Page 19 of Immortal Consequences (The Souls of Blackwood Academy #1)

Wren

Late afternoon washed over Blackwood in shades of indigo and dusty-purple clouds as the thick evening fog rolled through campus.

Wren had completed classes for the day, finishing Housemaster Calligan’s exam with flying colors.

It had been easy enough, a rather simple illusion crafted to appear as though she were in a swamp.

It had only taken her five minutes to dismantle it.

Child’s play.

As she trudged along the graveled path that connected the buildings of Blackwood, the anticipation of the opening ceremony building inside her, she spotted a familiar sulking figure in the distance.

August sat in front of one of the various stone statues adorning the Main Yard, his long legs stretched in front of him, a paperback book tucked lazily between his hands.

He must have felt her watching him, because his head snappedup.

Their eyes met.

Wren opened her mouth to call out to him, but he looked back down before she could, as if he’d seen right through her.

Fine. If that was how he wanted to be, Wren would happily play along.

She wasn’t about to grovel for his attention.

If her words had hurt him, then he should have said something, rather than mask his emotions with indifference.

But she shouldn’t expect anything else out of him.

August wasn’t exactly generous with his feelings.

If he had any at all.

Wren wanted to hate him. He was rude and crass and impulsive. But she also knew, deep down, that her contempt for August brought her back to life. Their constant bickering gave her a purpose. A reason to wake up and get out of bed and face another bleak day.

This game with August had, in its own twisted way, saved her.

Wren swatted the old memories away and continued forward.

She was walking past the Library when she spotted a girl seated by herself, tucked beneath an oak tree.

She was scribbling something in a notebook, her ice-blond hair obscuring the side of her face.

She wore a white lace dress and black loafers, white ruffled ankle socks sticking out from the top.

Louise.

Something inside Wren knew it was her. It was an acute feeling in her chest. A sharp and sudden rush. Her certainty only grew the closer she got. She could practically smell the scent of a new student. Syrupy, almost.

A part of her couldn’t help but hesitate. If she said something, if she opened this door, there was no going back. Louise could be a threat—the catalyst that sent everything she had been working toward tumbling to the ground.

Wren could still see the shadow magic engulfing her. The way the shadows seemed to be alive, an extension of her very soul. But this girl sitting in front of her, all doe-eyed and quiet, seemed different.

Normal.

“Louise?”

The girl glanced up. Her eyes were wide and an intense shade of blue gray, the kind of blue that reminded Wren of waves during a storm.

Louise shut her notebook. “Hi.”

“Sorry to bother you…my name is Wren. I just wanted to check in. Make sure you’re adjusting okay.”

Louise gnawed on the end of her pen. Her button nose crinkled as she smiled. “You’re the first person to say something to me since I got here. Are you the welcome committee or something?”

“No.” Wren chuckled. She knelt in front of Louise and took a seat on the grass. “I just know how hard the first few days can be. I mean, I spent an entire week locked in my room when I first gothere.”

Louise tilted her head in suspicion. “Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”

“Nope. I promise. I had gone full Yellow Wallpaper. Nobody heard from me for days.”

A shrill bell of laughter echoed in the distance. Louise’s gaze trailed upward, glancing somewhere over Wren’s shoulder. A palpable sadness clouded her expression. A faraway look Wren was all too familiar with.

“You’ll make friends soon enough,” she offered. “It’s easier than it looks. I promise.”

“You’ve said that twice already.” Louise let out a dry chuckle. “ I promise. But I don’t know you. So why should I believe your promises mean anything?”

Wren considered her words for a moment. “I guess…you shouldn’t.”

“Good answer.” Louise smiled and tugged her legs close to her chest. “All right, then, Wren. I’ve got a question for you.”

“Shoot.”

“How does this all work?”

Wren blinked. “I’m not sure I get what you’re asking.”

“This.” Louise gestured to the space around her. “I mean, we’re dead, right? So…how does this place exist? Why is there grass? How are we breathing? Why can’t we feel pain? Why were we chosen out of everybody in the world? How did—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Wren chuckled, lifting her hands. “I need you to take it down a few notches.”

Louise flushed and rubbed her face. “Sorry. I’m just…I’m a bit confused.”

Wren couldn’t help but smile. “It’s not supposed to make sense.”

Louise frowned, clearly displeased. “That’s awfully convenient.”

“Look.” Wren sighed. “Blackwood Academy is a part of purgatory—the world between the living and the Other Side. It’s what keeps the afterlife afloat.

It’s existed…forever. For us, Blackwood is where we’ll reside for the rest of our existence, but for lost souls…

it’s their ticket out. We’re the only ones who can help lost souls get from the Ether to the Other Side. ”

“Okay…so what’s the point of the Ether?”

“Think of it like a passageway. A place neither here nor there. When you die, your soul ends up in the Ether. When someone dieswithout extra baggage, they usually cross over to the Other Side without a hiccup. But if they’ve got things holding them back…unfinished business…”

“We have to help them,” Louise whispered. “I guess that makes sense. It’s like in stories, when ghosts can’t cross over because of something in their past.”

“Exactly.”

A strange expression creased Louise’s face. “What about…evil people? I don’t want to help them cross over.”

“We don’t,” Wren explained. “We call those Corrupted Souls. People who’ve harmed other beings with evil intent. Who are evil to their core.”

“What happens to them?”

Wren hesitated. She wasn’t sure if she should be telling Louise this. She’d learn about it eventually. But there was something about the way Louise was looking at her, eyes wide and full of trust, that made Wren want to continue.

“They’re destroyed.”

Louise’s mouth dropped in surprise. “We…destroy them?”

“No!” Wren muffled a shock of laughter. “It’s nothing like that. The Ether takes care of them. It consumes their soul.”

“Whoa.” Louise pressed her back against the trunk and sighed. “That’s heavy.”

Wren shrugged. “Everything requires balance. Even the afterlife.”

Louise seemed to consider this for a moment, brow furrowed. “What about us ? Why were we chosen to do this?”

Wren sighed. This wasn’t something she enjoyed thinking about. The big why. It had plagued her for months when she first arrived.

“It’s a bit complicated.” Wren hoped that would be enough to appease her, but Louise leaned in closer, clearly eager to hear an explanation.

“All right…well…what we’ve been told is that our souls were predestined to be chosen.

That it was literally written in the stars when we were born and when we died.

But…there’s one more thing that we all share. That ties us together.”

“What?” Louise whispered breathlessly.

Wren lowered her voice. “Did something happen when you were little? Something that almost cost you your life.”

Louise flinched, taken aback. But Wren could see the realization washing over her. The way her eyes flickered, as if she had lost herself within the tangled cobwebs of an old memory.

“I…I fell in a lake when I was five.” Louise’s voice was barely a whisper. “I was clinically dead for three minutes. But they brought me back. They saved me.”

“Six minutes.”

Louise blinked. “What?”

“For me it was six.”

“You mean…we all had near-death experiences when we were young?”

“It’s the one thing that ties us all together,” Wren explained. “We all slipped into the Other Side and came back.”

A moment stretched out between them. Louise fiddled with the pen in her hand, gnawing on the inside of her cheek. Wren wondered if perhaps she had gone too far. Told her too much too soon.

But then Louise looked up and smiled.

“Thanks,” she whispered. “You know, for coming up to talk tome.”

“No problem.” Wren smiled in return. She had begun to walk away when a thought occurred to her. “Oh, and Louise, I’m here if you have any other questions. Any doubts. Just come find me. I’d like to be your friend. If that’s okay with you.”

At this, the other girl’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah. I think I’m cool with that.” She tucked the pen behind her ear. “And you can call me Lou.”