Supernaturals of Castle Academy: The Complete Series

Prologue

EIGHT YEARS EARLIER, AGE NINE

Black. So much black it made me feel like I couldn’t breathe. As if each piece of it was strangling me.

Pressure built behind my eyes as people milled around the gravesite. They would shake their heads or mutter things like “such a waste” or “poor Leighton.” The only one who didn’t seem affected by it all was the woman standing next to me, a blank mask on her face.

It was wrong. All of it so wrong I wanted to scream.

Dad would’ve hated everything about today. The black. The formality. The fakeness.

He should’ve been here. If this were any other funeral, he would’ve bent his head to make a joke about the woman’s hat that looked as if a bird was perched on her head, ready to take flight. But he wasn’t here. And he never would be again.

My throat closed in, a burn lighting at my effort to keep the tears at bay. I didn’t want to cry in front of all these people. Didn’t want to lose it in front of my mother.

The one time I had, after cancer stole my dad from me, she’d snapped at me. “Stop it right now. I can’t deal with your hysterics.”

I’d shut up right then. I’d spent the last ten days escaping to the woods behind our house. Finding what refuge I could in the trees and creeks. Remembering how my dad had taught me about the different plants and how to make a fire with only two sticks and some dried grass.

But that refuge wasn’t enough. I felt the emotion building. That swirling feeling deep in my gut, the pressure increasing with each pass.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming. I wanted to let loose all that ugliness eating away at my insides.

A minister clad in black stepped toward the casket.

I’d tried to avoid looking at it since we’d arrived. Dad hadn’t wanted a casket. He’d wanted to be cremated and spread out in nature. But, of course, my mom hadn’t listened to that, either. Instead, there was a dark wood, gleaming monstrosity that my father would be buried in.

As the minister moved closer, I had no choice but to look at the jail cell my father would be enclosed in for all eternity. The moment my eyes locked on it, the panic set in, sweeping through me and digging in deep.

My breaths came quicker, short pants that barely found purchase in my lungs. Each one hurt, as if the air were made of tiny barbs that shredded my insides. I couldn’t do this. Couldn’t watch them lower my father into the earth.

A hand wrapped around mine, squeezing, and I jerked at the familiar buzz that lit in my palm. That buzz had only ever come from one person. My gaze snapped to the side.

The tears almost came then.

Colt. The boy who I’d spent every summer with from before I could walk. The son of my father’s best friend. He was my true refuge. He always had been. Even when we were apart all school year, the memories of our wild summers would hold me over.

“What are you doing here?” my mother snapped.

Colt’s father, Andrew Carrington, turned hard eyes on my mother. “I’m here to say goodbye to my best friend. It would’ve been nice if we’d been informed of the arrangements.”

My head jerked in my mother’s direction. She’d told me that they were too busy and didn’t want to come.

Mom’s cheeks heated. “I told you how you could help. You weren’t interested.”

A muscle in Andrew’s cheek ticked. “Not here, Maryanne.”

“Of course not,” she huffed.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the minister began. “We are gathered here today to honor the amazing life of Douglas Carmichael.”

The panic flared fresh, and I couldn’t get any air into my lungs at all. My chest burned as black spots danced in front of my vision.

“LeeLee?” Colt whispered, concern in his voice.

“I-I can’t,” I squeaked.

He gripped my hand harder. “Come on.”

Then he was leading me through the crowd, people whispering around us. But he didn’t stop. He tugged me through the cemetery and into the forest behind it. He only slowed when we were completely encased in trees.

Colt guided me toward a log, sitting me down and crouching in front of me. His hands went to my cheeks. “Breathe, LeeLee. Just like I’m breathing.”

I tried to follow the exaggerated rise and fall of his chest, but it was no good. I couldn’t get my lungs to obey. The tears came then, hot and vicious, each one scalding my skin.

Colt said a bad word and then threw his arms around me, holding me close. His arms tightened as I cried harder. “LeeLee. I’m right here. I’ve got you.”

That only turned my cries into full on sobbing. I’d been holding all of it in these past ten days. So tight it was nearly killing me. Now that I’d broken that seal, I wasn’t sure my tears would ever stop.

“I’m so sorry.” Colt kept whispering into my ear as he held me. Reassurances and nonsensical mutterings, but they all soothed. Just knowing I wasn’t alone helped.

Slowly, my sobs subsided, and I slumped against him, exhausted. “I’m scared,” I whispered.

Colt pulled back, taking my hands as he studied my face. “Your mom?”

He knew me so well.

“I don’t want to be alone with her.” We’d never been close, but she’d gotten worse as my father’s health had declined. Gotten crueler the more she had to deal with me.

Colt’s face went stormy. “You need to come live with me and Dad.”

A little bit of hope flared in my chest. “Do you think she’d let me?”

“Maybe. We can at least ask. I know Dad would love to have you.”

Colt glanced over his shoulder toward the cemetery. “We should go back before we get in worse trouble.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. My mom wouldn’t be happy about my stunt.

He helped me to my feet, keeping hold of my hand, and we started out of the woods.

It was the raised voices on the edge of the forest that caught my attention first.

“You don’t give a crap about us. You think I don’t know that? Leighton isn’t what you think, and the moment you realize that, you’ll dump her because she’s useless to you,” my mom snapped.

I frowned at Colt. But he looked furious.

“She needs to be protected,” Andrew argued.

Mom scoffed. “And you’re going to do that, how? I won’t let her get messed up in your world.”

“Maryanne…”

Colt and I broke out of the tree line, and both their gazes snapped to us.

My mom charged over to me, grabbing my arm and yanking me hard. “We’re leaving.”

I glanced at Colt in panic.

He kept hold of my other hand. “Dad, can’t she come live with us? She wants to.”

My mom laughed, but it was an ugly and twisted sound. “You think I’d let her go with you? She’s my daughter. You’ll stay away from her.”

That panic dug in deep, tearing up my insides all over again.

“Maryanne, please,” Andrew said quietly. “Don’t do this.”

“Stay away from us, or you know what I’ll do…”

She pulled me harder, dragging me toward the parking lot.

My tears came in a fresh wave, my vision blurring.

Colt yelled out for me, but his father held him back.

I tried to fight my mom’s hold, but it was too strong.

“Colt!” I cried.

“Shut up,” she snapped, shaking my arm. “I won’t have you embarrass me any further. You’ll behave, or you’ll pay the price.”

I snapped my mouth closed, but I couldn’t stop the tears.

My mom shoved me into the back seat of her car, and I pressed my face to the back window, trying to keep my eyes on Colt. If I could still see him, everything would be okay. But it was only a matter of seconds until he disappeared altogether…