Akarnae (3 page)

Alex chose a direction at random and headed straight into the trees. She half-expected Jordan and Bear to try and stop her from leaving, but they let her walk away without argument. She heard them following her and whispering to one another, but she didn’t deviate from her onward mission.

It took less than five minutes before the density of the forest began to lessen. The boys moved up beside Alex and together the three of them stepped out from under the canopy of trees.

“But—What—
How?
” Alex stared incredulously at the view, speechless.

Directly in front of them lay a beautiful lake, glistening in the late afternoon sunset. The forest where they stood led straight down to the water’s edge, and both the trees and the lake continued on to her right, much further than she could see. To her left, the forest cleared out into a grassy field which bordered the curve of the lake. Alex could even see a few horses grazing in the distance, adding to the picturesque image.

Further on from the fields and resting atop a small hill were a cluster of buildings, each one different from the next. Some looked like they were from the Dark Ages, while others looked as if they’d been built just yesterday. Two in particular stood out to Alex, if only because of their contrasting forms: one was a multi-storied U-shaped complex that was almost futuristic in design, and the other was a tower-like structure in the middle of the campus that looked like it belonged in a
Medieval Weekly
magazine. It was all very strange.

“Welcome to Akarnae, Alex,” Jordan said.

“What
is
this place?” she managed to say. “Where’s the International Exchange Academy?”

“We need to tell you some things that you’re not going to believe,” Bear said, “but you have to hear us out before you decide to ignore us, okay?”

She nodded absentmindedly, distracted by the picture in front of her. Where
was
she?

“Alex,
focus,
” Bear said firmly, turning her to face them.

Seeing their serious expressions, she hesitantly said, “Okay, I’m listening.”

They led her over to a fallen tree and made her sit down while they spent the next few minutes describing an impossible reality. When they were finished, she looked at them apprehensively, torn between laughter and tears.

“Let me get this straight,” she said. “According to you, I’m from another world, a world that was once identical to your own—this ‘Medora’ place—but over time the two places changed and became… different places?”

Yeah, that was really articulate. But they nodded, so she continued, “And people from my Earth—sorry, ‘Freya’—don’t know about Medora or how to get here?”

When they nodded again, she asked, “Then how do you explain me?”

“No idea,” Jordan said, grinning widely. “But I reckon we’ll have fun trying to figure that out.”

Alex looked from him to Bear and asked, “Are you aliens?” When both boys burst out laughing, she frowned at them. “Different worlds? Hel-
lo
! It’s not that strange a question, especially considering I feel like I’m the leading character in some kind of alternate reality movie. And you’ve just told me that there are all kinds of different beings in your world, not just humans. Give a girl a break, would you?”

“Sorry, Alex,” Bear said, still chuckling. “Rest assured, we’re as human as you are.”

Alex let that settle before her brain skipped a million miles ahead. “If I’m in another world, how can I understand you, and vice versa? How do you know English if there’s no England here?”

Even Alex had to admit that she was beginning to sound a little hysterical, but it was still a valid question, and one of many that were swirling around her head. Perhaps she should have asked something more pressing, though. Like, if she truly
was
in a different world, how was she going to get home again? Especially since she didn’t even know why—or
how
—she’d arrived to begin with! And her parents… Well, at least there was something good to be said about their inability to be contacted, since they would totally freak out if they learned she was missing. Alex shuddered just thinking about their reactions—or perhaps she shuddered because she was beginning to understand the gravity of her situation.

“English, England… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jordan said. “We’re speaking Medoran, or the common tongue, and since you seem to understand it just fine, then I guess we can presume there’s some kind of cross-world comparison. Let’s just be thankful that we don’t have to mime this entire conversation to each other, and leave it at that.”

Alex figured she couldn’t expect much more of an explanation, so she decided to move on. “Let’s talk about this school of yours,” she said, thinking over everything they’d told her in their ‘welcome to our world’ speech. “You mentioned something about Akarnae being a school for the gifted. What does that mean?”

Bear motioned for her to look at Jordan, so she turned to the blond boy. He smirked at her… and then disappeared into thin air. He literally
vanished
.

She gaped at the empty spot in front of her. “How—?”

“It’s my gift,” Jordan said, reappearing again and laughing loudly at the gobsmacked expression on her face.

“Your gift?”

“Transcendence,” he said. “I can transcend—meaning I can disappear from sight and move through solid objects while invisible.”

“That is…” Alex was lost for words, so she settled on, “very cool.”

Jordan chuckled and squeezed her shoulder. “It’s okay. You’ll get used to it here. Everyone at Akarnae has a gift. Bear’s is pretty handy too, especially when we want to get out of detention.”

“What can you do, Bear?” Alex asked, even if in the back of her mind she was totally flipping out.

“I’m a charmer,” he said with a wink.

She felt her lips twitch. “I bet you say that to all the new girls.”

He laughed at that before explaining, “I can use my speech to convince people to do things. I literally charm them into action.”

“That sounds kind of dangerous,” Alex said. If what he said was true, then he had a gift that could cause a lot of damage in the wrong hands.

“It might seem that way, but it’s really not,” Bear said. “My charms are more like suggestions, you can either act upon or dismiss them depending on how much you like or don’t like the idea.”

Alex thought about that and said, “Can you show me?”

Bear shared a sneaky glance with Jordan before turning back to her and saying, “You must be hungry, Alex. I doubt you’ve eaten for hours, right?”

His voice sounded the same, but there was an almost hypnotic quality to his tone. Before she even realised what she was doing, Alex nodded in agreement.

“You’re probably so hungry that you would eat anything just to feel relief.”

Alex’s stomach clenched painfully. She was
starving
. What had she last eaten? A piece of toast for breakfast? She couldn’t even remember what it had tasted like, it seemed so long ago.

“I wonder if there’s anything around here that we can give you to eat?” Bear continued in that same mesmerising tone.

“Please,” Alex said, her own voice sounding strained. “I’ll eat
anything
.”

“Here, this will help.” Bear scooped up a handful of dirt and handed it to her. “It’s just like chocolate. It’ll taste delicious and you’ll feel so good afterwards.”

Alex reached her hand out and Bear passed the dirt over. Part of her was desperate to pour the chocolate-like goodness straight into her mouth, but another part of her was beginning to scream from deep within her subconscious mind. She paused in the act of moving her hand towards her mouth, her thoughts warring with each other.

It’s dirt
, Alex thought to herself.
Why would I ever eat
dirt
? Gross!

She threw the handful of earth to the ground and then turned to glare at Bear. “What did you just do to me?”

He and Jordan burst out laughing.

“You should see your expression right now!” Jordan gasped between guffaws.

She placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes further.

“Oh, come on Alex,” Jordan said once he’d calmed somewhat. “Admit it, that was funny!”

She tapped her foot impatiently and asked Bear again, “What did you do?”

“You asked me to charm you, so I did,” he said. “I wanted you to see how it feels when it works, but also how when I press too far, your natural reasoning comes back into play.”

“So, you managed to convince me I was starving, even though I’m actually not?”

He nodded and continued for her, “But when I tried to get you to eat dirt, the suggestion was too different from anything you would normally agree to, so you snapped out of my influence.”

She shook her head in amazement. “That’s… Yeah, I have no words for what that is.”

“I just wanted you to understand that while it’s pretty cool, it’s not a dangerous gift because I can only do so much before you realise you’re being manipulated. So, no freaking out about me becoming some kind of tyrannical ruler bent on world domination, okay?”

“That particular scenario hadn’t actually crossed my mind,” she told him dryly.

“I kind of like the sound of it, though,” Jordan mused.

“Fortunately, it’s me with the gift, then,” Bear said with a grin.

Alex found herself enjoying their easy banter, but her mind was also distracted by the events of the last half hour. It was only just beginning to sink in that she was really,
illogically
, in another world.

“You look like you’re going to pass out, Alex,” Jordan said, gently grasping her elbow to offer support for her swaying body.

“You try looking okay when you’ve just had your entire world turned on its axis—
literally
,” Alex said, rubbing at her temples. “What am I supposed to do now? How do I get home?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Jordan said. “Marselle will get you home, no problem.”

“Who’s Marselle?” Alex asked.

“He’s our headmaster,” Bear answered. “If anyone can get you back to Freya, it’s Professor Marselle. He can do anything.”

“Sounds like a regular Einstein,” Alex muttered, too low for either of them to hear. Louder, she said, “All right, let’s go see this headmaster of yours.”

Three

Alex wasn’t sure where to
look as Jordan and Bear led her out of the forest, around the edge of the lake and up through the grassy fields. When she turned to glance back over her shoulder, she had to stop walking to truly appreciate the postcard-perfect sight behind her. The lake and the forest were beautiful enough on their own, but they were overshadowed by a massive snow-capped mountain not too far off in the distance. It was a spectacular view, made even more so by the colours from the setting sun. Alex had a hard time tearing her eyes from the landscape, at least until the serenity was broken by a loud voice.

“SPARKER!”

Alex spun back around at the noise. What she saw caused her to swallow nervously and back up a step.

The man was possibly the most intimidating person she’d ever seen, and he was walking their way. Tall and burly, he had short-cropped hair which added to his military appearance. But it was his clothes that really caught her attention, since he was wearing some kind of leather armour and… was that a sword strapped to his belt?

Alex turned her attention towards the man’s face and found that, while his clothing and bulky physique certainly emphasised his formidable presence, it was his expression that truly made her fear for her life. He looked beyond furious, with
icy blue eyes glaring out from under narrowed eyebrows. Even his lips were curled in anger.

When the glowering man was just a few steps away, Jordan smiled and said, “What’s up, Karter?”

Alex wondered if Jordan had a death wish, since his words seemed to have the same effect on the man as poking a rattlesnake with a fork.

“You were supposed to report to detention with me after breakfast this morning,” the man—Karter—said. “Since it evidently slipped your mind, you’ll make up for your lapse in judgement next weekend—
all
weekend—with Finn.”

Something about the last two words caused Jordan to pale. Karter seemed pleased with the reaction.

“That’ll teach you to waste my time,” he finished.

“Aw, come on, Karter,” Jordan pleaded. “The only reason I had detention was because I skipped Marselle’s speech. It’s not like I haven’t heard it all before.”

“Attendance was mandatory, Sparker.” Karter frowned and shook his head. “Your arrogance will be your undoing if you don’t watch yourself.”

Jordan seemed to wilt by Alex’s side. Despite all his bravado, she sensed that he truly respected the man in front of them.

“Yeah, I know.” Jordan looked down as he spoke. “Sorry, Karter. I won’t do it again.”

“Of course you will,” Karter huffed. “Just don’t get caught next time. Understood?”

When Jordan glanced back up again, he appeared to be fighting a grin. “No problem, sir.”

Karter nodded brusquely. “Good.”

Just as Karter began to turn away, he seemed to notice Alex and Bear for the first time.

“Who are you?” he demanded, looking directly at Alex.

“Uh…”

He turned his glare from her to Bear then back to Jordan. “You know you have to register visitors. What’s the meaning of this?”

“Ease up, Karter,” Bear said. “She’s no ordinary visitor.”

“She’s new here,” Jordan added. Then he lowered his voice, making his next statement sound overly dramatic. “And she’s from
Freya
.”

Karter’s eyes widened a fraction before they narrowed again. “Don’t be ridiculous, Sparker.”

“I’m right here, you know,” Alex interrupted, fed up with them all talking about her as if she was invisible. “I can speak for myself.”

“What’s your name then, girl?” Karter asked and she instantly regretted opening her mouth.

“Alexandra Jennings,” she said, before adding on a quick, “sir.”

“Follow me, Jennings,” he ordered. “We’ll find out where you’re really from and what you’re doing here.”