Ignite (Solar Academy Book 1)

by Raven Steele

“Ah ha.” She glanced behind me into the lobby. “And where is Mr. Favreau?”

  “He dropped me off and split.”

  She drew her painted-on eyebrows together. “I had some paperwork for him to sign.”

  “I can forge them, if you’d like.”

  “Do you often break the law like your father?”

  I swallowed the fullness in my throat. “It was a joke.”

  She eyed me for a moment as if trying to decide if everything about me was a joke. I could practically see her disdain for me in those brown eyes. They covered me in a layer of grime and dirt, no better than the dust on the floor.

  “I’ll get the Headmistress.” She finally turned away from me and disappeared behind another door with more smoked glass. It prevented me from seeing what lay beyond. Probably more offices.

  I turned towards the bulletin and scanned all the posted announcements. Tryouts for the girls’ basketball team. A dorm meeting for the boys to discuss bathroom cleanliness. A list of activities. I found today’s date. Movie night. That explained the smells of popcorn and cotton candy.

  The sound of heels clicking against wooden floors echoed towards me. The sound was sharp and ticked my nerves with every step. I slowly returned my gaze towards the door and held my breath as a tall shadow approached.

  I expected to see a lady emerge with warts on a large nose and hair pulled back into a tight bun, but I was spared this nightmare. Instead, a woman four inches taller than me walked into the office. She had long, brown, wavy hair that cascaded nearly to her waist. She wore a sleeveless sheath dress that showed her lovely tanned skin. Dark, intelligent eyes glittered below the fullest lashes I’d ever seen, making me wonder if they were fake. But considering the beauty of her Latina features, they probably were real. She was gorgeous, the kind of woman you’d see in a magazine advertising the latest bikini on a Caribbean beach, not stuck in some ancient building babysitting a bunch of kids with supernatural abilities.

  Her full mouth parted into a kind smile when she saw me. “You made it!”

  She wrapped her arms around me in a tight embrace. She smelled like jasmine with a hint of cinnamon. I stood there stiffly, not used to being touched.

  She must’ve noticed my lack of returned affection because she quickly released me and stepped back. “I apologize, but it’s just so good to see you! It’s been years.”

  “We’ve met before?”

  “Many times, Rose, but you were just a young child. My name is Linda Swanson, and I was your mother’s best friend before she was put to sleep.”

  My heart stopped. The way she said that so casually… no one did that. They always danced around the ugliness, as if speaking of my mother’s condition would cause me to collapse.

  “Just so you know, I tried to stop Aurora that day. I loved your mother.” She tilted her head. “You have her same eyes.”

  I reached up as if to touch them, my pulse beating again. Painfully. Did I look dangerous? I quickly averted my gaze.

  She didn’t seem to notice my fear. “I’m glad your father finally listened to reason. I’ve been trying to get him to bring you here for years.”

  “You have?”

  She nodded. “The world out there is no place for you. Not until you’re ready, that is. And that’s our goal at Solar. To get you ready to integrate into normal society.”

  “Can you actually do that?”

  She laughed a gentle sound. “We’ve been doing it successfully for the last forty years. That power inside you?” She lightly touched a finger to my chest. “You’ll be controlling it in no time. In fact, your mother was one of the first supernaturals to master her ability. You just have to be in tune with yourself.”

  “I don’t think it will be as easy for me. I’m pretty dense.”

  “Nonsense.” She looked back at the woman with short blond hair who had been pretending to be busy behind her desk, but I’d caught her watching us carefully. “Tiffany, could you please call Ms. Pearson?”

  “Right away.” She picked up the phone and asked whoever answered on the other end to send Anne down.

  “Ms. Pearson will see you to your room,” Ms. Swanson said. “I wish I could do it, but there are still a few things I need to do for the evening.”

  “It’s okay, Ms. Swanson. I can get settled on my own.”

  “Please, call me Linda.” She smiled.

  I didn’t like how she was staring at me, as if I was the ghost of my mother. It made me shift my weight and look anywhere but at her.

  “There’s so much I want to say to you, share with you. I’m sure you heard many horrible things about Aurora, but there was so much good too!”

  Behind her, Tiffany snorted.

  Linda shot her a dirty look. “Don’t pretend there wasn’t, Tiffany. You were friends with her, too. Everyone was.”

  Tiffany’s pale face reddened, and she lowered her gaze.

  Linda looked back at me. “Would you like to know more about Aurora?”

  My mouth opened but words wouldn’t come. Did I? She’d walked away from me and my dad when I was just seven. I’d loved her fiercely and felt her love in return—until that day. It had been ten years since then and during that time, I wondered if I’d made up some of our good memories together. Maybe she wasn’t as kind as I remembered. Or sweet. Or happy.

  I couldn’t ask my father. Since the incident, my father rarely spoke about her. All I had to go on besides my potentially fuzzy memories were what I could find on social media. Most of that wasn’t good.

  Linda looked up just as someone walked through the door. “We’ll discuss this another time. Rose, this is Anne Pearson, my assistant.”

  I turned and flinched at Anne’s appearance. Not the nicest thing to do, but the earlier vision I’d had of what the headmistress should look like fit this woman perfectly. Her brown hair, peppered with gray, had been pulled back into a bun so tight it made my head hurt. Her gray eyes were much too close together, and the sharp nose poking out between them made her look cartoonish.

  She noticed my reaction and narrowed her eyes. “You’re early.”

  “Sorry?” I picked up my suitcase.

  She turned her back on me and left the office.

  I looked up at Linda. “Should I follow?”

  She chuckled. “Don’t mind her. I’ll catch up to you soon.”

  I headed towards the door, but she stopped me. “Check your email tonight. I sent you your class schedule for tomorrow.”

  “I don’t have cell reception here. Is there a network I could join?”

  She grabbed a slip of paper off the front desk. “Info’s right here. Oh, and someone will come to your room before the first bell to show you around.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled and hurried after Anne before I lost her entirely. Already she was several steps ahead of me in the lobby, disappearing behind an open atrium at the back with all kinds of plants and trees beneath a high glass ceiling. Two tall, wide hallways broke off from it at opposite ends, but Anne didn’t turn down either of those. She moved deeper into the school and into a narrow hallway.

  So far my experience here hadn’t been that bad. Linda seemed nice, refreshingly so. The way she spoke about my mother as if she was a decent person made me feel lighter, less of a monster. Because if there was good in my mom, then there had to be good in me.

  “Hurry up,” Anne spat over her shoulder just as she crossed beneath warm light. It did nothing to soften her features.

  I quickened my pace. The sound of music and theatrical voices reached my ears. The smell of popcorn also grew stronger.

  We rounded a corner and the hallway widened into a dining room with several chairs and oddly shaped tables. There must’ve been a dozen of them. Two double doors at the back had been propped open by chairs, revealing a large theater beyond. A movie blared within and lights flashed, black to white.

  “This way,” Anne said. She turned down another hall.

  I moved to follow her but paused, curiosit
y getting the best of me. I wanted to know what kind of teenagers I was going to have to deal with tomorrow. I peeked inside the darkened room. It looked like a typical theater but smaller in size. Large screen at the front, rows and rows of built-in seats. Disappointment settled in my gut when I realized it was too dark to see anyone.

  I was about to turn away when someone in the back row caught my eye. A boy about my age had swiveled around in his seat and was watching me closely. I spotted him easily because of his blond, almost white hair. It looked bleached and yet, I didn’t think it was, though I couldn’t say why.

  With the boy staring at me, I didn’t know what to do so I waved lamely, just a simple lifting of my arm. He didn’t react. Just kept staring. His eyes began to glow within the darkness, a brilliant and powerful blue that reminded me of a tidal wave about to destroy everything in its path. I hitched in a breath, feeling the weight of that force press against me. Dig into my bones. Wiggle into my mind.

  What the hell?

  A girl next to him also turned around, her head swiveling from me to him. I couldn’t see her expression but I guessed her mood. Pissed. She elbowed the boy, and together they turned back around to face the screen.

  A hand gripped my arm like a vise. “You’re wasting my time.”

  This close, Anne’s narrowed eyes and sharp nose reminded me of a vulture. I lowered my gaze to avoid her death glare. “Sorry.”

  This time I didn’t allow myself to get distracted. I followed her down the hall and into an elevator, thinking of that boy with the eyes that felt like they could destroy me. That’s what people must’ve meant when they talked about my own mother’s powerful gaze. I didn’t like it.

  “Your room is on the third floor,” Anne explained, her hands clasped while we rode the elevator up.

  “How many floors are there?”

  “Three. And an attic. The girls’ rooms take up the east wing, and boys are on the west. You will not cross sides unless at an approved school function. This is a strict rule that, if broken, could get you expelled. To be even more clear, you are not to have boys in your room.”

  “Don’t worry. Only psychotic boys chase after me. Do you have any of those here?”

  She snorted as the elevator doors opened. “Yes.”

  “Fantastic.”

  We glided down the hall and past several dorm rooms. Most of the doors were closed, but a few were open enough for me to peek into. They looked simple enough, with two beds and dressers. No closet. All kinds of posters and artwork hung on the walls, which meant we could decorate the rooms how we wanted. That was good, at least.

  Two beds meant I’d have a roommate. Hope surged within my chest. Maybe I could make a friend. Someone to sit with at lunch. Someone to tell jokes to. Someone to cry with.

  We moved further down the hallway and past all the dorms.

  “Where’s mine?”

  “Not far.”

  I glanced back longingly at the rooms behind us.

  “Because of your …” she fumbled to find the right word, “situation we had to give you special accommodations.”

  I groaned inwardly and cringed. Already they were separating me from the others, making me different, someone to be feared.

  I wouldn’t survive here.

  She stopped in front of a narrow door and withdrew a skeleton key from the pocket on her long skirt. After unlocking it, she pushed it open. It groaned as if it had hadn’t been opened in years. A blast of warm air smacked me in the face as if she’d unearthed a tomb. Smelled like it too.

  “You’re putting me in a dungeon?”

  “The dungeon is in the basement. Would you like to sleep down there?”

  A million sarcastic responses flooded my mind, but I kept them to myself. I needed to fly under the radar as much as possible here. Nine months. I could do this.

  Anne stepped up the stairs, using her hands on her knees for support. She seemed much too young to have to deal with knee pain already. But what did I know about getting older in this place, or as a supernatural? Maybe we all grew horns when we turned sixty. I hadn’t been raised like the others, so I didn’t know. My father had protected me from this world. Maybe to my detriment.

  I followed her up the narrow steps, noting the peeling paint and water stains on the walls. At the top of the stairs, at the bottom of the very last one, I noticed scribbled words in ink. It looked like someone had tried to erase the writing, but I could still barely read it:

  Build a strong foundation.

  It was a weird place to write something, almost as if whoever did it wanted to see those same words every time they walked up these stairs. I was about to ask Anne what the words meant when she opened the next door and stepped into large room open to the rafters above. A thick layer of dust covered their raw wooden surfaces.

  “It’s a bit dusty in here,” she said, “but I’m sure you’ll have it cleaned up in no time. There’s a linen closet just downstairs with towels and bedding. A community bathroom is next to it.” She walked stiffly as if she were afraid of disrupting the dirt all around us.

  I noted a large red fire extinguisher in the corner and rolled my eyes. Evidently they prepared for the worst. I approached a single wire bed at the back. A rust colored stain covered the lower half of the mattress on top of it. “Can I least get a mattress that doesn’t look like someone was murdered on it?”

  Her gaze lowered to the bed, and she frowned. “I’ll have one brought up in the morning.”

  “Did someone die on it?” I really wanted to know.

  “Nonsense. There must be a hole in the roof. It’s just dirt and rust.”

  “So you’re putting me in a room with a leak?”

  Her body bristled, and the air in the room crackled with instant energy. It made me wonder what her ability was. “Now see here, missy. The headmistress let you come here against the school board’s council. She promised you wouldn’t be a problem. But she also promised that if you did a single thing wrong, you’d be kicked out, no questions asked.” She let her words sink in. “Never in the history of this school have we ever let anyone come here with your … reputation.”

  “I didn’t do anything wrong,” I whispered, my voice weak. Inside, my flames grew hot.

  She tsked. “But you have the potential to do something terrible. We’re putting lives at risk just by having you here.”

  The heat in my stomach spread through my veins. I could feel it pulsing with every beat of my heart. “I am not my mother!”

  She studied me with her narrow eyes, her nose flaring. “We’ll see about that. Lights off at eleven. That’s in thirty minutes, so work quickly.”

  She turned on her flat-heeled shoes. They barely made a sound in the dust on the floor as she exited the room, closing the door behind her. I hurried to it and pressed my ear to the wood, partially wondering if she’d lock me in. She didn’t.

  I turned around and stared at my new room, trying to laugh at the ridiculous situation. It came out more like a whimper. Definitely the worst place I’d stayed in, but it was private. Maybe that’s what I needed more than a roommate. Somewhere to get away from everyone else. Maybe that’s what I needed permanently.

  Drifting towards the window, I peered out across the vast landscape. Silvery light kissed the tops of the trees for as far as I could see. It was a big world out there. Who said I had to stay here when I turned eighteen? That would be in two months.

  If it became too much for me to handle, then I would leave this place. At eighteen, I was done being my mother’s dark shadow, the bomb everyone kept waiting to go off. I’d take the money my father promised was mine, the money that had belonged to my mother, and go live off the grid somewhere. Everyone would be safe from me.

  I pressed my palm to the dusty window, leaving a handprint. The cool glass chilled my flesh. At least I wouldn’t be too hot in here.

  With my mind made up, I spun away from the darkness. In two months, if I chose it, I’d be free from this place.

/>   Free from everyone.

  Free to truly live.

  Chapter 3

  There was no sun to greet me in the morning. Only the dull gray light of dawn that settled on the dirty floor like another layer of dust.

  I rose from my bed and padded across on my tiptoes to close the window. I hadn’t had a chance to clean the floors last night and didn’t want to get more dirt on my feet than necessary.

  Inhaling a breath of crisp morning air, I closed the window and rubbed at my arms. I normally ran hot, but the cold fall weather this far north chilled even my bones.

  It was early, barely five o’clock, but I wanted to get up and shower before anyone else. I didn’t want people’s first impression of me to be my morning self. Best not to add one more negative impression to the one they’d probably already formed.

  Gathering my belongings, I snuck down the stairs and into the darkened hall. I would’ve been blind if not for the faint light glowing out from my cell phone.

  For a community bathroom, it was much nicer than I expected. Ten private tiled stalls and several toilets. I showered and dressed quickly, then returned to my attic room. Classes weren’t until eight, so I used the time to clean the floors using the same towel I’d used to dry my hair. I also gathered my bedding off the mattress in case someone came to switch it today. From my suitcase, I removed the few decorations I’d brought with me. My dad’s old deputy badge; a small golden statue of Sunna, the goddess of the sun, which my mother had given me on my seventh birthday; and finally a framed picture of our family taken only a month before she left.

  The objects did nothing to brighten up the place. What it needed was a fresh coat of paint, if I could find it in this place.

  Linda said someone would come for me to show me around and take me to breakfast, but when no one had appeared by ten minutes to eight, I suspected they weren’t coming. They probably heard who I was and bailed. I sighed. Breakfast was overrated anyway.

  I didn’t wait any longer. I grabbed a pencil and tablet and headed downstairs. Before I opened the door leading into the hallway, I quietly peeked out. A couple of girls were walking together away from me. As soon as they rounded the corner, I stepped out and made my way to the first floor, where I assumed the classrooms were. After roaming aimlessly for several minutes, I realized I had no clue where the hell I was.