“So we can go home?” Tray clarified.
“No quest—” Fraco began, but he cut himself off with a sigh. “No. Anyone expelled from Periculand will be sent to federal prison, which is where all uncooperative Affinities in Ohio now go.”
“Federal prison?” Tray repeated in outrage, disregarding the sea of eyes now trained on him. “If we don’t obey your little rules, we go to federal prison?”
“Yes, so you’d better start listening to me, Mr. Stark,” the man replied with a gleam of sadism.
“Where is this Angor dude now?” Adara asked skeptically, her dark eyes trailing the room for any sign of the stranger. “If he’s so important, why isn’t he here giving this speech?”
“Mr. Periculy is a very busy man, Stromer,” Fraco barked, his chest puffing defensively. “He does not have time to welcome his petty students—especially not defiant little girls.”
Medea exhaled loudly and rolled her big eyes. “Always so polite, Fraco.”
“Mr. Leve!” he yelped hoarsely. After clearing his throat, he proceeded. “Here, you will be broken up into classifications based on your Affinity, which will determine what you’ll be learning. Now, many of you do not know what your Affinity is, and that is all right—you will be given plenty of time to discover it. Luckily, by using a scientific method Dr. Wright will likely explain to you another time, we are able to determine which class your Affinity is in, based on DNA.
“I will call you each up by name and give you a card with your class, your schedule for school tomorrow, and your room assignment. Every dorm room is located here in the Residence Tower and can be accessed by ascending the spiral staircase.”
“There’s no elevator in this twenty-story building?” Adara intoned.
“Unless you have an Affinity for laziness, which would not surprise me, the stairs should be fine,” Fraco answered curtly. “Now—”
“This building doesn’t seem to meet typical standards,” Tray observed, eyeing the spiral staircase critically. “What if there’s a fire? How will all of the students manage to escape down this tiny stairwell?”
The word fire seemed to rile Adara up even more. “Yeah, and what about the students in wheelchairs? What are they supposed to do?”
Fraco, at this point, visibly twitched. “We have not encountered that problem, considering most Affinities manifest to compensate for disabilities.”
“But do you really think there will never be any students in wheelchairs? I’m taking this up with the Principal—for the sake of the disabled.”
Tray didn’t believe that Adara would ever do anything for the sake of anyone else, but if she inadvertently helped the handicapped population in her quest, then he couldn’t argue.
“Mr. Periculy is a busy man, and he is not to be bothered with trivial problems. Now, Carmen Andrews, if you would please…”
A tall girl on the right side of the crowd hesitantly approached Fraco and took the orange card from his hand. Just after she did, Aethelred snagged the pile of cards from the other man and passed them to Medea and Floretta.
“What are you doing!” Fraco seethed. “I am always the one who hands out the cards!”
“Yes, and it always takes hours,” Aethelred said as he walked around the shorter man to hand a few cards to the other two male teachers.
“Ackerly Terrier!” Floretta sang cheerily as she waved a green card in the air. The boy paled, and Adara nudged him.
“Go meet your girl, Greenie.”
Ackerly coughed and scratched his throat. “Uh—oh—okay.”
“Curfew is at eleven!” Fraco announced over the clamor. “Every student must be back in this building by eleven!”
“Well, that won’t be happening,” Adara snorted, provoking an eye roll from Tray.
“Starks, Stromer,” Fraco called listlessly, and the three of them barged through the crowd to meet him.
“Are we the only students here?” Tray asked the man as he handed the three of them their cards. “How long do we have to stay at this school—in this town?”
“Well, given this is an Affinity town and you are an Affinity, it looks like you’ll be here for the majority of your life, unless you find a Regg employer who’s not prejudiced and you manage to get an ‘okay’ from the government,” he answered with a simper.
“What’s a Regg?” Seth inquired as he studied the blank side of his square paper.
“A Regular person—a non-Affinity,” Fraco informed him dryly. “To answer your other question, Mr. Stark, you fifty newbies are not the only students here. So far, three other classes have entered the school—a new one each year—meaning the oldest class is in its fourth year. Right now, they are likely in town, up in their dorms, or in the library, perhaps.”
“Fourth year?” Adara blurted. “How many freaking years do we need to stay at this school?”
“Mr. Periculy has designed the course to last five years—”
“Five years? That’s longer than high school! We’ll be…we’ll be almost twenty-one when we graduate!”
“Yes, that is correct,” he affirmed, dismissing her with a wave before he called Lavisa’s name.
“You expect us to stay here for five years—without leaving—and not tell our parents?” Tray demanded as his face contorted with rage. “They’re going to be worried—we need to call them!”
“Your parents already knew you’d be taken,” Fraco said with a condescending sigh. “They’ve probably known for months.”
“They knew you were going to kidnap us today? They knew and they weren’t there to say goodbye? They didn’t say anything about it—”
“Goodbyes are hard…for some people,” Fraco said, shrugging as he handed Lavisa her orange card. “I don’t find anything particularly difficult, but—”
“Except opening doors. Ha!” Seth jeered before receiving a high five from Adara.
“That is enough—”
“Also, you got a bit of oil on my card,” he added as he shoved the paper into Fraco’s vision. “I can’t read what class I’m in.”
“You’re in the Physical class, Mr. Stark. If you can’t read the word, the cards are also color coded for the illiterate.”
“I’m Physical, too,” Tray mused as he read over his card. “Stromer, what are you—the evil class?”
“Natural,” she grunted, holding up her green card as they trudged back to where Kiki stood. “Can you believe they expect us to stay in school until we’re twenty-one? I was thinking about dropping out of high school this year, honestly.”
“This country won’t trust people to drink alcohol until they’re twenty-one,” Tray droned. “Are you really surprised they don’t want young people with powers roaming free until they’re that age? I’m surprised the government hasn’t already installed these kinds of schools in every state—if all of this isn’t actually a load of bull, that is…”
“What are you? What are you?” Kiki questioned frantically as she grabbed Seth’s card. “Ugh, Physical! I’m Mental—Mental! What does that even mean?”
A sickeningly sweet smile spread over Adara’s face. “It means you’re a psycho, Belven—just a confirmation of the obvious, really.”
“Are we roommates?” Seth asked as he peered at Tray’s card.
“Actually, Tray’s my roommate,” Ackerly said as he stepped into the conversation, holding up his green slip of paper. “Oh, you’re Natural, too?” he added when he saw Adara’s. “Cool.”
“Yeah, so cool,” she grumbled sarcastically. “My roommate is…Eliana. Oh, Eliana, come over here, so I can explain my insomnia to you.”
“I’m with Lavisca,” Kiki grunted, scrunching her nose as she read her purple card. “Who is that?”
“It’s Lavisa,” the yellow-haired girl corrected as she approached them with Eliana at her side. Hastings lingered behind, fidgeting with his purple card. “We just spent hours in a car together.”
“Oh,” Kiki said, eyeing the girl with distaste.
&
nbsp; “You’re Physical, too?” Seth asked as he observed Lavisa’s orange card. “So’s Tray. This’ll be fun, right?”
“No,” Tray answered immediately. “Nothing about this is going to be fun. High school was fun—the learning aspect, anyway. This is a prison.”
“It won’t be so bad,” Eliana said, peering at each of them with timid blue eyes. “My sister’s here and she told me she likes it…”
“Where’s your sister?” Adara asked as she glanced around the room.
“Oh—well, I don’t know where she is right now…probably with her boyfriend somewhere. She used to write to me and tell me about this place.”
“I’d like to do a little exploring,” Adara suggested, eyeing the glass doors they’d entered the tower through. “Maybe—”
“Guys!” Hartman exclaimed as he jumped in the middle of their circle. “My roommate is awesome. He has rock powers.”
Adara’s eyebrows perked up without amusement. “No one cares, Ginger. Do you wanna come walk around town with us—stir up a little trouble with your pathetic, five-feet teleportation skills?”
“We cannot walk around there at night,” Tray interjected as he grabbed her shoulder to spin her toward him. “It could be dangerous. This is a town full of Wackos—”
“Yeah, and we’re Wackos and this is our home now, Nerdworm,” she countered, her irises flaring with specks of red. That, coupled with the uncomfortable warmth of her skin, was enough for him to release her. “Better get used to it.”
“Are we really going out? If we are, I’ll get Carrick,” Hartman said as his gaze trailed around the circle in search of an answer.
“Well, I’m going out,” Adara announced, tearing her card in half and discarding it over her shoulder. “Don’t know about you losers.” Her malice was directed at Tray, and he had to grit his teeth to withhold a scathing retort. “Get Carrick—I’m interested to hear about his rock powers. I have someone I’d like to stone to death, if he’s into that sorta thing.” This comment was directed at Kiki, whose face warped with rancor.
“I will not stand here and be ridiculed by you. We’re going out, but we’re going to stay away from the real losers. Seth and I will stroll in the moonlight, won’t we?”
“Eh,” he grunted with a noncommittal shrug.
“I guess I’ll have to come and save all your asses when you get mugged,” Lavisa said, like it was a chore.
“Let’s go, then,” Adara prompted as she spun and headed for the door. “Have fun senselessly worrying about us, Nerdworm.”
Tray’s lips twisted with contempt as he watched her go, her pack following obediently behind. How quickly she’d gone from high school outcast to group leader. Just the other day, he’d been her only companion, but now—here—people actually…liked her. They actually followed her, despite her obvious annoyingness and reckless tendencies.
Before his brother could do the same, Tray grabbed his arm. “Seth.”
“Wha—” his twin began, whirling around to face him. When their identical blue eyes met, Seth must have seen the despair in Tray’s, for he shrugged Kiki’s hand off his arm and said, “I’ll catch up with you, babe.”
Huffing and muttering, she strutted after the others, her short skirt swaying as she went. In this town, without any of her groupies to back her up, Tray wondered how he’d ever feared the girl.
“What’s up?” Seth asked with genuine concern. Although his brother was often oblivious, Tray could at least credit him for his earnestness.
“Don’t you find it a bit peculiar that Mom and Dad knew we would be taken and didn’t say anything—didn’t say goodbye? Don’t you find this all strange?” he inquired, gesturing to nothing in particular.
Seth’s answer was slow and hesitant, but Tray knew it wasn’t because he was unsure—it was because he feared his brother’s reaction. “No, not really. This whole scenario seems awesome to me. We’re gonna love it here, Tray, even if they don’t have football or your weird study clubs. We have powers and we’re gonna learn about them. Besides, I’ve got Kiki, and you’ve got…me. It’s all good.”
“But they should have warned us.”
“Maybe they just didn’t want us to be upset about it. If you’d known, you would’ve been against coming—I know that and they would’ve, too. If they want us to be happy, we should be happy. We’ll see ‘em again, don’t worry. I bet there’s a family day.”
“Sounds unlikely…”
“C’mon,” Seth beckoned as he nodded toward the door all of their friends had disappeared through—all of his friends, more accurately. Seth had always had the uncanny ability to befriend anyone he met, but Tray could barely even tolerate the people he was closest with.
Still, the curious, knowledge-loving part of him wanted to map out every inch of this town, so when Seth spoke his next words, there was no reluctance in Tray’s decision.
“Let’s go explore Wackoville.”
6
Different Breeds of Bullies
“Well, this town is lame,” Kiki Belven concluded as she flipped her long, strawberry-blonde hair behind her shoulder. Per usual, she wore a frilly mini skirt and a ridiculous pair of heels, ensuring she towered over all of her peers, except for the Stark twins. “Where are the nightclubs?”
Adara was tempted to trip her. “Not out in the open, where fifteen-year-olds can find them.” For the past ten minutes they’d trekked down the empty, car-less main street, she’d tallied seventeen instances during which she had physically rolled her eyes at Kiki. From her obnoxious voice to the way she clung to Seth like a leech, Adara was thoroughly tired of her presence.
Luckily, there were plenty of other people and places in Periculand to occupy Adara’s attention, since all of the weirdos they’d met in the van had agreed to join her little excursion through town. To her left, Lavisa studied Periculand’s grand, white, and plainly rectangular hospital, the only building fully lit on this starry night. To her right, the pepper-eater, Ackerly, ogled the park on the opposite side of the street, the grass and trees as prominently green as his hair and eyes. Behind her, Nerdworm grumbled to himself about the impracticality of this town’s modern architectural design, as if his opinion alone could alter the fabric of reality. She kept a tally on her eye rolls for Tray now, too: eleven.
Despite her ruse of obliviousness, Adara had noticed her oldest pals lingering in the Residence Tower to have a private twin talk. She would never ask about it, of course, but she liked to imagine Tray had been hissing about her impropriety and stupidity while Seth had faithfully defended her honor. The fabricated conversation playing out in her head was enough curve her lips with glee.
“I wonder where the sports fields are,” Seth said from where he walked hand-in-hand with Kiki just in front of Adara. “They’ve gotta have some sports here.”
“They do.” Ackerly began unfolding a piece of paper he’d been carrying. “I grabbed one of these maps from the tower lounge. There are some sports fields right behind that building we saw when we first got here—the Naturals Building.” He pointed to a green area on the map, and Seth quickly abandoned his girlfriend to snatch it from his hands.
“Sick…” he marveled as he studied the map. “And here’s the firehouse,” he added, motioning toward the white-bricked building they were now passing. “Some kind of government office is to our right…and the police station is on the left up ahead.”
“Oh good, we’ve found the place Stromer will spend most of her time,” Tray jeered. That was twelve eye rolls. “Why don’t you go in, Stromer, and introduce yourself to the men who’ll be arresting you?”
“And women,” Lavisa interjected, her gaze narrowed. “Women can be cops, too.”
“Women like you definitely could,” Hartman agreed, but the mustard-haired girl didn’t seem impressed by his flirtation. He led the pack, walking backward like some tour guide, while his mute roommate, Carrick, strode at his side, his chubby body meeting the ground with a tiny thud at each step.
The strong impact was not due to his weight but instead his Affinity with the pavement beneath their feet. Adara had already dubbed him “Brick” because of his pinkish-red hair and eyes, his Affinity for rock-like substances, and the fact that he was about as dull and lifeless as the bricks that composed the firehouse.
“There are tons of neighborhoods beyond this part of town, too,” Seth went on as his eyes grazed the map. “I guess a lot of people live here.”
“The population is one thousand five hundred thirty-seven,” Ackerly informed him as he pointed to the bottom figure on the map. “Not a ton, but more than you’d think.”
“Our grade is only fifty,” Tray chimed in. “We’ve got a fifth of it here right now.”
“Bravo—you can do math,” Adara droned as she clapped her hands in his face. “I’m so proud.”
“Oh my God! Oh my God, Seth!” Kiki squealed as she nearly jumped into his arms. “There are ghost children ahead!”
Even without following her line of sight, Adara knew this was another one of the blonde’s dramatic attempts to garner attention. It had been far too long since the amazing Kiki Belven had graced them with her voice—a whole three minutes, probably. Eighteen eye rolls. “Well, I think we know Kiki’s Mental power,” Adara taunted. “She can see dead people.”
“I—um…sense something, too, actually,” Eliana piped up. Walking on the outskirts of the group with Hastings, the blue-haired mind reader met Kiki’s eyes bashfully. “I think there are two kids walking down that alleyway ahead.”
Ackerly hastily retrieved the map from Seth and began to search it. “Ah, yeah—there’s a road to our left up here. It’s like a semi-circle that wraps around back to the hospital—with a bunch of shops and stuff.”
“Ooh, let’s go find Kiki’s dead children,” Adara tantalized, right before two young boys jumped out from beyond the police station, one falling to the pavement in a fit of giggles. The other helped him up with a hearty laugh, both unperturbed by the group of teenagers approaching.
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