New Recruits

Miles let out fast, jagged, and heavy breaths, his heartbeat probably well into the hundreds. The new kids were watching them from afar, eyes wide with a terror that perfectly summed up Miles' feelings. Caspar and Lancaster were staring at each other, not saying a word. Captain R was just standing around, not doing much of anything. Lilly was staring at Miles, and she finally started over to him.

"You're bleeding," she said to him gingerly.

Miles looked down to see that she was right, blood had stained his T-Shirt. His arms were covered with scratches. He opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it. He was too tired to talk.

Lilly shuffled over to Miles and placed her hand on his arm, sending a tingle through him. When she lifted her hand back up, Miles was surprised to see that the cuts he had received were all mended. The blood was still soaked in his shirt, but the pain was gone.

"Woah," breathed Miles, "how did you do that?"

Lilly smiled warmly. "Magic."

Miles raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.

"You saved me," she said, staring into his eyes.

Miles laughed a little. "I didn't really—"

"Do anything? You took out two ugly creatures and saved four people. I'd say you did something extraordinary."

"I'm not really that brave or anything. Not much of a knight in shining armor," Miles said.

Lilly took his hand. "You sure acted like it. I guess making friends with ghosts isn't the only thing you're good at."

Caspar came up to him and slapped him on the back.

"Brilliant plan, mate," he said. "I believed in you the whole time."

Miles stood up to talk to him, and Lilly did the same.

"All I did was use my weird power thing," Miles said. "You were the one that ninja'd that guy."

Caspar rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever, Miles. It was your idea to help them blokes, and I'm not letting you modest your way out of that one."

Lancaster walked over to them. "Is that true, Miles?"

"Well—"

"It sure is," said both Caspar and Lilly in unison.

Lancaster nodded at him. "Thank you, son."

Captain R walked up casually and said, "Still think he should be punished for being out of bed."

"Yes, definitely," replied Lancaster, and Captain R walked away satisfied.

Miles looked over to Lancaster in questioning, and the man simply winked at him.

"Doc, what happened?" Caspar asked the question that had been on Miles' mind. "What was that?"

"Well, I went to go get these two," Lancaster motioned to the two new kids. "Owen and Quinn. I went alone, because I figured Necron hadn't found out about them yet. I was wrong. One of them must have had a scout assigned to them. He followed me back here to Oregon. About halfway here, I realized we were being followed, and I tried to shake him off to no avail. He kept following, but I figured we'd lose him in the forest. We did, and we made a run for it, running through the trees like there was no tomorrow."

Lancaster paused, taking a breath. He looked over apologetically at Owen, the short boy and Quinn, the tall girl.

"Well, you all know how thick and deep the forest beyond here is, so eventually we got tired and had to stop. We didn't hear anything, so we thought he'd hopefully lost us and given up. We sat down at the trunk of a tree to rest for a while. When we were almost certain that the threat was long gone, I began explaining to Owen and Quinn what I explain to everyone about the academy and Necron and all that stuff. I tried to catch them up on classes as best I could, seeing as they only missed one day. After several minutes, we continued through the forest. We had been walking for a few minutes when we heard sounds again and started to pick up the pace. We got back here, and that's when they caught up to us. I guess this place isn't as safe as I thought," Lancaster hung his head toward the ground, probably wishing there was more he could do.

Caspar spoke up. "Hey, Doc, this isn't your fault. I mean, you're helping to save us, right? So whatever happens here is better than anything that would happen if those narky Necron blokes had their grubby hands on us, aye Miles?"

Miles nodded in agreement. Something had solidified within him at some point during that battle. He had accepted, truly accepted, that Lancaster and everyone at the academy was trying to keep him safe. He had come to terms with all of his new, crazy friendships and was ready to do what it took to make sure everyone was safe, not just him. He was ready to move forward and embrace this new step of his life.

Lancaster nodded slowly and smiled ever so slightly. The man cleared his throat and looked around, as if just realizing that he had an enemy spy and three ugly creatures on his front lawn, as well as two new kids that were frightened out of their minds and three that were supposed to be asleep.

"This is a bloody mess," Caspar said, mirroring Miles' thoughts exactly.

"You can say that again," Lancaster murmured, obviously thinking through things.

"This is a bloody mess," Caspar repeated, a pathetic but much needed attempt at humor.

"So what happens now?" asked Miles.

"Great question," Lancaster said. "I should send you back to your cabins for bed, but since normalcy has pretty much gone out the window and you saved our lives, I suppose you can do as you please. As for the Necron man, I have no idea. This has never happened before, believe it or not."

"Excuse me," a voice spoke up that drove him, and apparently the others too, out of their thoughts. It was the new girl—Quinn. "I just want to go back home."

No one said anything. What was there to say? Miles had felt that way too when he had been taken from his home, and his family wasn't even close to perfect. He could only imagine what someone would feel going through that and almost being killed by an unidentified predator in the same day. Come to think of it, Miles had no idea how Quinn or the short guy, Owen, were even still standing on two feet.

"Yeah," the other new recruit, Owen, chimed in. "I don't really want to fight in a war. I mean, comics are cool and all, but in real life it sounds pretty scary."

Miles was surprised when it was his own voice that spoke up. "Real life is always scarier than it seems," he said. "But it's worth it every time."

Miles was even more surprised when his unexpected advice seemed to calm Quinn and Owen. Caspar gave Miles an approving glance and Lilly smiled warmly at him. Lancaster nodded, saying to them, "In here is better than out there, you've both seen that. And until something changes, those are the two choices. Miles and Caspar, those two that saved us, they made that decision too. So did Lilly over there. And everyone else you'll see here. So stay until you're ready to make the same decision, and then let me know."

Quinn and Owen seemed pretty satisfied at that, but still looked shaken up, a look that Miles' face probably matched perfectly. Miles hadn't the time to think of it before, but now that everything was mostly settled, he realized that he was terrified of the beasts. When he had acted in the moment, he was thinking about others, and it was easy to put himself in harm's way for someone else. But what if that just isn't me? thought Miles. What if I'm not meant to be some hero, I'm just normal and in the wrong place at the wrong time?

A deep, growling voice that could only belong to Captain R distracted him from his thoughts. "I suppose I'll be cleaning up, then."

Captain R was standing over by the cabins, with a few other students Miles hadn't even seen were there. Jason, Kane, and a few girls stood behind Captain R, inquiring as to what was going on so late at night.

Apparently Lancaster hadn't seen them either, because he looked a little startled. "Yes," he said to Captain R. "That will be fine. And get Dawn, Gira, Jason, and Kane back to bed please. Show's over."

Lancaster made no move to attempt to convince Caspar, Miles, or Lilly to retreat to their cabin's, so they just stood around with Lancaster, reflecting on what had happened. After a few minutes, Lancaster looked up and said, "I have some work to do, now. You three make Owen and Quinn feel welcome, would you? Quinn will stay in your cabin, Lilly, and Owen can bunk with someone in Cabin 3 for now."

With that, Lancaster exited, walking toward the old brick building behind the academy. Miles looked at Caspar and Lilly, who looked over at Owen and Quinn. Finally Caspar broke the awkward silence. "Alright newbies, we're awfully chuffed to have ya here. If you need anything, I reckon you should find someone else. That being said, Cabin 3 is over yonder. Don't interrupt their reading, please, or they may decide to give you a lecture."

Lilly rolled her eyes and Caspar continued, now pointing at Lilly. "This toff's cabin is right that-away."

"How do you know where my cabin is?" asked Lilly.

"I think every chap here knows where your cabin is," said Caspar, continuing to rant with his fake especially strong accent.

"Wrap it up the good advice," said Miles, who was getting increasingly tired.

"Right," Caspar said. "Well, you two best be off because you're not supposed to be out of bed unless you're bloody heroes like myself and Miles here."

Owen and Quinn took off in opposite directions, towards their new cabins. They were walking slowly, like they were a little uncertain of where they should be and why there was no adult guiding them through what to do.

"What a day," Miles said when Owen and Quinn were gone.

"Bloody right," Caspar agreed.

Lilly nodded her head thoughtfully before saying, "Well, I think I should help Quinn get everything set up for the night."

"Yeah, right," Miles said. "Well, good night."

Lilly smiled at him. "Good night. Thanks again for saving my life." She headed back toward her cabin.

Then it was just Miles and Caspar, just like not more than an hour ago on the roof of the academy. It was unbelievable.

"How come you get to save the damsel?" Caspar complained, but he looked too tired to really care. "We should probably head back, eh mate?"

Miles nodded but neither of them moved, just standing without saying anything for a few minutes. Then they walked back together to Cabin 4, where both Jason and Kane were already back asleep.

Miles wondered, as he climbed into his bunk, how much they had seen of what had happened. He wondered what would happen next, what it all meant. Did Necron know where they were? Would they send more men, more beasts? Would they ever stop hunting Miles and the people that were now his friends? Despite the questions that had been answered by Caspar earlier that night, Miles still had so much he needed to find out. There was just so much that was unknown, that might never be known. They were living in the dark, and the dark was unbearable to Miles. He wanted, no he needed, answers. But as he pondered the questions he had asked himself in his mind, he felt himself drifting off. An unconquerable urge to fall asleep, his eyelids crushing down on one another like cement blocks. His questions seemed to slip out from under his fingertips as his muscles relaxed and his head hit his pillow. The weight of everything that had happened that day crashed down on him, and he fell into a deep sleep.

Unfortunately for him, though, it was far from dreamless.