Obsidian Hearts (The Academy)

Chapter 3: Beauty is Dappled

Thanks again to LeighSpringerKirk for editing! Without her my story wouldn't flow so beautifully. Also the scary stories briefly mentioned in this chapter are on youtube. I will post the links in the comment section.

I look nervously out the window at the beginning of the forest. I must keep my promises, but it is so tempting to break them when what I desire is dangling right in my face. Brio turns toward me and smiles as he continues to explain favors. As I stare at his aquamarine eyes, I notice his left eye has a small aquamarine dot on the white of his eye next to his iris; a beauty mark. I like it; it only makes him more beautiful to me. Beauty is dappled.

"So if everyone starts out with ten negative favors just for training why do most end up with more debt?" I ask.

"Usually people who join the Academy have trouble with their family or have caused some trouble. The Academy helps new members out of dangerous situations, but the amount of favor debt incurred depends on the time and effort needed to remedy the crisis." Brio explains.

"Eleven favors is a small amount. Most members earn around sixteen favors," Erin adds.

"If we succeed in this mission, we will each get three favors. It is a fair price considering how long it will take to investigate and find evidence." Brio adds.

"Paying off your debt isn't as easy as it seems though." Barrett says glancing back at me through the rear-view mirror for a moment before focusing back on the road, "It's important to save up favors to use for family emergency situations or for help on particularly challenging jobs. We only pay off some of our debt when we have a surplus of favors collected and can afford to lose some."

Brio casually wraps an arm around my shoulders and turns toward me, twisting his seat belt in the process. He pushes a wisp of his chestnut brown hair away from his eyes and a relaxed smile forms on his lips.

"Since you aren't a part of our team, we are using three favors, which means you now have three favors whether we fail or succeed this job. The Academy is built on trust and we know you'll do your best to help us Emery. You'll want to earn favors so you can pay back your debt and graduate from the Academy." Brio lifted his arm off of my shoulder and grabbed my hand, entwining our fingers.

"What happens when you graduate?" I ask.

"You are more likely to have your requests approved, and you won't have to worry about juggling your debt since you paid it off. That isn't to say you can't owe the Academy favors again. It's important that the family try to take care of things without the Academy's help, and only when they cannot resolve it by themselves should they use a favor." Barrett answers.

"Mr. Barrett Graves here is the leader and liaison of our team. I'm the team leader so often times I will be ordering the team around, and if it's not me ordering them around, it is Barrett." Brio adds.

"So Emery what else have you trained to do? It's clear you took self-defense classes as well as wildlife handling classes." Barrett asks as he turns off from the main road.

The turn causes me to slide closer to Brio, and our sides ended up pressed into each other until the turn ended. I scoot away putting a small distance between us. Brio notices, but doesn't try to move closer or farther away.

"I'm not sure what exactly Academy training is, but I've learned to shoot guns, tie knots, and how to lose a tail." I reply.

"Interesting you didn't choose to learn a language?" Barrett asked.

I watch his fingers casually tap the steering wheel as he seems to be in deep thought. His warm brown eyes cloud as he stares at the road in front of him. I cannot keep myself from studying him more closely now that he is distracted with his thoughts. For the first time, I notice he has a mole underneath the bottom corner of his lip on his oblong face. I really do love dappled beauty. I hate perfection. If every one of these boys has a unique spot or specks to identify them I don't know how I am going resist attacking them in their sleep.