Dead End: Midnight Hollow by Penn Cassidy (free novel 24 TXT) 📗

“What the fuck did I do?” he growled, but we ignored him.

“That’s different,” Norman said.

“I don’t think so.” I laughed, jerking my arm from his grasp. He let go before I hurt myself. “Leave me the fuck alone, Norman. I’ll see you guys in class. Try not to start any brawls with the locals. I know it’s hard for you to hold in that much testosterone.”

Maddie snorted, and Jessica giggled. Looking up at Cal, he looked positively delighted. I turned away from the four seething men and let Cal lead Maddie and me away towards the looming castle—I mean, school.

Cal showed us around campus, and the journey took about an hour. Thank goodness we’d been early for the school day—or was it a school night? Whatever it was, we were early, and it gave us time to really take it all in.

We started on the right side of the campus, where most of the core academic classes were apparently held, and when I say core academics, I didn't mean math, science, and grammar. I must have read and reread my schedule at least fifty times, but the words refused to morph into something I recognized. I saw things like potions class, hex readiness, combat arts, creature taming, and realm history…at least that one sounded somewhat normal I supposed.

I couldn’t believe I was standing here trying to convince myself any part of this was normal. Not the town, nor anyone in it. It was a quaint little place, if you overlooked the ghosts and ghouls. Still, it wasn’t the Sunset Hollow I'd grown up in. We’d been here a week, I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that this was our new reality. I was pretty sure the guys were convinced we’d be going back home, but I knew better. The aunties were setting us up for the long haul. The truth was, I didn’t think I could ever go back to living with the mortals, knowing all of this was here.

I’d never tell the others this, but I was sort of…excited? Yeah, I was, actually. I was excited to find myself out of the hellhole that was Sunset Hollow. That town had been a nightmare for so long, I hadn’t ever really let it sink in just how miserable I was. Midnight Hollow seemed to be the polar opposite to my hometown. Everything I used to be ridiculed for loving was now considered normal and expected.

I suddenly felt like I could breathe for the first time in years. It was creepy, dark, and spooky, but honestly, I kind of dug the whole aesthetic. Something about it felt right, from the perpetual night, to the eerie creatures and the double moons. I couldn’t put my finger on the feeling though. It might have been the fact that I’d spent most of my preteen and teen years reading Harry Potter, Narnia, and any other fantastical story I could get my hands on. This place felt familiar—like home.

We wandered the halls, and by now, I was pretty much trailing along behind Maddie and Cal. She was snuggled up to his side, holding onto his muscular arm for dear life, and I couldn’t help but shake my head. Maddie was such a flirt. It seemed the guy from the bookstore was a memory for another day, as her eyes filled with stars and hearts. I hoped Cal realized he’d gained an admirer. I saw the way he kept looking down at her, unable to stop staring at her lips as she chatted.

He showed us a few classrooms, but really, they looked more like theaters. Each room was made of the same dark charcoal stone as the rest of the castle, and there seemed to be no electric lights anywhere. Every wall was filled with crackling torches and lanterns that dangled from the high ceilings. Instead of desks and chairs like I’d expected, I kept finding rooms filled with mismatched upholstered lazy boys and chaise lounges. Students lounged around on plush velvet furniture, scribbling away with honest to god quills and parchment, while professors casually surveyed them from the head of the room.

And the professors, they were something else entirely. I thought I was prepared for more weirdness, but I didn’t have a fucking clue what we were in for. When we passed the realm history class, which would end up being my second stop of the day in a few hours, we encountered a professor who appeared to be stitched together with a needle and thread. His skin was a patchwork of grey and green that resembled a quilt, and his eyes were milky white but slightly yellow. He was taller than any human being I’d ever seen in my life and lumbered around the room like a zombie.

“Now, to crack the skull open…” His terrifying voice was loud and gave me goosebumps as he held a skull with his long fingers.

I quickly bypassed that classroom, leaving that mystery for a little while later, while Cal waxed on about the school’s history. Apparently, the entire castle had been around for thousands of years, and some of the greatest creatures in history went here. I’d even heard of some of them—Dracula, even though he was more human than anything that had a taste for blood, the Sandman, and even Bloody Mary. Yeah, apparently, she was a real person. They all were, and at some point, had crossed over to the mortal world to wreak havoc. There were so many things I wanted to know, and the longer we wandered the school, the more giddy I became.

We reached a huge room with gigantic double doors carved in what looked like a wooden depiction of a gnarled forest, with jack-o’-lanterns sitting in the trees instead of fruit. The eyes and mouths, though made of wood, still glowed bright orange. Cal pushed them open, revealing