The Academy [BOOK ONE COMPLETE]

White hands grabbed my right shoulder and left wrist. Where did they come from? A stark white girl pushed me back. Her palms made a scratching sound against my robe.

“Grit?” I asked, but I was already falling backward.

We crashed into the floor, me landing on my back, Minnelil and Grit on top of me. I saw the Kertharian, Lombarte, rushing up another flight of stairs. He turned back and I saw the scar flicker on his face, but it wasn’t true. The ice on the floor was melting under my hands, wet and cold.

“Lina!” Grit shouted into my face.

I flinched away from the shout and hit the back of my head on the floor. “Ow! Damn, stop.”

“You stop!” Grit said, rolling off from me. She opened her mouth to keep talking, but Minnelil tugged on the hem of Grit’s robe.

Grit pulled her up. Minnelil was much lighter than Grit despite being taller. Skinny. Her elbow had poked me in the ribs.

My muscles ached and my eyes stung. I sat up, rubbing my face to avoid looking at anyone.

“Whoa,” Fek said. He hovered behind Grit’s back, dry and clean, the only one of us who hadn’t rolled around on the ice. “Everyone okay? I’ve never seen Lombarte run away like that. Man, you shout loudly.” He rattled the sentences off one after another, no break in between.

I guess I had shouted. My throat felt raw. I didn’t remember shouting, but the air held the shocked silence following a terrible roar.

Minnelil glanced around the platform and grabbed my hands. She pulled me up. “Okay, let’s get inside.”

I scraped the ice with my nails to remind me where I was. “I’m not comin—“

“You are,” Minnelil said. “We’re not leaving you alone.”

“And I’m not missing dinner,” Grit said.

“What?” I asked. I was numb, confused.

I started getting angry, bristling at them telling me what to do, when Fek poked me hard in the ribs.

I yelped and he dodged past us. “Exam days have the best food!” he shouted, taking a running step toward the Dinner Hall.

Minnelil let go of my hand and grabbed Fek’s cowl. His leg kicked forward and he made a gagging sound.

“Nice try,” Minnelil said. “But no one’s getting off with a joke this time.”

Fek rubbed at his neck and grimaced. “I don’t like when you take things seriously.”

“Too bad,” Minnelil said.

I had really messed up this time. I started to say something, but stopped as I considered what could have happened. Marcus would have needed to spend a week pouring ambrosia on Lombarte if I had caught up to him.

The anger rose again as I imagined his face, mixing with the Kertharian archer, but Minnelil tugged on my hand and I stumbled forward a step.

“Come on. Let’s find some seats. If Frederik has good seats reserved, we’ll take them and tell him to move.”

“I bet he’ll start crying,” Grit said.

---

Frederik took one look at my face and stood up. “What happened?”

Grit shouldered Fek, and Minnelil crushed my hand in hers. Both Fek and I yelped.

“Can we sit here? And have some privacy?” Minnelil said.

“Of course, but what—“

“It’s just some girl stuff,” Grit said.

“But what about him?” Frederik asked quietly, as she patted him on the back and pushed him away.

Fek sat down opposite me. Frederik had managed to get good seats. There were only a few smaller tables in the Hall and this one had six spots.

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” I muttered.

“That’s the problem!” Minnelil said. “What happens when you… oh.” She pushed a hand into her hair, tugging at the tip of her pointy ear.

“Huh?” Grit asked. “The last time we met Lombarte, the same thing happened. You said something about…”

“What is everyone realizing?” Fek asked after a moment.

“The Kertharian war,” Grit said.

They went quiet. I didn’t say anything. Frederik sat at the next table, leaning over toward us, brow furrowed. The skeletons busied themselves, piling food on the table before all the students. I couldn’t talk about this, but I didn’t stop them either.

No one had ever talked about it. In the orphanage, people started whispering when they saw me, watched me when I went past, but never talked to me about anything that had happened.

“Damn,” Fek said after a moment. “I’ve heard stories, but I always sort of thought the whole thing was just… you know. A story.”

“So did I,” Grit said. She reached over the table to grab my hand, rubbing my fingers with her thumb. “But one of our relatives lived near the border. They got her out just in time.”

“They didn’t get anyone else out,” I said quietly.

“Damn,” Fek said.

A skeleton came up with some food. It couldn’t find a place for the plate as our hands were in the way, so it set it beside us at the edge of the table.

“Lina,” Minnelil said softly. “This… this might be too much after all. I didn’t realize. I’m sorry.”

I nodded. It was too much. I wanted to crush something, push my fingers into it until it burst, or cry, or scream, but I couldn’t move.

“Try to eat something,” Minnelil said.

“That’s it?” Grit asked, still rubbing my fingers.

Minnelil shrugged. “Sometimes. The pie looks really good. Better to eat it while it’s still hot.”

Grit let go and pushed a fork into my hand. She nodded at me, a wary smile on her face.

Fek shuffled around for a moment, then picked up his plate. “Well, um, I’ll go see that Frederik didn’t get too traumatized for us shooing him off.”

He stood up and I poked the piece of pie with my fork. Steam rose from the crack in the crust. I nibbled on a piece of crust. It cracked between my teeth.

Minnelil and Grit ate quietly. Grit made an appreciative “mmm!” sound and raised her eyebrows. I put more pie into my mouth.

“It is very good,” I muttered.

Minnelil nodded. “It is,” she said.

---

I had finished the first piece of pie and grabbed another one from a skeleton. I was getting good at it. Their reactions were fast, but they didn’t watch out for the grab at all, no matter how obviously I prepared for it. Skeletons were dumb.

“Where did Fek go?” I asked, between mouthful of pie.

Minnelil nodded toward the table to the side. Frederik sat in the corner nearest to us, talking with Fek. They both laughed, Frederik slapping the table and grinning widely.

“He’s not great dealing with… real stuff,” Grit said. “I think something happened to him too, but I don’t know.”

“And it’s not our place to pry,” Minnelil said. “But we’re here if you need it. I know we’re just… people, but still. You can talk to us.”

“As long as you get me a date with Falar,” Grit said.

“Grit,” Minnelil said, frowning at her.

It wasn’t much of a joke to begin with, especially as I knew she was half-serious. I still appreciated the attempt and smiled at her. “He’d only be interested in your skeleton,” I said.

“Well, I’d let him examine my pelvis.”

“Grit!” Minnelil howled, cheeks flushing red. She lowered her face into her hands and leaned her brow on the table.

“What are you talking about?” Fek asked, walking up to the table. Unfortunately Frederik was with him. “How come I always miss it when Grit says something funny?”

“I make great jokes all the time,” she said, tugging a lock of white hair behind her ear. Her cheeks were slightly pink as well.

I chuckled, shaking my head. I welcomed the distraction. Anything to push past whatever had happened. I patted the empty chair next to me. “Here. What have you been talking about?”

Fek moved forward, but Frederik practically tackled him aside to plop down onto the chair. “Sooo, Fek told me you’re learning channeling. I could help with that too? I’d be happy to—“

“Skip,” I said. “Is it true that the student council chooses people for field trips?”

“Worth a shot,” he muttered. “And yeah, usually the teachers ask us for a list of people we think would fit in well. I hear there’s something really interesting in the works.”

“It’s actually just going to be people climbing a mountain and getting lost,” I said. “With Falar.”

He grimaced, leaning away from me. “Oof. Okay, well, some people think he’s a great teacher. My dad made him tutor me for the first semester. I lasted a week. I think I’ll tell Kartham to take my name out of the running, after all.”

“He sure was running,“ Fek said.

“What?”

“Nothing,” I said. “Tell the people not to keep their hopes up. They might have already picked a bunch of students to go, and there’s nothing anyone can do about that. You know how Falar is.”

He grimaced again, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, true. Even if someone wouldn’t want to go, he’d just make them. Well, it’s going to be fun picking the names we put forward anyway! You could probably get in if you want, you know? I heard you’ve done most of the first year student challenges already.”

One of the skeletons leaned over his shoulder and picked up the two plates from before me. It tilted its skull at the plates and then raised an index finger, wagging it from side to side at me.

“Jextor does it too,” I muttered to it.

“See?” Frederik said. “Let me float your name for the pick?”

“Not a good idea,” I said. “Or wait, hmm.”

Frederik looked at me, smiling happily and waiting for me to finish the thought.

I was going on the trip anyway. Would it be better if the council picked me? Or would it only put me more on their radar, aggravate people like Lombarte or Fahn when they didn’t pick me and I still got to go? Frederik already seemed to know when I did anything in here, but that might be just him. Ugh.

I shook my head. “No, don’t bother. Falar told me I have to go, so that’s that. And it’s not my fault, so don’t let them twist it that way.”

“Oh, cool,” Frederik said. “Good for you!”

I wanted to groan, but he was staring right at me. I clenched my hands into fists under the table instead. “Look. It’s not… whatever. Knock yourselves out, but leave me out of it.”

“Haha, okay, okay,” he said, lifting his palms into the air. “I get you. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Wait, stop. What are you going to do?” I asked.

“The council wants to be important and there are some big personalities involved. It’s a delicate balance, but Falar is an even bigger personality than any of them. I can threaten to invite him to the meeting. Or maybe even Jextor. Then nothing will get decided and it might already be too late to do anything about it.”

He winked at me with both eyes at the same time, smiling and completely satisfied with himself. But… had he actually made sense? I blinked back, frowning.

“Thanks for letting me know, Lina,” he said, standing up. “Want to have lunch one day, soon?”

I froze. I slid my eyes slowly to Minnelil and Grit on the other side of the table. Grit’s mouth formed a small o, Minnelil’s a wide, thin line. Both of their eyes darted here and there as they avoided looking at me.

He grinned at me and pushed the chair back into its place under the table. “I know the answer. See you later, Lina.” He nodded at the others sitting on the other side of the table. “Fek. Girls.”

“Boy,” Grit said.

Frederik laughed and waved a hand, walking off.

“What?” I said.