Awakenings (Elemental Series - Book 1) (26 page)

When we entered the school, its interior looked more like the pages of an architectural magazine showcasing a spread on old Irish homesteads than a high school.

It was made of stone and deep colored wood rather than what I was used to seeing—pale, mind-numbing, neutrally painted walls covered with trophy cases of memories, decked out with eye-sore multi-colored banners that shouted out the school’s mascot, usually some kind of animal beating its chest, playing the sport the school had been known for at sometime.

The hallways were enormous. I was dwarfed by the absolute girth of them. I couldn’t figure out how everything fit into the building. From its outside appearance, it didn’t seem possible. The interior stone mimicked the exterior, only it was much smaller. I reached out to touch the walls to make sure they were real.

I ran my fingertips along the walls as we made our way through the hall. Their textures weren’t the same. Some of the areas were smooth and cool while others were rough and seemed to have a slight warmth. The temperature differences came and went with each doorway. This drew my attention. Every one of them was closed. I assumed each led to a classroom. They all appeared to be made of the same wood the front doors were made of and each had a different symbol engraved into it.

The design resembled a basic wood door. Each one looked more like the entrance you’d see in old medieval movies about knights and dragons than what you’d expect to see in a school. I noticed not one of them had a handle. While I was trying to figure out how they’d open, I noticed the doors weren’t hanging from the frames like I thought—they were hovering.
How fantastic. How do you open them
?

I was so engrossed that I stubbed my foot and almost fell face first onto a stairwell. Jen was my saving grace this time. She grabbed my shoulder before I fell and made a complete fool out of myself.

“Thanks,” I whispered under my breath.

“No prob. I was pretty much the same when I first came here.” She smiled back at me.

We climbed up the stairwell. It reminded me of the plantation manor’s grand entrance in
Gone with the Wind
. This one was impressive. It was made up of three levels, each one separated by a large landing. Every foyer was made of smooth white flawless stone and stretched the entire length of the hallway. I peered back at the last classroom at the bottom of the stairwell from where we’d come, still trying to figure out the magic of it all.

On the second landing, an ear-piercing noise grabbed our attention. It came from the room at the bottom of the stairs. The door which had been closed was now in pieces, scattered at the base of the stairs. Both Hudson and Jen came up behind me, and Vincent placed himself in front of me. Herecerti was the only one who hadn’t shifted an inch. He merely floated there with a non-readable look on his face and stared at the entrance to the classroom.

“You need to concentrate, Phil. You can’t just change into a giant eagle without thinking it through,” a female voice called out. A female framed in huge silver feathers gracefully swooped into the hallway in time to catch in her talon-like hands a clumsy looking half-eagle half-teenage boy. She caught him before he smashed into the wall across from the classroom. I stood there, astounded by the entire scene.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Hullen. I just wanted to try it once.” He stopped short when he noticed he had an audience.

“Herecerti,” The breathtaking half-angel—Ms. Hullen—said from her crouched position, still holding the very embarrassed teenage boy within her embrace.

The boy jumped up and out of her grasp, all the while transforming into a completely normal looking human boy. Once he’d finished, he stood to the right of Ms. Hullen. She, on the other hand, didn’t move as quickly but did elegantly stand up. When she stood, her full stature outsized all of us onlookers. She was absolutely striking. She had waist-length lightly colored golden hair, which hung in ringlets. Her skin was as clear and white as freshly fallen snow and her eyes were the deepest color of honey I’d ever seen.

“I see Phil had more of an audience than merely his classmates,” she said with a smile as she placed her talon-like hand on his shoulder.

“You can return to class now, Phil. I’ll join you there in a minute.” She turned her gaze to us.

Without hesitation, Phil turned and walked back into the now doorless room. As Ms. Hullen stepped away from the threshold, all of the splinters began to float up and reform into their original shape. I stood there, still open-mouthed and gawking. Ms. Hullen walked, well, glided, to the landing we were on.

“I see Phil is still trying things before he should,” Herecerti said.

“He’s one of our more advanced students. He needs a little more… direction when it comes to how and when to use his skills,” Ms. Hullen replied, and then turned her attention to Jen, Hudson, and I.

“Jen and Hudson, I expect to see you both in Tinosh this afternoon.” She then turned slightly to take me into her gaze.

“Hello Jacey. I’m Hullen. All of my students call me Ms. Hullen. I do believe you will also be attending one of my classes this afternoon?” she said more in a question to Herecerti than to me.

“She will. We’re going to my office to set everything up,” Herecerti said.

While we stood on the stairwell, a déjà vu feeling overcame me. It was as though I’d met her before—like I
should
know who she was. Only thing was, if I’d have met her before today, I would’ve certainly remembered her.  

“Well then, I guess we’ll become more acquainted this afternoon, Jacey.” She simply smiled and without warning, swooped to the bottom of the stairwell—yeah, swooped. One second she was standing beside me and the next she was at the bottom of the stairs.

My gaze didn’t leave her as she approached the now reassembled classroom door. She stood in front of it, then raised her hand to the symbol carved in the center. The symbol began the glow and shimmer and the doorway split in two and opened. Ms. Hullen entered and the door closed behind her.

“Are all of the doors like that?” I asked.

“They are. The symbols are the keys to each class,” Herecerti went on to explain. “Each student is allowed to access the classes they are assigned to. It is how we govern who is where and when while here in St. Nemele.”

We all followed him, stopping at the top landing. We proceeded down another hall, which mirrored the one we’d come from. As we neared the end, Herecerti took the lead and approached the lone door hovering at its end. He raised his hand to the symbol in the center and the door opened.

We followed him into the room. There was an oversized antique wooden desk situated in the middle of the enormous windowless room. The ceiling was barely visible. The room was decorated in dark wood and finished off with huge bronze moldings. There were frameless pictures decorating the far left wall. Each one appeared to be part of the woodwork.

Three pictures grabbed my attention. One was titled
St. Nemele
and appeared to be very old. The building in the picture looked nothing like the one we were standing in. It looked like an old English castle, like one from the time of King Arthur.

The second one was of Herecerti. It looked like a picture of him in his homeland. There was honey warm sunshine and feathers of all colors decorating the landscape behind him.

The third was a picture of Mom, Dad, Aunt Grace, and a man I’d never seen before. Each one of them was holding a medallion over their head. They all looked to be in their teens and all of them were smiling. In behind them was St. Nemele, only it wasn’t the one I was standing in now, it was the castle.

A flash of light settled near the desk as I was about to inquire about the pictures. It came from the ceiling.

“I’ve all the records and reports ye are going to need, Headmaster Herecerti. Along with them’s a copy of the classes and rooms Jacey’s gonna to be needin’ access to,” The thick Irish voice finished as she
became solid in front of me.

The being in front of us was glowing and sparkly, she looked like a fairy. She was half my size and was floating at the level of the desk. She was wearing a white button down shirt and a long black flowing skirt, which covered her feet.

“Thank you, Celeste. I’ll take them with me into my office,” Herecerti replied, taking the tablet which resembled an iPad out of Celeste’s petite hands.

“Hello, Jacey, nice to finally be meetin’ ya and havin’ ya join us.” She came around from the back of the desk, floating in front of me with her hand held out, ready to shake mine.

“Thank you,” I replied. She was so small and fragile that when I took her hand into mine, I shook it as gently as I possibly could.

“Through here,” Herecerti said.

Herecerti was at another doorway which blended into the far right wall. He held up his hand and the wall opened in front of him. He waited in its archway as we entered the room.

“I’ve marked Jen and Hudson available for second and third period classes,” called Celeste from the outer room.

“They’ll be there,” Herecerti said, entering the room. The door reformed behind him and closed off Celeste’s office from his.

This office was the exact opposite of Celeste’s. The room seemed to be made up of only one wall. The entire room appeared to be framed in glass. Astounding wasn’t even an adjective that fully described it. There were crystal clear, beautifully colored scenes which made up the remaining three walls.

The one situated to my far right showed a beautiful forest with greens, blues, and browns bursting through it. The sky was a prism of colors and the sun—I should say
suns
, there were four in total, beaming brilliantly within the sky. As we continued to the back side of the desk, I took a closer look and noticed movement within the glass. The trees were swaying in a gentle breeze and there were things resembling birds flying in the skies, except they were enormous. They had the same appearance of birds I’d seen in my dimension, except these had feathers the size of trucks.

I peeled my gaze away from it to the center mural and saw a replica of Nevaeh, the one in the other dimension. The scene focused around The Six and Senses. There were people coming and going from both, oblivious to the fact they were on screen and being observed from another realm.

Seeing Nevaeh in that dimension and comparing it to this one made the differences extremely obvious. The Nevaeh in the mural was still the picturesque small town, but it didn’t compare to this dimension’s version and the absolute vibrancy of everything in it.

The final mural making up Herecerti’s office was focused on the maze in the center of Nevaeh—well, both Nevaehs’, entrance and exit points. It was still being used by others to come and go between dimensions and the view from this angle told me Herecerti had been a spectator to my entrance with Vincent this morning. I wonder what his thoughts were on precisely
how
we’d entered.

The desk in the center of the room was set up to allow him to sit, float, or whatever it was he did and watch the three spectacles set out in front of him. Directly in front of the three glass walls were four chairs. They were all angled so you could talk with the person at the desk and at the same time have a view of one of the three murals.

“Take a seat,” Herecerti offered. I followed Jen, Hudson, and Vincent to the other side of the desk. I couldn’t resist reaching out and touching the glass.

When I came into contact with it, its texture was far from ordinary. It felt more like jello. It rippled as if I’d thrown a stone into a still lake. The ripples continued from the center of my touch and continued to all four corners before disappearing into the unseen frame.
So much for trying to be inconspicuous.

“Every new student has done the same, Jacey. Each one has touched them to ensure sure their eyes aren’t playing tricks,” Herecerti said as he sat at his desk. We all took our seats. I could feel Vincent’s presence beside me while I kept eye contact with Herecerti.

“Sorry,” I said, more embarrassed knowing he’d definitely not only saw what I’d done but he’d also heard about it in my mind.

“No worries. The murals are visionaries into the plains, just as you thought, Jacey. The first is of my homeland, Hurth. The second is the dimension of Nevaeh, where you came from, and the third is, of course, the Bulwark,” Herecerti explained. “And yes, I can switch the murals to display whatever I want them to, within reason. They would never intrude on any private or personal moments of any one person, as you can tell by the general public views the visionaries have now.”

“That’s amazing. How can you do it?” I asked.

“In time you’ll find out all about these visionaries. They are more common on this plain than you’d think. However, right now I’m aware from your reaction to the Sentry, Heathe is quite concerned about your presence. I, on the other hand, know we can’t simply ignore your unique gifts and the fact you’re a part of our society. Even though we can’t quite place how you’re part of us at this point, know we’re all quite accepting of you. I don’t only speak on behalf of myself, but also on behalf of the Council of Elders. They do give the Headmaster of St. Nemele some leeway in making decisions in regards to new students for our school.”

I was speechless. I knew I should be asking him a bunch of questions about this dimension and what was going to be expected of me but I couldn’t formulate a thought.

“One of the first questions we usually get from our students is, ‘If this society is so secretive, how does anyone explain not going to school with their other friends?’ Believe it or not, this is an easily answered question. Do you remember seeing St. Nemele in the other dimension of Nevaeh, Jacey?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember seeing anything which struck you as being out of the ordinary?” he asked.

“No. I remember the exact opposite. I actually thought the school resembled every other one I’d been to in the last couple of years.”

“Precisely, that’s the notion we want others to have. It’s a private school. Earth’s mornals see the school is only attended by those who have applied and been accepted. If by any chance we have a person who wants to enter the school, the building is staffed by some of our society’s finest at dissuading people from wanting to attend. I believe that at least answers one of the many questions I’m sure you have for me.”

“As a matter of fact, it does.” I smiled at him.

“Now onto more pressing matters. For today and until I deem it unnecessary, you will be accompanied by Vincent to all of your classes. His instructors have been advised and will make arrangements for him not to fall behind in his studies. There is a curriculum you must fulfill in order to graduate. Of course, because of the special circumstances surrounding you, there will be some advanced classes in which you will participate. I believe having Vincent accompanying you will alleviate any concerns you have in regards to classes.”

“It does thank you, but I still don’t get what Heathe was so bothered about. Was it because I’m here and haven’t had my Awakening or was it something else?” I asked.