Creatures of Snow (10 page)

“Welcome to Arche basics,
101.” Con quipped. He turned to face them, walking backwards to
keep them moving forward. “From now on, anything marked on your
schedule that ends in AAL will be held here.”

Sara was quick to pull out
her tablet and scan down her list. “So right now, Introduction
to Strategic Studies is an Arche class, it's this
class?”

“Correct Ms. Rekkert.”
Without missing a beat Con backed right into the long desk and
hopped up.

“And you're the teacher?”
It was the first time Sky had ever been excited to be in a
classroom.

Ellie let out a little
sound that could have been a laugh. “No, you've been assigned a Jr.
Instructor from the Arche Academy for classes like this. We're in
charge of your physical training and making sure you stay on task
with your REALM studies.”

Sky’s heart sank a little,
but, if the instructor was anything like their mentors, then he had
nothing to worry about.

“And here is Mr. Teacher
himself.” Con jumped down from the desk and clapped his hands
together. “Exactly on time, as always. You never cease to amaze me
Mr. Levit.”

Sky turned slowly, dread
filling in where the excitement receded. Behind them the snooty boy
whose badge had gotten him into REALM the night before strode with
crisp, measured steps into the room. Their eyes met briefly and the
look of distaste again brushed his long features. A look that only
increased as he shifted his focus onto Con.

"You two? What happened to
Josiah and Julia?" Roland said with a sneer.

Con pulled a crumpled halo
card from his pocket and held it out to Roland. "They were
reassigned, Sir."

Roland snatched the card
from Con and looked it over with a heavy sigh as he made his way
around the desk to the chair behind it. "Fine." he said plainly and
sat down. "How much have you told them?"

Ellie had already sat down
behind one of the desks while Con kept his place hovering just off
to the side of Roland.

"Nothing." Con shrugged
smugly.

"Good, now sit down."
Roland folded his hands in front of him and sat up even straighter
with the hint of a wicked smile, as if deriving some sort of
pleasure out of telling Con what to do.

Once Con had loudly taken
the seat next to Ellie, Roland stood up and moved to the front of
his desk. "Let me start with a brief introduction to myself by
saying I am Roland Levitt, a third year student in the Arche
Academies secondary education program, but, just like your mentors
here, I have been within the Arche program since primary school. I
am a student of Medical Science and am held as a third level
Archimedes, studying directly under Master Zeph.”

Con snorted a laugh, “They
don’t know what any of that means, you know.”

Roland let out a heavy
sigh. “Then let me explain - At Arche every student must chose a
focus of study once they have been enrolled. There are two main
divisions – the Strategic & Science, and the Combat &
Command. Within each division there a multitude of different
categories you can choose. I chose Medical Science under the
Strategic & Science division. Is this explanation more to your
liking, Mr. Embers?”

“It was beautiful.” Con
put a hand to his heart.

“There also exists a
higher order reserved only for the most elite of students – The
Archimedes and the Choir. Unfortunately for you two, students who
transfer in from other districts rarely are accepted into their
orders. If by some miracle either of you are accepted into their
ranks I would at that time be more then happy to explain what they
are and what they do, but for now, I would like to get on with my
class.”

“We get to go on missions
and earn credits and stuff. The higher your rank the harder your
tasks, but the more credits you can earn. Those with the highest
credits at the end of their final year are guaranteed jobs at the
ILA.” Con leaned over and whispered loudly towards Sky. “Work hard
and we might let you in our squad.”

“That’s enough.” Roland
snapped, “You can leave Mr. Embers, I’m sure this will all be
rather boring to you.”

“It’s in our best interest
to be around these two as much as we can for the next few days.”
Ellie stated with a sharp edge in her tone, “As their mentors they
are our responsibility and I would like to study them as much as
possible.”

“The right phrase would
have been, ‘
get to know them
as much as possible’,” Con punched Ellie in the
shoulder. “You’re so creepy.”

Sara raised her hand, she
had been stone-faced and silent the whole time, but her expression
now was one of annoyance.

“Yes, Ms. Rekkert.” Roland
said, regaining some of his superiority complex.

“As members of Axis, isn’t
all that irrelevant? From what we were told, we aren’t really part
of any traditional programs at all. Or do we have a choice?” Sara
tone was steady, but her last few words had a desperate
edge.

Sky had felt the same pull
of desperation. They hadn’t ever been given a choice to join Axis,
but maybe there was still a chance to leave it and just be an
ordinary student.

“I was merely explaining
my status and how the Arche Academy is set up.” Roland said
plainly, “Information is never irrelevant.”

Sara’s face went red and
her eyes shot back down to the scratches in her desk.

“As for choice…” Roland
looked to be mulling something over in his mind, chewing the inside
of his cheek, “No. You were chosen for Axis because of your unique
set of abilities. For you, your bloodline is why you were chosen.
We thought we were lucky to have Ellie, but she can’t claim more
than ¼ of the Blue Star lineage so to have a True Blood is an
opportunity we will not give up on easily.”

“But, Director Thompson-”
Sara started.

“If Director Thompson
would have followed through with his threat we would have taken
full responsibility and gotten you re-instated. Your mentors should
have been with you from the moment you arrived.” He gave a look of
heated warning towards Con and Ellie, “Professor Blanks is being
reprimanded for the delay in introductions. We can’t stand to lose
such a valuable asset over such a trivial matter.”

Sky wondered if anyone
else recognized the mixture of reluctant acceptance on Sara’s face
as she slowly nodded her head.

“You know she’s a person,
not an asset.” Sky knew he shouldn’t have said it, especially in
the way he said it.

Roland didn’t bother to
address him, he just looked to Con, “Stopping his outbursts should
be first on your priority list.”

“Yes, Sir.” Con shouted,
causing even Roland to jump. Con looked over to Sky with a dead
serious face. “Shhhhhh.” Con squinched up his face as he put his
finger to his lips, “You got that soldier. Shhhhhh.”

He muffled a laugh. “Yes,
Sir.” Sky said as respectfully as he could.

“Laugh it up.” Roland
pushed up his glasses with a sneer. “Everything’s a joke to Mr.
Embers. Let’s see how far that get’s you, how far it gets the both
of you.”

“It’s got me to the top of
the ranks as a Chorister, that’s where.” Con edged towards a
serious statement.

Roland stood and walked
towards them. No, not towards them, he was walking right at Sky.
Sky scooted back as far as he could into his chair as Roland came
right up to his desk and leaned down. He rested his long, slender
arms on the yellowed lacquered wood.

“Do you think he’s funny?
You want to be just like that guy?” The scent of mint and soap rose
into his nose as Roland leaned in even closer.

“I don’t want to be like
anybody, Sir.” Sky mumbled out, avoiding any and all eye
contact.

“Well I hope that’s not
true.” Roland stood up straight and crossed his spidery arms, “You
want to know why you were chosen? It’s because your brother turned
it down.”

Sky fought the look of
shock and hurt, but was pretty sure he was doing a bad job by the
way Roland’s small grin oozed into a toothy smile. “You were second
choice. We’re only hoping you can live up to
his
potential.”

Even Con was quiet after
that. Roland began his lesson. Something about what wins a fight is
preparation and strategy, but Sky couldn’t focus on his bland
lecturing. He tried, he really did, but those words just kept
coming back to him.
I was chosen because
Soul said no

A nudge to the back of his
head brought him back into the moment. “Come on, time to
go.”

Sky had spaced out the
entire lesson. Roland was already gone and Sara and Ellie were at
the door.

Con jabbed at his head
again. “Listen, kiddo, don’t let what he said get to you, okay.” It
was surprising how respectable Con looked when he was being
serious.

“I’m not. It’s
fine.”

“I wasn’t ever anyone’s
first choice. For anything. Obviously not even for this. So I get
it. We’re the perpetual B team.”

He had to laugh at that.
“I just, I thought this was something I did on my own.”

“I saw your scores, kid,
you would have made it into Arche no problem. You just happened to
fit another need when Soul said he wouldn’t do it.”

He said his name. It
sounded weird to have someone say it out loud. “You know
him?”

“Soul? Yeah, can’t really
not notice that guy.” Con moved towards the door and Sky followed.
“He’s quiet, but a genius at just about everything. He was one of
the first transfers to ever make it into the Choir that I’ve
seen.”

Sky just looked down. He
didn’t know what to say. It was strange to talk about him like he
was real and not just a memory. “He doesn’t talk to me anymore.” He
blurted out. Maybe he really did need to work on his
outbursts.

“I know.” Con said
quietly. “He has his reasons.” Con shoved him through the door into
the shockingly bright courtyard. “Come on, let me show you
something, but,” He let another wide smile catch his lips, “you
gotta keep up.” He said and took off across the lawn.

Sky threw his bag on his
back and took off after him without a thought. It was a rush of
excitement that drove him forward as his lungs expanded and his
legs began to burn as he reached his top speed. He couldn’t
remember the last time he had run and there was no one chasing
him.

They approached the
administration building, but instead of going up the stairs, Con
swerved to the right and went around the far side of the structure.
Sky rounded the corner just in time to see Con leap up onto one of
the fire-escapes. It was a leap that didn’t look humanly possible,
but without thinking about it, Sky too was on the ladder, clamoring
up, loving the feel of the cold metal and the strain in his
muscles.

Con was already at the top
and sprinted out of sight across the rooftop. Sky had to move past
the part of himself that said this was as fast as he could go. He
pulled himself up onto the roof, catching only a blur of blond as
it jumped from the far edge. Seconds later he heard the soft thud
of a solid landing and a joyful bellow.

Sky didn’t slow down, he
just trusted that there was another roof just beyond it and flew
towards the edge. The desert wind blew hot and wild as his feet
left the cement and he threw his body towards the next building. He
had landed before he had gotten the chance to look down. Con was
already on the next building over, climbing its fire escape up
another few stories.

He didn’t have time to
judge the gap, but he knew this jump was going to be harder since
it was onto a small metal ladder. His arms pumped furiously at his
sides, propelling him faster and faster. He kept his eyes forward,
focused onto the two thin bars he would have to grab. He launched
himself off the edge and by some miracle hit the ladder exactly
where he intended to. He began to climb again, hand over hand,
forcing his breath to remain even, using the steady rhythm to drive
himself up and up and up.

Con had just reached the
top and Sky was only a few yards behind him. He was catching up. If
he was only a few rungs quicker he could have caught Con’s shoe as
it went over the ledge. He called up any reserve energy he had to
get him the last few feet. He knew he didn’t have another jump in
him and to his thankful surprise Con was standing still, facing him
on the far edge of the roof.

He managed to jog a few
more steps, but once he was certain Con was no longer moving he let
his rubbery legs slow to a stumbling walk. He hadn’t felt his lungs
so clearly in a long time.

Con didn’t look winded, in
fact, he looked energized and wild. “Nice work keeping up.” He
spoke loud against the wind.

Sky could only pant and
nod in return. He took a moment to stop and look at where they
actually were. The campus sprawled out below them, and the city
beyond that. They were up high enough that he could even see the
edge of the desert the city tried desperately to keep away. He
stepped up to the cement ledge next to Con. “Is this what you
wanted to show me?”

Con’s black eyes stared
straight out to somewhere beyond the desert. “Not even close” He
smiled quickly before he turned and threw a fist towards Sky’s
face.