by Avery Cross
Zach was certainly not the typical guy I was used to dealing with. He wound the car upward, ascending the curve, and around, then up, deeper and deeper into a mountainous region that was remote and uninhabited.
What kind of school put their location so far from humanity?
Before I could fully process it, he’d turned off the main road and was going down a side road, paved, but only wide enough for one vehicle. We drove over a wooden bridge, yes wood, with a gushing stream running beneath it, crashing down the mountainside. I glanced at it for a second, then whipped my head back around to see it better.
“Something wrong?” he asked, and I didn’t have to look to know that smirk was back on his face.
“Uh… no, just wondering why the water’s glowing.”
At first, I thought it had to be some effect of the dim light and the sun setting, but on second glance, the water was clearly giving off a blue, translucent glow, almost like it was radioactive, which was crazy, right? Then we were past it, and Zach hadn’t answered me.
He looked straight ahead, and I wondered if I’d have any nails left by the time we got to the actual school.
Thankfully, less than a minute later, a large gate blocked our path. A hedge composed of trees and vines forming a solid wall flanked the gate. There was no getting through that, and as the car came to a stop at the iron bars, stretching at least twenty or maybe thirty feet into the air, I watched the trees as if waiting for them to start glowing, too. This wasn’t just a college campus. This was like a fortress. In the mountains, surrounded by rushing streams and walls? How old was this place?
The longer I stared into those dark trees, the more the sense of foreboding grew within me. Even with the car headlights, there was no penetrating the wall of absolute darkness. Just another weird thing to add to the list.
I searched the gate for some sort of camera or intercom, but Zach kept his window rolled up and merely waited. There had to be some sort of sensor, maybe in the ground? I was about to ask him what we were waiting for when a bright blue flash lit up the night, and the gate groaned on its hinges as it swung inward.
I blinked, seeing spots as I searched around for the source of the light. No electrical poles or security hut for guards. Nothing to explain the light.
The tic in Zach’s jaw I noticed earlier when I started asking questions appeared again, barely visible in the dim lighting of the interior. He nudged the car forward a bit, then faster when the gate was fully open, allowing us to enter the grounds.
I turned around to watch it close behind us, a deadening clunk to let me know it was sealed against the next person driving up this road. The crazy notion that this was all magic crossed my mind, but that was just as bad as the creeper in the castle theory. Magic wasn’t real.
Zach glanced in the rearview mirror, a satisfied look on his face before he edged us slowly along this new road.
I expected to see grass lawns and buildings somewhere, dorms, students out and about, but the only thing along the road were iron lampposts with flickering flames inside.
“Are those lanterns? As in old-fashioned lanterns?”
“You get used to them after a while.”
“Is everything here old-fashioned?” I meant it as a joke.
But Zach didn’t laugh, and that tic started up harder until he nodded ahead of us. “This is where it gets exciting. You ready for your new home?”
“Wait, we’re going in there?” I asked, my voice coming out high-pitched.
Zach only nodded again, and I gripped the edge of my seat as the car inched closer and closer to a giant, black opening ahead of us as if we were going to be swallowed up by some giant beast.
Just like the darkness that made up the wall at the gate, I couldn’t make out anything within it. If not for the car headlights, there’d be no way to know if we were still on the road or about to drive into a cave wall.
“Never fails,” Zach whispered.
“What?”
“Watching newbies’ faces when they come here for the first time.”
I frowned until I realized my jaw had dropped and I closed it with an audible clack.
Slowly, the lights along the road outside disappeared, and I felt the car turning. Then, the strangest sensation I’d ever felt hit me, making me gasp for air.
A humming traveled through my body. My nerve endings felt as if they were being touched with an electric prod, a tiny electric prod that made a current sizzle throughout my body. As quickly as it came, it vanished, and I was left clutching a hand to my chest, debating my earlier statement about magic not being real.
What was that? Everything I’d seen so far had to have a rational explanation, right?
A cell phone rang out in the car and Zach dug into his butt pocket to pull it out. He answered it, and his eyes narrowed as he glanced at the time. “Yeah, I got it. Thanks,” he snapped and hung up.
“Problems?” I asked, hoping another round of bantering with him would keep me from going down the path of thinking this was all magic.
“No.”
Alright then, looked like we were back to the cold shoulder.
He kept driving, his headlights illuminating an area that looked like a large dark cave, bisected by this narrow road. When the road straightened out, I swore I had to have entered some alternate reality, pressing my face to the window as lights illuminated the inside of this cave. No, not just cave. This was an entire village, town, whatever, inside the mountain.
There were buildings to the left of us carved right out of the side of the mountain. And yet, they still managed to look elegant, two and three stories high. More light filtered down and I glanced through the windshield to see a circular opening, giving me a peek at the sky, stars starting to blink down at me. I pinched my arm, expecting to wake up and be told I had to get back to my crappy part-time job, but all the pinching did was make me wince. This was real, all of this.
My new school was inside a damned mountain, and the road had turned from paved to cobblestones, making it extremely bumpy now.
I thought of all the pictures I’d seen of Gothic architecture. Romanesque architecture merged with Renaissance architecture, highlighted with pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and flying buttresses. They looked like cathedrals and abbeys, reminiscent of the style of castles and guild halls. And old universities. Prestigious indeed. If I hadn’t been in a car, I would’ve thought I was thrown back in time.
A sense of wonder at the dark stone buildings flanking us made my pulse quicken. How could this possibly exist in the belly of a mountain? And why wasn’t there more about this online? They’d have students lining up to go here, which could be part of the reason why I never found anything. Could be a scholarship-only college. Rare, but possible.
I glanced at Zach, but he still bore that angry, frustrated look. He stared straight ahead, one hand on the steering wheel.
I wanted to ask questions. God, did I ever, but it seemed like our fun bantering was over. Whoever called put him in a piss poor mood and me and my mouth would do nothing to get him out of it.
So, I kept silent, staring straight ahead, breathing shallowly because it was a bit scary. And very overwhelming.
A shiver ran over my body. I couldn’t tell if it was a shiver of excitement from being here, and this wondrous place that should not even exist, or maybe it wasn’t excitement. Maybe it was fear because it was a little bit scary. Intimidating. I couldn’t shake the idea that once upon a time this was not an Academy. There had to be some sort of military background going on here, otherwise, what person would want to build a school in a mountain? The cost had to be insane.
I squinted at the buildings and saw the parapets as well as stone statues every few yards. They weren’t gargoyles, but they weren’t angels, either. They had wings, tucked behind their backs, and possibly weapons in their hands, but we were too far away for me to get a clear picture. Each one was at least ten feet tall. Several towers flanked what I assumed was the main building we
headed toward.
When another shiver coursed through me, I tightened my fists, so Zach wouldn’t see it.
Funny thing I noticed, there were no cars. Not even one other than ours. And it didn’t look like the cobbled roads were made for cars. There wasn’t even a parking lot.
No cars.
Then what?
Not horses. I didn’t see any of those, though at this point it wouldn’t have surprised me.
But aside from the lack of cars, there were no people in sight either. Not a single person was around. Why not? Had school not started? Why was I told to be here so early if the semester wasn’t even ready to begin?
I shrugged my questions off, figuring there was an answer to this and that I’d get it later.
Finally, Zach pulled the car up in front of a large building with a set of pointed double doors and two of those massive statues standing sentinel beside it. He shifted into park, turned off the engine, and opened his door, giving me a glance, as if that was telling me that I needed to open mine and get out.
When he stepped out, I followed suit, opened the door to the back seat, and took out my bag without waiting to see if he was going to help me. Had his girlfriend called him and ticked him off? If we were friends I might’ve asked, but then he was already walking away, and I hurried to keep up, slinging my bag onto my shoulder.
He started to make his way toward the large double doors made of a dark wood, and arched with a pointed tip at the top. I surveyed the building before us. Three stories high, with windows that were narrow and came to a point. The only thing I could think of was how much this reminded me of a picture I’d seen of a cathedral when I’d studied medieval history.
When he neared the doors, they swung open, but there was no one inside, and just like the gate, if there were sensors, they were very well hidden. A flash of light made me turn, swearing I was about to see the statues’ eyes glowing, but there was nothing.
I dropped my bag at my feet, refusing to go a step further. “What is this place?”
He never even looked back, but walked inside. When I still refused to follow, he paused and scowled at me over his shoulder. One word came out of his mouth and got me to moving again.
“Inside.”
His look told me the rest; he’d gladly leave me out here on the porch, alone, with these creepy statues if I didn’t do as he said.
Under normal circumstances, I would’ve put up a fight, acted the rebel who didn’t care about anything or anyone bossing me around. Until I heard what sounded like stones grinding and caught a shimmer of movement out of the corner of my eye. I had my bag in hand and hurried inside after Zach, letting the doors swing shut behind me without looking back.
The statues, they moved, I swore they moved.
Zach’s pace quickened, and I did my best to keep up, but the corridor we walked through was breathtaking. The floor was a mix of wood and stone as well as the walls. High above were more exposed wooden beams with massive chandeliers hanging down, dark iron and more lanterns, all the flames flickering with the chilly draft. The cold was something I’d have to get used to. Doors appeared on either side, appearing almost at random, with marble plaques over their arched frames, but we were moving too fast for me to catch them.
The deeper into the building we walked, the more a strange buzzing noise filled my ears. I stuck a finger in my right one, wiggling it to make sure it wasn’t just inside my head. Then I heard a shout followed by peals of laughter. Voices. A lot of voices. All the other students were already gathered it appeared, and we were the last to arrive.
I grinned, only because I was pretty sure I knew what that phone call had been about. We were late, and he got in trouble for it. Suited me just fine.
The corridor ended at another set of grand double doors, open, and giving me a clear view of what was inside. Above the doorway was another plaque reading, Great Hall. That summed it up. This was a great hall. Though in some ways, it reminded me of a cathedral. The walls bore stark alcoves with the same arches, and pointed tops were inset, as if carved into the stone walls. Every third alcove held a large chair, ornately carved of dark wood and upholstered in luxurious blood red velvet. More of those statues rested in the corners of this room, too, appearing more menacing than the ones outside. I kept my gaze averted, swearing they watched me.
“Quit tarrying,” Zach muttered without looking back, his tone clipped.
I stuck my tongue out at him, safe with his back turned. Not my fault we were late. No matter how good-looking he was, he was making me dislike him more with every word he said. I purposely slowed my steps, a bit of my rebellious side finally coming out now that we were here and there really was no turning back.
He suddenly whipped around and glowered at me.
I blinked as those blue eyes shone with a strange silver light that disappeared just as fast.
“We’re already late, thanks to you. Will you please keep up?”
“Because of me? Yeah, right. I flew the plane, I created the turbulence, the headwind, all that. Oh yeah, and I drove us here. Totally my fault.”
His neck muscles strained, but whatever he said next, I couldn’t hear it. He’d turned back around, and I caught up before he had another reason to shoot that weird glare at me again.
What a royal a-hole.
He said nothing else and that was just fine by me.
We walked down the Great Hall toward three sets of double doors. The closer we got to those heavy, thick, very old looking doors, the louder the buzz of people’s conversations became. Whatever was on the other side of those doors involved a lot of people. I hadn’t realized this was a thing, having everyone together at the start of a new semester.
I groaned, wondering if I’d have to do this sort of group activity all the time.
Zach opened the door, gave me a dirty look as if he’d rather not be holding it for me, but had to. I ignored his dark stare, held my head high, and walked through.
The second I stepped inside, I froze, confronted with a sight I didn’t expect.
Whereas the Great Hall had looked like something straight from centuries ago, the auditorium I was in resembled the most opulent theater stage I could’ve imagined. The darkest crimson velvet curtains ran from floor to ceiling, two stories high, on a stage that would’ve been fit for the greatest of productions. I’m no expert on these things, but I knew what it looked like when someone spent a lot of money on something like this. The seats were spacious and filled.
Filled.
Great, we were the last to arrive.
The whole place was full. Hundreds of people. And the moment we stepped in the room, the buzz silenced.
Eerily quiet.
A lot of people turned to stare at us, well me. A few of the guys snickered at Zach, and I wondered if it hadn’t been one of them calling him instead of a girl, to figure out what was keeping him. He would probably spend the rest of the evening telling them all about the crazy girl from Texas.
“You sit up front with the rest of the newcomers.” And just like that, he cut right, and left me standing alone.
Holding my bag, trying hard to avoid making eye contact with any of these people who were staring at me, I shuffled to the front as quick as I could. The twenty yards it took me to get there felt like the longest ever. Like walking through a gauntlet of stares.
I saw an empty seat on the end, three rows from the front, and thanked my lucky stars I wasn’t going to have to make my way to the middle of the row, displacing everyone, and jostling heads with my bag.
I slid into a seat and made myself as small as I could, my bag between my feet.
“Hey,” I said to the girl next to me. In jeans and a tank top, she looked more like she was heading to the beach, especially with the tan she was sporting, but at least she didn’t look snobby. I’d had enough of that for one day. “I’m Briar.”
“Nyala,” she whispered with a friendly smile.
“Cool name.”
Her eyes
were glued to the stage before us.
That didn’t deter me. “Do you know anything about this place?”
“Not much.” She shrugged. “Got a letter and now I’m here.”
I wondered if I should tell her, or any of the other newcomers, as Zach called us, about what I had found out about this school, but a man ascended the steps at the far right of the stage, and a spotlight followed him to the front and center. I thought it’d been quiet before, but now it was so quiet, I hesitated to even move to get more comfortable.
The man tapped the mic, and a loud thump sounded around the auditorium. He spread his arms wide, smiled, and I held my breath, waiting for the first words to pour out of his mouth.
Chapter Five
Briar
“Welcome to Academy. You are here because you are Elite. Or you will be—after,” the man’s loud voice boomed from the stage. “I’m Headmaster Randall Hooke.”
He was not a small man, but he wasn’t overly large either. In between Viking and linebacker maybe. He had a full head of hair, black, with streaks of white here and there that lent an air of mystery to him. With an olive complexion and near black eyes, he looked like an Italian shipping magnate. Or maybe an Italian Mafioso.
There was a smattering of applause from people, but I kept my hands in my lap. Elite? What was he even talking about and after what exactly? We graduated? I glanced around, searching for Zach, but couldn’t see him.
“It is my great privilege to welcome the newcomers to Academy of Ancients. You have been graced with the powers of witches and warlocks, and it is here you will hone your abilities to become a functioning and productive member of society in an ever-changing world.”
I blinked, figuring I had to be hearing things. Witches and warlocks? I glanced up and down the newcomers around me, but only a rare few seemed as confused as I was, even laughing until they realized no one else seemed to think this was a joke.
“Now then, during your first week here, you will narrow down your study as well as see which element best suits your individual person,” Hooke went on as if he hadn’t just dropped a bomb like that. “I know some of you have already selected your element and if that is the case, you’ll be able to skip those tests and move onto your field of study.”