Daizlei Academy
The Completed Series
Kel Carpenter
Daizlei Acdaemy Boxset
Published by Kel Carpenter
Copyright © 2020, Kel Carpenter LLC
First Edition
Edited by Analisa Denny
Edited by Danielle Fine
Cover Art by Amanda Pillar
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
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Contents
I. Heir of Shadows
The Incident
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
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 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
II. Scion of Midnight
Prologue
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Epilogue
III. Queen of Lies
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137
IV. Vessel of Destruction
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141
Chapter 142
Chapter 143
Chapter 144
Chapter 145
Chapter 146
Chapter 147
Chapter 148
Chapter 149
Chapter 150
Chapter 151
Chapter 152
Chapter 153
Chapter 154
Chapter 155
Chapter 156
Chapter 157
Chapter 158
Chapter 159
Chapter 160
Chapter 161
Chapter 162
Chapter 163
Chapter 164
Chapter 165
Chapter 166
Chapter 167
Chapter 168
Chapter 169
One Year Later…
Sneak Peek
Also by Kel Carpenter
About the Author
Acknowledgments
For showing me there’s a better world than what I knew. You stood by me through it all.
Thank you.
Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Part I
Heir of Shadows
The Incident
The sound of churning gravel cut off our shouting. Our eyes locked as we heard a car door shut, far too faintly for humans to hear. I turned away to hide my grimace as my forty-something, bible-thumping, temporary legal guardian came through the front door like a soldier at war. Alexandra was momentarily silenced by the harsh glare our aunt gave her. A short, plump woman with a ridiculously colorful wardrobe, Carrie had excellent hearing, so we didn’t dare continue our conversation; despite being our “parent” at the time, she was also one hundred percent human.
“The principal called, right after the police, to tell me you were expelled and couldn’t come within a thousand feet of your school.” Her dark eyes flashed as she walked toward us.
“I wasn’t going to learn anything useful anyway,” Alexandra said.
Carrie looked appalled, and her voice rose in direct relation to the disinterest in Alexandra’s tone. “You attacked another girl and just got kicked out of school! Don’t you realize how serious this is? Don’t you care?”
Nope. I doubted she cared in the slightest.
“There’s
only two weeks left . . .” she muttered.
“Of course, my ungrateful brat of a niece wouldn’t care . . . and here I thought I was making an impression.”
I nearly choked on suppressed laughter.
No one made an impression on Alexandra. One of the blessings of being a Supernatural with no parents was that you set your own rules, but she took it too far. I might’ve had a deep-rooted prejudice against humans and a twisted sense of right and wrong, but if there was anything I’d mastered in almost sixteen years, it was self-control. Think before you act, consider the consequences, and never, ever reveal our secret.
In my silent ramble, I hadn’t heard Alexandra’s response. Before I had time to react, my aunt’s hand whipped out like a cobra and slapped her across the face. Time stopped as I held my breath. I watched the spark in my sister catch fire. She snapped.
I lunged forward to stop her, but Carrie was too close and Alexandra too fast. Fire erupted from her hand as she grabbed the collar of Carrie’s shirt and threw her to the floor, knocking her unconscious. She glowered down at my aunt and the hesitation was all I needed to step between them.
“What the hell are you thinking?” I grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back. The more distance between them, the better.
“Get out of my way, Selena!” she growled, trying to get around me. Her halo of red hair was covered in flames, making her look like fire incarnate.
“Not until you back off,” I said, maintaining my stance.
She lunged for me, and I grabbed her swinging fist. Twisting her arm so hard she hunched over, I stepped behind her and pinned her other arm behind her back. Within moments, I had her secured by her wrists and on the ground.
“She’s human. Get it through your damn head that no matter what she does, you can’t behave like this!” I was nearly shouting. I had to stop myself from pulling her back so I could smash her into the ground again; she was my sister, after all.
“What are you?” a voice hissed.
My eyes snapped up to see Carrie staring, wide-eyed. She was by the front door and holding herself protectively. Her shirt collar was charred, and red burn welts nearly wrapped around her neck.
Great. Collateral damage.
The front door started to open behind Carrie, and she jumped back, terrified.
Sunny blond hair peeked through before the door swung open. My sister Lily was home. It took her no time at all to assess the situation, and her smile dropped into a grimace. She did a once-over of Carrie’s expression and looked away; her mind now closed to any excuses Alexandra would undoubtedly give.
“I’ll go pack,” she said dryly.
Chapter 1
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
Three hours and fifty-two minutes ago, they’d closed the plane doors. I’d checked my watch seventy-eight times since then. We still had half an hour, and my anxiety was building.
I wiggled out from between my sisters. Alexandra cast me a tired look before narrowing her eyes at Lily’s sleeping figure. It’s amazing how at fifteen years old they still argue over who gets the window seat.
I ran my hand over Lily’s forehead to clear the wrinkles away, but the troubled frown remained, and she mumbled in her sleep. I didn’t have to hear her to know what she was dreaming; it’d been the same for five years. Her fitful sleep wasn’t the only consequence of our parents’ deaths, but it was the only one there was no help for. The only one beyond my control. I frowned, shaking my head as I squeezed past Alexandra into the aisle.
Leering male gazes followed me as I breezed past. I set my jaw as I headed toward the rear of the plane, trying to pay no attention to the visual pedophiles.
I slipped into the tiny bathroom. The fluorescent light was awful, and the mirror smudged with lipstick. I waved my hands under the faucet, scooping up cold water and splashing it on my face, letting it run down my neck. It helped clear my mind, but not my unease.
My long black hair fell forward into the sink, soaking my shirt as I sighed unhappily and shifted to sitting on the toilet seat. I hadn’t slept in three nights. Not since Carrie threw plane tickets at us and she kicked us out of her house. But ever since, I’d been up thinking. Planning. This was it—our very last option before foster care. I wouldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t. If this didn’t work out, we’d go somewhere. San Francisco, Las Vegas, maybe New York . . . I didn’t know yet, but somewhere. It would be so much easier if Alexandra could just get her act together.
We could stay put till we turned eighteen then go off to college. Lily could grow up and meet a nice, pathetic human boy. Alexandra could become a model or something equally outlandish that would get her both attention and men . . .
But what about you?
The thought rang like a bell in the eerie silence. What about me? My defenses were falling more every week. The threat of insanity loomed just out of sight, like a shadow, always there. Waiting. I’m not normal, but I’m not crazy . . . yet.
I was growing restless, impatient. My temper was shorter, with just as big a bang. If I said yes to the insanity, to the darkness, to my disease . . . Selena would be no more. The monster would reign. And once I let it out, there would be no going back.
If I let it out, people would die. People I cared about much more than myself. I had to hold it together—for them. Had to remember the things this world would do to them as justice for my actions . . . I could never release the monster, not for anything less than the world. I grimaced at my black boots. The laces were falling apart, like the seams of my life, but somehow they survived. Worn and walked on, they remained.
I tapped my feet impatiently as I glanced at the time. Twenty-five more minutes. Could it go any slower?
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking—”
I jerked my head up sharply. “Great. Just flipping great . . .” I muttered, not even listening to what he had to say.
I stood, stumbling as the plane rocked sideways. Turbulence. The door flung open and the frame rattled, but whether it was from me or the shaking, I didn’t know. Before I’d even made it out into the aisle, a greasy man with awful breath fell onto me, pushing me back into the wall. I flattened like a sheet to escape his touch.
Stop.
“Well, hello, darlin’.” His gaze traveled to my disheveled shirt, which had been pulled down in the commotion. He smelled of alcohol and stale smoke. My eyes glazed over as the violent calm took over.
“Get the fuck off me if you want to keep that hand,” I spat, pushing him into the counter.
“Don’t be like that, sugar.” He made the mistake of reaching for me.
Before his hand even made contact with my skin, I grabbed it and sidestepped behind him. I thrust my palm into his elbow, snapping the bone.
“Fuck!” He cried out in pain, surely not prepared for—nor accustomed to—having his ass handed to him by a hundred-and-twenty-five-pound girl. I twisted his arm sharply behind his back and threw him into the wall.
I turned to leave and almost ran into two blond Amazonian flight attendants who were staring in horror.
Shit.
Chapter 2
“So you’re saying this man tried to sexually assault you?”
“Yes. I’ve said yes the last five times. My answer’s not changing, so yes, yes, and wait—yes again,” I snapped.
The policeman looked me over. He was an older man—maybe forty. He was utterly normal with an average face and forgettable features. To the very core, this man was nothing but human. Which meant he was nothing.