Akarnae

  Now she would have to come up with some little white lies.

  “I was desperate to go by that stage.” The words were true, even if the meaning was different. “I didn’t want to walk all the way back inside and ask for clearer directions, only to get lost all over again.” That was less true, but not terribly deceitful. “It turned out that Darrius had the headmaster’s Communications Globe with him and when he offered it to me all I could think was that it would be so much easier to find a bathroom when I knew where they were, so I used the Globe to get back here. Silly, I know, but I do feel much better now.”

  That was also the truth. But she was really starting to need that bathroom break again.

  “What can I say?” She sent them an apologetic grin. “When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go.”

  “What is it with girls and bathrooms?” Jordan asked Bear quietly, as if forgetting that Alex was right there.

  “I’m kind of stuck here now, I guess.” She was saddened by the thought that she wouldn’t get to say a proper goodbye to the Ronnigans.

  “Yeah, that sucks,” Bear said. “We’d come and get you, but the academy’s security wards won’t allow us to Bubble in until Sunday afternoon like everyone else. If only we all had ComGlobes, hey?”

  “That would be nice,” she agreed. “Will you thank your family for me? And tell them how sorry I am that I didn’t get to say goodbye?”

  “Yeah, no problem,” Bear said. “You’ll see them again, Mum’ll make sure of that. You’re one of us now, just like Jordan here.”

  Alex smiled at the thought.

  “And we’ll make sure to bring all your stuff back with us, too,” Jordan promised.

  “Thanks guys, you’re the best.”

  “We know.”

  “Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you both the day after tomorrow,” she said.

  “It’s already tomorrow,” Jordan informed her. “Happy New Year, Alex.”

  She glanced down at the time displayed on her ComTCD and realised he was right. “Happy New Year,” she repeated back to them.

  “May this one be even more interesting than the last,” Bear added and she groaned, causing them both to laugh.

  “Don’t even think that,” she said, before wishing them goodnight and terminating their connection.

  That went better than expected, Alex thought as she exited the room and hurried down the staircase.

  It was late, already after midnight, and she wasn’t sure if she should follow Darrius’s advice and seek out Jarvis. She decided to try his office just in case he was still up, but if he wasn’t there then she would look for him in the morning.

  She couldn’t remember what floor the headmaster’s office was on, so she had to walk down the entire staircase before ascending it again to reach Jarvis’s office on the eighth floor. She knocked on the closed door, not really expecting an answer, and was surprised when it opened.

  “Alex?” Jarvis’s tired eyes widened comically at the sight of her. His clothing was rumpled and he looked like he was about to drop with exhaustion. “What are you doing here? In the middle of the night, no less?”

  “Hi, Jarvis,” she said. “Do you have a minute?”

  He ushered her into his office, motioning for her to take a seat.

  “What happened to you?” he asked, taking in her formal attire—and her injury.

  “Oh, it’s nothing, really,” she said, waving away his concern. Now that she was safe and warm it didn’t seem as bad. “Just one of those wrong place, wrong time things. Come to think of it, they happen to me a lot.”

  He looked at her seriously. “Alex, please. What are you doing here? No, how did you get here?”

  She handed him the Communications Globe.

  His brow furrowed with bafflement as he turned the misty sphere over in his hands. “Where did you get this?”

  “My friend Darrius gave it to me,” she answered. ‘Friend’ seemed as good a title as any for the man who kept popping up unexpectedly. “He said it belongs to the headmaster.”

  Jarvis looked surprised. “You were with Darrius tonight?”

  “You know him?”

  He nodded—somewhat hesitantly—so she answered, “We ran into each other at the New Year’s Eve Gala.” When Jarvis continued to eye her strangely, she asked, “Is there a problem?”

  “No, no, not at all. It’s just… I didn’t realise you were on such familiar terms.”

  “I hardly know him, really,” Alex said. “He just sort of turns up whenever I need him.”

  Jarvis laughed. “Yes, he does seem to have a bit of a sixth sense about him.”

  “Thankfully that sixth sense led him to me tonight,” Alex said. “He saved me from a difficult situation at Chateau Shondelle, and bada-bing, here I am.” She then pointed to the ComGlobe. “He also mentioned you’d be able to get that back to Professor Marselle.”

  “I’m sure he did,” Jarvis murmured. In a louder voice he asked, “Do you want to tell me what happened to your neck?”

  “Just part of that difficult situation I mentioned,” she said, not wanting to elaborate.

  Jarvis waited to see if she would say more, and when she didn’t, he pursed his lips and said, “I can see you’re tired, so I’ll let it go for now. But I will be discussing this with the headmaster.”

  “Discuss away,” Alex said, unsure why Professor Marselle would even need to know about it. Or care, for that matter.

  “You should go and get some rest, Alex,” Jarvis said. “You’re a bit pale.”

  I’m sure I am, she thought, suddenly exhausted.

  Alex bid him farewell and stumbled down the staircase and out of the Tower, heading straight to her dorm building. Her visit to Fletcher would have to wait until morning since she was too tired to go anywhere but to her bed.

  Bathroom first, she corrected, then bed.

  Thirty-Three

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Mmmghnfffff…”

  “I said, what are you doing here?”

  The voice was annoyingly insistent. Alex pulled her pillow over her head, hoping to block out the sound.

  “You’re bleeding,” the voice said again, this time not as loud, but definitely closer. “Why are you bleeding?”

  Alex groaned when the questions continued to interrupt her peaceful sleep. She moved the pillow away from her face and opened bleary eyes, surprised to find her roommate standing over her.

  “D.C.?” she said in a sleepy voice. “Why are you in my room?”

  “It’s our room. And what are you doing here? Students aren’t due back until tomorrow afternoon.”

  Alex sat upright, remembering that she wasn’t at the Ronnigans’ house anymore. She rubbed her eyes, feeling the cut on her neck pull with the movement. “Ow.”

  “What happened to you?” D.C. asked again. If Alex didn’t know any better, she would have thought that the other girl seemed concerned. But that wasn’t possible.

  “Nothing,” Alex mumbled, dragging herself out of bed. She quickly dressed in a pair of jeans and a thick woollen coat before she looked over at her roommate. The other girl seemed almost disappointed by the lack of explanation but Alex wasn’t sure why, since D.C. never usually cared about anything Alex had to say.

  “And you’re back early because…?” D.C. asked again.

  “Why are you here early?” Alex asked, turning the question around.

  “I never left,” D.C. answered.

  “You stayed here for Kaldoras? On your own?” Alex asked before she could stop herself. “What about your family?”

  D.C.’s expression tightened and Alex regretted asking something so personal when they were barely even on speaking terms.

  “My family is away on business,” D.C. said. “And I wasn’t alone. There were other students who stayed here.”

  “Right,” Alex said. “Did you have fun?”

  She cringed. What a stupid question. D.C. must have thought so too, judging by her exp
ression.

  “I answered your question, now why are you here early?” she asked for the third time.

  “Does it really matter?” Alex released a frustrated breath. “I’m here now, and everyone else will be back tomorrow. What’s the big deal?”

  “The security wards shouldn’t have let you in,” D.C. said. “So that means you must have come back because of special circumstances.”

  The red-head’s eyes flickered to Alex’s wounded throat, but Alex just shrugged, neither denying nor confirming her assumption.

  “I’m just concerned for my own safety,” D.C. continued. “If someone’s after you, they might come after me to get you. I deserve to know if I have to watch my back because I have a roommate who can’t keep her nose out of other people’s business.”

  Okay, that wasn’t fair.

  Not wanting to say or do something she’d later regret, Alex turned away from the other girl and walked straight out the doorway, ignoring D.C.’s cries for her to come back and answer her questions.

  Presuming it was too late for breakfast, Alex headed directly to the Med Ward. Fletcher was there, just like she’d hoped, but he wasn’t alone. With him stood another man, someone she’d never seen before. He was interesting to look at, with dark skin and a tangled mess of flaxen-coloured hair that was braided halfway down his back. Short for a man, he stood just under Alex’s height, but what he lacked in length was made up for in steroid-like muscle mass. Aside from the strange contrast between his dark skin and light hair, Alex rather thought he reminded her of a Viking, with his long moustache and thick plaited beard. But her observation could have also been influenced by the horned helmet resting atop the crown of his head and the armour wrapped around his torso.

  Despite his bizarre attire and weathered features, the Viking man had a kind face and directed a beaming smile towards her when she approached.

  “Alex!” Fletcher greeted. “Jarvis said you might be paying me a visit today.”

  “I couldn’t stay away,” Alex said. “You know how much I love this place.”

  He tsked quietly as he looked at her neck. “Classes haven’t even started back yet and already you’re here to see me. That book must have been very helpful.”

  She laughed with him. “Yes, thank you. I particularly liked the ‘Doctor! Doctor!’ jokes.”

  “I’m pleased to hear it,” Fletcher said. “I don’t believe you’ve met Varin yet, have you?”

  “Varin?”

  “That’s me,” said the other man, his voice as large as his muscles.

  Varin the Viking, Alex mused. Seems fitting.

  “Nice to meet you,” she said, feeling strangely at ease around him.

  “Likewise, Alex,” Varin said. “Fletch here has been regaling me with tales of your misfortune. You certainly do like his Medical Ward, don’t you?”

  Something clicked then and Alex realised Varin was the patient who had been in quarantine on the day of the Lockdown, the one she’d overheard Fletcher speaking with.

  She covered her shock quickly with an annoyed expression. “What happened to doctor–patient confidentiality, Fletcher?”

  He just grinned and motioned for her to jump up onto the closest bed.

  “I better get going and leave you to it,” Varin said. “But I’ll see you in class on Thursday, Alex.”

  “Class?” she repeated, not sure what he meant.

  “Species Distinction,” he clarified. “I’m your professor, but I use that term lightly.”

  “Oh.” Alex had completely forgotten that her spare period wasn’t actually a spare period.

  Varin waved goodbye to both of them and Fletcher excused himself for a moment before he returned with her file.

  Alex eyed it warily. “It’s getting kind of big.”

  Fletcher chuckled. “You’re one of my best patients.” He placed the clipboard onto the bed. “Now, let’s have a look at you.”

  He poked and prodded before finally using a vanilla-scented salve to seal her skin back together. Within seconds her wound was completely healed, and Fletcher ushered her out the door, ordering her to enjoy what remained of her holidays.

  The rest of Alex’s day passed by uneventfully. Her Equestrian Skills instructor, Tayla, invited her on a trail ride out into the snow-covered forest, and afterwards Alex helped clean out the stables in preparation for the start of classes. When she made it back to her room after dinner that night she was exhausted, but satisfied with her hard day’s work.

  Determined to keep her good mood, Alex ignored D.C. who was already in bed, reading. She thought her roommate would follow her lead, but she was wrong.

  “What I said this morning—” D.C. started to say.

  “Don’t,” Alex cut in. “You don’t have to worry. No one is coming after me. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that’s all.” She kept her voice low and calm. It was easier to keep her annoyance in check that way.

  “I didn’t mean—”

  “Seriously,” Alex interrupted again. “You’re perfectly safe.”

  “But—”

  “And even if someone was coming after me,” Alex broke in again, “I’m sure you would still be safe, since anyone with half a brain can tell that we’re not friends. They would have to be pretty thick to try and get to me through you.”

  D.C. didn’t try and talk again. She didn’t do anything, in fact, except slowly raise her book once more. Her sleeves were rolled up and Alex felt her throat tighten when she noticed that the other girl was wearing the charm bracelet she’d sent her for Kaldoras. Something about the gesture brought tears to Alex’s eyes, and she realised that she must be more tired than she’d thought if she was so affected by something that clearly meant nothing.

  Thirty-Four

  Alex was bored, and that was the only excuse she had for being in the foyer of the Library the next afternoon. Her friends weren’t due back to the academy for a few more hours, and she needed something to do while she waited for their arrival. Against her better judgement, she decided that a trip to the Library could prove to be the perfect distraction. When she’d last travelled into its depths she’d almost been beheaded, but the time with Sir Camden had definitely given her a taste of adventure. A similar experience—perhaps with a touch less danger—might be exactly what she needed.

  The foyer walls had all changed since her last visit, and Alex paused to admire a beautiful oil painting of a waterfall cascading down into a lake-filled valley. It was so realistic that she almost felt as if the water was trying to fall right out of the painting.

  The librarian wasn’t anywhere to be seen so, moving away from the painting, Alex headed across the room and started down the staircase. Just like the last time, it continued much further down than normal.

  Even though it was her intention to explore, Alex still had a fluttery feeling in her stomach. She wondered if she might find Darrius again, and she could ask him more questions about what had happened at the Gala. Or maybe she would have another run-in with her knight in shining armour.

  The possibilities were still running through her mind when the staircase came to an abrupt end at a solid stone wall with a single door cut into it. The simple piece of wood was closed, but Alex felt as if it was beckoning her to open it up and step inside.

  After hesitating for a moment, she reached out and opened the door to find… nothing. Just a dark, empty space.

  Alex stepped forward for a closer look, and the moment her head moved past the doorframe, invisible hands pulled her body through. She couldn’t help but let out a surprised shriek when she discovered there was no floor beneath her feet anymore, and she plummeted through the darkness at an alarming speed until she was jerked to a halt and suspended in mid-air. Heart pounding, she waved her arms around, searching for something solid to grasp hold of, but all she found was more air.

  Ever so slowly, Alex felt herself being lowered until she felt solid ground beneath her, much to her relief.

  Despite t
here being no distinguishable source of light, the darkness began to fade as a bluish luminescence lit up the large space surrounding her. Soon enough Alex was able to see that she was in a cavern of some sort. It was a deep, rocky crevasse in the ground, with no discernible entrance or exit. She was completely underground.

  There was a body of churning water not far from where Alex sat, the noise echoing loudly around the enclosed space. It was a river, roughly ten metres wide, slicing through the middle of the cave and splitting it in half. The pitch-black water flowed rapidly through semi-submerged fissures cut into the rock on opposite sides of the cavern. The two fissures were barely large enough for the raging torrent of water to pass through, and they appeared to be the only breaks in the otherwise solid walls of the underground chamber.

  Alex rose and started walking carefully around the cave, wondering why she was there.

  “Why do you think?”

  Her heart skipped a beat and she whirled around, expecting to find someone behind her. But no one was there.

  “Weird,” she muttered to herself, figuring the noise of the river echoing around the cavern was playing tricks on her mind.

  When she made it to the solid rock wall, she followed it along until she reached the river’s entrance. Keeping her distance from the fast, dark water, Alex knelt to the ground and peered into the fissure. There didn’t seem to be any way for her to get through the gap without entering the water. She looked down at the churning river and felt her stomach clench with dread at the thought. Even if she had some kind of inflation device, Alex would still be hesitant to use it. She was a strong swimmer—she maintained that her near-drowning in PE wasn’t her fault—but the current was way too rapid. She wouldn’t venture in unless she absolutely had to.

  Alex followed the wall back the other way until she reached the opposite side, where the river exited the cave. Again she found that it was impossible to pass through the fissure without jumping into the water.