Tala Phoenix and the School of Secrets

by Gabby Fawkes

  Like I had a choice.

  “It is most opportune that you came, Tala. I was in the process of scheduling an appointment with you.”

  I swallowed. Appointments with the Headmistress didn’t happen – not that we heard about anyway.

  “It came to my attention that there was an incident involving you and another student in gym class.”

  Okay, yep, I was completely screwed.

  “I might have gone overboard during the sparring,” I said. “Sorry.”

  Her black string brow quirked and stayed quirked.

  “I don’t like Jenna,” I said truthfully. “So I got caught up in the fight.”

  This answer didn’t seem to please her. Her ash-colored luminous eyes fixed themselves on me. “There is no other explanation?”

  She knows, I realized, in that look.

  What waiting for? Is there different language need to say burn her?!!

  “No,” I said, to both of them.

  Tick-tick-tick went a clock I just noticed now, as I waited for the tock, searched in vain for where, in the shelves of bric-a-brac and books with names I’d never heard of, it sat.

  Tick-tick-tick…

  “I see.”

  The next instant, the Headmistress was on her feet, striding out of the room.

  I sat there for a few seconds, waiting for the other shoe to drop. But she didn’t come back.

  Was that it? Had she really just… left?

  “Tala?” It was Kian, at the door. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I…”

  “When we saw her storming out like that…”

  Once I’d walked out to join them, the secretary cleared her throat, although her gaze remained on her computer.

  “Guess this means we can go?” I said.

  Silence answered me.

  “I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’” Demi hissed, already making a beeline out.

  We didn’t need to be told twice. After how oh-shit of a close call that had been, I wasn’t exactly dying to try my chances again. Maybe we could even see where the Headmistress was headed.

  Walking down the hallway, though, there was no sign of her. Although we did pass by a trophy glass case in which, despite the hand prints and dust, we could still make out all the class photos of the past classes. Demi paused.

  “Don’t say it,” Kian said.

  “Why not?” Jeremy demanded. “It’s true. We’re looking at a ghost class.”

  I let the sigh bottled inside me out. “He’s right. It’s one thing when kids disappear from the older and younger years, but when it’s your own grade…”

  I trailed off, an idea occurring to me. “Oh my John, we’ve been so stupid – maybe Aerwyna did it early.”

  “Escaped?” Kian whispered, her eyes lighting up.

  I grinned. “Exactly. Come on.”

  “Where are you going?” Demi asked.

  “To her room,” I said, partway down the hallway. “Let’s see what we can find.”

  9

  As we hurried along, Kian asked, “Why bother?”

  “Maybe we’ll find something,” I said.

  “Like what?” Demi said. “Whether she was transferred or left herself – she’d take her stuff, right?”

  “Maybe,” Jeremy said. “But if she just left, she’d probably take less stuff, so she wouldn’t attract suspicion.”

  “Okay,” Kian said, unconvinced, yet willing enough to come along for the ride.

  As we made for the girls’ dormitory, Cog trotted up, letting out a little cheerful bark in greeting.

  “If that isn’t a good omen, then I don’t know what is,” I said.

  “Cog does belong to Her, in case you forgot,” Kian pointed out, although she squatted down to scratch him on the head like the rest of us. “Even if he is a barking weirdo.”

  “You mean a dog hybrid,” Jeremy said. Grinning, he balled up a piece of paper and threw it. “Fetch.”

  As Cog raced to get it, then returned with his long tail swishing, Demi asked, “You really think he was raised by dogs?”

  “Why else would he be basically a Golden Retriever in a tabby form?” I asked.

  We continued now, Cog trotting alongside. Jeremy sneezed – once, twice, three times. “Let’s just get going. Lunch will be done soon – and I’m starving.”

  We were at the entranceway to the girls’ dormitory, where a group of younger girls were leaving, whispering glumly to each other.

  “So what’s our excuse for being in her room?” Demi said, looking around circumspectly already.

  “Visiting our dearly beloved friend Jenna,” Kian said.

  As the others snorted, I chimed in, “Hiding dead fish for our dearly beloved friend Jenna.”

  “At least they’ll buy that one.” Kian made a face. “Makes me wish I’d stashed some extra tuna from yesterday. We could tape it under her bed.”

  “Next time, maybe,” I said.

  Cog let out a bark.

  “He’s right, let’s go,” I said.

  And then we walked inside. Aerwyna’s room – the one she shared with Jenna, Tania and Marley was two doors down from ours. In between was Hulda’s, since she was the only one left in her room. Normally, admin swapped people around to have rooms of at least three or four, but in Hulda’s case, they’d apparently made an exception. Maybe because there wasn’t a guard in this place Hulda wasn’t big enough to crush…

  Inside, the room was an exercise in immaculateness. Which corners were Jenna and Tania’s was clear – the ones with beds whose comforters were so neat it looked like they’d been ironed, with all the best donated clothes.

  In Aerwyna’s, meanwhile, her bed was stripped, her closet door ajar. Everything – and I mean e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g – was gone.

  “Maybe she left and they emptied her room after?” Demi suggested hopefully.

  “Maybe,” Kian said.

  I didn’t want to say what it really looked like – like they’d tried to literally wipe her out of existence.

  “Uh, hey?” someone said.

  Shit – but it was only Marley. Her chin-length hair was collected in a floppy ponytail, and her blue eyes blinked at us uncomprehendingly.

  “Sorry,” I said. “We just wanted to see…”

  Marley glanced to Aerwyna’s bed, nodded hurriedly.

  “Makes sense. I’ll miss her.” She tried to smile. “She used to help me whenever I’d bring in one of my projects, even when Jenna sneered and threatened to lock us both out.”

  Oh yeah – I’d forgotten that Marley was our resident injured animal healer. Motherless baby birds, stepped-on squirrels, there wasn’t much she hadn’t nursed back to health.

  “Anyway, just came here to get my water bottle,” she said, grabbing the clear blue cylinder off her bedside table.

  On her way out, she said, “Just, watch out guys. Miss Mildred’s still on the warpath since…” She smiled again, then hurried out.

  Kian said what we were all thinking: “So, she knows.”

  “Of course she does,” I said. “If it’s no one from her room, then it had to be from ours. Anyway, we better get going.”

  Outside, I heard a muffled bark from Cog.

  “Shh,” Demi said, going to the door to shush him.

  “Wait,” Jeremy said.

  He strode to Aerwyna’s bed and reached for some green thing peeking up where bed met wall. Something left behind.

  As soon as he lifted it, my heart fell. Its purple and pink vine-supported blossoms were unmistakable.

  “Her flower crown,” I breathed.

  Jeremy regarded it grimly. “She doesn’t go anywhere without this. She wouldn’t have just left without it. Not willingly, at least.”

  Wherever Aerwyna had gone – transferred or otherwise - it couldn’t have been good. I took an uneasy step back. It suddenly felt like we were in a crime scene.

  Cog barked sharply again.

  “Shh,” Demi admonished him, stepping out. Then she fell sile
nt.

  “Guys,” she said. “Miss Mildred–”

  There was no time to hide. The next second the door was swinging open to reveal just what Cog had been barking about. Poor guy had been trying to warn us.

  There in the doorway, looking two parts delighted and one part enraged, was Miss Mildred. “Trespassing again, I see?”

  “We just wanted to see what…” I began.

  Miss Mildred ignored me. Her head swiveling around, she said, “Unfortunately we only have one Room. Although detention for the others will do for now. Consecutive sentences aren’t unheard-of either. For who gets the first honors, that will go to whoever’s idea this was.”

  Her face would be less ugly charred to a crisp. Not to mention a golden bracelet on so fat a wrist should be a crime…

  Oh shit – I stepped forward. “It was–”

  “Me,” Jeremy said. “It was my idea.”

  As I gaped at him in shock, he continued, “We wanted to know what you did to her.”

  “What we did to her.” Miss Mildred chuckled.

  Jeremy’s face was reddening by the second, his hands like claws.

  “He’s lying,” I said quickly. “I was the one–”

  “No,” Jeremy growled. “It was me. I did this. I convinced them to go with me – threatened them. They shouldn’t be punished for this.”

  “That is not up to you, young man,” Miss Mildred said, her hand diving in her lint-covered cardigan. She raised a walky-talky to her lips. “All units to Dormitory 12B.”

  That bitch.

  “This just proves you were the ones sneaking out after hours too,” she was saying.

  “Think again,” Kian spat.

  Already, though, the door was opening and the room was filling with the white-jacketed guards that ordinarily patrolled the school’s perimeter.

  “Please.” Demi was pleading with her. “Jeremy’s lying, he didn’t–”

  “It was me,” I said. “It was my idea.”

  My words fell on deaf ears. I’d rarely seen the guards this close up– but even then they’d seemed as inhuman as they did now. Four white jackets had strong-armed Jeremy and were marching him out. I strained to follow, but two took me by the arm and held on.

  Miss Mildred had swept to the door. “Careful now – don’t want to be late to Latin.”

  The men held us there for another minute or so before leaving.

  I raced out, even though of course, Jeremy was long gone. We stood there, dejected.

  “What should we….” Demi murmured.

  “Don’t know,” Kian said flatly. “Where the hell is the Room anyway?”

  “Don’t know,” I said. “No one does except…”

  “Hulda and Cody,” we all chorused together. The only two who’d apparently made it back and actually remembered where it was. Although, you could never fully trust rumors in this place.

  Demi glanced my way. “Are you guys saying?”

  “Hell yeah. We’re going to get him out of there.”

  “But how?”

  “We’ll figure it out.”

  “You heard Miss Bitchdred,” Kian said. “We’re Room-bound anyway.”

  “I’m not letting Jeremy take the fall for me like that,” I said.

  “But right now?” Demi’s face was skeptical. “Cody is a dick. Even Hulda is a long shot. Anyway, she’s going to be in Latin class and if we skip…”

  “Miss Mildred will be on us like Stevie to black eyeliner,” I recognized dully. Jeremy was gone. And it was all my fault. I was the one who got everyone to go see that stupid TV in the first place.

  What we had to do was obvious – go to class and finish up our day. Still, I didn’t say it. Wouldn’t.

  A big part of me wanted to screw it all, play the guilty martyr and make a scene so I’d get punished too. But that would only be self-serving. I’d be no help to Jeremy if I was locked up too.

  But still. For the first time, the voice made perfect sense: Fire shall be fought with fire. No mercy. An attack on a comrade is signing a death warrant.

  It was clear in my mind’s eye now – making Miss Mildred dance in the flames, making her sob until she was on hands and knees, making her shriek, beg until she let Jeremy go.

  A rapid head shake dislodged the image from my head. Just because I had morbid fire fantasies didn’t mean that I could actually make them a reality. Or should.

  Doubt my abilities, eh? the voice hissed. Give me one minute, thirty seconds…

  My hands burning, I clenched them into one searing clasp.

  Nope, that was a hella bad idea. The best thing to do was trudge into class with my friends like the dutiful sheep we were.

  “We better get going then,” Demi said quietly.

  “Yeah,” I said, leading the way.

  “It’s just an hour and a half,” Kian said, trying to sound optimistic.

  “Just an hour and a half,” I repeated dully.

  ‘Just an hour and a half’ turned out to be nothing short of excruciating. Miss Mildred took extra pleasure in calling on me, Kian and Demi practically every time she had any sort of question for the class. The bitch even went as far as to sigh aloud about ‘if only Jeremy were here’ when Kian couldn’t answer one.

  I grabbed Kian’s forearm, which was tensed as she gripped her pen like a knife. “Don’t.”

  “We just need to make it through this class,” Demi reminded her.

  Although in her own twisted way, Miss Mildred had been right. Jeremy had been a good student. The kind of hard worker who always got his homework done without fail, and who never held back sharing his answers with us.

  As Miss Mildred ranted about the intricacies of Latin we would never perceive and the imperative of our attendance at the Founder’s Assembly, I zoned out. Back to the first memory I had of Jer. Demi and I couldn’t have been more than five when the little boy with the eggshell-pale skin and cocoa-black hair walked in at recess.

  We’d wasted no time striding up to inform him that he was ‘Snow White’s brother.’ His eyes grew luminous. “Who’s Snow White and where is she?”

  “It’s from a movie,” we’d explained. His face had fallen, his eyes glistening. “I’ve no one. No mommy or daddy. No sisters.” And, just like that, we’d said, “We’ll be your sisters.” He’d looked up, smiled. “I’ll be your brother, then.” And he had been.

  Jer was the one who’d kept our food being stolen from the older kids (“little spaz!” they’d shriek at the kamikaze kid who’d run straight at them, with no concern for his own welfare, but it had worked). He was the one who’d handpick us the purplest wildflowers for our birthdays, who’d let us have the last chocolate square from his yearly Caramilks. He was a real brother – and there was no way I was letting him get stuck in the Room – or transferred. It. Was. Not. Happening.

  As soon as we were let out of class, I beelined to the cafeteria and got what I needed. Then, on our way to gym, the others and I approached Hulda.

  Looking around to make sure we wouldn’t be overheard, I said, “You went to the Room before.”

  Cody had, too, but I didn’t put it past him to screw with us for kicks.

  Although right now, Hulda was just staring ahead with glassy eyes. I lifted up an extra-large pretzel, the ones that I knew she loved so much that she was only allowed one per meal.

  Finally, Hulda nodded.

  “Can you show us where it is?” I asked.

  A pause, a gaze snuck at the pretzel which I waggled, and she nodded again.

  I handed over the pretzel, Hulda took a big bite, then reached into her bag. For a second I’d thought we’d be fooled by someone I’d always perceived as a gentle giant, until Hulda got out a sheet of paper.

  As the warning bell went off – we had five minutes to get to gym or suffer Kakernacker’s wrath – Hulda’s pencil-holding hand moved efficiently across the page. Less than a minute later, she was finished, showing hallways and rooms labelled – in German.

&nbs
p; “Magnificente,” Kian said.

  Demi groaned. Guess the rumors about Hulda being German were legit. How had she been completing her tests all this time?

  “Could you… maybe write them in… English?” I said.

  Hulda blinked uncomprehendingly, took a bite of her pretzel and wandered off, presumably in the direction of gym.

  “We have like two minutes,” Demi pointed out. “Let’s go. We can figure something out there.”

  A few minutes later, we arrived just in time to be one minute late.

  “WHAT IS THE RULE ABOUT LATENESS?” Kakernacker blasted us with his Listerine honey-tinged breath as soon as we stepped in.

  “Not to,” Cody chimed in, smirking our way.

  I glared back at him. And this guy was our only chance right now?

  As we went and got our swords for fencing practice, I scrutinized him.

  “You tell him, we could get caught,” Kian said, as though reading my thoughts.

  “Cody hates admin as much as we do,” I pointed out.

  His favorite thing to do, when asked a question, was to glare at whatever teacher had made the mistake of asking it. Although my friends’ worries weren’t unfounded. No one knew why he’d survived a record number of times in the room – seven – relatively unscathed, but rumor had it that he’d ratted out Joey.

  “What other choice do we have?” I asked.

  My friends said nothing. As everyone else argued over which sword was theirs – Kian picking a fight with Jenna I think on purpose – I went over to Cody.

  “You know where the Room is.”

  His eyes shifted. “What – wanting a private tour?”

  His suggestive tone on the word ‘private’ didn’t escape me. As well as being a long, shaggy-haired metal head, Cody was obnoxiously, notoriously attractive – and knew it. Word was he’d hooked up with Stevie, Penelope and Carly, back when the last two had been here, at least.

  “Not interested – I’d rather you tell me,” I said. “They took Jeremy there.”

  That got him surprised at least. “Damn. Wondered where that kid was.”

  “Can you tell me where it is?”

  “I could,” he agreed.