by J. B. North
Niko stepped past me, and exited the carriage. I followed hesitantly. The driver stood by as we got out, but I wished he would go farther away. He smelled like alcohol and vomit.
Niko handed him a few coins before continuing on.
The driver counted the money and opened his mouth to say something, showing his horrible teeth. “You owe me two more coppers, sir,” he said.
“I owe you nothing,” Niko said, keeping the same pace and not bothering to turn around.
The driver stared at Niko, but when Niko still didn't turn, the man narrowed his eyes and got back up on the carriage. He slapped the reigns against the horses’ rumps, and they jolted forward immediately, clattering out of our sight as it descended down a path.
I heard a slam to our right, which made me jump for the second time. I looked at where the sound had come from. A girl had just come out of one of the bigger buildings and was headed toward a smaller one. She had black hair and a pale downcast face. A ragged cloak was wrapped around her shoulders. “Natalia!” Niko yelled.
She looked back at us, her face void of expression.
“Take Ivy on a tour. She’ll be in your dorm,” he said to her briskly before walking off.
The girl didn't respond, and waited for me to walk up to her. She looked me up and down and sighed heavily.
“Let’s start with the most important places,” she grumbled as she turned away.
She went to the right, where the biggest of all the buildings loomed. I hurried to keep in step with her. She didn’t talk to me until we were almost there. “This is the training arena.”
It looked similar to the trial arena, except this one was a little smaller and made with a darker color of stone. Two gargoyles guarded the entrance, their faces warped and eroding. I couldn't help shivering as we passed them.
Natalia continued on, “It’s where we spend nine hours of every day. Each morning, we wake up at six, eat breakfast, train for five hours, break for a small snack at twelve, and then train for four more hours before two hours of free time with dinner at seven. Then, we have another hour of free time, and one more to get ready for bed so that we’re asleep before ten.”
I could barely keep up with her as she rattled off our schedule. “Sounds busy,” I said unenthusiastically.
“You get used to it,” she said as we walked through the archway into the arena. Unlike the other one, this one had no mazes built into it. There was just a wall to surround the area and a tunnel leading into it. The whole arena was mapped out like the marketplace, where people set up stands to sell what they make, except these stands are set up with weapons. The ground was packed with snow, but the path that we were on was so well traveled that it had turned into mud. In the middle of the arena, a black cast-iron fence stood out against the snow, towering almost as high as the arena walls.
“So how hard is the training?” I asked Natalia as I walked past her, taking in everything.
“Depends on your trainer,” she answered before starting out of the arena. “For some of us, it's the most difficult time of our lives. For others, it's a breeze.” The tone of her voice hinted that she leaned more toward her first suggestion.
“Wait,” I said after her. “Aren’t you going to show me what we do at the stands?”
She didn’t look back. “No. That's your trainer's job.”
I ran to catch up. Again, she didn’t say anything until we got to a big tent. Inside I heard groans and crying. Alarmed, I asked, “What is this?”
Natalia opened the tent flap as she said, “This is the healing tent.”
I cringed and looked away. There were so many people in there that the twenty or so beds were already taken, and many students were forced to sit on the floor, “How did all of this happen?” I asked, glancing inside the tent before looking away again.
She shrugged. “It’s just the end of another day, although today, there is more than usual. That's usually the case on Mondays.”
“Why is that?”
“Because Mondays have the most challenges,” she answered, not offering any more explanation. She closed the flap and began to walk toward two buildings that appeared to be replicas of the orphanage, but with less damage.
“These are the dorms, aren’t they?” I asked.
She nodded as we entered the one on the left. I was pleasantly surprised when the inside was much nicer than the orphanage. The orphanage had a drab interior of stained red and green walls, with floors covered in rotting wood. The conservatory dorms had floors of marble, and the walls were tan with pure white trim. It was beautiful.
“I didn’t know that we would be living in a palace!” I whispered in awe.
Natalia laughed harshly. “This is no palace,” she said. “This is a prison.”
I swallowed tightly.
She led me down the hall and around a corner. As we climbed a set of stairs, a thought struck me. If I had known nothing about my second form before I came here, was everyone else's second form just as rare? “Is your second form special, too?” I asked Natalia, barely thinking before I said it. I tensed, afraid that she would be angry at me for asking.
“I’m a mermaid,” she answered coldly.
I had heard of mermaids, but I’d thought that they were a myth. They are said to be good in some stories…but in others they are said to be evil and deceptive.
“And what is yours?” she asked me.
I hesitated, but didn’t see why I shouldn’t tell her. “I’m a phoenix.”
She stopped dead in her tracks, and flipped around. “A phoenix?”
I knitted my eyebrows. “Yes?”
She took me in a little more carefully. “Then I have some advice for you. Don't tell anyone else what you are.” She looked around to make sure that no one was around to listen. “Not many people know of the phoenix, but my mother was fond of history. A phoenix is very rare, and certain people will use you because of it.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I’ve seen it happen with other powerful students. Many times.” She paused, and tilted her head. “I think this tour is over with.”
She started back down the stairs.
“Hey! Wait! You’re not going to show me which dorm is ours?” I said.
“I’ll show you later,” she answered. “After dinner.” She hurried out of my sight. I tried to follow her, but when I turned the corner , I didn't see her anymore.
I sighed. Natalia had not shown me where we were supposed to eat, but I guessed that it was the building that she had been heading to earlier.
I was right. When I walked in, however, I was clueless. I wasn’t sure what I should do. Everyone was sitting down at wooden tables while servants served them drinks. I looked for an empty seat, and finally spotted one next to a few girls.
“Is this seat taken?” Two of the girls looked up at me with big eyes, but the girl next to me shook her head as she popped a slice of apple in her mouth.
As I sat down, I noticed that everyone in the room was staring at me. The entire hall had gone eerily silent. “Why are they staring?” I whispered to the girl on my right, the one that seemed the bravest out of the three.
She glanced around with a heavy sigh, and said, “They can tell that you’re new.”
“Is that not normal?” I asked.
“We get a new student about once every two weeks, except this time it’s been almost three weeks. New students are just about the only thing that seem moderately interesting here. Like an escape into the real world.”
The dining room erupted into noise again, and I started to feel a little better…until a shadow fell over the table. A boy that was the size of a giant towered over us.
“Um….Can I help you?” I asked, a little perturbed.
“Not really,” he answered gruffly, his eyes narrowed under thick blond eyebrows. His thin mouth was set in a malicious smile. “I just thought I'd welcome you to the conservatory... And let you know that I'll be looking for you in the arena tomor
row morning.”
“Looking for me? Why?” I asked.
“You'll see,” he answered. Then, without another word, he turned and walked to a nearby table, sitting down with some other boys that resembled his size and appearance.
“They keep themselves in half-form,” muttered the girl next to me. “To appear intimidating.”
“Roselle! Don’t talk like that! They might hear you!” said the girl in front of me. The other girl wouldn’t even look up.
Roselle rolled her eyes. While the other girls seemed cowardly, she was brave. She had light brown hair and eyes the same color. Her nose was straight and small, and her lips were thin, without much color to them. Overall, she looked plain. I liked her.
In front of us was a plate of fruit. Apples, grapes, pears, and my favorite, oranges. It had been years since I'd had an orange. They only grew in the lower lands, and our island was as far north as anyone could get.
I popped it into my mouth, and was greeted by a burst of flavor that made my mouth pucker up.
Before I could grab another piece, however, the plate was swept away. My disappointment was short-lived, however, because a covered dish was set in its place. I wondered what could be under it, and my stomach growled in anticipation. Then, a white-gloved hand lifted the lid off.
On it was a blank piece of paper.
I looked at Roselle, my eyebrows raised in question. She motioned back to the piece of paper with her head. Words swirled onto the parchment in a black smoke.
It said, Tent 114, and then disappeared.
“What does that mean?” I whispered to Roselle.
“In each tent is a magically enhanced world where you have to find your food. It teaches you survival skills. You cannot only survive on the few snacks that they provide for us. Not with the amount of physical exertion that we go through, anyway. They don’t even serve anything at breakfast except water. Some students have gotten so weak in the past that the nurse had to take them in and help them recover.”
I could barely hear her because the chatter in the room had gotten so unbearably deafening. I supposed they were all talking about which tent they were going to.
Then, a loud roar pierced the air. I looked to where the roar had come from, and saw a creature that was half lion and half woman.
“Mrs. Scarls, the activities director. She’s a sphinx,” whispered Roselle. “You’d do well to steer clear of her if you can—”
She was interrupted by Mrs. Scarls’s gruff voice. “Ivy Oliver, come to the front.”
Roselle grimaced. “Well, after this, I guess.”
I stood up, a little shaky from what might come next, and made my way over to her. Her eyes were yellow, with flecks of green and brown in them, and the pupils were black slits. It was very odd to see the eyes and body of a cat and the face of a human. I blinked several times just to make sure that what I was seeing was real.
When I reached her, she transformed back into a human. Her lion skin shifted, and she gradually began to get taller and skinnier, her lean muscles changing into smaller, less defined ones. Nothing about her face changed except for her eyes. The pupils became normal instead of their once cat-like appearance.
I tried to keep my face free of surprise. It wasn’t often that I saw anyone change so openly.
Quietly, and completely unlike her lion voice, she said, “Because this is your first day, you will participate alone. The number that you have just seen is no longer yours.” She motioned for a server to come closer. He balanced the tray on one hand, and lifted the lid. The words that swirled onto the paper said, Tent 1.
Mrs. Scarls seemed surprised at the number, but she didn’t show it for long. “Well...there you have it.”
Then her eyes flicked back to the rest of the students as she yelled, “To your tents!”
Everyone stood and filed in toward the doors. I followed them, hoping that they would lead me where I needed to go. Outside, it had gotten colder. The night was so dark, that I could barely see anything, and I accidentally ran into the person in front of me.
“Watch it,” they growled.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
Finally, I saw light ahead. In fact there was a steady stream of lights. As we got closer, I realized that those lights were numbers, wavering at the entrance of every tent. And mine was the first. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew that I would have to walk through the number to get inside. I stepped up to the number, and reached my hand out to touch it. It felt like nothing was there.
“What are you doing?” asked someone behind me.
I looked back, startled, catching sight of a tall, dark figure. “I’m just seeing if I can feel it.” I said.
“You can’t…What’s your number?”
I looked back at the one. “This is it.”
He laughed. “That’s not possible. This is only your first day here.”
“Well, it’s the number that showed up on the piece of paper,” I said defensively.
He was quiet for a moment. “Then I'm your trainer.” He stepped closer to the light, and when I saw him, I was speechless. Three long scars were carved down the side of his face, starting from the forehead, and running across his eye, down his cheek, and under his chin. I swallowed hard, wondering what had happened to him.
I looked away quickly, afraid that me staring at his face would make him angry. I struggled to come up with something to say. “How does that mean you’re my trainer?”
He sighed. “Well, whatever number you get first is the trainer that you get for the rest of your stay.”
I paused, thinking, and then asked, “Have you ever had an apprentice before?”
“Yes. Once... But she died.”
I stopped breathing.
He didn’t let me think about it too long. “Now, if you want to eat, you’d better get going. You have less than an hour before you’re survival session ends.” He handed me a necklace with a black gem hanging on it. “As long as you have this on, I can contact you. If you take it off, your session ends, and you get nothing to eat until tomorrow.”
I took the necklace and hung it around my neck, glancing at him one more time. He nodded in affirmation.
I stepped into the tent, still unsure of myself, and gasped as my surroundings changed.
CHAPTER FOUR
It was still night outside, but the moon was brighter. I was up to my waist in snow, making my lower body completely numb with cold. As I peered around, a drift of icy snow pelted my face.
First of all, tell me what your second form is, said a voice in my head.
“A phoenix,” I said aloud.
My trainer was silent for a moment. Then, he chuckled. If that’s the case, then you’d better change as quickly as possible.
I shuffled through the snow for a little before I realized that he was right. I needed to get in the air if I wanted to eat today. I tried to concentrate on the warmth, but I didn’t feel it.
“Why can’t I call it up?” I asked.
Concentrate on the exact opposite of your fear, he replied.
I thought about it. I had concentrated on warmth, but I was also afraid of darkness. I would have to concentrate on warmth and light.
I closed my eyes, and pictured the dawn of a new day when the sun first starts to melt the snow, and warm your cheeks in the freezing cold. How it brings hope for a new beginning and how it blinds your vision with its brightness.
Then the strange sensation of shifting took over my body. The light flashed again, and after it had gone, I had to wait a while before I could see.
Good, said my trainer, now get into the air.
I don’t know how, I thought to him.
Follow your instincts. Just don’t go too high if you’re unsure of yourself.
I unfurled my wings, stretching them out as far as they could go, and then I launched myself into the air by thrusting them downward. I pushed down again and again until I was high enough to see the mountain from afar. I thought that it migh
t be scary to be up so high, but I found out that it was actually liberating. I angled my wings downward, and plunged toward the ground, thrusting them out again when I felt like I was getting too close to the snow-covered mountain.
I see you’ve got the hang of it already, said the trainer. Now you’re on your own. I can’t help you find a meal. That’s the rules.
Wait! I only see snow and rock! How could there possibly be anything to eat? I said frantically.
There was no reply. I made an audible cry of anger that came out as a shriek. It scared me, but then I remembered. I was a bird. One that's been jostled around a little too much.
The only thing I could think to do was travel to the base of the mountain, where perhaps, because it was of a lower altitude, it would be warmer and have more of a chance of life. I swooped downward through the fog that obscured my vision. There were only jagged rocks, pointed upward in such a way that if I had gone too low, I would have been impaled.
Still hoping, I searched for something, anything that would sustain me. Then, I saw it. There was a white speck circling in the air. I could tell that it was looking for something to eat, too. I pushed my wings down to get higher. It might give me a better vantage point. I didn’t think it had seen me yet. It was looking down, and I was above it. The bird was big, but scrawny. It's white plumage disguised the fact that it was starving. I dove for it, reaching out my talons for capture. It threw me off when they closed around nothing. The bird had heard me after all, and he twisted out of my reach. I searched for him now, but he was already several yards ahead of me, and getting farther still.
I chased him for a long time, but I could never actually catch him.
All of a sudden, my vision went blurry, and it felt like I was plummeting downward. I crashed down into a chair. I was no longer a phoenix and my surroundings had changed back to normal. I was back in the tent. In front of me sat a plate, completely empty. My stomach growled.
My trainer sat in front of me, his plate full of food. I stared at him, disbelieving. “Isn’t being a trainer all about teaching someone how to do something? You left me out there to starve!”