by Pia Philip
“Are you okay?” he asked as he lifted her up in his arms she nodded as she fidgeted trying to stop any of her injuries from brushing anything painful. She wasn’t successful.
“Where are the others?” she asked as she craned her neck backwards and spotted them standing next to a group of official looking men with weird moustaches. Sam walked over to them. Michael and Zack were explaining what had happened to the men who seemed pretty dumbfounded at what they were saying.
“So what about the tournament, do we get to go to the Academy or is it cancelled?” Zack asked anxiously. Alex silently prayed as everyone leant in to hear their judgment. She grimaced in pain as she tried to lean in closer. They had better say they could attend the Academy. She had almost been killed several times already.
“Well, I don’t see how we can’t let you. Your group did manage to defeat a Manticore unassisted, we even saw it with our own aged eyes, and let me tell you, that has never been done in my life time,” The oldest man there said gruffly, Alex couldn’t help but smile as his hands shook as he clasped Zack’s hand. She got a feeling he would make an awesome grandfather to someone.
Zack introduced them to the organizer of the tournament. He was a Senior member of the council and he was personally going to tell the Academy what to do with them, because and I quote ‘Basic training won’t do for war geniuses like you lot.’
Alex couldn’t stop grinning for the rest of the day, he had called her a genius, no one had ever called her a genius and meant it. Mind you he did say war genius but genius is genius. After that, everything was a blur, Thomson, the old man from before called everyone who had survived so far and told them the good news about the Academy and before they knew it, they were already getting packed into the back of a truck. Alex’s thoughts turned to Max. Where on earth and Latrex was he?
The truck journey was several hours and Alex drifted in and out of sleep before collapsing in exhaustion on Sam’s chest.
She was walking down the same beaten path as she always where. Her everyday nightmare that had turned her world into hell. Alex held her breath as she stepped across the thresh hold. The corridor seemed to be everlasting and Alex silently wished it was. She did not want to enter that room. Not anymore, not when she was scared of what might be lurking in the shadows this time. She opened the door and instantly looked to the side, the symbol was still there but it was changing. It now looked tinted. Dark purple that she had almost mistaken for black, outlined the symbol giving it an eerie feel. She slowly gulped as she turned to face the window but before she could think, there was a bang and her mother ran out of nowhere. Her eyes where wide and frantic. She ripped off the necklace she was wearing and flung it at Alex. She grabbed her by the hands and leapt out of the window and into a forest.
“Get away Alison, they will come for you. Do not worry about me, use the necklace. It is my protection to you. Keep the key safe.” Her mother whispered as she led her deeper into the forest.
“What is the key?” Alex asked confused, what on earth and Latrex was the Key.
“Do not come looking for me, just run, when in doubt look to the seventh moon and be brave dear,” her mother said. “You must believe that you can do it, you must be willing to sacrifice everything for the Ultimatum.”
Everything was blurry as she was brought back to reality. She had been crying. She sniffed and Sam rubbed her back soothingly, she had woken him up but he didn’t complain. He didn’t ask any questions just comforted her and she loved him because of that. Alex couldn’t imagine her life without him, mostly because she had known him since she was 3 years old and she couldn’t remember much past that.
“Thank you for…you know” she whispered to him as she dried her eyes on his shirt. He smiled.
“I know, “he said and he did. He was like her big brother and she cared for him so much that she would do just about anything for him, and Alex knew he would do the same for her. They were like family, and nothing not even probably the most important book ever, could tell her otherwise.
Alex was the first person to spot the Academy or more accurately, Latrex City. She may not have ever seen it or set foot on it but Alex was pretty sure it was it. It was what she imagined when she thought of a place where Angels lived. There were buildings taller than the Eiffel tower made of glass. White buildings that were obviously meant to be homes or even boarding houses but instead looked like mansions. The road was a beautiful shade of blue, or so she thought before she realized it was water. Just like Venice it had a river flowing through the middle but thankfully there was only one river and a lot more land. The roads where made of cobblestones that shone a beautiful shade of grey and silver. Alex was almost certain that if she looked long enough she could spot Jewels engraved in the floor. Everything was impeccable, even the sun shone a bright golden color and its rays warmed everyone it touched, Like being covered in feathers. It was neither too hot or two cold. It was just perfect. Alex now understood what Caleb had meant by paradise, everyone she passed wore such light clothing and everything they wore was calm colors. Pastel colors. There was not one person that she saw that wore one dark color. Alex felt self-conscious with her dress shredded and stained with her own blood. It didn’t help that she was the only girl among them, she felt so out of place. She snaked her arm around Sam’s and stuck close to his side, hiding most of the blood to try and avoid the curious and somewhat disgusted stares she was getting. They followed Thomson as he jumped off, or more accurately, floated off. For an old man, he was certainly graceful, Alex only ever dreamed of being like him. He lead them through the crowds of people until They reached a part of the town in which she could relax because she was pretty certain they were all students at the Academy. This was where the Academy started and Latrex ended. Many of the people they passed didn’t give them a second glance as they walked and those who did, all bowed as Thomas walked past. Just how important was the old man? Where they supposed to bow to him or something? What if they were in trouble because they disrespected him? As soon as the thought entered her mind he stopped and turned to her, humor in his eyes.
“I’m not that important, but yes I am important, and I liked that you didn’t do what everyone else did, though the fact that you don’t know me is kind of strange,” he smiled as he took her hand and gently lead her towards a set of ancient gates. “But you know, normal is boring.”
As they neared the gate she saw the symbol that had been engraved on the seal, and her throat restricted. No way.
Alex couldn’t help but stare at the symbol, it was so close to hers, she scanned it carefully trying to spot something, she didn’t know what she was looking for but she knew she was looking for something.
“Looks familiar?” Thomas asked. Alex hadn’t noticed him studying her as she studied the crest and her cheeks burned with embarrassment as she realized she was holding everyone up.
“No, I just thought I’d seen it somewhere and it is pretty cool,” she muttered as she walked past. That was when she realized something, ‘Hey, you can read minds can’t you?”
Thomas smiled at her delayed reaction as to what everyone had probably guessed when he read her mind back at the square. Alex mentally put up a shield there and then, there was too many things she wanted- no, had to keep hidden for someone to go scanning through her mind. No, if she wanted to survive she needed to have her guard up constantly, especially in a place like the Academy where kids are trained for stuff like that.
The school itself was absolutely humongous. Alex couldn’t imagine the need for students to share rooms with the amount of space that was until she remembered there were probably tens of thousands of kids here already. Tens of thousands of killing machines. She had to keep that in mind, no matter how petite they may seem, they could probably kill her with a blade of grass. That thought made her look at the building with a whole new perspective. She was going to be dead in matter of days, hours even. Thomas chuckled as he diverted his face from hers.’ I really needed to work on
my mind shield.’
“I find it fascinating the things your brain comes up with,” he smiled at her, his eyes dancing with humor, “and I can promise you that most of our students here don’t know how to kill with only a blade of grass.”
Most? That must mean that some could. Even if there were only one, she wouldn’t know which one and if by some horrible chance she became their enemy as there seems to be always an enemy of the new kid. She had watched enough movies and been to school long enough to realize this as a fact. Girls were just untrustworthy. Boys, she really didn’t have a problem with. Thomas gave a small shake of his head before leading them through some double doors and up what seemed like endless set of stairs as he maneuvered them through the throngs of children that ran past to their classes. Why on earth didn’t they have an elevator in a place like this? She imagined walking up the tall building she had saw before several times a day and almost had a heart attack.
“We do have an elevator, it’s just that I thought you should get used to walking because there’s only three in the whole school and there’s thousands of students,” Thomas explained reading her mind once again, “So if you’re a pretty lazy person who tends to sleep in, I’m warning you that if you end up being late it’s an hour in the ring with a level 5 beast, so you better know how to sprint.”
He said it so casual that Alex thought he was joking. Until she saw several kids running to their classes with a panic look on their faces. Yep she was officially dead because she had never, not even once got into school on time and her school started at 10.
“Well, you’re really going to have to hit the gym because our school operates from 5am to 7pm on the weekdays and 7pm to 5am come weekends.” He continued. They walked down a vast corridor which had several paintings hanging from the wall, Alex badly wanted to look up and see what she knew would be hanging there but she resisted the urge because she knew that if she did she might end up crying, and that would lead to questions and questions lead to answers. No, she needed to be strong. She raised her chin higher and stood with the others as Thomas searched for his keys, he muttered some curse words she didn’t think grownups knew as he pulled out his pockets before finding it on a chain he was wearing. He opened the door and let them in.
“Welcome to my office.”
Alex was in shock. What she was standing in was not an office; it was like a mixture of an FBI room and a gamers dream. There was 100inch plasma and several gadgets on its side. She was never really one to stay inside and play games but she spotted like three Cd racks, on the other side however there were 6 screens laid out in a line with the most complicated keyboard she had ever seen. It had buttons on buttons. Keys and keys. And in the middle of the room was his desk, beside it three blue chairs and a sofa. The wall behind him was made of glass, of course. He indicated towards the seats and she sat down carefully in case she stained anything. There was a long silence while he studied them.
“Well may I ask you all a rather simple question?” he asked as he sat on his adjustable chair. Alex stared in envy as his body turned as he spoke, “how old are all of you?”
“16”came the voices of the guys surrounding her. Now Alex felt really out of place, although Sam was only a few months older than her, she was still really young.
“15, “she replied quietly suddenly embarrassed as everyone’s eyes turned to stare at her hunched back.
“Really I thought you’d be around 14, 13 even,” Zack said as he eyed her up and down, taking in all her bruising’s, “Though you have a lot more bruises than any 13 year old I know.”
“Well I am 16 in a few months,” she said in a huff. She regretted choosing to wear a sports bra 2 days ago.
“Well, I think all of you fall in my category, I’ll need to check about you though dear,” Thomas explained, “As you may know, I am deputy head at the Academy and I am in charge of everyone 16 and 17 years old, however I will get you into my section by advocating my position in both the school and the council.”
“I know this may sound stupid, but what do we actually do in the Academy?” Lewis asked; the same question was going through everyone’s mind.
“Well we train you every day of the week until you are 21,” he replied, “The Academy is like somewhat a college for the elite, only the best get into here.”
“It goes by the same simple principles as any other school. You choose your subjects and then you are trained in them until your brain is about to burst. We train the beast healers, the best fighters, strategist, we create the best everything,” He said, he suddenly sounded so much like a cardinal, “You know of the threat that the Dark side are holding, we have recently found out that it was just a group of strays that had taken it into their own hands however the problem is still there. We do not know what they are waiting for but we know that war is teetering on the edge of the page. From what I’ve seen so far and rummaged through most of your memories I think that your group may be one of the best yet, so I will give you a Rota to pick and you will train harder than you have ever trained before.”
He handed all of them a list of subjects and a timetable to fill in, no surprise that Zack was finished first, followed by Michael and Lewis. She peeked over Sam’s shoulder and saw that his time table was blank.
“What’s wrong?” she asked concerned, this was definitely not like him what so ever.
“I don’t know about this Alex, I don’t know what to do,” he whispered to her. She felt really sad for him, she had never seen him this upset before and she knew how much he hated being uncertain about things.
“I do though,” She said smiling, Alex couldn’t believe he couldn’t see what was so clear to the naked eye, “You should definitely be a strategist, even take up fighting, if you’re that worried about me.”
He gave her a grateful smile before picking most of the subjects I was hoping to avoid like Advance Mathematics and English and something called coordination 204. They handed in their Timetables after making sure that they had at least 3 of the same subjects chosen.
“You two are rather close aren’t you?” he asked as they handed back their sheets of paper.
“Yeah, he’s the closest thing I’ve got to family left right now,” Alex said as her throat restricted as the scene from the last time she had saw her mother popped in her head. She leaned into Sam as she tried to erase the memory but it just kept coming strong and stronger, she could feel the blood pumping to her brain. Then her mother’s memory was erased and her Fathers image came up so vividly she saw every single black feather on his wings that were set open. His eyes bore into her mind. His mouth was moving but no sound came out. She tried reading his lips.
Alison… Alex... Alison… Alex… Alison come… key…
Alex was snapped from the inside of her twisted head and back into reality by a gentle shaking. She was lying on the floor facing the ceilings that were washed white with a symbol engraved on them however it was too high up for her to tell which one, but right then and there she didn’t care. She was so confused.
“What the hell happened? Why am I on the floor?” she muttered as she raised herself into a sitting position.
“I thought you could tell us that?” Thomas said as he hovered above her, looking at her wearily.
“Did you see him again?” Sam asked as he put his arm around her back to support her as he helped her stand. Alex shook her head,
“No, I saw him this time,” Alex said as she banished the image of his face from her mind, “he kept saying Alison, Alex. Alison, Alex and something about a Key, what does he mean by key.”
She was almost in tears by now, he had said the same thing when she had first saw him and then he hunted her and now he’s telling her to come and something to do with key. She was so confused.
“What does he want with me?”
“I’m afraid none of us know,” Thomas said, worry lines had appeared on his forehead, “you saw Lucifer didn’t you? He wants something from you doesn’t he?”
&nb
sp; Chapter 12
“Yes, but I don’t know what though,” Alex replied tears streaming down her face, she made no attempt to hide them, “he’s taken my mum, maybe even killed her for all I know.”
“That is sad it really is, but what if he’s using her to get to you,” Zack said as he tried to explain it to himself.
“Trust me, he’s not, if anything there probably using me to get to her, presuming she’s still alive,” Alex muttered as she pointed down to her scars and wounds, “I’ve been hunted by them for like 2 days now and they almost got me before then.”
“No, there not using you to get her, I think they need you, I think that’s what might be delaying their attack,” Thomas said thinking aloud, nodding his head as a plan formed together, “So as long as you’re in the Academy and away from them they can’t really do much but postpone their attack until they get you because there’s no way in hell they would’ve waited this long if you didn’t hold the key to something huge. So, we’ve got the advantage here.”
“How? You’re twisting this to make it sound like something good, “Lewis cried, “You forget the fact that she could be attacked any moment.”
“Yes, but not if she’s always under supervision, which she will be in the school this size anyway, I’m going to have to discuss this with the council,” he said to himself.
“You might as well just shoot me dead,” she groaned to herself before a question popped into her head, “Have you seen Max?”
