Shadow Fated (Shadow War Academy #2)

Chapter 1

Sleep beckons me, trying in vain to drag me under, but I grasp onto Professor Graves’ words—hold onto them tight and shake off the lull to the dark for a little longer.

My mind spins, trying to make sense of what he said.

He switched me back… Back…

I glance down at my body, blinking away the dark spots trying to form at the corner of my vision.

My body. This is my body. And apparently has been mine all along.

The words take shape in my mind, but still don’t make any sense.

“Why?” I look to Professor Graves as he continues to drive us along the wide road surrounded by thick forest.

I should be trying to escape instead of looking for more answers. But my body is heavy and beyond exhausted. I know I don’t have long before sleep claims me once more.

Answers might be the only thing I get right now.

Professor Graves briefly glances over his shoulder before focusing back on the road. There’s barely any traffic as the forest surrounds us, making it seem like we’re in the middle of nowhere.

Something that doesn’t bring me any measure of comfort.

“You are all that is left of your kind. We needed to keep you safe and alive. But you were too young to understand what was happening and your powers were already awakening. We ran out of time.”

Safe and alive… safe…

It takes a minute but each of his words finally claw their way through my foggy brain.

I chuckle, but there’s not an ounce of humor in it. “Safe? No part of any of the foster homes or people that are supposed to be called parents were safe. I lived alone most of my life. I had no one that I could trust or confide in. So, please… tell me what part of that was supposed to be safe?”

Professor Graves’s eyes widen, his mouth pops open and he stares at me for a moment making me regret my vomit of words.

“Sena… If any of us had known—”

“Forget it.” I quickly reel back my emotions, blaming it on the exhaustion thrumming through every bone and muscle while ignoring the growing tightness in my chest.

“You said ‘we’?” I ask, clearing my throat of emotion while trying to avoid the look of pity he’s giving me now and blame the tiredness for talking about things I never would have otherwise.

Professor Graves releases a heavy sigh but keeps that expression full of pity in his eyes as he glances back at me through the mirror. “My clan. There’s not many of us left now. Most Variants have been hunted to extinction.”

I nod while trying to process it all, but my brain starts to grow foggy again.

“I thought you were safe,” he says with nothing but distress in his voice.

“But with most of my clan dead, I couldn’t find you.

I wasn’t the one who originally switched you.

But any member of the same clan can undo a switch.

I’ve been searching for you for years, Sena.

We were never supposed to leave you that long in that body.

It was far too dangerous.” His eyes flicker to mine once more through the small rearview mirror. This time filled with guilt.

“I’m sorry,” he says, and I can tell he actually means it. But I’m too tired to give him any compassion or grace and too emotionally drained to truly care.

“Why now?” I ask him, needing to understand. “Why keep searching for me after all these years?”

“You… you died Sena,” he says reminding me of my hazy memory of the alleyway before I woke up in the burning building.

It quickly shocks the fog from my mind. “I cut it close, too close. I thought you had a little more time, but I was wrong. I was barely able to switch you back and revive you.” He sends me a worried glance as I lose myself to my thoughts.

“I would have switched you and the other girl back years ago,” he says with a harsh sigh, “but it took far too long to find you.”

The other girl… My old… the other body.

Feeling like I’m slowly going crazy, I push the thought to the back of my mind and try to think rationally.

Maybe he’s lying? Maybe this is all just some game he’s playing?

“How can I trust what you’re telling me is the truth? How do I know you’re not lying to me?” I ask while doubt and fear and shock continue to tumble around in my mind.

I try to deny his words and push them away but something deep down inside me also screams at me that I already know the truth. And have known it since I arrived at the academy.

His brow furrows. “Your powers would never have awoken for her. Only you.”

My powers… “the shadow shield?”

He frowns. “Any powers. What you’ve experienced awakening inside you so far is only the start of what you’re capable of.

You are more powerful than you know, Sena.

” He gives me another expression full of reverence and awe that makes me uncomfortable.

His frown reappears at the look of disbelief I must be giving him.

He sighs. “You feel stronger, don’t you? And you likely have since you woke up in this body. Your body.”

I glance down at my body. At the body that has supposedly always been mine.

I admit I have felt stronger since I woke up. I can’t deny that nor the feeling of finally belonging. I thought it was just the people around me but maybe it was this body too.

“Whereas I bet you always felt weak before,” Professor Graves continues. “Maybe you got sick easily?” He asks the question with a knowing raised brow.

I was weak before. Always sick or sore, though I assumed it was because I grew up in shitty foster homes with even shittier people who didn’t like to feed me, let alone look after me.

His frown deepens. “You also would never have found your mates if the other girl was still in your body either.”

A flutter of hope moves through my chest. My mates…

“They’re mine? Not hers?” I ask as relief attempts to fill me.

Common sense tells me that the other Sena would have already known whether she was their mate. Especially after spending time around them over and over again, but doubt and fear still festered inside me, making me question if I was wrong.

He nods his head. “No one but you could be their mate, Sena. They may have recognized something in her, but it was most likely a piece of your essence and nothing more. If she was still in your body right now, she would never have been able to form a connection with them. They were and will always only ever be yours.”

Mine. Always mine.

Something soft brushes against my chest as the flutter grows and warmth fills it, easing the tightness.

But then I quickly remember that I still have to tell them about all of this, and that they’re going to hate me when they find out I kept the switch from them.

“Knox?” I call out in my mind with a sliver of hope as I try to reach him. But only silence greets me.

I try again, but no matter how hard I try to push through the fog of my mind, I can’t reach him.

Maybe I’m too far away? We’ve always been at the academy or the War Camps together.

My shoulders drop as heavy exhaustion cloaks a thick blanket over my body.

I glance down at my hands and turn them over. Is this really my body?

I have to admit, I feel stronger. This body… it was too easy to adjust to. Too easy to accept.

Even as a child, my other body felt wrong.

“Say I believe you. Then why? Why did I need to be hidden? Who am I?” I try to glare at Professor Graves, but exhaustion beats down on me making it feel half-assed.

“Many want you dead simply because of what you are. And we couldn’t take the chance of any of them finding you.

” He rubs the back of his neck with a harsh sigh.

“I thought I was bringing you someplace safe. The Shadow Academy has powerful shields and is secluded. But I wasn’t thorough when I checked it out.

I didn’t realize how bad some of the Shadows have become. ”

I narrow my eyes on him. “I thought Shadows killed Variants.”

“They do and have,” he says with another harsh sigh as the world around me starts to tilt and spin.

“But they’re also powerful and their natural instinct is to protect you.”

Me? “What? Why?” Darkness bleeds into the corner of my vision making it harder to stay awake.

“Because you’re a royal, Sena,” he says with a pained sigh as darkness yanks me hard, dragging me into its abyss. “Our last royal.”

“Sena…”

The whispered plea of my name wakes me with a gasp.

I sit up and glance around the bright room full of luxury.

The huge king-sized bed I’m on is covered by a thick, silk duvet with a white floral pattern and dozens of matching pillows.

There’s a huge white dresser with gold flecks on its edges across from me with drawers at its sides and an oval mirror at its center.

There’s a white door to the left of the dresser with a gold handle, another to the right of the bed, and another further across the room.

The room itself is huge and spacious, with marble floors and thick white rugs laid across it. There’s also a large lounge chair on the other side of the room with a desk and chair beside it.

A girl with long, deep-brown hair opens the door across from me and pauses.

“You’re awake,” she says making me freeze.

“Who are you?” I ask and the girl almost jumps out of her skin. Her extremely pale, almost sickly, skin.

Her big brown eyes widen. “Forgive me, my name is Willow. I’m an Alita.” She winces. “Or I’m at least classified as one.” She frowns.

Alita… A Winged female. Levington’s words flash across my memory, reminding me he said I was the youngest Alita alive. Willow doesn’t look much older than me but maybe that has more to do with her thin frame and pale pallor than anything else.

“Where am I?” I try to think back to the last thing I remember. The memory of Professor Graves in the car hits me like a ton of bricks, reminding me of his little reveal.

Willow takes a hesitant step toward the bed. “You’re in the Volar Academy. You’re safe.”

Safe… I shake my head wanting to laugh at her and the conclusion she seems to have come to.

Professor Graves brought me here without so much as asking me if this is what I wanted. Even if I was supposed to end up here after the War Games, he still brought me here without my permission.

I throw the silky blankets off and get to my feet. The world quickly tilts and spins and Willow moves forward to grab my arm and balance me.

“I was told you need to rest as much as possible,” she says with a worried frown.

“Is the man that brought me here still here or did he drop me off and leave?” I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. Professor Graves doesn’t seem like the ‘stick around and explain himself’ type of guy.

“Cassius?” She frowns. “He’s with Commander Levington.”

The dizziness finally stops, and I take a step away from her. “Take me to him. I mean them, please. I have a lot to discuss with—”

“Sena… Sena please answer me.” The desperation in Knox’s voice makes me freeze.

“Knox?”

He sighs. It’s half filled with relief, half exhaustion. “Baby, where are you?”

“I think I’m in the Volar Academy.” I make my way over to the long gold curtains and draw them back before stepping out onto a wide balcony. I catch Willow following me slowly but pay her no mind when I see the stunning view.

A view that shows me just how vast the Volar Academy really is. From what I can see, it looks at least twice the size of the Shadow Academy.

A backdrop of mountains with a large stretch of forest is to the right of me and a vast ocean stretches miles across from me. The huge expanse of the academy sits in front of it all, with the thick sweeping forest weaving in and around it.

There are multiple buildings across from me and a larger one not too far to the left of where I am.

The thick forest weaves its way in and around the entire academy, but it’s thickest around a separate area that’s far ahead to the left of me.

There’s dozens of winged warriors training, flying and sparing in what looks like a military camp.

The training field is much larger than the one outside it with barracks off to the side and a large fighting area to its right.

All of it sits beside a large basecamp with the forest behind it.

A forest that looks to stretch for miles with some open spaces here and there, but it’s too far from me to see if there’s any buildings inside.

The immense forest eventually meets enormous mountains and stretches around the entire left side, making it feel like everyone here is in their own little separate world.

Which I suppose is technically true, considering the shield and barriers they must have up.

“This is the Volar Academy?” I ask Willow. It has a similar dark forest to the Shadow Academy but everything else seems so much more lively, bigger and brighter, whereas the Shadow Academy always felt like there was a dense fog sitting heavily over it.

She nods as she moves a step closer to me. “It’s beautiful isn’t it?”

I nod, still stunned by its vast beauty.

“Sena?” Knox says shaking me from my awestruck mind.

“I’m here,” I tell him.

“We found a portal. We’re on our way.”

Warmth floods my chest knowing they’ll be here soon. But then I remember what I’ve just learned about myself. And if it’s true that means I not only have to tell them about the switch, but also that I might be… royal.

The thought alone makes me wince.

“Are you okay?” Willow moves beside me, scanning my face. “You look like you’re in pain. Maybe you should lie down.”

I open my mouth to tell her I’m fine when screams and shouts sound out from somewhere below, followed by a huge mass of familiar dark shadows spreading out across the grounds.

I smile. Looks like my mates are here.