Page 109 of Akarnae

“That’ssocool.” It reminded Alex of the roof over On The House.

“Keep watching,” Jordan said, pointing to a gate on the far side of the arena that Alex hadn’t noticed earlier.

She had to blink a few times when the gate opened, because slowly walking through it was one of the strangest looking creatures she’d ever seen. It was like a rock, really. A huge animated boulder—brown and dirty, with some patches coated in moss and lichen. As it moved closer, Alex could see a small leafy plant growing out of the crevasse where its neck joined its shoulder. It was utterly bizarre.

“Whatisthat?” she asked, though not as quietly as she’d intended.

“It’s a Dertfoot, Alex,” Varin answered. “He’s been in the sun all day so he’s rather sleepy right now, but don’t underestimate these big fellows. Their skin is as hard as the earth itself, and one blow will knock you out for a week.”

Alex watched as the Dertfoot circled a spot in front of them—strangely enough it reminded her of a cat—and it lazily plonked itself onto the ground. Within seconds it looked like a sleeping lump of rock, and if she hadn’t seen it moving with her own eyes just moments before, she would have thought it was just a normal boulder.

“They’re not the most intelligent of beings,” Varin continued, “but it doesn’t really matter since barely anything can cause them harm.”

The rest of Alex’s first Species Distinction class was spent learning all about Dertfeet—what they ate (mud), how they communicated (by grunting), what they liked (sunshine) and disliked (anything cold), and where they lived (on the outskirts of the Soori Desert, just south of the Durungan Ranges). Alex was still a bit unclear about how they reproduced—let alone how to distinguish between genders—but she wasn’t quite willing to askthosequestions in front of her classmates.

All in all, it was the weirdest class Alex had ever experienced, but even so, she was already looking forward to whatever Varin might teach them next time.

As the weeks passed by, Alex slowly fell into a comfortable pattern again. Species Distinction quickly became one of her favourite subjects as she learned about all manner of creatures from Flips (human-like beings who live in pressurised underwater cities and can breathe in both atmospheric and aquatic environments) to Goppers (toothless lizard-like reptiles) to Jarnocks (tree-dwelling little people who use poisonous darts as weapons) and even Veeyons (large flying creatures that spit venomous green sludge).

True to Varin’s teaching style, not only did she learn the theory about the different creatures, but she also got to see what they looked like and how they acted when they paraded around the arena. The Flip and the Jarnock even answered questions for the students, since both species were somewhat bilingual even if they did have strange accents. Those were particularly fascinating classes, and not just because of the differences between their races.

The Flip, named Tork, sat amongst the students and spoke with them as equals, answering their questions with confident ease. He had a diplomatic manner and after a while Alex was able to overlook his luminescent green skin with its bright yellow tribal markings. Aside from the unique colouring—and his webbed hands and feet—he otherwise looked and acted like a normal human being.

Mareek the Jarnock, however, had to be contained behind the transparent barrier for the entirety of his stay. Some moments the small dirt-covered man was as civil as could be, answering questions and providing them with anecdotes about his life in the trees. But then out of nowhere he would raise his hollowed pipe to his mouth and blow a poisonous dart straight towards them, screaming in his native language. The barrier blocked his attacks, but his unexpected change of mood always earned a squeal or two from some of the students in the class—and not just the girls.

Alex’s other classes continued pretty much like normal; the only surprising development came from Professor Marmaduke who pulled Alex aside one day to comment on how proficient her mind defences had become. The teacher raved about how much studying Alex must have done to reach such an accomplished level of mental defence in such a short time. Alex had no idea what the woman was talking about and simply smiled and nodded. By the sound of it, it seemed like Marmaduke wasn’t able to read her mind anymore, and ultimately Alex didn’t care why that was as long as it stayed that way.

As for the rest of her classes, Finn was still the psychopath he’d been before the holidays; Karter consistently forced Alex to battle it out on his ever more challenging obstacle courses; and even Maggie increased the difficulty of the targets Alex had to aim for in Archery. Tayla, Caspar Lennox, Doc… it seemed likeeveryonehad jumped on the ‘go hard, or go home’ bandwagon.

When it came down to it, Alex was secretly grateful for their rigorous demands. Every night she fell into an exhausted sleep where not even her dreams had the energy to dwell on her worries. She didn’t forget Aven’s threat, but as time progressed, she began to feel much more at ease.

January turned into February, and February turned into March. The academy suffered from a late cold snap right at the beginning of spring and with it came a surprising amount of fresh snow, but as they entered April the weather brought warm, sunny days and clear blue skies.

It was on one of these days that Alex found herself heading to Jarvis’s office on an errand for Fletcher to retrieve one of his patient’s administrative files.

When she ascended the Tower staircase and reached the eighth-floor antechamber, she noticed that Jarvis’s door was slightly ajar. She was just about to knock and enter when she heard voices from within.

“I’m telling you, we need to warn her.”

Alex was surprised to hear the voice of her Archery instructor, and she hesitated by the door.

“And I’m telling you, Magdelina, the less she knows, the safer she is. The safer we all are, in fact. She already knows too much as it is. Worse,heknows that she knows.”

That was the librarian’s grizzly tone, and Alex felt her stomach clench at his words. Was it possible they were talking abouther?She leaned forward, anxious to hear more.

“He hasn’t been back since then,” came Jarvis’s measured tone. “Maybe he doesn’t know as much as you believe?”

“Oh, he knows,” the librarian said, his voice grim. “It was written all over his face. Triumph. Victory. Like he’d already won.”

“Then we need to tell her!” Maggie cried. “If she knows what he means to do, andwhy, then she won’t help him!”

“I don’t think Alex would help him regardless,” Jarvis said.

So theyweretalking about her. Alex felt the air rush out of her lungs and she missed whatever it was he said next, something about her knowing right from wrong.

“You underestimate Aven,” Maggie warned. “He’ll find a way to take the choice away from her. She’s the only one who can give him what he wants, and he’ll stop at nothing to get his way.”

“He can’t enter the Library without her permission—permission that can’t be taken from her. She has to give it willingly,” the librarian stated, as if reading from a textbook. He’d said something similar to Aven all those months ago, and it made as much sense to Alex now as it did then.

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