Steel Lily ARC (21 page)

There were so many splendors that it was overwhelming. A man who wanted the best of everything had erected this place; of course the dining hall would fill that requirement.

We walked into what felt like a Victorian dining room. There were maybe twenty of us, tops. The room had high ceilings with a striking combination of stenciled, bronze, and gilt roundels. The long redwood table stretched almost the length of the room with a magnificent red and gold cloth draped over the top to compliment the other decorations. Real crimson candles lined the center of the table in golden holsters, and faux gold ivy wrapped itself around the candlestick holders.

Behind the head of the table was a massive brick fireplace with a dark wooden mantle. Along the mantle were awards and plaques. My only guess was that they were Riggs’s bragging rights from another lifetime.

The food had been lain out before we arrived, and students passed plate after plate of scrambled eggs, hash browns, and fruit to one another. I scanned the room while Asher, the boy I’d seen with Riggs, spoke non-stop, oblivious to my lack of interest.

“What do you think about the invasion, Avery?”

Sari kicked my leg under the table to bring me back to earth.

I searched for words. “Oh, it was pretty scary. Why would they want to bother us?”

“I’ll tell you why,” Asher said. He leaned in conspiratorially and looked to where Riggs sat at the head of the table, chatting animatedly with Xander. “We can change the course of the world. Us,” he wiggled a finger around our group, his eyes solemn and convicting. “Riggs knows that, and it’s why he’s protecting us.”

Sari rolled her eyes, but said nothing. Asher’s twin brother joined Sari in the eye rolling. “Asher, get a grip on reality,” he said, then looked at me. “I’m Evan, by the way. Reluctantly related to Asher, if you hadn’t noticed. Asher’s our village conspiracy theorist. He thinks that Riggs is saving us from certain doom.”

“He is!” Asher exclaimed, raising his arms and slopping a spoonful of oatmeal down the front of his white uniform.

His outfit was similar to Sari’s, except it wasn’t skin tight, thankfully. In fact, my uniform was the only one that deviated from what seemed to be the norm: skin-tight white pants and long-sleeve shirts for the girls and looser fitting, more casual white pants and cashmere half-zip up sweaters for the guys. I wondered why I didn’t fit in. It felt like it was meant to make me different, make me stand out. I didn’t like it.

“Nice hands, feet,” chastised Evan. “You better get going if you want to be able to change and get back in time for first class.”

Asher sighed and ran a hand through his thick, wavy black hair. “Save me a seat,” he said to Evan as he stood and pushed his chair back underneath the table. Instead of leaving, though, he stood at attention in Riggs’s direction and waited to be acknowledged.

Riggs smiled as the rest of us watched Asher’s silent signal. “Mr. Tertia, may I help you?”

Asher’s body was stiff and straight, his hands along his sides and in tight fists. “I request permission to be excused, sir.”

“And what for?” Riggs looked at Asher’s half-eaten bowl of oatmeal. “You haven’t eaten much. You may regret that later.”

“I’m sorry, sir. I spilled some on my uniform and need to change.”

Riggs nodded once and waved a hand. “Do what you need to do. I expect you clean and on time to your first class.”

“Of course, sir.”

Asher about faced and exited the dining hall. No one spoke, but smirks passed between students.

“What was that about?” I directed my question at Sari, but she wasn’t the one who answered.

“Oh, Asher has a man-crush on Riggs. He thinks Riggs is God’s gift to the world,” said a brown-haired girl who sat beside Evan. The entire breakfast they’d shared touches and looks that made me think they were more than friends. Even now Evan nudged her and she returned the favor, but probably a bit harder than he expected. Her eyes widened and her lips puckered to the side. “Oh stop it, Evan. Avery’s new, not blind. Anyone can see your brother is a nutbag.”

“I have no idea how I shared a confined space with him for nine months,” he admitted between bites of his own oatmeal.

“I have no idea how two people who look exactly the same can be so different,” added the girl. “Glad I got the normal one.”

Sari snorted. “Hell will freeze over before someone dates Asher.”

“It’s a likely scenario,” agreed Evan. His dark eyes were kind and I already knew he was a nice guy. I returned the smile he extended like a handshake.

I scanned the room for what felt like the hundredth time for the same person I didn’t want to see. Even still, my stomach seemed to be cart-wheeling from wondering where he was. “Why’s Jaxon not eating with us?”

“Oh, he has better things to do,” said Evan darkly. I wondered if there was an underlying issue between the two of them. “He’s too good to eat with us. He gets his food delivered to his lab.”

“His
lab
?” I said incredulously.

“Yeah, he’s Riggs’s little protégé.”

I glanced ever so slightly to Sari, who looked uncomfortable. She twisted in her seat like she wanted to pull an Asher and ask to leave. She pushed her eggs and hash browns into a pile in the middle of her plate and lined them with her sausage links. Had she eaten any of her food? Suddenly I wondered if my appetite wasn’t the only one disturbed by things going on under the cheery surface of this family-like façade.

I pretended to be interested in Evan’s comment. “What do you mean?”

“Ah, Jax is a chip right off the old man’s block. Riggs is a ‘scientist,’” Evan said, using air quotations around the word scientist like he didn’t really believe it. “Riggs trained Jax to be an alchemist and God knows what else. He doesn’t have any natural talent, he’s been taught his abilities by textbooks.”

Evan’s voice made it clear he didn’t think Jaxon was as good as he was. For some reason, I felt like I needed to defend Jaxon. “Well, obviously he has talent to learn something as complex as alchemy.”

Evan snorted. “Anyone can cook from a recipe on a piece of paper; anyone could be an alchemist by reading the texts. You and I, we’re different. Born with talent. It’s in our genes.”

Sari stiffened beside me. I knew it was because Evan probably didn’t see her as a legitimate talent, either.

I put my arm around her. “Everyone here contributes in their own way.”

“Some of us are just contributing on a larger scale,” he said firmly.

Sari shook her head. “If by larger scale you mean your ego being out of control, you’re right. Just because you can manipulate fire does not mean the sun rises and falls with your farts.”

We all burst out laughing and Evan turned a brilliant shade of crimson. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water, then pushed away from the table. The legs of the chair scraped audibly against the wooden floor as he stomped off, and everyone’s eyes followed his departure.

He got as far as the grand archway that led to the foyer before it looked like he ran into an invisible electric fence. His face went slack as his body convulsed. I cringed as he fell to the ground and his ankle bent unnaturally with a sickening crunch. His body twitched and spasmed as he lay on the ground, like a grotesque marionette being jerked around by its strings. He went still, leaving the rest of the room silent in his wake.

All of us looked at him lying on the floor unconscious. One by one, everyone went back to eating and the rise of conversation resumed.

I was horrified.

“Xander, please take the second Mr. Tertia to your medical wing,” I heard Riggs say, “He may need a cast for that ankle. It sounded gruesome.”

I watched Xander nod and get up from the table. Riggs never looked away from his food.

Sari leaned in a spoke in a hushed tone. “
That’s
why you ask to be excused. You don’t have to do it as pompously as Asher, but you’ve got to give respect where respect is due. Otherwise, Riggs will take it from you.”

I had a feeling that Riggs would take a lot more than respect from us if he could manage it. The injustice of it all made me furious. I clamped my hands into fists and I slammed them onto the table. The delicate china and silverware rattled around me, and a lit candle fell from its holster onto the expensive tablecloth.

Everything went up in flame.

Guys yelled and pushed away from the table while girls screamed and waved their arms. Riggs, however, sat serenely and watched in amusement. He waved his hand lazily in the direction of the fire. “Care to clean up your mess, Miss Pike?”

The flames were beginning to spread down the length of the table, consuming the over-lacquered ivy. Flames popped and cracked each time the fire reached a new piece of ivy. The odor of burnt plastic and paint hung heavy in the air.

Sari grabbed the cup of orange juice that still sat at her place and tossed it over the flames. As she did, Evan’s girlfriend lifted her hands and her green eyes narrowed in concentration. The orange juice slowed to hover like an orange cloud. She thrust her hands apart from one another and to her sides with her palms open wide. She looked like she was conducting a silent symphony with the movements of her hands.

The orange juice double, tripled, quadrupled in mass to expand over the entire burning surface under her control. With a final gesture, she struck the table’s edge with her palms and let out a whoop. The orange juice plummeted onto the table like a torrential downpour and snuffed out the fire. Smoke hissed and sizzled as the liquid quelled the flames.

Patches of gold and crimson still lingered in the fabric, but it was mainly blackened ash. Portions had melted right onto the wood, which was also charred and probably ruined beyond repair. My nostrils burned from the scents of burnt plastic, fabric and food, and made my eyes water.

Riggs’s voice shredded the silence. “Well done, Kloey.”

Kloey didn’t look at Riggs. Instead, she kept her gaze to the ground and put her hands behind her back as though she were at parade rest. “Thank you, sir.”

Riggs’s tone was bored, but I wondered if he might be saving his wrath for someone else.

Me.

CHAPTER

NINETEEN

While the flames consumed Riggs’s expensive display of power, he sat placidly at the head of the table. Only now did he slowly push away from his place setting. Xander sat silently in his seat and watched the debacle unfold. Riggs cracked his knuckles as he walked toward Kloey. “You’ve obviously been paying attention to your mentors.”

“I’m trying, sir.”

“Well, I’m impressed,” he said, and it sounded genuine. “You may go to your first class. Thank you for salvaging what you could of my belongings with your abilities. The gesture will be noted.”

Riggs put a hand on her shoulder, and she shivered under his touch. I wondered if he was as cold to the touch as his words were, or if he incited that much fear in his students.

Kloey left the dining room as fast as she could without breaking into a run. Riggs glanced at the remaining students. Suddenly his kind mask broke into a thousand pieces as he snarled. “Why are you all still here? Go! You have classes to attend!”

I made for the door, but Riggs’s voice rang out above the exodus of students. “Miss Pike,” he said, saccharine sweet, “you stay with me. I’m your mentor, remember?”

I stiffened. Part of me knew better than to keep my back exposed. I didn’t know what he was capable of. After a few heartbeats, I sighed and turned to face him.

He was right there.

“Are you afraid, Avery Pike?”

I jutted my chin upward in defiance. “No.”

“You should be.”

Sari pushed between us, frantic. “Mr. Riggs, let me take Avery to the first class. She can’t control her abilities yet, so maybe watching the others will help her.”

I had to give it to her, Sari was fearless. Even with Riggs bearing down on the both of us, she stood there with her hand on his chest and kept him at bay. She spoke again, this time more urgent. “Sir, let me help.”

Riggs pulled his gaze from me and focused on Sari. He pushed Sari’s hand away and adjusted his vest and tie, losing the crazed look he possessed moments before. “Fine,” he said as he stalked back to his chair and retrieved his long-tailed overcoat. “Fine. Miss Pike, I want you in my office after the class.”

“Of course, Mr. Riggs.”

Sari guided me out of the dining room before Riggs could change his mind. As we reached the foyer, I glanced back.

Riggs stood there watching our retreat with his hands balled in fists. Xander had his hand on Riggs’s shoulder. Was that a tear I saw on Riggs’s cheek? Xander was whispering something in Riggs’s ear, and then Riggs shoved Xander away. I shrugged at Xander, and he waved me off.

“Stop staring,” Sari hissed as she pulled me onward.

“Something’s wrong.”

“Of course something’s wrong. This whole place is wrong. Now come on.”

I watched Sari as her eyes roved the corridor. “Why did you step in like that?”

“Because I was pretty sure Riggs wouldn’t murder me. He doesn’t want to hurt you; he wants you scared enough to cooperate.”

“And if you’re wrong?”

She chuckled darkly as we turned a corner. “Then I guess we’re both screwed. Come on, let’s get to class before you accidentally burn this place to the ground.”

Part of me wished I could.

Sari led me in a room in the same hallway as the library. “Here we go.”

The giant room was nearly empty. The dark wooden floors, walls and open rafters made it feel like a barn, but there was nothing rustic about the room. It was exquisite.

At the far end of the room, the wall was covered by one gigantic rusted cog, with smaller gears connecting to the main one. In bold black letters, the phrase “Embrace the past, embark into the future” were stenciled on the big cog. Below the words were designs and graffiti that made me think these cogs were taken from other places. On one of the smaller gears someone had scrawled,
“Steam is the past. Long live electricity!”

It made me contemplate how bright our world might be if Riggs were in charge, or if it would all end up as charred and unusable as the rest of the world had apparently become. Could the soil and water recover from such a destructive past? Probably not anytime soon.