Dark Souls and Dark Minds

Chapter 2

Once he stepped inside Pulitzer Academy Jack could see why Miss Medda had said he would like it. The inside was extremely different from the outside, warm and inviting with all kinds of modern amenities like electricity, computers, and a television set. And all that was just what Jack could see from where he was standing in the front hall.

"I told you," Miss Medda said with a wry smile and a wink, placing her umbrella in a stand near the front door before gesturing for Jack to follow her down a hallway just off of the entryway. "Come on, the dining room's this way."

Jack tore his eyes away from all of the gadgets he had been looking at and followed her, gazing around him in wonder. The hallway was lined with portraits of men and women, who were all wearing black graduation gowns and had serious looks on their faces.

"Old students," Miss Medda said in response to Jack's unspoken question. "All the way back to Joseph Pulitzer himself, who founded the school in 1820."

Jack looked to where Miss Medda was gesturing and was met with the sight of a portrait which depicted an older man with a stern, eternally disapproving expression on his face.

"Joseph Pulitzer believed in embracing one's powers," Miss Medda continued as she led Jack past polished wood doors which Jack was sure were locked. "So he created a school where young supernaturals could learn control before being released back into society."

"Supernaturals?" Jack asked, feeling slightly dazed by all of this new information.

"Those with supernatural powers," Medda explained. "There are fewer and fewer these days, though. What with all of the marriages to humans, most traits have been bred out."

"Hang on, then how come I can do what I can do?" Jack asked. "Neither 'a my parents can."

"No, they can't," Miss Medda agreed. "But your paternal grandfather could. He attended this school, too."

"He did?" Jack asked, surprised. He had never met his father's father, had never even seen pictures of him. His father hadn't mentioned him once, to Jack's knowledge.

"He did," Miss Medda said. "But when your father displayed no signs of possessing supernatural abilities, we thought you wouldn't either. Obviously, we were wrong."

Jack was about to ask another question when Miss Medda stopped abruptly before a large pair of doors. She flashed Jack a quick smile. "Are you ready?"

Jack didn't feel remotely ready, but he knew it would do no good to protest. He nodded quickly.

Miss Medda pushed open the doors with a flourish, revealing a brightly lit room with six other teenagers sitting around a large table in the center of it, all of them chatting with each other as they ate.

Miss Medda clapped her hands twice to get their attention, and everyone abruptly stopped talking and looked over at her and Jack with curious expressions on their faces.

"Everyone, this is Jack Kelly, our new student. Please tell him everything he needs to know and help him get used to living here."

With that Miss Medda turned on her heel and exited the room, closing the door behind her and leaving Jack alone. Jack swallowed hard, suddenly terrified as everyone scrutinized him.

After what felt like hours of standing in front of everyone a boy with a mess of blonde curls grinned lopsidedly at Jack, waving him over. "Don' just stand there, come an' eat!"

Upon hearing this invitation Jack slowly made his way over to an empty seat at the table, next to a kid with sandy blonde hair which was tucked under a backward baseball cap and across from a girl with dark brown hair and eyes who was sat next to a boy with the same hair and eyes. Once he was seated everyone returned to eating, though there was no talking now.

The girl sitting across from him smiled at Jack, sticking out her hand for him to shake. "Sarah Jacobs. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice ta meet you too," Jack said, hesitantly taking her hand and shaking it.

"This is my brother David, and that's Charlie," Sarah said after another moment of awkward silence, gesturing to the boy sitting next to her and the boy sitting next to Jack.

"Hi," David said softly, nodding at Jack politely but not smiling.

"Nice ta meet ya," the boy next to Jack said, grinning.

"You too," Jack answered, smiling nervously at each of them.

The boy who had originally invited Jack over to the table spoke up next. "I'se Anthony, but you can call me Race. An' this is my boyfriend, Spot." He gestured at a muscular boy sitting next to him who was ignoring everyone as he shoved food into his mouth.

"And I'm Katherine," a girl with auburn hair which fell in loose waves across her shoulders said, offering Jack a tight smile.

"Nice ta meet you, Katherine," Jack said, then he looked down at his hands.

The table was quiet except for the sound of everyone taking bites of their food for a few minutes after that until Race suddenly spoke. "I'm a vampire."

Jack looked up suddenly in surprise. "What?"

"You was wonderin' what type of creatures all of us are, an' I was answerin'," Race stated matter-of-factly, taking a sip of his red drink which Jack realized with a jolt was probably blood. "I'm a vampire."

"Like, in movies?" Jack asked, suddenly feeling very out of place.

"He doesn't sparkle in sunlight, if that's what you'se askin'," Spot said, sounding exasperated.

"Oh. Uh, okay," Jack said, nodding in understanding.

"I'm a witch and David's a wizard," Sarah offered after a moment of tense silence.

"Cool," Jack said, struggling to come up with a proper response for what he was being told.

"I'm what humans call a 'fairy'," Charlie said. "An' Spot's a werewolf."

Jack nodded at each of these revelations, then smiled softly at Spot and Race as a thought flashed into his mind. "Aren't you two dating?"

"Yeah, why?" Spot asked. "You don' got a problem with that, do ya?"

"No," Jack answered, completely deadpan. "But I just thought that werewolves an' vampires hated each other."

Spot stared at Jack with a blank look on his face for a long moment before sighing heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose and looking both tired and annoyed. "One of these days I'm gonna kill whoever wrote those damn books," he muttered.

Race chuckled and took another sip of his drink before speaking. "What about you?"

Jack's smile faded, and he looked down at the polished wood of the table. After a minute he shrugged. "I dunno if there's a word for it but, uh, I can-I can raise the dead."

"Necromancer," David suddenly said, suddenly looking both impressed and fascinated by Jack. "Those are rare nowadays."

Jack didn't answer, and the table once again fell into a tense silence until Charlie finally spoke. "Why don't I show you to your room, Jack?"

Jack looked up at Charlie, smiling gratefully. "Thanks, Charlie. I'd like that."