by B D Grant
“Go back to the beginning of the beam and start over.” Mr. Grad instructs her.
“You shouldn’t have laughed at me. That was karma.”
“I’ll still beat you, scaredy cat.”
The mud she’s standing in comes up to the middle of her shin so she high steps it through the mud to the beginning of the beam.
“No one is going to help you, Kelly. Man up,” Mr. Grad is getting annoying.
And to believe I was going to help Anne with her tire and now she’s laughing at me. I focus on the bar ahead of me. The worst that could happen is I fall. I still don’t look down. I take a step. Then I take a few more when I hear Anne grunting as she gets on her beam. There is no way I am going to let her win. I could be done with this stupid course if I would suck it up.
“You’re six feet tall. Heights should be second nature to you,” Mr. Grad’s voice is much closer.
I finally look down and I’ve finished walking the length of the beam. I didn’t even realize I was doing it. I climb down and dart to the low crawl. It doesn’t have the mud pit like the balancing beams. That was nice of them. However, they have barbed wire running over it, so if you don’t get low enough the wire will make you.
I army crawl through it faintly aware of the cold ground beneath me. My focus doesn’t waver; I want to get this course over with. I run to the rope and climb up. Anne is giving Mr. Grad a hard time at the low crawl, “I did not agree to join military school!”
“Any more complaining and you’ll start all over again.”
My arms are burning but I’m getting close to the plateau. The plateau has a hole on the floor where the rope hangs out. There is a metal ladder through the hole next to the rope that sticks out the top and bottom of the opening. I make it high enough to reach out for the ladder and when I have a good grip my feet follow. Getting on the ladder feels amazing now that I can use more leg strength than arms.
As soon as I am on the plateau I ring the bell. Anne is climbing the rope and grunts when she hears the bell. She gets on the plateau, rings the bell, puts her hands on her hips, and takes a deep breath.
“So you let me win?” I ask her.
“You took the words right out my mouth,” she says still breathing heavy.
“Hey, you two chatty Kathy’s, jump down and you can go get cleaned up,” he calls up walking away from the plateau toward the bench by the starting line.
I make the mistake of looking down. My stomach jumps into my chest as I take a step back from the edge, “Does he really expect us to jump?”
“That’s what he said. It’s like jumping from an upstairs window. All you have to do is tuck and roll when you hit the ground. You never snuck out before?”
“I never had to jump from a roof to get out. With my grandmother’s hearing I could just walk out the door.”
“Well stand next to me while I jump and you can see how I do it.”
She walks up to the edge of the plateau and looks at me over her shoulder.
“I’m good from here.” I say.
“Don’t be a baby. I am only asking you to stand right here,” she points right next to her. I walk up and stop a little farther from the edge than where she pointed. “Oh let me grab the bell, Mr. Grad wanted me to bring it down.”
She walks behind me to get the bell while I stand here freaking out. I’m looking at the grass below thinking of how bad this is going to end when I hear two fast steps behind me. I don’t have time to turn my head to see what she’s doing when I get pushed off the plateau. I panic and flail my arms like a chicken trying to fly. I hit the ground hard. It’s like déjà vu. When I open my eyes I’m laying on my back except this time Anne isn’t on the ground too.
I sit up gaining composure while Anne jumps down performing an obnoxiously perfect tuck and roll.
“Okay so that wasn’t bad but you could use some lessons on gracefulness,” she puts her hand out to help me up.
I ignore her hand and stand up, “Why are you ignoring the fact that you just tried to kill me?”
“I did not, Drama Queen. I helped you do what you couldn’t. I owed you one anyways for tackling me,” she starts rubbing her shoulder again.
“Oh don’t even.”
“Don’t even what?”
“You’re rubbing your shoulder so I’ll feel bad and drop it.”
“No I’m rubbing it because you hit me like you would a linebacker. If I wouldn’t have done what I did,” she nods at the plateau, “then you would still be up there.”
She’s right. I stop complaining.
Lia is waiting outside of Anne’s door when we get upstairs. Anne perks up when she sees her. She walks up to Anne, “After you’re cleaned up stop by the front office so we can have a look at your shoulder before dinner.”
“Yes ma’am.”
She looks up at me, “Heights, really?”
“I’ve already heard it today,” I tell her sternly.
I keep walking to my room. I’m in no mood to be harassed anymore for being scared of heights by these people.
I hear her start walking away then she stops, “You could have used the rope to get down. You both have books in your rooms, by the way, I expect you to read the first two chapters by tomorrow.” She then continues on her way.
I turn and look at Anne before going in to my room. She just shrugs her good shoulders at me.
I take my time getting cleaned up. I open the book Lia left. Sixty pages is what she expects us to read by tomorrow. I skim two pages; it’s the history of people called Seraphims. Well, I’m not a teenage mutant ninja turtle only a Seraphim; disappointing.
I close the book and get a fresh shirt out of my bag. Something isn’t right. My bag is out of order. The photo album is at the bottom of the bag and I know I put it right on top. Nothing is missing that I know of. I put on the same pants I wore for the first exam. I’m relieved when I check my pockets and find the paper is still right where I put it. Anyone could have gone through my things, but I bet it was Lia. She was right outside our doors when we walked up. I wait in the hall outside my room until Anne comes out.
“Did someone dig through your stuff too while we were outside?”
“Umm, no. Maybe they were confiscating your magazines,” she giggles to herself.
I stick my hand in my pocket holding the paper that’s in it. Maybe Mr. Grad noticed it gone and told someone. Why wouldn’t they take it back if they found it?
I leave Anne at the front office with Lia, the secretary, and one of the guys that was coming out of 113 earlier today.
I go to the cafeteria and eat supper by myself. I am finishing up my second plate when Anne comes in. She sits down across from me with her plate full of food and adjusts the icepack that is taped around her shoulder.
“Are they going to have to amputate?”
“Haha. No, they said I tore something so I just have to take it easy for a little while,” She looks upset telling me.
“Well that’s good right? Nothing is broken.”
“I know but they told me I will have to take the physical exam over again when I’m better.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“It’s alright, it just sucks. ”
I wait for her to eat and walk with her back to our rooms.
“We have orientation at seven-thirty tomorrow morning in the same room we were in today,” she tells me when I open the door to my room.
“You would think they would have started with that. Then maybe given us a heads up about the S.A.T. and boot camp.”
She shrugs at me, “I’m sure they have their reasons. Goodnight.” She walks in her room and shuts the door.
“Sure they do.” I say to the empty hallway before walking into my room.
Once inside I strip down to my boxers, grab the folded paper out of my pocket, and climb in bed. I roll on my back and unfold the paper. The lower half of the paper is Anne’s family history. Just like my half, Anne’s name is first with a line connecting to her paren
ts. There’s nothing written after her parents’ name which isn’t surprising since she was in foster care. My eyes are getting heavy looking over the names on the paper so I fold it back up under my pillow.
I close my eyes and think of Gran until I drift off. I hear a car door close outside bringing me back to a slightly conscious state. The car drives away and I hear another car pull up. It is followed by some commotion and I open my eyes to a dark room.
Then, a guy outside starts yelling, “No! Do you expect me to believe that? Where are they?”
I get out of bed and hurry to the window. The driveway leading to the front of the school is lit by tall floodlights pointing in the direction of the same kind of vehicle Lia drove parked at the front entrance. A young dude with dark hair is standing outside of it. A man is in front of him holding him back as he pushes to get out of his grasp.
The front doors burst open with Rebecca and the secretary running out to them.
“What have you done with them!?” He screams.
"We aren't the enemy,” Rebecca loudly tells him.
She says something to the man and he reluctantly lets the kid go. I get closer to the window trying to hear what the others are saying but it doesn’t help. She moves in closer to him, turning her back to me. It looks like she’s talking to him, but since she isn’t yelling I can’t be sure. He visibly relaxes as she puts her hand on his shoulder. He lowers his head like maybe he’s crying and Rebecca walks him inside.
The secretary talks to the man for a minute then he climbs in the car and leaves. I watch the car drive away until the woods block my view. I look back to the entrance to find the secretary is standing there, looking at me. My first reaction is to duck causing me to flinch like I was caught doing something wrong, but I am exactly where I should be. I’m in a dark room anyways and she’s standing in the light so I doubt she can really see me. Just in case she can, I grin and wave at her. She doesn’t return either. She shifts her worried gaze from me to the front doors and walks inside. Looks like they have a new student to act shady to now besides us. I read some of the book Lia gave me until I’m bored to sleep.
I wake up the next morning thinking about the only thing I remember from the book. One of the abilities, Veritatis, is the ability to identify lies. How annoying are these people going to be, calling everyone out when they lie?
There is a knock across the hall and when Anne makes it to her door I have already opened mine.
“Get dressed,” Mr. Grad tells us.
“More tests?” I ask expecting the torture to continue.
“No, we were going to have orientation but they need me for something else so you two are moving to campus a day early.”
He pauses looking at me like he’s waiting but neither of us say anything, “Grab your things and I’ll send someone shortly to collect you two.”
“Sounds good to me.”
He turns to Anne for her response and I notice he has an earpiece of some kind deep in his ear. I’m not surprised; these people are way too fancy for a simple intercom system.
I throw my dirty clothes in the bag with everything else and go wait in the hall.
“I guess this really is just a welcome center,” Anne says when she walks out of her room with her light bag in tow.
Boston comes strolling into the hall like he owns the place. “Did you doubt me?” He asks Anne with a smile on his face. Her cheeks turn red and she stands a little different as he walks up.
“Keep walking, Romeo. We don’t want to keep you from cleaning the toilets.”
“Kelly!” Anne looks at me like she isn’t amused.
“I was done with that yesterday,” he tosses me a breakfast bar and hands one nicely to Anne. He looks at his watch and turns back to me, “Now I get to be your tour guide Hotshot so lets go.”
He continues walking past us away from the stairs. Anne looks at me confused just like I’m looking at her.
“Hurry up, I don’t have all day,” Boston says over his shoulder. We walk down the hall after him.
Anne still looks pretty confused, “Didn’t he have an accent before?”
I didn’t even notice. I was too busy being instantly annoyed by how Anne acted when he showed up but she’s right he lost the English accent.
“Why don’t you ask him?”
Anne looks at me like I’m crazy.
I give her an equally crazy look saying, “You would have called me out on it the second I did something like that.”
“Yeah, but I know you,” she says like that should be obvious.
Boston stops at a classroom door on the opposite end of the hall from our rooms. “What are you whispering about? I love secrets,” he asks.
Anne refuses to say anything and looks at me.
“Why aren’t we taking the stairs?” I ask Boston.
He opens the door he is standing in front of. It opens to a stairway, not a classroom or dorm room that it looks like it should go to.
“After you,” He holds the door open for Anne and me.
“And what about your accent old chap?” I ask in my best English accent.
He laughs, “It was pretty good huh? You’re not too bad yourself. I was practicing. You never know where you might be when you have to blend in.”
“What are you talking about?” Anne asks finally finding her voice.
We walk out the stair well through a door that opens into a classroom. Boston walks up to a large chart of the periodic table covering the wall. He grabs the side of the worn chart and pulls it back revealing another door. He unlocks the door, opens it and we walk out to the back of the building.
“They had a sense of humor when they built this place,” He says walking to a golf cart parked a short distance from the building next to the obstacle course.
“I am a firm believer that you have to be prepared for any location they may send you to so I practice accents on the regular.” He looks at Anne and she still looks confused. “They will place you with a job when you graduate if you rank high enough in your class, unless your parents already have something lined up. Most of us here don’t rely on parents.”
“Do you fall under one of those categories?” Anne asks him.
Boston’s smile weakens, “My dad was one of the Itatis instructors for the advanced class but he died two years ago, before my sixteenth birthday.”
“I’m so sorry,” Anne says looking at the ground.
“So he was the foreign language teacher?” I ask.
I get a mean look from Anne. Boston looks more annoyed then upset by my question.
“Looks like I’m going to have to be more then a tour guide today. I’ll have to remember to add, “Teaching the less fortunate” to my resume.”
He clears his throat dramatically, “There are names for each ability. They were Latin or derived from… Anyways, originally the names for Seraphims were really long and hard to pronounce so they trimmed them down a bit.
You are obviously a Dyna,” he tells me. “You have the strength, agility, and temper that would make a professional athlete on roids jealous. Itatis, Veritatis, have the ability to know when someone is telling the truth and they always get the cake government jobs when they get out.” He points to my bruised eye. “Dynas like you get to look forward to more fighting when you graduate. Unless you partner up with a Tempero like some do. Temps can control other peoples’ feelings and emotions. So when you start to get angry and want to lash out they stop you with chill vibes. I have a theory the Tempero girls use it to make their crushes feel hot for them. I try to keep my distance.”
Tempero sound boring to hang out with.
“Is that really a useful thing to have?” Anne asks.
We get to the golf cart and I jump in the passenger side leaving Anne with the backbench to sit on. Boston takes the drivers seat.
“Let’s go,” I tell him anxiously.
I want to get far away from this course.
We drive away from the welcome center into the de
nse woods behind it.
“There are plenty of uses for Tempero around here. Did either of you get in any fights since you’ve been here?”
“No, of course not.” Anne says matter of fact.
“Not here, but I’ve been working on my temper.”
Boston looks over at me and laughs in my face, “You’re working on it. Riiight.
You’re going to find it much easier to control it now that you’re here. At the welcome center they have a really good Temp that sits at the front desk all day.”
“She was the one that gave us our uniforms,” Anne says from the bench.
That makes sense.
“She was outside with Rebecca when the new dude showed up.”
“Wait, you saw the new kid?” Boston asks.
“Yeah, my window faced the front of the building. They brought him in while we were in our rooms. He was fighting until Rebecca and that lady came out. I thought he was calming down because of Rebecca talking to him, guess not.”
“They have to be near you to use their gift. Some of the best Temps don’t have to be that close to someone they are working on,” Boston’s eyes get big and excited like he thinks it’s one of the coolest things ever.
I notice the woods are starting to thin out ahead of us. Anne turns around in her seat and looks out the front of the cart with us in anticipation.
“Welcome to The Academy,” Boston says driving us through the opening in the trees.
3
K. Big man on campus
Boston takes us around the campus on the golf cart. He honks the horn a couple times, getting different girls’ attention as we drive by. I can’t help but laugh at him. The golf cart doesn’t go that fast so the girls look over and we slowly cruise by with Boston doing a cool nod at them like he’s in a nice car or something. Two of the girls roll their eyes. Anne laughs.
The campus makes a large oval shape from how Boston describes it. The first building is the study center with the cafeteria and teachers’ offices on the ground floor. The second floor consists of more offices and the computer lab. On the third, the library resides with glass windows lining the walls on the back of the building looking over the campus. The sun is reflecting on the windows so I can’t see inside.