Silverwood Academy Book 1 Read online

  Large cream couches with cushions that thick it looked like they would swallow you up if you sat in it, stood in front of a fireplace to the far right. Behind the couches was a large wooden staircase that curved up and outwards to the second level, where you could see large wooden doors that led to other rooms. To the left of the room were two large double doors.

  Melissa and Headmistress Nightwing took me through to the first set of double doors, where a large desk stood in the centre of it, an armchair sat on one side and two on the other. Filing cabinets sat beside the desk, and both sides of the walls had floor to ceiling bookcases, filled with books that were organised by colour, which was visually appealing.

  Headmistress Nightwing was written on a plaque sitting on the desk, achievements hung up on the walls behind it.

  “Please sit, Miss Marshall,” Headmistress Nightwing told me, gesturing towards the empty chair.

  I had been too preoccupied looking around at everything that I hadn’t realised they were already sitting down and waiting for me.

  Sitting down in the armchair next to Melissa quickly, the chair swallowed me up, and was as comfy as it looked, and I didn’t think I had ever sat on anything this comfortable.

  “Now that you are a vampire, you’re required to attend our school for the next four years or so. You will learn how to use your natural vampiric abilities and how to keep the identity of the supernatural world a secret while living among humans, along with learning where supernatural communities are. You will be expected to pass all your classes to continue to the next year, so if you fail one class, you fail all and will have to repeat. Everyone at this school is highly competitive and we expect the absolute best from our students.” She continued. “Tomorrow is orientation in the auditorium, everyone is expected to attend. Now, you may feel like you’re the only one going through all of this but let me assure you everyone starting their first year has gone through the exact same thing you have, more or less.” She shrugged.

  “So… you’re telling me, that everyone in this school got kidnapped and turned into a vampire against their will and is now forced to attend school for four years without even being asked if we wanted this?” I asked, arms folded across my chest with my brows raised.

  She smiled sweetly at me. “Of course, now you’re understanding it.” I balked. She’s got to be joking. Surely this cannot be right! “So now that we’ve gotten all of that out of the way we can discuss the stipend. Our school has very generous donors and everyone that attends this school receives a bank card with a stipend in it for attending the school and completing your classes, if you fail a term you automatically lose your stipend for the next. If you pass, you will still be eligible. Meals are free and provided in the cafeteria, which is where you can get your blood, that’s if you don’t have a friend to bite off,” she winked, “Whatever you choose. We don’t judge nor discriminate. You will get your very own notebook, that has your class schedule and the campus map, you will find everything you need loaded onto it and you will also be able to message your classmates and email your professors on it.” An upbeat knock rapped on the door, interrupting her.

  “Come in.” The Headmistress called out, the sound of the door opening and footsteps walking through. “Ahh Annabelle, this is our new student.” She gestured towards me.

  Turning in my chair to look at who came through the door I saw a girl with golden wavy hair that fell down past her shoulders stood in the doorway with a smile, her eyes were a bright blue, and she had that perfect dewy sun-kissed colour that was nearly impossible to achieve, freckles sat delicately upon her nose and the tops of her cheeks.

  “Anna,” she corrected with a smile.

  “Oh yes,” the Headmistress said. “I hope you’ll be able to show miss Natasha Marshall around our academy.”

  Anna turned to me with a bright smile. “Of course!”

  Headmistress Nightwing opened a drawer, pulling out a key, passing it to me. “Now that’s your room key, you will be in the vampire dormitories with the rest of your faction, and the rest of your things are in your room,” Headmistress Nightwing said.

  The key was small with a tag that had room number 102 written across it. “You can leave now, Professor Blackthorne and I have much to discuss.” She motioned to the door.

  I followed Anna out the door. She pointed to the hallway beyond the staircase. “The cafeteria is through those doors there,” she said. “Up the staircases are some of our classrooms.” She pointed to the door beside the one we came out of. “That’s the auditorium.” We walked out the front door, through the courtyard along the sweeping ground towards a grassy hill.

  The sun was setting and casting a beautiful golden light across the whole of campus. “Sunlight doesn’t kill, but it does get a little uncomfortable at times, so wear a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen, especially during the middle of the day so you don’t get a nasty sunburn. With a healthy diet and blood, you shouldn’t burst into flames.”

  After ten minutes of walking another building came into view. “That’s the witches’ dormitories.” She pointed to the large gothic building up ahead. Walking straight past the dormitories.

  “The werewolves are through that part of the forest up there.” She pointed back out to the forest from where I first came up from the dungeons, I shuddered at the thought. “They’re our sort of “sister” school, called Silvernight Academy, but really we’re just one giant school and campus. They just like to divide the werewolves from the vampires as a precaution.” She shrugged.

  She led the way through a large and beautiful garden, the smell of different flowers and earth filled my nose. “This is the witches garden. There’s all sorts of herbs and ingredients in there.” Exiting the large garden, walking across the grass, eventually passing another building which was the gym, we walked up to a large sprawling gothic building.

  Behind the building were woods surrounding it in an arc and sweeping along the back of all the other buildings and around going all the way back up the rest of the academy.

  “This is the vampire dormitory, there’s a quicker way to get here if you follow the path through the woods, but if we went that way you wouldn’t have been able to see everything else.”

  Following Anna up to the large double doors and heading inside, I stood staring in a large room, a staircase stood in the middle of the room, towards the right of the room were large couches sitting in front of a tv, the left side of the room had another set of couches but instead of a tv it had a fireplace.

  “Beyond the staircase is more seating, just like this, and a bathroom,” Anna said walking up the stairs and I followed along, my hand gliding up the wooden bannister.

  “Where is everyone?” I asked, noticing the whole time we walked here I hadn’t seen anyone.

  She shrugged. “Everyone is either in their room or has gone to the lake to celebrate as a back to school sort of thing.”

  “Did you not want to go?” I felt slightly guilty that she had to show me around instead of hanging out with her friends.

  “I can go later,” she stated matter-of-factly, like it wasn’t a big deal.

  The first landing had hallways spreading out in four different directions and in the centre was another staircase. The other three floors were all identical. Everything was lavish and huge, the staircases, couches, the pillows.

  When we got to the fifth floor, she led me down the hallway towards the right, finding my room half-way down the hall. “My room is just further along down here,” Anna said, point down the hallway more. “Room 108 in case you need anything.”

  I smiled at her. “Thanks.” She seemed nice and genuine. I stuck the key into the lock and turned, the sound of it clicking unlocked.

  “I’ll come get you in an hour and we can go to the lake, yeah?” Anna asked, turning back towards me.

  “Yeah, sounds good,” I called to her, turning the door handle to the room and walking inside.

  My heart hammered around in my chest and I sucke
d in a sharp breath. A big beautiful wooden four poster queen size bed sat in the middle of the left side wall, lights woven around the posts, white netting tied back to the sides of the wooden posts. Bedside tables on either side of the bed, a lamp, and a big bay window sat in the middle of the far wall, taking up most of the wall, black and white cushions on the seats, views of the woods and the sweeping landscape.

  Glass sliding doors on the far wall lead to a walk-in closet with stuff clothes already hanging up inside, within the closet was a door that lead to the bathroom.

  The bathroom door stood ajar and I could see a large corner spa bath, a large rain shower, toilet and sink. There was a toothbrush and toothpaste sitting in a holder, shampoos, conditioners and soaps in the cupboard underneath the sink, makeup and sat in the drawers and a huge mirror hung above the sink.

  In the walk-in were some white button-down shirts and blazers sitting on hangers in my size. The blazers were black with red trimming and a silver crest sitting on the left. Inside the crest ‘SA’ was written in cursive and surrounding that was a moon, a swirling pattern with sparks and vampire teeth.

  There were black leggings and a black and red checkered skirt, a black polo shirt with the same crest on the left pocket and black shorts folded neatly into stacks on one of the shelves.

  Sitting on the nightstand was a black device that resembled an i-pad on charge, I unplugged it and turned on the device, it booted up, looking through it, flipping through the school map, my timetable and the text and call features.

  All my information already loaded into the device, just liked Headmistress Nightwing said. I locked the device, putting it back onto the nightstand.

  Everything that had happened in the last who knows how many hours was unbelievable, and insane. I didn’t know how I was going to survive or even get through this. It just all seemed so… unreal.

  ***

  Chapter 2:

  An hour later I was showered and dressed in jeans and a red racerback crop top that contrasted against my creamy skin, makeup on and my hair blow dried with a round brush. I looked great. My black hair was falling perfectly at my waist, my light green eyes stared back at me.

  I smiled, inspecting my teeth in the mirror, they were normal, straight and white. Not fang-like at all.

  A knock at my door pulled me out of my inspecting and I opened the door and Anna stood there in a white sundress and a bright smile on her face, her hair curled to perfection. “Grab your key and let’s go,” she said.

  We walked through the woods, twinkling lights on either side of the pathway, lighting up the way, it was a short ten-minute walk to the main building. Above the door was a sign with the words “The Hub” written on it. I’d never noticed it before, probably because I was too busy staring at everything else. We walked passed it and across the field, into more woods, following another path that was lit up by little twinkling lights, we followed along in silence.

  Laughter and music played in the distance, a huge splash, more laughter, people cheering. We stepped into a clearing, where people were swimming in the lake, standing on the bank and chatting, some were lying on floating lounges sipping from a cup.

  A shirtless guy came walking up to us with long blonde hair that came to just above his shoulders, dark brown eyes and a trimmed beard, he ran his hands through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes, flexing his biceps as he did. He took a large swig of his drink. “Hey, my name is Oliver,” he said in a deep voice.

  “I’m Anna and this is Natasha,” Anna told him before I could say anything.

  Oliver turned to her with a big smile on his face. “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Anna.”

  Anna’s cheeks went pink with blush, making her look even more beautiful. He turned to me. “Lovely to meet you Natasha.” He took my hand and kissed the top of it. He smelt like pine trees and honey.

  “Thanks,” I replied. “It was…” I looked him up and down, his abs and the v that was cut off by his pants. “Alright.” I tugged my hand free he was holding.

  His hand wound around my waist as he steering me along the bank towards a large esky. “Well let’s get you a drink then,” he replied, like my comment didn’t bother him.

  I sighed. “Fine, I could use a drink after the day I’ve had anyway.”

  He bent down to the cooler, grabbing vodka and soda, pouring the contents in two cups, he passed it to me, I took a large gulp. The taste of vodka hitting my tongue, some of the fire in my belly dissipated, he held another cup out to Anna and she took it. “Thanks,” she said shyly.

  Oliver smirked at me. “At least someone has manners,” he joked. I smiled back at him, about to reply with a snarky comment when another guy came jogging up. He had long dreadlocks, his skin a beautiful deep brown, dark brown eyes, and a sharp jawline, he only had shorts on which showed off his abs.

  He clapped Oliver on the shoulder. “Olly you have to come check this out, man!” he exclaimed, laughing. He looked at us and smiled brightly. “Who’re the hotties?” he winked at Anna.

  Oliver looked at me with a smirk. “This is the feisty little Natasha,” he winked at me and I couldn’t help but laugh, he turned towards Anna. “And this sweet little doll is Anna, she actually says thank you when you get her a drink.”

  The new guy held his hand out towards Anna. “I’m Isaac,” he smiled brightly at her and she blushed.

  Anna shook his hand. “Hi.” She sounded so shy it was sweet.

  “Come on,” Isaac told Oliver, turning to walk away then looking back at Oliver, waiting.

  Oliver looked at me. “I’ll find you later and I expect you to be a little nicer,” he grinned at me, winked and took off after his friend.

  I looked at Anna. “Do all the guys at this school look like that?”

  She laughed. “I don’t know about that but Isaac sure is dreamy,” she sighed.

  Three girls came storming up to us, looking pissed. The girl in the middle had long dark blonde hair with highlights, full pouty lips, an oval shaped face, small nose and her large green eyes glared right at me, she was wearing a white two-piece bikini set.

  To her left was a brunette with hair that came just down past her chin, she had dark brown eyes that looked kind of bored, she had a light tan and petite features, although she was tall.

  To the right of blonde was another girl with gorgeous shining bronze skin, coarse dark brown hair that went down to her waist, brown almond shaped eyes with a heart shaped face and curtain bangs that highlighted her high cheekbones.

  “What are you doing talking to my boyfriend?” the blonde demanded.

  I looked at her confused. “Who’s your boyfriend?”

  She looked at me like it was damn obvious. “Oliver, obviously. Surely, he must have mentioned me while you were flirting with him,” she crossed her arms.

  I laughed. “Oh, honey, sorry to break it to you but he was the one flirting with me. So why don’t you turn around and go back under the rock you came from?” Anna giggled from beside me.

  The blonde girl screeched, stomped her foot and stormed off, her friends following along closely beside her. “That bitch!” she screamed to her friend.

  I turned to Anna. “Who the hell was that?”

  “That’s Selene Kennedy, she’s in our year, she’s been here for the past week or and every time I see her she’s all over Oliver, giggling,” Anna shrugged. “The short brunette is Silver Roberts, and the other one is Dawn Andrews. Rumour has it, Selene’s mum couldn’t deal with her anymore and made a deal with the higherups or something to turn her into a vampire just so they didn’t have to deal with her anymore, they got a lot of money. But I mean if that were me, I guess I’d have an attitude too, you know?”

  My eyebrows rose and my jawline slackened. “Are you serious? That’s a little fucked if you ask me.” Anna nodded.

  We kept drinking and dancing, talking as the night went on. We met up with Anna’s other friends. Sophia had beautiful orange red hair that hung in natural waves do
wn her back, her skin milky white and dark brown eyes. Grace had black hair and deep brown skin with cool undertones, brown eyes and full lips. Astrid had blonde hair, hazel eyes and a small, freckled nose. They were all funny and really nice.

  Strong arms wound around my waist as I was dancing, warm breath at my ear as someone spoke. “I told you I’d find you,” Oliver spoke. I spun around looking up at him, he smiled at me with a cheeky grin. I could smell the alcohol all over his breath, mixing in with the pine tree and honey smell that he had. I was so drunk I didn’t even care.

  I wound my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. “Are you sure your girlfriend won’t mind?” I teased, looking behind him for Selene, who was probably somewhere in the crowd watching.

  He looked at me confused. “Girlfriend?”

  “Selene?” I reminded him. “She came over here all pissy marking you as her territory.”

  He chuckled. “She’s not my girlfriend,” he pulled me closer. “Were you jealous?” he whispered in my ear.

  I scoffed. “Of course not.” I rolled my eyes. “We barely know each other, and I just wanted to make sure she didn’t have a reason to scratch my eyes out.”

  He laughed low, his chest rumbling. I pressed my hands to his chest and pushed lightly, he stepped backwards looking at me questioningly. “I need another drink.” I turned and walked away. Anna grinned at me as I walked by her to the cooler. The ice still hadn’t melted, I poured rum and coke into my glass, taking a large gulp and then adding more rum to top it up.

  A hand reached out and snatched my cup from me, I scowled, turning to look up at Oliver as he took a large gulp from the cup, pulling the cup away with a devious grin. “Thanks,” he said, laughing. “See? It’s not that hard to say thank you.”

  Fury blazed through my veins and I glared at him, I snatched my cup back out of his hands, quicker than what should have been possible and threw the contents at him. “Fuck you,” I said.