Fandomania

Chapter 24 - Winter Break

The next morning was chaos. Miles awoke to the sounds of every other cabin in Fandomania packing up and preparing to leave for winter break. There was shouting, slamming, and every other noise you'd expect from six teenagers packing up all their stuff and getting ready to see their families for the first time in five months.

Thankfully, everyone in Miles' cabin was staying in Fandomania over Christmas, so the noise was at least muffled a little thanks to the slim wood walls of Cabin 4. Miles saw Kane sitting up, also annoyed at the sound, from the corner of his eye. Miles could also hear Jason shuffling around from below, meaning he was awake. Caspar was still sound asleep, and since every other cabin had someone leaving, that meant that everyone else was awake too. So Caspar was the only person on campus still asleep. Typical.

This was going to be a big day for the six students that would be going to see their families for the first time in months. Miles still wondered if he should have told Lancaster that he wanted to see his mom over Christmas. But his mom was safer where she was. Danger would probably follow close behind Miles, so he had decided that once everything was over, then he would see his mom. And maybe the rest of his family, although he had no idea where he stood with them. His brother had run away from home, completely abandoning Miles and the rest of the family. His father had practically handed him to Necron and was also working with the evil organization, but Miles didn't know how much his father actually knew about the place. So he was in a complicated spot with his family, and he could only believe that there would be time later to sort things out.

In the meantime, Miles would continue to train and investigate Ms. Lisa to see if she really was working with Necron. Miles would do everything he could to do his part in whatever would come next, whatever it might be. Miles had gotten over whatever fear of the unknown he might have had, and now he would just take whatever life decided to throw at him next. So he just laid there thinking about the future, drowning out all the noise from the leaving students.

Eventually Miles got bored of his own thoughts, and decided to jump down from his bunk and get some fresh air. He creaked open the door and sat down on the grass outside the cabin. He took some time to admire everything around him. He had seen it all before, of course, but he'd never really taken the time to appreciate detail. For example, how despite the poor architecture of the academy, the building still managed to stay standing. Or how even near an ocean and woods and cabins, a modern house still managed to fit right into place. Miles didn't know when it happened, but somewhere along the way he had stopped thinking of Fandomania as a foreign, temporary arrangement. Somewhere along the way it had become home.

Suddenly an idea popped into Miles' head. He got to his feet and jogged barefoot through the grass and to the point where the grass was cut off and replaced by sand. Miles had rarely been to the side of campus with the sand and the ocean. There was no particular reason, he just didn't think of it. Not many of the students came down to the ocean, except for Caspar, who would sometimes spend a Saturday swimming in the ocean. Lilly had asked him if the water interfered with his weird ability to sometimes control electricity like wires, but he had said that he didn't think it did. Or he just didn't care. Miles had no memory of ever going to the beach. If he ever had, it would have been when he was a kid. The ocean seemed foreign to him, the depth and width of it unknown. Maybe that was why he had never swam in it like Caspar had. He just wasn't familiar with it. But it felt like a good day to change that, despite it being mid-December. The ocean area was far enough away from the cabins so that Miles could relax a little, without the running around and yelling going on around him.

Miles sat down on the sand that turned out to be cool rather than hot. He slowly submerged his feet into the ocean water, something he had actually never done before. The ocean felt ice cold on his feet, and a chill traveled through his body.