Spearwood Academy Volume Two (The Spearwood Academy Book 2) (4 page)

M
averick leads the way to where this other Rose garden
is. Paden tries to put his hand on the middle of my back, but I wiggle my way
out of his touch.

He
leads us down a long hall. It’s furnished different from the rest of Spearwood.
It reminds me of an elegant home, or mansion. A long ornate rug runs the length
of the hallway and oil paintings of scenery, fruit, and vases line the walls. A
lot homier than the rest of the school I’ve seen. I hate admitting that,
because it’s tied to the Royals.

Through
two large glass doors, he leads us outside and to a massive Rose garden. Walls
of roses, all in bloom. Just like the courtyard, but here, has even sweeter
air. In the center of it all stands a long white table, with matching white
chairs. The table is adorned with food and tea. At the table sits two other
boys.

Two
servants stand away from the table, each with their gloved hands folded in
front of them. One of them moves forward and pulls out a chair for me, I take it.
The servant does the same thing for Paden, who sits right next to me on my
left.  It’s an odd sight to see, a chair being pulled out for a man.
Maverick pulls out his own chair to my right.

Paden
motions to the older boy across from me. Something strikes me as familiar about
him, but I’m certain we’ve never met. He has long chestnut hair pulled back in
a ponytail. He’s eyes remind me a lot of Dante’s, liquid amber. Could they be
related?
 “This is Jacob Larson.” I
look to the boy next to him. His skin is as dark as milk chocolate and his eyes
are a mixture of blue and green, captivating. His hair, long, and also put back
in a ponytail. Must be a Royal thing. “And this is Magnus Easton.”

Both
boys have to be around the same age as Paden. They give me a nod. .

A
servant comes to stand between Maverick and I. My heart picks up, I don’t have
to look at him to know that it’s Kearn. “What would you like to be served,
Miss?” He asks, in his London accent.

I
swallow hard, not from being
twitterpated
.  I
haven’t forgotten what he did back in my room. Betraying me to the Royals, it
hurts. “I can serve myself, thank you.”

“Don’t
be silly, let the servant do his job,” says Paden, pointing out the food he
wants, for the other servant to get for him.”

 “It’s one thing when
they are getting it from the kitchens for me. I have no clue where the kitchens
are. It’s another when the food is in front of me and I can get it perfectly
fine myself.”

“That’s
not how it’s done.”

I
raise an eyebrow, he sounds exactly like Horace.  “That’s what I’ve been
hearing, however, I want to serve myself.” I make my point by picking up and
placing a half a cucumber sandwich on my plate.

“Ladies
don’t act that way,”

“Who
told you I was a lady? I have manners to a point. I’m a country girl. I didn’t
go through etiquette classes. If you think you can change me to fit your
culture, then think again. You claim to know everything about me. What do I do
when I’m corner or caged?”

His
eyes shift to Maverick, who plays with his food. “You lash out.”

I
nod. “You may not be physically trying to cage me, right now, but you are
mentally. I don’t take kindly to that either.”

He
stares at me for a long minute. “I really don’t know what it is about you, but
you’re captivating.”

I
shake my head. “How long have you been researching me?”

“Since
the moment I heard about you. You’re a rarity, I collect rare things.” He
reaches for my hand.

I
don’t let him touch me. “So I’m an object for you to obtain? How romantic,” the
sarcasm thick in my voice.

“I
don’t think of you that way anymore.”

I
pick at my sandwich, tearing it apart. “Why am I a rarity? Why am I the only
girl here? The genetic probability of no females at all being born for decades,
within a group of people that have diverse genetic backgrounds, is nearly
impossible.” When I brought up this subject with the guys, it didn’t really
seem like they knew the answer. The look Paden is giving me, he knows the
answer, and it makes him uncomfortable.

“You
speak your mind a lot,” says Magnus, it’s the first thing he has said, since we
sat down.

“So
I’ve been told.” Obviously the mothers of the boys here don’t speak out. My
candidness shocks them all.

“We
don’t talk about such matters,” says Paden.

“Why?”

“Because,
it’s forbidden.”

“Forbidden?
What’s going to happen? From what I understand, you Royals are top of the food
chain. What could anyone possibly do to you for telling me the truth?”

“It’s
worse than what the
Normals
get, when they are
Outcasted
,” says Maverick.

From
what I know about the Outcasts, they’re removed from the families and stripped
of their powers. “What could be worse than that?”

“Death,”
says Jacob, giving me a stare with his amber eyes

“But
who is above the Royals?” I ask.

“The
Governors and the Ancients. We may be the grand children of the last living
Ancients, but we only have say over specific people,” says Paden.

“Like
Mr. Perlow?”

“He’s
one of them. How did you know?”

I
roll my eyes. “The way you talked to him the other night, when you gave me this
necklace.” I pull the crystal out from underneath the dress. It hangs heavy
against my chest.

“Do
you like it?” he asks. The excitement practically drips off him.

“I
guess. It does the one thing for me that I’ve wanted all my life.”

“That
makes me so happy to hear. I’m glad I could give you something that you like.”

I
cock my head to the side. “You didn’t give it to me though, Hansen did.” I
point my thumb toward Maverick. It’s the truth, Paden wasn’t the one to
physically give me the necklace.

Paden
frowns at Maverick. “I was the one that ordered him to get it and give it to
you.”

“Again,
how romantic of you. I suppose I should be swooning at the thought that you
ordered someone else to do the dirty work? Right.” A thought hits me about
yesterday. “Were you also the one to lock me in that cave?”

His
eyes go wide. “No. I wasn’t the one that did that to you, my love. I wouldn’t
have ever done that to you.”

“Then
who did order it?”

He
shakes his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you.”

I sigh.
“Of course you can’t. Every time I take one step forward, I’m forced back
four.”

He
forcefully takes my hand. When I try to pull away, he holds on tighter. ‘
I’m
sorry, my love. I would tell you, but they are watching. Even through
communication like this, it could be dangerous revealing the truth.’
I hear
his voice inside my head. Just like the way the Ancient had spoken to me back
in that classroom.

I
swallow hard. The Watchers even watch the Royals? I nod, not knowing what else
to do.

He
releases his death grip on my hand, but keeps touching. His thumb moves in
circles over my skin. A calm rushes through me.

“Will
you please enjoy this meal now?” he asks, as he let’s go of my hand.

I
nod. I look behind me, Kearn stands a few feet away.  I can’t decipher the
emotion in his bicolored eyes. He gives me a bow with his head. I’m so confused
about what I should be feeling when it comes to him.

A
clock off in the distance chimes the hour, signaling
the end of lunch. I look around the table. Magnus and Jacob are still silent.
Only having said a hand full of words while we ate. Paden and Maverick talked
the most.

“I
really need to be getting back to the school. I have already missed half a day.
I can’t have my grades falling.”

Paden
pushes out his chair and stands. “Of course. I’ve kept you long enough.” 
I stand also and he takes my right hand. He presses a kiss to it. “I hope to
have a meal with you again soon, my love.”

“I’m
not your love. I don’t love you. Call me Avalon.”

“As you wish,
Avalon."
I try not to think about
Princess Bride.
I've always wanted someone to say that to me, and it just had to be him, didn't
it?
I guess having the most romantic line ever said
in a book, said to me by a boy I actually like, is too much to ask for, huh? I
give a nervous smile and pull my hand away from him. He really did do his
research on me.

“Maverick and you,”
he points to Kearn. “Take Avalon back to her rooms.”

I’m not surprised
that he doesn’t want to take me himself. That would require work on his part.
“I need two escorts?”

“Yes, you never know
who’s lurking in the halls of Spearwood.”

“I’m pretty sure she
can take care of herself,” says Maverick.

I think that’s the
first real compliment he has ever given me.

“Just go with her
and make sure she doesn’t run into anyone who could hurt her.”

I look to the two
who haven’t talked. I give a wave. “Bye, it was nice to meet you.” They just look
at me for a long second, before giving a nod of their heads. I can’t help but
try and shake the feeling that they have been analyzing me this entire time.

I turn back to
Paden. “Bye. Thank you for the lunch, I guess.”

“Of course, Avalon.”

“C’mon, let’s get
you back to your rooms,” says Maverick, beckoning me to follow him. Kearn
follows behind me, as we enter the homey atmosphere of the hall. This time he
leads me down a smaller hallway and up a wide set of red carpeted stairs. I
stumble on the last step from the top, a hand goes on my lower back to steady
me. Kearn stopped me from falling down the stairs.

I look back at him,
after righting myself. “Thank you.”
“Of course, Miss.”
He always has a look
in his eyes that I can’t decipher
. What does it
mean? I want to know. I want to ask him. I want to ask him why he betrayed me
to the Royals. Is he working for them?
 
I shake my head and try to focus on where we
are. We've made several turns down many long halls. I don't think I'll be able
to find my way back to the Royal's tea area even if I wanted to. I don't know
how the servants manage to navigate around this place. They have to have the
brains of taxi drivers.

We come to a dead
end, a long oil painting of fruit hangs in front of us. I look confused at Maverick.
“It’s a nice painting, Hansen, but I think you took a wrong turn somewhere.”

“Not everything is
what it seems, Clementine.” The look he gives me, speaks volumes. It’s true, I
would have never guessed he would be here, of all places.

He pushes the
painting to the side, revealing a secret passage way. I lift an eyebrow.
“Touché.”

We enter the dark
passage, and my night vision kicks in. Kearn pulls the painting back into place
and continues to follow us. “So you’re a
Royal
, right?
How does a Royal end up in a place like Bellingham, Washington?” I touch the
brick wall, as we walk.

“I was placed there
to watch you. To make sure you stayed safe.”

“So you beat me up
every day and made my life a living hell, to keep me safe? Excuse me while I
call bullshit.”

Kearn gives a quiet
cough, I know he laughed at my comment. Maverick turns around to look at me. “I
know it won’t make up for anything, but know this, I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“Why am I sorry?”

“Yes, and why did
you treat me that way? I never did anything to you, you singled me out, for no
reason. You made every kid there hate me. Do you have any idea how lonely that
was? How much I started to hate life?” Why did I just admit that to him?

He swallows hard. “I
know. I’m sorry.”

“You’re right, sorry
doesn’t cut it, let’s keep moving.”

He turns back around
with a sigh and we continue to move. It feels like we’ve been walking forever.
He stops. I nearly run into his backside. I still, then I hear it, the thing
that made him stop, voices. Off in the distance, but not too far. We walk
quieter toward the noise, the end of the passage meets us. A brick wall makes
up the hidden door. Maverick places a finger to his lips. He places a hand on
the wall in front of us. I watch, in amazement, the wall becomes transparent
and I can see into the room beyond. I recognize it, it’s one of the rooms from
the backwaters. In fact, it looks like the room Bullock teaches me in, the dent
in the wall by the door is the same.   Bullock stands in front of his
teacher desk. Perlow, his lapdog, a robed figure and a woman stand in front of
him. It looks to be an Ancient, but I can tell from here that it isn’t the one
that I met the other day. This one gives off a different vibe. The woman has a
ruby embedded in her forehead, her head is shaved bald.

“How has the girl
made in progress?” asks the woman.

“She’s slow to learn
the techniques, but she has a natural talent that shows through with her
emotions,” says Bullock, he keeps his eyes on the ground.

“Has she shown one
preference to an element over another?” The woman’s voice reminds me of a
robot.

Bullock shakes his
head. “No.”

“Make sure she
chooses one, we can’t have her having control of all of them,” says Roseman.

Bullock nods. “Yes,
sir.”

“Make sure she gets
stronger, we need her in the coming war,” says the woman.

“Yes, my lord.”

War? What war?

“Turn around and
remove your shirt, to receive your comeuppance,” says the woman.

Bullock swallows
hard and he fidgets with his hands, before turning around and taking off his
shirt. He reveals a back riddled with thick scars. My hand moves to cover my
mouth. The robed figure raises its arm; the robe slides down, revealing dark
orange scales and blood red talons. Perlow looks off to the wall and Roseman
watches Bullock’s back.  The talons come down across his back. Bullock
doesn’t make a sound. His glasses fall off his face and onto the floor. 
The blood comes to the surface, it bubbles and falls down his back.

“For the sins of
your father, may you not make the same
mistakes.
Pray
that the Sun god blesses you,” says the woman.

Bullock turns back
around, his face as white as a ghost. He goes to one knee and places his arm
across his chest. “Thank you, my lord.”

Perlow and Roseman
follow his example. The robed figure’s head turns to look at the wall we are
behind. For a second I think they know we are hiding here. Without another
word, the woman and the Ancient leave the room. Perlow kneels next to Bullock
and places his hand on his shoulder. He flinches away from the touch. “Let’s
get you to Dr. Quinn.”

Roseman stands.
“Leave him, Perlow. He’ll be fine on his own. We have work to attend to.”

It’s the first time
I’ve ever seen Roseman take control. He isn’t the lap dog I thought he was, is
it all just an act?

“You’ll keep your
promise, right?” asks Bullock. “I teach the girl and will be integrated into
the families again, I’ll no longer be an Outcast?”

Bullock is an
Outcast? But the others made it sound like Outcast don’t survive here.

“Yes,” says Roseman.

Perlow stands, but
still looks with worry down at Bullock. “Stay strong,” he says.

They both leave the
room now. Bullock lets out a shaking breath and turns to use the desk to help
him up. Blood runs still fresh down his back, and has seeped into the top of
his slacks. He stumbles over to the wall on the right and puts both hands to
it. I watch, with wide eyes, as a bed rises out of the floor. It’s a simple
bed, like the white cots found in the infirmary. This is where he sleeps? Why
doesn’t he have a dorm room with the other boys? He collapses onto the bed,
lying on his stomach. I’m certain that he has fainted.