Chapter 1
The summer holidays had been ordinary to begin with, just like any other between school years. Three weeks into the usual six-week break from school, everything had changed. A package had arrived, nothing special, just a brown paper-wrapped box held in place with tape and a handwritten label. At first, Rhea had thought it was from her beloved grandma, her brother’s birthday was the week following, so, as any teenager would, she forgot about it the instant her parents rushed the parcel away. The same repeated days later. A parcel had arrived, the same brown paper wrapping and tape holding it together, the same handwritten label. This time, a logo was printed on one side.
A dark blue, green dragon with the words “Shadowmore Institute” written across the center. A school logo, Rhea had thought, one that was familiar to her. She’d seen something similar in her grandmother’s display unit, the large one that lined the entry hall to her Victorian manor. Still, her parents had reacted the same. Quickly, they rushed the parcel away, never to be seen again; this time, they had a frustrated expression splashed across their faces, as if the parcel were an inconvenience to them.
“Grandma,” Rhea greeted, two days after the second parcel had arrived and vanished as quickly. The elderly woman smiled as bright as usual, her eyes alight with pride. “I didn’t know you were coming,” Rhea laughed as she leaned to hug her beloved grandma, a woman of many stories and tales to tell. Glancing around, Rhea found the sight unusual; her parents shifted uncomfortably, and her siblings were nowhere to be found. It was as if she had interrupted something.
“For you, sweetling,” Grandma Ripley said, reaching to the side of her armchair to retrieve a box, pristine white, bearing the same logo as the second package two days prior. Rhea took the box with care, sitting on the floor next to her grandma’s armchair, her pale eyes alight with surprise. She’d not expected anything; her birthday wasn’t until October, and she still had her senior year to complete before she could graduate.
Carefully, Rhea opened the box, tucking her raven hair behind her ear as a serious expression settled over her. The first thing she got from the box was a pamphlet, the dragon logo on the front with Shadowmore Institute written through the center. Carefully, Rhea read through every page, ensuring she took in all the details, from the pictures of the medieval castle that houses the institution to the specific things the school offered. It was a specialized school, she conceded, meant for the extraordinary. A home away from home meant to help students grow.
The next thing Rhea pulled out of the box was a letter, her name and address written upon it, neat handwriting, every letter perfect. As Rhea opened it, she heard her father sigh, as if he’d given up hope on something or the world he knew was about to collapse into chaos.
“Dear Miss Rhea Ripley,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Shadowmore Institute for the Extraordinary as a legacy senior-year student. Please arrive at Dragonsblood Castle, Pennsylvania, by September 1st. You are permitted one large trunk, one suitcase, and a carry-on. A member of staff will greet you upon arrival.
We look forward to meeting you and welcoming you to our family.
With regards Stephanie McMahon (Headmistress of Shadowmore Institute)”
Rhea read the short letter again and again before her attention shifted to her grandma and parents. Her grandma smiled proudly, her parents shifted uncomfortably. It was as if an uncomfortable divide had formed between them. Her father looked as if someone had insulted his entire bloodline, her mother with sadness briefly flashing behind her eyes before frustration and past anger painted her features. Hurt was there also, as if memories of the past had come thundering back to the forefront.
“She’s not going,” spoke Mr Ripley, his voice low, a threatening tone to his words. His weathered face darkened as he glared at his mother-in-law—the woman whose name he’d taken after marriage. “I will not let my family be corrupted by the same hogwash that tore your daughters apart,” he growled, briefly shining a light on a past long hidden and buried. “I will not pay to have some fools teach my daughter magic tricks. To have them brainwash her.”
“You can not change it,” replied Remi, Grandma Ripley, her eyes alight with pride as she reached down to place a comforting hand on her granddaughter’s shoulder. “Rhea is of magic,” she added, recalling her second daughter, who was out there exploring the world and helping others gifted with magic learn to control their gifts and use their abilities. Wrote books on other beings that existed within the world of magic and mystery. “You can not stop her from becoming the witch she’s destined to be. From finding her people and the place she truly belongs.”
“Your stories,” whispered Rhea, her words barely heard over the weight of her father’s yelled-at ones, full of irrepentant anger. “They were true? Your story and adventures at the institute?” questioned Rhea, recalling the novels her grandma had published during her lifetime. She was a wealthy woman because of them; they were popular among teenagers and young adults. Each novel is an adventure that the heroine, Rune Oswald, goes on.
When she was growing up, her grandma had also told her other stories—a magic school hidden in plain sight, a place of adventure and family. Somewhere special, no ordinary person could go, only the special. Her grandma had told her she was special as a child, just as her grandma and estranged aunt, Reece, had been before her. The stories were always wild; some were tales of magic and experiments, others were memories of friends long since vanished, and there were tales of vampires, werewolves, and ghosts, too. Of ordinary people who knew the castle secrets yet kept them hidden from the rest of the world—tales of potion brewing and never-ending mischief, of lifelong friends that became family.
Silently, Rhea pulled the next items from the box, a pair of old yearbooks, bound together with twine. Senior yearbooks, both with signatures scribbled in them, messages for a hopeful future. The first one had a teenage girl circled, class valedictorian, Reece Ripley. Rhea’s estranged aunt, the one she’d never met and hardly knew anything about. The second also had a girl cricled, a shorter one, no taller than 5 feet 3. The uniform was old, looking like it was from the fifties or sixties. This time, the name was Remi Ripley, the very woman who sat at Rhea’s side, back when she was a teenager.
“You’ll find who you are there,” whispered Remi, her words only loud enough for Rhea to hear. “I did, so did you, Aunt Reece,” she added, recalling that Reece had come into her own there. She’d found everything she was missing in ordinary schools, from friends who understood her to herself. She understood what made her different and accepted it. “The vampires are quite the mischief fellows,” she laughed briefly before a serious expression took over once again.
“Well, Rhea, what will it be?” Mr Ripley asked, his voice loud, undeniable, his face filled with anger that had yet to rage freely. “Sacred Heart Academy or Shadowmore Institute?” he asked, an air of expectation hanging as if to hail in the doom. His eldest daughter was at the center of this pointless conflict; he hoped she’d bring it to a swift end by choosing the normal over the fantasy. Cast aside whatever loonacy Remi and Reece shared in favor of sanity. If only to save the family from being divided, as the previous generation had been.
“Shadowmore,” Rhea said, quietly at first, unsure and unheard over her mother yelling about the cruelty of such a devastating decision, of the past repeating itself, this time with her daughters rather than herself and her sister Reece. “I choose Shadowmore Institute,” she repeated, this time louder. Her words stangled any argument, silenced every word breathed. Instead of acceptance, there was a thick blanket of tension. Her mother’s sobs could be heard, her father’s anger clearly seen. Yet still Rhea stood by her decision.
Sacred Heart Academy wasn’t for her. She’d spent three years there and felt more and more out of place each year. What few friends she had were moving on, finding new people, their people. At the same time, Rhea felt as if she was an outcast for a reason she couldn’t understand, as if she were the weirdo, the odd one out.
Shadowmore called to her, not like an educational facility, but as a home, the place she was always meant to be. It held answers to questions, the same questions that lingered in the back of her mind for years. It held the journey she needed to take to find herself, to discover her path in life, and shake free from what seemed to pull her back and hold her down when she felt as if she was getting somewhere.
A rush of emotions followed. Rhea’s mother’s sobs grew louder, her father’s more hateful. Her grandmother leaped up in youthful wonder and grabbed her hand, leading her from the once-happy family home. “Not going back,” Rhea could have sworn her grandma whispered as they left, the box forgotten in the chaos. Rhea’s life is seemingly caught in a tug-of-war. She’d heard her father’s words, never come back, he’d yelled, throwing the word witch as an insult and other lines like no daughter of mine and not welcome here. To Rhea, he seemed like a different person, a man possessed.
“Shadowmore is your destiny,” said Grandma Remi as the two drove away from the ordinary home down a street of identical houses. “Like it was mine and Reece’s before,” she added with comfort, a hopeful spark alight behind her blue eyes. She knew her granddaughter was different, as she displayed traits of magic over the years, never enough to catch the quil’s attention until now, but still enough to make her feel different from others. “We’ll see which dorm you’ll be sorted into,” she laughed. Recalling fondly, she’d been in Dorm A; Reece had been too. But Dorms C and D were always the fun ones, full of never-ending mischief, something she doubted had changed. “Whichever it is, my little nightmare, I’ll always be proud of you.”
