Year One: Dreamers Read online

  We got into my car, and I drove us downtown. I knew a restaurant at the top floor of a building that hadn’t completely been defaced to incorporate dark crystal into its structure. We ordered sushi, and once we had our fill, the waiter started bringing in only drinks, one after another, since Mila couldn’t exactly get drunk.

  “Enough about me,” I said. “How are you?”

  “Fine, you know. Same old, same old.”

  “GC, Paz, Sariel, Francis?”

  She snorted. “Just as mad about me as they were on day one.”

  “Not entirely sure when you started counting.”

  “You’re right. There’s no day one. We don’t even have an anniversary, although GC insists we first hooked up on a Sunday in September.”

  “Wasn’t that after Mabon? After he literally saved your life?”

  “I’m not sure I consider that our first hook-up.”

  “God, you’re complicated. I don’t know how the guys put up with you.”

  “They don’t.” Mila laughed and finished another glass of gin and tonic. “That’s mostly Francis.”

  I nodded. We were silent for a couple of minutes. Francis was a revenant, like her. GC was a false god, so he was naturally immortal. Pazuzu was a demon, and Sariel was a fallen archangel. Even if they weren’t quite immortal, they lived long lives. Mila and Francis, on the other hand… That had been a long story already, and I sensed that the moment I enrolled at the Academy, it would start stretching even longer.

  “I have to ask you,” Mila broke the heavy silence. “I’m sorry, I just have to. Please don’t hate me.”

  “I would never hate you,” I said gently.

  “Are you attending the Academy because you want to be a Grim Reaper?”

  I shook my head. What was the point in lying to my cousin?

  She sighed. “The Council won’t let you, Yoli.”

  “I don’t care about the Council.” I looked into her eyes. Sky-blue met sky-blue. We were related, after all. “Will you let me? Will you let me banish it or… kill it, if it comes to that?”

  She bit her lower lip. Hesitated. Of course she’d hesitate. Her eternal life and Francis’s were on the line.

  “Yes,” she whispered finally. It was so silent that I barely heard it.

  “I’m afraid you’ll end up hating me.”

  She ordered another drink.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I drove from New York to Salem, Massachusetts. Grim Reaper Academy was perched on top of a hill, hidden behind the tall trees. It was barely visible from down below, and even if humans could see its four towers jutting toward the sky, the magic around the ancient building made them forget it existed the moment they looked away. Out of sight, out of mind – in the most literal sense of the expression. I stopped at the foot of the hill, meditated at the day ahead for a minute, then restarted the engine of my black Audi and drove up the narrow, winding road. The closer I got, the denser the forest lining the road. Then the road opened wide to reveal the iron wrought gates of the Academy. They parted before me, and I parked in front of the fountain. I got out, walked to the foot of the stairs leading to the front door, stuffed my hands into the pockets of my leather jacket, and looked up at the elegant front arch, at the tall windows and the gargoyles guarding them. I wasn’t early, but I wasn’t late, either. I was just on time. I knew this place like the back of my hand. Mila had snuck me in countless times. So, I rushed up the stairs, entered the building, threw a glance at the closed doors of the classrooms and professors’ offices lining the hall, then crossed it to reach the inner courtyard. It was filled with candidates waiting for the test to start, and with a bunch of professors who were there to answer any questions. To get to the gym, where I knew my equipment was waiting for me, I had to cross the courtyard. I did so quickly, holding my head down. Some of the candidates recognized me. No one stopped me or even greeted me, which was a relief, but I immediately heard them whisper amongst themselves. I picked up the pace. Just as I was about to disappear inside, a woman with raven black hair and almond eyes came out the door, blocking my way. She was wearing a beautiful silk kimono. She seemed just as shocked as I was.

  “Miss Aleksiev, if I’m not mistaken,” she said in a sweet voice that had a bit of an accent.

  “Mrs. Po.” I knew all the professors who taught at the Academy. Thanks to Mila, of course. Meng Po was a false goddess. She taught Anthropology.

  “What a pleasure to have you this year.”

  I smiled. “Let’s not celebrate yet. I have an entry test to pass.”

  She waved me off. “I’m not worried about the test. In fact, I’m not worried about you at all.”

  Maybe you should be, I thought.

  “How is your cousin, Miss Aleksiev?”

  “Looking forward to retirement,” I lied. Mrs. Po laughed and moved on without another word, making me think she knew I was lying. Well, all the people here would have to get used to this lie, because I was going to repeat it over and over, until they believed it. The last thing I wanted was for the supernatural world to freak out that Mila might become the new Morningstar tyrant. Her father, Valentine Morningstar, had refused to retire twice. The third time, I had to make him retire. If eleven-year-old me hadn’t stood up to that crazy bastard, we’d have all been struggling to recover from an apocalypse right about now.

  And that was why I was already the most popular girl at Grim Reaper Academy. More than popular – I was a hero. Because I was the one who’d retired the most powerful and dangerous Grim Reaper the world had ever seen. Initially, they had all thought it was going to be Mila, Morningstar’s own daughter. They’d been mistaken.

  I made my way into the girls’ locker, changed into my brand-new PE uniform, then headed back outside. The test was about to begin. In the courtyard, I tried to stay away from the crowd that had gathered around Headmaster Mason Colin. He was giving a little speech and introducing the new PE professor, apparently. I rose on my tiptoes to see better. Mrs. Charon had been the PE teacher when Mila attended the Academy two centuries ago. I was slightly disappointed to hear they’d replaced her. Then I saw the new professor, and my disappointment vanished.

  “This is Mr. Adrian Wyvern, and he’s come all the way from the Unseelie Court to teach at Grim Reaper Academy this year. Please give him a warm welcome, and please do your best. At the entry test, and after. We all want to convince Professor Wyvern to stay with us for year two and year three, as well. He is a seasoned Unseelie warrior, so he has high expectations.”

  Adrian Wyvern merely nodded. He was a tall, bulky man, built like a mountain. He probably trained all day, otherwise all those packs of muscles couldn’t be explained. He had brown hair and deep hazel eyes. His square jaw was covered by a bit of a shadow, and he had all this rugged look going on. It suited him well. He wasn’t wearing an Unseelie warrior uniform, though. Too bad. Those uniforms tended to reveal a lot of skin and, albeit silly because they kind of made the Unseelie men look like strippers more than soldiers, they also made them look sexy and fierce. The Unseelie were fay. I’d always been fascinated by their culture – a culture that revolved around war and weapons.

  When he saw that Professor Wyvern had no intention to hold a speech of his own, Headmaster Colin cleared his throat and continued: “The test will begin in the forest, as usual. This time, the candidates will be following certain clues that have been laid out for them. These clues will take them on different paths with different obstacles, but in the end, you all have to meet in the same place. You will know what it is when you see it. This test will challenge your wisdom and endurance, as well as your native instincts. All candidates may use the skills and gifts they have at their disposal.” He paused and made eye contact with the ones standing closest to him. “This entry test will not only determine whether you’re a good fit for the Academy, but it will also help sort you in the right cabal. Are you Merciful Death, Neutral Death, Righteous Death, or are you Violent Death?
We shall see soon enough.”

  A shiver ran up my spine when Headmaster Colin said “Violent Death”. Mila had been sorted into the VDC, which at that point had always been an all-boys cabal. She’d been the first girl in the history of Grim Reaper Academy to become VDC. I knew that everyone kind of expected me to be VDC too, but I didn’t feel like I belonged there. No. I knew they had their reasons. After all, I had turned Valentine Morningstar himself to dust when I was only eleven. I’d seen my fair share of violence, and not just about anywhere – in the Great Hall of Life and Death. I’d seen things none of the other candidates had ever seen. I’d seen a demon unleash the plagues of the Old Testament on his enemies, a false god shifting into a golden bull and tearing everyone in his way to pieces, a fallen archangel turning into an abomination only Hell could have created, and a revenant – sacrificer of souls – taking the shape of a mighty serpent.

  I blinked. I couldn’t think about all that now, or I was going to give myself a panic attack. What I’d seen and done when I was eleven didn’t define me. What I’d chosen to do after did define me.

  Headmaster Colin and Professor Wyvern were already leading the students out of the courtyard, through the main building, and into the forest. I walked behind the small crowd, trying to keep my distance. A group of girls noticed me and started whispering and giggling. They didn’t approach me, though, and I decided that I didn’t care what they said about me. What could they have said? They didn’t know me. They’d just heard stories and rumors.

  “Yolanda, right?”

  A petite, curvy girl caught up with me. Where had she been hiding?!

  “I’m Hayley.” She offered her hand, and I felt obliged to shake it. “Sorry, I’m a bit out of breath. It took me a while to find the girls’ locker, and I missed the speech. Anything good?”

  “Not really.” I shot her a curious glance. She looked oddly normal.

  “I’m human,” she answered the question I’d only asked in my head. “A dream jumper, like you. Isn’t this exciting? We’re the only humans to take the entry test!”

  “Well, it’s not revolutionary…”

  “No, of course.” She laughed. “Your cousin Mila was the pioneer.”

  “So, you’re a dream jumper,” I said. “Interesting.”

  “Yeah. It’s the only reason I got the invitation to apply. I don’t have supernatural parents. I’m not like you and Mila.”

  “I don’t have supernatural parents, either.” Valentine Morningstar had been a nephilim, and Mila’s mother, Katia, was a dream jumper. She still lived a happy life in a parallel dimension, using the same trick I used to keep myself young and beautiful.

  Hayley chose to stick with me, and oddly enough, I wasn’t bothered by her presence. She wasn’t overly curious or obsessed with asking uncomfortable questions, so as long as she acted like a normal person, I was even willing to befriend her. In general, people didn’t act very naturally around me. They were either trying to impress me or trying to get me to tell them the story of my life. But I was already beyond bored of that story.

  We reached a clearing. Over two hundred wooden boxes were waiting for us on the ground, and Headmaster Colin instructed us to pick one. I grabbed the box that was closest to me, but Hayley took her time to decide. I rolled my eyes. Obviously, the other candidates were faster than her, and she ended up having to settle with the last box that was left. We were supposed to open it and not show anyone what was inside. I hesitated.

  “Good luck, Yoli!” The chirpy voice coming from behind us startled me. “See you on the other side. Please don’t finish the test before all of us.” She laughed rather annoyingly. “By the way, I’m Domina. Such a pleasure to finally meet you.”

  I stared at her hand. Not again… Judging by the two pairs of majestic wings adorning her back, Domina was a seraph. She had fiery red hair and blue eyes. She was so divinely beautiful, that it almost hurt my eyes to look at her. What the hell did she want from me, though? I reluctantly shook her hand.

  “Yolanda,” I said, hoping she got the hint that I didn’t want her to call me Yoli. Only those very close to me and my heart called me that.

  “I know! You’re a legend.”

  “Hi Domina, I’m Hayley.” Well, my brunette friend was rather gutsy.

  Domina shot her a disgusted look, then proceeded to ignore her. I pulled back my hand. If nothing else, Hayley was good at exposing overestimated pieces of trash.

  “I’d like to focus now, if you don’t mind.”

  “Oh, of course!” Domina chirped. “Between you and me, though, Headmaster Colin shouldn’t have let you take the entry test. Your spot in the Violent Death Cabal is guaranteed.”

  A rush of anger painted my neck and cheeks red. Domina spread her wings and flew away, which I guessed was for her own good. I hated when people assumed that because I’d retired Valentine fucking Morningstar, now everything was being offered to me on a silver platter. I was determined to prove them wrong and earn my place at the Academy.

  “Wow. What a bitch,” Hayley pointed out.

  I turned to her. She looked at me with those big, brown eyes, and I suddenly felt protective of her. She thought we were both human, which meant that we were in the same boat, but that wasn’t true. It was in her best interest to see that now.

  “Hayley, I want you to promise me that you’ll be careful.” Neither of us had opened her box yet. “These people are dangerous. They’re angels, and demons, and vampires, and fuck knows what else, and they think they’re better than anyone, but specifically, better than humans.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Why are you telling me all this?”

  “Because I want us to be friends, but I won’t always be by your side. We probably won’t have many classes together.”

  “I don’t need you to protect me,” she mumbled. “I know supernaturals look down on humans. But if you can make it, then I can make it.”

  “You know I’m two hundred and twenty years old, right?”

  “Yeah.” Her eyes widened. “Age is just a number. Essentially, we’re still the same.”

  I bit my tongue. Instead of saying the wrong thing, I nodded. We wished each other good luck and stepped away to open our wooden boxes.

  There was a message inside: “Follow the wounded sparrow.” Not cryptic at all. The second I placed the message back into the box, the box vanished. Magic. The entry test had been designed by Headmaster Colin, and everyone knew he was a powerful mage. Fiddling with the clasps of my fingerless gloves, I looked around me. One could find sparrows in trees, right? But this one was supposedly wounded. I paced around, searching the lower branches and the ground. Most of the other candidates had disappeared into the forest, each chasing their own clues. Even Hayley was headed in the direction of the rocky cliffs overseeing the ocean.

  “Lost something, normie?”

  I did my best to not look fazed. The guy who’d called me “normie” stopped a few feet away from me. He had bright red hair, mesmerizing green eyes, and a splatter of freckles on his nose and cheeks. Two black feathered wings sprouted out of his shoulder blades. His home wasn’t Heaven, that was for sure, but to my own embarrassment, I had no idea what supernatural people had black feathered wings. He was obnoxiously charming.

  “Don’t call me that.” I tried to ignore him. The test had started, and I had a wounded sparrow to find.

  “What should I call you, then? I’m Davien, by the way. Davien Krause.”

  I cocked an eyebrow. “Yolanda. Call me Yolanda.”

  “Nah. That’s too long and pretentious. I’ll stick to ‘normie’.”

  Fuck you, Davien Krause. I wanted to ask him what he was, but I didn’t want to risk looking too interested. I tried to put some distance between us.

  “What did you lose? I can help you look for it.”

  “I didn’t lose anything.” I was on the verge of losing my patience, though. I picked up the pace, hoping my damn clue would show up
soon.

  He ran after me, and to my utter shock, grabbed me by the arm. A jolt of electricity made me yelp. The PE uniform I was wearing had short sleeves, so my arms were bare. His palm was covered by his glove, but his bare fingers came in contact with my skin, and where he touched me, an army of ants crawled under my skin, making my flesh buzz with a strange sort of energy I had never felt before. I turned to look into his eyes. The sun was shining in his hair, his perfect lips were curled into a mischievous grin, and a hint of mystery and danger glinted in his eyes. It was as if I was seeing him in a whole new light. More than that. It was as if I was seeing him for the first time. Despite myself, I smiled. My shoulders relaxed, and I even leaned a bit into his touch. I must have looked like a fool.

  “Let’s try this again,” he said, and I realized I was hanging onto his every word. “When I call you ‘normie’, you answer me. In fact, how about this? When I call you ‘normie’, you come crawling to me. And I will be good to you, I promise. All you have to do… is kneel and crawl to me.”

  My lips parted. I was about to whisper a weak, submissive “yes”, when a pale-skinned brunette with pitch black irises grabbed Davien’s wrist and squeezed it until he let go of my arm. I stumbled backwards, dazed and feeling a little sick to my stomach.

  “Krause, what are you doing?”

  “Scarlett, come on! I was just saying ‘hi’ to the star of the show.”

  “What show?”

  “The show called life!” He pulled himself free of her and spread his arms wide.

  I was finally starting to understand what had just happened. I remembered what he’d said to me perfectly. He’d used some sort of compelling… What the fuck was he? A mage? No. Mages didn’t have black wings.

  Scarlett turned to me. “Honey, are you okay? Did this jerk hurt you?”

  “What? No. He didn’t do anything.”

  “Honey, you were just about to agree you’d kneel and crawl for him.”