Page 20 of Unshaken

ESME

Ipace. There was no way I could sleep last night. My eyes never truly closed without springing open at every scream and cry for help. Last night felt like the longest of my life, it seemed more violent as well. Usually everyone tries their best to make it back to their dorms and houses in time for the final countdown before the sun winks from existence and the stars came out to play. Last night was different, and I knew it had everything to do with Micah’s presence. She was new and she would be challenged. All of the new students were, to be honest, Headmistress Larrieux encourages it. She informs the entire school when a new student arrives, and she gives their location. Especially if they live in the Quads. The students in the Towers were the safest if they managed to lock themselves away in time.

This place is ten ways of fucked up, and I wish I could return home to my coven, to the safety of the Blue Mountains and write this entire experience off as a bad dream. But there is no going home. I was all but cast out. Defective, my High Priestess deemed me, because my mother got pregnant, and her union wasn’t sanctioned. She had fallen in love with a local human down in the village and nine months later I arrived. I was a half breed in my coven’s eyes, not born of a Witch and Warlock; impure. My mother didn’t even get to raise me, she was banished, and I was snatched away from her when I turned five. At the exact moment I feel the hurt of what happened on that day. The wound is still fresh and gaping, while the pain cuts me open. My sight throws me into a vision so quickly, I am spiraling. I pause my pacing, letting my power take me into the depths of my mind as I relive the tragic events all over again.

“No!” my mother screams. “Why? Why do you have to do this?” she begs as she pulls me behind her. We just finished breakfast. I had begged to take a walk with her in the mountains. Then the High Priestess came to our house.

“Esmeralda is of an age where she no longer needs you or your influence on her. I think it is best that we educate her from here on out.” The High Priestess snaps her fingers and two of her acolytes move around the kitchen towards me. “As for why, it’s simple, Cashira. You broke the rules. Your child is unsanctioned, and therefore a taint not only on our community, but to the promise of ourselves to the Blue Mountain gods.” The High Priestess sounds mad at my mother, her voice is so loud that I bury my head in the skirt of my mother’s dress.

“She’s only five!” my mother sobs, she’s clutching my tunic, and I wrap my arms around her legs tight, sensing her distress it makes me scared. “Please. Don’t take her. What about my family? Can’t she go and live with them? Or I can leave and take her with me?” my mother pleads, shuffles back with me, as if she was going to grab me and run.

“Yes, Cashira. You can leave, but not with her. You are hereby banished from the Blue Mountains, and you have been stripped of your name. Your daughter will remain here with me until I decide her worth, if she is worth anything at all,” The High Priestess replies, her eyes uncaring as she looks at my mother like she’s no more than a stranger.

“No!” my mother screams again as two acolytes yank me from behind my mother. I’m crying, I’m scared, and reached out to her. My arms are outstretched as I fight to get out of the tight hold one of the acolytes has on me.

“Momma!” I scream as the High Priestess turns and walks out the front door, with the acolytes dragging me behind her. I watch my mother collapse to the floor beside the kitchen table, crying and praying. As the door slams shut in front of me, that is the last memory of her I will ever have.

The High Priestess kept me close, as if I was a disease, and she didn’t want the plague to infect the rest of the coven with my presence. Blue Mountain Witches gave themselves over to the land, it made us pure so that our sight is pure and untainted. Sex was only for breeding, and it was highly controlled. I was an anomaly, and when my sight didn’t work, and my powers were unpredictable, I was given over to Headmistress Larrieux almost as an offering. If I die here at HellNight Academy, it would be a small mercy in my High Priestesses eyes. A blood sacrifice. They didn’t want me. I was a blight on her pristine white gown that she wore, and she scrubbed me off like the dirt she thought I was.

I sigh, watching through the blinds of my window as dawn breaks, ushering in a new day. The alert of a notification on my tablet has me cross to my bed, flopping over the edge I grab it from the floor where it had fallen from my hands at some point last night. I am too anxious and worried to distract myself with studying or reading random romance novels on my e-reader app. The pull to go to Micah is strong. I can still feel the burning need to go to her now as I tap the screen and the night’s death toll pops up, like the ending stats of a video game.

The Night Has Claimed

25 Lives

10 injured students managed to escape to the Hospital Wing

5 duels fought in the pit

3 students unaccounted for

A wave of nausea hits me at the number of people lost. Living people, snuffed out like they were nothing. Headmistress Larrieux made it all appear honorable, like those caught outside or challenged to duel in the pit should be praised for their bravery. Well, it was all a bunch of bullshit. I hate this place. But with nowhere to go, what other options do I have?

I can almost see the slow smile that spread across the Headmistress’s face the morning after my first night of terror. I stormed into her office and demanded I be taken back to my coven. Her smile turned menacing, hungry even, as she told me that she all but owned me. I was a grown woman, no one owned me but me. She all but told me, I was now in her care, to do with what she willed. No one cared if I lived or died. The thought of her face only makes my stomach roll this morning.

Having enough of being in my own head, I jump out of bed, making quick work of showering. Feeling slightly better, I put my uniform on, and pull my hair up into a high bun. My body is on autopilot as I grab my bag and make my way out of my house. I lock the door with my Anchor key before I slide it over my neck. A little routine goes a long way in clearing away the last of my stress from the night before. I walk towards Micah’s digs; the birds are singing with the morning sun. The Quads are quiet, as if nothing had happened the night before. It is always like this, no blood mars the ground, no visible signs of destruction is left in the morning, nothing’s out of place as the Academy rights itself as soon as sun begins to rise.

My pace quickens, my sight has a mind of its own, my control over it is so-so at the best of times. I saw Micah make it through the night. It was fuzzy, unclear, the possibilities were endless, dependent on the choices she made. When I heard the mob of students calling for her, I feared the worst, and now I need to see her with my own eyes. I don’t know what it means to be a Soul Tether. I have never heard of the term until yesterday, but I am determined to find out what all of this means.

I can’t deny what I felt when I touched her. It’s confusing, and a part of me wants to run from it. To keep my head down and not draw attention to myself. Aligning myself with her would only make people scrutinize me. Look at me. I don’t want that. I want to remain under the radar and survive this hellhole until I graduate. Then I will be free. Oh, fate, you fickle fucker, you. You had to put her in my way, an obstacle for me to either distance myself from or face head-on. From the pull in my chest this morning, I don’t think I have a choice but to do the latter.

As I get closer, I see two figures leaning against the fence in front of Micah’s, and I pause. The sight of Ty and Trys Larrieux standing there casually sends a shiver of unease through me. I have never seen the two of them looking so relaxed. They’re scary point-blank. I give them a wide berth at all times. Trys is known for unprovoked attacks on students whenever the mood strikes him, and the mood strikes often. Trys is a cake walk compared to his twin. Ty is the quiet one, cold and calculating, his eyes piercing, seeking out weakness, and if you were found wanting, he marked you for death. No one is safe. He can manipulate the shadows, so even a locked door can’t keep him out. He is death walking, and his brother is a crazed attack dog. This morning is already shaping up to be horrifying, and my lack of sleep only makes my magic stir wildly inside of me. I have to tread carefully, the last thing I need is for my sight to go haywire and I point out at an inopportune time when and how they will both die from all the shit they’ve done. I nearly laugh out loud at my absurdity, I mean it in jest of course but the last thing I need to do is provoke them.

I am just glad the devil himself hasn’t decided to join his brothers this morning. Rodyn thinks he is the dark prince reborn, lording over the Academy, striking fear into every student he comes across. People practically fall at his feet to get into his good graces. Those who don’t comply, well, you get a visit from either one of his twin brothers, crazy or deranged.

They finally look up at my approach. The Larrieux triplets are notorious, and now, at least, two of them are tied to Micah. She has no idea what fate the heavens have dealt her, or hell for that matter. I am so screwed. I shudder, my heart is pounding in my ears in time with my steps as I get closer and closer. I am a dead girl walking. They don’t know me, and I like to keep it that way, even though their mother came to my coven for me personally. I guess she didn’t feel the need to tell them about me, I am a nobody in her eyes. Yet, when it came time for me to walk through a door, for them to test my magic’s strength, she was surprised when the black door allowed me through. Magically I am strong, stronger than most, if I could only get a grip on my sight, I would be a total kickass. Instead, my magical control is akin to water slipping through your fingers, it’s there, but I can never keep it in place long enough to do anything with it.

Ty and Trys both push themselves up to their full height as I stop in front of them and the gate. I roll my shoulders back; I refuse to show weakness as I lock my knees in place and stare them right in the eye. My insides are quivering with fear.

“A Blue Mountain Witch,” Trys says with awe in his voice, his red blazer is turned inside out, the paisley red, black, and yellow lining on show, his black trousers tucked into his bright yellow boots, that is definitely breaking dress code, with his black tie with the HellNight Academy emblem tied around his head, holding back his wild afro. Skipping towards me, he stops circling slowly as if he’s sizing me up. My eyes lock with Ty’s, his mismatched gaze rakes over me as he does the same.

A deep inhale of breath breaks our stare off as I step forward and out of Trys orbit. “Did you just sniff me?” I look at him in disbelief, my mouth hanging open, too shocked to say anything else as I make sure to keep the both of them in my sight.

“Where’ve you been hiding, little spirit? Ghosting around the Academy with all that amazing white hair, smelling like freshly fallen snow.” Trys smiles. I find the sight unsettling. It lights up his face in a way that makes me appreciate how handsome he and his brother are. I’ve never just looked at them, too busy running for my life like the rest of the students around here. Their eyes still creep me out, but I will get used to it eventually.

“Hiding?” I stammer.Get it together, Esme!“I’ve been right here. I’m used to being alone, so I usually keep my own company. Until now, I guess.” I shuffle from foot to foot. I’m not about to give them my life story. Definitely not going to say that I refused to make friends for fear of finding their names on the nightly tally of the dead or lost somewhere in the darkness never to be found again.

“Smart,” Ty says as he cleans his nails with a blade that I hadn’t noticed before. I mean, it’s broad daylight, weapons technically aren’t allowed. But when your mother’s the Headmistress you get to do what the hell you want without reproach.

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