by K N Thompson
“Wait, does she have all three house powers?” Max asks, leering at me as if I am now a conquest.
“That’s correct. Which is why Headmaster Gandore requested a student from each house to help with her training,” she nods.
“Aren’t you a curious little thing,” he says, walking closer. “Maybe you should move her into a different house. She’s obviously not a weak Dissident. Maybe her Nightmare parents hid her in the human world, and she's adopted and not an actual seventh.”
I attempt to back up, but run into the desk behind me.
“Maxwell Sutten, leave the girl alone and watch your mouth. Not all Dissidents are weak,” a man wearing a black vest snaps from the doorway. “Hello Whisper, I’m Nathan Wells. I will be in charge of your Empyrean lessons.”
Max backs up and moves to stand next to Korbin.
“Nice to meet you,” I reply, feeling overwhelmed already and class hasn’t even started.
The last teacher comes through the door, a middle-aged man wearing a blue vest.
“Mr. Poe, good of you to join us,” Mrs. King says, shooting him a dirty look.
“Stop acting like I’m always late. It was only once Charlotte,” he grumbles at her.
She rolls her eyes at him then winks at me when she notices she has my attention.
“Since we’re all here, let’s get started. As some of you have figured out, Whisper is a special case. The throne has assigned her as having powers from all the houses. Let’s start with a demonstration, shall we?” Mr. Wells says, opening the door and ushering in three young women dressed in grey. “Maxwell, you first.”
Max walks to the front of the room and takes the first girl by the hand. He whispers something at her and she lays down, falling asleep. Max lays down next to her, and closes his eyes. We watch while a black mist slowly floats from his body, then it shapes itself as Max. I can’t believe I can see him floating above his own body! The misty version of Max floats closer to the sleeping girl, then dives into her face, disappearing from view.
“Maxwell is in Empyrean. Therefore, he can astral project,” Mr. Wells explains. “If the girl is having a nightmare, he can feed. Otherwise, he will just exit her dream.”
A few minutes pass by before he reemerges, and the mist goes back into his body again. He stands up, walks back to the edge of the classroom, completely ignoring the sleeping girl.
“I thought we could only feed on humans?” I ask, confused.
“Those are humans, we breed them to take care of the academy and as a food source for the students. We need people to train you with,” Mrs. King explains.
“That’s barbaric!” I yell, outraged that they would treat people in such a manner.
“They are well taken care of and don’t know any other life. I assure you it’s no different from a human raising cattle,” Mr. Poe says.
I open and close my mouth, trying to find the words to express my utter indignation, but with everyone’s eyes on me I cave and stay quiet.
“I know it looks bad at first, but they really don’t have bad lives,” Ryland whispers.
“Finn, you’re up next,” Mrs. King announces.
“I’m a Fury, so I’ll have to sit on her chest to feed. I’ll make her have a nightmare and you’ll see black tendrils come out of me and attach to her as I change her dream to a nightmare,” he explains before walking over to the sleeping girl.
He straddles her chest placing his hands on her collarbone. Black tendrils slowly creep out from his hands, engulfing the girl. Finn glows, ever so slightly, as the tendrils darken. After a few minutes, they recede back into his hands, then he stands up and walks back over and stands next to me.
“Very good,” Mrs. King beams at him. She turns to the women in grey, “Carry her out, you’re dismissed.”
“Korbin, it’s your turn to show off,” Mr. Poe says.
Korbin walks forward and starts stripping his clothes off. “Sorry, I didn’t bring an extra set of clothes,” he says, letting his long, black hair hide his eyes.
“No matter, you can return to your dorm after you shift,” Mr. Poe waves his hand.
When he’s standing in his boxers, his body vibrates, black tendrils shooting out of him forming the outline of a large, black horse. They grow denser, until Korbin is no longer visible then the tendrils explode, leaving a large, shiny, black stallion with blood-red eyes standing where Korbin was. He’s magnificent! I take a step forward, wanting to touch him, but Ryland places a hand on my arm.
“It’s rude to touch a Caballine without their permission,” he explains.
I’m disappointed, but it makes sense. I have to remember he’s not just an animal, but the guy that was standing there before. Mr. Poe picks up Korbin’s discarded clothing and lays them across the horses back before opening the door.
Korbin takes off, leaving the rest of us watching him.
“You think I can do all that?” I ask, not believing I can shift into a horse.
“With a little practice, I’m sure you will. The throne has never been wrong,” Mr. Poe answers. “How have you fed up until now? It’s clear you haven’t gone hungry.”
“Well, I thought I was just dreaming, but I would float out of my body and go into people's dreams. They would start out nice, but black tendrils came out of me in the dream and it would morph into their fears,” I explain the best I can.
“Fascinating! When an Empyrean enters dreams, the black tendrils only come out as they are feeding on a nightmare. If the subject were to be having a good dream, it would eject the Nightmare back out,” Mr. Wells explains. “You truly are one of a kind.”
“What do you do, Ryland?” I ask to take the focus off of me.
“I feed like Finn,” he grins.
“No need to demonstrate again,” Mrs. King chimes in. “And class is over. Same time Wednesday. We advise discretion. No one needs to know what Whisper is until Headmaster Gandore approves.”
Everyone files out of the class, my head spinning with everything I’ve learned, especially the way Nightmare’s treat humans. There has to be a way to change the system, but what can I do? I’m brand new to this society.
“Want me to show you around?” Ryland asks, interrupting my thoughts.
“Oh, that would be awesome, but I told Lydia we would meet up after class,” I explain.
“What house is she training with?” he asks.
“Fury,” I answer, biting my lip. I’m not used to a guy showing me this kind of attention.
“Take my hand so we can go get her,” he grins, holding his hand out to me.
My hand tingles as I grab his. My stomach is full of butterflies. I hope Lydia is right, because this boy is breaking through my wall one grin at a time. I’m really enjoying this mode of transportation, especially when Ryland’s the one doing it with me.
We reappear in front of a dark wooden door, just as students file out. Lydia comes skipping out beaming.
“I can make the tendrils already,” she jumps up and down when she reaches me.
“Which house are you in? Caballine or Empyrean?” she asks. I should have known she would, sooner rather than later.
“Can you take us back to our room for a minute?” I ask Ryland.
“As you wish,” he winks at me, holding his hands out to us.
16
“Thanks Ryland, we’ll be right back,” I smile back at him over my shoulder.
I drop my books on the end of my bed and flop down.
“Well? Are you going to tell me?” Lydia says, placing her hands on her hips.
“Tell you what?” I laugh and egg her on.
“You know what I’m talking about. What house did you place in? I am dying to know,” she says excitedly.
“Ok before I tell you, I have to swear you to secrecy. Hold your right hand up and repeat after me.” I can’t keep a straight face. I bust out laughing, when she does it.
“Whisper! Come on stop playing around, tell me!” she says, throwing a small
decorative pillow at my head.
“Ok, I placed into all houses,” I say dodging the flying pillow, “The teacher’s don’t know what to do with me. That’s why I have a tutored class, and you won’t believe who is tutoring me.”
“You did what!? That’s amazing. I didn't know that was possible,” she says giggling, bouncing up and down. “Wait who’s tutoring you?”
“It’s a bunch of hot guys and Ryland is one of them,” I sit up. “Oh shoot, we left Ryland in the hall.” I run over opening the door, “Sorry we are ready if you still want to give us that tour?” I ask, warmth rushing to my cheeks.
“Sure, where would you like to begin?” he asks with a bit of mischief in his eyes.
“Oh! The library first please! I love to read.” I say smiling from ear to ear. “We tried exploring yesterday, but we were interrupted.”
“I had a feeling you would say that. That seems to be the hangout for first years,” he says, shrugging his shoulders.
He slips his hand in mine while holding his other hand out for Lydia. When we reappear, we are standing in front of high arched double doors with intricate gold inlays. Ryland removes his hand from mine and opens the door.
“Right this way ladies,” he says, sweeping his arm forward, waiting for us to pass.
As we walk in, the fragrance of old pages wash over me. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath, every muscle in my body relaxes.
“You know, I think I could live in a library,” I say, glancing over my shoulder, I notice Ryland and Lydia are waiting for me to come back to my senses.
“This library would have plenty to keep you busy. It has three floors, the first contains many of the more modern volumes.” Ryland says while we walk through another archway.
As we walk through the first archway, I look up; the art that is painted on the vast ceiling depicts the crest of each schoolhouse. The Caballine shifting into their beautiful black horse form and exploding out of a cloud of inky black tendrils and the Empyrean’s triangle with a circle in the middle and a triangle inside it surrounded by a purple and silver starbursts that follow them as they astral project themselves into human’s dreams. The Fury crest is a Fury in the process of teleporting, surrounded by black, inky tendrils, and finally the Dissident’s crest, nothing more than a cloud of tendrils. Each crest is beautiful in its own way, but one would think there could be a better crest for the Dissidents.
I recognize many of the authors I enjoy and sigh with contentment. Running my hand along the smooth lines of the black-and-white marble book shelves, I wonder how long ago it was built and by whose hands?
We reach the end of the aisle and to the left there are circular private reading areas. I tap Lydia’s arm and we walk closer.
Each room is different, one has colorful throw pillows scattered over hot pink shag carpeting, various moon chairs sitting in the corners and lava lamps sitting on the tables makes it feel like we are back in the sixties.
The next has a tropical feel, a mural of a pirate ship anchored in the shallows of a beach at sunset on one wall, while hammocks hang between palm trees in a circle around the room. It has sand for the floor and we can hear the waves washing over the shore, which makes it feel even more authentic.
When we walk into the next room, I’m speechless. This room is dark, whimsical, and plush, the scene on the wall is set in a misty overgrown forest, the tree limbs are gnarled and knotted, twisting and turning in all directions around the room. Plants are painted twice their original size, making me feel small and a little insecure. Standing in the center of the room is a huge oak tree with the biggest trunk I've ever seen. All along the trunk are different little reading nooks, accessible by the winding stairs twisting around the outside. I look over at Lydia and the look of wonder on her face is exactly what I am feeling inside.
“This is amazing, I can’t wait to check out books, climb into one of those nooks and read,” I say, excitedly bouncing up and down as quietly as possible.
“I know. It’s so cool,” Lydia whispers.
“Ok so where are we off to next?” Ryland says from behind us, causing us to squeal and turn around.
“You scared the crap out of us,” I retort, smacking him playfully on the shoulder.
“How about the training grounds; it’s where all the shifters stretch their legs so to speak,” he chuckles and smiles at me.
“That sounds like fun, will we get to see them shift or run?” I ask, hoping to see the horses and hear their hooves on the ground.
“Sorry, you have to be in Caballine to go in. They don’t like being watched; privacy invasion or something like that,” he says, holding his hands up.
“I guess it would be like watching someone change clothes, so I can understand.” I agree, letting him know that I get its school rules and not his.
We wander through the library, exploring a different part as we make our way out. I hear the same low humming coming from the right.
“What’s that noise?” I ask.
“Uh, Whisper, I don’t hear anything,” Lydia says.
“From over here,” I say following the noise as it gets louder. “It’s the same noise I heard yesterday.”
It leads me to a glass display case, inside sits a large delicately carved wooden cube with ornate metal inlays. The inscription on the metal, brass plate says the box is an ancient relic, but the origin is unknown.
“You guys really don’t hear that?” I ask looking at them both, knowing the hum is loud enough they should be able to hear it.
“Whisper are you sure you’re ok?” Lydia asks placing her hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah, it’s just weird you can’t hear that sound,” I say, turning away from the relic a bit foggy headed and confused.
Once we are out in the hall, we take Ryland’s hands, this time when we appear, the first thing that hits me is the smell of fresh grass and the urge to run.
I don't know why, but my body feels like it’s being pulled in two different directions. It doesn’t hurt. It’s more like a freeing feeling. Lydia nudges my arm and startles me. I hadn’t realized I had gotten wrapped up in my thoughts again.
“Hey, you ok?’ she asks
“Yeah, I’m great! I was enjoying the sounds and smells,” I smile, walking closer to the wall. I run my hand over the worn grayish white stone wall, letting the vibrations from the thundering hooves on the other side radiate through my body.
Suddenly one of the wide wooden double doors swings open and out walks a shirtless Korbin Edwards. I freeze, warmth rushes to my cheeks, and I glance back and forth between him and Lydia. Her eyes are glued to him like he’s a tall drink of water in a hot desert. When he sees me, he stops in his tracks.
“Korbin,” I smile and wave as he reluctantly walks towards us.
“Hey,” he says as he tucks strands of his long black hair behind his ear.
“How was training?” I ask pointing at the door and feeling stupid the moment the words leave my mouth.
“Fine,” he replies, glancing at his watch.
“I can’t wait to learn how to shift,” I grab my hands behind my back.
“Yeah?” he mumbles, staring past me over my shoulder.
“Well… we have to get going we have a meeting tonight,” I say.
A look of relief washes over his face and he takes off in a jog. I walk over to Lydia, my shoulders slumped.
“Well, that was awkward,” I say.
“Who was that hotty? I could saddle him up and ride all night,” she waggles her eyebrows.
“Lydia! His name is Korbin. I’ll tell you about him later,” I blush. Turning quickly, I run into Ryland's chest.
“Do you think you could show us to our common room? We have a meeting tonight and I’m a bit turned around,” Lydia asks, giving me a chance to regain my composure.
Ryland pulls the pocket watch from his vest and checks the time. “Yep, it’s about time for the meetings to begin. Ladies, if you would please,” he says holding his hands
out to us.
I swear every time he touches me I can feel an electric spark run up my arm, but it could just be my overactive imagination.
We land just outside of the Dissident common room. “Thank you for the tour, Ryland,” I drawl slipping my hand from his. I can tell he doesn’t want to let go and honestly neither do I.
“Of course, I had fun showing you around. Let’s grab a seat. If we hurry, we won’t have to stand for the whole meeting,” he responds nodding at the door with that same goofy grin that makes my insides melt.
The door to the common room is an artistically carved mass of black tendrils. The hints of gold around the edges make the tendrils pop out of the door leading to the illusion that they will grab you.
We open the door and walk into a circular room with all black decor. Paintings of old student advisors and heads of house hang on the walls and below each painting is a brass nameplate that I’m not able to read from where I’m at.
There are two dimly lit hallways that branch off the common room. The brass plate shows that the boys' dorms are to the left and the girls are to the right. We take a seat on the plush couch and wait for others to arrive.
17
The room quickly fills up, making me glad to have Ryland on one side and Lydia on the other. Mrs. Bradbury walks in and winks when her eyes land on me. I have a feeling she will be a fun house head.
“Good! You all showed up,” she grins. “First off, we have to cover the boring stuff. This is a refresher for the older students, but for first years this is essential that you listen. In Dissident we have a mixture of powers that cover across the other houses, so you must follow the rules outlined for all of them.”
I listen intently, knowing they all literally apply to me.
“Those with Empyrean powers, no astral projecting outside of feeding and training. Those with Caballine powers, shifting is only to take place in the training grounds. If we catch you running around as a horse, you will be disciplined. All of you must follow the rules outlined in the assembly. I’ll touch briefly on the fact you are not to be in the human wing, except to feed in the designated feeding area. They work for us and they are not to be harassed,” she explains.