by Pia Philip
“Why offer what your reluctant to give?” a husky voice said from behind her. Alex spun round and saw the most intimidating guy she had ever seen. He could have been Giorgio’s son but she could tell he wasn’t because Giorgio gave of an Italian feel while this guy gave a tough African American. His lips were busted and dried blood stained his t-shirt. It was only breakfast and he was already covered in blood, she suddenly felt nervous. Her mind went blank as she realized he could read minds like Thomas although she was sure he wasn’t of the same grade of Power or mind manipulative skills as Thomas. She was pretty certain her shield would hold up.
“Ah, so you can deflect my mind reading powers, you have potential, “he said as he encircled her as he evaluated her as if she was some kind of slave or warrior about to enter the ring.
Alex didn’t like the guy one bit, he gave her the creeps. It was like her body wanted to turn inside out. Whenever he spoke he sent horrible chills up her spine not like Sam or even Max. Something was off.
Chapter 13
Alex took deep breaths as he eyed her up; he lifted her hair and poked at her belly. She was suddenly so self-conscious about her weight, with all the food she ate, it must be going somewhere right? He made to lift her arms, but before even one finger had touched her, she had a flash of the mark and yanked it back in a rush. She took a step back from him and hid her hand around her back. She felt pressure on her back and knew it was Thomas. He must’ve seen the commotion going on, she quickly slid a hand around his arms as he stood face on against the creepy boy.
“I hope you were not harassing the new students Nicholas,” he said, even though she didn’t know him very long she could still hear the tone of warning that was in his voice. The hum of the dining hall, quickly decreased, although no one turned round to see the commotion she could still tell that they were listening in.
“No, sir, I am not, I was just introducing myself to the new students and telling them of the multiple talents and classes this great school teaches,” Nicholas said, he was obviously a teacher’s pet and sucked up to teachers a lot, although Alex got the distinct impression that Thomas wasn’t a fan.
“We do pay teachers to do that, although I am grateful for you trying,” Thomas said as he gave a small smile before starting to walk towards the teachers’ tables, “We don’t want to scare any of them away, especially since one of them is my granddaughter.”
No one could stop themselves this time; all eyes turned to the little group of no more than 50 new bees and searched each face looking for the tiniest bit of resemblance between Thomas and a beginner. She could find none; maybe he had just said that to make the others back off our case although she was pretty sure that it just made it worse. She was pretty certain that for at least the next month, no beginner would be safe to walk down the hall without fear of being kidnapped and interrogated. This was the kind of news that no one took lightly, she personally felt sorry for whoever the ‘chosen’ granddaughter would be, they wouldn’t be able to win anything without getting scrutinized and accused of it being a fixture because of the ‘grandfather’. Although, they might come up with that since Thomas was obviously strong, that the strength would have travelled down the blood line. All that was certain was that, the poor girl would have one hell of a life in the school. It was actually quiet sad. Alex minimized her search to only the girls in the group. There were only 13 others apart from her in the group but one caught her attention instantly. She had the same greyish bluish eyes as Thomas and the same nose. Maybe he really was telling the truth. That was when she realized that everyone else had come to the same conclusion; all eyes were on the girl. The poor lamb was almost in tears as she realized everyone was staring at her and what her life would be like. Alex felt really bad for her, and a weird sense of duty to protect her, maybe it was just that she shared the same family tree with Thomas that gave her that importance air. Alex didn’t know, all she knew was that she had to protect her. She walked up to her and took hold of her hand.
“I think it’s time we leave before they pounce on you,” Alex muttered to her quietly as she maneuvered through the crowd. She grabbed Sam’s hand signaled with her head at Max and almost ran out the hall. When they were safely outside the ‘dangerous ‘zone, she introduced herself to the girl.
“Zara,” was all she said. Her voice was soft and gentle and weak. She was about to burst into tears when she introduced the boys. Her eyes widened in awe as she introduced Max. Zara stuttered some unknown words before closing her mouth. She never let her eyes stray away from him; it was like he was captivating her like a football game. It was kind of creepy to watch if she had to be honest. Alex gave Sam an awkward look.
“Ok then, what class are you in first?” Max asked, he was obviously used to that kind of behavior and attention, which would explain why his ego was so big.
“Eh, demonic studies,” she whispered. It was like she breathed the words.
“Well, I guess we might be in the same class depending on your class teacher, grade average and age probably.” Max asked as he showed them down the corridor and towards the elevator, thankfully they had left the dinner hall early, so they could catch the elevator and was she grateful for the elevator, it took ten minutes for them to reach their stop and that was using an elevator, it made Alex shudder to think how long it’ll take to walk there and be on time, especially with her built in ‘alarm clock’, more like a late clock. They were walking down a hall she hadn’t seen in the brief tour when the bell went; her body instantly went into panic mode until Max assured them that it was only the first bell.
They reached the assigned door and Max opened it because no one was willing to step into what they were guessing to be their reality turned bad, even though class hadn’t officially started, they could already hear shouting from the other side. Sensing their apprehension and not wanting them to chicken out Max pushed them into the classroom.
The teacher they faced was nothing like she had imagined someone that was 100% human or Angel or whatever. However, she was not expecting a demon. And definitely not a Minotaur, she had always considered them guardians of labyrinths although if you took a whole new perspective of the room, you could classify it as one. The room all together was big. Its high ceilings and windows were ridiculously tall. It shone soft dampened rays of sun into the room. The room however was like a library. The back of the classroom was shelf after shelf of books. Alex suspected that some of the books might even be bigger than the Crolonian. The Crolonian was tucked safely in her bag so that she could read it later and try and decipher that stupid poem but she found the place for that. People started arriving and shoved them out the way as they got to their seats. That was the moment she realized that Angels were not that great, only the layout of their brain was different although she could tell by the look of some that Sam was almost definitely smarter than some. Their attitude stunk more than that of any humans she had ever encountered.
Alex thought the teacher had given them a nod and smiled until she figured out that it was aimed at Max. He was really famous in Latrex, the more she stayed here the more she realized on depending on how many people knew you, regarded how much respect you would get, and with new bees like them, they were getting none of that, they’d have to earn it.
“Well class, it seems that we have some knew students,” the professor said in a ruff voice, “I am Dermont, you can introduce yourselves later, just try and use the little what of brain cells you have to find a seat that’s not a shelf.”
Alex heard a snicker come from somewhere at the back of the class and instantly decided not to sit anywhere in the back. She scanned the room and found an empty seat at the side next to the window. She walked and sat down, closely followed by Sam. She know why no one was sitting there, it was probably one of the best seats in the room. Zara sat two tables to her left even though there was a table closer. She was about to call her over when Dermont called out the register. It was probably the coolest register Alex had ever heard.
It wasn’t just your name; it was your age, gender and what you had accomplished so far. Alex sat and listened to Dermont read out a list of several things people did, her mouth didn’t drop until they read out Max’s. Max stood up quietly as everyone else, in obedient silence although he was getting praise from every single direction, acting ever so humble. Acting that was. His was like a cv there on the spot. The amount of things he had done was astonishing; no wonder he was made the youngest council member in history ever. Dermot came up to the new kids names and rolled his eyes in a so-not-impressed way, it was mostly just the name, age and gender and in some, what they managed to defeat to attend the school, although not all actually fought anything, just stayed in the ring till it was time up. He reached Sam’s name and he raised an eyebrow as he announced he had and quote ‘aided in strategizing the bringing down of a Manticore’. Sam earned a whistle from someone on the other side of the room. Zara’s was pretty bleak for someone considered Thomas’s granddaughter. Some gave her second glances as if re-evaluating their judgment. She stood up as her name was called out. He stopped at her name, looking up at her in wonder as if confused by something she did. Alex stood there conscious as of why he had stopped at only her name.
“How old are you dear, it seems that there is a computing glitch,” he asked as he checked over her ‘profile’ again, “it say’s 15.”
“I am 15,” she replied, she wrung her hands as every eyes turned to face her, to scrutinize her. She didn’t like it.
“But you are underage, you shouldn’t be here,” he began but then sighed, “but never mind, I guess you were the exception they were talking about.”
“single handedly defeated a chimera…” he trailed off. His eyes flicked to her again and then back to the piece of paper he was holding, folding it and sticking it under his armpit he quickly excusing himself and walked or more accurately ran out the door. Alex stood up there, embarrassment evident on her face. No one said a word, moved an inch or dared breathe until he was back with Thomas. The moment Thomas walked into the class everyone stood up and Alex breathed a sigh of relief.
“Good morning,” he said with a smile, “I’m sorry to interrupt your learning like this but I would like to clarify something’s. I want you all to be very welcoming to the newcomers, some of them are really important in this cold war. More important than some of you believe.”
Someone put their hands up in the front of their class. She couldn’t make out who he was but she could tell by the way her hairs stood on end that it was Nicholas. Instantly her mind shield went up.
“Just how important are they, what do they have with no experience whatsoever that we possibly don’t? I mean, I know it’s good for the numbers but in a battle, the younger ones won’t stand a chance. They’ll be like putting a lamb up for slaughter,” he said as he stressed his points. Although no one in the class said anything, Alex could sense people thinking the same thing. Even she was thinking the same thing, the school was just a place to plump up the lamb to send it away to slaughter, it was a slaughterhouse.
“Age does not always matter Nicholas,” Thomas explained as he gestured for everyone to sit down, “Look at Max here, he’s accomplished in his short 16 years of life what others can only dream of doing in their 300 or what not life.”
“Yes, but that’s Max, he’s like on a completely different level from us, he’s a one of kind,” Nicholas argued. It felt strange hearing someone argue with Thomas, she had thought that everyone respected him. Although Alex pretty sure she read somewhere ‘the true sign of respect is to be able to tell the person your opinions.’
“Ok then, what about Alexis here,” he said as he smiled at Alex before dragging her up, “This girl at only 15 years of age, yet has single handedly defeated a chimera branded by the Dark Angels, defeated a Manticore branded by the Dark Angels with severe wounds, she if unknowingly lead us to 10% of the Dark Angels army, and she alone has the key to this war. She can stop it, or destroy us.”
There was silence.
No one said a thing; all eyes were averted to Alex. She felt heat creep up her neck and flood into her cheeks. She couldn’t look anyone in the eye so she kept her eyes down. Right then and then, she wanted to be invisible, not like that’ll ever happen. She saw a flash of her symbol and the breaking of window. She immediately grabbed her hand back from Thomas’s hand and protectively held where the bandage was still covering it. She made sure her shield was the strongest she could manage. He looked at her, worry in his eyes. That was when she remembered the broken window, something was coming, and she knew it. No longer caring or remembering where she was, she looked through the window and squinted. She could make out a small dot of black.
“It’s coming,” Zara whispered, everyone turned to look at her in confusion.
“It’s coming,” Alex repeated in a more frantic voice, she looked around for something to stop it with, but seeing as she didn’t know what was coming she really couldn’t find something helpful. She looked back through the window; she could make out more little dots gradually getting bigger
“They’re coming,” she cried, correcting her last statement.
“What’s coming?” Thomas asked as he looked at the window but shook his head. His eyesight obviously wasn’t the greatest. Alex looked more closely at the dots and realized that they were missals.
“Missals!” She cried her eyes widening in fear. The moment the words left her mouth everyone went into panic mode and everyone ran to the window. Screams escaped people’s mouths as they spotted them, everyone ran to the door but Thomas stopped them and shook his head.
“There is no need to panic, the barrier we have around the school will be able to hold out a few mere missals,” He assured them as he shooed everyone back to their seat, “So just go back to work it probably doesn’t have enough power to break through the barrier and the luminax window.”
That was where he was wrong, you could hear a small crack when the missals first made contact with the barrier then another crack, they seemed to be stuck in midair but then they broke through and clashed with the window. Several fell back and Thomas gave them a knowing smile but the one in the middle, the one Alex had first spotted was still moving. It had just got through the hole that the others had made and was coming straight for the window. She realized that by now the glass must be weakened by all the other attacks on it. The last missal was going to break through. She knew it.
“It’s going to break,” Alex and Zara cried in union before ducking under the table. Several others did the same when they heard them, but some flung themselves on the floor in fear. Dermont was standing in front of Thomas in defensive mode. You heard a crack and then a bang as it broke through and hit the wall. The whole room shook with the impact.
Everything stood still as if time had stopped. When the mini earthquake had finished, one by one everyone’s head popped up from their hiding place. They were shaking at their first sign of war. Alex was pretty sure by how green some of the people’s faces were that they were either freshmen or strategists. She looked down and saw that she had unknowingly taken hold of Zara’s hand when they took cover. Zara gave her a small smile and Alex squeezed her hand in return. Zara may be older than her but she was like a little kid who was just set out into the big bad world. She felt like it was her duty to protect her. They stood up together and turned to see how bad the damage was and froze. Alex’s blood ran cold. She glanced at Thomas and saw that his jaw was clenched tight as he read what was on the wall. It was no ordinary missal. Alex had never really seen a missal in the human world but even she knew that the missal was only there to transfer a message.
Splattered on the wall dripping red with blood was a message. She didn’t know whose blood it was as she scanned the room, she didn’t see anyone injured. Alex looked down at Zara who was gripping her hand so tightly she was certain that Zara was about to cry, her eyes never left the wall. Alex looked back at it and gulped. It read:
GIVE US THE GIRL.
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GIVE US THE KEY.
GIVE US ALEX.
She could feel herself start to shake uncontrollably, she didn’t want to believe who she thought the blood belonged to but she had a sneaky suspicion that it might be my mums. She felt a gentle pressure on her waist and realized it was Sam. He gave her a small hug.
“It’s not hers,” he reassured her, “I’m almost 100% certain that you’re mum got away.”
Alex didn’t argue, she believed him. She had to, She needed to or she might just break.
Thomas put a hand on her arm and gave her a small smile before pulling out his cellphone and asking for the head of the council. She could feel everyone’s eyes back on her, they switched from the wall and back to her as they made the connection but right now she was not in the mood for this, she just wanted to be alone so that she could read the Crolonian and get the answers she needed, but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Max walked over to them and diverted them to a corner away from earshot.
“Are you okay?” he asked her, “I don’t know what’s going on but I don’t think you should sit next to the windows anymore. We need to figure this out because the sooner you’re away, the better. We don’t know what the Dark Angels are planning but I bet it includes you.”
“I agree.” They hadn’t heard Thomas approach them and they instantly shut up and she could tell that everyone had put up a mind shield against him.
“I don’t know what is happening, the academy is supposed to have a great security system.” He said apologizing, “But I don’t think you’ll be safe in this room any longer, I’m dismissing this class and I’ll rearrange for everyone to be transferred into a different classroom. This one is too vulnerable for anyone to stay in.”
The whole of Dermonts class stood outside in the hall as Thomas spoke to a man who had arrived ten minutes after he phoned them. She didn’t know who he was so she didn’t really bother with him. She slid back on the wall in despair. Alex rested her head on her knee and closed her eyes. She needed to focus on a way to get through all of this. She made up a mental note in her brain of her priorities.