“’Fun’ or highly irresponsible of the school?” Emily laughed.
“At least Ms. Dido will be in the biodome with us the whole time,” Finley replied. “I can’t imagine her letting anything go wrong after Riley Fitch.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Emily concurred. “If there’s anything dangerous in there she will definitely scare it off.”
Will nodded in silent agreement. Ms. Dido was, without a doubt, the most impressive woman Will had ever seen, her height alone dwarfing anyone that stood beside her. Every inch of her body was defined with taught muscle, her clothes stretching and straining as they struggled to cover her wide frame. Even her hair, which she wore in two tight braids on the side of her head, gave the impression of strength somehow. When Will had described her appearance to his mother during one of their calls, she had told him the polite way of describing her was “Amazonian”, but Will had no idea what this meant.
After sitting for several hours amongst a sprawled mass of laptops, tablets and I-Books, Emily, Will and Finley decided enough was enough and headed to the Dining Hall for their evening meal.
They were joined at their table by Cara and Matina, which seemed to set Emily off into a bad mood, though Will couldn't understand why. He had always found the two girls very pleasant. They wolfed down their spaghetti and meatballs, discussing their holiday so far and comparing notes on the homework they’d completed. Emily sighed loudly, watching them chew their dinners in disgust while picking at her own mushroom risotto.
"I don’t know how you eat that stuff," said Will, gesturing to her food. “I couldn’t live without meat. Especially bacon. It’d kill me off.”
"I'm sure you'd survive," replied Emily drily. “Meat isn’t good for you.”
"Did you know that back on Earth they used to raise animals for slaughter," said Cara darkly. “Food wasn’t made in labs like it is now."
“How do you know that?” Will asked.
“Matina and I joined the Earth Appreciation Society. We've actually found out some really interesting things."
As Cara and Matina launched into a gruesome fact-file about Earth, Will glanced up and noticed Kyan Smith, the unsettling former best friend of Josie Jones, staring at him from across the room, where he was sat alone. When they made eye contact, he didn’t look away as Will had expected, but continued to watch him menacingly for a few more seconds. The uncomfortable moment was interrupted by Charlie, who walked over to the table and blocked Will's view of Kyan. By the time he had moved from Will's line of sight, Kyan had disappeared.
"Hey little sis," Charlie grinned at Emily, taking a seat opposite her, sending Cara and Matina into a flutter as he sat beside them.
"Hi Charlie," replied Emily. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your company."
"Now, now that’s no way to talk to your big brother," Charlie teased. "Especially when he's come over to invite you to a party."
"A party?" Cara repeated with excitement.
"Yeah, in my room. It'll be after curfew, when all the teachers go to bed," Charlie replied.
"Your rooms in the third-year dorms," Emily frowned. "We can't be caught in the grounds after curfew, we'll be in so much trouble."
"That's the beauty of it," Charlie beamed, leaning in and speaking in a hushed voice. “I overheard Miss Fortem talking to Admiral Allance in the library earlier. It turns out that Mr. Mayhem is trying to invent some inter-planetary teleportation device that keeps going wrong. Miss Fortem was telling Allance that all the teachers need to be on guard tonight, because apparently Mayhem blew all the cameras out with a massive power surge! None of them are working! There's no surveillance at all."
He leant back in his chair triumphantly, watching his audience's reaction to the tale with his tongue pressed in his cheek.
"But Charlie..." Emily said after a moment, "if all the teachers are on guard we’ll still get caught."
"That's the best part," Charlie responded. "Allance told her that as long as none of the students know about the broken cameras then not to bother. He told her just to keep it hush and then none of them have to go on patrolling duty."
"Seems a bit risky," Will mused, wondering how the headmaster could be so nonchalant about a possible breach in security, especially when Mr. Krecher took his aliens out to roam the grounds at night. Charlie rolled his eyes, a corner-stone trait of the Pannell family.
"Who cares?!” he exclaimed. "The point is, are you coming or not?"
"If it means that much to you," Emily sighed.
"Great, see you there," Charlie beamed.
"Can we come?" Cara and Matina asked.
"Sure, the more the merrier," Charlie shrugged, excusing himself from the table with a wink.
After dinner, Emily retreated to her room to get ready, Cara and Matina following her and giggling as they discussed outfit choices. Will and Finley went to collect their Beakin - named "Beaky" - and took him for a walk around the school grounds, a small, pink leash tied around his neck.
As they strolled around the Resources biodome, listening to the sound of the torrential rain inside its core, Will broke the news to Finley that he wouldn't be attending the party that evening.
"Oh, come on Will, I need you there," Finley pleaded. “The older students still look at me like I'm an alien with three heads."
Will apologised and fobbed him off with a weak excuse about being tired from doing homework and wanting to call his mum.
"Anyway," he reminded Finley, "you don't need me around when you've got Emily to protect you. She's far scarier than I am."
Finley accepted his point and the two of them returned to the dorms where they parted ways, promising to meet for breakfast so Will could be filled in on the details of the night.
Will rode the lift to the third floor and walked briskly to his room, closing the door behind him as the relief of being alone flooded through his body. He took a long shower, the hot water cascading over him and relaxing his mind. His thoughts drifted back to his first Alien Studies lesson, as it always did when he was alone, and the niggling memory of what he had seen when he’d been called into Krecher’s office after his fight with Rudy.
Hanging on the wall, there had been a framed photograph. As Will had made to leave, something about it had caught his eye. Standing in the photo with Krecher was Will’s mother, her face fuller and brighter with youth but unmistakeable nonetheless. Among the gathering of students they were posing with was a young man, his sandy-blonde hair, tanned skin and height making him stand out sharply against the rest of the group. Will studied the man’s features carefully, taking in his blue, shining eyes, strong jaw and pronounced nose. He knew these features well. He saw them every morning when he looked in the bathroom mirror. They were his own. This man was his father. He had always been told that he looked just like his mother, but now as he stared at his father for the very first time, he realised he was more like him than anyone had wanted to admit. He must have only been stood still for a few seconds, but he had sensed Krecher’s eyes burning into the back of his head. In a fit of adrenaline, he left, without saying a word to anyone about what he’d seen.
In all the Alien Studies lessons that had followed, Will had stared at Krecher whenever he wasn’t looking, as if he might find the answers he was seeking written on his face. If the memory of teaching Will’s parents was so precious to Krecher that he kept a framed photograph of them on his wall, then why had he never mentioned knowing them? His mother had never so much as uttered Krecher’s name, which made no sense if she knew he was a teacher at The Academy. He had the strong inclination that something was being kept from him and he was determined to find out what.
Occasionally, Krecher had caught Will’s eye in class, and each time his face had clouded with what Will could only describe as an expression of guilt. His behaviour had only enflamed Will’s curiosity further and he had begun to plot a way to find out the truth.
He knew, by the strength of gut instinct, that the information he sought w
ould be found in Krecher’s office. He also knew that Krecher took his aliens out at precisely half past ten every night, having watched him through the window for several weeks. By carefully studying the interactive school map in stolen moments between classes, he had discovered the fastest way to reach the Ivory Tower from the first-year dormitories. The only obstacle that had been standing in his way were the security cameras that were dotted around the grounds. The moment Charlie had announced they were broken, he had made his decision. Tonight was the night he would put his plan into action.
At quarter past ten he got up from his bed, where he had been lying all evening, staring absentmindedly at the patterns in the plastering on his ceiling. He walked purposefully over the wardrobe and, pushing his school uniform to the side, he rifled through the clothes he had brought from home to find the darkest pieces of attire he owned. After successfully locating a black hoody and matching trousers, he dressed and went to the window, waiting for his cue to leave. A few minutes later, the faint pinprick of yellow light appeared in the distance that signalled Mr. Krecher had left the Ivory Tower and was walking through the darkened grounds by torchlight.
Will made for the door and headed down the hallway without hesitating, keeping a sharp pace as he moved. He saw Lois just ahead of him, standing in her bedroom doorway and gossiping with a group of the Floor One girls that were gathered in the corridor. He cursed himself for not preparing for the possibility of bumping into anyone. After all, there were no cameras in the student dorms, with it apparently being considered “unethical” by the school board, and so the only form of security the first-years had to contend with was the achingly slow patrol Ms. Everly conducted each night. Once she had gone, the dorms were available for free roaming, which many of the students regularly took advantage of.
Will ducked into the lift as discreetly as possible and descended to the ground floor. He hurried through the foyer and out the doors without stopping, allowing the thrill of his mission to carry him forwards into the night. Without the lamps on, The Academy was swathed in an almost impenetrable darkness and Will could only see a few feet in front of him. He found his route from memory, using his feet to feel out where the paths bent and twisted as he snaked his way around the back of the campus. Buildings loomed out of the shadows as he passed them, menacing in the gloom. He strained to recognize their exteriors, which were strikingly different in the deep darkness. Hoping to be comforted by a familiar sight, he glanced up at the blanket of stars that hung above him. In the black of night, he could see the glinting edge of the dome that encased the school. Gazing upon it made him feel claustrophobic, as if he were trapped inside one of the novelty snow globes his mother had purchased from the Earth souvenirs shop on the Mayfly.
After what felt like an eternity, he saw the Ivory Tower in the distance, a shiny, white beacon in the black. He raced in its direction, his eagerness to reach it growing with every step. The sound of aliens screeching in the distance informed him that Krecher was still outside and that there was still time. He approached the foot of the tower and stopped short, taking deep breaths as he paused to collect himself. The next stage of his plan would be the most difficult to execute.
With a quick scope of his surroundings to check he was truly alone, Will climbed into Jeff’s shuttle and fastened himself into the driver’s seat. After much pestering , Jeff had admitted to Will that he programmed the shuttle onto autopilot, so that a simple flick of a switch would activate its flight path. Jeff had made Will promise not to tell anyone, for fear he would become redundant if his lack of purpose was made public. Little did he know, it was more than in Will’s best interests to keep the secret to himself. Praying he wouldn’t be seen or heard, Will turned the switch on, ducking down to conceal himself from potential onlookers as the rocket made its ascent.
When he reached the docking bay, he exited the ship, making his way into the classroom beyond. He passed through the dark room with haste, the eerie silence filling him with unease, and reached the door to Krecher's office. He was relieved and rather surprised to find it was unlocked and pushed on the handle gently to enter.
The room was cast into shadow, and Will struggled to make sense of his surroundings as his eyes adjusted to the lack of light. He took a step forward and crashed into Mr. Krecher's desk, cursing loudly as his leg painfully caught on the wooden corner. Rubbing the swollen bruise, he tapped his Personal Device on his wristband and selected the torch feature, shining the bright light around the room as he searched for clues.
His first thought was to examine the photograph that had drawn him to the office in the first place. He shone his light on the back wall where the collection of framed pictures hung, trawling over each image slowly until he located the right one. It didn't take long for him to recognise the photo, hanging innocently between Krecher's graduation picture and a snap of a smiling blonde woman. Moving closer, he noticed for the first time that Captain Alfie was also in the photograph, standing between Will's mother and Krecher, his arms folded behind his back and a sombre expression on his face. Will bent down to read the plaque at the base of the frame, wondering if he would recognise any more names.
"Alien Studies class, Snowdonia College 2098," it read, "Taught by K. Krecher (middle). Students: Joel Emmett, Faye Ibrahim, Charlotte Mazur, Austin De Havilland, Elsie James, Alfie Sommers..."
The list continued but Will had stopped reading. He had always known that his mother had given him her surname, but she had never told him what his father’s name was, and after a while Will had given up asking questions. Seeing the name etched in fine print before him sent Will's mind into overdrive. For a moment, he was lost in a daydream in which he was William De Havilland, a normal boy from a normal family, and not William James - the boy who grew up without a father.
He tore himself away from the photo and searched the rest of the room, raiding Krecher's drawers that were filled with piles of unorganised papers and heavy, bound journals, covered in dust. At the bottom of the pile was a thick, green notebook that had been secured with a padlock. Will picked it up and turned it over in his hands. It was rough and dog-eared, creases forming over its cover from where it had been opened and closed so many times. Peering down at the thick mass of pages, he saw that some of them had been torn out, leaving a jagged edge where they had once been. A small, white sticker on the sleeve read "September 2097- June 2098". Will knew that his father had died before The Split in 2100, the year Will was born. That meant that Krecher had known his mum and dad just two short years before the tragic event had happened. Something during this time period was significant enough for him to keep a framed photograph of the class and a padlocked journal. Will had a strong feeling that whatever was inside the journal may be linked to his dad’s death and began searching for a key.
After hunting for several minutes to no avail, he began to feel defeated. He slumped into Krecher’s armchair, contemplating whether to abandon his mission altogether. Suddenly, the most peculiar sight manifested before his eyes. A mirror that was standing in the corner of the room had spontaneously sprouted a handle on its surface; shiny, round and inviting. A voice in Will's head urged him forwards and he reached out and turned it, the mirror swinging backwards to reveal itself as a door.
He dithered for a moment, hesitating between investigating further and leaving the office altogether before he found himself in deep trouble. His mind was made up for him, however, when the sound of approaching footsteps from the classroom outside echoed through the door. He jumped and sprinted forwards, running at full pelt through the mirror-turned-door and into whatever lay beyond.
10.
The Looking Glass
The sensation of cold air smothered Will’s face and body as he realised with a jolt that he was outside. He bent over to catch his breath, disorientation causing his head to spin. He looked at the solid concrete beneath his feet in disbelief. Just moments ago, he had been at the top of the Ivory Tower, miles and miles from the ground. There was no wa
y he could have survived a fall from that height. It was impossible and yet, there he was, all in one piece. He turned around, searching wildly for the mirror he had run through, but it had disappeared completely. He staggered backwards as his surroundings came into focus and the understanding of where he was dawned on him.
He was stood upon a street flanked with red-bricked houses, their tiled rooves forming perfect triangles that pointed into the sky. Cars of various make and model sat in driveways that were decorated with flower pots and protected by thick, metal gates. The road was lit up by a combination of yellow street lamps and the pale moon that shone ghost-like over his head. He had paid enough attention in History to know why the scene was so familiar to him. He was on Earth.
The wind blew coolly around his face and he hugged himself tightly to shelter from its sharp bite. There was a crisp freshness to the air that he had never experienced before and he inhaled deeply, his lungs filling gratefully with the clean, unfiltered oxygen. After a few seconds, his head began to steady itself as he sought a reasonable explanation for what had happened. The mirror must be some kind of teleportation device, he concluded, and Mr. Krecher must be making secret trips to Earth without anyone knowing. He was certain the footsteps he had heard before he fled belonged to Krecher and knew it wouldn’t take him long to realise his office had had an intruder. He could only pray that he would put two and two together and realise where Will was, rescuing him before he ended up stranded on Earth forever.
He glanced around the street, hoping to find himself alone. The people who had been left on Earth after The Split were referred to as “Forgottens” and Will had heard enough about their volatile and violent nature to know that he would be in danger if he were to encounter anybody in the dark of night. With a sudden stroke of panic, he checked his Personal Device to call for help, but found it had gone dead since his arrival. He closed his eyes and conjured the image of his mum’s face, trying to comfort himself by imagining when he would next see her.
The Split Page 11