Gray Feathers

Chapter 3: Shooter

“You have to concentrate, Nex!” Nine yelled at me.

“I am concentrating, the problem is, I can’t balance on a stupid rock with one foot while meditating, it’s one or the other, not both!” Plus, I thought, I was outside of the Academy, flying around again.

“God, I hate this,” he growled, sitting down on the grass. “I should be out there, not teaching this idiot how to fucking breath and shit.”

“Out doing what?” I asked, abandoning the balancing.

“Nothing,” he said quickly.

“Well, you said something about not wanting to be here, so spill.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“I’m your instructor, Nex, you do as I say. I said no, so I’m not going to reveal to you what’s going on.”

“So there is something going on!”

“Son of a bitch!” he muttered, standing up. “For that, go into the gym and run ten miles on the treadmill.” He turned to go.

“Where are you going?” I asked him.

“Somewhere,” he called back.

I sighed, but ran the ten miles on the treadmill.

The bell rang, and I had just finished. I was a sweating mess when I got to math class.

By science class, I was so sore I could barely walk around, much less do the lab that Sam had us do.

The tension in Marina’s class eased since yesterday, and Cathy helped me with the English project.

Finally, the last class of the day. For once, I was the first few people to arrive. John was there, he waited until the bell rang before standing up. “Good morning,” he said, his usual zest was nowhere to be seen. “Today is just a relaxing day, you don’t have to do much, except fill out a small worksheet.” He passed around the paper.

I took a look at it. It was a couple questions asking about how your Legacy felt, if you overtrained, undertrained, or were good with the training. I started writing and the whole class was silent, the only sounds were the pencils scratching the paper in a soothing rhythm.

Suddenly, the school siren went off and the lights dimmed to a deep blood red. We all looked around in a panic. The sirens continued going off, as a voice spoke over the speakers, “Everyone, please remain calm. The Academy is going into a lockdown. Close doors and windows. Please remain calm, this is not a drill.” Every so often the voice would repeat.

We all looked at each other, panicked on our faces, then in one fluid movement, we pushed back our chairs. Some students went to close and lock the door. Others guided some other students that didn’t speak English too well. We all pitched in to help. I was the only one to go over to close, lock and cover the window.

Curiosity got the best of me, and before I covered the window, I peaked out. The sun was behind a cloud, which caused a gloomy overcast. The Academy was in a cloud at the moment, and the fog covered much of the grounds. I couldn’t see twelve feet in front of the window. I covered the window before I got caught peeking.

Once we were all done doing our duties, John guided us over to a small part of the room away from the door and window. We couldn’t talk, but John gave us a smile that could have brightened the world. He then turned on one of his Legacies and a small ball of light brightened the still flashing red room. It was small enough that it didn't light up the room but it provided a comforting light.