“It was pretty intense,” Alex said.
Total understatement.
A few steps later D.C. spoke again, quieter this time. “Did you really fight Aven?”
Alex shuddered as the memory washed over her. “Yeah. Or, I tried to, at least. He’s… really good.”
“He is Meyarin,” D.C. reasoned. “Still, I heard you held your own long enough to buy some time and get everyone out of there. I was amazed when Jordan said so. Especially with all the other gifted people on Aven’s side.”
“We were very lucky,” Alex said, honouring her promise to Roka and keeping her new Meyarin abilities secret. “Nothing more.”
D.C. appeared doubtful. “If you say so.”
They dropped off Fletcher’s coat and hurried to the food court to eat a quick breakfast. Jordan and Bear were already waiting for them, finishing the last of their meals.
After Alex had scoffed down her scrambled eggs on toast she turned to Jordan and Bear. “I have some news.” They looked at her curiously and she drained her juice before speaking again in a whisper, “Do you guys remember Zain? The massive guard from Meya?”
“He’s hard to forget,” Bear said, and D.C. and Jordan nodded in agreement.
“Well, he visited me last night and told me he’s going to be Karter’s teaching assistant for a while,” Alex said, deliberately leaving out her trip to Meya.
D.C. eyed her shrewdly, but since Alex’s words weren’t actually false, she didn’t think her roommate would call her on them.
Jordan and Bear were clearly surprised and she quickly finished her explanation.
“He wants us to act like we’ve never seen him before. It’s for our sakes, mostly, since it wouldn’t be good for anyone to think we’ve been in contact with a Meyarin. That said, Zain doesn’t actually believe anyone will figure out that he’s not human. They’ll think he’s intimidating—and attractive. His words, not mine.”
She scowled a little when she thought about the guard’s teasing. Stupid Mey“Why’s he coming here?” Jordan asked.
Alex thought about her answer carefully before she responded. “He’s going to be keeping an eye on everything, I guess. They heard about what happened with Aven yesterday and they seem to think it’s a good idea for me to have a babysitter. Or something like that.”
Okay, so she hadn’t told the complete truth. But she knew Roka wouldn’t be pleased if she gave away Zain’s real mission. So she told them what she’d first thought the guard was coming for, and her explanation was believable enough that her friends nodded their acceptance.
“Your very own personal bodyguard,” Bear said with a smirk. “You’re moving up in the world, Alex.”
“I think this is a good thing,” Jordan said seriously. “I’ll sleep better at night knowing Zain is here to keep an eye on you, just in case Aven turns up again. Meyarin against Meyarin is way better than human against Meyarin, that’s for sure.”
“I agree,” Alex said. “Although it is a little annoying.”
“Annoying might just save your life,” Bear pointed out.
The gong rang then, telling them to head off to class.
“Remember, you don’t know who he is,” Alex said to D.C., who had Combat first up.
“Amnesia, got it,” the red-head replied before taking off for the Arena, while the rest of them headed to the lake to test their water survival skills in PE.
After narrowly avoiding death-by-drowning, the rest of Alex’s day passed from Archery—where she had to shoot at moving targets over a hundred feet away—to lunch, and finally to Equestrian Skills where Tayla made them all participate in a game similar to polo, except they had to ride bareback while sitting backwards. It was remarkably unsafe, in Alex’s opinion, but Tayla was adamant that it taught them how to feel the horse’s movement underneath them. That, and apparently it was a great exercise to help increase their balance and coordination skills.
Alex fell off three times. But that was less than most of her classmates. D.C. landed on her royal behind a total of seven times, and the others hit the ground even more. Needless to say, everyone was relieved when the class ended.
As Alex hobbled from the Stable Complex to the Arena, she wondered how she might get away with skipping her last class. Nothing came to mind, so she stood up a little taller, winced when her backside and shoulder protested from the movement, and entered the colossal structure.
“You’re late, Jennings,” Karter grunted.
“Sorry, sir,” she said, knowing he wouldn’t care to hear about how painful the simple act of walking was.
“As I was saying,” Karter said, shooting her an irritated look, “my new assistant has more experience than most of you will ever have in your lifetime—combined. When he speaks, you listen. Understood?”
Alex and her classmates nodded their agreement and when Karter was satisfied, he called out, “Zain? Anything to add?”
The Meyarin warrior stepped out from an alcove in the Arena’s wall and Alex had to hold back a grin when she heard the indrawn breaths of those around her.
“I think they get the point,” Zain said to Karter. “And if they don’t, they will.”
Alex wasn’t the only one who trembled at the look he levelled at them, but she also knew that Zain was really a teddy bear— albeit one who could land her on her back with a sword at her throat without any effort at all.
But still, a teddy bear.
Karter smirked at their reactions and ordered, “Run two laps around the Arena for a warm-up, then grab a wooden staff and find a partner.”
They sprinted off as ordered, and when Alex was halfway through her first lap, Kaiden matched her pace and moved closer.
“Do you want to tell me why there’s a Meyarin helping to teach our Combat class?” he whispered, after making sure the others were a safe distance away.
Alex schooled her expression into disbelief. “A Meyarin? Really?”
He snorted. “Please, Alex. You can drop the act.”
“What are you trying to say, Kaiden?” she asked defensively.
“These days most people don’t remember what Meyarins look like, let alone get the chance to see one in real life,” Kaiden said, echoing Zain’s words from the previous night. “Two in the space of as many days is unheard of. But for some reason, I’m not surprised. And you don’t look surprised, either.”
Alex didn’t say anything, but simply continued to run while stealing glances at him. She wondered how he seemed to know so much, but there was no way she could ask if she wasn’t willing to answer in return.
“Just tell me this, is he on Aven’s side of whatever’s going on?” Kaiden asked, seeing that she was maintaining her stubborn silence.
Alex wasn’t going to answer. Really, she wasn’t. But after everything he’d been through with her and the secrets he was already keeping, she couldn’t not reassure him.
“No,” she whispered. “Zain’s one of the good guys.”
He sighed loudly—how he did that while running, Alex had no idea—and turned to look at her again. “I take it I’m not supposed to know he’s not human?”
“That would be preferable,” Alex said. “He’s aiming for anonymity.”
Kaiden laughed at the ludicrous idea, and Alex found herself smiling with him.
“Well, he’s trying for anonymity,” she amended.
“He’ll probably succeed,” Kaiden admitted. “Very few people would believe that we have a Meyarin on the teaching staff.”
His eyes danced with humour as if his words had an added meaning, but they were coming to the end of their second lap and Alex didn’t get the chance to ask if there was more to his comment than she understood.
“Hey, Queenie!” Sebastian called over to her, ending their conversation. “Be my partner today?”
“Sure,” she agreed, grabbing a staff and following her classmate to a clear space.
The warm-up run had loosened her muscles somewhat, but two hours later Alex was fe
eling every one of her aches again. Zain had done little more than observe the class and offer advice when needed, but she’d noticed him staring at her on more than one occasion.
Talk about unnerving.
Alex was tempted to skip dinner in favour of another hot shower and an early bedtime, but her stomach complained so she gave in and headed towards the food court to meet her friends. She figured that afterwards she should also pay a visit to Darrius to fill him in on her horror-filled weekend. Unless…
“Hey, Jordan, is there any chance someone’s already spoken with Dar—um, Headmaster Marselle about our SAS trip?” Alex asked as they ate. They were sitting at a table with Mel and Connor along with a few other fourth year classmates, so she had to be careful with her words.
Fortunately, Jordan knew exactly what she was asking.
“Hunter made sure the headmaster was informed of… everything,” he told her, the tone of his voice revealing more than his actual answer. “I spoke with him as well, just in case anything was, uh, left out.”
Alex smiled at him gratefully. That was one less thing she would have to do, at least. Now, if she could find a way out of her Medical Science assignment that was due the next day…
“Recently I had a student come to me and ask an interesting question,” said the enigmatic and uncommonly intelligent History teacher, Doc, during class the following week. “This student asked about the historical development of society, specific to our advancement in technology. The question posed was, if society is so advanced, why does Akarnae still teach students using such an archaic curriculum?”
Alex resisted the urge to sit up straighter, knowing that she was the student Doc was speaking of, but not wanting to draw attention to herself. She’d approached the History teacher in his Tower office a few days after the events of the overnight SAS trip—specifically, after having witnessed the military outpost and the high-tech Stabiliser weapons. Too caught up in the adrenaline at the time, she hadn’t wondered until later that, if the people of Medora had access to guns, why she and her fellow classmates were running around with bows and arrows and learning old-school Combat techniques. That line of thought, which had kept her awake for hours, had also led her to question why they had an entire class devoted to riding horses when, as D.C. had mentioned during their time strolling along the cobblestone streets of Tryllin, most people walked or used Bubbledoors to travel these days. Out of nowhere, Alex had been burning with questions about why some of the classes at Akarnae were so dated when Medora as a world was advanced in so many ways.
Feeling like an idiot for never having questioned it sooner, Alex had only been able to justify herself with the realisation that ever since her first day at the academy, nothing had made sense to her, so she’d just gone with it in order to retain her sanity. Even the academy’s buildings were a juxtaposition of medieval structures alongside futuristic designs. The difference between the Tower and the Gen-Sec building alone was startling, but Alex had simply become used to the idiosyncrasies of Akarnae—and the people inhabiting it.
Or at least, she had, until she’d seen the Stabilisers and the military force and realised that her understanding was seriously lacking and she needed to fix that, pronto.
“I didn’t answer the student’s question at the time since I saw it as an opportunity for a refresher that we can all discuss as a class,” Doc went on to say. “So, let’s break this down, shall we? Starting with the history of Akarnae—why you’re all here at the academy. Who knows the answer?”
Both Mel and Connor raised their hands in perfect sync and Alex hid a smile because, as much as they might disagree with her assessment, sometimes she thought they acted more like twins than cousins. Siblings, at the very least.
Doc nodded at Mel, who cleared her throat and recited, “Akarnae is the only school in all of Medora for people who are gifted. Every five years the headmaster goes on a scouting expedition to search for kids who qualify for enrolment—kids who have or eventually will have a gift. When they’re fourteen, the qualifying students leave their normal schools behind and come here to complete the remainder of their education. That’s why we’re here. Because we were discovered through the scouting process.”
“Why come here?” Doc asked. “Aside from it being the only school for those with gifts, of course. But why can’t students such as yourselves continue your tutelage with the rest of the populace?”
“We don’t have to come here,” Connor spoke up this time. “But Akarnae is the best place to teach us how to develop our gifts. If we were at a normal school, we’d just be taking normal classes. But at Akarnae, we’re in an environment where we can cultivate our abilities and learn how to control them.”
“Ah ha!” Doc said, sounding pleased. “Control, Mr. O’Malley. A very important point.”
At that, Connor sent a smirk to his cousin, and Alex bit back another smile when Mel responded by pulling a face at him.
“At this point it’s worth mentioning that some scholars believe every human being has a potential gift inside of them, but not all of us are able to connect with or access these personalised giftings,” continued Doc. “For those of us who can, we have a responsibility to nurture the supernatural abilities within us. That means we must learn to develop them, to control them, just as Mr. O’Malley said. Tell me though, have any of you ever wondered why Akarnae—a ‘school for the gifted’—only has one class dedicated to actively developing your abilities?”
Alex frowned at the question, mentally adding it to the list of things she should have considered long before now.
“After all,” Doc continued when no one answered, “Professor Marmaduke’s Core Skills class is the only time you have scheduled to learn control. Would you agree?”
Alex nodded her head along with everyone else, even if in the back of her mind a small voice scoffed at the very idea of the Core Skills class which had, for as long as she’d taken it, taught her next to nothing.
“Does anyone perhaps have another opinion?”
Silent shuffles and fidgeting hands met his question.
“Tell me this, then,” Doc said. “Archery, Combat, Equestrian Skills… These are demanding classes—physically and mentally—which is beneficial for your overall fitness, but they are also hundreds of years after their time. What need have we, in this advanced day and age, to learn the art of duelling with blades? Why send arrows into moving targets? What point is there in straddling an animal intended as a means for transportation when we have access to near instant teleportation? What possible reason could there be for us to teach these classes?”
Hearing her own questions come from his mouth, Alex was hit with a sudden realisation and she spoke without thinking. “It’s not about the classes.”
Doc raised his eyebrows. “Do continue, Miss Jennings.”
Feeling the weight of everyone’s eyes on her, Alex tried to rally her thoughts. “It’s just—I wonder if perhaps we’re looking at this wrong. We’re not learning Combat or Archery—I mean, we are, but that’s not all we’re learning in those classes.”
With an encouraging look, Doc said, “Would you care to extrapolate?”
Trying to be as articulate as possible, Alex replied, “Core Skills is dedicated to us learning how to control our gifts, yes?” At Doc’s nod, she continued. “Well, what if our other classes, particularly Combat, Archery and Equestrian Skills, are also about control? More than control—they’re about discipline. We’re not learning how to fight each other or ride a horse or whatever else to use those skills in the world outside Akarnae, but rather, by taking these classes, we’re growing our characters. That kind of strenuous training requires strength, patience, endurance, fortitude and a range of other traits that can only improve us as human beings. And…”
“And…?” Doc pressed.
“And,” Alex continued, “as you said earlier, sir, people with gifts have a responsibility to nurture them, but more than that, I’d like to think we have a responsibility t
o develop ourselves as human beings as well. That’s what these classes offer us. They provide us with the building blocks of discipline and control—both of which, in turn, help us to develop and utilise our giftings.”
A smile spread across Doc’s face and he raised his hands to applaud her, much to Alex’s embarrassment.
“Bravo, Miss Jennings,” he said. “You are indeed correct— our curriculum isn’t in place on the off-chance that you’ll be transported back in time and have to survive a swordfight on horseback followed by an archery tournament. Rather, it is to prepare your character for the future and to assist in the learning of control and discipline in every aspect of your lives— including, perhaps especially, your giftings. Once you graduate and leave these walls, it will be up to you what you do with your abilities. You may enter the workplace in a field where you can use your gifts, knowing that people such as yourselves are highly sought after, or you may decide to put aside your ability and live a normal life. The choice is yours. We can only offer you the chance to make that choice, being well-informed based on what we teach you and how we teach it to you.
“All that said,” Doc continued, deep in teaching mode now, “there is still some modern day relevance for what we learn here, which is especially helpful should you decide to embark into a future where your gift becomes nothing more than an accessory. Equestrian Skills, for example, teaches you how to respect beings much larger, stronger and arguably smarter than yourselves, and if you ever happen upon a situation where you find another creature of mountable size, you’ll have some idea of how to gain control over it. As for Combat and Archery—if after leaving the academy you desire to enter into military service or seek beyond that to become a Warden, your fighting and targeting skills will be required on a daily basis. While more advanced technology is available to those of higher ranks, swords will always be the most accessible means to end a physically aggressive dispute. Or start one, as the case may be. And while bows and arrows aren’t common accoutrements for humans outside of the academy’s walls, none can argue that, if you can hit a moving target from two hundred feet, you can likely shoot any firearm—or simply throw a stone—with above par accuracy.”