Fourth Period

Miles made his way down into the basement for the second time that day. This time, however, he was not chasing after a ghost. He was just going to his last class. Since their first period included both math and archery, their last class was referred to as fourth period. The only thing Miles knew about the class that was about to start was that it was in the basement, and there were no textbooks involved. For Caspar, that was reason enough for excitement. The only thing Miles felt, though, was skepticism. He didn't know what the next class would hold, but it was sure to be some kind of training. That was, after all, the only reason they were at the academy rather than in their own separate states, or countries even. Whatever it was, one thing was clear to him—it was important. So, as Miles walked through the one door at the end of the basement, he felt more determined than ever. To do whatever Lancaster or whoever else needed from him and get back home for good.

"Welcome to class," growled a voice that Miles knew immediately belonged to the so-called Captain R, even before looking up at him. And look up he had to—Captain R looked to be on his way to seven feet tall, although that might have just been an illusion created from the way the man looked over and above everyone. He didn't make eye contact with any one person, but rather looked at a spot above two students. The man himself looked drained. That was the only word for it. Miles would have considered him a pirate if not for the camouflage jacket that he wore. He had a mutton chops style beard and barely any hair on the top of his head. Both of his eyes were squinted, the balls of his eyes jolting back and forth among the people in the room like a tiger waiting to strike.

The room was unlike anything Miles had seen before. He and his fellow classmates stood on a faded blue, rubbery feeling floor that came out from the door and crawled across the room. It felt close to the material used for a wrestling mat, which made Miles a little nervous. To the left and right of where Miles and his classmates were standing, there was nothing. An empty space. Behind Captain R, however, was where things got interesting. The rest of the room looked to stretch almost a football field back, though that was a rough estimate since Miles had never played football. It could have been two or three whole fields for all that was back there. From weight machines, to obstacle courses, to those arenas shown on WWE, and more. Way more. There were devices Miles had never seen before, that he couldn't even begin to guess the purpose of. So instead he focused back on Captain R.

"I am here to teach you," the man paused dramatically, pulling on his facial hair, "to train you."

"For what?" asked Ian.

Captain R's head snapped in the boy's direction sharply. He studied Ian for a few seconds, staring him down. Then he relented, and focused back on the rest of the class.

"That will be the last interruption, understand?" No one said anything. Everyone continued to stare either at Captain R or into the distance. "I said, do you understand!"

"We understand," the class said, everyone speaking up at different times and pitches.

Captain R nodded slowly. "Very well. To answer your question, boy, all of you know exactly what you need to know to be effective. Nothing more. I will tell you as much myself if need be. That is how it is, and that is how it will stay. It is not my business to ask Dr. Lancaster questions. No, I take orders. As do all of you. I have been put above you, and despite your age, you are my army. You will do as I say, which means no further questions. I will explain everything precisely when and where I need to. If I do not mention something, you need not know it. So listen very carefully to my words, because I do not repeat myself."

And that was the rest of class—words. Captain R told the class that they would attend his class daily, with the other three classes switching off. First period would be math and archery one day, then math and combat training. Second period: history, then foreign language. Third period would be English, and then science. Then fourth period. Captain R said that he didn't care what the class called his training sessions, and that he didn't care what they called him.

"Captain R just kinda stuck," Caspar explained to Miles as they were walking out of the building. He seemed to be one of the people who knew the most around Fandomania. "I dunno why, no one does. Dunno his real name either. I don't think even he knows his own bloody name anymore, come to think of it."

"He seems a little insane," Miles admitted.

Caspar just shrugged. "Honestly? He's probably the sanest person around here."

"So what do we do now that school's over for the day?"

"Anything ya like," Caspar said. "It's recreational time now. Read under a tree, play a sport, practice archery, get extra training from R. or help from any other teacher. Could go on for hours. Lots of things to do 'round here. There's a paved area to play a half-court game of basketball, you could go down to the water and play beach volleyball, sometimes we do make-shift games of ultimate frisbee. Right fun, those are."

"We can do anything?" Miles repeated. He wasn't sure why this surprised him, but it did.

"Well, yeah. This is no prison, mate."

Jason joined Miles and Caspar as they walked down the stairs outside the academy.

"You should come play basketball with us," Caspar said to Miles. "Jason's been longing for a teammate, but no one else around here will join us. They think Kane will squash them to a pulp if they try to take a shot."

Jason must have seen Miles shrink back a little, because he said, "Ah, Caspar's just messing with you. Kane wouldn't hurt you," he reassured.

So Miles followed Caspar and Jason to the paved area. The three point and free-throw lines had been marked with chalk, and the hoop looked rusty, but it was obviously a basketball court. Half of one, anyway. Kane arrived a minute later, carrying a worn basketball. The ball was faded to the point where the white lines on it were gone and the orange was starting to lose its color. The grip was gone but it bounced surprisingly well, and so they started to play. Miles was on Jason's team, and Caspar was with Kane.

Miles learned quickly that he was better at mid-range jump shots than anything else besides rebounds. His layups would be denied by Kane and his three-pointers, while on point, would often hit the rim and bounce out. So when he got a rebound, he would pass it to Jason, who would pass it back to Miles, who would take the jump shot. It worked pretty well. Miles liked the game and, without realizing it, began thinking of strategies. Caspar was the point guard of the opposing team, and was killer at three pointers. He was, from what Miles could tell, the best player in the group. He could dribble around Miles and Jason like it was nothing and lay it up or pull up with some fancy mid-ranged shot, instantly inflating Miles ego of having a nice jump shot. Kane was the best when he was right beneath the rim. Caspar could easily create a good pass to him, and being the big guy he was, he could put it right in the basket with no competition, despite repeated efforts from Miles and Jason. Miles noticed that Jason was the best when no one was right up at him and guarding him. Caspar also noticed that, and fixed it quickly.

When all was through, Caspar and Kane had won the game. After that they had tried other games, like horse and knockout. All the games were fun, and Miles was enjoying himself. He was glad for the break from being a super-powered kid in an unfamiliar school. He began to realize that he had made friends, something that he had never really had before, with occasional exceptions. He had never been popular, and was never really interested in finding friend groups. He was always an odd one out, but he had never been able to figure out why. Until he had miraculously beaten up a bully, of course, and life as he knew it was ripped to pieces. Something had changed, though. He now felt like maybe he did belong somewhere—this new place called Fandomania.

After they were done playing ball, the four boys walked back toward the academy. It was already getting dark, and they were drenched in sweat. The coolness that the night introduced them to was welcomed by Miles, since the court had been directly under the sun.

"So what now?" Miles asked. He was starting to hate being the one asking all the questions, but that's how he was learning things.

Jason answered this time. "Well, we shower. I mean, look at us. And then, I don't really know. Sometimes there's a fire at night and we do cool stuff. But now that school's started, I doubt we'll be staying up as late, so I'm not sure."

"Light's out before long, I reckon," said Caspar.

They entered into the house-sized building to the side of the academy. Miles had forgotten about this building, as it was quite a bit smaller than that of the academy. It had a nice, long porch out front with wooden rocking chairs and a wooden table, all painted white. Inside were clean bathrooms and showers, as well as heat and air conditioning. Upstairs was who-knows-what, probably bedrooms for important people, maybe teacher stuff. There was a teacher cabin, Miles had been told, but he didn't know who used it, if any did at all. Miles would have definitely taken the building over a cabin.

All four of them took showers, and then promptly headed back to their cabin. Caspar leaped up onto his top bunk on the left, with Kane sitting down on the bottom. Jason sat down in the bottom bunk on the right beds, right under the one belonging to Miles.

Miles opened up the closet door on the right, the side of his bunk. He was surprised—the closet was big enough to fit into and had shelves with clothes and other assorted items. Some clothes were folded nicely and sat on the shelves, others hung on a rack. On the closet floor, some shoes sat. It was a pretty nice arrangement.

"In there are standard Fandomania clothes," said Jason from the bed. "They're sized to fit the people in the cabins. Half are my size, half are your size. We're around the same height, roughly, so just pick any you like."

Miles picked up a deep blue shirt with the words Fandomania printed across it. The name of this place really did spread, he thought to himself. There were color variants of the same shirt, as well as other shirts with different colors and designs. Some of them were blank, too. The same with pants, an assortment of jeans, sweatpants, athletic shorts, Kaike pants, you name it. It was the same with every other clothing item, as well as things Miles had no clue as to the use. Whatever it was, it was there in the closet. Everything you could ever think of to wear. What Miles didn't know was how it all fit into a closet so small.

After a while, they got ready for bed. Everyone was pretty much exhausted from playing ball for so long, so no one talked much or read anything or played cards. They just got ready for bed. It was going to be a long next day of school ahead. Mr. Turner poked his head in for a second, probably to account for everyone, and then left. Moments later, Caspar leaned over from his bunk and flicked the light switch, leaving them all in darkness.

After that, there was no more talking. Caspar's breathing slowed almost immediately, indicating that he was already asleep. A few minutes later, Jason stopped moving around. Kane didn't move around much anyway, but after about an hour, Miles figured he was asleep. Everyone was asleep. Except for him.

He closed his eyes, but still couldn't sleep. He took in everything he had learned, processing it all, even the boring stuff. He interpreted every word Mr. Turner had said about archery, and everything Captain R had told them. He thought about his powers, and how everyone there had powers like his. He tried to figure out what they might be. He knew Caspar had teleportation, which somehow linked to his weird and spontaneous electricity manipulation. The Dawn girl could control emotions or something, he thought. Jason hadn't said what his power was, and Miles hadn't seen anyone else using their powers at all at the academy, even when they were tracking the ghost thingy they had named Spirit. It was all so weird.

It must have made Miles sleepy, too, because he soon began to drift off.

His sleep couldn't have lasted very long though, because he soon awoke to see that it was still very dark outside and didn't feel like morning. Everything was the same. Except for one thing. Caspar was gone.