“Right.” Ryland agreed, but something dark flickered behind his blue eyes. “One day, I’ll beat you, Luke.”
Luke threw back his head and laughed. “One day? Maybe. If you keep practicing.”
Ryland held up his fists. “I’m ready when you are.”
Luke grinned, but the sparring match was cut off by a buzzer. The shrill sound echoed throughout the gymnasium.
I looked at Ms. Blackwell for an explanation.
“Ah, lunchtime,” She said.
I swallowed hard. If they used a sound that ear-piercing for lunch, what did they use for an emergency? Not that I wanted to find out. “Lunch? It’s only eleven o’clock.” I glanced at the digital clock above the door.
Luke laughed. “Eleven is a good time when you start training at six A.M.”
I held back a grimace. I was not an early bird. The very thought of waking up before the sun rose made me reconsider even thinking about enrolling.
Ms. Blackwell’s eyes lit up. “I have an idea. Luke and Ryland, why don’t you take Bianca to the dining hall for lunch? It would be good for her to see what student life is like here at the Psychic Academy. I will rejoin you in about an hour.”
Luke and Ryland looked me up and down before agreeing.
“Excellent,” Ms. Blackwell said. “Don’t be shy Bianca. Soon enough, the academy will feel like a second home.” She vanished.
I gasped and stepped back. “What the-”
Luke chuckled. “How did that surprise you? I’ve been doing it since we met.”
I blushed. “Not that. Just wasn’t expecting it.”
How many times could I embarrass myself in front of these guys before the end of the day? It was so uncharacteristic of me. I was never a bumbling idiot; now I felt like someone who didn’t belong here. New girl syndrome hit hard.
“Ms. Blackwell is the professor of psychokinesis and advanced teleportation.” Ryland said. His eyes narrowed. “I’m guessing your abilities have something to do with telekinesis, that’s why she was assigned to give you the tour. Am I right?”
“I honestly don’t know what I can do,” I stammered. His gaze made my body prickle with heat. Was he reading my mind right now? How could I tell?
“Come on, man, give her a break.” Luke slapped his partner’s shoulder. “Bianca, just give us a second to shower and then we’ll show you the dining hall.”
#
I waited in the courtyard outside. I sat down on a bench, happy to escape the sweaty humidity of the training lab. I caught glimpses of students in the halls through the windows. They traveled in small groups. It looked way less crowded in here than my high school where I had to elbow my way through to my locker on a daily basis.
I glanced up at the sky through the canopy of trees. The sky was a brilliant blue, almost too blue. The force field that surrounded the academy shielded us from unwanted eyes, but I wondered what else it did.
“Nice day, huh?”
I looked over to see Luke. He had changed into form-fitting shirt and pants. His biceps stretched the black cotton t-shirt.
Luke stood at the bench, looking down at me and then to the sky. “The force field always seems to magnify the weather. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”
“That’s what everyone keeps saying,” I sighed. When I stood, my eyes were level with Luke’s jawline. He smelled like mint and soap. I saw myself reflected in his honey brown eyes and looked away.
“I mean it,” Luke replied with a smile. “You will. Everyone does. That’s why the Psychic Training Academy exists, to help us.” Positivity radiated from him.
We locked eyes again. My skin felt hot when I was near him. I wanted to be closer. He seemed like such a nice, sincere guy. Guys as sexy as him didn’t normally even look at girls like me. They were the type to chase cheerleaders and beat up nerds. Luke seemed refreshingly down to earth.
Luke leaned in towards me a fraction, giving into the magnetic pull between us.
Was he going to kiss me? Butterflies erupted in my stomach. Then a pulse of energy filled my head. I gasped and pulled away. It went as quickly as it came.
“Ready to go?” Ryland joined us. He was dressed in the same utilitarian black clothes as Luke. His blond hair was still wet, slicked back against his skull. His icy eyes slid from Luke to me.
I shrank away from his cold gaze. “Yeah, I’m starving,” I lied.
The pulsing feeling in my head returned and Ryland scoffed. “Alright, let’s go.”
My mouth went dry. Did he just read my mind? I felt violated. Without a word, I followed them inside the academy.
The halls were empty and the dining hall was full. With a quick glance I estimated that there were about a hundred or so students ranging from fifteen to twenty years old. Most of them looked to be about my age, but I was never great at judging that sort of stuff. I’d be the world’s worst police witness. The dining hall was large enough that not everyone had to sit crammed together, but the clique groups were clearly defined.
I followed the boys to the side of the room where a buffet of food was laid out. It all looked incredible: hot soup, pasta, roast chicken, salad, sandwiches, sauteed vegetables; it was infinitely better than what the cafeteria at my school served, which was why I always let my mother pack a lunch for me.
I suddenly felt very hungry. I waited patiently while Luke and Ryland filled up their plates before fixing a more modest plate for myself.
“There isn’t a lot of students at the Academy, it is way smaller than your average high school,” Luke explained as we walked back to the rows of tables.
I didn’t miss everyone’s eyes on me. The typical curiosity of the “new girl”; I did my best to ignore it.
“That’s because psychic powers are rare and, unfortunately, dying out.” Luke continued.
“Dying out?” I repeated as I sat. Luke sat beside me and Ryland sat across from me.
Luke dug into his pasta immediately. I recognized the ravenous feeling. It was the same after my two encounters with my own powers. Maybe using psychic energy made everyone tired and hungry.
“Yeah, psychics are a rare breed,” Ryland spoke up. “We like up less than one percent of the population. What’s worse, is that the psychic gene is recessive and only passed from mother to child. In this day and age, psychics breeding with non-psychics is common, and it’s watering down our population.”
Luke grimaced. “Dude! When you say it like that,”
“It’s true.” Ryland cut him off.
I looked around at the people surrounding me. Now that Ryland mentioned it, I noticed that there were more male students than female. Everyone was dressed in black, but it could still make out the normal high school type groups: a pack of beefy gym rats, the artsy goth kids, blond preps, awkward nerds, this school had it all. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think they were normal kids.
Almost everyone had gone back to eating and chatting. Only a few people glanced my way. I looked down at my turkey sandwich.
“What’s wrong?” Luke asked.
“I’ve just lost my appetite,” I replied.
Luke shot Ryland a glare. “Hey, it wasn’t about what he said was it? Do you come from a mixed family? I do too.”
Ryland made a sound at the back of his throat and shook his head.
“I honestly don’t know,” I admitted and looked up at each of them. Luke was so warm and comforting while Ryland was so edgy and mysterious. They were such opposites but I couldn’t help being attracted to both of them.
“I was adopted,” I said with a shrug. How many times had I told this story to people? It never used to hurt, but now it left so many questions flying around my head. Was my mother psychic? Were they both psychic? Did they know I had powers? Why would they abandon me if psychic children were so rare? Why didn’t they want me?
Ryland’s icy expression remained unmoved by my story.
“So you don’t know?” Luke seemed surprised. “No wonder you can’t control
your powers. Uh, no offense,” He added with a laugh.
I shrugged and pushed my uneaten sandwich away.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The buzzer rang out to mark the end of lunch. The students filed out slowly towards their next class.
“Ah, I got to get to class,” Luke said with a sigh. “I have intermediate teleportation, and if I’m late again, the prof is going to literally kill me.” He stood up and gave me an apologetic look.
“It’s ok, I’ll make sure she gets back to the office,” Ryland said.
Luke nodded. “Nice meeting you, Bianca. I hope that I see you again soon.” He vanished.
I held back a gasp. It would take me a while to get used to that.
Ryland stood and stretched. His muscles strained against his tight black shirt. “Well, let’s get going then. I take it they already showed you the classrooms?”
I nodded. “Just the ordinary ones.”
“Yeah, the special training areas are dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
His words bit at me but I didn’t let it show. I stood up and shrugged my shoulders back. “Can you take me to the office then? I’m sure Ms. Blackwell is waiting for me. And I don’t want you to be late for class either.”
Ryland shrugged. “I don’t care about class. All I care about is training.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I followed him silently out of the cafeteria and down the hall. The sound of his boots hitting the marble floor echoed around us. I hated the awkward silence.
“So, when did you enroll here?” I asked.
Ryland looked over his shoulder and paused so I could catch up. “I just transferred here in February from California,” He said. “My family lives out there. I came here for a different challenge.”
I nodded.
“Unlike you and most of the students here, my parents raised me knowing I was psychic. I never went to a normal school,” Ryland explained.
I wasn’t sure if there was an insult hidden in his words, but I let it go.
Ryland shoved his hands in his pockets. “Psychic powers are normally revealed after puberty.” He looked at me and a shiver shot through my body. “But in my case, my family is well known and very powerful.”
I nodded again.
“The Williams family is one of the purest families left.” Ryland said.
Maybe it was because he never went to a public school or maybe he was just obvious to the cringe-worthiness of the word “pure” when it came to bloodlines. I shook the awkwardness away. “I hope that I’ll find out about my family,” I said.
Ryland shrugged. We stopped at the office.
I was stuck between the wall and his hard body. I looked up to meet his gaze. “Thanks for walking me back to the office,” I said.
Ryland leaned down until our lips were almost touching. “You’re very powerful. I know you can’t control it yet, but I can sense it.” He planted his arms on either side of me and edged closer. “I find it hard to believe that someone as gifted as you had no idea they were psychic. I can’t wait to see what kind of chaos you unleash. This semester might just get interesting after all.”
I swallowed hard. What could I say? He was so close that I could feel the heat of his body. I wanted to run. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to escape. I wanted to stay here locked between the brick wall and his body. My heart was pounding in my chest.
Ryland leaned in and our lips almost touched. Suddenly he pulled away at the sound of the office door opening.
“Ah, Ryland,” Ms. Blackwell said. “Thank you for walking Miss Hernandez back to the office.”
Ryland stood at attention. “Not a problem,” He said. “I’ll be going to class now.” His eyes met mine. “And I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again, Bianca.”
Why did his icy blue eyes always give me a chill? I nodded like an idiot. “Yeah, ok.” My mouth was dry.
Ryland turned and left without a glance back.
“The Major has your enrollment papers ready.” Ms. Blackwell gestured towards the office.
Oh crap, I forgot they wanted me to make a decision today. Sure the school was great, the guys were hot, and the teachers seemed nice enough, but was I ready to enroll?
I followed Ms. Blackwell inside the office. She led me past the secretary who shot me a warm smile and into Major Griffiths’ office.
While the rest of the building was cold, spartan and angular, the Major’s office was warm and inviting. The floor was covered in thick plush carpet that was the same green as the walls. The furniture was made of mahogany wood. Two chairs were empty in front of his large desk. The Major sat muttering to himself and looking at a computer.
“Ah, welcome, Miss Hernandez,” he said as he looked up. “Apologies I was trying to pull up some documents, but the computer seems to be on the fritz. Psychic interference!” He laughed. “You never know when the equipment might go haywire around here.” He gestured for me to have a seat.
I sat down across from him. Ms. Blackwell remained standing by the door. Didn’t those heels ever hurt her feet? I’d be grateful for the opportunity to sit if I was wearing those. If there was some psychic immunity to foot pain, sign me up.
“So, Miss Hernandez what did you think of the academy?” Major Griffiths asked.
“It was very impressive,” I said. That was no lie. I had never seen anything like it.
The Major smiled. “Excellent. Now, I know everything is very new for you, but rest assured you are not the first to show up at our door not knowing a thing about their powers. In fact, it’s quite normal. The Federal Psychic Training Academy is designed for exactly that. We’re here to help you discover your powers and give you a purpose.”
A purpose? Had I not been whining about having no direction only days ago. Everyone else seemed to have it all figured out, while I had no idea what I was going to do. The academy might be my way out of that.
“But what about school?” I realized out loud. “I still have a few more weeks left and exams.”
The Major raised his bushy eyebrows. “We can take care of that. It’s more important that you’re here where you can be safe.”
I bristled. “No, I want to finish high school with my friends.” I said. I had gone through every year of school with Daniel and Jessica by my side and I would not give that up for anything.
Major Griffiths paused. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his velvet chair. “You do realize that remaining in the general population without being about control your powers is dangerous to yourself and everyone around you?”
I swallowed hard. I hadn’t thought of that. “Sir, I only have outbursts when I’m emotional. If I can stay calm, everything will be ok. It’s just two weeks,” I added.
The Major looked past me to Ms. Blackwell. They exchanged an unreadable glance. He stopped to think. “Well, it’s been done before in extreme circumstances,” He said. “I suppose we could give it a try. You need to be aware that this is a huge risk, Miss Hernandez.”
I nodded.
“I will need to assign someone to keep an eye on you as well. Inspector Dolinsky has been doing a splendid job so far. I’m very thankful that he found you before…” He trailed off.
“Before what?” I asked.
The Major shook his head. “Never mind,” He said with a smile. “It’s nothing.”
If life had taught me anything, it was that when people said it’s nothing it was definitely something. I let it go. I had nothing to bargain with anyways.
The Major slid a package of papers across the desk to me. “Seeing how you’re eighteen, we don’t need your parents’ permission. Which, in this case, is incredibly convenient. We try to reduce the knowledge of psychics to the general public as much as possible.”
“Wait! You mean I can’t tell my parents?” I blurted.
The Major shook his head. “Absolutely not. It is not in their best interest. If people knew about psychics, well, there would be panic and jealousy. Everything the
government does is to keep you safe. Our powers are great, but we are vastly outnumbered.”
I nodded. He was right. I saw my powers with my own eyes and had been in denial. It was scary when I really thought about it. My parents would have understood, I was sure, but maybe now wasn’t the best time to spring that revelation on them.
“You are a unique case. Most times, at least one parent is psychic and the academy can intervene without a hitch. In your case, being adopted, it complicates things. So, I insist that you do not mention it to your guardians.”
“My parents. Maria and Juan Hernandez raised me as their own. I will never think of them as anything less than my mom and dad.” I said firmly. I turned my attention to the paperwork in front of me.
While I filled out the information, the Major explained some things.
“For the next two weeks I will organize for you to come and work in the training labs under the care of Ms. Blackwell. You can come after school and train for a few hours. It’s better than nothing. Once you graduate, you can begin full time. We have dormitories for students.”
I looked up, nearly dropping my pen. “Dorms? But I live so close.”
The Major shook his head. “Constant vehicles going in and out of the force field are not recommended. All of our students stay on site except on weekends for security purposes. While you are attending part time, I will ask Inspector Dolinsky to chauffeur you.” He smiled. “We have our ways, Miss Hernandez. I will ensure that your guardians… parents,” He corrected before continuing. “Are not suspicious.”
I let out a breath and returned to the tedious forms.
Known allergies? None.
Known medical conditions? None.
Family history of psychic abilities? Unknown.
My hand was cramping by the time I finished the forms. I shook my wrist to get the blood flowing again. “Alright, done.”
Ms. Blackwell stepped in and whisked away the documents. “Very good, Bianca. I look forward to beginning your training tomorrow.” She didn’t smile or sound excited, but I figured that was just thanks to her tight-laced personality.
Major Griffiths was practically beaming. “I’m so glad you’ve decided to join us here at the academy.”
Psychic Secret: An Urban Fantasy Academy Romance (Psychic Academy Book 1) Page 5
