Chapter Three: Salem

I didn't know what kind of awful things that my mother and the Bloors had planned for me, so I ran. I think that their interest in me had something to do with Uncle Lyell because I remembered him, even if it was faintly. They didn't want to take that risk and have me ruin everything that they had worked for in the past ten years. I managed to hide in an alley between two nearby buildings and evade their line of vision for just a few moments so I used that time wisely and slipped into a book store across the street and hid amongst the shelves. If they were trying so hard to make sure I wouldn't recognize Uncle Lyell, that meant they were hiding him close. Somewhere where Uncle Paton and Aunt Amy wouldn't see him, but somewhere that I might. He had to be in the academy. Charlie had been correct. They were hiding him right in front of his face. I heard the bells above the door jingle not to far behind me and I tried my hardest to squeeze myself between a bookshelf and a wall.

"What brings you here today, Manfred?" A soft voice nervously stammered. The voice sounded very young and feminine.

"I'm looking for someone." Manfred sneered. I heard him moving around. "Did a blonde girl with a red coat come in here?"

"No." She squeaked. She sounded absolutely terrified. "Please leave. No one has come in for a while."

"I think you're lying to me, Emma Tolly." Manfred's voice got closer to my hiding place. I held my breath and tried to push myself further into the crevice. Emma Tolly was the name of the girl Charlie told me was hypnotized so deeply that she forgot her own identity. No wonder she sounded so afraid. "Do I need to get the truth out of you?" Manfred threatened.

I exhaled sharply and stepped out from my hiding place. I didn't want to subject Charlie's friend to any more trauma than she had already endured at the hands of the Bloor family. My sudden presence behind Manfred had startled him a bit, but he tried to hide his surprise with a mask of anger. "Leave her alone. I'll go with you." I resigned. I looked over at Emma Tolly, a very tiny, fair skinned girl. She had large blue eyes and she wore her corn silk colored hair in braids. She couldn't have been older than ten years old, yet Manfred threatened her so easily. He grabbed my arm with his bony fingers and yanked me out of the bookstore. "I would have gone with you willingly if you wouldn't have intimidated me by approaching the way you did." I hissed as he forced me into the car. I shot my mother my most hateful look before driving away.

I stayed silent in the car the whole way to the academy. The angry looking bald man drove and Manfred kept peeking back at me through the rear-view mirror. "You're not going to be a problem like your cousin, are you?" He asked finally. I looked down at my hands and remained silent. "You are supposed to answer when someone speaks to you, Miss Jones."

I always found it weird that my mother hyphenated her last name when she married my father, but when I was born she gave me her maiden name rather than hyphenating it like she did hers, or just giving me my father's name. Part of me was grateful not to have two ridiculous names. When I asked my father why he named me Infinity he told me it was because he waited for me forever. My mother had fertility issues and had been told that she couldn't conceive. I never understood why she ignored me when she went through all that trouble to have me. In-vitro was expensive and not 100% effective, but she still ignored me and my father still traveled a lot for work.

I continued to give Manfred the cold shoulder as we pulled up to the academy. "Could you take her trunk to her room, Weedon?" He asked the bald man. The bald man nodded. "Alright, it's time for your tour. You already know where the coatrooms and great hall are. I'll just show you some of the important parts of the academy that your student mentor won't show you when they give you the tour on Monday. Then I will show you to your dormitory." I only half listened to the things he told me. I hardly cared about the origin of the carpet, or the fact that the stair railings were master crafted, or that students traveled from far and wide for the opportunity to attend the academy. I was trying to remember Uncle Lyell's face. That was the single most important thing to me in that moment. I had to recognize him if I saw him. Little details stuck out to me. I remembered that he had black hair, but not much else. A lot of people had black hair. That would hardly help me. "And this is the music tower." Manfred placed a hand on my shoulder when we got to one of the two towers of the academy. I could hear piano music. It piqued my interest and he could tell. "Ah, that's just Mr. Pilgrim. Some of the staff live here, such as Dr. Saltweather, Mr. Pilgrim, Cook, Mrs. Marlowe and so on. I'm sure Dr. Saltweather is up there if you would like to meet the head of the music department."

I silently followed him up the stairs and found a room with only a piano and sheet music splayed all over the floor. The man at the piano looked like he hadn't slept in years. He had messy black hair and sad chestnut eyes with large bags under them. A large beard had started to take over his face and didn't seem professional for someone who worked at such a prestigious school. His disheveled appearance alluded that he had seemingly given up on life. Manfred cleared his throat and the man stopped playing long enough to acknowledge us. He opened his mouth to speak, but a big booming voice came from somewhere else. "What are you doing up here, young lady? Who are you?"

I turned to face a very large, broad shouldered man with stark white slick backed hair and a white beard well groomed close to his face. He seemed kind enough. "This is Infinity Jones." Manfred spoke for me. "I was just showing her around. She's one of the new endowed students. She's Charlie Bone's cousin."

"A pleasure to meet you, young lady. My name is Dr. Saltweather and this is Mr. Pilgrim." He held out his hand and I shook it. He had a strong grip. "Hopefully you are a better musician than your cousin."

"She isn't a musician." Manfred corrected. "She is in the drama department."

"Then why are you showing her the music tower?" He raised a thick, white eyebrow.

"It's better to feed her curiosity now when the academy is empty than having her wander off during school hours. I wanted her to see everything. I even showed her the old art tower." He steered me towards the door. "Now I must show her to her dormitory so she can get some rest before the other students arrive tomorrow." We walked back down the stairs and headed towards the dormitory section. He took me to the girl's floor where the drama students resided. We stopped in front of the room at the end of the hall that had a piece of paper tacked to it. It was a list of the residents of the room. My name was the last of six. "Zelda Dobinski will be the one showing you everything tomorrow. She's an endowed senior just like you. And she's sixteen just like you. I'm sure you both will get along just fine." He opened the door and I stepped inside. There were six beds in the room. Each had a wardrobe and an end table on either side. The beds had brass frames and purple duvets and sheets. The room was illuminated by a single bare lightbulb in the center. There was a door that led to what I assumed were the bathrooms. "Your bed is the one on the end right there." He pointed to the bed by the large window that had been curtained with thick, stuffy drapes. My trunk was at the foot of the bed.

"For a rich family, these rooms sure do look horrible." I scoffed while I pulled my coat closer around me. This room seemed to have almost no heat. I turned my head to look at him, but he was gone. I shrugged it off and decided I might as well unpack my things. I had nothing else to do for the night but hang around this boring and empty room. I hung all my clothes neatly on the rack in the wardrobe and put my underwear in the drawer. I organized all of my toiletries on the top shelf of the wardrobe and organized my shower caddy. Somewhere in the time that I had spent organizing, the heat had finally kicked on that the room felt a little more comfortable. I wondered if they just cut the heat to certain rooms in the weekend to save on utilities despite the revenue that came in from tuition.

I decided to pass some more time by painting my nails and braiding my hair into a fishtail braid. I changed into a big comfy sweater and leggings for warmth and even redid my makeup in the bathroom mirror and wiped it off again. It wasn't even five in the evening yet. I sighed and walked up to the window, wondering if it at least had a decent view.

It didn't. It was just a massive courtyard full of muddy snow with a destroyed castle a little off to the side. The walls looked like they were made of bright red brick. I'm sure it was beautiful in it's prime, but now it was quite an eye sore. I sighed and scanned the rest of the scenery. It was bare besides a few trees, a cracked stone fountain that had been drained for the winter, and a wood pile with a young man leaning up against it.

A surge of curiosity and bravery made me decide to go meet this boy. I slipped on my boots and decided I was going to try to find the entrance to this courtyard and meet this new stranger. I hadn't been able to see most of his features but I did notice his messy black hair and his bright orange hunting jacket. He was pretty hard to miss with such a bright, reflective color. I wondered if he was a Bloor, another unfortunate student stuck here on the weekend, or if he happened to be a ghost. I had no doubt that this place was haunted. I couldn't imagine how many people died confined in these walls, and maybe with my alleged endowment, I could see ghosts too. This seemed like the kind of place that would have a torture dungeon in the basement or an evil magician's lab in the attic.

I don't know how I found the courtyard doors but I did. I figured that they had to be somewhere in the great hall, most likely across from the main doors by the coatrooms. That architecturally made the most sense to me. On my way there, I picked out little landmarks such as certain paintings or statues. I had to remember how I got there so I knew how to get back to my room before I was caught by Manfred or any of the other staff. I pushed the heavy iron door open and slipped outside. It had cooled down considerably and it would be getting dark in a few hours. I wondered why this boy was out here. I scanned for him and didn't see him anywhere. The log pile had been vacated and chills went up my spine. I felt like I was being watched. What if he really was a ghost? This thought made me shiver again. After looking around for a few minutes and finding nothing, I turned to go back inside when I walked straight into something sturdy. I shrieked out of surprise and fear. "Whoa, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." The voice was strong and warm. I looked up into a pair of dark blue eyes that were not unlike a stormy sky.

The boy who stood in front of me wasn't bad looking at all, especially with the snow glittering in his dark, shaggy hair. He was about the same height as Manfred, but he had a little bit more weight on him. He had high cheek bones and beautiful teeth. He had many features of Dr. Bloor, but he seemed to be much more pleasant and friendly. "I'm sorry. I just got bored and wanted something to do. I shouldn't be here-"

"I'm not going to get you in trouble." He let out a lighthearted chuckle. "You must be Miss Jones. I'm Salem Bloor." He held out his hand and I gingerly tried to shake it. He brought it up to his lips and kissed it. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He was charming and seemed to be very sweet. I liked him instantly. "Why I don't I walk you back to your room? I don't want you to get in trouble for being out late."

I nodded and he held the door open for me. "Oh. Thank you." I murmured as I stepped through it and back into the academy. I looked back at the ruined castle from over my shoulder and thought I saw another person standing right by the broken down entrance. Before I could get a good enough look Salem shut the door and locked it with a key he retrieved from his pants pocket. I decided to just ignore what I saw and follow Salem down the hallway. I didn't want to ask him too many questions since he was being kind enough to keep me from getting in trouble.

"My dad told me that you're from America. What's it like?" He asked, looking over his shoulder presumably to make sure I was still following him and not wandering off to some area where I could cause mischief and uncover something I wasn't supposed to. "As soon as I graduate I want to go to California and make a name for myself. I play guitar. Have you ever been to California?"

"I lived in California for quite a few years. There's a lot more sun than there is here, that's for sure." Of course I had nothing else to talk about so I had to babble about the weather. "Are you in the music department, then?" I asked stupidly. My many years of isolated homeschooling was beginning to show. I didn't have much experience talking to anyone my age other than people in online forums. That was how I got my socialization fix.

"Yes I am." He said proudly. "I wasn't told what department you were put in." I went to answer him but he put his arm up to hush me. "No, don't tell me. I want to guess." He turned to face me and started walking backwards. "Did Manny want you put in Drama?"

"Manny?" I gave Salem a strange look. I had a feeling that Salem had to be Manfred's brother, but I had a hard time imagining someone as deadpan as Manfred would allow anyone to call him by a nickname.

"You know, Manfred. Tall, mean kid with the creepy sparkling eyes? He's my brother."

"Yeah…He was rather insistent that I go with drama despite the fact that I can play an instrument." I frowned.

"That means he wants to keep an eye on you. He thinks you're going to be a problem. Are you going to be a problem, Miss Jones?"

"Why would I be? I just want to graduate and get out of here as soon as possible, which I can do in just a few short months. I haven't been in an actual school my whole entire life. I don't know why I have to be here now." I snapped. I expected Salem's demeanor to change, but his humor and goofy personality didn't falter.

"You're a feisty one. I'm just giving you a hard time. Lighten up a little, okay? This place will eat you alive if you insist on being so brooding and solemn." He turned back around to watch where he was walking, but slowed his pace so he was walking beside me rather than ahead of me. "I should give you a little run down on what it's like to be an endowed student here, though. Because it's actually kind of dangerous sometimes depending on whom you associate with." Salem suddenly froze and put his arm out to stop me from walking. Somewhere in the academy, I could hear muffled conversation and the sound of a door being slammed. "Shit. Follow me." He grabbed my arm and pulled me into a nearby storage closet and closed it. "Be quiet. I think I hear my brother walking around. He'll kill me if he knows I didn't punish you for sneaking around here." He pressed his ear against the door and motioned for me to do the same.

"I swear I saw her come outside. She's a blonde, right? Red coat?" Someone said, coming closer to the door. "Salem took her back in though. Knowing him, he probably just let her wander around. She's going to get into something she shouldn't." This voice didn't belong to Manfred. It was a little bit higher than his, and he spoke faster. It was definitely an adolescent male, though.

"I never know whose side he's on. He's too lax with all of the endowed students. We need to keep an eye on Infinity, though. She isn't going to be easy to sway. She's already leery of me." I could hear Manfred's voice getting closer to the door. "Now are you sure you heard something over here?"

"I swear. Salem isn't exactly quiet." The other voice kept getting closer and closer to the door. Salem pulled me back further into the closet and hid amongst a variety of fabrics. This must have been one of the prop storages for the drama department. He put his hand over my mouth and nose as the door opened and light flooded into the closet. I couldn't breathe.

Hold your breath. Salem commanded. He'll hear you if you breathe. The volume of his voice was normal. It should have given away our hiding place, but it didn't. How did we go undetected? I'll explain once he leaves. Just stay quiet.

Just when I thought I couldn't hold my breath any longer, Manfred's voice pulled his companion away from our hiding spot. "They must be hiding in the auditorium. Let's go."

"You're probably right." The second voice was only centimeters from us. He quickly retreated and shut the door. Salem and I remained frozen in place for a few more minutes before we were confident enough to run out of the closet and towards the dormitories. We didn't stop until we made it in front of my door and we both struggled to catch our breath.

"Oh, man." He leaned against the wall. "I haven't been able to run like that since before chemo." I was confused. He seemed to be in great shape and didn't seem like someone who had to undergo chemotherapy. My confusion must have been obvious. "I had a medulloblastoma. Brain tumor." He clarified. "I've been in remission for a few years." He reached for the doorknob and opened the door. "Although as exciting as cancer is, I'm sure more of your interest lies in me being able to project into your thoughts. Telepathy is a confusing thing." Telepathy? Salem's endowment allowed him to get into my mind at any time. I suddenly felt incredibly uncomfortable.

"And you have some explaining to do with why you didn't punish her for leaving her room." Manfred's voice hissed from around the corner. He had been waiting in my room for our return.

"Shit." Salem sighed. "Don't yell at her, Manny. It's my fault. I asked her to come down. I saw her looking at me through the window and told her to come down and meet me."

"Don't call me that!" Manfred growled. He beckoned for us to enter the room and we submitted. He crossed his arms and I suddenly felt very small. I felt like another session of hypnosis was coming my way for punishment. He stared directly into Salem's eyes and I began to worry that he would be hypnotized as well. However, that wasn't the case. Salem confidently stared back into his eyes and mimicked Manfred by crossing his arms as well. "You disgust me." It was Manfred that finally broke eye contact.

"The feeling is mutual, brother." Salem winked at him and sat down on one of the beds. I awkwardly stood by the door. I wouldn't hesitate to run if Manfred turned that gaze on me. There was no way I would allow my brain to be scrambled like that again. "You don't have to be so rude to our guest, you know."

"She isn't a guest. She's a student, and I'll treat her exactly how I treat everyone else. Maybe I'll be nicer if she stops causing trouble."

"Causing trouble?" I spoke up. "I haven't done a thing to you. You hypnotized me and then chased me down the road, trying to shove me into your car. If you would work on your approach maybe I wouldn't be so standoffish towards you. It's your own fault I'm causing trouble. Most people don't like to be manipulated, you know."

"Jesus, you have to buy them dinner first." Salem joked. I rolled my eyes and he laughed again. "She has a point, you know. Intimidation doesn't always result in compliance." He ran his hand along the duvet. "This is exactly why Manny doesn't like me as much as I like him. He can't manipulate me like he does everyone else. I'm not afraid of him. I've known him my whole life, after all." He stood up from the bed and tried to put his arm around Manfred's shoulder but he ducked away. Seeing them side by side made me realize something. They were twins. And if it weren't for different life style choices, it would have been more obvious that they were identical. Same facial features but different at the same time. Salem just happened to be a lot more approachable and that made him more attractive to me. "Ah, she figured it out." His eyes lit up and he smiled at his brother. "Yep. Manny and I are twins. We shared the womb. Lucky for him, I was the only one who had cancer."

"Quit looking at me like that." Manfred barked. "Let's go." He pointed a finger at me. "You, stay in your room. Don't come out again. I promise it won't be Salem that finds you next time."

"Fine, fine." Salem glanced back at me one more time. "Goodnight, Miss Jones. It has been a pleasure."

The Bloor twins made their leave and left me to sit alone in the creepy and bare dorm room. I wasn't looking forward to my first day of school. I plopped down on my own bed and stared up at the ceiling. There was literally nothing for me to do. I wasn't allowed to bring my iPod or my cell phone. From behind the bathroom door, an old faucet dripped into the sink. My decent into agonizing boredom began.