by Lynette Noni
“You’ll be okay,” Bear said, seeing the queasy look on her face. “Karter might be a piece of work, but he knows what he’s doing. He won’t let you die, not on your first day.”
Jordan nodded his agreement. For some reason they both seemed to think those were reassuring words.
“Thanks, guys,” she said, to keep them from saying anything else ‘encouraging’. “I’ll—uh—hopefully see you later.”
She tried to muster up a smile, but it probably looked more like a grimace.
Jordan clapped her on the shoulder and Bear gave her the thumbs-up, then they both took off for their Delta Archery class.
Alex forced herself to move forward and she soon discovered that the inside of the Arena was almost as magnificent as the outside. There was no roof, instead the thick walls stretched straight up to the sky. Dotted around the sandstone perimeter were archways that led into large, sheltered rooms. For some reason, Alex doubted they were used for wet-weather classes.
“You lost, Jennings?”
Karter was scowling at her from halfway across the Arena. Once again he was dressed in his weird leather ensemble, the sword still belted to his waist.
Alex counted five other students stretching on the ground near him, all of them male. She held her head high as she walked over to the small group, trying to ignore the feeling of her feet sinking into the dark, sand-like powder that covered the entire floor of the Arena.
“No, sir,” she said as she approached. “I’m in this class.”
Karter looked at her incredulously before he threw his head back and burst out laughing. A few of the others in the class also snickered at her words. She frowned and dug her timetable out of her pocket, shoving it under Karter’s nose. His eyes widened as he read the slip of paper and his laughter ceased.
“This is a joke, right? There’s no way you”—he made it sound like there was something wrong with her—“could be in this class.”
Alex just shrugged. She wasn’t about to argue with him since she felt the same way. Stupid lollipop.
“What an… interesting turn of events,” Karter hissed. His formidable arm muscles were flexed in tension and the veins in his neck looked like they were about to pop right out of his skin.
Alex swallowed nervously but held her ground.
“All right, then,” he said, eyeing her thoughtfully. There was a dangerous glint in his icy gaze. “Let’s see how this plays out.”
Seven
Alex woke a few hours later to the sound of drums banging inside her head. She winced as she reached back and felt the egg-shaped bump just behind her ear.
“Twice in one day,” came a familiar voice. “Lucky me.”
“Fletcher?” she asked, confused. She tried to sit up but the room swam around her and she was forced to lie back down again. “Eugh,” she groaned.
“Easy there, Alex. You’ve got quite the concussion.” Fletcher walked into view, clipboard in hand once more. He pulled out his flashlight and aimed it into her eyes, just like he had earlier in the day. She ducked away from the beam, squinting from the pain caused by the bright light.
“Sorry about that.” He scribbled onto his clipboard. “Just had to check.”
She started to nod but stopped when it felt like a knife was stabbing into her brain.
“What happened?” she asked, trying to ignore the throbbing.
“Why don’t you tell me what you remember?”
Alex thought back over the afternoon’s events. After Karter had agreed to let her stay in the class, he’d ordered her to stretch before pairing everyone up. She’d been partnered with Declan Stirling, a hulk of a boy easily twice her size.
Karter had instructed them to spar with each other, practising ‘easy’ hand-to-hand combat and progressing to harder levels of difficulty.
Alex hadn’t even known where to begin. She’d tried to tell Karter that she had no fighting experience, but he’d just shrugged and walked away, claiming that it wasn’t his problem.
She’d looked at her massive partner, certain he wouldn’t fight a defenceless girl. Her confidence had vanished the moment his massive arm had come flying towards her. She’d practically watched her life flash before her eyes.
Surprisingly enough, Alex had managed to duck the first blow, and the second as well. Her reflexes had mapped their own instinctive, adrenaline-filled reactions, and without even knowing how, she’d ended up kicking her leg out towards his torso.
The massive boy had grunted in surprise when her foot connected with his abdomen, but that hadn’t stopped him from latching onto her ankle and twisting her leg away from him. Her whole body had spun through the air, leaving her to slam head-first onto the ground.
She couldn’t remember anything after that, so she figured she must have been knocked unconscious.
Fletcher listened and took notes as she described the details to him.
“That sounds about right,” he agreed. “At least there’s no memory loss this visit.”
Alex bit back a sarcastic retort and watched as the doctor walked over to a medical supply cabinet and pulled out a glass vial. When he handed it to her, she eyed the bright green liquid warily.
“It’ll help with the pain,” he told her.
Trusting him, Alex downed it in one go. She was pleasantly surprised by the minty taste, and even more delighted when the throbbing drums disappeared almost immediately, along with her splitting headache.
“Wow,” she marvelled, sniffing the glass container. “What was that?”
“Standard issue pain reliever,” Fletcher answered. “You’ll learn how to make a batch in your Medical Science class so you can look forward to hearing about it from Professor Luranda. I’m sure you don’t want the lecture twice.” He winked at her and she smiled back in gratitude.
“So,” she started, looking around the now familiar room, “when can I get out of here?”
Fletcher chuckled. “Not a fan of hospitals, Alex?”
She smiled at him to show that she didn’t have anything against him specifically.
“She lives!”
Alex turned at the interruption and found Jordan and Bear standing in the doorway.
“Way to go, Alex! Your first day here and you’ve already been to the Med Ward twice!” Bear called out. “That’s got to be some kind of record. Right, Fletch?”
“One day the two of you will learn to appreciate the sanctity of this Ward and not disrupt my patients.” Fletcher spoke sternly to the boys, but Alex could see a hint of a smile behind his strict expression.
“One day,” Jordan mused, “we just might.” He grinned at Alex. “But not today.”
Fletcher mock-sighed and motioned for them to enter the room.
“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,” Fletcher threw a warning glance at the two boys who perched themselves haphazardly on the end of Alex’s bed, “I suppose it will be all right if you leave, so long as you wait a few hours before sleeping.”
She nodded and was pleased when she felt no stabbing pain this time.
“Jordan, Bear, you’re responsible for making sure she remains awake. Think of it as punishment for disturbing my peace and quiet.”
Bear snorted. “This place is like a morgue, Fletch. The disruption can only be good for you.”
Alex crossed her arms, waiting for someone to come to her defence and say that spending time with her wasn’t a form of punishment.
Jordan must have caught her expression since he hastily said, “But, err, if we had wrongly disturbed your peace and quiet, you should know that asking us to look after Alex isn’t a punishment.”
Bear looked at his friend in confusion before finally catching on. It was probably the elbow to the ribs that did it. “Right,” he agreed, wincing a little as he rubbed his side. “It’s like giving a kid candy instead of broccoli after he breaks your favourite porcelain vase.”
Alex, Fletcher and Jordan all looked at him with varying expressions of bemusement
.
“What I mean is,” Bear continued, trying to explain himself, “you’re not punishing us, but rewarding us. We’d be hanging out with Alex anyway.”
“You don’t say?” Fletcher said, his tone dry.
Both boys nodded and Alex concealed a smirk, knowing that the doctor was barely refraining from rolling his eyes.
“Then on that note, it’s time for you three to leave,” Fletcher said, shooing them off the bed and towards the door. “Try to wait a few days before visiting me again, Alex.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Alex promised with a wave as she followed her friends outside.
After they left the Med Ward and had a quick dinner, Jordan and Bear decided to give Alex a more complete tour of the academy to show her where all her other classes were held. It didn’t take them long, and the three of them soon headed back to the dorm building.
“There’s one more place we need to show you,” Jordan said as he and Bear guided her down the staircase and into the basement.
“Welcome to the Rec Room,” Bear announced, leading her through a doorway and into the room beyond.
Alex glanced around with wide eyes. “What is this place?”
“It’s our Recreational Room,” Jordan answered. “It’s where we come if we want to just chill out for a while, or if we don’t want to study in our rooms. As you can see, it’s pretty well equipped.”
Alex could see that. The Rec Room had everything from a roaring fireplace surrounded by comfortable couches, to study tables with supportive-looking chairs. There was even a mini dining area up the back of the room.
Bear saw where she was looking. “You can order food just like in the food court, but the menus are limited to snack food.”
Alex nodded as she took in the rest of the room. She was pleasantly surprised to note the relaxed atmosphere as students chatted easily with one another. Some looked like they were working on their homework together, some were snacking on a late-night supper, and some were even roasting skewered marshmallows in the fire.
“Come on,” Jordan said, leading the way over to a doorway in the far wall.
The room she followed him into was an entertainment area. Lounges, cushions, beanbags and every other comfortable object imaginable filled the space. There was also a huge screen covering the wall, offering their very own mini cinema.
Jordan walked over to a touch-screen panel and scrolled through what looked like a menu before pressing an option on the list with a satisfied smile. Almost immediately the screen came to life.
“Here,” he said, handing her a silver ring.
She looked at him quizzically and slid it onto her finger. The moment she did, her world turned upside-down and then, amazingly, she was inside the movie that was playing on the screen.
“No way!” she cried, glancing around in awe.
“Virtual reality at its finest,” Jordan said as he stepped up next to her.
Bear appeared a moment later and the three of them stood side by side amongst the ruins of an abandoned castle. It was half-overgrown by the encroaching forest, with the stone foundation crumbling in places all around them.
“This is amazing!” Alex exclaimed, trying to take in everything at once. “What can we do in here?”
As she spoke, a scream sounded from somewhere to her left and a woman dressed in a bloodied wedding gown ran in from the woods, seeking refuge in the ruins.
A wolf the size of a small horse hurtled out of the trees, chasing after the bride as she disappeared further into the crumbling castle. The creature jerked to a halt only a few steps away from Alex, and it was so real, so lifelike and so close that she actually gasped and flinched away from it.
“Jordan, buddy, what setting do you have it on?” Bear asked, his voice much quieter than normal.
“I didn’t check,” Jordan said. “Why?”
For some reason the wolf seemed to have lost interest in chasing the woman. Instead, it remained where it was, staring intently at Alex and her friends while growling low in its throat.
“Didn’t you hear about the upgrades?” Bear whispered, backing up a step and pulling Alex and Jordan with him.
“Is something wrong?” Alex asked, watching a glob of bloodied saliva drip from the wolf’s snarling mouth.
Talk about high definition. The quality of the scene was incredible.
“We need to get out of here,” Bear said urgently.
The wolf snarled in their direction and dropped back on its haunches as if preparing to launch through the air. If Alex hadn’t known any better, she would have thought it was about to try and attack them. But they weren’t really there; it was called virtual reality for a reason.
“Take your rings off!” Bear yelled. “Now!”
Hearing the panic in his voice, Alex didn’t hesitate to follow his order. Just as the landscape faded and the world turned upside-down again, she saw the wolf spring directly towards the three of them, bloodied saliva flying from its open mouth.
Back in the Rec Room once more, she stared at the screen on the wall. The enraged wolf was pacing around the castle ruins in agitation. She would have been more curious about what was going on in the ‘movie’ if she hadn’t been so freaked out by the wet, bloodied drool sliding down her arm.
“What just happened?” she whispered, staring at the drool and turning to take in her friends’ white faces.
Jordan clearly had no idea and he looked at Bear in question.
“You really shouldn’t have skipped Marselle’s meeting the other day,” Bear said wearily to Jordan, as if that explained everything.
Jordan’s face cleared with understanding, but Alex was still completely in the dark.
“Excuse me, but can someone explain why I have wolf slobber on my arm?” she demanded, somewhat hysterically, as she wiped the offensive goo off using the hem of her shirt. “Were we nearly just eaten?”
“We’re okay, Alex,” Bear said soothingly. “It was a close call, but we’re okay.”
“Close call?” she repeated, incredulous. “I almost became a doggy treat!”
“You wouldn’t have been hurt,” Bear said. “There’s a security measure that pulls you out of the virtual world if you so much as get a paper cut while you’re in the system.”
She calmed slightly. “So, we wouldn’t have been eaten?”
“No, definitely not.”
“I don’t understand,” Jordan said, frowning at the wolf still pacing across the screen. “It used to be just plain virtual reality. We couldn’t interact with it or anything.”
“Upgrades,” Bear said simply. “Marselle told us that they’re still working out the glitches.” He paused for a moment and then added, “Apparently censoring appropriate viewing material is still on the to-do list.”
“You think?” Alex muttered.
“I’m sorry,” Jordan said sheepishly. “I had no idea about the upgrades.”
He sounded truly remorseful, so Alex decided to let him off the hook.
“Well, we definitely don’t have anything like that where I’m from,” she said with a shake of her head. “Let’s chalk this up to one of those ‘live and learn’ experiences and never mention it again. Agreed?”
“Sounds like a plan.” Jordan seemed grateful that she wasn’t about to go crazy at him.
“Do you want to try that again?” Bear asked. Seeing Alex’s expression, he quickly added, “On a lower setting—virtual reality without interaction?”
Jordan looked to Alex for her answer and she hesitantly nodded. It really had been awesome before they’d realised something was wrong.
“Pick a different movie, though,” Alex pleaded. “No wolves.”
“You got it,” Bear agreed.
They spent the next two hours wrapped up in an epic sci-fi adventure, travelling across the universe in spaceships and discovering life on other planets. All in all, Alex thought it was the perfect ending to such a memorable first day in her new world. But as she headed to bed th
at night—and was completely ignored by her moody roommate—she wondered how long she would have to wait for the headmaster’s return. Medora wasn’t her world. She couldn’t get attached. If she did, she would only be dooming herself for heartache.
Eight
The rest of Alex’s week continued in much the same way as her first day. Every morning she woke up to the sound of her door slamming as D.C. left the room, and every evening she collapsed into bed, exhausted. Her classes were insane, with the Taser-wielding Finn being the least of her worries.
Well, almost.
Much to her relief, Combat didn’t cause her any more problems because when she walked into her second class, Karter immediately benched her, ordering her to sit down and not touch anything. Really, what was she—five? But when she watched her classmates proceed to attack each other with wooden staves and, later, actual swords, she couldn’t help but be relieved by her enforced time-out.
As for her other classes, she actually had to participate in them. To say they were ‘strange’ didn’t even begin to come close to the truth.
Chemistry was taught by a complete wacko of a professor, Fitzwilliam Grey, who only answered to ‘Fitzy’. He fit the stereotypical description of ‘crazy scientist’ so well that Alex wondered if he had inspired the cliché. Almost laughably, he greatly enjoyed blowing things up—the more explosive, the better. The subject itself was also nothing at all like what she expected. Apparently ‘Chemistry’ was an ambiguous term in Medora, where they dealt with the formulaic creation of what Alex still considered to be magic, despite her friends’ arguments to the contrary. Nothing they did in their class should have been possible, and yet, to Alex’s unending confusion, it was.
The Core Skills teacher, Professor Astrid Marmaduke, was the polar opposite of Fitzy. She was also extremely frustrated by Alex’s inability to exhibit any kind of gifting. Since Core Skills focused on controlling one’s gift, Alex found herself in a predicament. But her anxiety turned to awe when Marmaduke demonstrated her own gift—a combination of low-level mind arts, including moving objects telekinetically and reading surface thoughts from another person’s mind. It was kind of freaky, but also pretty awesome. Alex wondered again what her own gift might be—if she did actually have one. Until it presented itself, Core Skills was going to be a waste of her time.