WUNDERHEIN ACADEMY: BOOK 1- AWAKENING

Chapter 16

"Five more minutes." Kitten yawned as her hand crept out of the bed, making its way to her bedside table to hit the alarm Dmitri had given her. She tried curling back into her warm spot and attempt to sleep again but was interrupted by giggles.

She blinked for a moment, wondering if she had imagined it. She sat up when they started again.

She was right. Someone was giggling. A lot of someones. She turned to the window, instantly wondering if someone was peeking in. She didn't see any faces.

She frowned and stepped out of bed before slipping into her shoes.

"Aleksei would freak if he knew I slept in my clothes last night." She muttered, running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to neaten it. She thought about re-tying it but the giggles began again.

"Forget this." She hissed, tying her shoe-string hair band around her wrist. "Lexie's probably not even awake yet."

She glanced back at the window but there was still no faces peeping from it. Frowning, she opened her door as silently as possible and followed the giggles.

"If anyone is spying on me," Her eyes narrowed. "I'm going to give them a real good kick.

She turned the corner into the courtyard and halted, surprised to find a handful of untidy kids huddled together next to her room.

Kids like her. She pulled up the top of her jersey but it slid down again, revealing her shoulder and how painfully large the clothing was for her.

"Hey what's going on here?" She demanded. "I'm trying to sleep."

The Meat-bags stopped what they were doing at her voice, almost jumping all at once like naughty kids caught stealing from the kitchen. When they saw her, they relaxed visibly.

"Come see what we found." One of the taller ones, meant to keep watch from look of his stance standing on the outside of the circle. Since he had failed to see her, whatever they had found must really be interesting.

Kitten felt stuck between telling the pack of lost boys to move on, and wanting to see their secret treasure. She could almost her mother scolding her, saying curiosity killed the cat. Giving in to temptation, she took a step forward and allowed herself to be pulled into the group.

"Check it out." A youngster practically danced in delight. "A captain."

Kitten's mouth dropped at the figure of Aleksei passed out on the grass. For a moment her eyes darted to her window.

"He's a bigger pervert then Dmitri." She hissed, clenching her fists.

"Did you say something?" One of the meat-bags glanced at her.

"Nothing." She replied, checking the window again. This felt wrong. The window was too high for him to look through. If he wanted to watch her, then he could have done so ages ago in the bathroom.

She bent down and touched his face, noting the graffiti that had been drawn on it. Something that looked similar to a sausage and the Russian dumplings her mother used to make. His skin felt warm but hardly feverish.

"Lexie," She began to shake him. "Lexie wake up."

"I bought the water." Laughter came behind her.

She turned and found another meat-bag holding a tin cup of water.

"Great." She smiled at the boy holding the water. "Give that here. We can wash his face."

"It's not for his face." The taller boy replied almost gleefully. "His going to wet himself."