Page 1 of The Sea Witch’s Son (The Villains of Wolf Hollow #1)

Prologue

I knew I was different from a young age.

The first day of fifth grade is what started it. I showed up wearing my best suit, a dapper three-piece in the most delightful shade of grey. My hair had been artfully slicked back, my ten-year-old self looking downright handsome as I joined the children waiting to be called into the classroom.

There were eleven children entering school this year and I was the second smallest. This fact did not concern me, for I had already analyzed my predicted growth chart and knew that I would not stay this way for long.

Out of the eleven children, only three of them were girls and that was the highest number Wolf Hollow Academy had seen in years. Most girls, you see, did not make it to grade school in this town. More often than not, they were sold off to the highest bidder or shipped away to be free of the criminals lurking on every street corner .

Josephine Hook, Tahira Malik, and Freya Clementon were the three girls in my grade. The daughter of a pirate, the daughter of an oil tycoon, and the daughter of the new town mayor. I knew everything there was to know about them, just as I knew everything there was to know about every boy in my grade. The report I had assembled earlier that summer lay dormant in my knapsack. The files I had crafted together were made meticulously to ensure I could successfully accomplish my goal for this year.

Unlike my classmates, I was not looking to make friends. I was looking to make allies. My intelligence was far superior to the loud and dirty children playing around me, but I knew I needed to find the children who had the greatest potential to be of service. The children who would serve as tools and building blocks to begin my empire, to begin the slow ascent to becoming the visionary of Wolf Hollow.

I was going to run this town. I knew it the same way I knew I wasn’t always going to be the second smallest kid in the room.

As you can imagine, being one of the smaller boys meant that I was an easy target. By the time lunchtime rolled around, my perfectly coiffed suit had been stained and taunted by the other kids in my grade.

I remember looking down at my hands, staring at the fingers I had spent hours burning because I wanted the creases in my dress pants to look just right .

A dedicated fellow I was, even back then .

“Now you look just as stupid as your suit, Seaborn.” Jack Heart laughed, his hair just as wild and unruly as the rest of him. By all means, I should have been intimidated by the boy who was twice my size, but instead I found myself amused.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

He sneered at me, “And why not?”

“Because,” I said slowly, “Now I’ll have to punish you.”

He laughed, “You’re too small to hurt me.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged, “But my mother’s eels aren’t. And when you’re lying in bed tonight, I’ll climb in through your window and slip one under the covers. I’ll stand back and watch the serpent slither its way up your unconscious body and wrap its tail around your throat. I’ll wait just long enough to hear you scream and then I’ll take a picture to frame and hang on my bedroom wall.”

Jack started to cry and I got sent to the principal’s office.

I do not consider myself to be a vengeful person, but I will admit, I spent the next three weeks tormenting my tormentor. Slipping fake snakes into his backpack, leaving pictures of my mother’s victims lying on his desk – I went from being the second smallest kid to the one everyone feared.

I could blame the cruel intentions on the absent father or the mother who had no love for her child, but the truth is, I enjoyed every second of it. I have always been fascinated with the psychology of fear and to see it play out before my young eyes was riveting beyond my wildest imagination .

There was so much power that could be taken from a person’s psyche that I found myself seeking out the buried fears every one of my classmates had.

Fear, I discovered quickly, was the key to manipulation.

It did not take long for teachers to notice my strange obsession with scaring my classmates. They did not understand that I was in the process of researching for my future. I was taking note of the next generation’s weaknesses and exploiting them in ways that could be conquered or succumbed to.

Really, I was doing them all a favour.

“Marlin is out of control.” Lilian Tremaine, the school principal, scolded my mother one dreary afternoon.

“He spends his time watching the other children on the playground and writing down their strengths and weaknesses in that little notebook of his. The children are terrified and the parents are furious. Your son has been showing narcissistic tendencies since day one, but enough is enough.”

I stared at her, watching the fear flick through her eyes when she glanced at me. Slowly, I pulled my notebook from my suit pocket and made a note.

“You see!” Lilian cried, jabbing a finger in my direction, “He’s doing it even now. He’s trying to break into my mind to steal my fear and use it against me.”

Paranoid, most definitely.

I added those three words and put my notebook down with a smile. Adults were more complicated pawns than children, but I enjoyed playing the long game.

My mother laughed in her face and by the time we left the school, she had given me a cookie for my efforts. I threw out the cookie and went to the library to find out what narcissistic meant.

And so it would seem, I was not like the other children.

The only reason I did not get kicked out of school was because a new challenge had arrived. Another girl, the fourth one in my grade, had enrolled and all the boys couldn’t stop talking about how she looked like a princess.

Golden curls, a heart-shaped face, big green eyes. This girl looked as though she was destined to be a queen someday. She was the only person not in my report which meant there was only one person she could be.

“Calista Drache.” She smiled, sliding onto the bench next to me at recess, “A pleasure to meet you, Marlin Seaborn.”

I stared at her, studying the easy way she opened her lunch and started eating right next to me. There was no simple tell on this girl, no hint as to what her fear might be.

“The first day of school was four weeks ago.”

She shrugged, “I didn’t feel like going.”

I looked back at the playground where the other kids were playing. Instead of joining the girls playing tag or the boys playing grounders, she had chosen to sit next to me.

It made me suspicious.

“I don’t believe you.”

She laughed, “No need to be scared, Marlin. I won’t bite.”

“I’m not scared of you. ”

“Of course you are. I am the only person not in your notebook, aren’t I?” She smiled, raising her hand to show me the notebook that had been safely tucked in my pocket, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me.”

She was teasing me but I took it as a challenge.

After that day, I spent hours looking up the infamous Drache family, searching for information on the daughter of the most powerful woman in Wolf Hollow. Nothing turned up, not a birth certificate or a single document stating Calista’s sports history.

It was as infuriating as it was intriguing.

For as sweet as she looked, this little princess was vicious in the same way I was cunning. Cutting off Freya’s hair for insulting her, shoving Jack off the monkey bars when he accused her of cheating; Calista did not wait for punishments to be handed out by teachers. She enjoyed handing them out herself.

Her small frame was not delicate so much as it was agile and sharp, trained to cut through people like a razor blade. Where I preferred the mind games, Calista liked the physical threats, the action that could be taken in vengeance.

I never did discover her fears. Once, I thought I got close, catching sight of the bandages running up her legs after winter break, but even that was foiled by the girl with the wicked green eyes.

“They’re from my uncles.” She lifted the hem of her dress to show me the cuts running up the inside of her thighs, “They come around every few months and add more to the collection. ”

I had never seen a girl’s panties before. Nor had I seen such hideous scars.

“That’s kind of gross.” I told her, reaching out to touch the fresh knife wound, “Why would they cut your legs?”

“It’s not my legs they’re after.” She told me simply, “It’s my vagina.”

This time I did snatch my hand away.

She laughed, “Are you afraid of vaginas, Marlin?”

“No.” I said, face bright red.

“Do you want me to show you mine?”

I shook my head vigorously and Calista laughed again. She was older than me in some ways, younger than me in others.

“Are you afraid of them? Your uncles?” I asked her eagerly, dying to finally have something to put next to her name.

“No.” She smiled, “But one day they will be afraid of me. Just wait and see, Marlin. I’m going to make them pay for every ugly mark they left on my body.”

There was an undeniable truth in her words. A truth that made me realize Calista was playing her own game.

“How about a deal?” I asked suddenly, sure that whatever this little girl had planned would happen with or without me, “You help me take over Wolf Hollow and I’ll help you get revenge on your uncles.”

She clapped her hands in delight, “Are you asking me for a favour, Marlin?”

“No. I’m asking if you want to be part of a team. ”

“But maybe I want you to be part of my team.” Calista pursed her lips, “We have the beauty and the brains but there’s something missing.”

I shook my head, “I’m not interested in being part of your team.”

“Too late. You already are.” She reached over to pat my hand, “Don’t worry, I’ll still help you take over this town. Once we get our brawn, we will be unstoppable.”

“Brawn?”

“You know, the muscle. The guy who can beat up the people who don’t fall in line.”

I glanced over at the playground, scanning the park for the smallest kid in our grade.

“In that case, we should recruit Gus Cartier.”

“Why would we pick Gus? He’s tiny.”

“Because.” I smiled, looking at the dark-skinned boy eating the same dozen eggs he ate every lunch hour, “It’s not about who’s the biggest right now. It’s about who’s going to be . ”

We both turned and looked at the son of the famous French bodybuilder. His father had won Mr. Universe a couple of years ago while his mother had won the pageant for Miss Nigeria. All power and strength without a hint of intelligence.

The perfect pet project.

“You know, Marlin.” Calista nodded, casting those snake-like eyes over me, “I knew you were something special.”

“Oh yeah? ”

“Yeah.” She tilted her head, “People said you were smart, smarter than most adults even, but I knew you had something more to offer.”

I looked at her curiously, “A notebook ranking everyone’s greatest fear?”

“Even better.” She grinned, leaning over to kiss my cheek, “You’re the Sea Witch’s son.”