The Arena (10 page)

When Professor Simons said the word
Ascendancy
, hushed whispers spread through the crowd. I noticed that most of the students looked excited at the prospect of joining them. I also picked out a few frowns in the crowd. I found myself still trying to get a handle on the fact that magic was real, and that everyone here could use it. Not to mention that they had the kind of influence to hide a secret society. In this day and age, hiding anything for long was a pretty impressive feat.

The professor gave them a few moments to calm down before continuing. “I will not lie to you and tell you that what you are about to go through will be easy; it won’t be. I will tell you that those of you who dedicate yourselves to your studies will have great success. We expect nothing but the best from all of you. To further increase your chance for success, all access to the outside world will be restricted for your first semester. No calls, no e-mails, and limited internet.”

The professor seemed oblivious to the groans of protest issued by most of the students. It was going to be tough going cold turkey from the internet, but I didn’t have to worry about the rest. My family was gone, and my only friend had stopped talking to me.

As the grumblings died down, the professor continued. “The punishment for breaking this rule is just as severe as if you had been found fighting. Depending on what you are caught doing, you could even be expelled from the academy. You are no longer children, and we are not here to hold your hands. You will be tested to your very limits. Those who rise to the occasion will have a bright future.”

I was a little shocked by the implications. If you did not succeed, what happened to you then? I had never used magic; shit, I didn’t even know it existed until a few weeks ago. In fact, outside of Stillman lighting some paper on fire, I still wasn’t one hundred percent sure it existed. I was going to have to work harder than everyone else to keep pace. I had always loved a challenge; this was just one more.

My thoughts were interrupted as the speech continued. “The first semester here will be focused on learning the ins and outs of our world. We will start to have in-depth conversations about the creatures that live in it. We have been fighting most of these creatures for centuries, and have the most comprehensive information about them found anywhere. Since each of you come from different backgrounds, we are looking forward to gaining your unique perspectives during class.

“There is no bigger danger than entering combat ignorant of what you are fighting. Some people will say that the danger from these creatures has passed and that the Gifted are firmly in control of this world. I am here to tell you this is not the case. We are outnumbered, and new threats are on the horizon. All that stands between them and humanity is you. At one point in our history, each class would have filled this hall. I see a lot of empty seats. That only makes our job harder.”

He looked around the room at the empty seats before he continued. “The ever-present threat of another Demon invasion hangs in the air. The treaty was broken, and for the moment, we find ourselves standing alone against the rising dark. We will train you to fight back, we will train you to kill, and we will train you to die if necessary. We have two goals. To make sure that humanity remains safe and we remain a secret.”

The entire hall had gone quiet. I was still trying to process what I had just heard. Trained to kill? Trained to die? That sounded a little intense to me. I had already seen that this world did not view murder the same way we did. The death of my parents let me know that staying alive was far from a sure thing. Not for the first time, I wondered just what I had stumbled into.

His speech continued. I hoped we were getting close to the end; I already had enough to think about. “How great can the mind become if the body is left behind? We will not ever put you in a position to fail. Your bodies must be strong so your mind can execute any task. With that said, your first month here will be dedicated to getting you ready for the trials ahead. For your first month here, you will only have two classes. Physical training will take place in the mornings, and introduction to the Ascendancy in the afternoon. You will be sore, you will be tired, but you will become strong.

“Both of these classes will be instrumental to your success here, so I expect you to take them seriously. With that being said, welcome again to the academy! Anyone have a question for me?”

He swept the hall with a quizzical gaze, looking for some interaction, but no one had a hand up. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Yeah, I had questions, about a million of them. The last thing I wanted to do was look stupid in front of these people. I really didn’t want to give Blondie any fuel for the fire. All any bully needed was the tiniest of openings.

With no one else speaking, he stepped back toward the podium. “Training starts at seven a.m. tomorrow. I suggest you get a good night’s sleep. You are going to need it.” He said the last part with an edge of laughter in his voice. With his speech completed, the professor exited the stage by the same door he entered from. I kind of sat there for a moment, trying to process everything that he had just said. I guess that was it; tomorrow I was going to start to find out just what this magic thing was all about.

With nothing else to do, I stood up and slung my bag over one shoulder. Being enrolled in some kind of military combat academy was not what I had expected for the day, but if that was what it took to learn how to use my gift, then I was going to do whatever it took to stay here. My biological father had been one of the Gifted, and now I was following in his footsteps. With both of my families dead, I would do the one thing I could. I would find a way to excel and make them proud of who I had become. I started making my way back to the exit when I heard a shout from above me.

“Are you scared yet, noob?”

I looked up, but I already knew who was speaking. One look confirmed it was Blondie. God, I already hated that guy. Normally, I would take the fight to him—you can’t give a bully an inch—but fighting here on my first day didn’t seem like a great decision. I just gave him a stare that would peel paint from the wall.

“Ooooooh, scary.”

The girl sitting next to him, probably his girlfriend, hit him in the arm. “Stop being a dick, Ted.” She walked out of the hall, and the rest of their group followed.

I looked back around the hall to see how many other people had witnessed our exchange. I was in luck; only a few people outside of their group were left.

I continued to wonder just what I had gotten myself into. What exactly would we be fighting? Was Alby one of them? Is that why she was so scared of me now? This seemed like a lot to drop on a kid who had never used magic or heard of the Ascendancy.

The other loners started making their way out of the hall. I knew that these few people might be my best chance at having some friends here. Almost everyone else had left with Ted, so I didn’t see a ton of options.

One of the remaining kids was a slightly chubby but well-muscled kid. I wouldn’t have noticed him in a crowd except for his hair. Long dreadlocks adorned his head. The dreads looked well taken care of, and I was pretty sure they had beading woven into them. Full dreadlocks with beading was a pretty dramatic look. I liked that he was a little different. While not the hair choice I would have gone with, it sure seemed to fit him. The beading continued into some of his clothing as well. I wondered just what they were for. He finally noticed me staring at him, gave me a slight chin nod, and walked out of the hall.

The only other person left in the meeting hall was a girl. I tried to take in her details quickly. I hoped that she wouldn’t think I was a creeper. She was small, or I guess you would call her petite. It was hard to tell exactly how big she was, because of the way she was sitting there with her knees pulled up and her arms wrapped around her legs. She made the chair around her look bigger than it actually was. I bet she came in around five foot something, and couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred and ten pounds. Her bright red hair really made her stand out to me. It stood out in stark contrast to her pale white skin. She had a slight look of shock on her face. I imagined that I had that same look earlier. I gave her one last glance before I left. She hadn’t moved an inch.

M
y alarm went
off at six the next morning, and I let out a little groan of despair. Ok, maybe
despair
was mildly overdramatic, but hey, I did just say
six in the morning
. I had spent the summer sleeping during the day. I had tried to flip my schedule around at the mansion but only succeeded in making it about halfway. I will not admit to being up all night playing
Assassin’s Creed
—nope, not going to do it. I’d prefer to accept zero accountability for my gaming addiction.

I figured there was no point in taking a shower. From what the professor said, I was going to be working up quite a sweat this morning. I tossed on some deodorant before pulling on my workout clothes, and figured I should be fine, at least for a little bit longer. Hopefully no one at the cafeteria would notice my bed head and realize that I hadn’t showered. Messy hair was the new in look, right, or had I missed that trend by a couple years?

The cafeteria exceeded my expectations by smell alone. The food smelled good—really, really good. They had a buffet set up for breakfast, so I made my way over to it after grabbing a tray and a plate. On my way in, I noticed a few faces from the auditorium the night before. Not all of them looked at me with an unfriendly stare, so that was an improvement.

I always liked to get in a solid breakfast before my workout. Granted, I normally liked to put more than an hour between food and a full-on workout, but sleep had won the battle this morning. It looked like they were serving up pretty standard fare. Walking down the line, I picked up a decent helping of eggs, two sausages, and a tortilla. I tried to keep it a little bit lighter than normal. The last thing I wanted was for the food to come back up if they really pushed us in our workout. Nothing makes a better second impression than throwing up on someone’s shoes.

Adding a glass of OJ and a bottle of water, I scanned the room for a place to sit. I noticed everyone was kind of off by themselves, so I just grabbed a seat by a window. The courtyard looked different this morning. The sun had washed away the ethereal glow of last night, giving it the look of just a normal greenspace. A few people moved up and down the paths, going about their daily tasks.

Never one to be shy about eating, I stuffed my tortilla full of the eggs and sausage, rolling it into the perfect breakfast burrito. Slightly greasy bliss dripped down my throat, and I knew instantly I had made the right choice. The burrito tried to win, but I fought valiantly against it, finally succeeding in eliminating the threat it presented. I turned to my orange juice next, finishing the small carton in one long drink. Taking my bottle of water with me, I headed out to the courtyard.

Class should have been starting at seven, but a quick look around made me wonder if I was in the wrong place. No one else had shown up yet, so I finished my bottle of water and got to work. Stretching before an intense workout always helped my body stay in reliable shape after it was over. I never understood how people started working out without stretching first. I continued my warm-up as the other students started trickling into the courtyard. Most of them looked like they were still rubbing the sleep from their eyes. That sounded about right for kids my age. We tended to like sleep and to not be too worried about showing up places looking slightly disheveled. I had a feeling they were in for a surprise.

Apparently I was in pretty good company when it came to not enjoying an early morning alarm. About ten minutes later, our instructor showed up. He was exactly what I expected. He looked like a military drill sergeant. The way he stood let me know he was former military, or at least had some kind of military training. Today, though, he was wearing civilian workout clothes instead of his more familiar camo. It was impressive to see the amount of respect he commanded with his silent presence.

When he started to speak, the drill sergeant image I had of him was quickly reinforced. “Glad to see you all made it here on time. Normally I get the joy of having at least one person be late so I can make an example out of them. Instead of that, today I’m going to make my example out of the first person who showed up.”

Well, that hadn’t gone as expected. It was the first time being early for anything ever got me in trouble. I hoped whatever he had planned wouldn’t make me look too bad in front of the others.

He looked right at me and seemed to relish the shock on my face. “What is your name, son?”

It still took me a second to register that he was talking to me. Seriously who gets picked on for being early? I took a step forward from the crowd. “Jackson, sir.”

He smiled a little and started to speak again. Well, you couldn’t really call it speaking; it was more of a growl mixed with a yell. “This place never ceases to amaze me. One of you actually knows how to address someone in authority. Now, as much as I enjoy being called
sir
, we aren’t in the military and you can call me Sarge. Are you ready to get started?”

Almost all of us chorused, “Yes, Sarge.”

He stepped forward, and this time his growl intensified. “It looks like some of you must still be sleeping. When I ask a question, I expect an answer.” He motioned to a few people whom he marked as not saying anything the first time, and motioned for them to step forward. I took no small amount of pleasure in seeing Blondie was one of them.

“Now the fun begins: fifty pushups each. Everyone keep this in mind; for our time together, when you make a mistake, you pay for it in pushups.” He looked around to make sure everyone understood. He counted out the pushups, and after reaching fifty, he continued to speak. “Now that we have that out of the way, let’s head to the gym.” Everyone got ready to follow Sarge. “Let’s go, ladies, time to get the lead out.” He started to jog down one of the paths that wound its way around campus.

The run basically took us in a nice loop around campus. It was the perfect distance to warm up my legs. I was sure that was exactly why Sarge had done it. Our jog ended at a side door of the housing building. We piled inside and started to follow Sarge by running down the stairs. Five flights of stairs later, we emerged into a huge underground room.

The room itself had to be the size of a football field. It was huge and was easily built for hundreds of people to be able to work out at once. The room was divided into four quadrants. The first quarter was filled with your standard cardio equipment. The next one was filled with free weight stations. Moving into the next section revealed different-sized sparring mats, and rings. The final quadrant was filled with weapons and what appeared to be a shooting range.

It was the weapons that really caught my attention. It seemed like every kind of weapon was available to train with, and the last section of that room had been extended in a long narrow path, the walls made out of pure rock. I wondered again what I had gotten myself into, and why someone with magic would actually need a gun. Couldn’t they just incinerate anything that tried to hurt them? I guessed that during my stay here, I was going to find out.

Sarge stepped up in front of the class and addressed us again. “Get used to this room, because it will be your home every morning for the next month. Plan on being here in the gym, from two to four hours a day, every day. That means you should be eating before you come down here. I don’t want anyone passing out on me.”

He looked over the crowd in front of him as if evaluating what he had to work with. “The gym is open twenty-four-seven. I expect to see some of you here more than just during class. When the semester officially starts, our training will move into more specialized aspects, and you will have to find time to do cardio on your own. Until then, plan on me working you into the ground every morning. Anyone have a question?”

I raised my hand. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be singled out, but I wanted to know more about what we were going to be doing. Sarge nodded at me. “Sarge, what is the plan for the next month?”

He smiled, looking like he was going to enjoy breaking every single one of us. “We are going to start with cardio today. Lots and lots of cardio. Each of you will be given a bracelet in a moment. The wristband will track your heart rate and calories burned. It automatically uploads to our servers every night. So if you thought you could escape my notice, you can’t. I can see what each and every one of you is doing and how well you are doing it. If you aren’t meeting the goals I set for you, well, it is going to get interesting real quick. Let’s just say you don’t want any kind of special attention from me. Depending on how well the cardio sessions go, we will be able to add in some weight training and yoga. If everyone gives it their all, you won’t be staring down at the treadmill for four hours a day. Any other questions?”

When no one raised their hands, Sarge started passing out the fitness bracelets. Think of a Fitbit but slightly more advanced. When everyone had one, Sarge pointed to the machines. “Let’s get started. Everyone needs to knock out two hours of cardio. You can run, hop on the elliptical. The only thing you can’t do is stay still. Let’s go!”

After about thirty minutes, I tended to zone out. It was wonderful when you slipped into that zone. The workout always tended to fly by once I hit that stage. When the two-hour session was over, I had never been so happy to step off a machine in my life. I felt good about the fact that I was still standing. My legs wobbled a bit as I started to walk, but I managed not to fall down. Some of the other students had just flopped onto the ground. Sarge called us all over to him. “All right, because everyone killed it today, I’m going to take pity on you and let you go early.”

Some cheering that sounded distinctly more like groans and heavy breathing followed his announcement. “Don’t forget you still have class this afternoon. Get some rest and some food. I’ll see you all tomorrow morning.”

It was like watching slugs move when we made our way to the exit. The worst part about it was we all had at least five flights of stairs to look forward to before we made it to the surface. I told myself that I wasn’t being lazy by taking the elevator up from the lobby to my room. Five flights of stairs had been enough.

Wondering about what the cafeteria had out for lunch, I hopped into the shower. I let the warm water rinse away the stress of what I had just put my body through. When I got out of the shower, the only thing I could think about was lying down. So much for the cafeteria idea. I had the rest of the semester to find out what they served for lunch. Quickly I slung together three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and poured a glass of juice. I set my alarm for fifteen minutes before class and crawled under a blanket on the futon.