Shadowborn Academy_ Year One (Dark Fae Academy #1) - G. Bailey Page 0,59
as the crystal. I watch him look upon the luscious canopy of trees outside, at the slightly dying leaves carrying on the wind, and that’s when I suddenly realize.
Zander doesn’t have a binding crystal. How have I never noticed that until now?
Every student and faculty in this academy possesses a crystal bound to their magic. We frequently have to douse them in water just to regenerate our powers. So far, all mine has given me is a burn mark.
“What if someone tried to hex this?” I say, lifting the crystal out for everyone to see.
Jonah checks his own, which he’s tied around his wrist like a bracelet. His doesn’t appear damaged. Only mine. The fact that nobody says anything speaks volumes. They all agree with me.
Someone tried to kill me under that bridge, and they were doing it through my crystal. Unfortunately, I can’t take it off unless I reverse the binding spell, and I don’t know that spell yet. I wonder if the book Greyhorn gave me would have some information on that?
Tucking the crystal under my gown, I stand up from the bed, slightly woozy as I do so. Shit! This headache hurts. But I am not taking those organ-donor pills even if it kills me.
“Zander, do you know how to reverse a binding spell?” I ask him, placing my hand over the crystal.
He looks back at me, his eyebrows knitted together. “Yes, but it won’t work. Not so long as you have that mark on your neck.”
I touch the rose tattoo that’d been forced upon me when I arrived here. “That’s just a protection spell.”
Zander laughs, but there’s absolutely no mirth behind it or on his face. “That’s one name to call a tracker.”
“Tracker?” Pitch seethes, appearing out of my body again, this time in his male form. His skin is covered in burn marks from the person who tried to hex us. “And why would the academy need to implant trackers into their students?”
“I don’t know,” I answer him honestly, much to the guys’ confusion since they can’t see who I’m talking to. “But I’ll find out.”
“Find out what, shadow raven?” Jonah snorts. “It’s not like we can do anything about the marks, can we? They’re inked into us.”
“No,” Zander agrees, coming over to me. “But I can teach you how to block out its power. I can also teach you to prevent future hexes like this. I might not be able to erase what happened, but I can help. You just need to promise me you won’t tell a living soul.”
“Agreed. Now let’s do it!” I shout, marching over to the door.
“Uhh, Vina… You need to get dressed.”
Oh, yeah. The hospital gown.
“Then let’s do it once I get dressed! I’ll grab my clothes, and me, you, and Jonah are gonna learn how to counteract this shit.”
Pitch nods, smiling at me for the first time in a while. It makes my heart flutter in my chest. “That’s my girl.”
My girl… Gods, I love how that makes me feel inside.
“Someone is knocking on the door. You get it, Buzzie,” Sage groans, turning around in her bed.
I blink my eyes at the clock on the side table, seeing that it’s frigging one in the morning. Angrily, I chuck my bedsheets off and storm to the door, swinging it open. Jonah leans against the wall by the side of the door, his face far too cheerful for my liking.
“What the ever-loving fuck are you doing here, Jonah?” I shout in a whisper. “I was sleeping! You know that thing normal people do in the middle of the night?”
It’s been a few days since I’ve last seen him, but prior to that, I spent almost every night with him for a week solid once we left the infirmary. Zander stayed true to his word and we managed to block the tracker with a simple potion that apparently all Shadowborns apart from me and Jonah know about. The other counter hex has been more difficult and physically taxing. It’s hard to protect yourself from a dark and light force you know nothing about. Zander said we should be able to master it after a few more tries, but I just wanted some time alone. I wanted to hang out with my best friend after class and study the book Greyhorn gave me. So far, I have found nothing about the kind of hex that was cast that day at the bridge.
“You owe me and I’m here to collect,” Jonah states and