by April Marcom
I sat up nervously, wondering if the blades came too close if they would slice right through me. “Um, hello.”
The woman smiled and waved before she disappeared and was replaced by a picture of a glistening castle made completely of ice. Snowy mountains surrounded the magical world of white.
For a second I decided it couldn’t be real. A place that beautiful and amazing couldn’t exist. But what about the flying thing the picture was on? I’d never seen or heard of anything like it. I began to let hope and excitement creep in. Maybe I was actually going to get out of the Hell I was living in, the cruelty of the orphanage I’d been forced to endure since I was eight years old, and be able to go live in an ice castle somewhere.
“Sooo—that’s a real high school and they actually go there?” I asked, feeling like a complete idiot talking to the picture on the screen. But I had to be sure before I let my guard down.
“Yes. Roman Armstrong, Hunter Bradshaw, Harmony Foxen, Nadine Rodriguez, and Sassy Johnson are currently attending North Haven High School,” the voice said. Clips of each one moving through school hallways, sitting in classrooms, and walking around all bundled up out in front of the school played across the screen. The fact that they were always under surveillance came across as odd, but the place was obviously real, and everyone looked really happy there. Finally, I decided I could trust them and let myself look forward to going to their unbelievable school. I climbed out of bed and smiled at what I hoped were my new friends and castle-mates. “I’m in.”
“Yay!” Harmony ran to me and gave me a hug.
“Good.” Roman picked up the folded white suit at the foot of my bed that I hadn’t noticed until then. “Put this on and meet us in the hallway.”
Four of them started moving toward the door, but Harmony stayed where she was. “Harmony Con, return.” The screen still hanging over my bed moved toward her as it began folding up. “Don’t worry, you’ll get one too,” she said to me. Then she held out her hand and let the little box fall into it. “So, do you want some help getting dressed since you’ve got a busted hand?”
“I might. Maybe you could stay, just in case.” I wasn’t shy. I’d been changing in front of other girls for years. Of course, I doubted I would look as good as they did in my own bodysuit. I wouldn’t call myself overweight. Body-wise, I’m pretty average. But the girls all had perfect bodies under their suits and the guys were just as outrageously fit. I wondered if they took some futuristic pills that gave them perfect bodies and if I could get some too.
Roman handed me my suit when he walked past me. As soon as the door shut behind him, I pulled off my hospital gown and tossed it on the bed.
“What about a bra?” I asked.
“It’s built in,” Harmony said. “And the suit was made specifically to fit you. It should be in exactly the right place.”
She took the suit and held it out so I could step in. After sliding my arms through the sleeves, she zipped it up in the back, and, just like she’d said, it was a perfect fit. It even came with built-in slipper type shoes.
“I wonder what they did with what I was wearing,” I said.
“I’m sure they cut it off of you to check for more burns. They’re probably in the trash somewhere.”
“The trash? But...they were all I had left. Everything else went up with the fire.”
“It doesn’t really matter. You’ll find everything you need in your room at North Haven High.”
As excited as I was, I got even more excited when she told me this. I was about to ask her what my room would be like, if by some miracle I would get my own, but she put her hand on my shoulder before I could and said, “Let’s go.”
I followed her to the door and into the hallway. The others were standing against the wall.
“Ready?” Roman asked.
Harmony looked at me. “I’m ready,” I said. I was born ready. The whole thing sounded like a fantastic adventure, better than I could have ever imagined.
“All right, keep quiet until I say otherwise.”
The others kept in a single file line as they followed Roman down the hall. Harmony held a hand out, inviting me to go in front of her, so I fell in step behind Nadine.
It felt kind of like I was being guarded by these mysterious kids walking in front of and behind me, like if I made a move to run they’d all tackle and handcuff me or something.
But I also felt a certain familiarity and safety with them. If this school was for real, then these were kids like me. Kids who truly cared for every other human being, who didn’t let fear get in the way of doing what was right. The kind I could lean on whenever things were rough. We turned left and found ourselves facing three elevators. Remaining at the head of our perfect line of six, Roman got out his con. Surveillance footage of a woman sitting behind a desk next to a revolving door appeared on the screen. We watched her for a couple of minutes before she got up and walked away. Roman immediately hit the down button and the elevator door in the middle opened. We all climbed in.
When we stepped out on the first floor, I stared at the empty front desk as we passed it. Then we were moving through the rotating glass door and into the dark night.
We walked silently through the deserted parking lot.
And just as I was thinking how it might have been smarter to wear black, I noticed Nadine’s suit darkening in front of me. It took all my willpower not to say anything as I watched it slowly fade to black. Holding my arms up, I saw that mine was doing the same. Only the bandages wrapped around my hand remained white. I smiled like a goof as I tilted my head enough to see the clothes on the three kids in front of Nadine do the same thing.
They’ve got to be for real. Clothes don’t go from sheet white to oily black in seconds. It’s impossible.
As we crossed the street and began walking under side awnings in downtown, Roman held up his arm and froze. I bumped gently into Nadine as everyone else copied him. “Sor,” I began to whisper, but stopped and bit my tongue. She stood there like a statue.
“Cinders,” Roman turned his head to say.
Chapter Three
~ Cinders ~
Everyone relaxed.
“Oh man,” Harmony said behind me.
Assuming it was okay to talk, since she was, I asked, “What are Cinders?”
“Rogues,” Nadine turned around and whispered. “They move like shadows, the only technology they have that we don’t. They’re our sworn enemies, kids that go to the school way down south. The book will tell you everything once we get you safely to the jet.”
Roman’s body remained still, his fists tight and his shoulders tense, as he continued to face forward. Out of nowhere a kid in one of the same black suits we were wearing came out of the shadows toward us. Others followed, appearing seemingly out of nowhere as the first one had, one at a time.
The first kid smiled at Roman. “I can’t believe it. Northlanders. What a coincidence.”
“What are you doing here, Bane? Trying to steal our jet? Because I can assure you it’s well hidden.”
The boy called Bane laughed. “We don’t need your piece-of-junk jet—”
“It’s better than whatever you’re riding in.”
Bane shook his head and continued to smile. “Whatever you say. We’re here to pick up a new recruit, just like you.”
He fixed his eyes on me as he walked past everyone to stand beside me. Was it that obvious? He smiled as he looked me up and down. “This one’s a beauty. I can see why you would want to be the one here to pick her up, Armstrong.”
Roman ran back to me and threw his chest against Bane’s. “Back off, vermin.”
Bane’s smile disappeared and was replaced by pure hatred. “You Northerners always think you’re better than us! You’re arrogant, self-centered—” he started shouting only a second before Roman joined in with, “Well, you’re all a bunch of criminals and lowlifes—” And then they were yelling at each other so loudly it was impossible to understand what either one wa
s saying. They just stood there, pressed against each other with their heads tilted on opposite sides and only inches between them, as they shouted threats and insults.
It reminded me of two angry dogs, growling and gnashing teeth, only moments away from breaking into a deadly fight. I took a step back, just in case.
The Cinders stood back laughing, but Hunter rushed over to Roman and grabbed him from behind, trying to pull him away from Bane. “Be quiet! We’re not supposed to draw attention to ourselves,” I heard him saying over the two voices that were growing quieter.
Roman stopped and stretched out his arms to throw Hunter off of him. “You’re a filthy liar, Bane,” he said. “Come on.” With that, he moved to the front of our group and took up walking under the dark awnings again. Hunter took his place behind him and we began moving as we had before.
I twisted my neck around to see if I could get another look at the Cinders, but they were gone. So I turned back around, thrilled to have encountered students from a rival school. And they could appear out of thin air like magic. Awesome.
It even sounded like they were from some kind of dark school for troublemakers. Our polar opposite.
Good versus evil high.
Double awesome! Because who doesn’t love a good school rivalry?
The continued journey across the city took us through an old neighborhood and then into a forest.
It was hard to keep quiet. I had so many questions, and every second brought a hundred more with it. But I kept them all in, somehow.
Roman finally stopped at the edge of an enormous open field.
My head jerked from side to side and my neck stretched to its limit as I looked around for a jet. I’d never seen one up close before. I’d never even been in an airplane, so I couldn’t wait to get on. But I didn’t see anything.
A silver flying thing like the one Harmony had shown me in the hospital rose in front of Roman, lighting up the darkness. When it had assembled itself, the same woman appeared on the screen. “Hello, Roman. What can I do for you?”
“Call Mr. Westhyme, please.”
“....Calling Mr. Westhyme.”
We only had to wait half a minute or so before a man with an unusually long pointed nose appeared on the screen. “Ready, Roman?”
“Yes, sir.”
Mr. Westhyme looked over our faces until he spotted mine. “So, you managed to convince her to come. Nice to meet you, Kristine.”
“You, too.”
“All right, make sure you stand back far enough, now.”
Everyone began walking backwards, deeper into the trees. Harmony put her arm around me. “We’re going to be bunkmates. I’ve been waiting to get one forever. Nadine and Sassy are my roommates, but I’ve never had someone I could lean over the edge of my bed and whisper with late at night. I’m so glad you decided to come.”
Her bubbly personality was contagious, making it impossible not to feel just as happy as she was. “Me, too. I can’t wait to get there and see it—”
All of a sudden, we heard a deep rumbling. Then the ground was trembling. “Is that an earthquake?” I asked nervously.
“It’s just the jet.” Harmony pointed to the clearing and I saw the whole center of the field begin to sink. It looked like a hole at first, but something dark began to come out of the ground. Bright light suddenly poured out around it. It looked like a street was rising diagonally right out of the giant black pit. “That’s the runway. We don’t need much of one, just enough to get going. It has to point up so we don’t crash straight into the woods, though. Headmaster’s had lots of them put in around the world. We got lucky that one happened to be right where you lived.” When it stopped, the end of it reached up about halfway as tall as the monstrous trees, but I still didn’t see a jet.
Roman started running toward the runway and the rest of us followed. When we reached it, I could see that the runway went down about as far as it went up, and at the bottom was the jet. It was huge and shiny white with a silver streak across the middle. Little oval windows lined the side.
“I didn’t think they made jets that big,” I said in awe as we reached a long flight of stairs that led down to the underground hangar. The gigantic shelter was the perfect hiding place for an aircraft they didn’t want anyone to stumble across while it was waiting for us to return.
Harmony smiled back at me before beginning her descent. “Take everything you know, and throw it out the window. Once you get to North Haven High, nothing will ever be the same.”
It was hard not to laugh out loud with all the crazy excited feelings welling up inside me. Nothing half this incredible had ever happened to me. And it just seemed to keep getting better.
About halfway down the stairs, I recognized Mr. Westhyme standing at the end of the mobile stairs that led to an open door on the side of the jet. He was taller than I imagined, and just as physically fit as the five kids with me were.
I hated to admit it, but I was beginning to feel out of breath. All the walking and jogging was really getting to me. And the others were running down the countless stairs at a ridiculously high speed. I didn’t want them to think I was a wimp, though, so I chose to ignore my burning lungs and legs and push myself to keep up with them. But at the bottom, I had to stop and catch my breath.
Roman laughed when he saw me. “Looks like you’ll need some extra time in fitness training. Coach Beckham’ll have you in shape well before the Winter Competitions.”
“Wh, what are those?”
“It’s all in the book. We need to hurry and board. The sooner we get in the sky, the better we’ll all feel.”
I followed him to the jet, where the other four were already boarding. Our clothes were turning white again, I realized.
“Hello, Kristine.” Mr. Westhyme extended a hand for me to shake. “The newest member of the North Haven family, such an honor to meet you.”
“Thank you.”
I climbed the few stairs onto the jet in front of Roman, and all I could think about were the words Mr. Westhyme had said.
The newest member of the North Haven family...
Could it be true? Could I have finally found a home and a family for the first time since my mom died and left me all alone?
Chapter Four
~ Two Brothers ~
Wow. That was all I could think when I stepped inside. Everything was white. A long row of luxurious sofas lined each side of the wall under the windows, enough to comfortably seat a dozen people each at least. At the back of the room, a glass table was surrounded by eight black chairs with a small box resting on the floor nearby. A winding staircase led to an upstairs door to our right.
“If this is a piece of junk, I’d love to see what those Cinders are flying in,” I said.
Roman walked in behind me. “They’re just blowing smoke. You can’t listen to a word those guys say.”
“I can take care of your hand real quick,” Hunter said to me, walking toward the table.
I guessed the box on the floor beside the table probably contained first aid supplies. A stack of games sat next to it.
“I can take care of her,” Roman said.
“But I’m halfway through my medical training. She probably prefers an expert.”
They both looked at me. I simply shrugged.
A look passed between the guys, and Hunter went to lie down on one of the long rows of couches. The girls were already sitting on the other one, chatting away.
Roman took my arm and led me to the glass table before picking up the box and setting it on the table between us.
I heard a door close, so I turned around in my chair to see that Mr. Westhyme had gotten in the jet and was heading for the stairs. “Everybody in takeoff position, please. We’ll be out of here in a minute.”
Roman put the box in his lap and scooted back in his chair. “You better sit back, too.”
I scooted back, wondering why it mattered.
“Oh, hey, here’s your book.” Roman reached in the bo
x, which I could now see had only bandages and a blank pearly white bottle of cream in it, along with the book Roman was handing me.
A Guide for the North Haven High School Student, by Trey Veziamo was printed across the top in silver, and a gleaming white hallway with smiling teenagers in white suits filled the rest of the cover. As I opened it to the first page, we all heard the engine come to life.
Something reached across my chest and pressed me against the back of the chair. It scared me enough that I screamed and looked around desperately for who was doing it.
“It’s only the safety belts,” Roman said, taking my good hand in his.
I barely had a chance to look at the two black belts crisscrossing their way over my torso before the jet shot forward and we were all leaning dangerously to the side, as we climbed upward at a steep incline.
My book slid off of my lap. I yanked my hand away from Roman to grab it, but I didn’t reach out in time. It slid against the wall, where it would have to wait for me until I could get out of my chair. The table and chairs must have been bolted to the floor, I realized, because if they hadn’t been, everything would have been sliding across the floor with my book.
“We’ll level out in a couple of minutes and the belts’ll come off,” Roman said.
“Good.” I leaned my head back and tried to calm down. “So, North Haven High’s kind of like boarding school, right?”
“I guess you could say that.”
“Do kids go home to their parents for the holidays or summer or something?”
“No...only teenagers with no family at all get recruited. The school’s got to be kept secret. And the headmaster’s an orphan, so I think he wants to give other ones a better life than he had...You’ll find all the answers in the handbook.”
The precious handbook...If I could just reach it...But it would have to wait.
As soon as the jet began straightening its course and my seatbelt came off, I went after it, banging my hand agonizingly against the side of the table on the way. It had been hurting since I woke up, but now it was unbearable. I held my breath until I was back in my seat, trying not to cry for all the pain I was in.