Silverwood Academy Book 1 Page 4

  “This is Control 101, here you will learn how to control your hunger to stop you from killing innocent humans while feeding,” Professor Winters said, pacing at the front of the classroom.

  The words Control 101 appeared up on the board and on my notebook. “Not only will you learn to control your hunger, but you will also learn to control your impulses, your emotions that make you quick to react.” He pulled out a jar of red liquid and removed the cap, the overwhelming sweet scent of blood filled my senses, and my fangs snapped out. “You need to learn to control your reaction to the smell of blood, keeping your fangs away, and learn to let them out as you wish.” He screwed the lid back on and put the jar away. “You need to work on your breathing, try to keep your emotions calm, your breathing steady and try not to let the smell consume you and your senses.”

  During the class he would randomly pull the jar of blood back out and uncap it, then put the cap back on. Half way through the class just as he uncapped it again and went to cap it again, a lanky boy snarled, charging up the front of the class, causing a few to lose their concentration and growl, the guy got to Professor Winters and got shoved backwards, flying through the air and hitting the far side of the wall.

  My foot itched to move a few times, but I did my best to ignore it and focus on anything else but the sweet smell. “You lose fifty points Mr Robinson for losing control and trying to attack a teacher,” Professor Winters growled. Everyone’s spine straightened, and I felt more determined to gain control, but every single time that blood came out my fangs popped out and all I could think of was how bad I wanted it.

  The class ended and I sighed, feeling like a complete failure, Sophia, Anna and I headed down to the cafeteria to get something to eat and more blood so we could think straight.

  I grabbed a thermos with a straw, it was filled with blood, placing it on my tray. I grabbed a piece of fruit, yoghurt and some chips from the buffet, joining Sophia and Anna. I took a large sip from my drink, my fangs automatically popping out and I sighed. Grace wrinkled her nose at me. “Ew,” she muttered.

  I looked up at her apologetically and shrugged. “You’re not the one who has to drink it,” I told her.

  She nodded her head in agreement. “True,” she replied, pursing her lips and averting her eyes. “Did you enjoy your first class?” she asked, still not looking at me.

  I took another giant sip and picked at a fry. “It was a little hard. We had to focus on control, and not letting our fangs,” I pointed to my current popped out ones, “pop out and he’d pull out this jar of blood randomly and we’d have to try and resist the urge to go and grab it, all the while not letting the fangs come out. It was frustrating.” I shook my head, taking another giant gulp of blood and downing, my anxiety gnawing at me, the blood making me feel better, along with my little vent. I held a finger up, “Oh and when I was a human, I didn’t have to worry about this. No, I didn’t have this problem at all.” I glared down at my apple, grabbing a fork off the bench and stabbing it, letting some of my anger out on the apple. “This is all Sterling Blackwell’s fault!” I stabbed the apple again, a growl escaping my throat.

  Sophia looked up at me with her eyes wide, looking between the shredded apple and me, I put the fork down, and smiled. “I’m fine.” I told them. I’m not having a psychotic break at all, no I’m fine.

  Grace cleared her throat, giving me a look that said she didn’t believe me. “Well, let’s move on from that subject, shall we?” she suggested.

  I unlocked my notebook, studying my classes for the week, wondering how I had landed myself back in school. The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch. Sophia, Anna and I parted ways from Grace and Astrid, heading back to the classrooms for Compulsion 101.

  Walking into the classroom sitting in the seats at the back of the classroom. Professor Blackthorne was already there, she smiled at me and I smiled back. I had no idea what to think about her, she seemed nice enough, but she was still a teacher, which probably meant she wasn’t my friend. “Hello class, welcome to Compulsion 101, we will be learning how to force our will on others, you can make people forget things, remember things in a different way, make them forget you and even re-wire their brains,” she smiled at everyone.

  “So today we will work on making insects do what we want, forcing their will.” She bent down, retrieving something and set down a few jars of things. “Come on, come grab an insect!”

  I blinked in surprise, looking questioningly at Anna but she just shrugged, giving me a “I don’t know” look.

  Getting out of my seat and striding to the front of the room, I chose a praying mantis, Sophia grabbed an ant and Anna took a spider. I sat back down at my desk, placing the praying mantis on top of my book, inspecting it closely as it’s beady eyes just stared at me.

  “Now, compel your insect to walk around in three circles. You will have to believe that you can for it to work, will it to do what you want, imagine it and believe that it will.”

  I brought my face down to eye-level with the praying mantis and stared at it, imagining it walking around in three circles, it just stared back, not even moving. My brow furrowed as I concentrated even harder, imagining it walking around in three small circles. Just walk around in a circle! Hurry up!

  Sweat beaded above my brow as I focused on the insect, trying to will it to move, feeling slightly amused at how ridiculous what I was doing really was and I laughed, shaking my head. “Just walk in a bloody circle!” I exclaimed, looking at it straight in the eye, it continued to stare. I laughed. “This is ridiculous!” I shook my head, trying to regain focus.

  The class passed by and towards the end of it I was starting to get fed up with this praying mantis, concentrating on imagining what it would look like walking around in a circle, then suddenly it started moving, it completed one full circle and I yelled out a cry of relief, my concentration breaking and it stopped immediately, I groaned.

  “Congratulations Natasha! You compelled the insect to do a full circle, ten points to Natasha Marshall!” Professor Blackthorne cried, just as the bell rang. “Please return your insects on the way out!”

  I grabbed the praying mantis, returning it to her desk, offering her a smile and thanks before I left the class.

  Walking across campus to the dormitories to change before heading off to the gym, I felt mentally drained, feeling exhausted and hungry.

  I entered the gym with Sophia and Anna, seeing Grace on the far side of the room and waved, she smiled at me, waving back, but stayed where she was.

  Professor Blackwell walked into the room, looking at all of us with a hard look on his face. “Come on, outside,” he said, turning on his heel, exiting the building. We followed. Once we were outside, we all stood around him. “Let’s run some laps!” He swept his gaze around. “Fifty laps around the boundary, first one to finish gets fifty points, last one to finish loses fifty!” We all stood, waiting. “What are you doing waiting around here?” He yelled. “Run!”

  I shook my head, he’s such a jerk. At once everyone started running, along the edge of the of the clearing and all the way around, a large circle forming around the gym. I sighed, pushing harder, refusing to be last.

  I kept a steady pace, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, the crisp fresh air dancing along my warm skin as I jogged, keeping my pace even as I had to run another forty-nine laps.

  As I neared the fortieth lap my muscles began to shake, my breathing becoming more ragged as I started to fall behind. I groaned. I can’t come last. I continued jogging, even though every fibre of my body was telling me to stop and give up, I pushed my body harder as I tried to up my pace.

  As I jogged my last lap, practically dragging my ass across the finish line, I noticed there were a lot of people already finished and waiting, I looked behind me. Yay! I’m not the last! There were ten or so people behind me, some had given up jogging and started walking.

  As I took the last step, completing my fiftieth lap, I fell to the gro
und, sucking in a deep breath of fresh air and lied on my back, the grass tickling the backs of my legs, I felt incredibly sore and my leg muscles wouldn’t stop twitching, as my legs wouldn’t stop shaking. I tried to control my breathing, in…out…in…out. My breathing starting to become steadier.

  “Five points from Natasha for not being able to stand properly with the rest of class after finishing her fifty laps,” Professor Blackwell called.

  I pulled my head up off the grass to glare at him and found with looking at me expectantly. “Hey!” I called out. “You didn’t mention that earlier! That’s not fair!”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Do you want to lose another five points for arguing?” he asked. I sighed standing up, groaning as my left leg began to cramp. “Whoever doesn’t cross this finish line before the bell rings loses fifty points!”

  Two kids passed the finish line, bent over with their hands on their knees, not risking falling back on the grass like I did. The bell rang and a groan came from the remaining eight kids as they got yelled at for being so slow and losing fifty points each.

  ***

  I sat in my next class beside Sophia and Anna, Professor Pierce pacing back and forth in front of the class. “As vampires we all have our common gifts; enhanced hearing, night vision, super strength and speed, compulsion, and the ability to control fog. With time you may even be able to shapeshift. There have been cases where some vampire have been able to control the elements like a witch, or have had the ability of foresight seeing and predicting the future,” the more he spoke the more excited he got, it was becoming infectious. I grinned at Anna, excitement taking fold at the idea of being able to shapeshift or control the elements, Anna grinned back excitedly.

  The class passed in a blur and when it ended we walked down to the cafeteria, I grabbed another thermos with a straw filled with blood and some pizza, heading back to the usual table we all sat at, gulping down the blood, it diminished the ache in my muscles and the fire in my belly.

  When I finished eating, I headed back to the dormitories, taking my thermos with me, sipping it along the way back to my room.

  I unlocked my door and stepped inside, locking it behind me, placing my cup on the dresser as I moved to the bathroom, having a shower.

  After my shower I got dressed in my pyjamas and sat at the window seat, sipping on my drink as I looked through my notebook, browsing through an online clothing store, adding things to my cart and checking out, the delivery address automatically entered and I smiled to myself. Now I was going to have more comfortable clothes for after classes and weekends, and sexy underwear instead of the granny underwear that was supplied. If I was going to keep my stipend, I better start studying so I can keep buying things online, the stipend was generous. Extremely generous, but it didn’t hurt to start studying now so I could ensure I kept getting it.

  I set an alarm for tomorrow morning on my notebook, placing it on charge and lying down in the softest bed in the world, tugging the covers up to my chin as the cool wind blew through the window and into my room. I smiled to myself, falling to sleep. Excited about my new clothes. And more than ready to start a new day tomorrow.

  ***

  Chapter 4:

  I got ready for classes the next morning pulling my skirt high up on my waist, so it hung mid-thigh. I pulled on my white knee-high socks and black stilettos, eyeing myself in the mirror, applying my makeup and curled my hair, shaking the curls loose so they fell in loose waves, feeling confident.

  Grabbing my notebook off the charge, putting my key in my bag, pulling the door shut behind me, I headed down the stairs and sat in one of the couches that gave me a view of the staircase and the front door, waiting for Anna and Sophia so we could go to The Hub together.

  My classes passed by in a blur, I had my first Enhanced Senses class with Professor Bradshaw and we worked on trying to use our enhanced hearing to listen to the way an ants footsteps sounded like walking across a xylophone, I only managed to hear the ting ting of the ant’s footsteps and the sound of his antlers rubbing together for about five seconds until my concentration broke out of excitement. I had been awarded another fifty points and had been the only one in the class to be able to in the first session. It made me incredibly giddy.

  During Compulsion 101 I managed to get the praying mantis to walk in a circle two times, sweat had beaded above my brow from concentrating so hard, I sighed with relief afterwards, breaking my concentration and sighing in relief and exhaustion, which awarded me another thirty points, which meant I had a total of an extra eighty points, making me smile.

  I headed to my Physical Exercise class with a pep in my step with Anna. “I can’t believe I finally managed to hear the ant! Finally!” I exclaimed to Anna.

  “I still haven’t yet,” Anna admitted.

  “You’ll get there!” I told her with a smile. “I only managed to for like five seconds.”

  We arrived and stood outside the gym, with the rest of the class. My sunglasses were on, shielding my eyes from the harsh rays of the sun, I had a cap on my head trying to shield my face, my skin felt hot and stung from the sun, sweat beading at the back of my neck where my ponytail hung down to my waist, the smell of summer filled the air. “It’s too hot to be outside,” I moaned to Anna, who nodded her head in agreement.

  Astrid stood nearby with her witch friends. “Maybe I can try to coax the clouds to move in front of the sun?” she suggested.

  I grinned at her. “You can do that?” She nodded her head. “That would be amazing.” A few other vampires around us nodded.

  Her brows furrowed in concentration, looking up at the sky, a rough breeze blew my hair around me like a halo of black.

  Looking up into the sky I watched as the clouds turned darker, rain burst from the sky, cooling me instantly. My shriek was lost in the crowd of everyone else shrieking, and just as suddenly as it started the rain stopped.

  Astrid looked apologetically. “Sorry,” she said, looking around at everyone she just soaked, some people shot her a glare and others just laughed it off. “At least you’re cooled off now.” She shrugged and I laughed.

  Sterling arrived, looking around at everyone soaking wet, and the muddy field. “You can all do an extra five laps!” he shouted. Everyone groaned. “Hurry up and get a move on! Whoever hasn’t finished before the bell rings loses seventy points!”

  I rolled my eyes and started jogging, keeping a nice slow and steady pace, trying not to overdo it before I’d even gotten half-way through. “This has got to be some form of torture,” someone said up ahead and I agreed with them.

  The mud made running so much harder as I tried not to slip over, mud splashed up the backs of my legs. A few people in front slipped over, and I had to jog around them, trying not to slip over in the process.

  Around the fortieth lap I started dwindling, so many people had passed me. But I continued to run, pushing myself so I made it passed the finish line. As I finished up my last lap, my lungs were burning, and I crossed the finish.

  I walked off to the side with the others, my breathing heavy, sweat pouring off my body as the sun completely wrecked my body, I leaned over, putting my hands on my knees and trying to breathe deeply but only gasping at air.

  I smirked, looking at Sterling who watched me, an eyebrow raised. Anna walked up to me. “That was brutal,” she told me. I nodded my head, unable to speak or form words yet.

  A few more people crossed the finish line, just seconds before the bell rang. The people who didn’t make it in time groaned, I recognised four of them being the same ones who didn’t make it through yesterday in time. I walked towards the vampire dormitories with Sophia and Anna, and the rest of the vampires in my year.

  I made it to my next class in time after taking a shower to wash the mud off me and getting dressed in my uniform again, sunglasses perched on my nose. I was beginning to get used of smelling like sunscreen and perfume.

  Today we were working on super speed, and I couldn’t wait to le
arn how to speed away from Sterling Blackwell the same way he speeds away from me, the thought made me grin.

  The goal for the class was to try and get a gold medallion from Professor Pierce’s desk without being caught. I made several attempts, each time not running fast enough, Sophia said I only blurred once for two steps and reappeared. It was proving to be more difficult that I thought it was.

  He kept saying how we had to just imagine ourselves as part of the universe, some crap like that, and it was proving to be impossible because how could one person run with time? Time was… time? I just tried to imagine myself blurring like Sterling and zipping up there and back with the medallion in my hand, and it worked for half a second, but I got too excited and too cocky and then stopped.

  A guy called Jared managed to crawl across the classroom and got it but when he almost got back to his desk he got knocked to the other side of the room, but he got twenty points for a good effort and out of the box thinking. The medallion sat there for the rest of the lesson though.

  The cafeteria was busy at dinner time, everyone talking excitedly. I nibbled on pizza, Sophia on the opposite side to me and Anna next to me. “I was thinking about heading out on Friday after classes to a club just in town to celebrate surviving the first week,” Sophia said smiling, “Did you two want to come?” I nodded my head. “Great, we’ll just catch the bus in town at about eight? Grab some food, get some pre-drinks in us?”

  “Sounds great,” I said with a smile. “Did we want to get ready in my room? Hopefully, my new clothes will have arrived by then?”

  Sophia grinned. “Definitely.” Anna nodded her head.