Chapter 1
Sam
Sam slowly cleaned Master Smith's bookshelf. She knew that if she failed to finish this simple task, the master would send her to bed without feeding her dinner. As Sam moved on to taking the linens off of Master Smith's bed, she heard faint footsteps and voices moving in her direction.
"I've only had her as my housekeeper for a few weeks. Yet, she already knows every nook and cranny of this place. Even areas I don't know about. It's almost as if she was raised in this house." Master Smith told someone.
"Surely she has said more than just her name? Hasn't she at least told you where she came from?" Another man's voice joined Master Smith's. Sam guessed her Master was talking to a shadow buyer. She hoped not. Shadow buyers never fed or clothed their shadow people.
"Not really. That's all Sam has said to me. She also told me her age. Apparently she is 20 years old. I think she may have come from the Academy. It's where all of them come from after all." Master Smith told the man.
"Do you mind if I talk to her? Please?" Sam was suddenly extremely uncomfortable. If the man Master Smith was conversing with talked to Sam, then he would find out what Sam had witnessed earlier that day.
Master Smith knocked on the bedroom door, which Sam thought was a bit unusual. It was, after all, his room. Sam glanced up from her tasks for just a moment. "Master," she said, her voice sweet as honey even despite her age, "Do you need something?" She was always polite but never more polite then at this very minute.
Master Smith entered the room. "This young gentlemen has been talking with me. He wanted to speak with you. Gustav, this is Sam. Sam, I want you to tell Gustav what you told me earlier today." Gustav's shadow was big and fierce. This frightened Sam.
"What is this about, Gustav?" Sam looked at Gustav, then at her Master, then at Gustav again.
"Your master claims that you saw the death of a mundane yet failed to report it to the appropriate police force. Your failure in doing so means that you are a suspect in an opened murder investigation. From now on, you are on probation." Gustav seemed frustrated. His tone was almost condescending.
"I wasn't the only witness. Someone else saw the murder. Her name is Christina and she works at the Academy. I didn't tell the mundane police what I witnessed because I was afraid I would get in trouble. I wasn't actually supposed to be in the Alley that day. Master Smith asked me to grab groceries from the store and head right back to his mansion." Sam told Gustav.
Christina
Christina stood in the front of her class. Her students were supposed to be taking a complex test. Two of her smartest and best behaved female students weren't paying attention. They were, instead, projecting their shadows. (Something that was forbidden during any class except gym.)
Christina looked up from her desk, suspecting that something sinister was going on in her classroom. She immediately noticed that Ingrid and Elizabeth were messing around. "Ingrid, Elizabeth, please stop. If you don't do your test, I will have to send you to the headmistress' office." This was the worst threat any teacher at the Academy could give student. Everyone knew that Headmistress Penelope was evil. She was a cross between a shadow person and a human. She could go out into the daylight whenever she wished to. Unlike the other faculty and the students at the Academy. And the headmistress liked to let people know this whenever possible.
The girls stopped. Then, when Christina went back to grading the finished tests on her desk, the girls went back to messing around with their shadows. Christina sighed. She would probably have to send one of the girls to Headmistress Penelope's office.
Ingrid
Ingrid, still messing around with her shadow despite Professor Christina's warning stopped. She knew she was on a thin line by doing this. She glanced toward Professor Christina's desk. This quiz was confusing her.
"Professor Christina, I don't know the answer to this question." Ingrid said.
Christina sighed again. "Ingrid, could you please come here?" The 32 year old Academy teacher waved Ingrid over to her desk.
As Ingrid stood in front of Christina's desk, she had the faintest feeling that she was quite possibly in trouble. If Ingrid were to fail this test, she would end up getting failed by the Academy. After all, Headmistress Penelope couldn't handle failure.
"Ingrid, you are doing an excellent job with all your field work but you are practicing using your shadow to often. You know that it is forbidden to use shadows during classes. I feel like you aren't studying often enough. For that particular reason, I am assigning you to a study group. You will be participating in this study group at least three hours each night." Professor Christina informed her.
"Professor Christina, I study with Elizabeth once every week. Then I study by myself every night for two hours." Ingrid told the teacher.
"I understand that, Ingrid but you aren't completely comprehending what it is that I am teaching in this class. Either you join a study group or else I will fail you in this class." Christina repeated herself.
Elizabeth
When Elizabeth entered her dorm that evening (which was technically day) , she was stunned to find out that Ingrid wasn't back from class yet. Elizabeth smirked. With Ingrid still in class, Elizabeth could practice projecting her shadow and prowling (using her shadow to sneak up on other people) without getting in trouble with any teachers.
But first, Elizabeth had to figure out where exactly Ingrid was. She searched Ingrid's desk, which was where Ingrid usually left her notes, and finally found a note on Ingrid's Math textbook.
Elizabeth, The note said, Professor Christina made me join a study group. It was either that or she would fail me out of her class. I will be back by 7 am curfew.
-Ingrid
Elizabeth sighed to herself. If Professor Christina had indeed threatened to fail Ingrid, then who was to say that Professor Christina wouldn't do the same thing to Elizabeth. Elizabeth was suddenly very concerned. Professor Christina had been known to fail entire classes in the past.
