Akarnae

  Alex’s History class turned out not to be as boring as she expected. The enigmatic teacher, Doc, kept his students entertained with his worldly tales of adventure. He was easily the smartest man Alex had ever met, as evidenced when he randomly broke into other languages. Apparently he was fluent in twenty-seven different dialects—twenty-six of which Alex had never heard of before.

  The Equestrian Skills instructor, Tayla, was just as cool as Jordan had promised. But despite her friendliness, Tayla still told Alex that she would have to prove herself before joining the Epsilon class proper—a class that, to Alex’s annoyance, included her still-incensed-for-no-apparent-reason roommate. Fabulous.

  As for Alex’s Species Distinction class, it turned out that the teacher had contracted some kind of rare influenza from one of the creatures in his care, which left him quarantined and his students with a free period. Alex wasn’t one to complain—she had a lot of homework and was grateful for the added free time—but she was still curious about the subject and looked forward to seeing what it was all about once the teacher was better.

  Easily the strangest class she had was Studies of Society and Culture—or SOSAC—but not because of the subject itself. Professor Caspar Lennox was the teacher and one glance had left Alex wondering if he was a vampire. His skin was a mottled grey colour, and his long hair and eyes were the blackest black Alex had ever seen. Even stranger were his feet—or rather, where his feet should have been. It seemed as if he walked on a swirling mass of black cloud. Every step the man—vampire!—took wrapped his feet in the dense black substance. It was downright creepy. Add to that his long, hooded cape, made out of some kind of shimmering black material, and he was officially on Alex’s list of people who she never wanted to meet down a dark alleyway at night.

  Fortunately, Jordan was seated next to Alex in her first SOSAC class and he took pity on her wide-eyed stare and whispered, “He’s a Shadow Walker.”

  Was that a code word for vampire? Probably not. Akarnae had some admittedly questionable teaching staff, but she doubted that a lean, mean, blood-drinking machine would be allowed to educate students on a day-to-day basis.

  So, a Shadow Walker? That definitely sounded awesome.

  Despite Caspar Lennox’s disturbing appearance, his voice was melodious and soothing as he delivered his lecture about the dignitaries of Tryllin—Medora’s capital city—and the governing monarchy. Alex learned that King Aurileous Cavelle was the current ruler, and he lived in Tryllin with his wife, Osmada Cavelle, and their only child. Apparently the entire royal family was beloved by the people—or so claimed Caspar Lennox.

  When the SOSAC teacher moved on from the royal discussion, Alex quickly lost concentration. How was she ever supposed to remember that Samson Graver, the one-eyed juggler from Dupressa, was related to Preston Ballantyne, the current High Court judge of a place called Mardenia? And really, who cared?

  All in all, it was a strange class. But so were all her classes at Akarnae. Alex had no doubt that without Jordan and Bear, she never would have survived her first day at the academy, let alone her entire first week. And her continued existence truly was a miracle, since half of her teachers were slave-driving psychopaths, her subjects ranged from unethical to downright deadly, and her roommate, D.C., made her feel like a walking disease.

  Jordan and Bear were Alex’s anchors; if not for them, she would have left the academy and searched for the headmaster on her own despite having no idea where he was. But the three of them had become rock-solid friends and Alex was willing to keep on waiting for Marselle’s return as long as they continued to cheer her up at the end of each increasingly difficult day. She’d met a few of her other classmates, but everyone was so focused that they barely paid her any attention. Jordan and Bear, though… well, they made the effort. And she was beyond grateful.

  Another thing she was grateful for was the meeting she’d had with Jarvis mid-way through the week. The administrator had called her to his office and explained more about Medora, telling her that the world itself was similar to her Earth—Freya—in that it had started out as one massive supercontinent, but instead of the land breaking apart into smaller continents, natural disasters had ripped Medora’s coastlines to shreds and submerged whole chunks of land under the ocean. In the end, what was left was one single land mass which was given the same name as the world—Medora. It was separated in the middle by the Durungan Ranges, a collection of mountains that spread from the eastern shore right across to the western sea cliffs. For the sake of simplicity, anything located north of the mountains was called the Northland, and anything located to the south was the Southland.

  The names were completely lacking in creativity, but whatever.

  She’d also learned that Akarnae was located in the south of the Northland, right in the heart of Medora. And, even better, the seasons were exactly like what she was used to back on Freya—with the Northland being like the Northern Hemisphere of Earth, and the Southland being like the Southern Hemisphere. Even the dates matched up, including the school year which was from August to June, when the academy broke up for summer holidays. So weird. But it simplified everything for her, at least. Which meant that, once more, she decided just to accept the strangeness.

  Sometimes that was easier said than done, and by the end of the week when Friday evening finally rolled around, Alex was exhausted. Classes had finished for the day and she, Jordan and Bear were sitting in the Rec Room with Connor and Mel, two of their age-based classmates who happened to be cousins. The five of them were finishing up with their Med Sci homework, and Alex was struggling to keep her eyes open.

  “What do you think, Alex?”

  She looked up from her work, trying to clear the cobwebs from her mind. “Huh?”

  Her friends laughed at her deer-in-the-headlights confusion, until Mel took sympathy on her and said, “You look wrecked. Maybe you should call it a night?”

  Alex nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I think I might. This week has been insane. I’ll see you all later.”

  After a round of goodnights, Alex retreated upstairs to her dorm. D.C. was already in bed reading a book and her startlingly blue-green eyes narrowed in displeasure when Alex stepped into their shared space.

  “You can glare at me all you want, but it’s not going to change the fact that this is my room too,” Alex said, too tired to care if she sounded rude.

  “Maybe I’m hoping that one of these days you’ll get the hint that you’re not welcome,” D.C. said, her gaze moving back to her book.

  Alex snorted. “Trust me, I’ve been reading you loud and clear all week. But this is me not caring.”

  With that, Alex settled into bed for the night. The week’s events caught up to her the moment her head hit the pillow and she was sound asleep before her roommate could even voice a snarky reply.

  Nine

  Crunch, crunch, crunch.

  A strange noise woke Alex the next morning. It was so out of place in her otherwise quiet room that she snapped her eyes open and bolted upright in a panic. Her quick movement almost caused her to smack straight into the smirking face of Jordan, who was sitting on the edge of her bed, eating from a bowl of cereal.

  “Wakey wakey, Sunshine.”

  Alex groaned and collapsed back onto her bed, shoving her pillow over her head. “Wha-re-oo-ing-ma-oom?” she asked, her words muffled by the material.

  Jordan prised the pillow out of her sleep-weakened fingers and pulled it away from her face.

  “Pillow talk, huh? Didn’t know you felt that way about me,” he said, winking at her.

  She glared back at him. He was way too chirpy in the morning.

  “I said,” she repeated, ignoring his attempt to embarrass her, “what are you doing in my room?”

  He shrugged and took another mouthful of cereal. Crunch, crunch, crunch. “I was bored.”

  Alex looked at the clock beside her bed and groaned again. “Can’t you be bored somewhere else? It’s Saturday!”

>   “I know, but you missed breakfast,” he told her, like it really mattered. “Caring friend that I am, I brought you some.”

  Jordan handed her the half-eaten bowl of cereal like it was a prized treasure. She scrunched her nose up at it and shook her head, so he moved the spoon to his mouth once more.

  “Your loss,” he said.

  Alex sat up and leaned against the headboard. “How did you get in here? I thought you said only D.C. or I could open our door?”

  “Yep,” he said, scooping up more cereal. “But you forget what my gift is.”

  Jordan wiggled his eyebrows and she remembered that he could move through solid objects while invisible.

  “How long have you been sitting here?” she asked, slightly creeped out by the idea that he’d been watching her sleep.

  “Not long,” he said. Something about the twinkling of his eyes warned her that she shouldn’t have asked. “But long enough to know that you talk in your sleep.”

  “I do not!” she spluttered, her face growing warm.

  “Yeah, you do.” He grinned knowingly and scraped the last of the cereal from the bowl.

  Alex desperately wanted to ask what he’d heard, but most of her dignity had already flown out the window. She was determined to keep the little that was left, so she pushed Jordan aside and headed to the bathroom. After washing her face and cleaning her teeth, she wandered back into the room to find her friend exactly where she’d left him.

  “Tell me something,” she said, sitting down again. “Do you sneak into all the girls’ dorm rooms?”

  He laughed. “I don’t need to sneak in, Alex.”

  Seeing the face she pulled, he laughed again.

  “Okay, okay,” he said, relenting. “I can tell that you’re going to freak out about me being some kind of pervert now, but there’s no need since I can’t transcend through these doors. The security features protect against any gift-related tampering. At a school for people with special skills—not to mention teenage hormones—I guess they figured it was better to be safe than sorry. I have to get in and out like every other person.”

  “Then how did you get in here?” Alex asked again.

  He looked at her like it should have been obvious. “D.C. let me in.”

  “What?” she asked, bewildered. Why would her malevolent roommate have let Jordan into the room? That would have been considered nice.

  “D.C.,” Jordan repeated. “Also known as the grumpy redhead with terrible people-skills.”

  “How unexpected,” Alex muttered, accepting that miracles apparently did happen. “Right, moving on. What are we doing today?” It was her first weekend in this strange new place and she was excited to see what sort of things they could get up to.

  “About that…” Jordan fiddled uncomfortably with a fraying thread on her blanket. “I got a message last night reminding me about my detention with Finn this weekend.”

  Alex had forgotten all about the punishment Karter had given him when she’d first arrived at the academy. How annoying. “That sucks, Jordan. But you don’t have to look so worried—I’m sure Bear will keep me entertained until you’re free again. Where is he, anyway?”

  Jordan looked even more uncomfortable. “Actually, Bear’s doing some extra credit Chemistry project with Fitzy. He only found out last night after you went to bed early, but he’s going to be locked away in a lab all of today, and probably tomorrow too.”

  “Oh.” Alex tried not to show how disappointed she felt. “Well, maybe Connor and Mel will be free to hang out. They seem pretty cool.” Granted, Alex hadn’t spent much time with the cousins, but they’d acted friendly enough on the few occasions she’d been with them.

  Jordan winced. “Uh, they’re not here, Alex. They take off home every weekend for some kind of family thing.”

  Feeling disheartened, Alex only said, “I guess that means I’m on my own, huh?”

  “I’m really sorry,” Jordan said. “But if it makes you feel any better, I’ll be free after dinner. Bear, too. We can all hang out in the Rec Room or something.”

  She smiled weakly at him. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

  “I’d better get going if I don’t want Finn to give me any extra work,” he said, nudging her knee affectionately. “But I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

  “Sure thing,” she said, watching as he stood and walked to the door.

  The moment Alex was alone again, she sighed and looked around her room. She had been in Medora for less than a week, but she was so used to having either Jordan or Bear—or both—around that she wasn’t sure what to do now that she found herself facing a large amount of time without them. She was surprised by her newfound sense of reliance, since she’d never been a clingy person before; she’d always maintained a strong sense of independence. But there was just something nice about having friends—something she’d never personally experienced. She loved her parents, for sure, but she was only just beginning to realise how much she’d missed out on because of their career-driven lifestyles. Her upbringing had caused friendships to seem so overrated, but she knew that wasn’t the case anymore. It was just annoying that now, when she actually had friends, she still had to spend the weekend alone.

  But then again, perhaps it was a good idea to create some distance between her and the boys. Eventually she would be going home, and it wasn’t like she’d be taking either of them with her. They belonged in Medora, and Alex belonged in Freya. It was as simple as that.

  “Enough of this,” Alex muttered, scrunching her face up at her turbulent thoughts. She didn’t have to make a choice between having friends and not having them—it was already done. She would be foolish not to enjoy her time with them while she could, even if it meant that she would miss them when she was back in her world. Better to have loved and lost, and all that.

  With a nod to herself, almost like she was mentally sealing her decision, Alex moved to her wardrobe, determined to make the most of her day regardless of who she was—or wasn’t—spending it with.

  Alex was completely ravenous when lunchtime arrived. She’d successfully whittled her morning away by completing her pile of homework—mostly from Medical Science, surprise, surprise—and she planned to spend the rest of the afternoon reading through her Core Skills textbooks to research the topic of giftings. Despite seeing Jordan use his transcendence gift and Bear use his charm, she still found the concept difficult to grasp.

  After eating a quick lunch, Alex hurried back to her dorm room and deliberated which of her three textbooks she should start with. They all sounded interesting: Unwrapping Your Gift: How To Grow Your Talent And Better Your Skills by Miranda Crotchett; A Comprehensive Study Of Personal Giftings by Phillippe R. Brandon; and So, You Think You’re Gifted? by Laurence Tillman.

  In the end, Alex decided on the comprehensive study. She didn’t think she was gifted, so that eliminated the third option, and since she didn’t have a gift to unwrap, she skirted away from the first.

  Heading outside, she settled underneath a tree by the lake. It didn’t take long before she was mesmerised by the book in front of her. Hours passed as the sun slowly moved across the horizon. A late afternoon breeze stirred up the grass and whistled through the trees. And still, Alex kept on reading.

  While some scholars claim that only a minority of individuals have the ability to access personalised giftings, notable theorist Fredérike Von Duffé suggests otherwise. Von Duffé believes that every single human being has the potential to use and develop their own personal gift, but it is only the minority who have the natural biological and psychological connection to their gift that allows for easier access. Von Duffé writes in his book, For Richer or Poorer: Gift Equality for the Common Man, “Why would one person be given such great power and another not? Perhaps the better question is, why would one person be able to access such power and another not?”

  While the theorist’s beliefs are stirring, especially for those desiring such gifts, Von Duffé’s research lacks suppor
tive data and empirical evidence, and thus is generally discredited by other professionals in the field…

  The feeling of hot air blowing against her ear startled Alex. Standing directly behind her was Monster, a shaggy little pony Tayla had assigned Alex to care for in her Equestrian Skills class. He was only the size of a large dog, barely coming up to her hip, but he had more than enough personality to cover his diminished height and he’d quickly found his way into her heart.

  “Hey, little fella,” she cooed, scratching behind his ears. “What are you doing sneaking up on me?”

  Looking out at the setting sun, Alex realised just how late it was. She’d been so caught up in her reading that she hadn’t noticed how fast the afternoon had passed.

  Alex picked herself up off the ground and gave Monster one last pat before heading off to her dorm building. She was surprised when he followed along beside her like a shaggy pet dog.

  “Looks like you’ve made a friend.”

  Alex glanced up to find Bear leaning casually beside the entry to the dorm.

  “It wasn’t hard,” she said. “I gave him an apple the other day. We’re best friends for life now.”

  “If only it was always that easy,” Bear said.

  Monster chose that moment to nudge Alex with his rather solid head, causing her to stumble forward. Bear laughed at the display and Alex turned her glare from the pony to her friend.

  “What are you doing out here, anyway?” she asked, trying to shoo Monster away.

  “I was waiting for one of you guys to get back so we can go for dinner. Have you seen Jordan yet?”

  Alex shook her head. “Not since this morning. How long do you think Finn’ll keep him out?”