Page 49 of Whispered Warnings: Part Two

“Which makes it all the more concerning that something made a hole in the ward in the first place,” Reed frowns.

“It is, but as I said before, the ward is now insanely strong. I’ll know if something tries to make a hole again, and it won’t be able to get through. Neith’s magic made sure of that,” Raiden assures us.

The guys all make sounds of agreement, but I have no idea if they say anything else because my gaze is on the giant building in front of me. It’s beautiful actually. Made of old stone and looks very much like an old English house that you would seeon TV, complete with ivy climbing up the walls, and wide steps leading to the giant front doors.

Chapter Fourteen

Neith

We don’t pull up out front, which makes sense because there is a huge fountain there and no other cars parked there, so I’m going to guess that entrance is for the king or queen or some shit. Why the king or queen would be visiting the academy I have no fucking idea, but I imagine that entrance is only for people who are that important.

Driving around the edge of the building, we then turn into the building itself and end up in a giant courtyard. There’s parking straight in front of us, but there’s also space for trees and little seating areas and it looks like it's just generally a nice place to be. It isn’t quite what I expected a training academy to look like, it’s a hell of a lot nicer.

“Wow,” I mutter as we pull into a space.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” Raiden asks. “We have all of the highest spec training grounds and rooms. There are obviously classrooms here as well for the theory side of the lessons. Learning the laws and all of that sort of thing.”

“It’s awesome. I’ve been to the HIDs version of a training academy, and it is the most boring and bland place I have ever seen. I’m sure that it’s meant to discourage people from actually joining HID.”

“I thought you said that you didn’t do any training?” River asks as we all get out of the SUV.

“I didn’t go there to do training,” I reply. “I was called into a meeting with the boss, and that’s where he was.”

“Oh,” River replies. “Well, we actually want our trainees to do well and love what they do. We’re pretty strict but that’s because we need to be, and they need to understand the law and the consequences.”

River’s serious side is one that I haven’t seen before and I kind of love it. I love his happy go lucky side too, but this one is intriguing.

I nod, “Yeah. That makes complete sense. HID should be doing the same thing, and I’m not sure why they aren’t, it’s like they want to fail.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Van says. “For now, we probably shouldn’t talk about HID while we’re here.”

“Good point,” I reply, as we finally make it into this huge and beautifully decorated hallway.

There is a giant set of steps leading to the first floor, at one end. A huge set of double doors that are standing open and clearly lead to a cafeteria of sorts to the right of us and the smells coming from it make me hope for the first time in my life that we get to eat in there today. The other side of the vast hallway thatis more like a room itself it’s that big, has several doors and a couple of corridors leading off it as well.

There are lots of people milling about, all dressed the same in black cargo trousers, boots, and plain T-shirts, although the shirts are all in different colors, and I wonder if it means something or if it is just a coincidence. They are all glancing at the guys and smiling, which tells me that they are well-liked here. I frown when I realize that they are looking at Reed with fear and that he has slammed his mask back down because of it. I’m also getting my fair share of curious looks, and several people aren’t that subtle in sniffing the air and trying to work out what I am.

Ha! You and me both guys.

The range of ages isn’t really that easy to tell, but I know that everyone here is twenty-two or older, simply because that’s how old you have to be to join, and you have to finish your time at the magical academy before you’re allowed to attend the training one if that’s what you have chosen to do. As far as I can remember, you finish the training academy in the year that you turn twenty-one. I think there is also a test that you have to do before you’re actually allowed into the training academy. They don’t just let everyone in.

I only know what I know because I found out that Evander went here, and I sort of did some research until I felt pathetic practically stalking him and went to kill some shit instead.

I have issues.

The active agents are easy to tell because they’re dressed like we are, and they are even more blatant in their curiosity of me. I follow the guys, walking in between Raiden and Reed, which might also be why they are all staring at me. I’m far more comfortable walking between the two of them than apparently the majority of people are.

As we walk through the hallways, I spend more time looking up than I do at anything else. The ceilings are so freaking high and beautifully decorated that I can’t help it. All of them are depicting various supernaturals in all sorts of ways and it is fascinating. Fortunately, my gaze drops away from the ceiling just in time to see a smiling woman approaching us.

“Guys, nice to see you,” she greets them.

“Hey Maeve, it’s been a while,” Evander says.

Her eyes move to me and light up, “You must be Neith. It’s nice to finally meet you, the whole place is buzzing about your arrival and your track record.”

I smile, “I promise, I’m really not that interesting.”

She grins, “For some reason I don’t think that’s true.” Her smile falls, “Just a heads-up guys, Draconian are in today and they’re particularly fucking prickly, emphasis on the prick.”

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