Tala Phoenix and the School of Secrets

by Gabby Fawkes

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “Just – if you don’t think you can shift and control yourself, then don’t. We’ve got enough gods going that I don’t foresee problems.”

  “But if there are?”

  His eyes hardened. “Then that’s a decision you’ll have to make yourself.”

  I nodded, saying nothing.

  “And, well.” Axel looked uncharacteristically awkward right now, and I felt like if he had pockets, his hands would’ve been shoved inside them. For my part, my heart was doing a little happy dance. “Just be careful, okay?”

  “Okay,” I said.

  “Okay,” he said, blinking, his face reassuming its tough guy mode. “We’d better get going then.”

  His hand hovered over my shoulder like he wanted to squeeze it, but at the last second he withdrew it, striding ahead to Apollo and the others.

  A minute or so later, Kian and Dion had said their awkward goodbyes, since he was staying behind on jet duty (apparently he had it hidden somewhere secret in Olympus, and was under orders to fly it over only after we were well in the school, to avoid attention), and my friends and I clambered on the same displeased horse.

  “You guys nervous?” Demi asked.

  “Barf-level nervous, yep,” Kian said brightly.

  “Just make sure you aim it into the air, please and thank you,” I said.

  The horse let out a displeased snort to express how little it thought of this idea.

  “Nah, I’m gonna aim for Aphie,” Kian said.

  We grinned at each other.

  The ride there passed without any barfing, although this horse seemed to enjoy more unexpected dips and swoops, perhaps in the hopes we’d fall off. We hung on pretty well, though we didn’t talk much. We were mentally preparing ourselves for what was to come. Going back to that… hellhole.

  Already, my body burned with ill-repressed anger. At what they’d done to us. At what they’d tried to. Using us as guinea pigs for some sick experimenting? Yeah, there was gonna be hell to pay.

  And death to be had, my PV purred, licking its lips. Yesss…

  -Yeah, I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you.

  You are me.

  -Details, details.

  This trip seemed slower than the first, maybe because of the nerves cramping my stomach. Whatever the reason, my mind got lulled into a sort of waking sleep until we started descending. As I gazed down at the desert landscape, all intersecting and interconnected gray-brown shades, I could only stare in appreciation.

  From this high up and far away, it all had an easy cohesiveness, a fitting together of everything, no matter how disparate and different its parts. Just how the truth must’ve been about the attacks and whatever had been happening at our school.

  Maybe we’d find out today. Although our main goal was to save our classmates, obviously, the secondary one was to get into that lab.

  An involuntary shiver went through me, at odds with the intense blast of desert heat searing my skin. God, the horrific sights we’d have to see… but we had to. We needed to know what was going on. To stop it. To save my friends.

  The winged horse’s hooves kissed the desert surface, the sound of their clopping lost in the sound of the wind whipping my hair as we came to a halt.

  We dismounted, and immediately crowded around Demi, who was enviably serene.

  “What are we waiting for?” Aphie said grouchily.

  “What, have an opera to catch?” I wondered, though I was thinking, You escape one Jenna, only to get stuck with another…

  “No, that’s tomorrow,” she snarked back.

  “Children,” Apollo said.

  Through this all, Demi’s face was the essence of calm, eyes closed, lips parted, hands at her sides.

  She made using her powers look so easy.

  With a flush of movement, the ground sprung up with green life. With their waxy outward splaying leaves, the corn sprouted all around us, shooting up until they were Axel-head-level.

  “Whoa,” Kian said. “Dios mio, girl, you have enough corn to feed a village here!”

  “Yes,” Demi said, her eyes widening a little as though she’d just gotten an idea. “Yes, I suppose I do, don’t I?” Standing on her tiptoes, she frowned. “Though we obviously can’t see where the corn isn’t growing from down here.”

  “Good thing we have a method of transportation that allows flying,” Aphie said snidely.

  No one said anything – we just clambered back on our winged horses. Judging by their snorting and head tossing, they didn’t seem to be corn fans. Although they got airborne fast enough.

  “Darn,” Demi said as we rose up to get a bird’s eye view. “I only made that much?”

  “Only that much,” I scoffed, as Kian rolled her eyes. Even our flying horse snorted.

  Demi’s corn fields had spread several leagues wide. From this height, it was almost as far as we could see. Except in one direction, where the fields seemed to stop shorter than the others. I nudged her. “Do you think?”

  “One way to find out, I guess,” Kian said, slapping the haunches of our steed so that it began to descend, with some unnecessary bucking and whinnying.

  Once it landed, we clambered off as fast as our legs would let us.

  “Next time, another horse,” I muttered.

  Kian and Demi just nodded, taking deep breaths.

  “Think this is it?” I asked them.

  “Has to be,” Kian said.

  “But if there’s a cloaking spell on the school, how do we get through?”

  She shrugged.

  “Why not try how we did last time?” Demi said.

  “Last time we were going out, not in and… fine,” I said.

  It wasn’t like we had any better options. Besides, I had plenty of rage to spare right now.

  Kian touched my arm. “You sure?”

  I nodded. “Last time it didn’t kill me. I got this.”

  “Tala,” Axel said sharply. “Just wait-”

  “See ya,” I said, starting at a run before he could finish that sentence.

  All I had to do was think about Jeremy, his bruised and beaten face, and the heat flaming through me rushed me toward the end of the corn.

  Everything was preternaturally quiet. Except for the blood pumping in my ears – pump-pump, pump-pump.

  Here went everything…

  When I connected with the invisible force field – the fence? - it was different. Maybe because I expected it this time – the heat through my palms, the fizzing, time slowing to a halt, the burning.

  Although this time I didn’t fall; someone caught me.

  “I was going to say wait for me,” Axel growled, hoisting me up.

  I smiled weakly. “Looks like you caught up anyway.”

  He shoved up a walky-talky to his face. “We got through. A bit of a shock, but you’ll all be fine.”

  “Over, we’re coming through,” Artemis’ resonant voice rattled back.

  They all passed through easily, mainly since once again I’d blasted a part of the fence to the side, where it lay still sizzling. I couldn’t help but grin at the sight of my handiwork, while my PV let out an approving whistle.

  Once they were all through, Apollo examined the electric fence behind us, as well as the piece I’d blasted through again. “They must have some kind of charm on the place, something that only allows magical beings to pass through. It’s not like any of our kind would be randomly wandering in this part of the desert anyway.”

  “Indeed,” Axel said, already setting forward at a clip. “We’d better get going.”

  We passed through the forest quickly and uneventfully. No lights blared on. Even the birds and critters held an ominously subdued silence.

  Only once we reached the edge of the trees and could see the school a few fields ahead did anyone speak.

  “Am I the only one who thinks this seems too easy?” Artemis whispered.

  “With their school hi
dden as it is,” Apollo said, “it’s not like they’re expecting surprise intruders.”

  “That we know of,” Axel said drily.

  “Anyway,” I said. “We should be splitting up now. And remember –”

  “We meet in the Atrium, once we’ve rescued all the kids, got it,” Kian said. “Then we run all the way to the forest and out, where Dion will be waiting with the jet.”

  “And Dion’s landing it?” I asked skeptically.

  Apollo’s smile was sardonic. “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t trust Dion to operate a jet ski, let alone an aircraft. We have humans who enjoy working for us, just like any employer. Ones we provide with perfectly fair pay, if not a full awareness of just who it is they’re transporting.”

  At least that solved the whole secrecy issue, although I wasn’t 100% comfortable with them using their compulsion powers unless absolutely necessary.

  “How are we sure that the children will be content to go?” Aphie asked.

  “If you hadn’t been primping in the bathroom when we were discussing it in the Flying Narwhale,” Demi said lightly, “then you would’ve heard that most of our classmates hate it there. They are just scared kids.”

  “And frankly,” Kian said, “if someone’s giving us too much shit, I say just leave them behind. We can’t imperil the mission for one idiot.”

  She nodded grimly to me, and I knew who she was thinking of: Jenna. If there was anyone in the school who was dumb and bitchy enough to try and interfere with our escape attempt, it was her. Good thing we had a bunch of super-strong and fast Olympians on our side, and that most of our schoolmates weren’t stubborn snobs.

  “Okay, so that’s it?” I said to everyone.

  They nodded.

  Axel grabbed my hand and squeezed. “That’s it, then. It’s go time.”

  Just like that, we were off. Demi, Axel, and I chose the back entrance. We’d decided on a smaller group, since it was unlikely the kids would just take some strangers’ word they’d never met before. Even if a lot of them didn’t know me personally, they would at least recognize me or Demi.

  As soon as I opened the back door, my body instinctively tensed up. Part of me expected the Headmistress and a squad of guards to be waiting there, guns drawn. But there was no one, not even one of her cats.

  I swallowed and continued on. Eerie was the best way to describe going up the staircase. How many times had Demi, Kian, Jer and I stopped here, talking about some crazy homework problem or laughing about something that had happened in class?

  On the second floor, we made a beeline for the 12th year’s dorms first. After all, they were the ones we knew, the ones I most wanted to save – and the ones who could help us with the smaller kids. Help I knew we would need.

  We went into Hulga’s room first. I wasn’t sure what to expect. But not her calmly listening to what we had to say, then walking out with us.

  In the next room we had our work cut out for us.

  “We’re here to rescue you,” I told Marley. “We’re going to the outside world.”

  “But the school…” she protested half-heatedly.

  “Is lying to us,” I said. “No time to explain… but you don’t need meds. None of us do. We need to get out of here.”

  By now, Jenna had regained her composure enough to assume her characteristic sneer.

  “Yeah, you’ve totally lost it. No way am I going anywhere with you.”

  Demi and I exchanged a look.

  “Suit yourself,” Demi said. “Stay, then.”

  My friend’s indifference clearly pissed Jenna off further. She smiled. “Yeah, I’m not letting you guys terrorize the school like this. I’m gonna-”

  She didn’t get to finish the next sentence, because Axel had strode up to her, and, looking her dead in the eye, informed her, “You’re coming with us. This is a good idea.”

  Jenna’s face screwed up. “Even if you are idiots, fine, I’ll go. Whatever.”

  I had to smile. Even when mind-controlled to agree, Jenna was still a Class A bitch.

  As she and Tania stormed out, I wasn’t exactly relieved.

  “Maybe we should’ve left her behind,” I said with a sigh. I didn’t mean it, not really. But it was a nice thought.

  Demi smirked.

  Getting the other students out was easier, though time-consuming. Hulga and Marley’s help was invaluable, ferrying the kids we’d convinced down to the atrium. I’d never really had a full concept of just how many other kids there were, until now, as we went from dorm to dorm, student to student.

  Some wanted to know more about what we’d seen since we got out, others just followed without a word of protest. We started with the girls’ dorms, with Axel thankfully not having to mind control anyone else.

  When I got to Sammy’s room, her frazzled red curls looked how she did - shaken but okay. I threw my arms around her in joyous relief. “You’re okay.”

  “You’re okay!” she exclaimed. “After you, Demi and Kian disappeared like that, we thought…”

  “We escaped,” I said. I ached to tell her everything even though I knew it was impossible right now. “And now you are too.”

  And that was when Cog raced up, barking joyously. Weird freaking cat.

  “Hey boy,” I said, crouching to give him a quick pat. “Come with us – we’re leaving…”

  We were on our way to the next room when Ghost appeared. Demi and I exchanged a look, saying nothing. Any of the Headmistress’s cats – other than Cog - showing up was never a good sign.

  The boys’ dorms were just as easy to convince, although Cody was nowhere to be found.

  “He was taken for defending you guys,” Timmy told us dully as we worked our way to the younger boys.

  As I rushed from room to room, I kept expecting to hear some crackling from the radio Apollo had outfitted us with. I mean, when my friends and I had snuck out after dark, we’d had a lot of close calls. This time we were sneaking through the entire school, for John’s sake.

  My skin prickled, while my PV was growling. Something was definitely up.

  But we couldn’t turn back before we were finished.

  Anyway, the only thing that was happening was more of the Headmistress’s cats were showing up. Silver, then Ginger, then Mocha. Until there were five of them trailing us, eyes glowing ominously in the dark.

  A shot of adrenaline went through my veins, as though some dragon instinct inside me was sending another warning.

  “Come on,” I said, yanking Timmy’s arm to hurry him. “We haven’t got much time.”

  We returned to the atrium, where the rest of students were gathered, whispering anxiously amongst themselves. Cog erupted into piteous meowing.

  “Shh,” I scolded him.

  The sound was putting me on edge. And the warning, twisted feeling in my stomach hadn’t gone away.

  I saw Kian at the opposite side and threaded my way to her. “Managed okay?”

  “Yep, even had time to contact Dion too.” She looked around, impressed. “Clearly, you did too. How’d you get Jenna to come along?”

  I never got to answer her. There was a sharp yell from someone at the edge of the group. My head whipped around. Guards were flooding in from all sides.

  35

  From all side and all levels – the guards and their blinding white suits were a sea of spectres.

  “They’re taking them!” Demi cried.

  Her point jabbed out to a mass of thugs surrounding a group of students at the edge of the terrified crowd, pulling them away.

  A scream passed through the group as everyone stampeded to get out of the guards’ path. Problem was, the bastards were coming from all directions, had us pegged in like shepherds to a herd of sheep. There was nowhere to run.

  Among them were some familiar looking faces. Miss Mildred, her face looking horrifically enraged, with something that looked like a Taser in her hand.

  “I thought you locked up the teachers!” I yelled at Kian.

/>   “We thought we did!” she yelled back. “Didn’t count out every last one of them.”

  “C’mon—” I grabbed Demi’s and her hand. “We gotta help.”

  The Olympians were doing the same. Apollo’s and Artemis’s arrows swished efficiently as they picked off the guards, plink, plink, plink.

  Some of the older kids were fighting back too, flailing, yelling and kicking out. I swore I saw the odd flicker of sparks, greenery and all around weird stuff flying around. Had my classmates already been harboring secret powers of their own?

  “Demi, watch out!” Kian yelled.

  But Miss Mildred’s Taser beam cut into the pumpkin in Demi’s hand uselessly. Still wearing her unworried smile, Demi chucked the pumpkin at a gaping Miss Mildred.

  Next second she’d crashed to the ground, as some other students jumped on her.

  At the edge of the crowd, I could see Kakernacker sprinting away, and Miss Jane sobbing in a corner. Some kids had somehow gotten their hands on some pills and were pelting a cowering Kelly Keenn with them. But where was the Headmistress?

  I looked all around me as I ran, going to help the kids who were still being assaulted by the guards. Even with her rarely being seen around, I’d always gotten the sense that the Headmistress was watching. I got that sense now.

  Just as always, on the outskirts, controlling everything. Being nowhere.

  A loud meowl got my attention. I whirled around to see several of the cats airborne, leaping for me. A sharp bark and they were thrown to the ground as Cog barreled into them.

  “Good boy,” I said, wondering if I should intervene.

  I didn’t exactly relish the thought of kicking a cat – even if it was an evil one- but luckily, Cog was more than adept himself. I ran further and kicked at a guard who was trying to pull away some younger crying girls. Kian’s magic caught another one full blast in the chest.

  The Olympians were on the other side of the atrium, dealing with the guards there. We’d have to do what we could here. All of me burned with uselessness. I punched and kicked out at the guards – thanks, gym class – but they held firm. One even caught my leg.