I was delivered to one the low, flat-roofed brick buildings that directly overlooked the giant columned structure at the heart of the compound. The long wall I found myself deposited in front of was comprised almost solely of glass, and out of the corner of my eye I could see the blinding white marble pillars of the mock Parthenon reflected in it as I tried to avoid staring too intently at the buildings around me. Or at the surprising number of people who milled around in front of it, all of whom were suddenly far too interested in my arrival for the unearthly hour of the morning.
"Wait with Raven for just a second, okay?" Kota had said. I had nodded my agreement, staring up into his warm eyes and deciding for the fifth time in as many minutes to trust him. It took everything I had within me not to run, to find somewhere to hide away from all of the unwanted attention, but I forced myself to remain calm. Hence the staring at the ground, the wall or the shifting reflections in the mirrored glass. Anything to avoid catching anyone's eye directly.
"You good?" Raven nudged my shoulder again, squatting down to place his face squarely in my eye line. I pushed a finger nervously against my lower lip and nodded, trying to smile. It half worked, and I think I ended up giving him an odd, lopsided grimace. He grinned back at me and pulled himself upright in one smooth, graceful motion.
Too graceful, my instincts prompted. I shivered instinctually and looked away. This man seemed nice enough, but I hoped Kota would be back soon. Raven made me nervous for reasons I couldn't even articulate to myself.
A few minutes later, Kota emerged through a glass door, set into the wall of windows so seamlessly that, in the still dim light, I couldn't see the opening once it had closed again. He was followed closely by two women, each slender and almost indistinguishable from each other. They were clearly identical twins, and the atmosphere that their appearance created was palpable. The entire square behind me fell utterly silent in seconds under the claustrophobic aura of perfection that exuded from the pair like a fine perfume. It was that intimidating kind beauty that made mere mortal women like me – no matter how beautiful or plain you might be – conclude themselves unworthy to even breathe the same air.
"Sang, this is Celeste Murphy." Kota told me, gesturing toward the rightmost woman. She nodded almost imperceptibly, her icy-blue eyes fixed on the side of Kota's face. She made no move to look at me and for that I was glad. I could live an entire lifetime without that kind of scrutiny and humiliation. "And this Diana Murphy." He gestured at the other woman and she smiled affectionately at him.
"Hi," I said quietly. Neither of them took their eyes off Kota, seemingly waiting for him to say more. I did the same, watching him patiently. He seemed to command their respect, and that of the rest of our audience, so I figured he must be in charge in some way. He seemed a bit young to be in such a position but, as I reminded myself firmly, I didn't know the rules around here. For all I knew, he could be the headmaster of this school. If it was a school at all and not some kind of prison or centre for delinquents and outcasts.
After a few seconds of silence, I couldn't help but glance back over at the twins. Celeste was frowning, eyes still fixed on Kota's face, but his attention remained focused in my direction. I blushed as I noticed Diana was now watching me, confusion spreading across her flawless face. It wasn't a good look for her; her eyebrows pressed together above the bridge of her nose, introducing a single wrinkle to her smooth skin.
"Well this has been suitably awkward," Raven chuckled from behind my right shoulder. "If you don't mind Lee, I'll go and get some rest."
"Right!" Kota seemed to snap out of whatever thought had been distracting him and turned his attention on the leather-clad man at my back. "Dismissed." It seemed like my leader theory might be more accurate than I'd realised.
"Bye, Sang," Raven said, the smirk still detectable in his voice. I didn't hear him move but I knew when he was gone. I didn't even need to turn around. I could feel a change in the air, an absence of his aura – for want of a better description – and I somehow knew, without a doubt, that if I look back he'd be nowhere to be seen. It was beyond creepy!
"I'll leave you with Celeste and Diana, Sang," Kota said. I blanched and swallowed nervously.
Please don't leave me!
He must have seen the unease in my eyes because he hurried on. "You'll be fine. They will explain everything and take you to your room. I have to go and check in with Black..." Abruptly he broke off whatever he'd been about to say. It seemed like he had said more than he should have and now he looked pained. I didn't like the sadness that flashed across his face and I wished I could help him, but I was the outsider here. I didn't know what was going on with me, let alone him, and it wasn't my place.
"I'll see you later, Sang," he said. He made a circular, swirling motion in the air with his finger, then pointed back in the direction we'd just come from. I turned to see the other two men in our group, the ones still in their masks, carrying my chest forward. I wondered if they'd been holding it airborne the whole time I'd been waiting, then felt bad that I hadn't thought to check. I'd been a bit distracted.
They deposited the chest at my feet and then joined Kota, who was power walking back up the path towards the edge of the compound like his life depended on his reaching it as soon as possible, yet looking like he was restraining himself from breaking into a run. He was shaking his head back and forth, muttering to himself. I hoped that I hadn't gotten him into trouble or upset him. He was desperate to get away from either me or the twins and, since he seemed to know them well, I figured it must be my fault. I wouldn't hold my breath to see him again, despite what he'd said. I knew better than most what rejection looked like, and Kota had at least been polite about it. I could take a hint.
"Come." One of the twins motioned me forward. I didn't know which one, since they had moved while my back was turned. "Bring the Legacy."
"What?"
"The trunk, stupid girl. Bring the box," the other twin snapped, already walking away. I figured that this one must be Celeste. Diana had seemed aloof before, but I got the feeling that Celeste Murphy had inherited all the anger management issues in their family.
"I can't!" I called out. They were already a good distance away, leaving me standing pathetically next to my "Legacy" – whatever that was supposed to mean.
"I don't follow," Diana said. She stopped moving but Celeste didn't stop to wait for her. She continued to put distance between herself and me and I didn't think that was an accident. I'd been inside the wall of the mysterious Academy for all of a half hour and already somebody hated me. Maybe three people, if you counted Kota and Diana.
"I can't lift the trunk," I told her plainly. My mind whirled as I tried to figure out a way to drag the trunk across the ground to whatever we were heading. I started to figure out how far I thought I could make it, but a quick perusal of the large, uneven flagstones told me that it would be a bad idea. I wouldn't make it the length of one building.
"Why?"
"Excuse me?"
"Why can't you lift it?" Diana asked. It was a rude question on its face, but she sounded genuinely confused by my failure. Celeste was already out of sight, so I figured I couldn't do any more harm by telling the truth.
"I'm not strong enough." I raised my arms out to the sides, as if to demonstrate my distinct lack of muscle definition. "I physically can't lift it off the ground. It took two of them to carry it before." I poked my thumb over my shoulder in the direction that Kota and the other men had gone.
"Definitely not Valkyrie then," Diana mumbled. I couldn't make it out clearly, but I was pretty sure she'd said 'Valkyrie'. First it was my 'Legacy', now talk of a 'Valkyrie'. Nothing made sense. Was everyone here as weird as the few I'd met so far?
"A what?" I asked.
"Never mind. Forget it." She seemed distracted again now. She started walking back towards me and the chest. "Just know that either of those boys could have carried your Legacy by themselves and had strength left over to carry you too. Kota probably just didn't want to alarm you."
She felt around the edge of the chest for the handles on either end, bent her knees slightly like I thought I'd seen weightlifters do on television, and stood up with the chest in her arms. She made it look effortless, like she was carrying a cardboard box filled with packing peanuts. I had thought I couldn't feel more inferior to this woman before but I had been woefully premature in my evaluation.
"Follow me," she instructed, turning to follow her sister up the path. I said nothing. I just pursed my lips and followed, biting back the flood of questions forming in my mind.
"Karen?" Diana balanced the trunk on her hip so she could hold onto it with one arm. She used her free hand to knock three times on the closed door in front of us. "Karen?"
I glanced at my watch. The LED screen blinked at me: 7:30 am. The sun hadn't fully risen by the time we had entered the modern-looking dormitory building on the edge of the compound, and I wondered how many of the residents of the building were conscious at the early hour. "Maybe she's asleep?" I asked with trepidation. Celeste snorted from behind us.
"Not likely."
"Karen!" Celeste knocked again and, this time, the door was yanked open before she could finish the third tap.
A tall, athletic girl with short, bed-rumpled hair stood in the doorway, blinking away the sleep from her bleary blue eyes. She yawned once, rubbing her eyes with one pyjama sleeve, and then seemed to focus on the three people crowded in her doorway. When she caught sight of Diana and Celeste, she straighten up and closed her mouth with a snap. I got the feeling from the prying eyes of the people we'd passed in the corridor that this wasn't an uncommon reaction to these women.
"Morning, Diana." Karen smiled and waved sleepily at Diana, pointedly ignored Celeste. Maybe I wasn't the only one who wasn't a fan of the grumpier twin. "Who's this?" She dragged her gaze away from Diana and focused on me. She drug her eyes down my body, taking in my straggly hair and crumpled clothes. I half expected her to step away in disgust. I knew I looked awful, after the night I'd had, but she just flashed me a friendly grin. "Hi!"
"This is Sang Sorenson," Celeste told her, elbowing me out of the way and stepped past Karen into her room. She paced over to a desk which sat under the large bay window, directly across from the open door, and started rummaging through a pile of papers on the desk.
"Nice to meet you, Sang," Karen said.
"She's joining your dorm for now," Diana told her and Karen nodded. Clearly this was not a surprising announcement to her.
"Thought she was coming tomorrow."
"Clearly not," Celeste snapped. She dropped a book back on the desk with a thud and pushed back out of the room. She looked more annoyed than she had before and I grinned to myself. It didn't seem like she had found what she'd been looking for and she looked down right angry now. I made a note to stay away from her at all costs.
"Cool!" Karen stepped away from her doorframe and beckoned us to follow her down the hall. She stopped at a closed door, painted a duck egg blue with a calligraphic number nine painted on it in black. She pulled a chain out from under her pyjama shirt, flashing a defiant, triumphant glare at Celeste over her shoulder, and then tapped the pendant on it against the centre of the door. The entire door frame flared gold and red and then swung open. She glanced back at me, holding the pendant up for my inspection. "Master key!"
"Home sweet home!" Karen announced proudly, gesturing for me to go in. I stepped inside to find a small, neat bedroom that smelled faintly of cleaning products. It was slightly smaller than my room back home had been, but the bed was larger and there was an open door leading off the entryway into a compact bathroom with a shower above a comfortably sized bathtub. I noted a couple of other doors off the main room, between the vanity table and chest of drawers and decided that I'd investigate the first chance I got.
Diana followed me inside after a moment, struggling slightly to fit the trunk through the doorway. She had to turn sideways and slip through carefully, even with Karen's help to guide her shoulders and fingertips through the tight space. Karen's hand lingered on her shoulder for a fraction longer than I thought was necessary, but Diana didn't seem to mind. I had limited – read, zero – experience with casual touches between friends, besides what I'd read or seen on television, so I ignored it. It seemed a little overly friendly but what did I know?
Diana deposited my trunk at the base of my bed, where it fitted neatly as if it was designed to fit there. Straightening up, she flashed Karen another smile before leaving the room. Celeste grabbed her arm and pulled her away down the hall, out of sight.
"Bye," I mumbled, confused by the abrupt exit. I wasn't complaining though. So far, Karen was the first person I'd met who didn't seem to be slightly unhinged, or odd, or both. I hoped it would last.
"What now?" I started to ask but Karen cut me off excitedly, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"So, what are you?"
"Excuse me?"
"What are you?" She repeated, and I just shook my head. I'd hoped too soon, it would appear. She was just as strange as the twins.
"I mean, what can you do? What's your gift? How many generations out are you?"
I paused before I answered. She stared at me expectantly, her face full of hope and anticipation. She obviously wanted me to say something specific, but I was struggling to find any words to express how little I'd understood of her questioning.
"How many what?" I said finally and I watched her face fall as I alienated yet another person I'd only just met. I was one for five this morning, if I counted Raven. I hadn't screwed that one up yet, and he seemed to like me – creepy as that was – but there was still time to make it a clean sweep.
"Crap. You really don't know?"
"Not a thing," I agreed.