Wonderland Academy: Book 1

by Cheri Winters

  Vivian looked around her room like she was expecting a leprechaun to leap out of the walls at us. “It’s best to get a member from each house to give you tips,” she continued. “Since there’s a good chance they know how to survive.”

  Tula whistled. “Is that allowed?”

  “It’s encouraged…at least among the upper class.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Tula glared at Vivian. “You talking smack about our social status?”

  “No.” I shook my head, instinct filling me. “I think she’s saying that the more connections we have in this race, the better. Am I right?”

  Vivian beamed. “You are smart. No wonder you were chosen.”

  “I’ve had an issue of questioning things or being too curious my entire life.” I folded my legs underneath me on the bed. “Just because we’re each in this race, though, doesn’t mean we have to do it alone. We can pool our strengths and help each other through any tough spots.”

  “Yes.” Tula chucked her water bottle in the recycle bin. “Most of the others will be on their own. Thinking that it’s every man or woman for themselves. Most won’t want to share any of the information they know, afraid it’ll threaten their chances in the race. But if we work together, we might be able to help all of us instead of just ourselves.”

  I glanced over to the bin and trash, realizing we were leaving evidence of outside food. “What if they find out that we brought in outside food?” I asked, changing the subject without realizing it.

  “It’s fine.” Vivian flicked her eyes over to the trash in question. “Trash pickup was yesterday, they won’t come again until after the tournament.” Vivian waved her hand. “To be cautious, we can hide the trash until later. Bottled water the first week is okay. Or at least for my—”

  “Don’t say it,” Tula interrupted. “I swear if you make one more comment about your privileges, I’m going to walk.”

  “No, no, no.” Vivian paled. “Please…I’m sorry.”

  She looked over to me for help, but I merely shrugged a shoulder. I wasn’t sure why she was worried. I didn’t think Tula was actually going to walk even though it was obvious she was sensitive when it came to her social standing, like she had something to prove.

  “Sorry,” I murmured, unable to look directly at Vivian. “I’m only from an average household. We didn’t have galas or Soirées.” Then a thought occurred to me. “Wait. Did you pick us to aid you because we have different backgrounds than you?”

  “Would that be a bad thing?” she asked, her voice tentative.

  “It would be brilliant.” Tula brushed back her purple bangs. “Hell, I would have done the same thing if I was in your position.”

  Vivian giggled. “It is pretty smart.”

  “Okay, is there anything else we need to know about for the testing tomorrow?” I asked.

  “They mix it up, I’ve heard.” Vivian sipped at her water. “Like sometimes they start with physical tests then move to vice versa. It’s the finals we gotta be careful of.”

  “Finals?” My chest tightened. “I thought this was never-ending trails.”

  “No, the first week is brutal. Half of the tributes will be gone.” Vivian set her water bottle onto her nightstand. “Then they’ll want to test us for special abilities. Like a natural talent for languages or math or magic. I know we’re humans, but we were chosen to attend this place for a reason. Our potential is high but it also depends on our ability to survive this.”

  “Magic?” I shook my head. “Humans don’t have any magical abilities, that’s all fantasy and fiction.”

  “Yeah. If I had magic, I’d zap myself out of here.” Tula waved her hand like she was casting a spell.

  Vivian’s eyes widened. “Wait. You two don’t know?”

  I tossed a pillow at her. “Obviously, no.” I blinked at her. “What?”

  “Hey.” She smacked me back with the pillow. “How am I supposed to know what all you’ve been told? You guys are from different households, remember? I don’t know what you know and what you don’t.”

  “Just tell us,” Tula groaned, clicking her tongue ring against her teeth. She reached over and playfully shoved Vivian.

  Vivian sat up straighter. “When we, humans, come across the barrier into Wonderland it can awaken dormant gifts. Tweak our DNA, so to speak.” She pulled her blond braid over her shoulder, holding on to it. “And for some they become mages.”

  Mages? I had no idea how that worked, but the possibility was astounding.

  My jaw hung open. “How cool would that be?” I asked. A thought suddenly occurred to me. I frowned. “Wait. Would we switch houses to Sapphire then?”

  She shook her head. “Did you not study anything?” she asked, arching a brow.

  “Some of this you’ve been given your privileged information,” Tula pointed out, saying the last two words with her nose in the air mimicking a snooty rich person.

  “Right.” Vivian smirked. “You would remain in Crimson House as you are, but you would have a secondary house with it being Sapphire. You’d be able to go in both dorms and take classes from both. In a weird way, we, as humans, have more of an advantage than others.”

  “We could be mages?” I couldn’t keep the excitement from my voice. What could I do with magic? Get the hell out of this place and see my mom again. Bring back my dad—no, that would necromancy—and all the stories I read about that never ended well.

  “Awesome!” Tula whispered, her eyes widening at the possibility.

  “You two ready to do this?” I held out my hand and Vivian grasped it. Then I did the same to Tula who stood and took my hand and then Vivian's as well so that we formed a small circle.

  “Here’s hoping that one of us gets the mage gene-splicing change.” Because we were going to need all the help we could get.

  Chapter Eight

  For the next few hours, Vivian, Tula and I spent scouring the library on any books that might relate to the trails. The computers brought up a warning page that anything about Wonderland or the Academy was off-limits. I hoped we hadn’t shown our hand before we even knew what it was. I didn’t know if anyone actually monitored computers or if there was a way to record our search history. If there was, I didn’t know if they could pin it back to us. I just wanted to make sure we were safe and smart.

  As such, I suggested we go old school.

  “I found a book on Latin and Greek.” Tula waved a thick book at us, coming back over to the table we had claimed as our own.

  “Ewww…how is that supposed to help us?” Vivian sank into the chair beside me, furrowing her brow as she looked at her nails. “Do you even know either language?”

  “No.” Tula placed a hand on her hip. “I know English, Spanish, some Italian and French.”

  “Great.” I lifted my chin at her book. “Then you study that. I’ve got a book on Wonderland Mathematics. I aced Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus at school, so here’s hoping I’ve got a talent for this world’s math too.” I wasn’t sure if that would actually work if the maths correlated with each other, but who knew? Maybe we would be able to catch a break.

  “And I’m studying submissions.”

  “You’re studying BDSM sex?” Tula chuckled, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “Are they testing us on that too, ‘cause I’ll pass with flying colors.”

  “God, I hope not.” I shook my head. My last two boyfriends were not great in bed at all. I don’t even think I ever had an orgasm. The sex was over too fast for me to know if I had or not. And from what I gathered, if I had had one, there would be no question of whether or not I had one.

  “No. Submission holds.” She turned the book to face us. “Like in martial arts.”

  Black and white images of people fighting, but one on their knees with their face scrunched up in pain caught my eye and I leaned forward to get a better look at them.

  “Looks like a cross between Jujitsu and Judo.” I glanced over at her, impressed. “Are you able to do s
tuff like that?”

  “Yeah, won’t you break a nail or something?” Tula added.

  Vivian sniffed. “I’ll have you both know that I took Karate, Muay Thai, and Taekwondo.”

  “Why?” Tula straightened. She furrowed her brow as though she didn’t quite believe anything that Vivian had to say, especially about self-defense. “Don’t you rich people have bodyguards to protect you and shit?”

  “Yes,” she said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “But do you think I have this great figure by eating caviar and shopping all day? I have to work for it. Besides, I kinda like being able to kick ass.” She grinned to herself, inspecting her manicure.

  “Good.” I smiled. “And we give each other tips. Like Vivian, you teach us some of the best moves you know, plus a few from the book. I’ll give you both some simple math problems and hints that you can use to figure out answers. We help each other.”

  Tula nodded, sitting down at the table across from us. “And I will teach you how to spot similarities in languages,” she said. She sounded less defensive now that we seemed to be on the same page about working together. She looked between the two of us. “I’m guessing you both know a little bit of Spanish or maybe French from the fancy restaurants you’ve gone to? I can help you distinguish between languages and help you figure out what words mean.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” I scribbled out some sample problems and their common factors along with some basic math rules. “Let’s go over everything in Vivian’s room in say two hours?”

  Both ladies gave me a thumb’s up sign and took off for different parts of the libraries.

  I checked my phone again for anything from my mom, but there were no new messages. Why hadn’t she responded? I chewed the inside of my bottom lip and tried to think of why she wouldn’t have at least checked in on me again by now. Maybe something had come up at work that she was working on. Maybe one of her friends was going through something and needed my mother for support. Maybe she was sick. Unease sunk into my belly.

  I shook my head, tossing my hair over my shoulders. I couldn’t think about things I wasn’t sure about. It wasn’t going to help me. I needed to focus on the task at hand. Bending over the math books, I scribbled down more notes until a shadow fell over the page.

  “Are you actually studying?” said a male voice.

  I looked up to find one of the tributes staring down at me. He seemed confused that I had books open and was taking notes.

  “What’s it look like I’m doing? Crocheting?” I rolled my shoulders back and winced at how harsh my words came out. “Sorry, I’m just tired and you’re blocking my light.”

  “You know you’re going to lose tomorrow, right?” He chuckled, high-fiving another guy who walked past. I didn’t understand why he persisted in talking to me when he was just going to be a dick. I didn’t remember doing anything intentionally to upset him to the point where he would continue to go off on me. Then again, because the culture was different here, perhaps I had done something and didn’t even realize it.

  “No, I don’t know that,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. Under normal circumstances, I would have snapped at him again, but I didn’t want to go through that. “I think we all have a chance.”

  “And some of us try to act smart when all we are is a pretty face.” He leaned down, making kissing faces.

  I tensed, curling my fingers into fists. Suddenly, I was tired of being the nice girl. Tired of taking crap and turning the other cheek in order to be the better person. Instead, I was going to clock the guy in the face and tell him to kiss a different part of my body.

  Before I got the chance, there was suddenly a hand on his shoulder that sent him reeling back. Will, the Emerald house guy, waved the creep away.

  “She has better things to do than to entertain you,” he spat.

  “Fuck you.” The guy stood, straightening his shirt. His eyes narrowed dangerously. I could feel the tension rolling off of both of them.

  “No thanks, you’re not my type,” Will said sweetly. His voice had a lyrical quality that was absent earlier in the queen’s scepter. He turned to me, completely dismissing the bully as though he was unimportant and insignificant. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah.” I nodded, brushing hair from my face and trying to control my breathing. I didn’t want the blush on my face to reveal my embarrassment and indirectly getting attention. “It’s fine, he was just being an asshole.”

  The guy walked off, flashing both of us his middle fingers.

  “So mature,” I called out after him, then laughed.

  “Mind if I ask you a question?”

  “Shoot.” I leaned back in my chair, thinking I could listen to his voice all day. And he was so fucking hot to look at too with his silver hair and up this close, I could see his eyes were like green jewels.

  “Why are you studying here in the library?” He sat on the edge of the table, trailing a finger across the books like he was making note of the titles. “Almost everyone else is out partying.”

  “Guess others don’t take this seriously.” And most haven’t lost a loved one because of it.

  “Yet you do. Why?”

  Everyone had to know about my dad if they knew anything about Wonderland. Sharing what I’d discovered with Will or anyone what I found in the yearbook, didn’t feel right. Not until I knew more.

  “Um…my dad was a teacher here about ten years ago.” My voice cracked. “He died.”

  Will’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry. You’re Alexis then.”

  “That’s me.” How was it all these people knew my name? Wasn’t like Dad had been a teacher here long. He died in less than a year and it was so long ago, how would kids my age remember? “How do you know who I am?”

  “Come with me,” he looked around and whispered. “It’s not safe here.”

  “Is that a line to get me alone?” I crossed my arms, but inside I was secretly thrilled even if it was. The guy, like all the other main ones I’d met today, was smoking. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if my underwear was damp right now.

  “If I said yes, would you still come with me?” he teased, cocking his head to the side. Clearly, he was being prideful. He knew I would say yes.

  I wouldn’t admit defeat so easily, however. I had to make him work for me, even if it was a small amount.

  “Depends,” I said in a sly voice. “Do I get any advantages for the testing tomorrow if I do?”

  “Smart girl.”

  “That’s what they say.” I leaned forward, tracing circles on the table. “Do we have a deal or not?”

  I couldn’t believe how forward I was being. Most of the time, I waited for guys to make the first move. But I guess in a way, Will already had by asking me to go with him. He didn’t answer, but I didn’t need one. Somehow, I knew he would say yes. Excitement coursed through me at him signaling me out among all the other girls here.

  Will led me to a path outside, behind the library. The sun was low in the horizon. Yet, it looked like we had an hour or so before sunset and curfew.

  Nerves constricted painfully in my gut and I worried I was going to get sick again. How was I going to make it through tomorrow when each passing moment seemed closer to Doomsday? And I hated that I had no control over the situation.

  “So.” He gave me a lazy smile that sent my heart racing. “Ask me anything.”

  “Pardon?” I stammered. What I really wanted to ask him was if all Wonderlanders were as gorgeous as him.

  “You may ask me whatever it is you wish to know…about the trails tomorrow…about Wonderland.”

  “Oh.” My face heated. Of course. The bargain I struck. How could I have forgotten it so easily? He had only brought me out here to help me. Probably realized that I was the least likely candidate for this stuff rather than that he was interested in me as a person. Maybe they got bonuses for more recruits surviving and he was here to tie up loose ends. But even though disappointment sank in my gut
that he wasn’t interested in me romantically, I didn’t want to let him down.

  He stared at me, waiting and I had to come up with something.

  So I blurted out the first thing I could think of. “Okay. Are we allowed to have weapons? I mean what if you throw us in a ring against a bear or something.” Or like Maize’s Manticore.

  “Not exactly,” he said. “You can make weapons from whatever you can find during the trials.”

  I crossed my arms. “Like what? A branch or a rock?”

  “That’s what most people would go for, but you’ll need to dig deeper.” He reached out, brushing a finger down my forearm and sending pinpricks of pleasure through me. “Anything and everything could be used as a weapon. From the smallest insignificant thing to your amazing mind and imagination.”

  “Well, that’s fine for you.” I scoffed. “You’ve been here in Wonderland and probably have studied all about this world. But I know nothing.”

  “You’re not looking close enough. He squatted down, picking a fuchsia-colored bud. “Use your instincts. Question everything.”

  It was the only bud like it around. “What kind of flower is that?” I asked, my curiosity distracting me.

  “It’s called a Dragon Lily.”

  “Are there dragons in Wonderland?” I flicked my gaze up to the sky. “That would be something I could use to win in the tournament.”

  “You never know,” he said in a teasing voice.

  “Come on,” I pleaded. “Are there dragons or not?”

  His smile made my heart skip a beat. “They are rare. Like this lily here. This whole plant,” he gestured to the green bush, “produces a single flower and it only buds on this day once a year. Usually, it takes a week to bloom.”

  He waved his hand over the bud and it bloomed.

  “Show off.” Though inside I was secretly impressed.

  “No, just demonstrating how you looked to me.” He shrugged.

  “What?” I snorted a laugh. He couldn’t be serious. “That I need your help to bloom?”