Ace of Minds

02: The Sibling

This chapter wasedited by angelhair16 and Random_Afterthoughts

--

Question of the day: how does it feel to go through a portal?

Unlike the first time, Irene was conscious when she traveled through it this time. Therefore, she could describe how it felt precisely.

At first, she felt nothing. It was just like walking into a long, light green cave with sparkles everywhere. But after she finished taking her third step, nausea hit her guts. The smell of the cave got worse and worse with every passing second. It smelt like a mixture of vomit and public toilets. For the rest of the trip, she just felt like she was going to die. And 'the rest of the trip' felt like forever.

"Seven seconds," announced Elswood, checking his wristwatch, with an amused smile on his face. "It's pretty good for a newbie!" He patted his daughter's shoulder. "So, welcome to Z! You'll live and study here until summer comes. Isn't it great? You've never been to a boarding school, have you?"

Irene just shook her head. Still feeling pretty nauseated, she put her hands on her knees and faced the ground. When she looked up, her head started to spin again. But she could see what was before her.

There was a tall, gigantic gate that made her felt like a dwarf. The white gate was at least twenty feet tall and ten feet wide, with tendrils full of thorns circling around it. When she looked past the gate, she could see nothing. On top of the gate was a carved symbol, Z.

Was Elswood about to throw her into a boot camp? Because it looked a lot like that just from the gate.

And were they going in or what?

Irene shot a look at the man beside her. She raised a brow and crossed her arms. Then she started tapping her feet.

Elswood cleared his throat. "Oh, yeah, I forgot," he muttered. "Shaw, it's me, Julius. Please open the gate."

Irene had no idea who he was talking to and just looked at him like he was a nutcase. "Are you sure that's how you open this ... massive gate? Because I'm pretty sure that's not how people open—"

The gate parted. Elswood just looked at her with the same exciting expression he always had.

They walked past the entrance just in time before the gate closed by itself with a loud thud.

"That was scary, you know?" commented Irene.

"You will find most of the things here scary," said Elswood, "at first," he quickly added. "What you just saw is one of Shaw's plants. The gate won't open unless Shaw wills it to."

"Who's Shaw?" The name itself sounded like a serial killer to her. Never mind his 'ability' to open a gate by his will.

"Oh, you'll know soon. A teacher. A nice guy."

Irene doubted it, but she didn't say. She was far too annoyed by her (well, the granny's) outfit that she was still wearing at the moment. She was going to a new school already labeled as a loser.

Not that she thought much about it. Duh.

The pathway to the other end was terribly far. There were open spaces on each side of the path. Some students were sitting and eating on the grass, but most of them were sitting at the long tables placed on stone tiles.

Outdoor cafeteria. Cool.

What wasn't cool was that everyone was looking at her. Curiosity coated their faces.