“Some of the Regg prisoners beat him to death. You can imagine no one cared very much, not until I—” His sentence stopped abruptly as he clamped his mouth shut. After a moment of recomposing himself, his emotions became blank again, and he spoke steadily. “The regular people don’t like us.”
“I know,” she said so softly that he probably didn’t hear her.
“We’re better off in here—in this town,” he went on, studying the white buildings surrounding them, “and maybe…some of us are better off being nowhere at all.” Her eyebrows screwed in puzzlement, but he didn’t elaborate. “Science of Affinities?”
Eliana blinked, momentarily baffled by his words, but then she understood he was asking if that was their first class. “Oh, uh, yeah. It’s in here,” she clarified, motioning toward the Naturals Building. He nodded before stalking toward the glass doors, leaving her to ponder over both of their dark pasts in the brightness of the sun.
“What exactly can you do with your plant power?” Adara asked Ackerly as they crossed the sun-lit campus toward the Physicals Building, where Ackerly claimed the school’s nurse was located. That was, essentially, the only reason she’d forced the kid to tag along: she knew he’d probably been up all night studying Periculand’s map.
“Well, um, I can weed my garden without touching the weeds…and I can make plants grow faster than they’re supposed to,” he told her as he scratched the side of his head. “Only if I touch them, though. My dad’s convinced that, one day, I’ll be able to make plants grow without even touching them—just by willing it to happen.”
Gardening was a foreign concept to her, and she found most plants repulsive, but she was still certain none of those abilities sounded normal. “How is any of that possible?”
“I’m not entirely sure. Some of the Physical Affinities make sense scientifically, but the Mental and Natural Affinities are…seemingly impossible, in many cases. Hopefully they’ll be able to explain it to us in our science class today.”
“Class—ugh. I forgot this was a freaking school…”
A wry smirk tugged at Ackerly’s lips as he glanced at her. “You don’t like school much, do you?”
“Of course not—it’s hell on Earth! I’m assuming you like school, since you’re a nerd.”
“Actually, I’ve never been to school,” he admitted as they circled around the Residence Tower. “I’ve done all of my schooling at home—taught myself everything. I actually…well, I actually graduated high school last year. I was going to start college this year, but then I found out I had to come here.”
Her jaw dropped in disbelief. “You—you graduated high school and you’re sixteen?”
“Fifteen, actually,” he corrected, though he was squirming as he said it.
“Fifteen,” she repeated, shaking her head as a sinister smile spread across her face. “We’ve got to tell Tray about this. He will feel so stupid and inferior if he discovers there’s someone here smarter than him.”
“Tray seems like a good guy, though. I’m surprised you two aren’t friends, since…”
“Since what?”
“Since you both claim you were bullied by Kiki,” the boy finished, wincing slightly as he awaited her reaction.
Her lips twisted as she fought to articulate the right words—the words that wouldn’t make her seem like a weak victim. “We were both bullied by Kiki.”
“You just—I can’t imagine you being bullied by…by anyone, really. I may not know much about, well…about anything social, but you don’t seem like the type to back down.”
“You don’t…you don’t know me,” she said, kicking a stray rock on the pavement. “You don’t know all the crap Kiki and her friends put me through over the years. She’s…different here—not so confident and cruel.”
“So…is that why you’re so, um…mean?” Ackerly questioned delicately as they approached the walkway that led to the Physicals Building. “Because others were mean to you?”
Adara licked her lips and exhaled through her nostrils. “Just…open the door,” she commanded, nodding toward the glass doors that led into the building before them. With the little muscle he had, Ackerly heaved one of the doors open, clearing the way for her to enter. “How chivalrous of you, Greenie,” she added as she passed him, shooting a playful smirk in his direction.
“This way,” he panted as he followed her inside, where they were greeted by a small and fairly empty lobby that branched off into left and right hallways. Ackerly pointed toward the right corridor, which had white walls adorned with various diagrams of human anatomy.
“So, homeschooler, have you ever had any friends?” Adara joked, and when he opened his mouth to respond, she added, “Friends that aren’t plants.” His mouth snapped shut, and she let out a jeering laugh. “You’re not too bad, Greenie,” she said as his cheeks warmed to a glowing pink. “You know, I’ve never really had any friends, either, except for Seth. Any idea why?”
“I feel like, if I answer that, you’re going to punch me in the face,” he responded with enough sincerity to broaden her grin.
“Well, you’re in luck, since we’re at the nurse’s office.” Her eyebrows jumped as she motioned toward the door they’d halted at—the door that read: NURSE.
“Well, um…then I’m guessing you don’t have friends because of your antagonistic personality?” he offered, flinching slightly with his own words.
Her eyes rolled with her head. “No, because of Kiki. Everything is because of Kiki, including my antaganaga personality.”
“Uh, antagonistic.”
“Whatever,” she grumbled as her hand grasped the silver doorknob. “All I’m saying is that I’m a crappy person because Kiki was a crappy person to me first, which should answer your question from before about why I’m so mean—a question you probably shouldn’t have asked at all. I can’t blame you, since you’re a social prude, but most normal people don’t pry into others’ pasts.”
“Oh. Okay…”
“But, if you must know,” she pressed on, “my crappy parents abandoned me, which set the stage for my crappy life.”
“Y-your parents…abandoned you?”
Adara used her free hand to flick his nose, and he let out a yelp. “Stop being nosy, Greenie.”
“You offered the information—”
After shushing him loudly enough to silence him, she turned the knob on the door and thrust it open. The nurse’s office was smaller than the one at her old high school, and it housed only an examination table, some cabinets, two white beds—one of which was occupied by a moaning student—and a desk, which the nurse was currently seated behind.
Upon their entrance, the elderly man glanced up at them with his bruise-blue eyes, a perfect match to the hue of his thinning hair. “Ah, some new primaries.” The nurse pushed out of his chair, revealing his orange scrubs. Gracefully, he stepped around the desk and approached them with an affable smile. “I see you’ve already got an injury to the face. That appears to be a Nero-inflicted injury, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Guess I’m not the first person Nero’s taken a disliking to,” Adara said, standing firm as the old man scrutinized her inflamed nose.
“No, certainly not,” he assured her, tilting his head to the side as his eyes roved her face. “Nero has a taste for violence, and his Affinity only fuels it.”
“Super strength?” Ackerly offered, and the man nodded.
“Super strength, really?” Adara questioned, even though it should have been obvious by the force of his punch—and the sheer size of him. “Of course. How typical: the bully gets strength as his superpower.”
“Well, yes. What sort of bully would he be without the ability to demolish everyone around him?” the nurse mused. “Now, as for your nose, it is broken.”
“Really?”
The man’s expression remained placid, even with her harsh sarcasm. She was almost disappointed, honestly. “I can fix it, but it will hurt a teensy bit.”
“Well, get to it, old man,” she demanded, sticking her nose up toward him. “We don’t have all day. We have to go to class.”
The nurse glanced in Ackerly’s direction. “Nice girlfriend you’ve got.”
The boy’s jaw slackened as he tried to splutter words, but nothing coherent spewed out before a slice of pain shot through Adara’s nose. Without warning, the nurse had brought his hand to her face, eliciting a greater sensation of agony than Nero’s fist had. The broken bone instantaneously popped back into place as the cells surrounding it rapidly rejuvenated to their normal, bruise-free state.
“What the hell did you just do?” Adara barked as her own hand flew up to her nose, which did not throb at her touch. “You—you healed it with your hand!”
“I have an Affinity for healing, my dear,” he informed her with a genial nod.
“Told you,” Ackerly said. His proud expression was squashed instantly by Adara’s glare of hostility.
“I didn’t believe you because it shouldn’t be possible,” she said before glancing back at the old man. “I want you to explain to me how you do that and why you’re…here, in this freaking town, instead of out in the real world, helping people, like you upstanding citizens tend to do.”
“It’s because the law does not allow it,” he replied, strolling back to his desk as he spoke. “The government fears Affinities and what we can do, even if our abilities are beneficial. The impossible becoming reality scares them as much as it scares you—”
“I’m not scared.”
“So, they lock us up in this town,” he finished without acknowledging her interjection. Sighing, he plopped back into his chair and considered her with a wistful grimace. “You would be wise to avoid Nero, Miss Stromer. Yes, I know Avner, and you look just like him,” he added before she could begin to open her mouth. “He’s been into too many fights with Corvis over the years. He’s a kind-hearted boy, your brother, always defending others.”
“Mm, he’s so kind,” she sneered before spinning on her heel and marching toward the exit. “Thanks for the nose-healing magic. I’ll be back soon.”
“I don’t doubt it,” the nurse mumbled as Adara swaggered out of the office with Ackerly at her heels.
“The government is a heap of garbage that deserves to burn in an eternal furnace,” she griped as they exited the Physicals Building.
“So, um…hell?” Ackerly clarified, scurrying to keep up with her brisk pace as they stepped out into the sunlight.
“Worse than hell. It’s bad enough that they’ve put me into this prison-town, but they’ve gotta lock up good people, too?”
Ackerly bit his lip and peeked at her through his glasses. “Well…what are you going to do about it?”
“Nothing,” she said, wrinkling her newly-healed nose. “I’m not some activist, Greenie. You should know well enough by now that I don’t do things for other people.”
“Well, I did just meet you last night.”
“And do you think I’m some hero?”
“Well, no. I’d peg you more as a villain…”
“I may be selfish, but I’m not evil—like Tray thinks I am,” she added, fidgeting uneasily as they walked. “If the world’s spiraling to hell, I won’t be the one to save it, but I will care—or at least pretend to.” She laughed to herself and then looked over at Ackerly with a new spark in her eye. “Enough of this greater good nonsense, though. We’re actually about to enter hell, Greenie, and it’ll be the first time for you.”
“What are you—”
Adara clucked her tongue as she motioned toward the Naturals Building looming in front of them. “Hell, Greenie: class.”
9
Chromosome 24
Since he’d been homeschooled, Ackerly had never been in a classroom before, so stepping into the white-walled lecture hall of their Science of Affinities class was as exciting as it was daunting. Rows of chairs plunged down the stairs to the head of the room, where their teacher stood before a massive screen. Almost every seat was occupied by a primary student, and it wasn’t until one of the Stark twins—Seth, Ackerly thought—called out that he was able to locate their friends—er, Adara’s friends, at least.
“Hey, Adara! Down here!” Seth’s voice rang throughout the hall. Upon noticing he and the others were seated in the second row, Adara made a noise of disapproval.
“I don’t want to sit in the front. Sit in the back with me, Greenie.”
“Well, um…I should probably sit toward the front,” Ackerly admitted as he touched his glasses. “I can’t see so well.”
She rolled her eyes before stomping down the stairs. Following closely behind her, Ackerly couldn’t stop his lips from inching into a soft smile.
Seth, positioned between Kiki and his brother, was beaming when the two joined their row. Adara plopped down in the empty seat next to Tray, completely ignoring Eliana, who had smiled at her from the other side of Kiki. Ackerly sat gingerly in the chair next to Adara and pulled the desk up over his lap.
“This is nice,” he observed.
“Just wait ‘til this lady starts spitting out crap no one cares about,” she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest in defiance.
“You mean facts that intelligent people care about,” Tray corrected, glowering at her, even though she refused to acknowledge him. “Aren’t you curious as to why we might have powers?”
“I’m curious as to what my power is. How I got it doesn’t really concern me.”
“Hey, guys,” Hartman Corvis breathed as he appeared in the aisle next to Ackerly. His bright orange hair was a bit of a mess, but it matched nicely with his yam-colored cargo pants. “Carrick and I were so busy eating that we forgot about class. That buffet is the bomb.”
His roommate smiled weakly at them, and a few stray crumbs fell from his lips.
“Why are you panting?” Adara demanded. “Why would you run down here when you can teleport?”
“Oh, stop mocking him, Stromer.” From this angle, Ackerly could just barely see Lavisa on the opposite side of the row, picking at a scab on her arm. Pausing briefly, she peeked over Hastings’s head to shoot Hartman an accusatory glare. “I’m more interested in why he didn’t sit with us at breakfast but thinks he can sit with us now.”
“Just because we all came to this town together doesn’t mean you guys are my only friends,” Hartman said, scooting past Ackerly to approach the empty seats near Lavisa. Carrick followed, shuffling awkwardly down the aisle and nearly tripping over Kiki’s long legs.
“This better not be as boring as real school,” she said, ignorant to all else, as she examined her pink nails.
“Well, I hate real school, but I’m actually interested in this, so it’s gotta be good,” Seth said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Ackerly noticed Adara’s nostrils flare.
“This is going to suck just as much as any other school,” she complained, her scowl redirecting toward the teacher. Tracing her vision, Ackerly found that their teacher was one of the women who had been there to greet the newcomers the night before—the older, shorter woman with the deep purple hair.
“Good morning, primaries,” she greeted, her voice reverberating off the bare walls and silencing the chatting teenagers. “I will be your Science of Affinities teacher, Dr. Medea Wright. You may call me Dr. Wright or Dr. W, if you prefer.”
“W?” Ackerly heard Kiki hiss. “Since when does ‘Right’ start with W?”
“The stupidity that radiates off her is astonishing,” Tray muttered to Adara, whose lips curled in agreement.
“Allow me to take attendance before we begin,” the teacher said, glancing between her clipboard and the students with squinted purple eyes. After only a brief minute, she placed the clipboard onto the podium and smiled. “Brilliant. You’re all present.”
“Is that…generally how one takes attendance?” Ackerly whispered, and Tray shook his head slowly.
“She doesn’t even know us—”
“No, but I have s
een your pictures, Tray Stark,” Dr. Wright interrupted, causing Tray’s cheeks to flush. Adara snickered under her breath. “They’re on my clipboard. That is how I know each of you is here.”
“But, how—”
“I have magnified vision,” the woman said over Tray’s stammers. With a kind smile, she picked up a thick stack of notebooks and began handing them out as she spoke. “You see, when I was young, I acquired hyperopia, commonly known as farsightedness. I could only see objects far from me—anything close was blurry. This is not an uncommon ailment, but it was inconvenient, especially because my family couldn’t afford to buy me glasses. I could barely read…until my vision began to sharpen.
“I was about ten years old when I started to see clearer—when I started to read and study small things, like insects. I could see their details so intricately—better than anyone I knew. As I aged, my vision improved, giving me the ability to see at a microscopic level. If I wanted, I could see every hair follicle on your arm, every skin particle, and even your cells—even your DNA.”
“Impossible,” Tray said loudly enough for the entire class to hear. Everyone now had a notebook, and Dr. Wright was hopping back down the stairs toward the front of the hall. “Only electron microscopes can view DNA. The human eye couldn’t possibly develop that capability.”
“Ah, but my eyes have evolved far past normal capabilities,” she reminded him as she passed their row. “Most Affinities are…scientifically impossible, actually. As a science lover, it’s been hard to grasp, but there are many things we do know about Affinities.”
“One thing I do like about class,” Adara said quietly to Ackerly, “is when Tray tries to defy the teacher and gets shut down hardcore.”
Ackerly tried quite adamantly to stifle a grin as Dr. Wright started up the projector. The title on the first slide that popped up on the screen was simply Affinities.
“There should be a pen with each notebook,” the teacher informed them as she positioned herself behind the metallic podium, “and I expect you all to take notes. There will be a quiz on this material next class.”
Blood: An Affinities Novel (The Affinities Book 1) Page 11