and runs the tip along his scar. Blood flows out of his palm and drips onto the snow-white carpet. “You know what you need to do,” He says.

  Dante frowns and rips his arms away from Horace and Amr. He shifts an onyx talon and slices his palm. I never noticed the scar on it until now.

  They lift their sliced hands at the same time, their palms facing each other. What are they doing? Within the blood, a stream of blue light appears. It move’s with the red before floating up and off their hands as if possessed. The floating blood touches in the middle and swirls, turning all the way blue. I shield my eyes from the bright light that radiates from it.

  Dante’s eyes widen. Before the light dies and the blood hits the floor, Minos closes his hand and lowers it to his side. Dante does the same. I wish I could use my powers; I would heal it for him, just so I won’t have to see blood dripping onto my floor any longer.

  “We burned your body. How’s this possible?” He just found out his brother wa
sn’t dead. Shouldn’t he be somewhat happy? It’s strange watching him act this way.

  “Father wanted you to believe we were dead so that he could train me without the interruption of a family life.”

  “Train you? You didn’t need to be trained for anything. I was the one trained to be . . .” He trails off, probably remembering this conversation has ears on it. The Watchers are always present.

  “There are things you don’t know yet, and until the time comes, they will remain that way.”

  Dante’s lip flares. “Why come back now?”

  Minos moves a hand through his long black hair. His purple eyes have a coldness to them instead of the suave smoothness Dante’s usually have. “Because, now is when I’m needed.”

  Dante moves to punch him again, but I place a hand on his wrist. He looks down at me as if just now realizing he’s not alone. His gaze snaps to Amr and Horace.

  “Stop, Dante. Attacking him again isn’t going to do anything but bloody up your hands more than they already are,” I say.

  He studies his hand, which still drips blood on the carpet. “Sorry.” He reaches behind his neck and pulls off his black shirt. I blink as I advert my eyes from his ripped muscles. He wraps it around his hand. I guess he doesn’t know any metal healing techniques. Edgar only taught Paden one, and it was too complicated to use for basic wounds.

  I glance at Minos’s hand . . . no bloodstains. Did he heal it? When did he do it? His eyes catch mine. I don’t blink. There’s something strange about him, but I don’t know what it is.

  “You must be Avalon.”

  My eyes go wide. He knows who I am?

  “Should I know who you are since you know me?”

  “We’ve never met, but I know who you are. You’re a legend; trust me.”

  My brows furrow. “What? Because I’m the only girl to ever be born a dragon shifter?”

  He flicks his hair over his shoulder. “I’ll go with that.”

  My eyes narrow. He may look like Dante, but he’s nothing like him, not by a long shot. Dante steps in front of me, making his twin focus on him instead. “Where is father now?”

  “He’s actually dead, died a few years ago.” He says it as if we’re discussing the weather.

  Dante folds his arms over his chest. “How did he die?”

  “That’s none of your concern.”

  Dante growls. “He was my father too! I should know how the man died. For real.”

  Minos looks down at his nails and picks at them. “He may’ve been our father, but I have my orders, and those come first.”

  Dante steps forward. “Orders? From who?”

  “In due time. Trust me.”

  Dante’s arm swipes through the air, not actually trying to hit him. “Don’t give me that shit!”

  Minos returns his attention to Dante. “We were close once. That’s why we have this scar. That has to account for something; trust me.”

  “It meant something before you abandoned me and left me alone with a shell of a Mother. She went insane when she thought you two died. Do you have any idea what that was like?”

  His eye twitches, the first sign that something has gotten to him. “How could you call it a mother?”

  Dante grinds his jaw. “What the fuck are you getting at? It better not be what I think it is.”

  “That thing may’ve looked like a woman, but it didn’t start out that way. Because of them, we couldn’t claim our full status as Royals. Now look at you, having sex with the female shifter when you know she can never truly be yours. Not with the prophecy in place.”

  How does he know about that? Edgar told me only a select few knew about it. Maverick and Paden are the only people I know who learned of if despite not being in the need-to-know circle. Besides, it’s not as if I’m going to bend my will to a prophecy, which doesn’t even have true record and was stated over a thousand years ago. There’s a chance I might not be the only female shifter alive. Children are born every day after all.

  I step out from behind Dante. I know Minos thinks Dante and I have had sex, but that doesn't give him the right to talk to me in such a way or to dictate my future. “I’m not going to let some prophecy determine who I’m allowed to be with for the rest of my life.”

  The subject of marriage came up when I was eight and boldly proclaimed I was going to marry both Maverick and Paden because we would always be together, our own little triad.

  Edgar sighed. “I think it’s time I tell yau somethin’, Avvi. Somethin’ you may not like. But it’s better yau learn if from me and not someone else.”

  “You’re talking in riddles, Ed,” Paden said.

  I leaned on the table. “Tell me. I want to know.”

  He sighed again and ran a hand through his dark grey hair. “There’s a prophecy about yau, Avvi, which says the female shifter is not meant for someone who has the mark of the protector but is meant for someone who shares the same mark as her.”

  “Mark? Like the one’s on our shoulders?” Maverick asked.

  “Those are the marks of the protector, so neither of you can ever marry her. She will marry someone who shares the same mark as her.”

  “I don’t have any marks.”

  “Story says it will appear on the beloved first, but it will not take it’s true form until yau realize who they are. Then the mark will appear on yau and take it’s true form on the beloved.”

  Paden lifted an eyebrow. “That makes no sense, how old is this prophecy?”

  Edgar shrugged. “At least a thousand years old. “

  “Then how does anyone know it pertains to Avalon?”

  “She’s the first female of our kind in a thousand years. Who else would it be talkin’ about?”

  “I don’t care what any stupid prophecy says. If I love someone, I’m going to marry them because I chose them, not because something said I had to. So, I’m gonna marry Paden and Maverick.”

  Edgar lifted an eyebrow. “Yau really want to be married to these two knuckle heads?”

  I nodded. “We’ll always be together.”

  Hot tears threaten to spill. When will these stupid memories quit haunting me? I force the tears back, not allowing them to fall. I jump when a knock sounds at the door. I look at Dante. He hasn’t budged and neither has his doppelganger. Horace and Amr give me a side-glance and nod their heads to the door. I go to open it; I don’t know who would be bugging me at this hour. The sun has hardly come up yet. My heart stops for a beat as my eyes meet sapphire ones. Paden.

  The Ring

  I glance at Kearn, who stands next to Paden. “Can I come in?” Paden asks. He lifts his chin, staring down his nose at me. I’ve always been short, but I have never felt as small as I do now. I want to shrink away, but I push through and stand myself taller than before.

  I look over my shoulder at the guys. They all stare in this direction. I swear Dante’s going to lose it in a second. He really can’t stand Paden with the warp in his mind. I can kind of see why, but I grew up with the real Paden. I return my attention to him. “It’s not a very good time right now.”

  He looks over me and into the room. “I see you’re busy. I guess I can never assume that you would have the class of lady. Four of them now?”

  I ball my hands into fists and hold them close to my sides. I want to hit him so badly, but I’d rather not be paralysed from the neck down. It’s so strange having someone I’ve known my entire life accuse me of sleeping around with anyone. The real Paden couldn’t even comprehend me being like that.

  His eyes narrow. “I’ll come back at a later time.”

  “No, wait.” I stop him before he can turn his back on me. I don’t know why. Maybe a part of me wants to try to get him to understand that I’m not the girl he has floating around in his made-up memories. I glance back at the guys again before stepping out of the dorm and closing the door behind me. Hopefully, I won’t come back to a wrecked living room.

  There’re so many things I want to say to him, ask him,
to see if there’s a part of the real him fighting to the surface. I can’t talk to him out in the open. The Watchers will be listening. I need to get him into a passage. Bullock said they can’t see anything while we stand in one of those.

  “Come with me.” I walk in front of them. The only passage I know of is the one that leads to his room. I wonder if he still knows about it.

  “Where are we going? I’m not interested in being in the same space as you for longer than necessary.”

  He really knows how to make the cuts deep. I try to remind myself that he wouldn’t be saying these things if he was normal, but I can’t deny the words hurt me.

  “Just follow me.” I glance back at them both. Kearn watches me with those bi-coloured eyes. I think he knows what I’m doing.

  Before I know it, I’m standing in front of a portrait of a woman older than time, who’s holding a bouquet of dead lilies.

  “Really, Avalon. I don’t think this is proper.”

  I look at him. “You have no idea why I brought you here, so be quiet.” I unlatch the frame and push it off to the side. I press the button to turn on the lights. An eerie, dark glow makes long shadows dance on the wall. I walk a few feet in and wait for Paden to follow. I hold up my hand when Kearn follows him. I’ve never ordered him or any of the servants around, but I think it would be better if just Paden and I talked without his ears listening as well. He stops at the threshold and bows to me before he moves the picture frame back into place.

  “I wanted him to be here,” Paden says as he folds his arms over his chest.

  “Why? Are you afraid I’m going to hurt you or something in here?”

  He purses his lips. “Of course not, but I want him witness to what you are going to say to me.”

  I brush my fingers through my blonde hair and sigh. “Why do you think I brought you in here? I want to talk to you in private without anyone else listening in.”