by C. M McCoy
For righteousness we fight,
Old Towne we hail. Old Towne we hail!
“Great job, y’all!” Jaycen blared. “Now, Bear Towne campus is laid out like a warped four-leaf clover, but don’t count on luck to get you out of any ‘hairy situations’,” the jellied blonde laughed. “ALWAYS carry your Yeti spray anytime you venture into the White Forest, which lies inside the north-west leaf,” she said, motioning toward the path Hailey had walked the day before—after she’d fallen out of the Luftzeug. “I’m sure you’ve all read your handbook and know to also carry your tree repellant? Nobody likes stepping in freshman-shaped tree poop, am I right?”
The group chortled politely, though Hailey could almost smell the fear in the air.
“Let’s begin our tour with the Campus Bowl, or THE Bowl, which is where we are standing . . .
“Y’all will eat, sleep, and do most of your living here in the Bowl,” Jaycen drawled. “This is the safest place at Bear Towne. In fact, until today, there had been no known in-betweens here, but now we know there’s at least one,” she giggled, “which the In-between Management and Extraction Team, or I-MET,” she made big air quotes, “will survey later and mark if it endures.
“In addition to operating worldwide Luftzeug service and performing numerous other functions, I-MET is Bear Towne’s search and rescue squad. If you ever get stuck in an in-between or lost in the White Forest, I-MET is the team that will find you and bring you back, hopefully alive and in one piece, but as you saw on the Luftzeug, sometimes I-MET can be a little rough.”
A hand went up among the group.
“Do they always wear gas masks?”
“No. But they always cover their faces. Trust me, you do NOT want to see the face of an I-MET member. There’s a reason only dead people do that job. You just never know how you’re going to look after an in-between spits you out,” she said, striking a Vanna White pose, and the group giggled.
Another hand shot up.
“How do we call for I-MET?” asked an anxious boy in wrinkled clothes.
“Oh, you don’t have to. I-MET will know if their services are needed. The big building at the center of the Bowl—no more questions about I-MET—is Trinity Square, where you’ll find the Bear Towne bookstore, the campus chapel, your mailboxes, and The Bruised Moose Café. The café serves grilled food, sandwiches, pizza . . .” Jaycen eyeballed one of the boys in the group. “ . . .as well as an array of metallic and sulfurous fare for you non-humans. The chapel holds Mass daily and twice on Sundays—DO NOT neglect your soul here, y’all. If your soul jumps ship while you’re at Bear Towne, you won’t last three seconds. Too many scavengers here, am I right?”
Jaycen pointed to a very human-looking kid, in Hailey’s opinion. “You’re one, aren’t you, cutie pie?” Jaycen said to him, and he grinned bashfully.
“The second most-important building on campus is Igloo Arena, which is the dome-looking structure on the north end of the Bowl.”
Several of the female freshmen gasped and swooned, and Hailey peeked around the group to see what the all the fuss was. Making their way inside Igloo Arena was a group of muscular and fearless-looking men. One of them carried a hockey stick.
“What luck!” Jaycen twanged. “There they are, Freshmen—the Bear Towne Yetis hockey team, reporting for practice. I think everyone is excited to see some W’s this year after last season’s dismal finish, huh?”
After the last hockey player disappeared into the Igloo, Jaycen waved her flag and beckoned the group toward a carved stone and wood gazebo near the ParaScience leaf.
“The Chattering Gazebo will immediately strike up a conversation with any non-human, other-worldly or supernatural creature that passes under its eaves,” she explained. She stepped under its roof.
“Well, well, well, well, well!” the gazebo gushed. “If it isn’t Jaycen. Long time no see. In fact I haven’t seen you since Alexei caught you smooching his teammate, what was his name?”
Jaycen jumped back, frowning.
Aha! Hailey knew Jaycen was far too chipper to be human.
“Y’all get the point,” Jaycen said abruptly without looking at the group as she trudged under the iron gate of the ParaScience College leaf.
“Percussive instruments—”
Somebody raised their hand.
“—such as drums,” Jaycen said looking squarely at the kid with the stupid look on his face, “are forbidden here. There are three—check that—four known, active in-between zones on this campus,” she laughed. “Olde Main is an active in-between zone.” She motioned to a haunted house, which stood leaning at a physically impossible angle. “It always leans into the wind. Looks like it’s out of the northeast today—I’d say twenty knots right now,” she called, and Olde Main groaned, screeched, and tilted even further as the wind picked up.
“You’ll have most of your classes in Olde Main, but don’t worry, the dangerous zones of the building are clearly marked, and all the exits have been fitted with an Indispensable Out-Between, which you’ll learn all about in your first class. Trust me,” she said emphatically, “you’ll be in and out of that place enough that by the end of the year, you may even land on your feet when it spits you out.”
Jaycen tipped her flag at a rough-cut stone castle.
“The observation tower and attached stone building are off limits to all students, and—” The smiling guide cut herself off, and Hailey craned her neck to see why.
Standing at the base of the observatory tower with his hands in his pockets, Asher watched the group of freshmen with great interest.
“We’re moving on,” the guide said urgently. “Quickly, now. Chop-chop, everyone.”
“Who was that?” one student whispered as they followed Jaycen at a near run.
“That’s Asher,” said another secretly. “He’s the head honcho. He’s like the president of the school or something.”
“More like a tyrant,” chimed another. “And I heard he’s got a nasty temper—”
“Shhhh!” hissed yet another as he jabbed his head at Hailey, and he wasn’t even trying to be discreet.
Looking hopefully in Asher’s direction, Hailey lingered behind and tried to catch his eye, but to her dismay, he ignored her, fixing his stare on Jaycen as she all but sprinted from the observatory.
Hailey bowed her head and chop-chopped away with the rest of the freshmen, trying not to feel wounded.
“On your left is the library—”
Finally.
“—which will reopen at oh-eight-hundred this Monday—”
Rats.
“—in time for the start of semester. Entry into the library is tightly controlled by the librarian, Mrs. Spitz. You must ask for her permission prior to setting foot in the stacks. Once she lets you in, you may access the library any time, day or night. If you have trouble gaining Mrs. Spitz’s favor, try bringing her a new book—oh, and avoid mentioning sharp objects around her.”
Jaycen led them back out to the Bowl and pulled Hailey aside.
“All y’all can go and check your mail and buy your books. Buh-bye, now,” she called as she held tight to Hailey’s gooey sleeve.
“Listen, Hailey,” Jaycen said, looking grave—almost frightened. “I sure didn’t mean for you to get hurt with that in-between. You know that, right?” She looked pleadingly into Hailey’s eyes. “I’ll take you shopping for new clothes—I mean, as long as it’s alright with The Benevolent.” Now she was trembling.
“Jaycen,” Hailey said, peeling her hand from her sleeve. “It’s not your fault that I jumped into a jelly mold.”
Jaycen’s lip trembled.
“Is it?” Hailey asked. “Is it your fault I jumped into that thing?”
“I’m so sorry,” Jaycen said, and her eyes ran over. “It was supposed to be a benign in-between, only made to look dangerous. I had n
o idea it was a vacuum-glaze with tunneling earworms.”
“A what?”
“A killer—and the worst kind,” she said, wiping her face. “A vacuum-glaze sucks the air out of you and traps you like a spider’s web so you can’t do a flail-beat.” Sniffing loudly, she straightened up a bit. “Maybe since I pulled the earworm out of your head, The Benevolent won’t shred me,” she whimpered.
Jaycen threw a glance toward the ParaScience leaf. “Well, I’ll come find you later to take you shopping in town, okay?” she said with a voice full of hope, and Hailey nodded uncertainly.
“Alright. Thanks, Jaycen.”
“Don’t thank me, Hailey.” She lingered for a moment, wearing a haunted expression, and then she scurried away. Watching her until she disappeared behind a building, Hailey swallowed hard then headed for the mail room with an upset stomach.
Instead of her class schedule, Hailey found inside her mailbox a folded note.
My Dearest ParaFreakazoid,
Your schedule’s not done yet.
I’ll get to it later. Maybe.
Yours, Fin
How was she supposed to buy her books if she didn’t know which classes she had? Fin was going to get her schedule done now, and Hailey stormed out of the mail room, across the square, and up the stairs of Eureka Dorm to tell him so. She couldn’t believe it! He had plenty of time to entertain the beautiful LOED girl, but he couldn’t take five minutes to scribble out her schedule . . .?
After taking the stairs two at a time, Hailey still had a head full of steam and pounded on Fin’s door with the side of her fist.
“Enter,” he called, but Hailey pounded again, insisting he answer the door like a gentleman.
“What!” he yelled as he threw open the door. “Ew.” He wrinkled his nose at her. “You look sticky.”
“Do you have my schedule?” Hailey said in voice way nicer than she intended.
“Mmm—maybe...” He smiled with his nose in the air as he pulled an envelope out of his back pocket.
Hailey made a grab for it, but missed when he pulled it out of her reach. “That’s not funny,” she told him, trying to sound more mature than irritated, and Fin shook his head with a mischievous smile.
“Ask me nicely.”
“Give me my schedule.”
“You’re funny when you try to be angry.”
“I am angry.”
“Really?” he said pointing at her chest. “They why are you still hugging my note to your heart?”
Hailey whipped the note down and stuffed it in her back pocket. She hadn’t even realized she’d been holding it that way, which made her even angrier.
“I wasn’t—”
“—you were,” Fin sang, smiling and nodding and overly pleased with himself. “This isn’t your schedule,” he told her waving the envelope, and Hailey sighed.
“When will you finish it?”
“Come see me tomorrow morning,” said Fin, and before Hailey could protest, he slammed his door.
As she sulked toward the stairs, Giselle popped into the hallway out of nowhere, and Hailey ran right into her.
“Watch where you’re going,” Giselle spat, but Hailey didn’t hear her. She was too distracted by a gorgeous, dark-haired girl, who’d just passed them in the hallway, swishing her hips as she walked up to Fin’s door.
“Why do you care?” said Giselle, snapping Hailey out of a very unbecoming stare just before Fin invited the belly-dancer-walker into his room.
“What now?” Hailey smiled brightly at her roommate. “Are you actually talking to me?” she asked excitedly. Then her smile vanished. “What are you talking about?”
“That’s Aida,” Giselle informed her. “Pádraig sleeps with her a lot—she’s one of his favorites, and she’s in love with him, but he could give a shit.”
Hailey didn’t know what just hit her, and she stared with a blank face at Giselle. “Wha—I don’t—”
“—don’t lie.” Giselle grabbed her hand and pulled her down the stairs. “I saw you clutch your stomach. And all he did was kiss your cheek. But I don’t know why you entertain him—you clearly belong to Asher, and Pádraig only touches you to piss him off.”
“Belong . . .?” Hailey pulled her chin back, shaking her head. “I don’t—”
“You think you have something special with Pádraig, but that’s just his talent. Pádraig O’Shea makes every girl feel like they have something special with him—that’s why so many end up naked in his room. He’s just an asshole.”
Hailey suddenly missed the time when Giselle wasn’t talking to her and stared at the ground as they both walked outside.
“I thought you didn’t want to talk to me,” she said as Giselle turned toward the bookstore with Hailey.
“I don’t, but Asher scares me.”
“I don’t understand,” Hailey said, stopping mid-stride. “Did Asher tell you to talk to me?”
“No, he told me to make sure nothing happens to you.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means,” Giselle snarled as she plucked Hailey’s shirt away from her skin with her finger and thumb, “if somebody decides to kill you or maim you or scratch you or...or . . .” Giselle grimaced at Hailey’s sticky shirt. “Or coat you in goo, Asher will punish me.”
Giselle scowled, releasing Hailey’s shirt as they approached the Trinity Center.
“Why would anybody want to kill me?”
“You’re annoying.”
Hailey waited for the rest, which didn’t come. “ . . .and?”
“There’s a price on your head, Hailey,” she said, rolling her eyes as if Hailey should already know all of this. “A lot of non-humans hate Asher for various reasons, but mostly because they’re afraid of him. They think they can wound him through you, and they’ll risk his wrath, though I don’t know why—Asher knows immediately when someone here does something evil, and he never forgives.”
Hailey opened her mouth to ask about Asher, but Giselle cut her off.
“Oh, and humans just hate you because they’re lemmings, and they see the non-humans avoiding you like the plague, so they avoid you too. Humans are idiots—why are you glazed?”
“I jumped into an in-between.”
“That was stupid. Where do you think you’re going now?” Giselle sounded like an irked mother.
“To the bookstore,” Hailey said, for the first time realizing that Giselle was following her. “I need clothes and . . .” she sighed and kicked the ground. “ . . .everything. Jaycen—the orientation leader—said she’d drive me into town later for some shopping, but . . .” Hailey sighed. “I have nothing here, and I want to get settled in, but I can’t even get my books, because Fin never finished my schedule.”
“I wouldn’t count on Jaycen,” Giselle said with a dark grunt. “And you don’t need your schedule,” she went on like a snob. “All ParaSci freshmen have the same classes. They’ll have your list of materials at the bookstore, dumbass.”
“Are you a ParaScience student too?”
“No.”
“Are you a freshman?”
“No.”
Conversations with Giselle just didn’t flow, so Hailey tried another topic. “Do you know if Fi—if Pádraig is human?”
Giselle scoffed. “Barely.”
“Do you know what LOED is?”
“It’s a club for those who are stuck here.”
“Where?”
“Earth!” Giselle barked, and Hailey could tell she was approaching her chat limit for the day . . .maybe the week.
Wait. Is Fin “stuck here”? What does that mean anyway? She hesitated to ask Giselle about Fin again.
“Are you stuck here?” What Hailey really wanted to ask was, “What the hell are you?” but she didn’t want to be rude. Giselle shot her a
dagger anyway.
“Stop asking me stupid questions.”
“Okay,” said Hailey, biting her lip, but she still had one more important one she just had to spit out. “What did you mean when you said I belong to Asher?”
Giselle stopped and grabbed Hailey’s shoulder.
“You’re joking, right? Don’t you know anything about anything?”
Hailey blinked. She liked to think she did, but Giselle made her feel terribly . . .naïve.
“You are naïve,” Giselle said, and Hailey gasped.
“Can you read my mind?”
“No,” she said impatiently. “I can tell what you’re feeling, though. It’s written all over you.” Giselle looked her up and down. “You’re intrigued by Asher, but Asher doesn’t care about you. He possesses you. And if you don’t behave the way he wants, he’ll kill you.”
Looking away, Hailey shook her head in protest or denial—she wasn’t sure which. Asher couldn’t be the monster Giselle painted. He was strong and good and . . .and he was protecting Hailey from the real monster—the one that’d killed Holly. Hailey trusted him. He was just being . . .authoritative at Bear Towne. It was his university after all.
“You know, I’ve hardly seen him since I got here,” she told Giselle reluctantly as they continued walking.
Giselle curled her lip. “Don’t get all swoony over him because of the way he looks—any Envoy could look like that.”
Hailey stopped. “What?”
“You didn’t think it was weird that Asher looks an awful lot like James Dean?”
“Who?”
“Really?”
“I—”
“Stop. Listen.” Giselle held her hand up, drew a loud, nasal breath, and put on her serious face. “Envoys can make whatever body they want. Most are so socially clueless they end up looking like death. Why should they spend their energy to keep an attractive body? They don’t give a shit what people think, and they only see each other as balls of energy.”
“Asher looks normal—better than normal, he—”
“That’s the point. He shouldn’t. Two decades ago, he didn’t.”
Giselle fell to her knees.
“What are you doing?” Hailey asked with a confused chuckle as she bent to help her roommate up, but instead of standing, Giselle fell onto her hands and pressed her forehead to the ground in a full-on grovel.