The Wicked Awakening of Anne Merchant

THE
WICKED
AWAKENING
OF ANNE
MERCHANT

THE
WICKED
AWAKENING
OF ANNE
MERCHANT

By Joanna Wiebe

BenBella Books, Inc.
Dallas, Texas

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 by Joanna Wiebe

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

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First e-book edition: January 2015

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wiebe, Joanna.

The wicked awakening of Anne Merchant / by Joanna Wiebe.

pages cm

Sequel to: The unseemly education of Anne Merchant.

Summary: “Thrust back into the cryptic world of Cania Christy, Anne Merchant finds herself tangled in a mystic plot she can’t escape”—Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-1-940363-29-5 (paperback)—ISBN 978-1-940363-58-5 (electronic) [1. Supernatural—Fiction. 2. Good and evil—Fiction. 3. Boarding schools—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction. 5. Wealth—Fiction. 6. Islands—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.W63513Wic 2015

[Fic]—dc23

2014027912

Editing by Heather Butterfield

Copyediting by Brittany Dowdle

Proofreading by Greg Teague and Jenny Bridges

Cover design by Sarah Dombrowsky

Cover illustration by Chad Michael Ward and Ralph Voltz

Text design and composition by Silver Feather Design

Printed by Lake Book Manufacturing

Distributed by Perseus Distribution |
www.perseusdistribution.com

To place orders through Perseus Distribution:

Tel: (800) 343-4499 | Fax: (800) 351-5073|E-mail:
[email protected]

Significant discounts for bulk sales are available. Please contact Glenn Yeffeth at
[email protected]
or (214) 750-3628.

CONTENTS

SEMESTER ONE

one
|
Into the Fire
|

two
|
Same as the Old Boss
|

three
|
The Sacrificial Lamb
|

four
|
Envy
|

five
|
The Vivification of Damon Smith
|

six
|
Inner Demons
|

seven
|
Dia Voletto
|

eight
|
Underworld Rising
|

nine
|
The Mentor
|

ten
|
The Muse
|

eleven
|
Under Scrutiny
|

twelve
|
Second Chances
|

thirteen
|
The Lucky Ten
|

fourteen
|
A Devil’s Gift
|

fifteen
|
Spirit and Flesh
|

sixteen
|
In the Shadows of Angels
|

SEMESTER TWO

seventeen
|
The Road to Hell
|

eighteen
|
Good Intentions
|

nineteen
|
Gia
|

twenty
|
A Legion of Three
|

twenty-one
|
‘T Ain’t No Sin
|

twenty-two
|
Things Fall Apart
|

twenty-three
|
Out of Body Experiences
|

twenty-four
|
Crossroads
|

twenty-five
|
The Picture
|

twenty-six
|
Samson
|

twenty-seven
|
Breaking Spells
|

twenty-eight
|
Graduation Day
|

twenty-nine
|
The Valedictorian
|

thirty
|
Impossible Beauty
|

thirty-one
|
Revelations
|

About the Author
|

SEMESTER

ONE

one

INTO THE FIRE

FIRST IT’S BLACK AND THEN IT’S BRIGHT. I’M RUNNING.

Someone has me by the hand. He’s shouting for me to hurry as he drags me over tangled roots and under sharp branches.

I realize I’m back in this world before I know I’m racing up from the shores of Wormwood Island, between its craggy trees, and toward its dark, beating heart: the Cania Christy Preparatory Academy, a stately campus of mossy stone buildings veiled in ocean mist and secrecy.

Oh, God. I’m back.

My heart’s pounding at double time.

I’m staggering. Lumbering. In bare feet.

“Come on!” Teddy hollers at me. I recognize his voice at the same time my eyes adjust to the bluish light. Sunlight through the trees. Sunlight trapped in swirls of low-hanging fog. I trip, and he yanks me back to standing, to running. “Wake up, Anne, before it’s too late. Before we’re there.”

Teddy. Teddy brought me back here. He was next to me in California only moments ago—or what seems like moments ago. And he was taking my blood, doping me, telling me—what was he telling me? My mind feels stuck back in that damn hospital bed, back with my body, back where I’m supposed to be. Remember. Think.

Ben helped me. Ben risked it all to help me escape Wormwood Island.

Ben Zin.

I’m back here, where Ben is. A silver lining I’ll think about later.
After
. After I wrap my brain around the here and now.

“Can’t you move any faster?”

“Teddy?”

“Good. You’re alert. Now hurry. He’ll be here any minute.”

“
Teddy
,” I repeat and stop suddenly.

He jerks my arm like it’s the leash of a disobedient dog. I pull back. He yanks again, harder. I free myself from his hold, stumble away, and stop cold against a tree. My feet sink into the chilly, wet earth of the forest floor. Standing here, feeling the ground beneath my feet, makes this all real.

My efforts with Ben were for nothing.

Flashes of last night—
God, was it just last night?
—strike me like furious fists. The glowing interior of Valedictorian Hall. That short-banged girl named Hiltop P. Shemese transforming into Villicus, and Villicus revealing he’s none other than Mephistopheles, the not-so-fictional devil who makes exchanges with humans. And then came Pilot Stone, my very own Judas, to help the devil do his dirty work. I see the vials—his, mine, beautiful Ben Zin’s—glinting in the firelight; I see myself grab them and flee, in flames, into the rain, up to the cliff. And then…and then Ben joins me, holds me, frees me. Kisses me. We jump. I vanish. Wake. And then Teddy…