Discovery: Olde Earth Academy: Year Two

by Amabel Daniels

  “Heck no.” I glowered at him. “You stay away from me.”

  “Please ensure she is okay,” the accented man instructed as he came to a stop at Otis’s head.

  “She is okay,” I said. Still, the medic lowered to his haunches and approached me. “Don’t get any needles anywhere near me.”

  Wolf chuckled. “Smart girl.”

  “Not now, Wolf,” the taller man warned. “I’m in no mood for your attitude.”

  “Funny, Doctor Griswold. I’m never in the mood for anything from you either.”

  Dr. Griswold straightened upright, his white lab coat flapping in the faint breeze. “And we would have no need to interact on an ordinary day, would we?” His sneering tone curled his accent even more out of whack, like a character from Dr. Seuss’s world.

  “What the hell is going on out here?” Marcy said, interrupting the men. She crouched closer to me and held out a hand to stop the medic. “Just check her over for any injuries.” She jabbed a finger at the kit. “And shut that thing. You heard her. No needles.”

  I whooshed out a breath of relief that someone was on my side. I couldn’t even analyze how my suspicion was just confirmed. One sight of the medic and I worried I’d be doped with elven meds again. I didn’t want to be loopy or manipulated. The fact Marcy knew the medic had Dr. Griswold’s order to “check me out” meant she was aware of the elven meds used as a sedative.

  And oh, do I love you for telling them off.

  “Just an ordinary case of what happens when the griffins escape,” Wolf said as an answer to Marcy.

  Griffins? I glanced at the lioness Wolf leaned over. He pressed his fingers to check the animal’s pulse and I sat up more, jolting the medic tending to me.

  Wolf. He saw it. He could touch the griffin. Realizing someone else could interact with an ancient species—other than me—was all that penetrated my overwhelmed brain.

  “Ordinary.” Dr. Griswold huffed and then curled his lip as he crossed his arms. He stood above everyone else, supervising the medic assisting Otis to sit up.

  “Thought the goal was to keep them in during the day,” Marcy muttered as she watched the medic examine my elbow.

  “I do.” Wolf stood from the griffin and set his hands on his hips. “But I was otherwise preoccupied with the primates and they got loose.”

  “We can’t have anything just getting loose, Wolf.” Dr. Griswold unfolded his arms and approached Wolf.

  “Really?” Wolf smirked. “I never knew.”

  “Don’t give me that tone, young man.”

  Wolf stalked closer. “I’ll give you whatever tone I want, Doc. I was otherwise preoccupied with the primates. Probably because they’re so damn stressed and messed up from all your tests—”

  Dr. Griswold laughed once. I flinched, not so much from the evil in his gesture but from the medic swiping antiseptic on my scrape. “My work is far more important than your duties will ever be here. Do not think you can judge my studies—”

  “More important?” Wolf shot into the doctor’s face. “Is that right? Then you take care of them. See if they’ll trust you to even feed them.”

  Talk about a pissing match…

  “Stop!” Marcy shot to her feet. “Jesus Christ, you two. Will you ever stop fighting? And don’t knock him for doing his job, Griswold. I can’t imagine it’s easy dealing with the aftermath of your studies.”

  “Hey,” Wolf said in a softer tone, stepping back from the doctor. “How about that? The little princess coming to my defense.”

  She groaned and glared at the sky. “Oh, get over yourself—”

  “Neither of you will ever understand my work.” Griswold insisted as he pointed at the sleeping lioness on the ground. “And it seems he wasn’t doing his job if that subject escaped.”

  I shoved the medic’s hand away, tired of the bite of the sting. It was just a stupid scrape. I couldn’t just sit here and get babied with this kind of talk. “Animals. Not subjects.”

  All three of the faculty members jerked back to stare at me.

  Oh, my God. I swallowed hard, regret smothering me. Regret that I’d somehow gotten enrolled at an institution that tested on animals. That this doctor had no respect for the beings he worked with—or on. And mostly, regret that I’d allowed my emotions to override logic. That I just verbally admitted I saw the griffins.

  I’d just given myself away.

  I licked my lips, praying for a cover-up to strike my mind. Nothing came.

  “She’s right,” Marcy said. “But that’s neither here nor there.” She gestured for me to stand. “Are you okay, Otis?”

  With the help of the medic, he pulled himself to his feet. He rubbed at the back of his head, messing up his wiry hair and sending dirt falling to his shoulders. “Sore, but I’ll be fine and dandy.” He clamped a hand to my shoulder. “You and that boy…”

  I scanned the now-empty pen, save for the lions lying in the corner in the shade. All the horses had fled and my classmates had as well, it seemed. Where was Flynn?

  “How…” Otis frowned his ruddy face and peered at me. “How did you do it?”

  I swallowed hard as I watched Wolf stare at me. Waiting for an answer.

  “She?” Griswold asked. “You think this girl and another student did something?” He scoffed. “Impossible. They’re too young.”

  I bit my lips shut and met Marcy’s gaze. A tightly held expression marred her smooth skin and she glanced at Wolf for a second.

  “Come on,” she said and put her arm around my shoulders. “The council will need a report.”

  A report.

  On me.

  Seemed facing off a few winged lions wasn’t my worst nightmare after all.

  So much for keeping quiet.

  Chapter Nine

  Marcy led me back to the Green House. Not a word was spoken as we rode in a utility golf cart back to the dorms. I fiddled with the hem of my gym shirt and chewed on my lip.

  “I’ll have Paige grab your uniform from the changing room at the gym.”

  I nodded. Clothes were such a trivial detail. The rest of the day felt like it didn’t matter either. I had classes I still needed to attend and worry about, but all that claimed my mind was fear. Nervousness. Fear again. More nerves. I rubbed the cramping ache in my stomach. I was stressed to the point of sickness.

  I was due to report to the council. And own up to the fact I was a prematurely strong Pure elf. I’m not prepared for this.

  Marcy reached over and patted my thigh. “It’ll…it’ll be okay, Layla.”

  “Am I in trouble?”

  She laughed, a real smile on her lips for the first time today. “In trouble for saving Otis’s life? No. That was a very brave thing to do. But…”

  But. It was never a good word.

  “Just follow his lead. You can trust him.”

  Trust. There was an even scarier word. “Trust who?”

  “Suthering. He’ll be there at this meeting. He’ll watch out for you.”

  I let my head fall back to the unforgiving plastic headrest. It cricked my neck at a weird angle but I hardly cared as I stared at the inside of the domed roof. As if I could find graffiti-carved wisdom up there to help me out. Like sage advice would even aid me here. My problem was rooted deep inside me. “I’m not good at trusting people, Marcy.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t blame you. And you shouldn’t do that freely here. But you can trust in yourself. In your instincts. They’ve gotten you this far in life, haven’t they?”

  What, was she proposing I always stay close-minded? Didn’t she realize how tiring and exhausting that could be? To constantly worry about what people might think or do? To always need to have your own back?

  “I’ve been in a similar position, all right? And I had more at stake. Suthering is a good guy, you can take my word for it. He can handle the others.”

  “Others…”

  “Of the council.”

  Oh, yeah. My jury, more like. “Who’s
all on it, exactly?” Paige and Ethel hadn’t given me names other than two of them when they’d mentioned it after the sea monster attack.

  “Suthering, Glorian Andeas, Bateson—”

  Oh, great. Warm and cozy it wouldn’t be.

  “And Griswold.”

  I jerked back from staring at the ceiling and gave myself whiplash to gape at her. “That jerk back there?”

  She nodded, her frown faced forward as she watched where she drove. “There are a couple more, but they only participate in yearly meetings and stuff.”

  “Great. Just great.”

  It felt like I was heading into too many kinds of trouble but there was no getting out of it. After we left the stables, Marcy explained that I was to check in with an impromptu council meeting. And once I showered, dressed in a new set of uniform garb, and met Marcy at the foyer of the dorms, we were on our way. Much like the drive from the stables to the Green House, there wasn’t much conversation as we walked to the faculty offices. Perhaps Marcy sensed I was about to puke from anxiety.

  My nerves scattered and frayed wider and wilder with every step I took toward the headmaster and headmistress’s wing. I would have been making this trek to this specific wing in another month or so, for my first quarterly meeting, but no, I was receiving another lesson in the Life’s Not Fair column.

  Despite my trepidation tripping me into an antsy mess as we headed to the suite of offices, I reminded myself I wouldn’t have done anything differently. I wouldn’t have hesitated to help Otis when he was down, to try to keep my classmates safe, to make sure the griffins didn’t lunch on those sweet, scared horses.

  I frowned as I ambled toward the what ifs after reconfirming I’d done the right thing. What if Flynn and I hadn’t been able to stop the horses from harming someone, and what if I hadn’t been able to hold off the griffins until Wolf appeared with his tranq gun? Wolf, it seemed, should have prevented that from happening by keeping the griffins…wherever they were kept. Yet, I couldn’t fault him. I’d never had to deal with animals who’d been tortured for scientific studies, so who knew what kind of struggles that long-haired smartass had to deal with.

  “Remember, just follow his lead,” Marcy said quietly before we entered Suthering’s secretary’s office. “Okay?”

  I nodded, not trusting my voice.

  She led me inside, announced I was here for the meeting, and then the secretary guided me into the headmaster’s office. Only one person was in there, and as soon as the secretary shut the door, I ran to him.

  “Jesus Christ, Layla.” Flynn held me in a tight hug. “What the hell? Why’d you separate from me? We’re supposed to stick together.”

  “That flying lioness—”

  “Griffin?”

  I nodded and sucked in a deep breath of his sprucy scent. I’d take whatever comfort I could. Call me selfish. “She was going after Otis.” I stepped back and he frowned at me.

  “When I couldn’t see you, I thought she’d gotten you.”

  I shrugged, willing my blush not to break out at his concern.

  He slumped in his posture like relief drained him. “Is Otis okay? They made us get the heck out of there. Last I saw was Marcy running in your direction with a couple of men.”

  “I think he’ll be okay but I doubt we’ll have gym tomorrow.”

  He smirked. “Yeah. Mrs. Possolo was the one who came to get us from the stables. We’re on to yoga starting tomorrow, now.”

  “Safer, I guess.”

  The door opened behind us and we stepped apart further, even though we weren’t touching.

  Suthering rushed in and shut the door behind him. He moved so hastily, his solid emerald tie flapped off his vest and lay backward as it settled again. I watched his fingers as he twisted the lock on the knob. His stern visage seemed graver than ever and he nodded at us. “Hurry. I only just retrieved the surveillance tape.”

  Surveillance—what?

  Waving us over, he encouraged us to follow him behind his desk, all the while glancing at his closed, locked door, like someone could still intrude past his reinforcements.

  After he slid a flash drive into his computer tower, he clicked on the icon to show the screen. “I don’t trust you two not to lie about what happened.”

  “Uh…” Thanks?

  He shrugged. Guess he didn’t care if he offended us by assuming we might lie to him. Or, he was just a careful kind of man. Probably for good reason. I could only imagine how many students might try to pull the proverbial wool over his eyes. “So we’ll all just take a look so we’re on the same page.”

  Flynn shared a worried look with me. “What about the rest of the council?”

  “They hardly ever operate from the same rulebook as me, let alone the same page. Hence, we’ll just worry about ourselves for now.”

  I couldn’t shake the tremor of adrenaline that coursed through me. The headmaster of the whole school. And here he was, consorting to lie with and for us. Siding with us. Marcy might be right about trusting him.

  The screen filled with an aerial shot of the pen where we’d been having our class.

  Where the heck is that camera located? I frowned more and tugged on my earlobe. Where else are there cameras? Were we always being watched? Big Brother conspiracies quickly webbed through my worries.

  “You guys have cams like this everywhere, or…” Flynn trailed off his question. Once again, he was in tune with me. Screw same pages, Flynn was on the same wavelength as me.

  “Only around the Menagerie and other locations where animals are housed.”

  Content with Suthering’s answer, I watched the video feed. Paired off, the students tended to their horses. Some of them still removing saddles, most of them brushing down the horses. Even in a fast-forwarded playback, I watched as Lorcan and I argued about Sabine, how Flynn glanced not once but several times in my direction. Then the first griffin flew in. It soared directly toward the horses and they scattered. Dust rose, but still, the images of bodies and animals showed clearly on the feed. Students fled, I charged forward, found Flynn, and then we got to Otis and teamed up to hold back the animals. The feed ended with Marcy, Griswold, Wolf, and the medics rushing to me and Otis. Wolf spoke to the griffins and they settled down to the earth at his command.

  Suthering heaved out a long breath, staring at the screen, and then jiggled the mouse to move it. “I knew it.”

  He moved the mouse to a drop-down menu on the screen. The arrow tip crawled to delete.

  “Knew what?” Flynn asked.

  Suthering clicked once. The surveillance feed was deleted.

  “You.” He turned for a second to smirk at me. “I knew you saw Bella when I came to your home.”

  Bella… At the trailer…

  My jaw dropped. “Cat Breath?”

  He smirked and nodded.

  “You…” I clamped my mouth shut, dumbfounded. Just like I had been when I’d first met Suthering. Cat got your tongue? He’d asked me that when I didn’t immediately reply to his invitation to come to Olde Earth. It had been a dig at me, at the fact I saw his precious Bella, apparently the name he’d given his cat-lizard pet. He’d known I saw it and hadn’t been able to say it was there.

  “You…”

  He closed out the screen that he’d played the surveillance feed from and started to push back from his desk. Flynn didn’t retreat, though. He remained leaning over the headmaster’s shoulder, pointing at the screen, and said, “Shouldn’t you empty the trash as well? Just in case.”

  “And I knew you were a smart one, too.” Suthering dismissed his computer with a wave. “I have it programmed to automatically empty.”

  A man of many secrets. Yet, it seemed he was in on mine and Flynn’s.

  “I bring Bella on the infrequent occasions that I need to scout out a potential outsider student.” He shrugged. “Just another way to see what I’m dealing with.”

  “You…you knew all along!” I wanted to pout or something. I had been so used
to lying, masking my ability to see those supernatural animals. I felt like I’d lost, somehow. Or perhaps I’d met my match of powers.

  He shook his head, a deep frown tugging at his lips and setting off the wrinkles at his eyes. “I suspected.” He stuck a finger in the air as if tabbing his argument. “Then in our meeting, I instructed her to get in your face and she disobeyed. Struck me as an unusual coincidence.”

  I crossed my arms. “I told her to back off.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “You didn’t say a word to her.”

  “I thought it.” I shrugged. “I telepathically told her.”

  Suthering wiped at his mouth, alarm raising his brows. “No. Not telepathically.” He stood and paced in the room. “My God… She cannot know.”

  “She?” I asked and scrunched up my nose. “Cat Breath Bella?”

  “Telepathically?” Flynn asked in unison to my questions.

  Suthering stopped and faced me. “Glorian. She cannot know how Pure you are. She’s already got you on her radar. With that sweatshirt, and you accessing the database for longma research.” Then he turned to Flynn. “Telepathically. You don’t communicate with the animals telepathically. Your thoughts…they contribute to your energy. That is what the species reply to.”

  He’d diligently answer both of us, but I needed to know more. There were still so many questions. I raised my hand to ask him to slow down. Too much. An overload of answers and info. Too fast. “How—”

  Knocks rapped on the door.

  Suthering pointed a finger to his lips, his serious gaze silencing us as if his gesture hadn’t already. “Don’t…answer their questions. Let me take care of this,” he whispered.

  Take care of this. Like he had with the sea monster? With Sabine almost being killed in the water? Now, this griffin attack on the horses. How much more danger would we face here? Is each year going to be referred to as which time a different monster struck at humans?

  “Just a moment,” Suthering said. He beckoned us to follow him into a room that was set off to the right in his office suite. It was nothing more than a nook with a round table and chairs for eight. “Sit here, please.”