Shadowborn Academy_ Year One (Dark Fae Academy #1) - G. Bailey Page 0,28

before running into the forest in the direction my friends flew. After walking for a few minutes, I find Rook, Crowe, and Wren sitting on a large rock, waiting for me. I pause some steps away from them and they bow their heads one by one. I do the same.

I have no idea why we always do this, but it feels right and respectful. Since they are my friends, I respect their traditions.

“Trouble brews in this forest, Corvina,” Rook tells me and I frown, my heart clenching at the words.

“She causes it,” Crowe adds in, backing up Rook like he always does.

“Corvina breeds it and loves trouble,” Wren comments, almost sounding disapproving. That’s unusual for Wren. She’s the smartest of the three and tends to be the one to offer good advice.

“Is this your way of saying you missed me so you followed me here?” I question and they each squawk.

Rook ruffles his feathers. “We protect you from the skies. Join us soon,” he suggests, flapping his wings. “But in the meantime walk to the left until you find a problem. Someone needs your help, Corvina.”

“Awfully cryptic today!” I shout after them as they fly into the trees, disappearing from view but never really going that far from me.

They never do, even when they say I annoy them with my innocence. What does a raven know about innocence, anyway? They might sometimes be overprotective of me, not to mention cryptical, but they’re my friends. They are also the ones that found me wandering the ash-covered fields that night in search of my dead parents. They’ve been with me ever since.

Following their advice, I walk to the left and keep going until my feet ache. I start to think that I’m going to get lost in this forest all over again, which would just be my luck on my second day here, before I hear an ear-splitting cry from some kind of creature, followed by boys laughing.

I jog into a small clearing where five Light Wardens, young ones, are throwing a small, glowing green creature around like a football. The poor thing is crying out, but it only seems to amuse these arseholes further. White-hot fury bubbles in me and a burst of dark purple magic gathers instinctively into my palms.

“Put the poor creature down, you son of a bitches!” I growl, my voice echoing through the trees around us as all five wardens come to a sharp halt. One with curly black hair and a narrow nose that looks out of place on his flat face merely laughs and holds the creature tightly.

I hate Light Wardens with a passion.

Even though shadowborns can become Light Wardens, they are never allowed to level up past Keeper level—the lower end of the spectrum—no matter how powerful they are. These idiots are merely Junior Wardens, judging by the sapphire badge pinned on their leather jackets. I’ve never met anyone above a junior level before, but I know the next promotion is Shadow Warden, then High Warden, both of which you never want to encounter. While the High Wardens govern our world, it’s the Shadow Wardens that get to do all the fun law enforcement stuff. They wear a silver badge that lets them travel through shadows despite the fact that they’re light magic users. A little unfair if you ask me. It’s not like we level up and get a badge to give us light powers. So why do they get our powers?

The boy holding the creature sneers at me. “Little shadowborn. My, my. You think you are any threat to us?” Sliding the poor creature under his arm, he digs into his jacket and pulls out a silver dagger. The others all get their weapons out, too, everything from whips to a sword.

“Pretty dagger you have there. I think I’m going to keep it when we are done,” I tell him honestly. “One can never have too many.”

And this dagger is gorgeous. It has a silver blade with a curved handle made of gold and diamonds embedded along the tip. It’d make a neat apple peeler once I kick their asses.

“If you beat me and my friends, sure, it’s yours,” the idiot agrees, obviously not aware who he’s up against. I’ve got Pitch and three powerful ravens on my side.. “And the creature too. But if we win, we are taking more than you will want to give us.”

Urgh, pathetic.

I feel Pitch flicker out of my body, clearly wanting to help by killing