Chapter 3
Natasha stood at the gates of a very imposing building. It was a mix of gothic architecture and modernist concrete, two ideas which Natasha felt disagreed completely. The entire complex was also contained inside ten foot high walls with barbed wire along the tops of them. As far as Natasha could see, the only viable entrance or exit was this gate. It felt like she was entering a prison to do time of her own free will. She shook off the feeling however, she had made her choice. The past few weeks were a blur of setting up accounts, closing accounts, contacting various social workers and saying goodbye to acquaintances to Natasha. Once the letter to the school had been posted everything seemed to happen so fast, but Natasha knew she had to come here. The school was a link to her father, and her father would know of her true past, whatever it may be.
She pushed the button on the intercom and waited. A camera whirred around to face her and a voice crackled through the electronic device. Not really understanding what had been said through the intercom, Natasha walked up the driveway, as the gates had been opened enough for her to squeeze through comfortably. The whole place felt too quiet. There were no people in the near vicinity, but Natasha could hear no birds singing either, nor any other signs of animal life. It made her shiver involuntarily.
Steeling herself, Natasha made it to the front door and let herself in, where she was greeted by a scrawny looking man in a lab coat, along with two rather intimidating figures that would have fitted in comfortably with the Men in Black, or maybe even the Matrix. The man introduced himself as Boris, and that he would show Natasha to her living quarters before one of the students would take over and give her a tour of the establishment. Natasha found that the living quarters were divided into age groups and skill groups, and that they were all located at the back of the complex.
Boris did as he said and showed Natasha to her bedroom, and where she could relax with her soon to be new school friends, before leaving her with a boy around about her age, maybe a bit older, she couldn't tell. The boy was fairly tall and had deathly pale skin, so much so Natasha thought that if he were to go into the sun he would appear translucent, like a ghost. He also had extremely pale blue eyes, like ice, contrasted completely by his spiked bright red hair.
Without bothering to introduce himself he gestured for Natasha to follow him. He talked rarely about where they were, and when he did talk it was with a feeling of intense boredom. Natasha guessed that she would have to try and figure out what each section of the building was for by observation alone.
By the time they returned to the living quarters Natasha had decided to be wary of the fire-haired boy, but decided if he was going to be a threat or an enemy of some kind she should at least know his name. Putting on a confident tone Natasha asked the boy outright what his name was, just as he was about to walk away. He smirked and continued to leave, saying his name as he went. "It's Tala."