Hemlock (Academy of the Dead Book 1) Read online

  Contents

  About The Author

  Also by Rue Volley

  Songs to set the Mood

  Character Glossary

  Spells & Blessings

  Copyright Mentions

  A Note from the Author

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Every five hundred years, humanity bears a child who has unlimited power over life and death.

  And now she’s a teenager.

  Rook Dagger spent the first fifteen years of her life safely tucked away in a beautiful cottage on the lake, enjoying home-cooked meals and homeschooling far away from the rest of the world.

  But her power couldn’t be hidden forever.

  The time has come for Rook to be enrolled in Hemlock Academy, a centuries-old institution designed to cultivate and create the greatest Necromancers in the world.

  The children who attend will one day be placed among the seven kingdoms of magic, serving Kings and country for as long as they’re needed.

  To harness the power surging through her veins, Rook will need guidance in the art of giving life... and taking it away.

  This power makes her unique.

  Dangerous.

  Different.

  Her abilities could make her an unstoppable force of nature if she wasn’t hung up on a boy.

  G Gianni—a beautiful distraction with pouty lips, pale skin, and a sharp tongue.

  His attention consumes her. His scent entices her. His words infuriate her.

  She loves to hate him.

  He hates to love her.

  And together? Well, together, they could destroy the world.

  About The Author

  Rue Volley is a USA Today Bestselling Author and award-winning screenwriter who is best known for creating compelling storylines with a multitude of twists and turns that leave her readers virtually speechless.

  She specializes in paranormal romances that include otherworldly characters who, regardless of their supernatural abilities, feel oddly familiar, or in other words, human. This, coupled with her easy reading style, wicked sense of humor, and excellent world building skills, has garnered her a fiercely loyal fan base over the past decade who support her regardless of what genre she chooses to write in.

  Some of her best works include 13 Ways to Midnight, Hellhound, The Devil’s Gate, and A Vampires Tale of Blood and Light. All of which utilize her skill at piecing together compelling dramas that highlight her love for vampires, witches, angels, and demons across many genres including young adult, new adult, urban fantasy, and erotic romance.

  Rue Volley’s work seems to be synonymous with one phrase in the publishing world.

  Thoroughly addictive.

  She is also accredited with two award-winning screenplays for film, Hellhound (original script, 2014) and Awakening (contributing screenwriter, 2015).

  IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7043310/

  Rue is represented by Gladys Gonzales Atwell, Publicist, and Sarah Davis Brandon, Publisher.

  Business inquiries, please contact [email protected]

  Rue loves to hear from her readers!

  Connect with Rue:

  Email: [email protected]

  FB: https://www.facebook.com/RueVolleyAuthor/

  Sign up for Rue’s Newsletter!

  Receive exclusive content, giveaways, and more.

  http://www.ruevolley.com/

  Also by Rue Volley

  13 Ways to Midnight (The Midnight Saga, Book #1)

  13 Ways to Midnight (The Midnight Saga, Book #2)

  13 Ways to Midnight (The Midnight Saga, Book #3)

  13 Ways to Midnight (The Midnight Saga, Book #4)

  The Dead Boy’s Club

  The Devil’s Gate Trilogy

  The Devil’s Gate (Book #1)

  The Devil’s Fire (Book #2)

  The Devil’s Kiss (Book #3)

  Hellhound Origins: Tale of the Red Dragon

  Hellhound (Episode One: Dead is Dead)

  A Witch’s Tale

  A Vampires Tale:

  Of Blood and Light (Book #1)

  Of Smoke and Mirrors (Book #2)

  Of Oil and Water (Book #3)

  Of Clarity and Reason (Book #4)

  Of Grace and Beauty (Book #5)

  Of Hope and Faith (Book #6)

  This Book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  ©Text Copyright 2020 Rue Volley

  Cover by Rue Volley

  Edited by Neil M. Schwartz

  Formatting by Rebecca Poole

  All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.

  Published by

  CHBB Publishing

  Songs to set the Mood

  Playlist

  Ruelle- The Other Side

  Billie Ellish- You should see me in a Crown

  Selena Gomez- Lose you to love me

  HAEVN- Back in the water

  Maroon 5- Girls like you

  Sam Smith – Normani

  Gesaffelstein & The Weeknd- Lost in the fire

  Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber- I don’t care

  Rita Ora- Let you love me

  Christina Perri – A thousand years

  Berry Blanco, Helsey & Khalid – Eastside

  Shawn Mendes- In my Blood

  London Grammar- Sights

  Rihanna- Stay

  Character Glossary

  Rook Dagger

  Age: 15

  Height: 5’3

  Weight: 108 lbs

  Eyes: Emerald green

  Hair Color: Hot pink and purple, but naturally chocolate brown.

  Personality: Sarcastic, innocent, curious, courageous, book lover

  Bitter Bat the Cat

  Age: ?

  Height: Tall enough to bite

  Weight: How dare you ask

  Eyes: Yellow like a demon from Hades

  Fur: Black and white

  Personality: Biggest turd on the planet

  Azalea Dagger

  Age: 32

  Hei
ght: 5’4

  Weight: 125 lbs

  Eyes: Emerald green

  Hair Color: White blonde

  Personality: Charismatic, hyper, theatrical, loving

  Nadia Mason

  Age: 15

  Height: 5’3

  Weight: 106

  Eyes: Silver lightning

  Hair: Black with dark blue tips

  Personaility: Energetic, girly, romantic, supportive, curious

  G (Gage) Gianni

  Age: 17

  Height: 6’1

  Weight: 142 lbs

  Eyes: They shift in color depending on his mood

  Hair: Light blue

  Personality: Snarky, saracstic, antoganizing, charming

  Zander Mason

  Age: 250

  Height: 6’3

  Weight: 165 lbs

  Hair: Shaggy and black with sideburns

  Eyes: Silver, blue, black (They shift in color)

  Personaility: Charming, authoritative, attentive, knowledgable

  Cole Parker

  Age: 16

  Height: 5’9

  Weight: 146

  Hair: Blonde

  Eyes: Dark chocolate with flecks of amber (Wears thick black framed glasses)

  Personaility: Easily persuaded, book smart, friendly, romantic

  Suporting Cast:

  Professor Winston Bishop

  Professor Venelope Ravenmoor

  Professor Christoff Atlas

  Sinn (Selkie)

  Soll (Selkie)

  Zeti (Fae)

  Princess Emma Green

  Athan

  Morte la nuit

  La mémoire des étoiles brûle

  Une encre éblouissante subsiste

  Dans l’écriture de l’aube

  La monde naît

  Sans déchirement

  Le même enfante le même

  Allègre renouvellement

  Des ventres se nimbent

  Lourds de fœtus de soleils

  Des flèches d’oiseaux s’élancent

  Vers les formes fertiles

  Sur le lit du temps

  Les vierges bourgeonnent

  Des buissons d’anges

  Jaillissent de leur nombril

  Tout

  Est possible

  Translation:

  When night has died

  The stars’ memory keeps burning

  A dazzling ink remains

  In the handwriting of dawn

  The world bursts forth

  Tearing nothing apart

  Like gives birth to like

  Joyful renewal

  Bellies are haloed

  Heavy with unborn suns

  Bird-arrows dart up

  Toward fertile forms

  Virgins are blossoming

  On the bed of time

  Angel bushes

  Spring from their navels

  Everything

  Is possible

  -Claire Malroux, translated by Marilyn Hacker, Edge (1996)

  Spells & Blessings

  Love Spell:

  Goddess, Moon, and Stars Above

  Let my life be blessed with Love

  I call upon the Fertile Earth

  Send to me a Heart of Worth

  I call upon the Scared Water

  Grant this Wish unto thy Daughter

  I Call Upon the Swirling Air

  May I be held in tender Care

  I call upon the Steadfast Stone

  Never more to be Alone

  I call upon the Burning Fire

  Bind me true to my Desire

  Earth, Water, Air and Stone

  Fire, Blood, Flesh and Bone

  Goddess, Moon, and Stars Above

  Let my Life be Blessed with Love

  The Book of Shadows Blessing:

  Hearken as the Witches Word

  Calls the Lady and the Lord

  Moon Above and Earth Below

  Sky’s blue hue and Sun’s hot Glow

  In this Right and Ready Hour

  Share thy Wisdom and Thy Power

  May no Failed Student See

  Thy Scared Powers That Be

  It is They Who will Walk the Hidden Road

  To Find the Hearthstone’s Calm Abode

  Guardians from the Four Directions

  Hear me and offer Thy Protection

  May These Truths from Earth and Sky

  Be Shaded from Prying Eyes

  Stand with Purpose, Stand with Pride

  May Your Power be Justified

  And Through all the Coming Ages

  May we Find Life where Death once Stood

  Within These Sacred Pages

  So Mote it be!

  Mabon Blessing:

  Embrace this time the change of light,

  With shorter days and longer nights,

  The wheel has turned, the time will change,

  The darker side of the Earth remains,

  There’s magic in the LUNAR light,

  With intuition at its height,

  The alchemy of Mother Earth,

  From birth to death will come rebirth,

  Rejoicing in this season, may it fill you with peace,

  And may the blessings of nature, for you, never cease.

  Copyright Mentions

  Bic highlighter

  UGG Boots

  Fried Green Tomatoes

  Steel Magnolias

  Cecilie Bahnson

  Tach Clothing

  Peter Do

  Paris Georgia

  Gauge81

  BITE Studios

  Christopher John Waters

  Khaite

  Rotate

  Pyer Moss

  Bande Noir

  Arje

  Kelsey Randall

  Orseund Iris

  Kalmanovich

  Kaboodle

  Count Dracula

  Queen Elizabeth the Third

  Beauty and the Beast

  Into the Wood

  Little Shop of Horrors

  For Stacey Rourke.

  We’re not going to waste that shot.

  The author would like to personally thank the following people in her life, Sarah Davis Brandon, Karmin Garrison, Jenny Bynum, Jill Hecht, Neil Schwartz, Gladys Gonzales Atwell, and Von Stultz.

  A Note from the Author

  I want to thank everyone for the love and support that you’ve shown me over the past decade. You’ll never know how all those words of kindness by mail, email, private messaging, and in person have helped me through some of the darkest times of my life.

  Now, don’t skip the prologue! It will ruin the book.

  Follow your heart when the seas catch fire.

  Prologue

  It was a crisp summer day, exploding with sunlight and heat that could easily tan the skin. The light cascaded through the double paned window in our kitchen, spilling sparks of light throughout the air as it hitched a ride on various specks of dust. My eyes followed the swirling mass dipping in and out of separate streams, until a passing cloud ended the moment without warning.

  I’m too young to properly express myself, because my thoughts are perhaps years ahead of my age. I feel older—trapped in the body of a five-year-old girl, who seems to understand more than she should.

  It’s probably best that I keep quiet—for the most part. I do. I keep to myself.

  I had been coloring my memories of the day on a piece of parchment paper that’s usually reserved for “Fun Friday.” That’s what Mom calls the day I get to paint
, sketch, or play violin—it’s my choice, instead of the regular curriculum which includes reading, writing, math, and history.

  She’s a good teacher, she really is. I can tell she cares about me and wants to give me every tool I’ll need to survive in this world—but, I’d be happy to stay here forever, just like this, if I could. Because I love my life and everything in it just as it is.

  Change is scary. Time is too.

  But for some strange reason I feel a kinship with time, like it knows me—or I know it.

  I bet that sounds silly, and maybe it is. I don’t know.

  My crayon slipped, when something hit the window, ruining the tree I had been working on. It was our apple tree in the backyard. Sometimes I draw without thinking. I just create. I don’t even know where it comes from.

  I fingered at the mark outside the tree branch. I couldn’t erase it.

  It didn’t matter anyway. My Mom would proudly display it on the wall, along with all the other pictures I had drawn from as far back as I could remember.

  Sometimes I dream in color about being in a small space. Bent up like a little pretzel, but still able to hear my Mom’s voice clear as day—and Dad’s, too. It couldn’t be from when she carried me in her belly, right? It had to be a dream. I also remember a bright light coursing through me, it tickled at the time. Made me giggle as it raced through my arms and legs, then slipped through my fingertips. It felt like an old friend, the same way time sort of feels like one too.

  I also remember classical music. I love the way the strings sound, but mostly I love the vibration. The way it hums across my skin. It soothes me.

  I don’t know if that’s normal or not—or if I should care. Normal to me is getting up every day and being right here.

  Normal is family.

  Normal is the three of us.

  Normal is me, my Mom, and my Dad.

  I’m sorry. My mind wanders so let’s get back to the day.

  I set the crayon on its blunt end, off to the side of my sketch. It wasn’t raining and the apple tree sat too far away from the kitchen window to allow any fruit to fall against the house—even with the strong gusts of wind that would unexpectedly roll in off the lake.

  I love those gusts of wind too, but for different reasons.

  I like to stand against it with my arms open wide.

  It makes me feel like I’m flying. I think that’s why I love birds.