Inversion

Welcome to the Academy

“Come in,” a deep voice called from within. I shot mom an apprehensive look and stepped over the threshold. The room was small and plainly furnished, with a large wooden desk dominating the center and two worn-in leather armchairs on the side closer to us. On the far side of the desk a high backed swivel chair was turned to face the window, “Sit, please,” the man said rotating his chair to face us.

He was a large, stocky man with a bull's neck and a shock of wiry gray hair. His left eye was covered by an eyepatch, but it didn't hide the scar that went from his forehead to his chin and his remaining eye glittered with a keen intelligence. I hadn't met any Dean's before, but this man was definitely not what I had been expecting, and my mom's bewildered appearance told me she felt the same.

“Ah- hello sir, my name is Jack, Jack Sloane,” I said holding out my hand in greeting, but he simply waved it away with a grunt and steeped his fingers staring at me intensely, as if judging me on some unknown criteria. I fidgeted awkwardly in my seat under his intense scrutiny looking anywhere in the room but at him. This went on for about a minute or two before mom broke the silence,

“Excuse me, Mr. um,” she started hesitantly looking around for a nameplate but finding none, “Mr. Dean, my son is here to attend your school. He received an acceptance letter not too long ago,”

“Of course he did! Otherwise you wouldn't be here, would you?” he said with a hearty laugh, in seconds his mood entirely changing, “I'm terribly sorry, where are my manners? I am the Dean of Aesir Academy, Gunnar Doran. Welcome! It is good to finally meet you Jack,” he said, standing and opening the window behind him. When standing he cut an even more imposing figure, his old tweed suit barely seeming to contain his bulk and his bow-tie looked positively ridiculous around the girth of his neck.

“Tell me Jack, what do you think of our little school?” he asked suddenly, turning away from the window and leaning across his desk, then adding in a conspiratorial whisper, “I find it a bit stuffy sometimes, that Esper especially, always so proper. Pah! Propriety, never had much use for it myself.” As if on cue, a gigantic black bird swooped in through the open window landing on his shoulder, and he fed it a piece of corn that he must have kept in his pocket for just this occasion.

I blinked a few times and glanced around the room looking for an answer, not knowing how to react to the strange scene unfolding in front of me. “It's um, very nice?” A grin quickly spread across his weathered face and he slapped the desk laughing raucously.

“'It's very nice!' Oh that's good, I like that. You'll do just fine here Jack,” he said, then pulled open a drawer and began rummaging through it, tossing random odds and ends over his shoulder until he found what he was looking for, an old fashioned brass key with a wooden tag hanging off it that simply had “9” carved into it, “Ah, here we go,” he said tossing me the key, “That's the key to your rooms, don't lose it now.” The bird had hopped off his shoulder and was picking through the open drawer, throwing things to the ground much like his master had been doing, “Damn it Hugo! Stop that you blasted sky rat,” he said shooing it away and closing the drawer. It gave a discontented squawk and took off back out the window, “I don't know why I put up with that wretched animal, nothing but trouble. Now where were we? Ah, yes, your quarters. You will be in number 9, Esper will show you where to find it and help you unpack,” with that he sat back down and turned to face the window again.

“Is that, is that all? No paperwork? No vaccination forms? No transcript? No, no...... well, anything that a normal school requires?” Mom asked, confusion mounting with every syllable.

“Hmm? No. It's all been taken care of Mrs. Sloane. If we need anything further we know how to contact you. Young Jack will be very well taken care of here, our facilities are top of the line and the faculty members are all very respected, talented people,” he said without bothering to turn around, “Esper, will you kindly give them a brief tour of the campus and then escort Jack to his rooms?”

“Yes, of course Master Doran, it would be my pleasure,” Esper's sophisticated voice responded from directly behind me, surprising me into falling out of my chair in a rather ungraceful manner. When I stood up, I saw Esper was in the doorway easily shouldering all my luggage. “Apologies Master Jack, I did not mean to startle you, I'm quite light on my feet.”

“Oh, no you're fine Esper,” I said struggling to my feet, “You need any help with those bags? I brought a lot of stuff.”

“Nonsense Master Jack, I wouldn't dream of it. Now, would you and Lady Sloane please follow me and I will show you to your quarters,” he said turning abruptly and taking off down the closest hallway.

“Better hurry lad, Esper is quick and these halls are easy to get lost in if you don't know the way,” the Dean said matter of factly.

“Okay, Mom let's get going so we don't get lost. Thanks Mr. Doran,” and with that we set off down the hall I had seen Esper take, he was already almost to the far end even with all of my luggage weighing him down. The man was a machine. I was positive we were going a different direction than when he had originally led us to the Dean's office, but every corridor looked like every other corridor and soon enough I was completely and utterly lost. Just when I was about to ask if we had taken a wrong turn somewhere, Esper stopped at an unmarked door and pushed it open.

“This is the common area Master Jack, the students study and relax here between courses,” Esper said stepping into the room. It was much larger than let on from the hallway, there was a massive granite fireplace tucked into the far corner and comfortable looking leather sofas and armchairs scattered about the room haphazardly. Several students were in front of the fireplace talking and laughing, but they stopped and stared at us when we entered. “Let's keep going, your chambers are across the courtyard, I'm sure you will meet the other students later.”

We crossed the common area and Esper opened another door that led outside, as the door shut behind us I heard the students resume their interrupted conversation. The door we had come out of led to a large field with a beautiful marble fountain in the center, and a cluster of about ten house sized buildings on the far side against the edge of the forest. Esper wasted no time crossing the courtyard and soon we were by the other buildings. Each one was three stories tall, but that's where the similarities between them ended. Every building was in a completely different style, the closest looked like a Victorian era house, and the one beside it was a rustic looking A-frame, from where we were standing I could see the number “1” on the door of the Victorian.

“Are these... the dorms?” I asked in awe as I began to fit the pieces together.

“Yes Master Jack, I suppose you could call them that. You will be staying in number Nine. The students have taken to calling it “Old Stoney”, though I don't care for the name myself, I'm sure you will see why soon enough however,” he responded with a smile and began walking down one of the many cobblestone paths that led between the different buildings.

“Oh my god Jack, this is amazing,” Mom whispered excitedly as we followed Esper through the strange neighborhood of mismatched homes. One looked like a Spanish style mission, and another looked like it came straight out of a fairy tale, it was a completely disjointed experience, but somehow it all worked. I was too busy admiring the varied architecture to notice that Esper had stopped in front of the house closest to the woods and nearly ran into him.

“Here we are then, number Nine,” he said proudly as if it were his child. It was an ancient looking wooden house that wouldn't have been out of place during the American Revolution and the entire back wall was taken up by an enormous stone chimney. The door was placed squarely in the middle of the house and was a single solid slab of wood with a brass knocker and antique door knob.

“Old Stoney... I get it, because of the chimney right?” I said appreciatively while admiring my new home.

“Quite so Master Jack. Let's get you settled in then, shall we?” Esper replied and produced a brass key from somewhere inside his suit coat that was identical to the one Mr. Doran had given me and opened the front door quickly, beckoning us to follow him. The downstairs was furnished much like a cabin, featuring quaint wooden furniture and the huge fireplace that connected to the chimney on the back wall, with the upper two floors being lofts that looked down on where we were standing.

Hanging upside down from the 2nd floor was a lithe looking young man with a mop of black hair and an array of facial piercings, he was grinning like a lunatic and gracefully dropped the ten feet down to the ground in front of us without missing a beat and extended a hand in greeting, “Hiya roomie! The name's Sparrow.”