Falling Shadows (Silvercrest Academy #1)

by K.C. Kean

Pain at the hands of family, in the name of love and pride, even without physical harm, can destroy you.

“Keep your head down and avoid any trouble. Especially when it comes to your brother.”

Observing the tallest of them first, I’m met with muscles on top of muscles. His cropped brown hair and broad frame as he stands with his arms folded over his chest make him look almost daunting but, if anything, I find him intriguing. Especially his eyes. One’s brown, the other green. It’s alluring. He’s dressed in a white loose-fit tank and a pair of gray shorts with a scowl on his face as he assesses me.

the guy beside him rakes his fingers through his tousled brown hair, blue eyes piercing into my skin as his chiseled jaw flexes for the briefest second before a wicked grin touches his lips.

There’s a moody one and a flirt. How original. Continuing around the group, inquisitive onyx eyes meet mine. He tucks his black hair behind his ear as he purses his lips. His face is completely expressionless, making it hard for me to get a read off him. With his hands tucked into his pants pockets, he seems happy to just observe what’s going on around him.

Hazel eyes are framed with black-rimmed glasses and his blond hair sticks out in every direction as if he hasn’t stopped tugging at the ends. He’s wearing a band tee with worn jeans and an almost-knowing smile on his face.

Creed is Mr. Quiet with the onyx eyes, Eldon with the wicked grin, and Brax the muscle man.

“The Bishops. Eldon, Creed, Zane, and Brax.”

“But I must say, Raven, you have me impressed so far.” I turn to face her as she assesses me, eyes slowly trailing from the tips of my sneakers to my face. “I have a feeling you’re going to shine like a star here, Raven.” I laugh, shaking my head at her. That’s not the compliment she wants it to be. Not to me, at least. “The issue is, Professor Figgins, stars don’t shine. They burn.”

“Eldon is the leader, bossy to his core, while collecting ladies' panties as souvenirs. Brax is the grumpiest.” I nod, understanding that assessment to a T. “He’s probably who I know the least about. He’s so standoffish. I don’t think I’ve seen him speak to anyone other than Eldon, Creed, and Zane.”

“Creed and Zane?” “The latter is the most amusing, especially when he goes on a tangent and can’t find his filter. He’s also a little nerdy, which some girls love. Creed, however, is quiet and observant, never showing any emotion and keeping the rest of the world at arm's length from all of them.”

“Brax was orphaned as a baby, taken in by Eldon’s family, who are supposed to be the sweetest people in existence. Creed’s father was a sergeant for Silvercrest’s training army until they ran into an ambush where he died, along with twenty-six students and two other professors.” Holy shit. “Zane’s sister is a council member, and his father is a high ranking member of The Monarchy.”

“I keep forgetting you don’t know stuff.” I turn to face her, confused about why that matters. She nods toward the professor. “Professor Gunnar Fitch is my papa.”

“I’ll be focusing on nature-based, Brax will be with the shifters, Creed with the psychics, and Zane in divination,” Eldon reels off, offering me an insight without telling me their abilities.

“I don’t know. I just know that in my vision, a war was coming, a war across realms, threatening all of existence. And the raven…she saved us all.”

He leans down to whisper in my ear, his soft lips brushing against my skin. “Because we didn’t accept her. If you had read the handbook, you would know that when one of us is claimed, we all are. So when Eldon declared you had claimed him…”

Zane pulls me even tighter against his chest as Eldon steps into my right side. Creed shuffles back to my left, positioning Leila in front of him while Brax moves back so far he’s almost pressed against me.

“The Monster Gauntlet is life or death, Raven.”

“Eldon Rhodes.” “What? No,” Raven whispers with a gasp, her body stiffening as she turns to look at Eldon, just as everyone else in the arena does. He stands, a smirk plastered on his face as it always is as he leans over Leila to grab Raven’s chin, and then his lips are claiming hers. Lucky fucker. Raven is left gaping at him as he retreats and saunters down the steps like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

He doesn’t even glance in her direction as he searches out Raven again. With a quick wink, he points at her before heading around the domed pit to where the professor waits.

have nothing that will work as a response to that, so I clutch her hand and bring her knuckles to my lips instead. Brax’s hand finds her shoulder and Creed reaches his hand behind him to find her leg, each of us touching her. I’m not sure if it’s for her comfort or ours. Likely the latter.

“Zane Denver.” Well, shit. Turning to Raven, I smile, despite the panic flashing in her wide eyes. If I fuck this up, I want her to be the last thing I see. Lifting my hand, I cup her cheek. My body stiffens when she leans into my touch and lust floods my brain as I move toward her, delicately pressing my lips against hers. She responds instantly, prompting my dick to come to life, and now really isn’t the time for that.

I can get over that. But people knowing I can turn invisible, better than I can use telekinesis to move shit, feels like a loss to me.

“Creed Wylder.” Fuck. I turn to my left, watching him rise to his feet. He rolls his shoulders back and glances in my direction, nodding slightly in acknowledgment before he trudges down the steps.

Creed joined the psychic group, which doesn’t help my stress, but he enters the siren’s lair with unwavering confidence.

My gaze flicks between the siren and Creed. He looks deep in thought, his hands twisting slightly as the siren repeatedly attacks herself, and the spectators gasp as blood splatters against the iridescent wall.

“Brax Carlsen.” He stands and heads toward the pit without a backward glance at his friends or me. I don’t know how or why I’m becoming so goddamn attached to these men, but as much as he’s an asshole, and despite the shitty stuff he said last night, I still worry for his safety.

She doesn’t stand a chance as his immense hands grab and crush her with no effort at all. It’s like someone pops the dome and the water drains from the pit once more. Brax tosses the lifeless body over his shoulder without a backward glance.

“Brax is a gargoyle.”

“Raven Hendrix.” My pulse thumps so hard it feels like my head has its own heartbeat, and Brax’s words from last night replay in my mind. “Because when you die tomorrow, he might not be quite as attached to you as he could have been.”

I expect him to step past me without a backward glance but, to my surprise, he grabs my arm at the last second, pulling me into his side without looking down at me. “Moss in your ears. Left boulder stack.”

He’s dressed head to toe in black. A fitted black dress shirt with a black silk tie and a tailored black suit that fits him to perfection. The polished black shoes finish the look and his black hair is swept back off his face with a loose lock flicking over his eyebrow.

Eldon is wearing a white shirt, a deep-navy suit, and a matching tie. His hair looks like he spent hours raking his hands through the ends, but it’s the sultry shimmer in his eyes that has my lips parting. Zane is dressed in all black like Creed, only his tie is silver, making his hazel eyes gleam. The corner of his mouth is tipped up as he rakes his eyes over me from head to toe and I’m sure I’m going to combust from his look alone. Brax stands a step back from the other two, not looking directly at me, but I spot him glancing out of the corner of his eye a time or two. The gray suit fits him like a second skin, reminding me of his ability, and it befits him perfectly.

Creed

is the secret tease, Eldon the declarer of being claimed, Zane the handbook king, and Brax is the one that runs so hot and cold that it leaves my head spinning.

Pink-feathered raven. Black and white chess set. A storm. Everything shakes with the chaos, but only one piece falls. A bishop. The raven slowly moves toward it, rolling it around with its claw a few times before it finally manages to get a good grasp on it and stands it up again. The moment the base of the bishop reconnects the chessboard, the raven’s feathers turn black.

Zane runs his palm down my leg, distracting me from my thoughts. “What can we do, Dove?” I frown at him. “Dove?” “Yeah, it suits you. You might be a big bad raven to the rest of the world, but in these four walls, you’re softer, calmer, more pure. Like a dove.” I’m speechless and my heart is hammering in my chest as I peer up at him. How do they all have a way of getting under my skin? “So, Dove, want to play a drinking game?”

“Remember that you are strong, brave, fearless, and resilient. Keep being you and everything is going to be okay. Follow your heart, find solace in the shadows, and take down the dawn.”

“So, to clarify, you’re being a bitch to be kind because you’re scared you can’t trust anyone, worried who might use you and why, but mostly petrified of the target that may be put on your head and those you care about?”

“It looks like Miss Hendrix may have found herself a familiar.”

Ari. That’s his name. I don’t know how I know it, but I do. Professor Figgins insisted he will be released from the Gauntlet and I’m going to go and meet him after classes on Monday. That sounds weird as fuck. I’m going to go and properly meet my familiar, Ari the Griffin, in a more neutral environment instead of in the Gauntlet where I was supposed to kill him… a simulation? But I guess it’s my new normal. Understanding anything at this stage seems beyond my capacity.