Hawthorn Academy: Year One Read online

  Hawthorn Academy

  Year One

  D.R. Perry

  This is a work of fiction with frequent puns, bad jokes, and pop culture references. All characters depicted are my own creations even if they resemble a pack of Slytherdors with a HuffleClaw mascot at times. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Dragonets are, sadly, mere figments of my imagination and I have no idea where you can get one as a pet.

  Copyright © 2020 D.R. Perry

  Cover by Fantasy Book Design

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US edition, February 2020

  ebook ISBN: 978-1-64202-737-2

  Print ISBN: 978-1-64202-738-9

  Glossary

  People

  Changeling- A mortal child of either one or two faerie parents. Most changelings choose a monarch sometime in their twenties, although some do it earlier than they have to.

  Dampyr- The mortal offspring of two vampires. They aren’t as rare as many suspect, although because their blood is exceptionally sustaining to vampires, they keep their status secret. Dampyr sometimes have magic or psychic powers that work unreliably.

  Faerie- A term used to describe either a changeling who has tithed to a monarch and spent a year and a day in the Under or the pure creatures such as Gnomes and Pixies who were created by the king and queen.

  Ghost- A dead person with unfinished business becomes a ghost. If a mortal makes a contract before death, that gives them unfinished business and lets them linger. When ghosts finish their business, they move on, but no one knows where they go from here.

  Magus- A mortal who can use magic. Magic comes from energy in the world. Most magi can only use one type of magic. However, a rare few can do more than one kind. Those are called extramagi.

  Merfolk- People who can live on land with legs or in the sea with fins and tails. They only emerged from the ocean after the Big Reveal and are still extremely rare outside of harbor towns.

  Psychic- A mortal with psychic power. Psychic ability comes from a person's own body and mind.

  Vampire- An unliving person who drinks blood to survive and enhance their abilities. Only regular mortals, psychics, and magi can get turned into vampires. Shifters, changelings, and faeries won't turn, and most of those won't survive an attempt.

  Shifter- A mortal who can take an animal’s shape. Shifters have one form, with coloring similar to what they have while human. They usually have an enhanced sense while human-shaped, which goes along with their animal. For example, an owl shifter might have keen eyesight and a wolf shifter, a great sense of smell.

  Shifter Varieties:

  Dragon- The only shifters who can see both magic and psychic abilities, though only while shifted. The most powerful ones can partially shapeshift. Dragons are immortal and reproduce infrequently. There are so few of them since the Reveal that they've started taking other magical shifters as mates.

  Kelpie- A magical shifter who gets their abilities from an enchanted faerie pelt that bonds with their soul. The Kelpie pelts were created by the Goblin King, so they have Unseelie energy and restrictions. A Kelpie's animal form is a horse. Families pass the pelts down through generations, and part of each ancestor lives on to help their descendants. The ancestors can get distracting, however.

  Selkie- A magical shifter who gets their abilities from an enchanted faerie pelt that bonds with their soul. The Selkie pelts were created by the Sidhe queen, so they have Seelie energy and restrictions. A Selkie's animal form is a seal or sometimes a sea otter. They can use water magic as long as they wear the pelt. Families pass the pelts down through the generations, and part of each ancestor lives on to help their descendants. The ancestors can get distracting, however.

  Tanuki- A magical shifter with enhanced speed and the ability to see all types of magic while shifted. They are also the only creatures who can manipulate luck, causing it to turn from good to bad or the other way around. They stop aging if they own a charm infused with luck from humans. Very few of those charms exist, having been either used up during the Reveal or locked away.

  Powers

  Air magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish wind or air.

  Earth magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish earth, sand, or rock.

  Empathy- A psychic power to sense and influence emotions in other people.

  Fire magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish flames.

  Ice magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish ice.

  Lightning magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish lightning.

  Poison magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish poison. Each magus has a slightly different type of toxin they produce. Some are even antidotes to others.

  Precognitive- A psychic power to foretell future events.

  Spectral magic- the power to conjure, control, and banish light.

  Spectral Affinity- A trait some spectral magi have that makes them charismatic and believable.

  Summoner- A psychic power that lets the user make contracts with pure faeries, letting the summoner call them in times of need. Each creature has an anchor, some item symbolizing the bond. Mastery of summoning takes decades of study, which is why the most powerful are either vampires or past middle age.

  Seelie- The Sidhe queen's court. The Seelie way is about following the letter of the law, even when it's hard or cruel. They have a hard time reconciling faerie rules with the new mortal laws since the Big Reveal.

  Solar Magic- The power to conjure, control, or banish sunlight. Some of the most powerful practitioners can find hidden objects or discover long-kept secrets.

  Solar Affinity- A trait some solar magi have that makes them beacons for coincidence.

  Space magic- The power to move the self or objects instantly across distances. Some can even move other people.

  Space Affinity- This space power comes with an ability to locate people or things important to the magus.

  Telekinesis- A psychic power that moves objects.

  Telepathy- A psychic power to read minds.

  Tithe- The process of pledging to either the queen or king, making a changeling choose to be either Seelie or Unseelie.

  Umbral magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish shadows and veil or camouflage objects or people.

  Umbral Affinity- A trait some umbral magi have that makes them difficult to remember without psychic ability, faerie magic, or a shifter pack bond.

  Undeath magic- The power to conjure, control, and banish unliving energy.

  Unseelie- The Goblin king's court. The Unseelies bend the rules and often navigate mortal society more easily than their Seelie counterparts.

  Water magic- The power to conjure, banish, and control water.

  Wood magic- The power to conjure, banish, and control wood. It takes extreme power to influencing a living plant.

  Creatures

  Basilisk- A venomous serpent that also has poison magic.

  Dragonet- A tiny dragon-like creature, always associated with one or more element which powers their breath attacks later in life. They have scales but are warm-blooded like b
irds. Most don’t get much bigger than a small cat.

  Familiar- A magical or mythical creature who makes a bond with a magus.

  Gryphon- A chimera which has the head of a bird and hindquarters of a predatory mammal. They come in several combinations of base species, and habitat influences their choice in magi to bond with.

  Karkus- A crab that can change its shape. They’re said to be the offspring of the crab that pinched Hercules as he battled the Hydra.

  Lightning Bird- A familiar from South Africa with an affinity for lightning. Its beak can jump-start a car.

  Mercat- A shapeshifting feline with fur for land and scales in the water. They can live in lakes, rivers, or in the sea as well as on land. They must never completely dry out, or they will die.

  Moon Hare- A magical rabbit that gets power from its particular moon phase. They commonly bond with umbral magi.

  Pharaoh’s Rat- These natural predators of dragon shifters are the size of ferrets and resemble a mongoose with more fur. They have an affinity for space magic and can use it on occasion.

  Pigeon- Not as mundane as most think, some pigeons have an uncanny sense of direction due to their affinity for air magic.

  Pricus- An aquatic goat said to be descended from Capricorn. They can warp time even better than Gnomes.

  Pure Faeries- Creatures who spring to life from magical sources in the Under. They are genderless, and their type and ability depend on place of origin. They're associated with only one court, although they will work together to defeat a common enemy.

  Sand Cat- A feline that lives in the desert, able to go for weeks without water. Earth magic lets them do this.

  Sha- A magical desert dog from Egypt. Sha are the size of mundane toy breeds with short hair and small pointy ears. They could pass for mundane except for their blue tongues. They are attracted to anything undead.

  Sphinx- A magic cat with an affinity for fire. The reason they’re hairless is that they’re resistant to flames.

  Strix- A venomous owl with an affinity for poison. Female striges have rounded tufts on their heads, while males have pointed ones.

  Sumxu- A lop-eared cat found only in northern China. They are masters of camouflage and have an affinity for several kinds of magic.

  Places

  The Academy—Something between a community college and a military academy for extrahumans, the Academy is geared toward helping extrahumans who don't play well with mortals get ready to join a blended society. It's got divisions for learners of all ages, though they are housed separately.

  Cherry Blossom School- A dojo geared toward teaching extrahumans self-restraint, meditation, and how to temper their enhanced physical abilities with more mundane skills. It's been around for close to a hundred years, run by the Ichiro family. Mundane classes used to be offered as a front but now are a separate division.

  Ellicot City Magitechnic- A prep school for magi and psychics specializing in magipsychic technology. It’s located outside Baltimore.

  Gallows Hill School- Traditionally for shifters, this prep school in Salem recently opened its doors to changelings and other extrahumans not categorized as magi or psychics.

  Hawthorn Academy- A preparatory school for magi in Salem. Its campus is in the space between the mortal realm and the Under, giving it unrivaled privacy. They specialize in teaching familiar magic.

  Providence Paranormal College- A school founded just one year after Brown University and located right in its shadow. Providence Paranormal used to admit only magi and psychics, but it's been accepting all types of extrahumans ever since Henrietta Thurston became headmistress. There has been trouble since then for students and faculty, leading people to believe dissenters are sabotaging the school.

  Trout Academy- A prestigious preparatory school for changelings with magic, recently open to magi and magical shifters. Its campus is located in South County and has been operating in some form or another since Rhode Island Colony was founded.

  The Under- The faerie realm. It's been divided into two parts ever since the Sidhe Queen and the Goblin king split up thousands of years ago. Mortals don't age in the Under, but it's a dangerous place for them to be. Getting lost means never being seen again, and it's easy to get indebted to something nasty while trying to get through or out of the Under.

  Wolf Messing Prep- An institute for psychics to learn to control their skills before heading to college.

  Events

  The Big Reveal- The term used for the 1990s, when the world discovered magic was real and extrahumans existed. The decade was marked with fear as everyone adjusted to the changes. Since the 21st Century, law and technology work for both humans and extrahumans.

  Boston Internment- A reaction by Boston government officials to the disappearance and suspected trafficking in extrahumans, especially shifters. All registered extrahumans in Boston lived on barges for close to a month under guard by the Boston Police. The traffickers got their hands on some magical gadgets, rendering the protection useless. Few survived.

  Contents

  Preface

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Providence Paranormal College

  Author Notes

  Thank you!

  Connect with the Author

  Other LMBPN Publishing Books

  Preface

  I'm Aliyah Morgenstern. I grew up on tales of my great-grandfather's magic bringing light and healing to the world. I bonded with my dragonet Ember on my sixteenth birthday, which means I'll be scary powerful someday. There's one problem.

  Mom's kept secrets that everyone at my new school seems to know. Turns out, I've got an infamous criminal uncle, Richard Hopewell. Now everyone's waiting for me to do something evil, and my first day at school's so horrible, I'm convinced, too.

  My biggest challenge this year isn't history, math, gym, or even the dreaded magiscience Lab. It's keeping a devastating secret from almost everyone, including my family. I'm an extramagus like Uncle Richard, whose incredible powers corrupted him.

  Is evil my destiny, or can I fight it somehow?

  Chapter One

  "Beware the Ides of June." I lifted my hand and touched the back of it to my forehead, tilting my head back in a melodramatic pose. "They herald impending disaster!"

  I wasn’t trying to be a drama queen, only distract my friends from the boring news broadcast about the Federal Bureau of Extrahumans arresting that evil extramagus from Rhode Island. Not a good look for a television hanging from an arcade's ceiling.

  "Aliyah, honestly. It's only your birthday." Noah rolled his eyes. "I'd tell you to grow up, but that's pointless." His familiar, Lotan, poked her snaky head out of my brother's collar, sticking her forked tongue out at me.

  "Don'
t be a dick, Noah." Izzy shrugged. "Anyway, Aliyah’s sixteen today, not six. And her magic's at least as strong as yours, so watch yourself."

  "But I'm her big brother." Noah flashed us all one of his stage-perfect smiles. "It's my job to give her grief, after all. She can't exactly hold it against me."

  I took my hand off my forehead, made a fist, then used the other hand to make a cranking motion as I raised just one finger in my brother's general direction. You can guess which one.

  "Hey, Miss, please don't do that in here."

  I dropped my hands, turning to face the speaker. It was a broad-shouldered, dusky-complected, blue-haired guy in a Salem Willows apron. Great. Just what I needed on my birthday—a seasonal employee on my case for flipping the bird. He seemed to be about my age on top of it all, with melty brown eyes, perfect ringlets, and a chiseled jawline.

  "Sorry, yeah, I know." Salem Willows Arcade has always been an all-ages environment. "I'll watch my figurative mouth while I'm here."