The Academie (27 page)

“
Some of it seems to
correspond with what we are seeing: increased suggestibility and a
relaxed state.”

“
You think people here
seem relaxed?”

“
So relaxed they are
apathetic.”

“
Yeah, okay. I see your
point,” he said.

“
Here’s what doesn’t add
up though: hypnosis is also associated with increased imagination.
Now I realize that you can express imagination in ways other than
the arts—which of course have been cut from this curriculum—but I
haven’t been seeing imagination expressed anywhere else either. All
I see is people regurgitating what the sergeants tell
them.”

“
Yeah, I’ll have to think
on that, but I think you’re right. What it may mean though is that
the hypnosis allows them the imagination to do things that they
wouldn’t normally.”

“
Good point. But the stuff
I read also said that people who are hypnotized are
super-focused—as in they aren’t distracted by other things going on
around them. To a certain extent that’s true of the students here,
but well, let’s say that it hasn’t stopped guys from being
distracted when a pretty girl walks by.”

“
I’m not sure if anything
could get a guy that focused.”

I rolled my eyes.

“
Anyway, everything I read
said that the hypnotized still always know that it’s not real.” I
paused. “Did you know?”

“
No,” he
admitted.

“
Okay, so let’s not rule
it out entirely, but it’s looking unlikely.”

“
Any other
theories?”

“
Just your run-of-the-mill
brainwashing,” I said.

“
Right. I considered that
too.”

“
But doing the research,
it just doesn’t fit.”

“
I agree. Brainwashing is
so severe—requiring isolation and an emotional attack on the
person,” he said.

“
Yeah, and while we are
isolated from the rest of society, we certainly aren’t isolated
from each other.”

“
And the sergeants here
are strict, but not like in brainwashing.”

“
There’s major guilt
involved in brainwashing,” I said. “As much as I hate to admit it,
I just haven’t seen it here.”

“
So I think it’s safe to
rule that one out,” he said.

“
So where does that leave
us?”

“
Slightly ahead of where
we were before.”

I sighed. “Well, it’s something
anyway.”

“
Yeah. I’ll keep thinking
and do some research on drugs and hypnosis. Maybe there’s some new
stuff out there we don’t know about?”

“
But if there is, will
they post it on the Acadenet?”

He shrugged. “You better get to class
before you’re late.”

“
Right. See ya
tomorrow.”

That night, I dreamt of my journey to
the coffee shop. I left the Academie, slipping easily through the
fence. On the way, I stopped at Bryan’s house where I had seen in
it on my last trip through the neighborhood. I rang the doorbell
and Anna answered, greeting me warmly as always. Bryan was right
behind her, and as he came out, we waved goodbye to his mom—and to
James, who had now appeared as well.

“
I’m glad you could find
me at my new house in Canada,” Bryan said as we walked. He took my
hand.

“
I knew you’d be here,” I
said.

We walked to the coffee shop—which was
now Dean’s Bagels—and instead of ordering, we went straight for our
place at the table—the one we had both sat at when we didn’t meet
up.

“
Have you figured it out?”
he asked.

I shook my head.

“
You know, programmers use
a lot of the same code over and over, when we know we don’t have to
write new lines—when we know redundancy is all we need.”

“
Look around you. Do you
notice anything strange?”

I scanned the room.

A perky lady with red lipstick
greeting customers.

An old lady with her
caregiver.

A little boy who didn’t want to eat
his meal.

A tray crashed to the
floor.

I gasped and sat up in bed.

Drenched in sweat, chills ran over
me.

39.
the run around

I couldn’t wait to talk to Matt in
English class the next morning. He was usually one of the first
people to class—always there long before I was—but today when I got
there, his seat lay empty. I scanned the room, but there was no
sign of him.

Running late.
Weird.

As the minutes ticked by, I became
increasingly nervous as he didn’t appear. When Sergeant Roke
started class, I felt a hole start to burn in my
stomach.

Where is he?

I expected Roke to say
something. After all, Matt’s seat was directly in front of where
she stood, and besides the rare family visit, no one ever skipped
an Academie class that I was aware of. No one, that is, except me.
But everyone here knew that Matt would never skip class.
Would he?

Roke said nothing about Matt’s
absence, and when class was over, I considered asking her if she
had heard anything. But then, Matt had changed a lot in recent
weeks. If he thought he were close to figuring out what was going
on here, he might just skip class to do more research. I decided
against talking to Roke.

But Matt didn’t show in English the
next day. Or the day after that.

Finally, I’d had enough. I knew Matt
couldn’t be skipping this much, and I even if he was, I simply
couldn’t wait any longer to talk to him.

“
Sergeant
Roke?”

“
Yes, Allie.”

“
You don’t happen to know
what happened to my brother, do you?”

“
They didn’t tell
you?”

“
They don’t tell us
anything.”

“
All I know is that people
said he was participating in banned activities—the kind of stuff
that girl got into last fall.”

I looked at her, confused.

“
You know, the one that
didn’t come back?”

“
Shara?”

“
I think that was her
name.”

“
Are you sure? I can’t
imagine Matt doing anything—” I caught myself. “—banned. I can’t
imagine him going against school rules.” The truth was, Matt was a
total skeptic when it came to anything remotely mystical. The idea
of him attempting meditation seemed pretty far out
there.

She shrugged and shook her head.
“That’s just what I heard. They don’t always fill us in on
everything either.”

“
So do you know where he
is now?”

“
I would assume the
medical wing.”

“
What?”
I suddenly felt sick.

“
I’m sorry. I haven’t
heard anything since about when—or if—we can expect him
back.”

“
I gotta go,” I said,
grabbing my things.

“
I hope he’s alright. Matt
was one of my favorite students. Well, he’s all of our
favorite.”

I nodded and headed out the
door.

As soon as I hit the hallway, I took
off running.

When I reached the medical wing, I
skipped the usual protocol and went right in. Nurse Apple was just
entering from another door.

“
Where’s my
brother?”

“
Your name?”

“
Alathea Thompson. I was
told that my brother, Matt, was here.”

“
He was.”

“
So what was wrong with
him?”

“
That’s
confidential.”

“
But I’m
family.”

“
Even so.”

“
Well, where is he
now?”

Nurse Apple sighed. “He was
transferred from this facility Sunday night.”

“
And you didn’t notify me?
Didn’t you think I’d like to know?”

She stood there,
expressionless.

I rubbed my forehead. “I can’t believe
you people.”

“
It’s not our job to keep
families informed. All we do is tend to your lot when they get
ill.”

“
Which doesn’t happen
often, from what I’ve seen, so you should have had plenty of time
to send me a simple message. Or are you too busy doling out vitamin
B shots?”

“
I’ve had quite enough of
this.” She turned to head back out the door.

“
Well where is he now? Is
he okay? You at least owe me that.”

“
I don’t
owe
you anything. And
for your information, since he is no longer a student, it’s no
longer our business.”

“
What do you mean he’s no
longer a student?”

“
Good day, Miss
Thompson.”

She exited the room.

I turned to look at the medical ward
secretary. She shrugged her shoulders and held up her hands.
“Sorry, but I don’t know anything.”

I huffed audibly on my way out the
door.

At first, all I could think about was
how mad I was at everyone here—and my parents too. Somehow this
entire thing reminded me of my last—my only—visit with them, and
that made me even angrier.

Then I remembered Grandma
Marie.
I wish she was here. She’d be the
sensible voice in the midst of all this nonsense.

Next, I moved into panic
mode:
Where was Matt now? Did they move
him to a hospital? Was he okay?

I pushed away the sadness that tried
to take me down. There was no time for it. If I was going to get
Matt back, I had to do something. Now.

That night at dinner, I confided in my
friends.

“
Matt’s gone.”

“
What do you mean gone?”
Ruby asked.

“
Nurse Apple told me he’s
no longer an Academie student.”

“
Well, where’d he go?”
Stevie asked.

“
I don’t know.”

Ruby looked stricken. “They won’t tell
you?”

“
They won’t tell me
anything
. Of course, it
doesn’t help that I insulted them.”

“
Always a good way to get
answers,” Robert said, handling the mushy casserole on his place as
though it were fine cuisine.

“
I know, but I was so mad.
He left school Sunday night. How could they not say
anything?”

“
I’m with you girl. I
would have flattened that Nurse Apple,” Tina said. She’d told me
all about her four younger brothers she’d been like a second mom
to. I wished now that I’d had her with me earlier.

“
Are you alright?” Cayden
asked. His eyes were wide and sympathetic. It was the first time
he’d said anything to me since I’d told him not to follow me
outside a week ago.

“
I don’t know. I’m so
angry.”

“
So now what?” Ruby asked.
She knew me well enough to know that I wasn’t going to let this
go.

“
I have to do
something.”

“
Yeah, but
what?”

“
I’m not sure yet. I—
”

I considered telling her and all of
them everything—all that Matt and I had discussed, and our theories
about The Academie. I held back, afraid, but they were all looking
at me.

I took deep breath and let it back
out. “Do you remember how I told you that Matt came to me, about
weird things he’d noticed here?”

“
Yeah,” Robert answered.
The rest nodded. No one was eating anymore.

“
Well, I’ve had some
pretty weird things happen to me too.”

In the course of the ten minutes we
had remaining at dinner, I disclosed as much as I could, all the
way up to my recent dreams.

“
It’s a lot to soak in,”
Ruby said when I’d finished.

“
I know.” My eyes pleaded
with hers. If anyone was going to believe me, it was
Ruby.

The bell rang, signaling us to return
to our dorms for the evening.

“
Just think about it,” I
said. “We can talk more tomorrow.”

40.
shades of gray

“
So, let me see if I get
this straight,” Robert said at breakfast the next morning. “Your
brother’s disappeared, and you think none of this is
real?”

“
Okay, I know it sounds
crazy, but maybe it’s not so far-fetched?”

“
Yeah, but come on,”
Cayden replied. “Not all this. There’s no way.”

“
Why not?” I said, pushing
my food aside. “How do you know what’s real?”

Stevie fussed with her tray and
silverware. “It feels real.” Her voice was tentative.