by Cheree Alsop
It was hard to say the words out loud. Galdoni were trained to never show vulnerability. Kale had been there for me at my weakest moments. He had seen me at my worst, and helped me through it. I had been fourteen and a half when the Academy closed. The memories were so stark and real. Now at sixteen, they still had a hard enough grip to make my breath catch in my throat.
“You held her until she could sleep,” Kale replied quietly. Brie’s arm slipped through his and she gave him a sweet smile that he returned.
I nodded. “It took a while. She had been pretty scared, but it was hard for her to wake up.”
“Poor girl,” Skylar said. “I can’t imagine what she’s been through.”
“Did you stay there all night?” Saro asked.
“Are you kidding?” I replied. “I was afraid she would wake up and remember that she hated me.”
Kale chuckled. “It can’t be as bad as that.”
Saro was about to answer him when the group grew quiet. Everyone looked past me. I turned and saw that Ava had entered the cafeteria. She met my gaze, her expression curious. After a second, she turned away to join the female Galdoni on the other side of the lunchroom. Alana and Jayce scooted over to make room for her. Even though Jayce was a human, none of the female Galdoni seemed to mind his presence. He and Alana were inseparable. I never saw one without the other.
While I was happy for them, their bliss made my mistakes that much more apparent. I ate the rest of my breakfast in silence, oblivious to the conversations around me. When I rose, Kale stood also. “I’ll catch you in a bit,” he told Brie. She kissed him and sat back down with Skylar to continue their discussion on the current hot guys in movies.
“What about the guy with the dog?” Saro piped in. “They’re pretty good at solving crimes.”
“Are you talking about Scooby-Doo?” Skylar asked. At his nod, all three of them burst out laughing.
Kale and I set our trays in the washroom where we all rotated the cleaning duties. He led the way into the hall and walked to the end near the window.
“She begged me to let her go to school,” he said quietly.
I shook my head. “I don’t think she’s ready.”
A humorless smile curved his lips. “Are any of us?”
I opened my mouth to argue, then lowered my gaze. “Not really.”
He nodded. “She needed some semblance of a normal life. She hoped that if she went to school and got into a regular schedule, it would help her move on from everything that had happened.”
“What did happen?” I asked, even though I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
Kale glanced toward the cafeteria. “She should be the one to tell you that.”
I nodded. “That’s fair.”
He put a hand on my shoulder. “I appreciate you being there for her last night. Please watch out for her at school. You know it’s not easy being different.”
“I think she already has friends,” I told him, a bit bothered that I hadn’t made the same progress. Seth was the only one who even cared if I showed up.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Kale replied. “I’m sure that will help.” His phone buzzed. He glanced at the message. “I’ve got to go. Have a good day at school.”
“Thanks.”
I watched him hurry up the hall. I had school in a half hour, but something made me follow him. He left through the balcony and landed on the sixth floor, the children’s block. I followed as close behind as I dared. When the print reader beeped and the door opened, chaos erupted.
Children were running and screaming. Several were crying. I spotted Saro’s girlfriend Skylar in one corner holding two toddlers whose wings were still covered in fuzzy down. Her face was white and her blue eyes were tight with worry. In the other corner, the source of the madness became clear.
Two Galdoni children were fighting. One had curly blond hair and dark red wings, the other had gray wings held tight against his back as he wielded a knife. Both couldn’t have been more than twelve, but they held the weapons as if they were ready to use them, the benefits of an Academy upbringing.
Kale was already behind the gray-winged Galdoni; neither had noticed him, their attention focused solely on each other. That was where the youthfulness of their training was evident. By the time Galdoni were old enough to begin Arena training, they knew to watch for external threats as well as those that were obvious. Yet it put Kale in a bad position. If he tried to take the knife from the young Galdoni, he would be open to attack from the second. It wouldn’t be a problem if he could just take them out, but they were children and he no doubt wanted them unscathed.
I circled close to the wall and positioned myself behind the red-winged Galdoni’s back. Kale nodded at me. He mouthed one, two, three. We both sprang forward and wrapped our arms around the fighting boys. I trapped the Galdoni’s red wings against his back and caught his wrist while I pinned down the other arm. A quick glance showed that he only had a small paring knife as a weapon. At his feet I noticed there were white shavings.
Near Kale’s foot as he struggled to calm the other boy down was a creature carved from a block of what looked like soap. It had apparently been a dragon, but someone had cut off the head and wings; I realized it was the source of the fight.
The Galdoni boy I held didn’t struggle. I would normally have been prepared for an elbow to the stomach and a sweep with the legs as we had been taught, but he merely stood there in acceptance that the fight was over. Kale, on the other hand, had been forced to pin the other Galdoni on the ground in order to remove the knife and keep him from throwing punches.
“What happened?” Kale asked.
Skylar had calmed the other children enough to explain. “Ransom pulled the knife from somewhere and destroyed Koden’s dragon. He’s been working on that for a week. Kara just left and Sarel should be here, but I couldn’t separate them and protect the children.”
Kale nodded. “You did great, Skylar. You kept the children safe.” He looked down at the Galdoni. “Can I let you up?”
Ransom gave a noncommittal grunt.
Kale rose warily, positioning himself between Ransom and Koden who stood next to me without a word. The red-winged boy merely watched his aggressor. His stance wasn’t ready for defense, and from what I could tell, he appeared completely calm considering the fact that he had just been attacked with a knife. Sometimes I wished our training at the Academy hadn’t been quite so thorough. I wondered if the children Galdoni would ever be ready for school.
“Why did you destroy Koden’s dragon?” Kale asked Ransom.
Ransom shrugged. “I wanted it, and he wouldn’t give it to me.” His eyes were on the knife in Kale’s hand.
Kale’s gaze shifted to it. “Where did you get this?”
“The training room,” Ransom said quietly without meeting Kale’s gaze.
Kale’s brow furrowed. “Real weapons are locked up. Only Goliath has the key.”
Ransom shrugged again. “I’m good with locks.”
Kale blew out a slow breath. He glanced at Skylar. “That seems to be a trend.”
She gave a slight smile, pushing her short black and red hair from her face. “Perhaps we need better locks.”
Kale nodded. “I’ll take care of it.” He turned his attention back to the boy. “Ransom, you know it’s not right to attack someone just because you want what he has.”
“At the Academy, I was taught to take what I wanted. It was mine if I won.” There was defiance in Ransom’s voice, but also confusion.
Kale glanced at me. My heart went out to him. Life outside the Academy was new for all of us. Even though it had been closed for almost two years, I still battled my training every day. Kale tipped the boy’s head up with gentle fingers. I was surprised to see tears in the boy’s green eyes.
Kale’s expression filled with pity. “What we learned at the Academy was right for there, but we aren’t in the Academy anymore.”
“I don’t understand,” Ransom replied
. He closed his eyes, refusing to let the tears fall. “I know how to fight.”
Kale crouched down so that they were eye level. The boy opened his eyes again. “Sometimes knowing when not to fight can be even more powerful.”
Kale looked at Koden. “Are you alright?”
Koden nodded. He glanced up at me as if to ascertain whether I felt otherwise. I gave him a smile I hoped was confident. He walked to Kale and stooped to pick up the destroyed dragon. Sadness showed on his face at the damage that had been done, but he didn’t say anything. He wandered toward Skylar’s side of the classroom, his attention on the soap carving. As soon as he was clear of us, children ran to meet him, following him quietly to a corner where he sat and began working again.
I looked back at Kale. He was talking quietly to Ransom. “Our instincts are to fight; that’s the answer we were given. Here, though, we have many other answers, including speaking to someone when we want something.”
“Koden doesn’t talk,” Ransom replied as though frustrated about it. “He’s a freak.”
Kale glanced over his shoulder. I followed his gaze to Koden who watched us silently. None of the other children appeared to have heard, but it was obvious by the hurt in the boy’s eyes that he had. At our attention, he focused back on his soap.
Kale set a hand on Ransom’s shoulder. The boy shrugged it off. “He didn’t answer when I asked him if I could have the dragon. Ignoring someone is stupid; it says he doesn’t think I’m a threat. I had to prove I was a threat.”
I could hear the Academy training in his words. It pained me to see Ransom’s confusion. The steps he followed were straight from the teachings for his age group that were drilled into the students until they practiced the rules as easily as breathing. To have life and all the rules change as stark as night and day didn’t seem fair to me, either.
“You did what you felt you needed to,” Kale continued. “Your response is understandable. I just want to teach you to think through your actions so that you are acting with thought instead of instinct.”
“When thought, instinct, and action are one, the warrior’s journey is complete,” Ransom recited.
Kale’s eyes closed briefly. I felt his pain. I had heard the same sentence recited by hundreds of mouths. He let out a slow breath and opened his eyes again. “Ransom, I created this place so that Galdoni can be free to think their own thoughts. You don’t have to be a warrior anymore.”
Ransom’s eyebrows pulled together. “What else is there?”
Kale smiled. “I’ll show you.”
“Promise?” Ransom asked.
Kale’s smile deepened. “I promise. There is more to life than fighting. You just have to decide what you want to do.”
“What I want to do,” Ransom repeated quietly as though the statement tasted strange in his mouth.
Kale stood. “Just promise me you won’t get any more weapons from Goliath’s vault.”
Ransom nodded. “I promise.”
Kale glanced at me. “Thanks, Reece. I think we’ve got it from here. You have school to get to, don’t you?”
My heart dropped. I glanced at the clock in the corner. I had five minutes before the bell rang. “Gotta go!” I told him and Skylar.
“Thanks, Reece,” Skylar called after me as I ran for the balcony.
I lifted a hand in reply, pulled open the door, and jumped over the edge.
Chapter Five
“The principal called you to his office,” Seth said the instant I set foot inside the school. He ran up wheezing as though he had run all over the school looking for me. “I couldn’t find you. He’s been paging you over the intercom for the last ten minutes.”
“I had to help Kale with the kids at the Center,” I explained, following him slower than he wanted me to as was obvious by the way he hurried toward the office and then jogged back for me to follow.
“Kale!” he replied. Seth was in awe of the Galdoni who had shut down the Arena. To me, Kale was an amazing guy, but to Seth he was a superstar. It made me smile to hear the awe in his voice.
“Yeah; everything’s fine.”
“Is it?”
We both looked up at the sound of Principal Kelley’s deep voice. Seth let out a little squeak and froze. The last bell rang; we were both late for class.
“It’s alright,” I reassured Seth. “I’ll catch you later.”
He turned without a word and began running down the hall, his sneakers squeaking on the tile floor.
“No running, Mr. Gibson,” Principal Kelley shouted.
Seth stopped so quickly he almost fell over. He righted himself. “S-sorry, Principal Kelley,” he called. He continued with measured steps toward his classroom.
Principal Kelley turned without a word and walked through the front office.
“Good morning, Reece,” Mrs. Jeffrey said. Her voice was uncertain as though she wondered if seeing me really indicated that it was a good morning.
“Good morning, Mrs. Jeffrey,” I replied.
She turned her attention back to the paperwork on her desk as though she couldn’t get to it fast enough.
I followed Principal Kelley to the office on the right. He took a seat behind the wide brown desk. I sat in the center chair of three metal ones pulled up to the other side of his desk. The chair was ice cold. I wondered if he had a way to chill them before students came to his office as one more way to signify their impending doom.
Principal Kelley leaned his elbows on the black mat on his desk and linked his fingers together. He gave me a stern look over them.
“Reece, I would like nothing better than to dismiss you for brawling with Brayce Bryant.”
“I didn’t take him for the snitching type,” I replied.
The principal’s eyes narrowed. “His mother called to complain about the bruises on her son’s neck. Apparently you’re not so good at hiding the signs of your aggression.”
“I’ll get better at that,” I muttered.
Principal Kelley’s teeth ground so loud I could hear them in the silence. He let out a slow breath, his eyes pinning me and his toupee skewed slightly on his head. “As I said, I would like nothing better than to kick you out of my school.”
I nodded, accepting the inevitable. “Alright.”
He shook his head, surprising me. “Unfortunately, the government gave us a hefty funds increase as the result of taking in a Galdoni,” he spat the word, “as one of our students. With only ten other schools in the state willing to do so, and one Galdoni male allowed per school, they are very pleased with our cooperation and have continued to show their gratitude financially. Now with Ava added, that appreciation has doubled.” He sighed. “I’ve already signed the contract on the new basketball court and they’ve began construction on the swimming pool for the swim team.”
He rubbed his eyes beneath glasses with transition lenses that adjusted to the light. In the neon glare from his humming light overhead, I could see the aversion in his gaze at having a Galdoni in his office. “Currently, it is almost impossible to get a job without a high school diploma even for the best qualified. If you quit, it’ll be most assuredly impossibly for you being that you’re a, well, what you are. If I kick you out, per the integration laws you will no longer be allowed in any school, anywhere. So it is in your best interest to stay at Crosby High.” He let out a sigh of defeat. “Apparently we’re stuck with each other.”
“Do all of your students receive such a welcome?” I asked.
He grimaced. “Only those with feathers.”
I wanted to punch him. I didn’t care about myself. I didn’t matter in the grand schemes of Crosby High; but I cared about the kids at the Galdoni Center who might one day follow in my footsteps. If they met such a greeting at school, perhaps it would be better off if they didn’t go. But if what Principal Kelley said about jobs was true? What would the Galdoni do when they got older?
I left the room without replying to the principal’s statement. When I passed Mrs. Jeffrey
’s desk, her head was bent and her gaze was studiously averted from mine. I let out a sigh of frustration and left the office.
When I reached algebra, I remembered that Ava would be there. I was almost ready to smile when I entered the classroom. The students looked up as they always did when someone opened the door. Mr. Bennett gave a brief nod that said Mrs. Jeffrey had notified him over the speaker of my late arrival; so she had indeed noticed my departure. I nodded back and turned my attention to Ava.
She was also pointedly not looking in my direction. I paused by her desk, but she continued talking to the brunette in the next seat. I crossed to my seat in the back of the classroom and threw my algebra book on the desk hard enough that everyone jumped. I slumped and stared out the window. School hadn’t been my favorite place before the day started, and it was quickly going downhill from there.
***
I waited at the door to the lunchroom for Ava to appear. The second she and her friends turned the corner, I approached her. “What gives, Ava?” I demanded, too tired of the events of the day to care about my tone.
She looked at her friends who watched us with wide eyes as though worried I was about to kill her. “Excuse us,” she said politely.
She grabbed the sleeve of my shirt and proceeded to tow me into the hallway. I would have fought back, but the action surprised me so much I could only follow.
“Seriously?” she said the second we were out of earshot. She shoved me against the wall. “You’re demanding what’s up with me?”
I put up my hands. “I’m sorry about what you saw the other day with Brayce’s gang. You don’t know half of the story.”
“Don’t I?” Ava shot back. “From what I hear, everyone is afraid of you. You don’t smile, you don’t have friends, and you look like you’re ready to tear someone apart if they so much as look at you wrong. Galdoni are killers; I guess I was hoping to hear you were different.”
I stared at her. Her words tore my heart out and stomped on it. I could barely breathe. I felt deflated, empty. I didn’t know what I had been expecting, but it definitely wasn’t this. I struggled to find my thoughts. What came out was only darkness. “I didn’t choose my origin,” I said, my tone flat to hide the heartache in my voice. “I was trained to be a killer, and I didn’t choose that, either.” I gritted my teeth to keep my emotions hidden. “I didn’t ask to slice flesh with swords and knives and watch other Galdoni bleed. I didn’t ask to hit bags and dummies until my knuckles split and fingers refused to work. I didn’t ask to be beaten and thrown in cells so dark time didn’t matter because it all blurred into the same meaningless existence.”
