The Academy: Book 2 (49 page)

Asa
retreated for a moment, and listened for more movement. He looked to his right, down the hallway, towards the cathedral-like room with the disturbing angel and demon statues.
I should leave. I should get Conway or someone to come and help me. I shouldn’t enter this place alone.

Feeling like he might vomit, Asa entered
despite his better judgment.

The size of this room sent chills up Asa’s spine. He felt like a field mouse coming into a barn. The room was rectangular, the width of a football stadium, and half a mile long. On the wall with the fireplace (which was the size of a one-bedroom apartment), the ceiling was over one hundred feet above the ground. The ceiling sloped drastically
upward and connected with the opposite wall at a height that made Asa feel dizzy; it was a sensation akin to looking up at a skyscraper. The floor was sporadically carpeted with furs of all sorts—lambskin, skinned mutated grizzlies, and a stitched quilt of beaver fur.

Not only was the wall across from the fireplace incredibly large,
but it was also almost completely covered in Teddy’s handwriting in thick black ink. There was a pulley system that hung from the ceiling by thick ropes. Suspended from this was a scaffold that a person could use to reach any part of the gigantic wall. Asa could see stone buckets and drying brushes hanging on the railing of the scaffold.

Asa felt his skin crawl up the back of his neck as he stepped back
ward and saw the entirety of the wall for the first time. Thousands of mathematical equations were painted upon the stone; all of these involved steps that Asa didn’t understand, and most had symbols that he had never even seen before. Some of the equations stretched thirty yards wide, with corresponding equations running down the wall all the way to the floor. Teddy had been using the wall as a type of mathematical diary, and used mathematics with such proficiency that he would intermittently slip into English at times. In between long, carefully painted equations, there were words like “…so…” and “…because of this, we can see that…” There was more than just math, though. There were three dimensional atomic structures of chemical interactions: Most impressive among these was a DNA double helix extending from the floor to the ceiling, with every neutron, electron and proton filled into a three dimensional diagram on the stone. Outside of the diagram, there were arrows running from spots on the double helix out to blocks of finely written mathematics that were bigger than a Winggame Plaid.

Mesmerized, Asa began to walk parallel with the wall, gazing up at the structure. He was disturbed to see a life-sized, terribly accurate drawing of himself flying through the barrel maze in Flying Class. Out of the animated Asa’s mouth came Doppler waves that were drawn so that they bounced off of the side of the barrel and came back to make contact with Asa. Beside this, there were more arrows, and more equations that Asa didn’t understand. Painted in enormous block letters were the words, “CHANGE TONES!” beneath the diagram.

Asa’s eyes flickered back over the strange equations. The writing was unmistakably Teddy’s—big, blocky, and geometrically organized.
Is this how Teddy discovered that I should change tones in flying class?

Asa’s heart was pumping as he looked at the mathematical symbols that were alien to him. If he hadn’t seen this, he could have assumed that Teddy was merely insane and writing nonsense symbols. But changing tones in Flying Class had worked, meaning that it was safe to assume that the rest of the math on the wall meant something, and was accurate.
Asa imagined Teddy working on these things—his insanely large pupils throbbing as his paintbrush added to his massive wall. Asa looked back at the door he had entered through and felt pulled by two opposing urges. Part of him knew that he should leave, but his curiosity kept him gazing at the painted wall.

The figures, numbers, diagrams and words went so high up onto the
stone wall that Asa was unable to see it all from the ground. He walked further into the room and was past the fireplace when he saw his father’s riddle.

Solutions and weapons that are known

Can be used, or worse, destroyed

Best keep them in the void

There are two spaces that these secrets are maintained

One is metal, it’s locked away

The other, though, isn’t so easily disposed

You can’t see it, it doesn’t say hello

It doesn’t make a difference

It’s never seen

It doesn’t affect any pedigree

Where two come and give half each

This is where it will be

You’ll find that I’ve only stolen from me

The itch to leave was stronger than ever, but so was the fascination. Arrows ran from each word and pointed at a definition in the stone. Parts of the definitions were words, and looked like they were from a standard dictionary. But then the lining would expand down into
row after row of dense mathematical equations. The word “metal” had the most extensive definition, and was flanked with Lewis Structures of electron shells. To the far end of all the definitions and equations, there was another double helix—this one was much smaller than the first Asa came across. This was circled.

What does the circle mean? Is this an answer to something?
What does he know? Has he discovered what my father meant by the riddle?

There was a soft sound from behind him—mute enough that he barely heard it, but loud enough that he was sure he was no longer alone. Asa stopped breathing.

All was silent. Asa didn’t move his gaze from the painted wall, and saw a shadow there, beside his, that he didn’t remember from earlier.

There was a groan, and Asa turned slowly on the bear rug.

Teddy was crouched against the opposite wall, wearing the camouflage suit that he had been given for the Task. He had lost even more weight. His eyes were shadowed under his protruding brow, and he gazed up at Asa through blonde bangs of hair that had fallen in his face. He had the rest of his face covered with his hands; he was driving his nails into his cheeks and shaking.

Asa stood still, feeling trapped. Though Teddy hadn’t said anything yet, Asa thought—
There is something very wrong here. Why has he been cooped up here all week? Why hasn’t he been going to class? And why is he shaking like that?
Asa was thinking about how far he would have to travel to get out of this place when he noticed that blood was running from Teddy’s nails and over his hands and arms. Teddy was piercing the skin on his cheeks with his fingernails, trembling. Teddy’s breathing was ragged. The positioning of his hands prohibited Asa from seeing Teddy’s mouth, and the shadows made it so that he couldn’t see his eyes.

When Teddy’s
voice came out, it sounded foreign to Asa. It was deep and grumbling, octaves lower than Asa had ever heard Teddy’s voice. It reminded him of a sports car’s motor. It reminded him of Volkner’s voice when he was angry. “I was waiting for Saturday. I was waiting for your Winggame match to leave.”

Teddy’s breath continued to rasp behind his hands and the blood from his cheeks dripped from his elbows onto the stone. He was creating two huge gashes underneath his eyes and ripping them open. Teddy continued to shake.

“GET OUT OF HERE, PALMER!”

Teddy was trembling more than ever. Asa took two steps backwards
and stared at his friend. For the time, his feet felt glued to the stone. The fire danced behind Teddy, and he was only a silhouette now.

What did Teddy mean by, ‘I was waiting for Saturday. I was waiting for your Winggame match to leave.’ Leave what? Leave the Academy? Leave this mansion?
Not able to control his curiosity, Asa asked Teddy, “What have you been doing up here all week?”

Teddy laughed, and then groaned. Asa couldn’t see his friend’s eyes because he was crouched in front of the bright flames in the fireplace. Teddy growled, “I’ve been trying to convince myself not to come down and get you while your sleeping. It’s all I’ve been thinking about. It’s all that I’ve wanted. I’ve wanted to bite you. I was afraid to leave if I thought you might be in there…so I told myself I’d leave during your Winggame match. That way you’d be gone. That way there wouldn’t be the
temptation.
NOW LEAVE! LEAVE WHILE YOU CAN!

Startled, not thinking,
Asa began to sprint across the stone beside the wall. He didn’t know what was wrong with Teddy, but wanted to leave.

What is happening? Why is Teddy being so mean—so aggressive? Why did he dig out this mansion in the side of the mountain? What do all the math equations mean?

As he passed the fireplace, Asa was struck from behind. He fell, rolled, and then Teddy was on top of him, breathing heat into Asa’s face.

Still in the demonically deep voice: “Why did you come?”

Asa couldn’t talk; Teddy was atop him, pinning him down. One of Teddy’s feet was pressed against the wall behind him and the opposite knee was jammed into Asa’s diaphragm, making it impossible for him to draw in a breath. Teddy was holding Asa’s wrists in his own bloody, shaking hands. His grip was so hard that Asa’s hands were turning numb.

Asa opened his mouth in panic, but couldn’t scream.
He’s going to break my ribs; he’s going to rip my arms off!

“
Why did you come!?”
Teddy growled.

Pinned beneath him, Asa got his first unblocked look at Teddy’s face
in the red-orange light of the fire. Asa first noticed, Teddy’s overall complexion. He was more slender, yes, but he also looked stronger than ever. His face was pale, completely smooth, and blemish free. His cheekbones were more pronounced, and his jaw was more defined beneath his firm skin.

And then there were his eyes. His pupils were dilated to the size of half dollars so that when he looked at Asa straight on, glossy black between his eyelids was all that could be seen. Tears were running down his bloody cheeks to his chin. The tears weren’t clear. They were black.

Salvaserum.

Again, Asa tried to scream, but no words came out. He squirmed, but could not get free. Asa turned to see a dead bear head look on without sympathy from the edge of a fur rug.

Teddy’s face had been maimed by a Multiplier bite, and the wound was infected. The left corner of his mouth had been torn off, leaving strips of red, angry flesh where his cheeks had been. This wounded tissue was dotted with black spots. Teddy’s mouth was closed, but because of the hole in his face, Asa could still see his molars. His gums hadn’t turned completely black yet.

Teddy moaned and pinned Asa even harder.
He was breathing through his nose and crying. Though Teddy retained his gruesome figure, his voice returned to its natural tone and he sounded like the old Teddy for a time: “I didn’t want you to see me like this, Asa. I didn’t want to see you. I was afraid that I would bite you. I’ve been bitten by a Multiplier, if you can’t tell.” Teddy still pinned Asa with force that made him unable to breath. Tears streamed across Teddy’s face and down his neck.

In an instant, the pressure was off of Asa and he could breath again. He coughed and rolled over to see that Teddy had leapt up and was pacing back and forth before the fire; he was a silhouette in front of the dancing flames. Teddy was pulling his hair and hyperventilating, making
noises between sobbing and grunting. He picked up a rocking chair and threw it into the stone above Asa’s head, where it shattered and rained down debris. His voice returned to the unearthly growl:
“Why did you come?”

Before Asa
could answer, Teddy was atop him again. He had a fistful of Asa’s hair in his hand, pulling his head back, exposing Asa’s neck. Teddy leaned forward and smelled Asa’s neck. He pulled back and his tone became oddly normal again. “Did you see the statues at the entrance? They used to all be angels. But then I became a demon and wanted to make some like me. I wanted to Multiply.” His voice became deep, harsh, moaning: “
Asa, I want to rip out your throat! I want to turn you so bad!”