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I wish I could say the witches drove in style to Bloodstone Academy, but no, we don’t.

Which is a surprise, considering Bloodstone Academy is heavily funded by every rich witch family left alive and sponsored directly by their clans to make sure that their kids get into the academy.

On the other hand, cars that work are rare nowadays, so the wealthy are lucky to have a moving vehicle.

The rickety old truck bounces in a pothole, slamming me into the side of the door, and I wince.

The rusty door looks seconds away from unlocking itself and crumbling to dust, but I clutch the handle anyway.

The chipped black paint is peeling as the wind hounds the truck outside, and we continue to bounce along the old, long forgotten road.

Most witches prefer to travel by magic—moving directly from one spot to another. It’s a common enough spell, but it won’t work anywhere near Bloodstone Academy. The land is drenched in magic, and no one can get in without being welcomed. It’s safe from our enemies, at least.

Despite the fact this truck has seen better days, my driver continues to rapidly speed down the road, getting closer to the edge of where the land meets the sea.

We can’t drive at night, not with the things out in the world that hunt us, and I doubt there is a witch safe house anywhere near us.

We have stayed in two so far—empty, spelled homes that were cold and damp—and my driver’s snoring kept me up all night.

I’m glad we aren’t stopping anywhere else, and I believe we are now in a state that used to be called Washington.

It isn’t called that anymore; it’s just land and death.

I look at the back of the truck, where there are several swords, magic guns and other bags filled with weapons. I know if we were attacked, my driver can fight and defend us, but I still want this over with.

I clear my throat. “I don’t actually know your name, considering you haven’t spoken to me much.

What is it? I need to thank you for driving me here.

” He pointedly ignores me, like he has done the entire time.

“Fine, I’ll call you Bob. You look like a Bob.

” He doesn’t even react, and I sigh, wishing I didn’t say anything to Bob. “So, Bob, how long do we have?”

He doesn’t so much as blink. Great. I lean back with another long sigh, but things aren’t that bad.

I’m free of Melody’s control, and as much as she threatened me, she can’t reach me at Bloodstone Academy because she never got in.

She didn’t say goodbye. The little girl inside me just wanted her to hug me and say goodbye, but she stood at the top of the stairs as I gathered my bags, and she walked away before I left.

The maid Diamond said goodbye to me outside the door and hugged me, which was better than nothing.

I look straight ahead at the beautiful colors casting across the sky as the sun begins to set.

My pulse rises a little, so far from any safety, but with the window down, I can smell the salt air.

We can’t be far from the sea; therefore, we can’t be far from Bloodstone Academy either.

It will take at least an hour before the sun fully sets and it gets dark, before there is a threat.

I reach my hand into the inside of my cloak and pull out the small white note that Parker sent me this morning.

Conquer the Academy. P. 3

That’s all he wrote for me, but he knows that’s all I need.

Someone to believe in me, cheer in my corner, and Parker has always been that.

Goddess, I’m going to miss him. I think I might have gone mad growing up if I didn’t have a friend like him to tell me I wasn’t worthless or useless or any of the many things I grew up believing after my parents died.

Life changed right in that moment, and every memory I have of my parents feels like I’m watching the life of someone else or someone who wasn’t real, because they were happy. We were happy together.

Melody’s daughter, my foster sister, helped as much as she could, but defending me meant her mother would lose it with her, and I didn’t want that.

She always pitted us against each other, and sometimes it worked—but most of the time, we knew it was Melody who was the problem and not us.

I often wonder what Rue is like here. I haven’t seen her for two years, not since she got into Bloodstone Academy.

No one leaves the academy, not to see friends or family, not for anything but to fight in the war when the academy is over.

I’m glad I won’t see Melody for that long, and I’m sure Rue was too.

I saw how she smiled when she left two years ago—it matched my smile.

I fold the note up and put it back, resting my head back and admiring the view.

Daygan clan lands aren’t far from here, and it was where I was born.

I remember the black stone houses, the mansion we lived in, the forest and the small rocky beach.

I nearly jump when Bob speaks. “We are ten minutes out from the coast. I will leave you there for the academy. May the goddess bless your path.”

“Thanks, Bob,” I mutter, shivering, this time from nerves.

I mess with the tag on my suitcase for the next ten minutes of the silent drive, and soon the road comes to the end.

The brakes of the truck squeal as he stops, and I look at the cliff, the charging waves smacking up the side.

The sea is beautiful like this, all glittering blue, reflecting the orange and yellow sunlight.

Nothing but sea for miles and miles in every direction except for the cliff.

The door automatically opens at my side, probably spelled and somehow doesn’t affect the academy.

Maybe spelled objects like cars work near the academy then.

I grab my suitcase and step out, lifting my hand to shut the door, but it does it on its own.

“Thank you for the—” But Bob’s already reversed, leaving me coughing on the dust. I watch as he turns the truck around and speeds off in the direction he came in.

My hair moves in the breeze, the loose braid coming undone as I walk forward to the edge, wondering where exactly I’m going to go from here, when I see it.

Bloodstone Academy is an island, an island with a million trees making up a vast forest, with a towering black castle standing right in the middle of it.

It’s incredible. The stone underneath is blood red, and the cliffs look like they are bleeding into the sea.

It’s the very reason it was called Bloodstone in the first place.

It’s said that a thousand witches and shifters bled into the stone, turning it from white to red over a thousand years ago. Their magic keeps the island protected.

The trees have adapted to the gothic vibes going on.

They’re black, creaky, winding trees with giant red-tipped leaves.

The castle is hard not to stare at, and it is everything that I read about or heard about.

Its high towers point into the air in nearly every direction, like it wants the world to know it is here.

The main parts of the castle, five enormous towers, are thrusting skyward, with their dark black slate tips that are spiked and that hit the sky.

Heavy fog seems to hover around the base of the castle, only making it spookier.

Even from a distance away, I can see thousands of gothic arched windows all framed in black.

Nature has taken over a bit, black ivy crawling up all the sides that seem to merge with the castle itself.

If I were closer, I bet I could see all the stone tracery that would be carved into the side, showing witches in battle, showing dragons which are nearly extinct now, and wolves and bears that make up the most of our army.

I would see the snakes and the lizards, everything that can be found within this deep, massive forest. The shifted changelings are bound to this forest around the academy, born and bred right in the forest, and they are protected from the war.

They have human forms and animal forms, which they can change at will.

Between the ages of eighteen and thirty, they are allowed into Bloodstone to mix with the witches in hopes of helping bonds between our races.

The rest of the shifters do not come near the academy.

I doubt any of them know much about life outside the academy grounds, but I need one of them.

Just one of them to bind to me and fight in the war with me.

My mother and father both went to Bloodstone, and they graduated—so can I.

It’s in my blood to thrive at this academy, and nothing is going to stop me.

They bonded with twin snake shifters, and they fought in the war together.

I remember them sometimes too. They died together too, and I watched it happen, even if I wish I hadn’t.

I push down that memory before it haunts me anymore, and pray to the goddess that they got to be together in the afterlife too.

They were all best friends and loved each other.

Family. An unbreakable bond. I want that with a shifter, with someone who’ll be honest with me.

I watch as the wind blows the fog around the haunted-looking castle, and even in the daylight, it’s nothing short of a gothic wonder.

Architecturally, it’s beautiful and stunning, but it looks like a million people might have lived and died in those walls, and they very likely have.

They likely still haunt it to this day. The towers themselves look like a step for a god to stand on, and the black stone makes it look like a prison that I’m going to get lost in.