Charlee lives a normal life, she’s about to go off to college at the exclusive blackbird academy where she’s hoping to make something of herself outside of her small town. She’s thrown into a world of magic where the war between affinities has ceased for now, but when past and present collide will she make it out with her soul intact or will she forever be flawed?
view moreThen*
There was a knock at the door, and don’t you worry, momma with her southern hospitality didn’t make the nice man in a uniform wait long.
“Mam? Are you Cheryl Jones?”
“Why yes sir, that’s me.”
“I regret to inform you that Terry Jones has passed, you were listed as his next of kin.” Silence
“Mam? Are you okay?” The officer reached forward and put his hand on my moms shoulder, i'm sure as a comforting tactic.
“S-sorry, yes I am fine. Would you like to come in? I can fix you a glass of my famous sweet tea.”
“That would be lovely.”
That was the first, and the last time I had ever heard my dad’s name.
Now*
“Charlee? Earth to Charlee?”
“Hm? Sorry, what?” Tays irritated voice snapped me out of the trance I’d been in.
“Your birthday? The big 1-8, can be tried as an adult? I’m thinking party, with alcohol, and boys, lots and lots of boys.”
I tossed my carrot stick back on the kitchen table, “Do we have to do anything crazy Tay? I’d rather just spend time with you before we both go off to different colleges?”
“It’s not my fault you’ve decided to enroll in the elusive Blackbird Academy when we planned on going to New York together.”
“You know it wasn’t like that, they sent me a letter and offered a full scholarship, room and board plus a meal ticket, you know my mom couldn’t afford to send me to college, this is my way of taking that burden off of her.” I frowned, we weren’t poor but we weren’t wealthy either. My mom owned a diner right in the middle of town, Dining with the Jones’ in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Don’t get me wrong it paid the bills with some left over- but I'd overheard her talking to the bank about a second mortgage to carry the weight of my school loans.
“Yeah so you’ve said. You know I’ve never heard of them before you told me you were going there, weird, right? I even checked out the schools website, you have to have a login to even look at pictures of the campus.”
Tay snapped her gum, something she knows is one of my pet peeves.
“It’s just a private college, I’m sure it’s normal.”
She huffed at my response and immediately went back to texting on her phone.
My stomach turned sour. I knew she meant well, but she didn’t understand, her dad was the only lawyer in town, and her mom owned one out of the two medical practices in town. She could go to college wherever she wanted and not have to worry about finances.
“So party, this Friday, It’s not up for debate-You’re leaving in two weeks for college anyway. Which is another thing I don’t understand? Why would your semester start in June?”
“I’ve told you, it’s not the academic semester, they invite all students to come early and spend a few months getting used to campus, getting to meet new people, as well as free workshops for the upcoming academic school year. I can’t pass that up.” Her response was rolling her eyes.
“Fine, I’ll let you throw me a birthday party.”
“YES! You won’t regret it, I promise! I’m going to leave before you change your mind.” She picked her keys and purse off the table and sprinted for the door.
I outwardly groaned at the ceiling, what had I done? I still had so much to get done before I left. With another groan I decided I might as well start now, I dragged myself up to my room, spotting the moving boxes still sitting in the corner, I honestly had no idea why I hadn't started packing yet. Sure, i'm excited for the new life experiences college will bring and all that, but I didn’t want to leave mom. Cheryl Jones put on a tough front, but it had always been just mom and I, heck she never even dated, told me that the diner and I were her number one priority. I remember the time Tay and I had tried to set her up on an online dating website, when she found out I had posted her picture online. She cursed so loud and chased me around the house with a newspaper swearing to tan my hide if I didn’t take it down that second. If I hadn’t been so terrified in that moment, it would have been comical. A sad smile pulled at the corners of my mouth
“Charlee? Are you up there?” My moms’ voice pulling me from my memories
“Yeah, be down in a second.”
Now*
I came into the kitchen as mom was pulling out dishes from the Diner, looks like country fried chicken and mac&cheese. I studied my mom for a second and realized that my looks must have come from my dad, we were as different as night and day. Her pencil straight strawberry blond hair and eyes that reminded me of honey, still tan and skinny, didn’t look a day over 35, I swear she hadn’t aged my entire life. Whenever anyone asked her what she did to maintain her skin, shed just laugh and say “Soap.” My brown hair fell just past my shoulders in slight waves, if you looked at my driver’s license it would say my eyes were blue, but I swear they changed, rotating between the colors of the sea during a storm, sometimes they even looked black.
“What happened to my dad?” the words rolled off my tongue before I could stop them. I saw my mom’s back go rigid. She turned around her eyes round and wide with shock written on her face.
“What?” she whispered
“I’m sorry, I promised myself I’d never ask you about him, after the day the cop came by and I heard you cry yourself to sleep for the next three months, I told myself I’d never bring it up if it caused you that much pain… but I’ve always wondered.” She fiddled with the lids on the food containers…
“It’s not that I ever planned on not telling you, it’s just that you never asked, so I never let myself remember.” She looked at me, and I could see the unshed tears in her eyes
“Its fine mom, never mind. Forget I mentioned it.” I didn’t want to spend the next few weeks at home shuffling around in awkward tension with the one person who’s always been there for me.
She sat down on the stool at the end of our island and sighed, “What would you like to know?”
“Everything.” I whispered my eyes downcast, I couldn't meet her gaze knowing what I was asking was causing her pain.
She gave me a half smile, “I wish I could tell you that our story was a happy one, and tell you his favorite books and movies or what music he listened too, but I can’t. Our time together wasn’t very long.”
My heart faltered, “Well, what can you tell me about him?”
She paused and pushed the food around on her plate, “Charlee, please know, that I wouldn’t trade my life or you for the world. I don’t regret a single thing, one of the reasons I haven’t told you about your father is because I didn’t want to lie to you. Just promise me that you won’t judge me or your father too harshly? I can only tell you my side of the story, and he was the villain in my story, my downfall.”
It was as if all the air was sucked out of the room, I don’t think I was prepared for this, but I’ve already come this far, and now I had to know the truth.
Then*
“Cheryl, will you please for the love of god put the groceries in the car for your mother please?” she stormed off towards her car on her cell phone, not even bothering to look back.
“Sure thing mom.” I muttered under my breath
“Parents, huh?” his voice infiltrated all of my senses, like the smell of fresh mowed grass, the opening notes of a song you can just tell is going to knock you off your feet. I turned around and was met with the bluest eyes I’d ever seen in my 18 years.
“Uh yeah...” I stammered, “Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.”
He gave me a half smile that I swear almost brought me to my knees, I didn’t even see the hand he held out to me, “I’m Terry.” I finally looked down, noticing his hand and grabbed it. “Cheryl” I said, and looked back into his stormy blue eyes.
Those blue eyes would haunt me for the next 19 years.
With no other options left, I decided I needed to head back to my dorm room. I found myself pacing outside of my door, I had been asleep for two weeks, the last time I had seen Laura she was scared of me. Before I could stop pacing and figure out my next move, the door swung open, and I was met with a puffy faced Laura. I was immediately engulfed in her arms, while she sobbed.“I’m so so sorry Charlee, I over-reacted. Everyone’s magic comes to them in different ways, I’ve just never really seen it since we are taught at birth ways on how to control it when we turn 18. I tried to visit you in the infirmary but Sebastian was scaring everyone, I mean like really scaring everyone.”Laura was squeezing me so tightly that there was no way I was going to be able to get a sentence out let alone breathe.“Laura… I… Can’t…Breathe.”
I wasn’t sure how long I stayed on the bathroom floor, thoughts of my normal life before flickered through my mind. How easy it was only being concerned about boys and what to wear to school, now I was concerned about turning into a big huffy and puffy dragon, and the fact that everyone kept telling me I was in grave danger. I yearned for someone to talk too, someone who understood, but I had no one. I was alone. Eventually the nurse flew into the bathroom like a bat out of hell, cursing me up and down for almost giving her a heart attack thinking she lost me. She begged me to get back into the bed and stay, but I just wanted to be alone, and away from prying eyes. Finally she caved in, only after I promised her I would be back tomorrow morning for a checkup and telling her over 100 times that if anything felt even remotely off, I would come back. Leaving the infirmary left me feeling restless, I was unsure if I should go back to my dorm- Sebastian said I had
“Little bird? I’m going to need you to wake up now.”His voice was creeping into my barley awake brain, but it was spreading all throughout my body. Like my own personal antidote. I felt him run his fingers up and down my arms, it was exhilarating, and every part of my body felt like it was coming back alive from the brink of death just by his touch.“I see you responding to my touch, please open your eyes…” he whispered.I was helpless to refuse him, knowing what he was to me. My eyes fluttered open, the light was painful and I needed to blink multiple times to gain focus so I could begin taking in the room around me, it was white, it smelled sterile, of antiseptic- it made me want to gag.I looked over to my left and I saw Sebastian, elbows on the bed, face much too close and yet not close enough. “How long have I been out
I was aware enough to realize that Sebastian was handing me off to someone in white, he was very animated with his hands. He kept looking down at me, worry laced his handsome features. A bright light assaulted my eyes, I tried to knock it away, but the weight of my arms were too much to bare. I looked over at Sebastian, who was now sitting in a chair next to me. His head cradled in his hands, he looked broken. Once again, I tried to reach out, instead of failing this time I succeeded, I grabbed his hand just as a shooting pain overtook my entire body, and everything faded to black.“You must wake up, there isn’t much time. Please.” A voice reached my ears. I tried to rub away the inky black spots that clouded my vision but unfortunately I was not succeeding.“Charlee, can you understand me?” A cold hand touched my shoulder. It seemed to zap my brain into full consciousness, as I took in
The cracking of my bones finally subsided, and when I could think straight I realized I was at the shores edge, two legs instead of four.“Our rider?” I asked.Silence surrounded me, great. I guess I will just have to wait until next time.Shit, I really needed to get back to the room, even if Laura was scared of me. I started my trek back to the main campus, marveling at how even in the dark everything seemed unnaturally alive. The moon was a bit too bright, crickets chirping a little too loudly. The forest seemed restless, the fog had settled just below the tops of the trees, creating an unnatural looking barrier between the ground and the sky. I choked on the humidity, sweat pooling around the base of my neck as I made my way back. It took me a second to realize what I was feeling, and
I’m a fucking dragon.Yes, we are.There was the voice again.“uh, dragon?” I thoughtYesHoly shit. I was losing my mind, I’m talking to myself, in my head and apparently it’s a DRAGON, or I’m a dragon. My thoughts raced, what was I? Am I stuck like this forever? Why can I breathe under water? Oh my god, they really are going to kill me.Calm down, I will answer everything you want to know.“Uh… what are we?”We are a dragon shifter, the first in a very long time. I’ve been waiting for you.“Are w
Laura ran off to her room and I figured it was best not to bother her for the rest of the day. In hopes of being a good roommate and wanting to convince her I wasn’t going to hurt her, I decided I would go to the beach. For a brief second I considered going to the pool, but shuddered at the thought of going back there. Beach it was. I quickly changed out of my clothes and into my swimsuit, wanting to give Laura as much space as she deemed necessary.As I made my way I noticed a group of students playing some form of football but the ball never touched the ground, they all had silver eyes. That made sense. The campus was beautiful, the grass was almost an unnatural shade of green, with vines running up the sides of the buildings, it looked like a picture from a fantasy. I laughed to myself, of course it would. I shook my head, and made my way into the dense forest that would lead me to the ocean. I took my time, noticing the difference
I found myself entering Olivia’s office in just my towel, perfect. She motioned for me to take a seat, and I begrudgingly obliged.“Care to explain what exactly happened?”“Not really.” Where was this attitude coming from? I should be scared shouldn’t I? Instead, I felt mildly irritated, she attacked me.“Ms. Jones, you’d do well to remember that you are here on scholarship, fighting between anyone especially different affinities is STRICTLY prohibited.”I hated being chastised.Weak, we can take her. It was that voice again, it startled me and I jumped.“Ms. Jones? I’m losing my patience.”“I don’t know what happened, o
I felt Sebastian’s absence in my bones, it was a chill I couldn’t shake. It felt as though my heart was bleeding and pouring out into the water around me, I couldn’t stop the tears. I wasn’t sure how long I stayed in the pool, just that when I got out my lips were blue. I made my way back to my dorm in my sopping wet clothes, all I wanted was a hot shower and sleep. I barely made it through the door“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?” Laura’s voice hit an octave I wasn’t sure was possible “You just left me there with Parker and his goons. It was unbearable, he kept asking where you went, what you’ve said about him…” Her voice trailed off as she looked at me, “Oh my god Charlee, are you okay?”“I don’t think so.” I leaned on her and let the tears flow, luckily for me Laura didn’t press the subject any further, just let me
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