The Arch Stone: Foxway Academy: Book 1

by Adam Faulkner

  “Yeah, I guess so.” Charlie agreed. “So, when’s the music getting here?”

  It was about two minutes until the dance opened its doors to the rest of the school. We could hear the buzz from the crowds of people outside, and it was getting me way more excited.

  “Okay! Is everything ready!” Polly shouted out to everyone in the room. A mumbled groan of ‘yes...’, ‘of course…’, ‘for ten minutes…’ came drifting back, as it had for the last three times Polly had asked.

  “Is our DJ ready?” Gabriel called out of the room. Julius poked his head around a door and gave him a thumbs-up. “Then I think we’re about ready to start…” He clicked his fingers and Scott and Hinako pulled open the doors to the auditorium. People flooded into the building, chattering away so loudly it was actually drowning out the ever-present mumbling in my own head, though to give the voices credit, they weren’t being too invasive right now.

  “Well, there’s definitely a lot of people…” Charlie observed.

  “No shit.” I laughed. “So, what do we do now?”

  “I mean, I need a drink…” Charlie decided as they disappeared into the crowd. I smiled as I looked around the room and followed them.

  After a few minutes of people getting settled in, the lights in the room went down. The noise drifted down to a murmur. Smoke appeared. Slightly louder. Then the lights went up again and standing at the DJ’s desk… Was Professor Maximilian Greyford.

  45

  The entire room fell silent as Professor Greyford walked onto the stage. There were a few staff around to make sure no one got hurt; Miss Artemis, a few other teachers I didn’t recognise, and Mr Sokolov had actually offered to come back and watch everyone as well, but this was way, way more insane…

  “Hello, students.”

  Silence. And then roaring laughter.

  “The professor?” I wiped tears from my eyes. “That’s incredible…” I tried to catch my breath, along with the other two thousand people in the building.

  “Anyway…” Greyford sighed. “How about we… ahem… get this party started.”

  I stood stunned at what I was hearing.

  “Holy shit… Greyford? And music? Together?” Charlie laughed as they walked back over with two glasses in his hand. “I didn’t know what you’d want, so I just got lemonade.” They handed the glass to me.

  “No alcohol?” I joked.

  “I mean… I… I didn’t know you… Of course, you’re eighteen, aren’t you!” I laughed, and Charlie sighed. “Screw you…”

  “It’s fine. Seriously. I’m not really supposed to drink that much… It’s not…” I trailed off.

  “What?” Charlie questioned. I shook my head. “Come on, what’s up? I’m not going to judge you for it, whatever it is, I promise.”

  I sighed.

  “It’s not good for my brain…”

  “Your brain?”

  “It doesn’t… I hear voices, that kind of thing…” I explained. “I got into an accident earlier this year. I… I’m dealing with it… They couldn’t give me a specific diagnosis… But apparently alcohol’s not great for it… Whatever it is…”

  “Oh…” Charlie looked down. “I had no idea…”

  “It’s not a big deal. I’ve kind of gotten used to it, to be honest. It’s not really the first thing I mention when I introduce myself,” I admitted. “Don’t feel bad about it. Thanks for the drink.” I smiled.

  Charlie smiled back.

  “You’re welcome.”

  *

  About an hour into the dance, I actually felt like I was enjoying myself. Despite the fact that I didn’t know them going in, Charlie was actually a lot of fun to be around, despite coming across as pretty quiet whenever I’d seen them around before. I was even dancing, or, at least, trying.

  I laughed as I accidently kicked Charlie in the shin.

  “Shit, sorry…This isn’t as easy as training…” I decided. “I’m supposed to hurt people then…”

  Charlie laughed.

  “You’re doing fine,” they assured me. “Besides, I’ve got a little brother. My shins are used to it…”

  “Fair enough.” I laughed. “Hey, I’m just going to go talk to the Professor,” I told them as I walked off towards the stage.

  “You know how insane you look, right?” I called up to Professor Greyford as he fumbled around looking for CDs.

  “I’m well aware…” He sighed. “You don’t suppose you’d be able to help me organise this bloody place, do you?” he asked. “There are far too many CDs here…”

  “Of course,” I laughed as I clumsily pushed myself up onto the stage, almost losing a heel in the process. “So, how did you get roped into this?” I asked as I picked up a pile of CDs.

  “Truthfully, I’m not quite sure,” Greyford sighed. “I believe that Miss Merriway managed to catch me while my attention was elsewhere. I wasn’t altogether sure what I was agreeing to…”

  “Wow, you got caught out by a student…” I tried not to laugh. “I thought you were smarter than that, professor.”

  “You know how Miss Merriway can be. She can be difficult to argue with…” Greyford decided. “And in any case, I am still your headmaster, you know,” he reminded me. “Maybe we can avoid the rudeness?”

  “Sorry.” I smiled. I handed Greyford another pile of CDs. “So, what’s the real reason you’re doing this?” Greyford stopped. “I know you, Professor. I know when you’re not telling us something.”

  The professor sighed.

  “I don’t know anything for definite, not at all. We really do have no way to know when the Syndicate are going to attack next… But, this is the biggest event in the school’s calendar, at least as far as the students are concerned.”

  “And you wanted to be here in case anything happens…” I reasoned. “Do you think anything actually will?” I asked. “Because the others should know if there’s anything we need to watch out for.”

  “I wish I knew the answer to that, Emilie…” Greyford sighed. “Don’t let it ruin tonight for you but do be careful. And tell me if you see anything suspicious.”

  I nodded.

  “Why can’t we have one night without having to worry about all of this…” I wondered.

  “Because the universe likes to play around with us, in my experience,” Greyford replied. “We just have to learn to work with what it gives us.”

  “And have you managed to do that?” Greyford stayed silent, smiling at me. “Great…” I sighed. “I’ll tell the others to keep an eye out for trouble.” I climbed down off of the stage. “Not that that ever seems to make a difference…”

  *

  “Does he think anything’s going to happen?” Matt asked as I told him and August about my conversation with Greyford. I couldn’t find Raven, but I knew she’d be around somewhere.

  “Honestly, not sure,” I admitted. “You know what he’s like…”

  “The man couldn’t give a straight answer if he had a gun to his head…” August decided. “But yeah, we’ll make sure to keep our eyes out for anything.”

  “I mean, we can probably handle the Syndicate if they do try anything,” Matt decided. “We’ve done a lot of training since the last time. We’re a lot stronger. We can fight them.”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that…” I sighed. “Anyway, I should go and find Raven, talk to her about all of this.” I looked around. “I’ll see you guys later…” I turned and walked off to find my sister.

  What I actually found was very different to what I expected. I was searching around the edges of the room for Raven when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I sighed when I saw Polly Evergreen looming over me.

  “What do you want?” I sighed.

  Polly pretended to look offended.

  “I just wanted to ask if you were enjoying the dance.” It didn’t take a genius to work out that that was bullshit.

  “I was…” I muttered under my breath. Polly stared daggers at me.


  “You know, I am so glad that this is my last day…”

  “Yeah, me too…” Polly opened her mouth to reply, but I didn’t give her the chance. “You know, actually, Polly, I don’t really care. I’m done with this shitty little argument we’ve got going on. I don’t really know what your problem is, but I’ve got more important things to worry about right now than you. So, best of luck to the future, Polly. I’m done with you.” I walked straight past her, without even turning back. I was pretty proud of myself, actually.

  I eventually found Raven standing outside the doorway of the Grand Auditorium, looking up at the sky. She was talking to herself. I hid around the corner and watched.

  “It feels so weird that the year’s over… It’s almost been a whole year since I met Emilie, and ever since then…” she trailed off. “What do you think?” she asked as she noticed me. I stumbled as I moved around the corner. “You know, I can’t help but feel like there was a reason that we met.”

  “What, like fate or something?”

  Raven shrugged.

  “Maybe… I’ve never been sure about that kind of thing,” she admitted. “But with everything that’s happened…”

  “It is a lot of coincidences all in one go…” I finished. “Yeah, I get what you mean…”

  “So, what do you think?” Raven asked. I looked up at the stars.

  “Honestly? I don’t really care…” I confessed. “I mean, whatever the reason was, whether it was fate or chance or even something else altogether… We still found each other, and everything that happened this year still happened…”

  “Hmm…” Raven smiled. “I think I like that actually.” She looked up at the sky as well.

  “Also, stars are awesome,” I added.

  “I suppose they are…” she agreed. “Anyway, what did you come out here for?”

  “I talked to Professor Greyford. He wants us to keep an eye out for anything bad,” I told her. “He doesn’t know anything for definite – at least, I don’t think he does – but he’s worried that the Syndicate will use the ball as an opening to attack.” Raven thought for a moment. “Do you think Elijah would?” I asked.

  “Elijah’s not the one in control of the Syndicate… But as for who is in charge, it’s definitely possible.”

  “So, who actually is in charge of the Syndicate?”

  Raven shrugged.

  “Most of us never met them. Their identity is one of the Syndicate’s best kept secrets…” Raven admitted. “But whoever they are, they’re dangerous.”

  “Anyone who can control someone with Elijah’s sort of power has to be…” I agreed. “So… Why’d you come out here?” I asked. “Everything alright?”

  Raven nodded.

  “I just… I needed some air.” she explained. “There are a lot of people inside, and I don’t always deal with that very well…”

  “Yeah, I get what you mean… two-thousand kids in one room does get a little crowded…” I agreed. “How about we go find somewhere to sit for a bit? I could do with a break too, to be honest…”

  *

  “So, how’s your date?” Raven asked as we looked out at the lake, sitting on our bench.

  “They’re… They’re actually really nice,” I confessed. “I mean, I don’t know them that well, but I think I’d like to.”

  “That’s good.” Raven smiled. “I’m glad it’s going well though.”

  “Yeah, me too… I guess Mary knows what she’s doing…” I shrugged.

  “Oh, she’s a lot smarter than she lets on. I’m personally terrified of he.” I honestly couldn’t tell whether or not she was being sarcastic. I just laughed; that was normally a safe response. “But she does know people well, I admit.”

  “Has she ever tried to hook you up with anyone?” I asked. Raven shook her head.

  “No, she hasn’t. That’s strange, actually, now I think about it. Then again, I’ve never really cared. Always had something else to worry about, I suppose,” she guessed. “I guess that’s pretty weird, huh…”

  “No, not at all,” I assured her. “Mum’s like that. She’s never been attracted to anyone in her life. It just isn’t her,” I explained. “Maybe you’re the same.”

  Raven considered the idea.

  “Who knows…” she breathed.

  “Either way, you don’t have to make any decisions. It’s not like anyone’s going to force you either way. And if they do, you can just, you know, set fire to them.”

  Raven laughed.

  “Yes, I suppose I could…” she sighed. “So, tell me a bit more about this Charlie then…”

  We ended up sitting and talking for about ten minutes before we decided it was time to head back to the dance.

  “Is it just me, or has it gotten colder all of a sudden…” I asked as we walked back.

  “The weather here has never really made sense. You just get used to it after a while.”

  “I guess you would…” I agreed.

  We turned around the corner, seeing the lights coming out of the Grand Auditorium. “That’s weird…” I stopped. “Can you hear the music?”

  Raven listened for a second.

  “No…” she trailed off, suddenly tensing up.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  Raven pointed towards the corner of the building. Three darkly-dressed figures were walking around the corner. I took a deep breath, trying to keep calm as I activated my ice.

  “Okay… We can’t really see anything clearly from here. It’s probably just some kids who slipped away to smoke or something…” I reasoned, trying to convince myself everything was okay. “Come on, everything’s fine…” I exhaled as I tried to control the voices screaming in my head;

  It’s them… it’s them… it’s them…

  I took a deep breath and starting walking towards the building.

  “It’s fine… it’s fine…” I lied to myself as the figures came into view. Two guys and a girl, dressed for the dance. I didn’t actually recognise them, but I was relieved to see they were normal students. I almost collapsed to the ground as I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Hey, are you okay?” one of them asked as I shook myself back to the real world.

  “Yeah, sorry… Weird night…” I drowsily explained as I felt my adrenaline crash back down to normal levels. Me and Raven walked back into the dance.

  “I mean, everything seems alright.” I looked around for any sign of trouble.

  “Yes, it does…” Raven still didn’t seem convinced. She sighed, leaning against the doorframe.

  “What?”

  “I don’t know… There just... Something still seems… off…” Raven tried to explain. “And the music’s still stopped…”

  “That could be nothing.” I shrugged. Before we had a chance to argue any more about it, our conversation was cut off by the sound of someone tapping on a microphone.

  “Hello, is this thing on?”

  I felt a pain in my chest as I heard the voice of the speaker. I looked at Raven. Her eyes were frozen in shock.

  “No… Not here… not now…” Raven choked. I turned around to see the face of the voice, and all of my biggest fears became a reality, as I saw that the man on the stage was Elijah Blake.

  46

  I stood, frozen, staring at the stage.

  “No…”

  “Greetings, students!” Elijah Blake drifted around the stage, like some psychopathic stand-up comedian. “I know this might seem alarming at first, but I assure you, as long as you all behave, you’ll all get out of here perfectly safe,” he assured us. “My name is Elijah Blake. I am here on behalf of an organisation called the Syndicate.”

  A faint hum rose through the crowd as the students tried to work out what was going on. “Silence!” Elijah shouted. The room fell quiet. “Thank you… Now, as I was saying… We are not here to hurt anyone. We are not here to scare anyone. However, someone here has something that we need.”

  I bit my lip. I saw Matt and Aug
ust looking at me from the other side of the room.

  “Emilie…” Raven put her hand on my shoulder. I clenched my fist. “You can’t fight him here. There are too many people around…”

  “And since when would that stop you?”

  “It’s too dangerous…”

  I exhaled.

  “I know… I just…” I trailed off as I saw Elijah looking in our direction.

  “Ah, I believe I’ve found what I’m looking for…” He pointed at me.

  I stormed forward and jumped up on one of the tables.

  “Emilie, no…” Raven tried to pull me down.

  “What are you doing here, Elijah?” I shouted across the auditorium.

  “You know what I want…” he called back.

  “What, you think I’m just going to give it to you?” I laughed. “That’s hilarious!”

  “Don’t screw with me, Emilie George…” Elijah threatened. “You know what happened last time…”

  “Last time? Last time you ran away! You were beaten back by a bunch of kids!” I had no idea what I was doing. No plan, no idea what was really going on. But I couldn’t stop myself from speaking.

  Elijah fell silent, for a few seconds at least. And then he smiled.

  “Beaten back?” he questioned. “I think we remember those events quite differently… Last time I checked, I was the one who had the last laugh…”

  My mind snapped back to the library, just for a second, where Elijah Blake, in a last move of spite, killed Leigh right in front of us. I stumbled back. The voices were whispering away, half of them telling me to lash out and attack, half of them telling me to run…

  “What, is that all it took to shake you? And you really think you’re in a position to judge me?” He laughed, before his face straightened. “How pathetic.”

  I was stuck, I couldn’t think of anything else I could say. I slowly came down from the table, but I dropped to my knees. Elijah stood on the stage, staring at me. Raven ran to my side and helped me up.

  “Are you alright?” she whispered as I pushed myself back to my feet. I nodded.

  “So, are you going to give it to me? Or am I going to have to take it?”