Raiden's emotions on seeing Schatten Academy could not be properly put to words.
There was a kind of emotion inside her- kinda nervous, kinda happy kinda surprised. Each emotion seemed to have a certain meaning and reason inside her, but
Alejandro, instead of driving around the back, like other people did at other academies, drove straight through the front gate- where Raiden was greeted by two eagles at the two sides. Well, they seemed eagles, but they were not exactly eagles. Their beaks were longer than normal and their feathers seemed broken- even for a statue, like kind of bent outwards from the middle, almost like turned over nails.
'What the hell is that?' Raiden muttered before she could stop herself.
'They're Breagles.' Aaron replied from beside her.
'What?'
'Broken eagles- their feathers are broken. That's why we call them Breagles. There's not much to see here though. These Breagles are the only good things to see. Others are just fountains old statues which just belong to some weird European era. The garden's real shabby and creepy. All the statues are really creepy and weird, to be honest.'
'Why do you think those eagles have upturned feathers?'
'I don't know, maybe the founder, Mr. Fred Schatten Gardien had a taste for weird statues, I guess.'
'I see.' She replied. Those statues seem to hold far more meaning than meets the eye.
Raiden shook the thought off. You can save the investigation for later, Raiden, you haven't even entered the school yet.
Though Raiden couldn't see much of the school while being inside the car, she did see that Aaron was right. The grounds were, in fact shabby with old, brown, stone-paved paths weaving in and out like spaghetti. Fountains and old statues lay here and there in no particular order and without any rhyme or reason. They just seemed to, be there, as if the Red Queen from 'Alice in Wonderland' had designed the garden herself.
Alejandro had dropped Aaron and Raiden right in front of the main door of the castle. Before he drove off, he handed her a card he turned to Aaron.
'You better behave this year Aaron. I'll be watching out. And I shall not save your ass if you get into trouble this time.' And he drove off.
It was a moment before Raiden had processed everything. She was here. She was standing before the doors of the prestigious Schatten Academy. The Schatten Academy that only admitted the richest of the rich and the most gifted among the talented. And she was the first applicant to have ever been admitted. She was still in a daze when Aaron tapped her shoulder.
'Huh?' she asked snapping out of her thoughts.
'Come on, we need to be there for orientation.' He said as his hands rested on the wooden door, which seemed comparatively small and shabby for such a big castle.
'What about our bags? And what is this card?'
'Jandro's going to take care of that. Now come on.' He said as he pulled her in.
Raiden was almost blinded for a moment.
If Schatten Academy didn't seem gothic from outside, it was full on gothic from inside. The interiors were all black and red; and the lights did little to brighten up do brighten the darkness caused by the overuse of black in the interior. Even the knights' armours were a rich shade of dark grey, perhaps only made like that to be noticed. Paintings depicting weird things- like the illuminati, tarot symbols, demons and the like hung in tapestries on the walls.
Who is their interior decorator, The Priory of Sion?
'What's the card for, Aaron?' Raiden asked as she walked down the hallway with him, not knowing where he was taking her.
'That's your identity card as well as your key to all the classes. This identity card has been programmed with your personal info, like what classes you'll be taking, what are the places you can visit, ya da ya da. You can't enter a class or a place you're not supposed to unless an authorized personnel marks it. It's pretty frustrating, you know, considering if someone needs you to be in another class for some work, and it's kinda tedious because not all the time you find someone to authorize your card.'
By the time they reached the other side of the hallway, they were met by another door. Aaron flashed his own card from his pockets. He pointed to a card slot.
'That's where you put your card to get it scanned.' He said as he slid the card through the slot and opened the door.
'Well, this is gonna be interesting.' He said as he got in.
The room in which they entered was pretty large, a ballroom perhaps, decorated pretty much in the same way as the hallways, if not better or worse. The paintings were gone in the least, and five grand chandeliers, accompanied by smaller ones, hung from the ceiling.
But that was not what caught Raiden's attention.
There weren't many students, most probably about twenty, and all were standing in groups of three and four and talking to each other like they were some long lost friends meeting after a long time.
But that was not what caught Raiden's attention either.
As soon as Raiden had entered the room, all eyes had turned to her as if she was Starbucks at a Bon Jovi concert. Twenty pairs of eyes were staring at her as if they'd never seen a girl before.
That's right, my fellow friends.
All of the twenty students were boys.
And there was not a girl in sight.
And that was what caught Raiden's attention.
'I thought this was a co-ed school.' She whispered to Aaron.
'It is,' he whispered back, 'there weren't many girls in the middle school project and I think the elites didn't wanna send their girls this year. None of the girls from the middle school projects this year.'
A blonde haired boy approached the two of them. He seemed quite tall, perhaps even taller than Aaron beside her, with an olive tone skin and caramel eyes. His nose seemed crooked, as if it had recently been broken. He flashed such a smile Raiden automatically decided that she didn't want to have to do anything with him.
'Bonjour mademoiselle,' he said extending his hand, 'What an honour it is to finally meet a lady here, that too, a beautiful one.' He spoke with a French accent.
What an ass-kisser.
Aaron fake coughed from beside them. The blonde turned to him and let out a sneer.
'Aaron Stevenson, I didn't expect to see you again, after you know.' He pointed to his very short hair.
'Pleased to see you again too Travis Guilleaume. I see you're more handsome with your head shaved off. How are you doing man?'
Travis rolled his eyes and let out a mock chuckle.
'I was talking to the pretty lady here before you decided to butt in.' He said with distaste.
'The pretty lady would like you to mind your business, if you could please leave.' Raiden added with a mocking smile and a glare.
Travis sneered again as he turned to Aaron.
'See you at class, Stevenson.' He said and he walked away to his group.
Before the two of them could say anything, another door opened and a woman walked in. Her hair, which was cut in a strong bob, was of a luxurious shade of brown and had flaxen and honey coloured highlights beautifully woven between them. Her eyes, though a common shade of brown seemed so unique that they seemed to have carried a strong message. I am aggressive, do not mess with me. She wore a casual outfit, but she carried it like an authority.
Everyone turned to see her.
'Good morning everybody, I am professor Cassandra Houston, also called Professor Cassie. I am the educational head of Schatten Academy. Welcome to Schatten Academy. I see none of the girls have come back. Almost all of you have been here due to our middle school program and are pretty much aware of the rules and regulations and you know there aren't many. Please stick to them otherwise you shall be expelled. Your assigned houses have been mentioned in the identity card and since you have been here before, I expect you all to know the way. Remember, Schatten Academy only includes the elites among the elites, and the best among the best. Be grateful of the fact that you are here. Almost everyone craves the opportunity to study here. You are here because you deserve it. Don't prove to be otherwise.'
What made me deserve it, I wonder. This thought was all Raiden could manage.
Professor Cassandra broke into a light smile.
'Of course, you won't be here if you didn't deserve it. I wish you a great year and remember to have fun here. It is, after all a high school. That's all. Dismissed.'
People flowed out of the door from where Professor Cassandra had come in.
'What house are you in?' Aaron asked her.
Raiden checked her card.
'The Gardien House.'
'Cool. I'm in the same house. Come on. I'll give you a tour.'
And the two of them were going out when Professor Cassandra called them back.
'Yes, Prof. Cassie?' Aaron asked smiling.
She turned to Raiden.
'Miss Storm you must be aware of being the first applicant in our academy. We think you deserve to be here and that is why this opportunity has been provided to you. We know you have a record for being a troublemaker and being expelled but please do keep in mind that once dropped out from here no school shall accept you.
We only want the best and we hope you can respect that. And as for you, Mr. Stevenson, please do not get in trouble this year. And you shall show Ms. Storm around. Dismissed.'
'Can do Prof. Come on Raiden.'