Chapter Thirty-Nine
We moved toward the Academy in unison as my shadow mark alternated between burning and freezing. It didn’t help that my birthmark was also heated.
I looked down at Barlen and stopped walking. He glanced up and slowed.
“What?” he asked.
“I wanted to thank you for risking so much for someone you barely know.”
He shook his head and smiled. “No. It’s not for someone I barely know. It’s for something I almost forgot to treasure.”
I studied him closely. “What’s that?”
“Hope, Maeve. You’ve given me hope again.”
I glanced around the darkness as the energy shifted around us. “How?”
“You reminded me that there is another way outside of these walls.”
Shadows swooped from above, as a breeze skimmed across my skin, and Barlen hopped and started skittering toward the Academy’s entrance.
“We don’t have time, Maeve.”
I followed after him, grabbing the charm out of my pocket as the shadows swooped lower overhead. They glided across the stone courtyard and curled around the dead vines climbing the Academy walls while the enormous structure loomed above us like it had been waiting for this exact moment.
The charm heated instantly in my hand.
Barlen reached the doors first and looked over his shoulder at me while fog drifted around his boots. “Maeve, hurry.”
“I’m trying,” I whispered, shoving the charm toward the ancient lock buried in the center of the black doors.
The moment I got near, the Academy shuddered around us.
A low groan echoed through the stone beneath our feet while ancient gears shifted somewhere deep inside the walls. Dust drifted from above in soft clouds, and the shadows behind us immediately pulled back several feet like they suddenly weren’t quite as eager to get closer.
The charm turned the latch on its own.
My breath caught as silver markings spread outward from the lock in twisting patterns that looked painfully familiar to the marks joined somehow on my own skin.
The doors slowly began to open inward, with warm air drifting out first.
I froze, and Barlen did too.
Earlier in the day, the Academy had felt cold and abandoned.
The hallways were dark and heavy with dust. It felt forgotten, and now the warmth spilling from within wrapped around my skin, almost cautiously, and a soft golden light flickered somewhere farther down the corridors beyond the entrance hall.
The Academy looked awake.
Barlen stepped inside first, and I followed him slowly while the doors groaned shut behind us. The enormous entrance hall stretched several stories upward with towering archways and silver chandeliers suspended overhead, but that wasn’t what caught my attention.
The ivy climbing the walls earlier had changed.
Tiny green shoots threaded through the black vines now, curling around the stone pillars while soft silver lanterns flickered to life farther down the corridor, one by one.
My shadow mark burned sharply against my skin, and the Academy answered immediately.
A chandelier overhead brightened.
Barlen stopped walking altogether and stared around the hall. “This isn’t possible.”
I glanced toward him. “What?”
“Even when I was here, it never responded like this.”
A strange knot formed in my stomach as I looked around again. The entire place felt different now. Earlier, it felt dormant, almost wounded.
Now there was movement everywhere.
The staircases creaked softly as if adjusting themselves while shadows drifted lazily across the ceiling beams overhead. Lights continued brightening farther down the halls, almost like the Academy was slowly remembering itself piece by piece.
A low rumble rolled through the floor beneath us, and one of the walls lining the entrance hall shifted slightly with a grinding sound before settling again.
Barlen turned slowly in a circle, staring upward. “I’ve never seen it this alive, even when it was open to students.”
His choice of words sent another chill through me.
Alive.
That was exactly how it felt, like Stonewick Academy.
A loud slam hit the doors behind us.
The shadows outside weren’t the same as the ones inside.
Barlen’s expression tightened instantly. “It won’t take long before the Priestess realizes you’re gone.”
“Well, that’s exactly what I didn’t want to hear.”
“She’ll feel the shift here eventually.” He glanced uneasily toward the ceiling. “Maybe she already has.”
The warmth around us pulsed suddenly, and the lanterns brightened another shade as if reacting to his fear.
I slowly turned toward the main staircase where the light spilled across the steps. The Academy seemed almost eager now. Every corner buzzed with anticipation while the magic wrapped around my skin in careful little waves.
The only logical reason was that this place recognized me, and that thought should have comforted me more than it did.
Rather, it terrified me a little.
I stepped farther into the Academy, and another deep rumble rolled through the structure. I watched as dust scattered from the rafters and the floors polished themselves.
Barlen stared openly now. “Maeve…”
“I know.”
“No.” He shook his head slowly. “I really don’t think you do.”
Before I could ask what he meant, the shadows outside slammed violently against the doors again, hard enough to shake the walls. The chandeliers overhead rattled softly while black smoke-like tendrils slipped beneath the crack at the bottom of the entrance.
My pulse jumped as the shadows moved differently now. Earlier, they felt wild and on the hunt, almost free.
Now they seemed cautious.
Curious.
The dark tendrils slid across the floor in twisting ribbons while Barlen backed away from them immediately. They were no longer fighting their way in to destroy us. They were here to…learn.
“Perhaps, they plan on reporting this development to the Priestess,” Barlen muttered.
“Not a comforting thought,” I replied.
“We should move,” he whispered, but the shadows stilled.
Every single one of them froze in place across the stone floor.
The Academy pulsed beneath my feet as magic surged outward through the walls in a warm wave so strong it nearly knocked the breath from my lungs. Every lantern in the entrance hall flared brighter while silver markings spread across the ceiling overhead in enormous spirals.
The shadows jerked backward, just enough to create distance between themselves and me.
Barlen grabbed my arm suddenly, and his little paw tugged my pocket. “They’ve never done that before.”
The shadows shifted again, slowly curling lower toward the ground while the Academy lights continued glowing brighter around us.
The whispers started softly and were barely audible.
Maeve…
My skin prickled instantly as the voices drifted through the entrance hall like wind moving through leaves.
Maeve…
I went completely still as Barlen’s face scrunched. “You heard that too?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
The shadows curled tighter together across the floor.
Home…
The next whisper slid through the Academy walls so softly that it almost felt imagined, but the way the lanterns flickered afterward told me it wasn’t.
A terrible realization began to form in my chest.
The shadows weren’t following the Priestess here anymore.
They were reacting to me.
“No,” I whispered immediately.
Barlen looked between me and the dark shapes stretching across the floor. “Maeve, what’s happening?”
The shadows stirred uncertainly.
“I don’t know.”
The shadows closest to us slowly shifted direction and drifted toward me, or was that wishful thinking?
“I’ve never…” Barlen stopped as the shadows puddled around me.
And then it happened. The front doors exploded inward.
Wind rushed violently through the entrance hall while darkness flooded across the threshold in thick waves.
The Priestess’ gaze landed directly on me as she stood outside in the courtyard with hair whipping around her face, and shadows spiraled behind her like a living storm.
The Academy reacted instantly as shadows inside surged upward between us before I even had time to think. They rose in twisting columns across the entrance while the lanterns brightened so fiercely that the entire hall glowed gold and white.
The Priestess stopped abruptly, and Barlen eyed me.
For the first time since meeting her, genuine shock crossed her face.
“No,” she whispered.
The shadows surrounding her hesitated.
Actually hesitated.
The Academy floor pulsed beneath my feet again, and one of the staircases shifted loudly somewhere behind us. Walls groaned softly while magic rolled through the structure in steady waves, and the shadows inside the Academy gathered tighter around me instead of the Priestess.
Protection.
The realization hit me hard enough that I physically stepped backward.
Barlen looked equally horrified. “They’re choosing.”
The Priestess took another step, and the shadows immediately surged higher between us.
A crack split across the stone courtyard beneath her feet.
Her expression darkened instantly as she looked beyond the shadows and directly at me. “You do not understand what you’re doing.”
“Truer words couldn’t have been spoken,” I muttered.
The Academy practically vibrated around us as the warmth flowed through the walls.
The shadows drifting near me no longer carried the same harsh danger from earlier. They moved carefully now, brushing across the floor and pillars in slow circles.
The Priestess stared at them in disbelief. “They belong to Shadowick.”
Another pulse rolled through the Academy.
The shadows nearest me immediately shifted closer, and suddenly I understood the problem.
They did belong to Shadowick.
Just not her version of it…just not to her.
The realization seemed to strike the Priestess at the exact same moment because her face changed instantly. Fury twisted across her features while the shadows outside behind her whipped violently through the courtyard.
“You opened it,” she hissed.
I swallowed hard and glanced around the glowing entrance hall with its waking magic and shifting staircases.
“No,” I said quietly.
The Academy lights brightened another shade around me.
“I think it opened itself.”
The Priestess stepped forward again, and this time the shadows didn’t merely rise between us. They lashed across the entrance hall hard enough to crack stone pillars near the doors while the entire Academy trembled around us.
Barlen grabbed my arm and pulled me backward just as black fog exploded across the floor where I’d been standing a second earlier.
The Priestess’ eyes flashed. “You think the Academy chose you?”
“I’m getting that impression,” I said, though my voice came out thinner than I wanted.
Her gaze sharpened instantly at the fear slipping through my words.
“Oh, Maeve.” She smiled then, but there wasn’t anything warm left in it now. “You truly don’t understand what this place is.”
The Academy groaned beneath us again.
Like something deep inside the walls was waking too quickly.
The warmth pulsing through the corridors moments ago suddenly intensified until every silver lantern burned almost blindingly bright. Shadows raced along the ceilings while the staircases shifted loudly behind us, stone grinding against stone as entire sections of the Academy rearranged themselves.
Barlen looked around wildly. “It’s unstable.”
The Priestess laughed softly outside the doors. “Of course it is. The Academy was never meant to awaken this fast.”
A sharp pulse shot through my birthmark hard enough that I physically doubled over.
Pain ripped across my ribs while silver light flashed beneath my skin, and the shadows nearest me immediately surged closer in response.
Barlen caught my shoulders. “Maeve.”
“I’m fine,” I lied through clenched teeth.
Another pulse hit that was stronger this time.
The silver markings spreading across the walls suddenly raced higher toward the ceiling while the enormous staircase behind us split directly down the center.
My head jerked upward.
A hidden passage slowly revealed itself above the stairs, dark and ancient and definitely not there earlier.
The Priestess saw it, and genuine panic crossed her face.
“No.” The word cracked through the air.
Every shadow surrounding her writhed violently.
Barlen stared upward at the hidden passage. “What is that?”
But the Priestess answered first.
“The Shadow Chamber.” The way she said it sent ice straight through my chest.
My shadow mark burned so fiercely now that tears sprang into my eyes.
The Priestess took another step, but this time, the shadows didn’t stop her immediately.
They hesitated, and suddenly every instinct inside me screamed.
The Academy wasn’t fully awake yet.
It was struggling.
The shadows were choosing, trying to decide.
The Priestess realized it, too, because her expression shifted instantly into cold satisfaction.
“You see?” she said softly. “It still knows me.”
The shadows around her surged forward several feet.
Barlen swore under his breath and stepped protectively in front of me despite being dramatically less intimidating than literally everyone else in the building, and that made my heart clench with worry.
He threw something onto the ground, and before I had time to think, the Academy floor cracked beneath my feet.
Light exploded upward through the fractures while a deafening roar echoed somewhere deep below the structure, and every shadow in the hall jerked violently toward me all at once.