by L. A. Banks
“Hey, I’m Wil,” he said, striding up to the group and extending his hand toward Sarah first. “You new this year, too?”
She just nodded and shook his hand, loving the feel of it as she stared up into his sea-green eyes. Something about the warm slide of his palm against hers stopped her breath. A perfect jawline made a cleft in his chin, and it was clear that plenty of sunshine and exercise had added a beautiful copper glaze to his olive-toned skin. A thicket of black hair framed his handsome face, and his chiseled body reminded her of a Roman warrior.
“Come meet the Riveras and some of the kids from their compound,” Wil’s father boomed. “We fought together some time back when New York first got invaded. Our teams from Connecticut and Massachusetts reinforced their squads before the East Coast just got too bad.”
Carlos put two fingers in his mouth and whistled for Al and the boys to join them. Archer turned to greet the boys, and Carlos stepped closer to his wife. “That was a long time ago, and from all the Italian he’s dishing, you’d think he’d never been stateside,” Sarah’s father said, leaning down and muttering in her mother’s ear.
“This is Mr. Archer,” her mother said, employing diplomacy. She quickly introduced Al and the other boys. “And this is his son, Wil.”
Nervous energy finally made Sarah draw her hand out of Wil’s hold.
“This is my family,” Sarah said to Wil, feeling awkward.
“Nice to meet you,” he said in a pleasant tone, and then they shook hands all around.
“Is your daughter in Wil’s group?” Mr. Archer asked in his too-loud voice.
“No… not this year,” her mother said carefully.
“Well, what talent division do they have you in? Ah, wait, let me guess, Clairvoyant, I bet, like your beautiful mother?”
Humiliation tore at Sarah. “No, sir, actually, I’m a Blend.”
“No…” Mr. Archer said, recoiling, and then released a dramatic sigh as he turned to her dad. “Well. We can’t all be…special, can we, Rivera? Maybe some talent will evolve, but I would have thought for sure—”
“She’s still in the process of being tested, Archer.” Her dad’s eyes were turning silver at the edges, beginning to spark at the rims of his irises.
“It’s cool,” Wil said, giving his dad a quick frown before turning back to Sarah.
Her face felt warm. If she could just disappear… Then, to make matters worse, her brother slapped Wil five.
“Yo, man, I hear you’re in Specials division, too—can’t wait to see what you’ve got.” Al stood back and rubbed his chin with a wide grin on his face.
“Likewise, dude,” Wil said. “Heard you have a crazy flight pattern that nobody can touch.”
“I do a li’l something,” Al said, clearly pleased and nodding toward his friends. “Val’s not bad on the wind, either.” His smile grew wider as he nodded over at some girls he’d just been talking to. “Word travels fast, bro. Heard you were in the same compound with them for a while before Boston fell and that you have some serious tactical game yourself.” Although Al smiled, it was obvious in his tone he hadn’t expected to encounter a kid that could best him. Her brother drew himself up a little taller before delivering a compliment. “Enough to land you in Shadows.”
“Not too shabby.” Wil smiled and gave his dad a warrior’s handshake, then waved good-bye to the rest of them, his gaze remaining on Sarah for a moment. “Nice to meet you. See you inside.”
Wil’s smile lingered in her mind even after he’d turned away. It was a nice smile, a genuine one, just like his voice. It was so clear that he was nothing like his rich, boastful father. She watched him bound across the courtyard, her brother and the guys from their compound following in his wake, but felt her heart sink a little when she saw him quickly surrounded by Melissa Gray and her treacherous crew.
“Have they done medical tests to see what’s wrong with the girl?” Mr. Archer asked with false concern.
Her father was about to explode, she could tell, but her mom came to the rescue before her father could draw a breath—maybe before he could draw blood.
“Michael,” her mother diplomatically interrupted, “we really must get all these kids settled before they put us parents out. And as you can imagine, we’d like to spend as much time with them as possible. Please tell the members of your compound that we said hello.”
Sarah just stared after her mother for a moment as she turned on her heels and headed inside the Great Hall, sure that she wanted to get away from Wil’s father but not so sure what would be waiting for her at school.
Chapter 6
Sarah, Tami and the rest of the gang crossed the huge courtyard and began the climb up the steps that led to the Great Hall. A gazillion thoughts pinged through Sarah’s brain as she made her way up the steep incline. They had already learned that students were missing, not just Guardians. But now they also knew that some of those students had died. Wil Archer’s dad had spilled the beans, and she could tell that her parents were as pissed off about that as they were about his airs. She couldn’t wait to get somewhere private so she and the girls could talk. But Wil… A quick stumble pulled Sarah’s focus back to the narrow incline, lest she miss a step and really fall.
The scene was at best organized chaos. Parents were trying to keep up, some much more agile than others. Inside the Great Hall at last, Sarah’s attention ricocheted from three hundred extremely curious and excited students to the strange beings sorting the students’ luggage according to dormitories.
Petite Panlike creatures held clipboards in their dainty hands, as their small, shiny hooves rang against the highly polished stone floors. Tiny faeries in rainbow hues double-checked luggage tags, while short, muscular elves kept a luggage assemblyline going out through a passageway.
Sarah and Tami shared a look. Their aunt Valkyrie was hovering about, smiling and excited as she reunited with old friends on the luggage detail. They’d all heard her speak of the Land of Nod—another dimension that existed alongside theirs—but they’d never actually seen a being from there. They’d just learned in home-school history that the veil between Nod and their own dimension had been torn in one of the bigger battles between the Light and Dark realms. Her mother had given sanctuary to many who once lived in Nod, and according to her parents, that was how Aunt Val met Uncle Yonnie—a Valkyrie and a Vampire, go figure. The bizarrely beautiful combination had made Valencio.
Ayana had told them a lot about what they could expect, but hearing about it and actually seeing it with her own eyes were two entirely different things. There was simply no way she could have prepared her mind for beings that seemed as though they’d stepped right out of the pages of an ancient mythology textbook.
Sarah glanced toward the hall entrance, where light poured in, wondering what other types of creatures her mother had given sanctuary to once the shielded dimension of Nod had imploded. It was so strange how all of the stories she had once blown off now had meaning, now had life. No one had really listened to Aunt Val’s tales about Nod before. Who wanted to sit around listening to a bunch of adults rehash the past? All the kids in the compound were always in a rush to do their own thing. But this… This was like watching fairy tale creatures magically come to life.
“Don’t stare—and they are not ‘creatures,’” Hyacinth whispered, reaching around Allie and Tamara to squeeze Sarah’s elbow—hard. “They like to be called beings. They’re no more creatures than our Aunt Valkyrie is, so don’t even think of them that way. It’s rude.”
Sarah simply nodded, too overwhelmed to protest as she stared around the Great Hall. Massive stone walls surrounded them, polished until they shone like glass. Fast-moving gold- and silver-etched hieroglyphics told a story that she could only intuit in fits and starts, each wall and column bearing a different language from antiquity. Some she knew, but the quick rate at which the meanings went by made her temples throb.
Large gold and silver embroidered tapestries with the world’s
old, pre-One World Order national flags emblazoned on them in monochrome stretched from mahogany rods and were suspended from the ceiling by thick satin ropes. But the longer she stared, the more she came to see that the entire suspension mechanism was made from the fluid, interconnected movements of living dragon art.
Flames from broad iron wall torches licked a path up the stone until it practically glowed. Dragons guarded opened stone skylights with slow, undulating movements full of threat. Aunt Jasmine gave her a quick wink. Her aunt’s specialty was drawing things to life, and she’d obviously taken great care to draw to life the protectors of the Great Hall. Aunt Jasmine loved dragons—believed they were good luck. Maybe they were. Or maybe there was a reason why all the uncles and aunts had brought weapons. If the dragons were the good guys, then what did the demons that were threatening the school look like? Maybe none of what Ayana had told her was embellishment. One thing for sure, the thing that had attacked her last night had been bad enough that she didn’t want to meet anything worse.
Atlantean, Kemetic-Egyptian, Cuneiform, Aramaic, Coptic, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Rune, mound-dweller wall art, Aztec…they all scrolled by at a dizzying pace. Then a word stuck out: Nexse. Within a second it was gone again. Sarah froze. That was the same word the Light being in the darkness had used. As soon as she had seen the word, it was as though she could hear the being speaking it in her head. Sarah glanced around, but no one else was paying attention.
She stared at the columns intensely, but the word didn’t appear again. What did it mean? Then she was jostled from behind and snapped back to the present, and she hurried after Tami, Hyacinth and Allie.
Thick plumes of frankincense and myrrh tickled her nose and made her eyes water as her gaze haphazardly wandered. The Great Hall was pure sensory overload. In addition to the grand splendor of the building and the strange moving words, she’d also noticed Wil again. It was a long shot to think he’d ever notice her, with all the pretty girls at school. She tried to stop staring at him, but that was next to impossible, even though he was way out of her league.
Without consulting her brain, her gaze remained on Wil. He looked away from his conversation with her brother and Val and gave her a smile. Problem was, he was standing close to Melissa and company. The moment he glanced in Sarah’s direction, Melissa caught it and whispered to one of her friends, and they all laughed.
Sarah’s face burned, and she quickly looked away.
“Dare to dream,” Hyacinth whispered, making Tami giggle.
Sarah reached around Allie and pinched Hyacinth, who squealed. “I’m warning you, quit barging into my private thoughts.”
“Did you see the Uppers,” Allie whispered, squeezing her eyes shut for a second. “Ohmigod, ohmigod, oh, my gawd.”
“Did I see the Uppers?” Tami murmured, her gaze slowly roving the students surrounding them. “You mean did I see the pure eye candy in every delicious flavor from semi-sweet dark chocolate to amaretto to pure blond macaroon hunk?”
“If you don’t keep your voice down, I swear I will never speak to you again, Tamara Rider!” Hyacinth snapped.
Allie’s nervous gaze darted through the crowd before returning to Tami. “And what about the Upper Sphere girls, huh? They’ll probably kick our butts for even looking.”
“Just for looking?” Sarah let out a hard sigh. “Be serious, Allie. I think you’re overreacting. The seniors aren’t worried about us. We’re no competition. Just look at them.”
“Spell casters,” Tami said with a smirk, moving toward the seats arranged in semi-circular rows on the far side of the hall. “I’m not scared of those bitches, and I’m pretty sure I could give any one of them a beat-down they’d never forget.”
“Do something with her, Sarah,” Allie lamented, stepping closer to Sarah to distance herself from Tami.
“You know you can’t do a thing with Tami but love her and give her a tissue when she gets her nose bloodied and the snot beat out of her.” Sarah shook her head.
“All right, all right,” Tami whispered back, laughing. “Chill out. Geeze Louise, don’t get your panties in a knot. But just look at all the available trouble on two legs.”
Sarah followed Tami’s line of vision, much to Allie’s and Hyacinth’s horror, and checked out the rows of students settling themselves on intricately carved, gleaming ebony Ashanti stools, grouped according to division colors. Suddenly it hit her. Every female student’s stool had a Sankofa bird on it, the same tattoo her mother had on her lower back. All the male students’ stools had the same tattoo that her father had been given years ago to cover the Vampire bite on his throat at his jugular vein. It was the Nkyin kyin symbol that was carved into the boys’ seats.
As her gaze lingered, she instantly spotted Ayana sitting in the first color band with the fourth-year students. Sarah was about to wave, but Ayana gave her a shake of her head, then turned away. She could understand that Ayana wanted to separate herself now that she was with her classmates, but it still stung. Sarah faced forward, feeling disappointed. Then the hair began to rise on the back of her neck. She glanced around and saw Melissa Gray giving her the evil eye. She turned to look at Ayana again, but her cousin seemed lost in her own conversation.
Faculty members stood at the ends of the rows, guiding the new students toward the correct section, while the students who’d been there before already knew the drill and quickly took their places. Most parents sat in the very back, but hers were headed toward the stage area.
Suddenly Ayana got a message through to her. Your mom and dad built this. Don’t let those hater witches make you forget who you are.
Sarah nodded as she looked over her shoulder toward her cousin. Ayana’s eyes were angry, and that gave her confidence to turn around and return her attention to the goings-on. Somebody had her back. The disappointment she’d felt faded. Ayana hadn’t abandoned her. But she was still conflicted. Wil was only a few rows away, and his gaze was fastened to the female splendor that surrounded him. And Melissa and her crew were still whispering and sending visual daggers in her direction.
Then everything hit her all at once. This was all so new, and she was so unprepared. Her parents had built monuments, and that was a lot for a kid with mediocre powers to live up to—and being hated on sight by a bunch of mean girls didn’t help.
Just look at this place, Yaya, Sarah mentally shot back.
Yeah, I know, but what are you gonna do? Ayana shrugged.
A slight shudder of awareness ran through Sarah. In reality, Ayana had been conservative in her descriptions about what it was like at the Academy. There had been no yeast in her story to make it rise into a full-blown whopper. If anything, that would have made Sarah feel better—because that also would have meant that Ayana had probably exaggerated her stories about school and about her senior training battles on the road. But Yaya hadn’t exaggerated a thing, which also meant that her parents’ exploits might have been way more dangerous than they’d ever let on.
As she looked around, a dozen plaques in the Great Hall were dedicated to the significant battles her parents and the other Neteru Guardians had fought.
Sarah spotted eight empty stools at the end of the closest row, where other Lower Sphere students had already taken their seats. At a subtle nod from her mother and after a bit of shuffling, she and her compound siblings were seated on the appropriately carved stools.
Front and center, her grandmother stared down from her seat on the dais. Sarah counted thirty-three stone steps up to the platform where her nana, now Headmistress Stone, and Baba, now Headmaster Shabazz, sat on silversmith-created versions of the student stools.
Never in her life had she seen her stand-in grandparents look so regal—or so serious. She was glad they’d taken over for her real grandparents, who had died fighting vampires. She wondered what they would have been like if they’d lived. As she stared up at the platform, she saw kindness in her nana’s eyes but also unwavering authority. Quiet pride filled Sarah, cha
sing away the dread for a moment.
Elegant. Today, Nana Marlene was elegant. She wore long, finely embroidered, iridescent purple robe with gold embroidery. Her ancient white dreadlocks were swept away from her dark brown face, and her head was covered in the same heavy fabric, but tied in such a striking way that the headdress seemed almost like an exotic bird. To her left sat her husband, the school’s head of security and defense training. Baba wore a golden grand Boubou African robe with pantaloons that had deep purple embroidery—the reverse color pattern as Nana’s—his small square cap of the same rich fabric, his graying dreadlocks flowing down his back.
Unlike Nana, Baba didn’t study any of the compound students—never made eye contact, not even with her. Today he was clearly the enforcer, while Nana was responsible for spiritual and educational pursuits. Beside them were golden stools etched with symbols from the Akhan and from Kemet, symbols that she had seen in the fabrics and art gracing the compound all her life. Semi-circular rows of stools behind the headmasters were filled with a very strange collection of warriors and beings seated with proud postures. Teachers? Had to be the weird faculty Ayana told them funny stories about.
Staring at Sarah, her grandmother suddenly stood. It was such a swift motion that all murmuring fell silent. Her grandmother lifted the thick ebony walking stick that she always carried, grasped it tightly in her right hand and brought it down with a loud crack against the floor. Immediately the etchings along the surface of the wood were lit from some preternatural source within. All the students in the Upper Spheres quickly got to their feet, so she and all the other new students quickly scrambled to their feet, as well. From the corner of her eye, Sarah could see her parents and the rest of the compound parents forming pairs along the purple runner that led to the bottom of the steps, which led to the platform.
At another crack of her great walking stick, the flames in the Great Hall sputtered as Headmistress Marlene began to speak.
