Bluestone Academy

BLUESTONE ACADEMY Copyright © 2023 by A. BLACKBIRD Previously published under KLARISSA KING penname, now edited, revised and republished. FULL NOVEL. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission—this includes scanning and/or unauthorised distribution—except in case of brief quotations used in reviews and/or academic articles, in which case quotations are permitted. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, whether alive or dead, is purely coincidental. Names, characters, incidents, and places are all products of the author’s imagination. Imprint: Independently published. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 1 I’m a witch. A broken one. A witch without magic. I know. What you’re thinking is, a witch without magic isn’t a witch at all, right? Wrong. Handicapped witches like me aren’t common, especially not in the ancient bloodlines I hail from, but we happen enough that there are hatreds and names for us. ‘Handicap Witch’ is the technical term. The others aren’t so nice. I hear them every day. Deadblood. Derelict. And the worst of the worst, waif. No matter what they call me—the ancient bloods—there’s a constant truth: I am a leper. A broken witch without power, born from ancient bloodlines into an elite family of powerful witches, but I’m just like those my kind despises; the humans, the krums. For most of my life, I waited for my powers to come. It can show from between birth until puberty strikes. I’m eighteen years old, in my final year at Bluestone Academy, and still, I have no power. I’d be shunned if it wasn’t for my family, who still love me despite my … issue. In this elite society, I used to be liked. At least accepted. And, as a young girl, I fancied myself in love. That broke down the moment I wasn’t considered a late bloomer anymore and everyone knew what I was. A deadblood. A witch without magic. When I reached the age of no return, it was confirmed, and they all started to despise me. The one I thought I loved, my best friend back then, Dray, turned on me like all the others. I’ll always remember that day like a black stain separating two parts of my life, dividing my acceptance and my shunning. We’d been queuing in the snow—snow that reached up to my knees—for the gondola cars to come down the wires from the peak of the mountain. I’d stood with my brother, Bradford, and other elite snakes: Dray, Serena Valez and Landon. We were starting Bluestone Academy that year, and though we were all nervous, it wasn’t just the weather that had been frosty that morning. My friends had barely looked at me, and even my brother snubbed me every time I’d spoken or tried to join a conversation. It wasn’t until the car had reached us at the bottom of the mountain where all the students were lumped together that I had realised why they had all turned their backs on me—literally. Lugging my heavy suitcase behind me in the snow, I’d made to join them in the same gondola car that’d stopped and whose doors slid open for us. Of course, we’d all share a car, since we’d all grown up together and were all starting our year together at the Academy. But before I could have moved to follow the others into the car, Dray had blocked my way. His once soft blue eyes had taken a sharp glint as he’d looked down his fine nose at me. “What are you doing?” he’d asked, his tone frostier than the alps. “I’m going in the car,” I’d said, and made a curious face at him. “That car is for magical people only.” His cold eyes had stabbed through me like icicles. Even his pale hair seemed to shine like frost. “You’re not welcome, not in this car, not at the Academy, not in our world.” He’d taken a determined step towards me. “You,” he’d hissed, “shouldn’t be here. You belong with the krums.” The first time Dray had ever hurt me was that day and not just with his words. As I’d made to shove by him into the cosy car, Dray had pushed me. I’d been shoved back, legs caught on my suitcase, and I’d fallen flat on my backside in the snow. The car door slammed shut in front of me, and they were off. That was the day I was first shunned by the elite snakes (that’s just what I call them). My brother did nothing to stop it, and that hasn’t changed. Only my parents still loved me, so they kept me. I’m grateful they did. Most witch families who have a deadblood send them out to the krum world to live as an ordinary human. My parents kept me around. So, I live in the witch world. I even go to the school, perched on the peak of a Swiss mountain in the alps. Bluestone Academy. I live as a witch with the power of a krum. To understand my life, I have to bring you up to speed. A day at Bluestone Academy was filled by many things, and not much changed over the eight years I’d been attending. I went to class—those of the lessons I could take without magic to back me up, like The Theory of Brews, Herbalism, Astrology, and Human History—and between lessons, someone would corner me, push me over, put newts in my blonde curls, tie my shoelaces, dunk green-staining brews over me. None of those petty attacks bothered me much, not when they