“What are you trying to say, Kaiden?” she asked defensively.
“These days most people don’t remember what Meyarins look like, let alone get the chance to see one in real life,” Kaiden said, echoing Zain’s words from the previous night. “Two in the space of as many days is unheard of. But for some reason, I’m not surprised. And you don’t look surprised, either.”
Alex didn’t say anything, but simply continued to run while stealing glances at him. She wondered how he seemed to know so much, but there was no way she could ask if she wasn’t willing to answer in return.
“Just tell me this, is he on Aven’s side of whatever’s going on?” Kaiden asked, seeing that she was maintaining her stubborn silence.
Alex wasn’t going to answer. Really, she wasn’t. But after everything he’d been through with her and the secrets he was already keeping, she couldn’t not reassure him.
“No,” she whispered. “Zain’s one of the good guys.”
He sighed loudly—how he did that while running, Alex had no idea—and turned to look at her again. “I take it I’m not supposed to know he’s not human?”
“That would be preferable,” Alex said. “He’s aiming for anonymity.”
Kaiden laughed at the ludicrous idea, and Alex found herself smiling with him.
“Well, he’s trying for anonymity,” she amended.
“He’ll probably succeed,” Kaiden admitted. “Very few people would believe that we have a Meyarin on the teaching staff.”
His eyes danced with humour as if his words had an added meaning, but they were coming to the end of their second lap and Alex didn’t get the chance to ask if there was more to his comment than she understood.
“Hey, Queenie!” Sebastian called over to her, ending their conversation. “Be my partner today?”
“Sure,” she agreed, grabbing a staff and following her classmate to a clear space.
The warm-up run had loosened her muscles somewhat, but two hours later Alex was feeling every one of her aches again. Zain had done little more than observe the class and offer advice when needed, but she’d noticed him staring at her on more than one occasion.
Talk about unnerving.
Alex was tempted to skip dinner in favour of another hot shower and an early bedtime, but her stomach complained so she gave in and headed towards the food court to meet her friends. She figured that afterwards she should also pay a visit to Darrius to fill him in on her horror-filled weekend. Unless…
“Hey, Jordan, is there any chance someone’s already spoken with Dar—um, Headmaster Marselle about our SAS trip?” Alex asked as they ate. They were sitting at a table with Mel and Connor along with a few other fourth year classmates, so she had to be careful with her words.
Fortunately, Jordan knew exactly what she was asking.
“Hunter made sure the headmaster was informed of… everything,” he told her, the tone of his voice revealing more than his actual answer. “I spoke with him as well, just in case anything was, uh, left out.”
Alex smiled at him gratefully. That was one less thing she would have to do, at least. Now, if she could find a way out of her Medical Science assignment that was due the next day…
“Recently I had a student come to me and ask an interesting question,” said the enigmatic and uncommonly intelligent History teacher, Doc, during class the following week. “This student asked about the historical development of society, specific to our advancement in technology. The question posed was, if society is so advanced, why does Akarnae still teach students using such an archaic curriculum?”
Alex resisted the urge to sit up straighter, knowing that she was the student Doc was speaking of, but not wanting to draw attention to herself. She’d approached the History teacher in his Tower office a few days after the events of the overnight SAS trip—specifically, after having witnessed the military outpost and the high-tech Stabiliser weapons. Too caught up in the adrenaline at the time, she hadn’t wondered until later that, if the people of Medora had access to guns, why she and her fellow classmates were running around with bows and arrows and learning old-school Combat techniques. That line of thought, which had kept her awake for hours, had also led her to question why they had an entire class devoted to riding horses when, as D.C. had mentioned during their time strolling along the cobblestone streets of Tryllin, most people walked or used Bubbledoors to travel these days. Out of nowhere, Alex had been burning with questions about why some of the classes at Akarnae were so dated when Medora as a world was advanced in so many ways.
Feeling like an idiot for never having questioned it sooner, Alex had only been able to justify herself with the realisation that ever since her first day at the academy, nothing had made sense to her, so she’d just gone with it in order to retain her sanity. Even the academy’s buildings were a juxtaposition of medieval structures alongside futuristic designs. The difference between the Tower and the Gen-Sec building alone was startling, but Alex had simply become used to the idiosyncrasies of Akarnae—and the people inhabiting it.
Or at least, she had, until she’d seen the Stabilisers and the military force and realised that her understanding was seriously lacking and she needed to fix that, pronto.
“I didn’t answer the student’s question at the time since I saw it as an opportunity for a refresher that we can all discuss as a class,” Doc went on to say. “So, let’s break this down, shall we? Starting with the history of Akarnae—why you’re all here at the academy. Who knows the answer?”
Both Mel and Connor raised their hands in perfect sync and Alex hid a smile because, as much as they might disagree with her assessment, sometimes she thought they acted more like twins than cousins. Siblings, at the very least.
Doc nodded at Mel, who cleared her throat and recited, “Akarnae is the only school in all of Medora for people who are gifted. Every five years the headmaster goes on a scouting expedition to search for kids who qualify for enrolment—kids who have or eventually will have a gift. When they’re fourteen, the qualifying students leave their normal schools behind and come here to complete the remainder of their education. That’s why we’re here. Because we were discovered through the scouting process.”
“Why come here?” Doc asked. “Aside from it being the only school for those with gifts, of course. But why can’t students such as yourselves continue your tutelage with the rest of the populace?”
“We don’t have to come here,” Connor spoke up this time. “But Akarnae is the best place to teach us how to develop our gifts. If we were at a normal school, we’d just be taking normal classes. But at Akarnae, we’re in an environment where we can cultivate our abilities and learn how to control them.”
“Ah ha!” Doc said, sounding pleased. “Control, Mr. O’Malley. A very important point.”