The spell thieves, p.1
The Spell Thieves, page 1
Lilliana Rose
The Spell Thieves
The Lost Souls Academy Series Book 3
By Lilliana Rose
Copyright 2021 Lilliana Rose
This book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this eBook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Editing by Swish Design & Editing
Book design by Swish Design & Editing
Cover design by Christian Bentulan at Covers by Christian
Published by Infinity Dreaming
Cover Image Copyright 2021
Something happened to Zarya’s magical ability. Her spells aren’t working, leaving her vulnerable to an attack from the evil ghost, Abaddon.
Can she convince her new friends at the Lost Souls Academy to help her work out how to get her magic back and protect her against a ghost who could easily destroy them all?
Or will they turn on her to save their own lives?
To Sprinkles
My little boy’s puppy
who has come late
to helping with this series.
For anyone looking to belong, and for a second chance to learn their unique magic ability, then the Lost Souls Academy is for you.
Can lost souls really work together?
Find your own normal.
Cast out from covens, orders, clans, and packs, the Lost Souls Academy is for paranormal beings to have a chance to belong and find a purpose.
But is their purpose for the greater good or evil?
Blurb
Dedication
The Lost Souls Academy
Table of Contents
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
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Acknowledgments
Connect With Me Online
About the Author – Lilliana Rose
Avery stood in the back garden shed, arms crossed over her chest, glaring at the cage, the iron bars hardly looking like they were strong enough to hold a werewolf. This was where Panguar would go every full moon. This was where she’d found them, a group of them—Zarya, Daire, and Kaia. What had they been doing?
Avery had plans, and she needed the wolf to get control over his ability and step up. It was time to be more aggressive with him. He couldn’t even sniff out the recruits like he wanted. The students needed to show her they were worthy of being here. Otherwise, she’d be sending them packing. Or worse. There were a few spells she wanted to try that required blood—maybe she would be experimenting soon.
“Want me to lock you in it?” Crowe smirked from behind her.
“You can lock yourself in it,” grumbled Avery. It was no use looking at the cage, since it wasn’t about to solve anything or help her plans progress.
“If it would please you,” answered Crowe, his ghostly image shimmered into existence in the air close to Avery, reminding her of his handsome body that was out of bounds now that he was a ghost. She knew he’d been an attractive warlock, powerful and ambitious, and in another time, maybe they would’ve been the couple everyone admired. Now, they were trapped together because she’d killed the witch, Kasi, and the other witches of The Guild saw it fit to bind Crowe to her as punishment. At times, he wore her down, but there were moments when she wished he was in flesh and bone form, and they could be together. She reminded herself it didn’t matter. The library was now hers, and The Guild would soon be no more.
Avery knew Crowe was taunting her, and it grated on her already strained nerves. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Do you want to know what I’m really thinking?”
Crowe’s form materialized fully—his long and attractively messy dark hair and tailored suit showed off his strong and muscular body. Avery knew he was doing this for her, and she hated that it was affecting her like it was. She wanted to take him, reach out, pull him to her, and kiss his lips, but she didn’t. Her resolve was strong. She didn’t get to this position of power and finding the impossible by giving in to her desires.
“Always.” He smiled.
“Why haven’t you trained the wolf to transform at will?”
“These things take time,” he began.
Avery held up her hand. “You do it. Otherwise, I’ll get Zarya to send you through the light.”
“You’ll hurt yourself at the same time if you do.”
“Right now, I’m willing to take the chance.” She looked into his eyes. “Train the wolf, or what we’ve done so far is for nothing.”
Crowe nodded his head, then vanished.
Avery exhaled slowly, glad to finally be alone. She turned back to the cage. Maybe she was looking for things in the wrong places.
What had Zarya been up to?
Avery sensed the young witch with ghost hunting ability was hiding something from her. She would do anything to find out what and ensure her plans would progress.
Anything.
Zarya
Zarya pushed the magical energy back toward the ghost, bracing her stance to stop herself from falling over. A blast of bright orange light flooded out from her outstretched hands and snaked through the air to the supernatural form. Their opposing forces locked in a brilliant light. Sparks of blues and oranges burst out, arranging their own version of a fireworks performance.
Zarya narrowed her eyes to keep her attention on him. She didn’t want Ravi to fool her again. It was as if he knew what she was going to do and had attacked her with a blast of coldness that fogged her mind long enough to stop her from building the net with her magic to throw him off.
It was difficult holding Ravi like she was about to stop him from attacking her while at the same time constructing her spell to make the energy-filled net. It was all taking much longer than she would like. This ghost didn’t want to be going anywhere. The longer she was here, the more energy she was giving out to stop the ghost from harming her. So far, she’d dodged a lamp, a book, the television remote, and a butter knife. The ghost was ramping up his efforts with the intent to harm, and she needed to trap it, push it into the light, and send it to the afterlife where it belonged.
As far as Zarya could tell, this ghost was a lemur. Ravi was angry and pulsed with doom and misfortune, all because he died alone, and his family had ignored him. This was what she’d pieced together in a matter of minutes after speaking to the current tenant, Rylee, who wasn’t about to move because of a ghost. Now, it was simply about getting it out by whatever means necessary.
Rylee had found her advertisement for a Paranormal Investigator in the paper, and with the okay from the headmistress, Avery Blackwood of the Lost Souls Academy, Zarya had headed out to deal with a wayward ghost. She hadn’t expected it to be this difficult. In fact, she had wondered if there was even a ghost, as often was the case when she was called out by humans. This time it was the real deal for which she was glad because it meant that Zarya could practice her ghost hunting skills. Except Ravi was a particularly stubborn ghost, who was refusing to go anywhere toward the light that had appeared in the corner of the apartment.
Go to the light, you stubborn bastard, she yelled at him telepathically. She slid backward to the center of the small living room, the rug bunching up under her boots, giving her enough grip to center herself. It gave her some time to readjust the power she was throwing toward him. With a determined groan, she pulled up more of her ability with the energies and managed to match the forceful power the ghost was flinging at her.
Too much for you, he did say you weren’t that good, the ghost spoke to her telepathically.
He? A cold chill went through her.
Ravi chuckled. I’m not going anywhere.
A burst of energy wrapped around her, breaking her connection. She screamed as she was lifted off the floor and held in the air. Zarya wriggled in an attempt to free herself, but the energy tightened around her body. She could feel it not just on her skin, but it was as if it were getting inside of her like a worm moving in the soil looking for darkness and moisture to plant something. She remembered the Dream Talkers and the seed they planted in her mind and how it infected the other students at the Academy. This wasn’t something she wanted to have happen again.
Zarya squirmed, sensing its imposing nature while it s queezed intrusively as if attempting to meld with her. She couldn’t push it away or flee, but she wasn’t about to give up and let it engulf and destroy her.
For a moment, she feared she had misread the ghost, and he was a lot more dangerous than she’d first thought, but he didn’t have the power in his essence compared to either the Academy ghost, Crowe, or the much more powerful ghost, Abaddon. Knowing that she could still best it, she sent a bolt of magic toward him, aiming lower and catching him off guard long enough to buy herself some time.
Zarya willed her magic to build a wall around her mind and push the ghost’s infected magic back out. She could feel it withdrawing and braced herself against the uncomfortable motion. Something pulled from her as Ravi retreated like removing a splinter, so small and seemingly insignificant. She gasped with relief, still hanging in the air, unable to move. Then, his energy unraveled from around her body. She crashed onto the rug, and air rushed from her lungs.
Zarya didn’t allow herself a chance to stay on the floor and breathe. She rolled over and spied where the air rippled from Ravi’s movement. Zarya commanded the energy from her as she flung out her arms. A bolt of fiery energy blasted where the ghost hung in the air. Ravi screamed, trying to move out of the force, but finally, she had caught him off guard. Contracting her stomach muscles, she sat up, and with her left hand, sent another blast of magic, pushing the ghost toward the portal of light behind Ravi.
Clenching her jaw, she kept her concentration on him, fueling the spells of magic she was using to create the blasts of energy. Slowly, Ravi’s form moved backward, and she felt him give in to her. A smile spread across her face as the light engulfed him. The situation was turning, and she could feel her power dominating.
Ravi struggled, trying to get away from the light, but it was too late. His form stretched into the light, elongating his face as he let out another long scream. Then, there was a loud pop, and the light disappeared, closing the portal, ensuring he couldn’t return.
Zarya stopped the flow of magic, and with a sigh, collapsed back on the floor, wheezing from the exertion it took to send Ravi to the spirit world.
“Is it gone?” asked a timid voice from behind her.
Zarya forced herself to sit up and turned around to see Rylee poking her head up from behind the kitchen counter.
“You’ll have no more trouble from him.” Zarya stood, her muscles protesting against the pain that was now beginning to intensify as the adrenaline broke down. She stumbled to her feet, looking around her. The place was a mess—books on the floor, the remote in pieces, the couch turned over, and the rug in disarray in the center of the room.
“Sorry about the mess.” Zarya stretched her body trying to get the pain to dissipate and the stiffness to ease from her muscles. Then, she rolled her shoulders and readjusted her wine-colored leather jacket over her shirt and black tie. There was only one thing she could do about this banishment, and that was to brush it off and keep on going. It was the only approach she knew—to keep on going. She had won, though in her gut, it felt like she like hadn’t. She shivered as she tried to forget about the sinister attack the ghost had on her.
Why had it attacked her like that?
She put it down to simply being too comfortable to stay and not wanting to leave. She then reminded herself she had banished him, and that was something to be pleased about. She hadn’t been bested by him.
“You’re hurt,” said Rylee in alarm.
“I’m fine, nothing a hot bath won’t fix.” She grimaced as she moved over to her backpack and picked it up. Maybe once back at the Academy, a workout would help stretch her muscles, and the pain would ease.
“You sure?” Rylee, a short, slender woman with blonde hair and pink streaks, came out from the kitchen, her face full of concern.
“Of course.” Zarya was used to much more pain and hurt after the recent training sessions at the Academy with Panguar, the resident werewolf.
“I’m sorry about the mess,” Zarya stated again as she turned around, her black skirt swishing over the bare skin of her legs, the sensation helping to keep her mind off the ache that went through her entire body.
“I’ll get it back in order in no time.” Rylee shrugged.
“Let me help you pick up the couch, then I’ll be on my way,” said Zarya. This wasn’t quite the normal ghost banishment, and she didn’t like how she had turned her client’s very organized and neat apartment into a shambles.
“Thanks,” said Rylee, who went to one side of the new-looking dark indigo-colored couch.
Together, the women righted the couch. Zarya managed to stop moaning in pain as she took most of the weight of the furniture, tipping it upright and shifting it forward to where it was when she had first come into the apartment. The apartment had looked rather average from the outside, but inside, Rylee had made this a wonderfully comfortable home. Being here made Zarya feel like she was part of this world and not hiding away in an old secret building, where there were eight levels of a library she was dying to explore.
“Here.” Rylee had taken out a wad of cash from her jeans pocket and held it out for Zarya to take.
Zarya paused. Sometimes taking the money didn’t feel right, especially when there hadn’t really been a ghost to send packing. This time, she had worked hard for that money. Yet there was something niggling at her. In the past, she had relied on the money to simply survive, to pay the rent, buy some food, and that was about all she could afford after being kicked out of her parents’ home. Now, she was living in a library, of all places, learning about being a ghost hunter and a witch as well as being accepted for who she was.
“Is it not enough?”
“It’s fine,” said Zarya quickly, taking the money, slipping it into the side pocket of her backpack, and then tightening the straps. Zarya wasn’t sure why it didn’t feel right to take the cash, even though it would come in handy since she didn’t get an allowance at the Academy, but something was different this time. So much had happened over the last few weeks, putting her life on an entirely new path, so she put it down to the changes. Besides, there were bigger things she needed to fill her mind with, like finding a way to defeat the ghost, Abaddon, who was out to get her.
Why her? She had no idea. But twice already, she nearly lost to him, and the third time she wanted to kick his ass to the other side of the spirit world and never see him again.
“Thanks for calling me,” Zarya commented as she stepped over the books on the floor the ghost had flung at her in his rage, hating to see some crumpled pages and cracked spines.
“I’ll keep you in mind if I ever have another issue with a ghost,” answered Rylee.
“You won’t,” said Zarya. “I can assure you he’s gone. There’s no coming back from where I sent him.”
Rylee hurried forward and opened the door for Zarya. “Thanks.”
Zarya nodded and hurried out the door and down the corridor. She always felt uncomfortable when leaving a client, more so now with the ache in her muscles and the tightness in her gut. That aside, she was glad to have had another success, still not having had a ghost she couldn’t get to go through the light, except for Abaddon. Then again, she hadn’t actually tried since every time she had encountered him, she was on the defensive, struggling to stay alive.
She pressed the call button for the elevator and was thankful when the doors opened straight away. Taking a deep breath, she rested on the side of the elevator’s wall.
Zarya couldn’t remember a time when she had felt like this after sending a ghost packing. It worried her that she was feeling so depleted. Maybe it’s because of Abaddon, she thought. Zarya hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep since she had defeated the Dream Talkers who were trying to do Abaddon’s bidding.
The elevator jolted to a stop, and she slipped out through the doors, not allowing herself to stay in this building any longer than was necessary. She would hit the books in the library when she got back and find a way to defeat him. Determination rippled through her, helping her to forget about the tiredness and discomfort in her body.
