Spookybrook Witch Academy: Year One Read online

  Spookybrook witch academy

  Year One: Beginnings

  Copyright © 2019 Annalise Clark

  All Rights Reserved

  The characters and events in this book are a work of fiction. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Sneak Peek at Year 2

  Chapter One

  As I walked onto campus for the first time, looking up at the tall building looming above me I thought, this wasn’t a campus; this was a castle.

  And why had my father shipped me off here anyway? He’d mumbled something about traveling a lot, boarding school, the importance of education… blah blah blah…

  It all sounded the same to me – like excuses! He’d been pawning me off to one place or another for 4 years now.

  This was what he always did when he didn’t want to deal with me anymore. Ever since my mom died when I was 11, my relationship with my father had been strained. In fact, sometimes it seemed as if he didn’t want to be around me at all.

  These days, the feeling was mutual.

  There was a time when I cared, but I was over it. Who wants to waste their life away worrying about someone who doesn’t even care about them?

  Not this girl. I had far more important things to do. Like for now, figuring out where the cute boys were in this creepy mansion.

  “Vivian?”

  A voice from behind startled me out of my daydreams. I spun around and locked eyes with a friendly blond with big, blue eyes. Immediately, her outstretched hand reached for mine.

  “I’m Kari, a Year Three at Spookybrook Witch Academy. I’ll be here to show you around campus and to your room. If there’s anything you want to know, don’t hesitate to ask!”

  Where are all the cute boys? I thought to myself.

  “Umm, hi. Yes, thank you.” Was my actual reply.

  Wait, did she say, “Witch Academy”?

  Kari looked at me almost as if she could read my thoughts and smiled. “Don’t worry, it will all be explained to you soon. I’ve been instructed to bring you to the Headmaster for log-in before Orientation.”

  “Alright, thanks.” I muttered, following this bubbly blond and wondering if my mind was playing tricks on me again.

  Keep it together, Viv. You know what happened last time…

  We walked deeper past the front gates and directly up to the large entrance to the Academy. It had huge, thick wooden doors and there appeared to be bars that could come down over both the doors and the windows.

  The cobblestone brick on the front was well-kept, but obviously old. The windows were clean and sparkly, and the lawn was pristine. In fact, the grounds themselves were huge. There must be acres and acres out here. You just don’t see that much empty real estate around New Jersey anymore. They’ll build up on anything that doesn’t move!

  We passed through the doors and entered a huge foyer that was well lit, bright and airy. Tall palms sat to either side and in the wall in front of me was a huge sign that read Welcome New Students to Spookybrook Witch Academy.

  There it was again! I was definitely not imagining it. What kind of school had my dad sent me off to this time?

  “This way,” Kari instructed and pointed to the left wing that jutted off from the large front foyer. Off to meet another Headmaster. This was not my first time, but I couldn’t help but wonder if this one would be as stuffy and out of touch as the others.

  I had been to five different schools in the past three years. My father was growing impatient with my “fits”, as he called them, and I was sick and tired of being shuffled around from one place to another. I didn’t like it any more than he did, but it wasn’t my fault he kept sending me to awful schools!

  I’d pretty much given up the notion that the next one would be any better. This would be my life for the next three years, until I was finally 18. Then… FREEDOM!

  My daydreaming came to an abrupt halt when Kari stopped very suddenly outside a large door with the title HEADMASTER in large font carved into it. We stepped inside and were greeted by another girl in a school uniform who seemed to be some sort of secretary.

  “Hello Ashley! Vivian is here to meet the Headmaster,” Kari told the girl at the desk.

  “Oh yes, of course. I’ll let her know you are here.”

  Her? Oh, female heads of schools were sometimes the worst. And you couldn’t charm them with your looks or wile them with your tears, either.

  “Ashley is a Year Four and the Headmaster’s Assistant,” Kari explained while we waited.

  I looked around the very large room. There were paintings on the walls, old ones, and very beautiful ones, but not anything I could recognize. They were tall, hand painted and in golden frames. And the walls were a soft, light grey. There was a very regal feel in here.

  The furniture was old, but elegant. It wasn’t like the stuff you’d find in your grandmother’s living room… if you had a grandmother. I didn’t, but you still get the idea.

  “The Headmaster will see you now,” Ashley told us, and Kari nodded and began to walk toward a second door.

  I followed her in to come face-to-face with the most beautiful tall redheaded woman I had ever seen. She was stunning!

  She had a pale, creamy complexion and long wavy auburn locks that came down nearly to her butt. She had piercing green eyes, like those of a cat, but they twinkled in a way that seemed both mischievous and friendly at the same time.

  “Hello Vivian!” this knockout of woman greeted me instantly. “I am Headmaster Lily. Please take a seat.” She pointed to some red upholstered chairs in front of her desk.

  THIS was the Headmaster?

  Kari was already seated next to me and nudged me gently to follow suit beside her.

  Still stunned, I realized the Headmaster was talking to me and this would be a very good time to start listening. The last thing I wanted was to make a bad impression on my first day.

  “As I said, I am Headmaster Lily and I run this Academy with my sisters, Rose and Orchid. We are witches, and so are you. That’s why you’re here. I understand this may be new and overwhelming news to you, but I assure you, it will all make sense in time. You are in good hands here and that’s why we are here to help.”

  I was a witch? She was a witch? Was I being Punked?

  “Uh... yes. Th-thank you,” was all I could manage in reply.

  “Fantastic. Well, we are very happy to have you here, Vivian. You are a very special person and we are proud to call you part of our new family.” She had such a friendly face and it felt genuine, but I couldn’t help but feel weird about it all.

  There wasn’t anything special about me, unless you considered having a knack for getting kicked out of private schools and make your dad ashamed a special skill. But I was thinking that wasn’t it.

  Our meeting was short after that and it was time to get to know more about this new place I would call home, at least for the end of the school year. The Headmaster gave me a schedule and shook my hand before saying goodbye.

  Then, it was off down the halls with Kari to tour the school.

  Kari continued the tour in the Herbs and Potions Wing where we saw exactly what you would imagine – bottles of tinctures and potions, herbs and other plants growing in a beautiful atrium, and bubbling cauldrons of mysterious mixtures.

  There was a smell, but I couldn’t
tell you what it was. It was sort of flowery and fruity at the same time.

  This put my old lab class to shame. This was otherworldly even.

  I don’t even know what is happening here…

  “You will soon,” Kari replied.

  OMG, she was reading my thoughts!

  “I’m so sorry,” she blurted out. “How rude of me! You probably haven’t been taught how to block that yet. Well, no worries. It’s one of the easiest spells to learn. I’ll help you later. For now, don’t worry. Let’s finish the tour and then we’ll get to the basics.”

  From there, she took through more long winding hallways and down other designated wings of the school. I learned that there are eight different Magic Types and that the students were sorted by Houses, based on their Magic Type.

  The Types included Illusionary, Incantation, Alchemy, Psychic, Elemental, Telekinesis, Healing, and Nature.

  “Which one am I?” I impulsively blurted out, still reeling from the shock of all this.

  “Great question!” Kari replied. “So, some of us have an idea before we come here, based on our natural abilities, but no one knows for sure until it’s chosen in your Day 1 Exam. Sometimes people end up really surprised!”

  Great, I have to take an exam on my first day here…

  “It’s not that bad, really. It’s more like an assessment. You don’t have to study for it or anything. The whole point is to determine your underlying witch abilities.”

  She wasn’t even bothering to hide that she was reading my mind anymore. I was really going to have to learn that protection spell she mentioned. My own brain wasn’t even safe in this place!

  “And on that note…” Kari added. “One more stop in the tour and I’ll give you your handbook and we’ll get you protected.”

  “Oh great!” Finally. “Where’s the last stop?” I asked.

  “Dorms!” Her face really lit up at that answer. “I can’t wait to show you to your room! Come on, come on.”

  With that, she motioned me to follow and we went out the big wooden doors to the main building, across the grassy way that we had first come up and off to the left side of the property, to another long building.

  This was just as elaborately decorated as the main building and they seemed to be connected through a side wing, but we were headed toward the big, double wooden doors right on the front.

  A sign above the entrance read “Laveau House”.

  Laveau? I thought.

  “Named for the famous witches,” Kari answered. “Oh, that’s right, you haven’t had any Witch History yet. No worries, you’ll learn all about them soon. Basically, just know that they were bad-ass, and our dorms are named after them.”

  Then she led me through the doors and down a long hallway with many other doors off the left and right sides of it. It was surprisingly well lit inside. In fact, everything had a light, airy feel to it.

  I was expecting a dark, dank atmosphere from the castle-like appearance of the buildings on the outside, but this dorm was actually quite cozy and modern inside.

  “Okay, so you’re in B19. That’s Hall B, Room 19.” Kari explained as she walked briskly down the hall.

  Some girls looked up from what they were doing, and a couple waved, but most of them just stared at us. At me.

  “I’m in C5,” she continued. “So, I’m actually just around the corner if you ever need me. We also have phones in our rooms that are all connected to a network throughout the dorms but like, who uses landlines anymore, amirite?”

  I laughed along with her as we approached what was to be my room. “Okay, here we are,” she said with a sigh, pulling a key out of her pocket.

  “But first, let’s see if Julie is home.” She then knocked three times loudly on the door.

  “Julie?” I asked.

  “Your roommate. Don’t worry, she’s cool. Aaand it would appear she’s out. So here we go!” She opened the door with the key, then handed the key to me. “Don’t lose that.”

  As we walked into the room, I noticed it was more spacious than any other private school I had stayed at… and I had lived at quite a few. There were two beds, but the one was far to the left and the other far to the right. There was a lot of room in between.

  I assumed the one on the right was Julie’s, as it was already made up with bedding. A ruffled purple bed skirt and matching curtains were on her side of the room as well. Posters hung on the walls on her side, of people I didn’t recognize. They looked like pop stars, but no one I could make out by name.

  “Here’s your bed,” Kari continued, as my eyes scanned the room. “They start everyone off with the basics, but you’ll learn how to customize everything to your liking very soon. So long as we follow the Code, we can decorate however we like. It’s really a lot of fun!”

  “The Code?” I asked, as she slapped a thick book into my hands. I looked down at the Bible-sized material I was now holding.

  Spookybrook Witch Academy Code and Rulebook

  Oh, this should be interesting. I thought to myself, but Kari heard that, as usual.

  “Okay,” she continued to explain. “I’m going to leave you for a bit and let you go over the Code. Page 1 is going to explain everything to you, including how to cast a basic protection spell over that pretty little mind of yours so that we can’t all hear every word you’re thinking.”

  “B-b-but, I’ve never done spell before…” I interrupted, but Kari wasn’t hearing it.

  “Trust meeee, it’s fine! It tells you everything to do. Just do exactly as the book says and you’ll be fine. Then, read all of the first few pages to learn the rules and expectations. Once you’ve completed all of that, you’ll be asked by the book to sign that you understand and then when that’s complete, your schedule will appear. You’ll start classes tomorrow, after you’re sorted into a House.”

  With that, she spun around on her heels, clapped her hands and added, “Julie will be in classes for another few hours today, so you have the place to yourself. Get familiar with the Code, decorate, unpack, whatevs. Oh, and the bathroom’s over there.”

  She pointed to an en suite attached to our bedroom.

  Man, this place was fancy…

  “Now, I must be off, but you’ve got my number so call if you need anything and take your time settling in. You have nothing to worry about! Ciao.”

  And then she was gone. I was left alone in this big room at this weird school, trying to collect my thoughts in private because I needed to learn how to prevent people from reading them.

  Wow…

  What had my dad signed me up for this time? This was crazy! Yet, in my heart, something about it felt right. It was a hard thing to explain, so thankfully no one was asking me to. But something in my gut told me that I was finally in the right place.

  All those years of never fitting in… all those years of being told I was wrong, or that I was too different… all of those years wondering who I was and wishing my mom was still around to help me figure it out, and it was now, in this moment, in this weird school, that I finally started to feel like I might be on the right track.

  I placed my duffel bag down on the floor. Even the carpets were soft and white.

  Those must be a pain to keep clean without magic, I thought.

  I packed light. I had been through this drill enough times to know that it wasn’t worth it to try to settle in. I never stayed in one place for long. But who knows? Maybe this one would be different.

  First, I set out to make sense of this book.

  Spookybrook Witch Academy Code and Rulebook

  Welcome to Spookybrook Witch Academy. We are honored to have you as a student. Please take some time to read through our Code of Ethics, Rules, and Guidebook. It is imperative you understand what is expected of you here. We expect trial an error and realize that mistakes will happen in magic. It is part of the learning process, after all. However, following the Code keeps everyone safe while we do so.

  Any students found breaking the C
ode will be removed from the school immediately.

  Rules

  All students are expected to be in their dorms by curfew. No students may roam the hallways or the campus after curfew without an escort and express permission.

  All students must always follow the Golden Rule and treat others with respect.

  Students must never practice Magic above their Magic level or use Banned Magic. No excuses! To do so will result in expulsion.

  Students are required to show up on time and prepared for their classes, and with all necessary supplies and tools.

  Basic Wards and Spells

  Ward of Mind Protection: This spell protects your mind from others who can penetrate your thoughts. To begin, clear your space and your mind of any distractions. Turn off the TV, the ringer on your phone or anything else that can be a distraction. Take some deep breaths to relax your body and mind. Settle in and focus on stillness in your mind. Now, with your eyes closed, imagine a big white or clear bubble around you. Picture this bubble encasing your entire body, forming a bubble between you and the rest of the world. Picture the bubble sealing up all around you. Now imagine a golden white light filling up in your bubble. When this bubble is intact and the light is filling it, no one can penetrate it. You are safe. Your thoughts are safe. Your mind is your own. Reapply this spell once every day or so, or whenever you feel your ward dropping and you need to seal your bubble back up.