Ordo Noctis

Chapter 7

Stealth was the most strange of our classes. It was taught by mystical Madam Kobayashi, and it was never exactly the same. Walking into the class, I never had any idea what to expect.

Today the mysterious trainer was wearing her sleek black hair up in a pile on her head. It looked haphazard from afar, but not a hair was out of place. She squinted at us.

"You are destined for great things," she said softly. "Always stronger together."

We glanced at each other, making she's-totally-crazy faces.

"Follow," she sang, turning and leading us into her classroom, which today was set up as a sort of obstacle course.

"For our last class together, I want you to attempt to make it through this course without being caught by the cameras." She gestured to hundreds of hidden cameras positioned throughout the course that I hadn't noticed before.

"Um, what do you mean by 'last class'?" Mars asked, catching her strange choice of words.

Madam Kobayashi just cocked her head. "Did I say that? Hmm..." she gazed into the distance, lost in thought for a moment, then turned back with a smile. "Allow me to demonstrate," she said, seemingly forgetting about what she had been saying before.

She walked to the beginning of the course and immediately positioned herself against a wall, fading into the shadows. Ten seconds later, she emerged from the other end of the room at the very end of the course. My jaw dropped; I hadn't even noticed she'd moved.

Mars looked surprised too, but we followed her instructions and started where she had, positioning ourselves against the wall just like her.

Madam Kobayashi sat behind a cluster of computers that surely showed the feeds from the cameras. She pressed a button on the keyboard, and red lights blinked to life on all of the cameras.

"You may begin."

The two of us began inching along the wall, trying our best to stay in the shadows as she had done. Suddenly, a buzzer rang throughout the room.

"You were spotted!" Sang Madam Kobayashi. "Try again from the beginning."

I sighed and followed Mars back to the start of the course.

We continued trying until, on our twelfth attempt, Mars finally noticed something I hadn't. Before starting, he pointed to the floor and whispered to me. "When she says 'start,' drop through that hole." I nodded to him, blending into the shadows once more.

"Begin," Madam Kobayashi sang.

I inched along before lowering myself through the hole until I was in a hidden underground room. I would have called it a basement if we weren't on the thirty-fifth floor at the moment. Mars followed, silently gesturing to me to keep going.

By the light of our glowing watches, we made it quickly to the other end without having to hide from any cameras. I saw light above us - another hole. Mars helped me up, then climbed up himself. We emerged at the other end of the course. The hole was barely noticeable, as it blended in with the ground.

Cheering interrupted my thoughts. "Very good!" Madam Kobayashi clapped. "You see, not everything is as it seems. Sometimes you think you must sneak along in plain sight when it's actually better to find another way around. I can teach you nothing more. Farewell, students! You are the world's only hope!"

Mars and I exchanged glances before packing our stuff and leaving the classroom.

I shook my head as we walked down the hall. "Such a strange woman."

"Completely batty," Mars agreed. "She kind of reminds me of Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter," he laughed.

It wasn't until later that I realized, in the third book, one of Professor Trelawney's crazy predictions came true.

Really random way to put an ominous ending in but here we are lol. Hope you're loving the story, it starts to get interesting next chapter!