Shadow Embraced (Haven Academy Book 1) [Completed]

Chapter 17

Sunday. One horrific week ends just in time for another one to begin. I'll start it by ditching this feeding; I accept I need blood, but these public ceremonies are stupid. What's the worst thing that could happen if I give it a miss?

I watch the students pile through the chapel doors. Hanging back, I keep an eye on Rayne, and let the crowd overtake me. I duck into the woods and wait.

Eventually, the last person enters the chapel, and the doors shut. I breathe a sigh of relief that my idiotic plan actually worked. I'm playing hooky, and now that everyone else is occupied, I can relax for a while.

Now, where should I go? School's no good; might be some teachers wandering about and I have no idea where the werewolves or witches are at this time. I don't feel like going back to the dorm, besides, someone may see me and ask why I'm back so early.

As I walk along the tree line, something catches the corner of my eye. It's a path. A faint strand of beaten dirt branches off to the distant gate. Even though it's cleared, it goes unnoticed as if whoever made it wants no one to know about it.

Okay, here's a choice. I can follow the mystery path into the middle of the dark and dangerous woods or ignore it and stay safe. There's really no option, is there? I follow the path.

About five hundred metres in, I find the ruins of a long-abandoned town house. It looks as if it used to be pretty swanky, despite being demolished and overrun by plants over the years. Three fifths of a walled courtyard embraces the shattered manor. The yard inside the walls is in better condition than anything else in the area. With great care, someone has cleared debris and pruned back plants to establish a garden.

It is breathtaking. Colourful beds of elegant flowers bloom in elaborate patterns, forging works of art across the enclosure. It's hard to imagine anyone with the dedication to planting and care for this beautiful plot.

Footsteps sound behind me. Someone's coming along the path. Without thinking, I duck into the ruined house. It may seem childish, but it's my day off and I'm getting tired of being attacked. A faint hollowness fills the air as if a patch of nothingness opened up all around me.

I watch from the shadows as a girl enters the garden. She moves to all of the plants, inspecting every inch of her garden. The morning sun bounces off her short sand-coloured hair that looks more like the quills that I've seen on a transformed werewolf as she tends to her plants. It's the girl from the tunnels.

"It's a beautiful garden you've got here." I step out of my hiding place and make my way over to her.

She freezes at the sound of my voice like a deer in a car's headlights. She just stands there, staring at her flowers.

"Sorry if I startled you, but I wanted to thank you for helping me before."

"I can't speak to you," she says, not looking at me. "I'm not allowed to speak to the students."

"I just wanted to apologise. I don't know what came over me last time," I say, turning around. "If you want me to go, I will."

"You're not like the others," she says in a voice just above a whisper.

I turn back around and face her. I knew someone would find out the truth. How can I keep pretending if I don't know anything about the thing I'm pretending to be? "I know. I don't belong here."

Fidgeting like a little bird, she tugs at the hem of her fraying jumper. The collar slips down, revealing a band of tarnished iron inlaid with a bead of quartz encircling her neck.

"No." She shakes her head, running a hand along a purple flower. "You're not like the other creatures that have come here."

"What other creatures?"

Her gaze darts around the area before coming to rest on me. "It is not safe while they are out there. You can't let yourself become like them. You've got to control it."

"Control what?" I ask, afraid I already know the answer.

The girl gives a pained yelp as the quartz stones in her collar flashes red. "Be careful, Scar. There are things here that are more dangerous than you." She starts to walk away, down the dirt path.

"How'd you know my name?" I call after her, when she doesn't answer, I add, "I don't even know yours."

"It's Apollina," she calls before she disappears into the woods.

* * *

Running. Screaming.

Something hunts. Someone is out here.

A clearing. Too dark to see.

Where is it? Can't think straight.

Someone screams for help. No one can hear.

A low growl.

Pain. On the ground, blood.

A pair of sanguine eyes blazing in the darkness. Fear...

I bolt upright, but the tangled sheets force me back down. I'm on the floor. Aftershocks pummel throughout my body. I gasp for breath. It makes no sense. My visions only come when I draw, not while asleep.

"Scar." Rayne leans over me. Concern fills her eyes. "Are you okay? It looked like you were having a seizure or something."

Shuddering painfully, I try to sit up. It can't be a vision. It was only a series of disjointed images.

"I... it... it was nothing," I stammer. "Just a nightmare. Sorry for waking you."

"No sweat," she says, getting up and moving to her side of the room. "I've got to get started on my homework, anyway."

I push myself to my feet and stumble toward the bed. As I collapse onto the soft mattress, I notice my sketchbook open on my pillow.

I grab the three pencils from beneath me and toss them to the floor. Dragging myself up the bed, I look at the drawing that covers the page. I have no memory of drawing that. It shows a girl, lying on the ground. Her tangled ebony hair covers her face, hiding her identity from me.

Ripping the image from the book, I fold it up and shove it under my pillow. I really don't need people to see this.