Walking Into Shadows

Chapter Seven

Amber Summers and Echo had arrived in a white school bus with no numbers or markings anywhere to be seen. The driver took us to the park directly in the middle of all of our paths home so that we could pack up our belongings and go.
Now that we were really going, my mind was flooded with a million questions. How long had I been on the Academy's radar? Did my father know anything about it? About my powers? A part of me knew that I'd get the answers I was looking for when we arrived to the school.
I was thankful when I walked up the driveway and found that both my dad and Jessibelle were at work.
I unlocked the front door and went straight up to my bedroom to pack up my remaining clothes. As I folded and packed, I took a good look around my room. I had a lifetime of memories in this room, good and bad. I tried with all my might to remember every detail of my mother. I was eleven when she passed, and so it was easy to remember that she sang everywhere she went. That she loved to cook, and garden, and buy me new clothes. It was even easier for me to remember the toll it took on us as a family when she got sick.
I found myself staring at my favorite photo of her, which was tucked under the frame of my mirror. She had long flowing hair and a brilliant smile. I tried desperately to remember the way that she smelled.
Miss Summers knocked gently on the wooden door frame before stepping inside my room.
"You all packed up?" She asked.
I cleared my throat before snatching the photo from the mirror and tucking it into my hoodie pocket.
"I left some stuff at Caitlyn's house..." I admitted.
Miss Summers nodded.
"She told me she'd grab your things for you." She confirmed.
In many ways, I was thankful for Miss Summers. She was the reason I even knew that more than Justin and myself had powers. She was granting my wish to escape Jessibelle. This could be the adventure I'd wanted for so long. For the first time in years, I felt special. A little afraid, but so special.
"Are you ready to go?" Miss Summers asked.
"Does my dad know where I'll be?" I asked nervously after closing my bag and adjusting the strap over my shoulder. She hesitated before responding.
"When he comes home, he will be met by an agent from the school. The situation will be explained to him and he will know that you'll be living in the school dormitories. He won't be given an address to the school, and isn't allowed to visit you on school grounds until your sophomore year at the Academy." She explained it slowly and clearly.
"I am a sophomore." I argued.
She looked at me sternly and shook her head.
"In a non magical school. You don't even know who you are." She seemed so certain of the protocol that I didn't press the subject any further.
After a long pause, I finally nodded and followed Miss Summers back to the bus. Justin was the only person finished before me.
"How did you pack so fast?" I chuckled from the seat across from him. He shrugged.
"Trust me, you don't want to know."
I put my bag between my feet on the floor.
"Can you believe this is really happening?" I blurted out.
Justin's eyes lifted to Amber Summers for a moment before finding mine again.
"No," he admitted. "But I'm not going to let you idiots go alone."
Justin had made it clear that he didn't lile the people Cat and I hung around. He also made it clear that Cat and I were constantly making questionable decisions that he didn't approve of. And even tough he had shown interest in Amber Summers before, it was obvious that he didn't trust her either.
"Not that you had a choice." Daniel scoffed upon boarding the bus. He took the seat in front of Justin, and peered over the top of the seat at both of us. "We were basically kidnapped to keep some massive secret about other people like us."
"Stop it, you were not kidnapped," Miss Summers interjected. "You're all being liberated into an existence in which all of you will be free to be yourselves."
Justin rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. Before I knew it, Zack and Caitlyn were boarding the bus and joining Danny and I in our seats. Miss Summers got off to go check on Brandon.
Cat turned her attention to me.
"So, not that I'm mad or anything... but when exactly did you plan on telling me that you actually can move water?" She asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"Last night," I answered. "I chickened out at the last minute. Don't act so honest, you have a super power too, you know."
Cat scoffed.
"I just found out about that today. I don't even know how to use it." She admitted. "The only clue I had about it was that nightmare from the other night."
Her words grabbed Danny's attention away from whatever Zack was telling him about, and He shot her a confused look.
"You can't use your power yet?" He asked. "You're what? Fifteen? It should have started years ago."
Cat's nose scrunched up and her cheeks turned bright red.
"Well how am I supposed to know that?! My parents are normal!" She hissed.
"Mine started last night, Cat, I don't think it matters how old you are. You have to wait until you're ready." I rubbed her back soothingly. She nodded and relaxed a little under my touch. For as long as I could remember, Caitlyn had been a complete control freak- and she always had to be the first one to try something. The fact that she was the only person on the bus who couldn't use her powers was probably killing her.
She tensed up again and faced her big brother.
"I am mad at you! You're my brother! Why would you think that you couldn't tell me about this?!" She demanded.
Justin was visibly tense.
"Cat you wouldn't understand..." he tried to explain, but she cut him off.
"You're right. Unless you just found out about your powers last night too, I wouldn't understand." She snapped.
"Kitty Cat, it wasn't about you." I reminded her. "Would you have told him?"
She never told Justin anything unless somebody else had told him first. My point shut her up, and Justin's expression seemed to be thanking me loud and clear.
Brandon and Miss Summers boarded the bus and everyone fell silent. The door closed behind them and Brandon took the seat in front of Caitlyn and I.
I wondered to myself if there was any chance that something else from my nightmares could be true. If I was able to control water, and my butterfly necklace had anything to do with the nightmares, couldn't it be possible that they might be warning me about Brandon too?
"Are you ready?" He asked me.
I stared into his clear blue eyes.
"Don't you know the answer to that?" I joked.
He offered an apologetic smile.
"I just thought you might want to talk about everything that's been going on."
Justin scoffed at that and put his ear buds in. His music was so loud that I could make out the sound of two screaming electric guitars ripping through the air. He was upset.
"We can talk later," I offered. "After we get settled into the dorms."
Brandon seemed disappointed, but nodded. He sat down in his seat and I stared out the window. The rest of the ride to the Academy was completely silent.
                     ************

I was asleep when the bus arrived to the school, and so Cat violently shook me awake.
"Look at this place!" She exclaimed in awe.
I sat up in my seat and stared out the window, unbelieving. It was a shock that we'd never seen or heard of the Academy before. The main building was enormous, at least three times the size of my previous school.
On either side of the main building, were two smaller (yet still very large) buildings with signs that read "BOYS" and "GIRLS". Obviously those were the dormitories, were we would all be staying.
"How many kids go here?" I asked under my breath.
I remembered Amber Summers saying something along the lines of a thousand or so. My chest felt tight with anxiety.
It had been hard enough to find my place in regular high school, and now I was starting over.
"I'll warn all of you now, that you are required to share your rooms with a roomate. If any of you want to room together, you should tell your counselor when you pick up your maps and schedules. If not, your roomate will be randomly assigned." Miss Summers explained as the bus came to a stop in front of the large double doors up front.
"Only if I can room with Kitty Cat." Zack joked with a wink. Cat's cheeks turned red again and she averted her eyes to the floor.
"To keep misbehavior limited, the dormitories are separated by gender, and so, that won't be happening Zack." Miss Summers sighed with a roll of her eyes.
We all silently followed her off of the bus and up the steep, concrete steps that lead up to the double doors. Without Miss Summers having to push or pull, the doors swung open, revealing the busy halls to us. There were people everywhere, flooding the building like an ocean during the high tide season. Teachers and students alike, pushed past each other to reach their destinations on time. Everyone wore the same uniforms, sunny yellow sweaters with black collars and black neck ties. Most of the girls wore black skirts and black knee high socks, accompanied by shiny black flats. The boys wore the same sweaters, but with black slacks and shiny loafers instead of skirts. I'd never been a fan of the color yellow, but it always looked great on my skin. I anxiously squeezed the straps on my bag and followed close behind Miss Summers, who navigated the halls expertly through the crowd.
She led us to on office with a wide, open doorway. The front desk was long, and large letters trailed along the front of it, reading "Guidance Office". It was neatly decorated with a few small potted plants and an elemental calender. The woman at the computer in the middle, looked up from her keyboard at all of us from over her glasses frames. She was obviously older than Miss Summers, but still couldn't pass for older than forty. Other than her burgundy hair and black glasses frames, the only thing about her that I noticed were her purple fingernails.
"Who do we have here?" She asked. Miss Summers allowed us to introduce ourselves and take some hefty forms from the receptionist.
"Fill those forms out and we will get all of your schedules made up during the tour." She instructed, also handing each of us a pencil.
We took them and all had a seat in the waiting area. None of us spoke while we filled them out.
The first three pages of the form were easy enough. They were asking for family information, emergency contacts, age, citizenship, etc. I noticed with the very first question, that the fourth page was a bit different.
When did you discover power(s)?
It was a simple enough question, but they got more detailed as they went. I hardly knew the answers to many of them.
Name of power(s):
Five lines were provided below. There was a real name for what I could do? I scribbled down 'move water' on the first line and moved on.
The last page of the packet was a consent form, asking if I understood that my power could be considered a danger to others, as their may be to me. It also asked if I understood that some of the defense classes provided were quite dangerous and should any harm come to me, that I will allow the school to heal me and I will continue my courses necessary to graduate.
I gulped, reading the contract. Miss Summers hadn't exactly prepared me to come to class to get hurt. I took a deep breath but signed and dated it anyway. Justin and I were the first to turn in our forms.
"Fantastic, thank you. You two just wait in your seats for the others and we will get the tour started." The receptionist said cheerfully.