After a month in the Academy and the accidental portal I opened got swept under the rug, I finally get the hang of this school. At least I hope I truly get it. I also get quite close with Elara and she just fills me in with the structure of the lessons, groups, and gangs in this place. Apparently this place looks like a regular college, it also feels like it.
The campus itself is divided into sectors, each one almost like its own city. The Arcanum Wing is where most theoretical classes happen, massive lecture halls carved with runes that glow faintly even during daylight. Then there's the Combat Grounds, a stretch of land so wide. It's also the place where I see Jake and Alex fight the first few days I'm here. I've seen thunderstorms form above sparring arenas just because they fought each other.
According to Elara, the education system is the same like any other universities. Most students studied for 4 years to get the hang of their magic and placement within the Order and another year or two for those who have Affinity and also study a certain major depending on which family of the council they were from. The shocking part is how this place is full of psychos and overachieving lunatics who grouped together and fight constantly.
These people are so serious about their purpose in this school and how blunt they are about anything I feel so inadequate. The Academy operates on what Elara calls "the Merit-Cruelty Score", a phrase that makes me want to laugh and vomit simultaneously. Every student is ranked publicly, their names displayed on massive crystalline boards in the Central Atrium that shift and reorder based on weekly assessments.
While, every student belongs somewhere. There are groups of people here, unofficial but very real and they all align with future Council branches. The funny part is they sometimes have ridiculous games and initiations, and they also know how to prank each other like rivals. If 'prank' is the right word to torching, freezing, and burying people alive. I honestly don't know how they get a kick out of it. I'm so out of my element it is not even funny anymore.
On Sundays me and Jake hang out behind our dorm building, it's mostly me just continuing my work because this is where I found my solace, while Jake spends most of the time facetiming Ethan. But today feels… different. Jake isn't just casually talking to Ethan. He's pacing. That's how I know something's wrong.
I keep my laptop open on my lap, pretending to work, but my eyes keep drifting to him. The grass behind the dorm is unusually quiet today, like even the wind is holding its breath. No student training, no explosions from the Combat Grounds. Just silence. Which is kinda peaceful but ominous at the same time. Since there's usually a few who still roam around to fight and gossips.
Jake runs a hand through his hair, jaw tight. "Say that again."
Ethan's voice crackles through the phone. The wifi here is stable, another thing that I'm surprised about. "I said the tracker is dead. Completely. Not jammed, not blocked. Dead."
Jake stops pacing. "That's not possible. It's military-grade."
"I know it is," Ethan replies, tone sharp but controlled. "And I'm telling you, it's not transmitting anything."
A chill crawls up my spine. I slowly close my laptop. "That doesn't make any sense," I mutter, more to myself than to them.
Jake glances at me, then puts the phone on speaker without asking. Typical.
"Explain it to her," Jake says.
Ethan exhales. "Emily, the tracker your brother brought? It should be pinging satellites constantly. Even underground, we'd get something. But right now? It's like you're both… nowhere."
I don't like that word.
Jake crosses his arms. "So someone is jamming the tracker."
"No," Ethan says immediately. "Jamming still leaves a little signal. I'm telling you, you can't be traced."
I hug my knees slightly, suddenly very aware of how wrong everything feels. But then I heard a crushing sound from someone stepping on grass and we both wiped our heads to the direction. I was surprised to see William standing there. He's one of the top scorers in the Academy and also the leader for one of the most notorious groups in this place, The Orion. This group is one of the biggest gangs in the entire Academy, they even have their own building because they're mostly filled with the children from the current high counselors. While their counterpart The Phoenix is from the rich influential families with mostly the same privileges. But I'm still not sure of which one is which because we tend to keep it to ourselves.
He's not as tall as Jake's 6.5 ft but he's still reached his shoulders and probably have the same build. "Sorry to interrupt," He said when he stopped right beside us, hand casually in his pockets. We had the same class but most of the times he's always surrounded by others from his gang so we don't talk much and aside from Elara I don't make friends.
"What are you doing here? I thought you guys had a party or something?" Jake asked immediately to cut the call. He told me that William approached him multiple times to join The Orion but he always said no.
"Well, they're still preparing and the party doesn't start until 8, I just want to invite you guys to our party." William said casually, leaning on one of his feet. "It's nothing big, mostly just a little celebration for the new rankings."
"No, thank you." I said, forcing a little smile. "I have a deadline."
William's eyes flicked to my closed laptop, then back to me. Something in his gaze made me want to hide it behind my back, like a child caught with a security blanket. "A deadline," he repeated. "For... what, exactly?"
"Her publisher," Jake answered before I could, and I hated how defensive he sounded. How human. "She writes novels. It's important to her."
William's smile didn't change, but something in it shifted, becoming almost pitying. "Of course," he said.
"What do you want?" Jake asked. His voice had gone flat, the tone he used before violence, before the Navy, before everything that had made him dangerous long before magic.
William raised his hands, palms out, a gesture of peace that looked practiced. "I want to help. That's all." He glanced toward the dorm building, where light was beginning to spill from windows as students prepared for the evening. "The party tonight, it's not just a celebration. We have resources the Academy doesn't share with... others."
"Others," I repeated.
"That's what I said," William said. "You know Elara didn't have much access." He stepped closer, close enough that I could smell his cologne, something dark and resinous.
"And you know more," I said sarcastically.
"Well, yes." William's voice softened, becoming almost gentle. He reached into his pocket, withdrew something that caught the light, a keycard, black with silver circuitry visible through transparent sections. "The party is at the Orion House. Eight o'clock. And..." He paused, glancing at Jake's phone, still showing Ethan's frozen face on the screen. "I couldn't help overhearing you have a tracker issue."
"You see, this Academy exists between dimensions," William continued, as if listening to private talks is not invasive at all. "Tucked in the fold between the seen and the unseen. That's why your military technology can't find it, because technically, you're not on Earth anymore. Not entirely anyway. We still have Wi-Fi but that's just about it." He smiled at Jake's expression. "Alexander is thorough like that. There's a reason your family is still in power since the inception."
I felt dizzy. The grass beneath my feet suddenly seemed less solid, like I was standing on a photograph of ground rather than ground itself.
"You're saying we're trapped here," I said. Not a question.
"I'm saying this is where you belong. For now," he corrected. "For everyone's safety. Including yours." He turned, beginning to walk away, then stopped. "But if you want to actually reach LA tonight. If you want to look at your... boyfriend? Publisher? Whatever human life you're clinging to," He tossed the keycard in a gentle arc. Jake caught it automatically. "The Orion has a stabilized portal. One that can get you to where you want. We use it for... supply runs."
"Supply runs?" Jake repeated, voice heavy with suspicion.
"Some of us still enjoy human luxuries," William said, already walking away. "Sushi. Wi-Fi. Alcohol. Books that haven't been vetted by the Council's censorship board." He glanced back, just once. "Your sister's novels, for instance. We have the entire series in our library. Even the unpublished."
I froze. "How do you,"
"We know everything, Emily." He said. "That's the perks of being a high council family."
Jake and I stood in silence for long moments. The keycard felt heavy in his hand, wrong somehow, like it was pulling at the air around it. Ethan's voice finally broke through the phone, small and tinny and desperately far away.
*~*
The Orion House rose from the campus edge with strange architecture. The building is angular, asymmetrical, windows that seemed to face directions geometry didn't allow. Music pulsed from within, bass notes that vibrated in my sternum like second heartbeats. Students clustered at the entrance, some in modern clothes, some in formal robes, all of them marked by the same sharp awareness I'd come to recognize.
William met us at the door himself. He'd changed into black t-shirt and blue jeans, and his smile when he saw us was genuine. "You came," he said. "I wasn't certain you would."
"We're not staying long," Jake said.
"Of course." William stepped aside, gesturing us through. "But first, the party. We have traditions to maintain, after all."
The interior was overwhelming. Light that shifted colors based on movement, music that seemed to come from inside my own skull, air thick with scents I couldn't identify. Something floral, something metallic, something that made my mouth water and my stomach turn simultaneously. Everyone danced in the middle of the room with no care, some even openly made out.
I clutched Jake's arm, grounding myself in his solidity. "I feel like I'm in the wrong nightclub," I whispered.
"It's ok," he whispered back, but his voice held wonder rather than fear. "Just think like you're going to see Oscar somewhere."
A girl passed us, her eyes a mix of black on the right and grey on the left. "So, the Hightower has finally decided to grace us with their presence," she said, looking at me up and down.
"What?" I asked, before I could stop myself.
She turned, and her smile became almost kind. "Alexander really hid you well, considering how much you look alike," She touched my cheek, her fingers cold and dry as paper. "Don't worry, little Hightower. We will help you get stronger."
She drifted away, and I realized I was shaking.
William found us at the edge of the dance floor, two glasses in hand, something amber and smoking in one, plain water in the other. He offered me the water without comment, and I hated that he knew I wouldn't drink anything else.
"The portal is downstairs," he said, leaning close enough to be heard over the music. "Stabilized, as promised. And the information I mentioned..." He paused, studying us. "It concerns why Alexander is really keeping you here."
Jake's hand tightened on his glass. "We know why. We're dangerous. Uncontrolled. We need training."
"Yes," William agreed. "But that's not the main reason. That's not why he brought you to the Academy immediately after, rather than training you indirectly as he'd done with your brother for years." He smiled, and for the first time it clicked to me that he knew more than I expected.
"What do you mean?" I asked, looking at Jake.
"You knew that too?" Jake said. But his voice shook.
"I'm Tremaine, it's what we do." William straightened, brushing invisible dust from his hand. "Go to LA if you wish, but you have to be back before the sunrise. The portal will be closed by then,"
"What did he mean by training you indirectly?" I pushed when William was out of our earshot.
Jake sighed and pulled me toward downstairs. "I also just knew, but the 'science' team inside Damien's team that helped me during my first time having these crazy powers is Alexander's people."
So, that means he's been spying on him, and probably on me too for a long time. Then as if reading my mind Jake hugged me. "I'm so sorry, Mily."
But there's nothing he should be sorry for.