Chapter 09

It's cool I am super late and I don't even know what to wear, what to put on or what to do with my hair, I find myself now disheveled, staring for ten minutes at a closet full of clothes and I have no idea which one to choose, I think that when I didn't have many options of clothes and wasn't in a parallel world where I didn't have to go to a class that I didn't even know what kind of class it would be, it was much easier, I have already gone to Carrie's room about ten times for her to help me and she always answered that she was coming, only that I have been waiting forty minutes and she probably won't come soon, I go to the huge mirror in the closet that goes from the ceiling to the floor and I feel that something is missing, I look once more at the mess and I see a jeans jacket, I put it on and look at myself once more, this should do it, I search the room looking for my boots that are probably lost among the huge pile of clothes lying on the floor, or under the bed, or in the rest of the huge room that now looks like a hurricane has passed through it.

There are only ten minutes left before class starts and Carrie still hasn't given any sign of life and I haven't even tidied up my hair, so I'm going to have to do a bun, where is this damn boot, looking under the bed where I miraculously find a pair which means the other one must be close by, I don't know how I got this deduction, but I'll hold on to it. I search under the bed, inside the closet, on the couch, on top of the bed, on the floor and nothing of this boot, I put my hand on my forehead and take a deep breath trying to keep calm, I turn to the dresser and start to look in the drawers, you will know, right? I kneel on the floor again and look under the dresser, and deep inside I find the damn boot smiling at me and looking at me with debauchery, oh if I didn't need it. I mentally roll my eyes at being angry at a boot that was my fault for losing it, when I pull the boot towards me I see a small shape in the dark corner of the dresser, I stretch a little further to reach it and almost drop the vase of flowers, on top of it, on my head. When I reach for it and open it in my hand I am startled to find a very pretty gray flower with small black smoky details in the middle of it, I feel a déjà-vu and analyze it wondering how it got here if there is no tree or plant here in the room with those kinds of flowers, but strangely it still looked familiar.

I sit down on the floor with my legs crossed and remember the dream I had last night, the despair in the eyes of that man I can't even remember his face, the anguish and fear I felt and shudder just remembering. But until then I thought it was another one of my nightmares, although different from the others, how the same flower that I saw in the dream could appear here, in my room, was it all real? no, there must be an explanation for this, but what is it? I feel the weight of the flower in my hand and the questions in my mind, how can this be possible? I am startled when I see a hand close on my shoulder and immediately look up with wide eyes.

- Hey, what are you doing there, do you know how late we are? It's bad enough that we have to go to a place full of people we don't know, and it will be even worse if we are late and the center of attention.

Carrie is looking at me with frowning eyebrows as she realizes that I am holding the flower in my hands, no wonder she looks beautiful in white jeans and a red blouse with gold details that accented her very well, on her feet she was wearing a gold sandal that matched the details of the blouse, her loose and incredibly combed hair, molded her face delicately, I must confess that she did a good job while I was begging her to come and help me at least once, hypocrisy.

- What is it?

I wanted to talk to Carrie most of all, but it will have to be later, she is right about avoiding being the center of attention by being late, and it will also give me some time to think about everything that happened and what it means. I get up with the flower still in my hands and put it in a drawer in the dresser next to some bracelets and hair clips, it is not the best place, but I am out of time, then I turn to Carrie who was already holding my boots.

- There's no time to tell you now, in fact I don't even know what happened, or if I'm going crazy, but I promise to tell you after this class.

Carrie hands me the boots and as I sit on the bed to put them on she sighs and stands with her back to me.

- I also have to talk to you about some things that have been happening to me.

With my boots on I immediately stand up, and a feeling of fear begins to form in my stomach, while my heart is already racing.

- What is it? Is everything alright? Has something happened?

Carie turns to me and points to the door, we walk towards it while I am anxious for an answer.

- Calm down, I'm fine, I just want to talk, that's all.

I feel a lightness take over me, and little by little it is replaced by curiosity, I wonder what she has to tell me. It seems that I will remain with my doubts because as soon as we cross the big gate to the corridor of rooms there is already someone waiting for us to take us to the "class". As I get a better look at the figure waiting for us I feel a wave of nausea, of all the people in that castle they had to choose him to escort us, Erns, I roll my eyes internally as I stare at him with a scowl that I don't try to hide, I sigh deeply as I try to order my feet to keep walking, Carrie snorts beside me with the same indignation. Erns cracks a huge smile as we approach and tilts his head seeing our faces of utter disgust and disapproval.

- Oh come on girls I thought you were more excited to see me, let's not look at me like that, let's just forget about that little incident.

I look at him and raise my eyebrows almost in disbelief at his total lack of sense, I said almost, coming from a man who treated us like mercenaries I wouldn't expect anything else. I confess that I understand his caution in view of the events going on in the kingdom, but he didn't even listen to us when we tried to explain the situation, nor did he truly apologize for the incident, and now, he comes with this talk of forgetting everything and living happily ever after. Carrie steps forward and walks past him, and looks hopefully at me.

- Forget? do you know how to apologize? Maybe it's time to learn.

Saying this I walk past him and follow Carrie who slows her steps since we didn't know where we would have to go, and the only thing left was to really hope that Erns would guide us there. Erns seems to mumble something in the back but I can't understand what it is, probably cursing us, he catches up to us and starts leading us to a wide hallway full of doors, very similar to the bedroom hallway but with much more space, this place is so big that I think it's almost impossible that all these rooms are good for anything. Erns leads them to a huge spiral staircase that leads to a huge outdoor patio, it was as if separating the castle in two, the patio was also very large and spacious with many plants, benches and flowers, there was even a fountain, it looked more like a playground than a patio, we continue advancing through the patio to a large door very similar to the one we entered the castle the first day we arrived here. I notice that the door contains the symbols I have seen before, on the capes of our kidnappers in the forest, on Arns' clothes, and many other symbols I didn't know, I save this question for later maybe someone can answer me, Erns makes a movement with his hands and the door opens like magic, I frown and look at Carrie who also seems as amazed as I am.

When the doors open, we are faced with a huge hall with uniformed people walking back and forth, carrying books, talking, laughing, hugging, everyone was so oblivious to our presence that I felt a huge relief that we were not the center of attention, but of course Erns wasn't going to give us the satisfaction, was he? While we stood at the entrance of the hall watching the huge flow of unknown people, Erns advanced and started to call everyone's attention to where we were.

- Attention, please, I would like everyone's attention.

The students slowly came closer and began to look at us, at that moment I only had two thoughts, to run back or to face all those people looking at me and whispering, and well, not that Erns would let me choose. People are looking at us with curiosity, I see familiar faces like Rebecca, who we met when we were working in the kitchen the night of the attack, and other people I remember seeing at that same event, almost all of them were whispering and making signs, while some were just staring at us with curious eyes, anyway I was feeling out of the my natural habitat of invisibility. Erns clears his throat and points at us before looking forward again.

- Good morning everyone, I've come to welcome you all personally," Erns takes a good look around, noting all the people there, "I see a lot of new people here this year, and a lot of potential, well you'll all get a chance to introduce yourselves at the welcome dinner tonight, now I'm going to ask the newcomers into Brien's hands to introduce you to the facilities, the accommodations, and the lesson plans, after that you'll be excused to get to know your rooms and get ready for the meeting tonight, and I warn you not to miss it, because it will be a meeting directly with the queen and the associates of the kingdom.

Sighing with relief that Erns has not said anything about us, Carrie closes her eyes for a second totally relieved also what we least wanted was to draw attention of these people even more to us, but now I feel more reassured to know that we are not the only newcomers here. An older man, about sixty years old, approaches Erns and puts his hand on his shoulder, Carrie pulls me into a corner so that we can mingle among the people who still look at us with suspicion.

- Erns, what a pleasure to welcome you this year, and I see you have brought new students as well.

And there goes our hopes of going unnoticed, now, more so, I feel the weight of hundreds of eyes on me. Yes, I am antisocial indeed, I grew up that way, in the orphanage the most contact we had with the outside world was at school and well, let's just say we didn't make many friends precisely because we were orphans, all this attention was new to me. Erns lets out a laugh and turns to the man who is now staring at him.

-Brien, long time no see, everyone will be introduced at the meeting later, I'd like you to introduce the newcomers to the academy all right?

Brien nods and looks forward, clapping his hands together.

- Very well you heard Mr. Erns, all newcomers please come with me I will introduce you to the facilities, the rest of you I suggest you go to your rooms and pack your things for the meeting later.

Erns gives us a nod and says goodbye to the staff, the students begin to disperse, leaving in the courtyard only what I believe to be the newcomers. Brien was an old man who wore very formal and sophisticated clothes, a golden cane, and glasses of the same color. He seemed to be the kind of person who didn't like to talk much, but who imposed respect and seriousness, from his gestures to his speech and even his way of walking. Carrie and I began to follow the group, still not understanding what was going on, Brien explained to us that the staircase in the middle of the hall would lead us to the rooms, the right side would be for the girls and the left side for the boys, and gave us keys which meant that Carrie and I would no longer be staying in our old rooms, well now that I was getting used to it.

After explaining about the rooms we followed him to a door on the left of the big staircase, behind it was a huge wide hallway with many rooms, according to him those rooms were where we would have our classes, we couldn't see what was in the rooms because all the doors were closed, but I could tell they were huge as well as that huge corridor that branched into more and more corridors full of rooms, at the end of the corridor there was a new gate that led to a training room, in it there were all kinds of equipment and weapons and I was horrified to see the excitement of people passing through it, would we use those things? What kind of classes are held here? I don't even want to think about it, I look at Carrie who surprisingly seemed excited about these things, I sigh and roll my eyes, already foreseeing the kind of situation we would face. We walked a lot, climbed countless stairs and discovered that there were several floors of classrooms and each one was different, for each student's specialty, if I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe them if they told me about the size of that place, I was already exhausted and hadn't even seen everything, when Brien decides to return to the hall.

Leaving that corridor back to the main hall, Brien takes us to the right side of the staircase and introduces us to the huge dining hall, the huge kitchen, the huge leisure area for the students with swimming pool, garden, party room, library, park, in short everything in that place was huge and chic, from the floor to the walls and ceiling. After all this presentation we returned to the courtyard, and I needed to urgently needs water and a place to pass out. Brien climbs a few steps up the stairs and turns to us again.

- Okay, now that you have seen the basics of the facility, the rest you can learn later. - There was even more, can you believe it? - Now I will let you get settled in, your things have been transferred to your rooms, as well as your lunches and snacks have been prepared, at exactly eight o'clock, and without delay, you should all go to the dining hall to dine and be introduced to everyone. - Brien of that steps the eye even more rigidly to everyone. - I repeat that I will not tolerate tardiness, you are dismissed.

After that warning I'm going to start getting ready now, the students start walking up the stairs and Carrie and I head to the right side, to the girls hallway, by the numbering of the keys Carrie would be two rooms away from mine, and I'm sure she couldn't claim it, so I ended up accepting that, at least she wouldn't be in another hallway for example, yes, because we found out there wasn't just one hallway of rooms plus endless branches that I had no idea if it would have an end. My room was number eight and Carrie's was number ten, so for me it was fine. Carrie and I split up as I entered my room and just like Brien said, all my stuff was already in there, the room was exactly the same as the one we are staying in, so I guess I won't have any trouble adjusting, I take off my boots and throw myself on the bed when I feel something under my back. When I turn around and take the object out I see a white box wrapped with a satin bow, I take the box a little suspicious and swing it to my ear trying to see what was in there.

After a second I sit down on the bed and begin to unwrap the box, if it's a trap, well I just fell into it, my curiosity overcomes my mistrust. When I open the box I find a note that welcomes me to the academy and says that I can use this object to communicate and help me not only in my studies, but in life. I raise my eyebrows even more and throw the note aside, taking the object out of the box I find an extremely beautiful cell phone, the kind I always wanted to have, but never could, it was white and extremely thin, big, sophisticated, digital and technological, I open a big smile and start to dig into the cell phone discovering that it is recorded some contacts including Carrie's, the Queen's and the idiots Caleb and Logan. Seeing Carrie's number reminds me that we had to talk, and I wanted to talk to her soon, before that meeting. Stuffing my cell phone in my pants pocket, I grab the tray of food I found on the table next to my bed and head for Carrie's room that I didn't even have to knock on, it seems she had the same idea, she sighs and opens the door wider for me to enter.

- Yeah, we need to talk.

X

Carrie and I had a silent lunch, just exchanging ideas about cell phones, something was bothering her and just like me she seemed confused and afraid, I don't know what was going on and how I could explain my strange dream without him thinking I was going crazy. It had been a few minutes since they had come for our plates and a few more since we were sitting on the bed without saying a word, Carrie was at the headboard with her legs stretched out and a pillow on her arms while I was sitting with my feet dangling over the edge, these beds are stupidly high, in fact I think the room was made for giants, I heard Carrie sigh and stopped thinking about fading and concentrated on her, I tried to find my voice by sitting next to her and leaning my back on the headboard.

-So what's going on?

Carrie closes her eyes for a few seconds before reopening them again and looking up at the ceiling.

- To be honest, I don't know.

I frown and look forward, what do you mean she doesn't know? Then why is she like this? I have noticed that she has been a little distant since we got here, something was going on and I need to know what it is. Carie looks at me, biting her lips.

- I, I don't know what's happening to me, I - she pauses and sighs, shrugging her legs and hugging her knees. - I've been hearing voices, I know you must think me crazy, but they somehow help me.

I look at her wide-eyed and sit up now with my feathers crossed, that place was doing things to us, first my realistic dream and now this, I put my hand on Carrie's shoulder and squeeze a little as if to give her confidence and support, even though I feel neither.

- Carrie I don't think you are crazy, I mean, strange things happen here, don't they? When did this start?

Carrie sighs and crosses her hands on her lap, I have never seen her so scared before, and we have been through a lot at the orphanage, but I admit that hearing voices in her head must be a bit... disturbing.

- It's been a while since we got here, do you remember when we went into that circle where you said you had heard something? - she pauses and looks at me waiting for my answer, nodding, she looks at her hands again. - Well, it started that day, since then they have helped me especially when I am distressed or in doubt. That day of the attack they told me exactly what to do, it was as if I always knew, but had forgotten, I can't explain it, but I felt alive like never before.

I understand what she means, at that moment I also felt extremely well, it seemed that everything was perfect and that there was nothing I couldn't do, I give a small smile looking at her.

- It is true that we did not talk about it, in fact we have not talked much lately, I missed you.

Carrie looks at me and smiles, I can tell she is calmer and relieved, in parts I am too since it has been a long time since we had a frank conversation.

- Me too, it's great to finally be talking to someone.

We've always talked to each other, but since we got here we've grown apart a bit, I want her to know that she can count on me like she has over the years when I had nightmare episodes, Carrie never abandoned me or judged me like the other kids at the orphanage did. I sigh and tilt my head at her, raising my eyebrows.

- You could have talked to me before, remember? we always protected and cared for each other.

Carrie smiles and takes my hand, squeezing it a little.

- I know, I know, but I was afraid you would be, I don't know, afraid of me or think I was crazy.

I smile and cross my arms, staring at her.

- How is it? Carrie my whole life I have been dreaming the same thing and you never doubted me or thought I was crazy, of course I would understand you, we only have each other we have to trust, if you said you were shitting rainbows I would definitely believe you.

Carrie raises her eyebrows and looks at me for a second with a look of relief and I can even tell I saw a thank you there, and then looks at me with a look of amusement crossing her arms over her chest.

- You're right, okay, from today on we have to promise that we will share everything we are feeling or living, because it has always been us against the world, right? - I nod, already feeling relieved that we are getting closer again. - So what did you want to talk about?

As if awakened from a trance my face turns serious again and I sigh, uncrossing my arms and looking down at my hands.

- W-well yes, I had a bad dream again.

Carrie's eyes widen and her eyebrows raise, uncrossing her arms she approaches me and looks at me with concern.

- My God Lauren was it like last time?

I shake my head in denial and take a few seconds to answer.

- No, and that's what's weird. I had a different dream.

Lauren frowns and straightens her spine never taking her eyes off me.

-But isn't that good?

I sigh again, reminded of the real reason for my worries.

- It would be if I didn't think the dream wasn't actually a dream.

Carrie looks startled and holds my hand, seeing how clearly nervous I am.

- What? What do you mean?

It takes me a few seconds to answer again, it was hard to remember all the feelings I felt at that moment, to remember all the scenes I saw in the dream, and even harder to explain it in a way that doesn't make Carrie more scared than she already is. Carrie gives my hand a little squeeze as if to give me some reassurance, sighing once again I look into her eyes.

- S-so, I dreamed about an old man, he looked extremely distressed and wanted to tell me something, but somehow he couldn't seem to - when I remember his appearance and the sadness of the man, I feel an extreme chill go up my back, I sigh again to get over that feeling. - Briefly he wrote some symbols on the floor and left me a black flower, and just as he appeared suddenly, he left and then I woke up.

Carrie looks at me with her hand still on mine, and frowns even more.

- Gee, that's strange, but I still don't understand why you think this might not have been a dream.

Well, that's when I had to explain the weirdness that occurred to me without making her terrified, you know, there's no fucking way to explain it without making her afraid, even I was. I swallow some saliva and sigh again, I think I will run out of oxygen until this conversation is over.

- It turns out that when I woke up this morning to get ready for that class, I found this in my room.

Pulling it out of my back pocket is the little black flower I found in my room, although a little crumpled, you could clearly see that it was a flower, I think.

- This is ...

I nodded, handing the flower to her who was analyzing it very carefully.

- Exactly, it's the same black flower the guy left for me in my dream.

Carrie closes her eyes and exhales a heavy breath and lowers her head where she remains for a few seconds without saying anything.

- Wow, what is going on with us?

I bring my hand to my head and massage my temples trying to find the question to that question I have been asking myself since I got here.

- I don't know, but we have to be careful, you know people still don't trust us, especially me, given the fact that I am supposedly the granddaughter of the man who destroyed thousands of lives.

Carrie nods, handing me the flower and looks at me with an air of determination.

- I agree, but we have to find out what is going on, the worst part is that we have no one to trust either, so we will have to make our own way, as usual. - Carrie pauses and gets out of bed, walking to the glass window on the other wall in front of the bed, which overlooks a small front with a few chairs, a table and a small sofa. - Well, let's wait until we find an opportunity to find out something, until then we have to keep it a secret.

I follow Carrie's steps and stop beside her, nodding my head in agreement.

- Well, we'd better pack up our things here in the room and get ready for the meeting. We'll meet at 7:50 in my room, make sure you're not late as usual.

- It was not in my plans.

I grimace at her and head for the door when Carrie calls out to me, I turn and see her with a straight face with her arms crossed.

- Lauren, be careful, remember that until we know who we can trust, we can't tell anyone what is going on.

I nod to her and go to my room just thinking about how we were going to figure this out, if we didn't even know where to start, I sigh and throw myself face down on the bed, just thinking about it gave me a headache. I stay in bed for a few minutes and decide to get up following the same advice I gave Carrie, I better get ready soon or I'll be late, with the rest of my courage I head for the bathroom dragging my feet, all I needed at that moment was a shower and a miracle to happen in my life, but instead I have to go to an event with people who can kill me with a simple snap of my fingers. Anyway... hypocrisy.