Page 3 of Nova Academy

I followed the crowd away from the hangar, waiting in line behind a boy I recognised from the group that had caught me snickering to myself earlier. He didn’t spare me a second glance, and I didn’t see the shorter pale boy nearby, so I let myself relax and go with the flow. In the grand scheme of things, he didn’t matter. None of them did. I wasn’t here to make friends. I wasn’teven here to learn at the academy, even if I did consider the opportunity a bonus. There didn’t believe they could teach me that I didn’t already know, but I was interested, nonetheless. The skills I was searching for lay more within the practical practice of the things I had learned academically. Like flight training. I knew the theories but had never had the opportunity to actually fly an air- or spacecraft.

Despite my knowledge and the academy a place for furthering one’s knowledge, I couldn’t dotoowell in my classes. it was in my best interest to stay under the radar. No one would look for a missing girl at a male only school, especially when I was already inundated with military knowledge and experience, but that didn’t mean it was a good idea to outwardly express my talents. That would completely defeat the purpose of my disguise.

Soon enough, I was facing a stern-looking man with thinning blonde hair tied back into a low ponytail at the base of his skull, and a crooked nose. I wondered if the cause of his crooked nose was the reason why he was sulkily performing the menial duty of passing out room assignments.

‘Name,’ he deadpanned.

‘Arthur Mercer.’

I placed my hand on the scanner like I’d seen the others do, and it brought up a number.

‘Room seventeen, deck three. Next.’

Adjusting my bag where it had slid from my shoulder, I slowly edged my way out of the crowd and followed the signs towards the elevator. Deck three was the lowest it went before you started to enter the storage, maintenance and engine areas. Basically, it was the last place any of these boys wanted to sleep. I heard much mumbling and grumbling from the rest of the cadets relegated to deck three. To them, it would have seemed like a punishment, but it was nothing I wasn’t already used to. I was just happy to have a place to sleep that wasn’t open to the elements.

Room seventeen was easy enough to find, and I found myself waiting in line behind three others for my turn to scan my hand and enter the room. It was sparse. A small room with two bunk beds on either side and barely enough room to walk in between. There was a single storage cupboard connected to each bunk, and I tuned out the others when some of them began to whine that there wasn’t enough space to store their things. Honestly, I didn’t even know why they brought so much to begin with. Our uniforms were provided by the academy upon arrival, and no military personnel – yes, that included cadets – were permitted to wear civilian clothing while on duty. Which meant the suitcases stuffed with a wealth of fine clothes and expensive trinkets were completely useless.

A couple of them eyed me when I shoved my small backpack into the tiny space leftover, but I continued to ignore them. They’d all chosen their bunks already, so I settled myself into the last one (thankfully, it was on the bottom), and waited, keeping an ear out for further instructions. I’d spotted a speaker on the ceiling when I’d entered, so I deduced that was how we would receive our orders and wake-up calls.

With my back against the wall, my head resting uncomfortably on the cool, hard metal, I studied my new roommates. There was the possibility they were a temporary assignment, or we could find ourselves bunking together for the foreseeable future. Only time would tell. Either way, I wanted to know who I would be sleeping next to.

There was a Tornu settling into the bunk above mine, the sharp spikes along his spine and forearms scraping noisily as he tried to get comfortable. I was surprised he picked a top bunk for his sheer size would have made it difficult to squeeze into the small gap between the mattress and the ceiling. His burgundy colouring was similar to one of the only other Tornus I had met, and I shoved down the pang of hurt and betrayal that twisted my heart whenever I thought abouthim.I could hear him snorting throughhis flat nose and prepared myself to endure nights filled with intense snoring.

The man on the bottom bunk opposite mine was another Griknot, his skin a pale blue like the surface of a smooth, clear lake. His facial tentacles were shorter than the one from the station, though this one seemed to have more. They wriggled around the bottom half of his face, jutting out from right under his nose and below. I still found it entirely disturbing, but his eyes were soft and kind when they met mine. His cheeks pulled up, indicating he was smiling beneath the mass covering his mouth, and I forced my lips to stretch into a small smile in return. The grimace he gave me proved that it looked just as fake as it felt, so I cut my losses to examine the third and final man.

Already lying prone on the bunk above the Griknot, an arm and a leg dangled lazily over the edge, swinging like dual pendulums in front of the blue man’s face. He seemed to be a Terran, though it was not immediately clear if he was a purebred or a mutt. Born on Earth myself, I was considered a pureblood Terran… or I used to be.

A stab of envy pierced through my thinly erected walls, a desperation for a life I would and could never lead, a life taken from me by cruelty a pain raged through my body. Refusing to allow those emotions to take root, I vowed to strengthen my mental armour against such traitorous thoughts. It was an oversight. Logically, I knew I would face other Terrans, but the reality of it was not something I had adequately prepared for, clearly.

‘So, boys. What now?’ the Griknot asked, his voice low and garbled through the squirming beard.

‘We wait,’ the Tornu grunted.

‘Okay. I’m Bromm, and the big guy up there’s Foryk,’ the Griknot introduced himself and the Tornu, solidifying my observation of his friendly disposition and informing me of their familiarity with one another.

At Bromm’s prompting gaze, I supplied my own name. ‘Arthur.Uh… Arty.’

‘Nice to meet you.’ He gave a kind smile. I wasn’t sure if I should have felt pleased that he was giving me a second chance at a first impression or worried he possessed a persistent disposition that could become a problem, so I merely gave him a polite but emotionally distant nod.

‘And I’m trying to catch some Z’s before our presence is required, so kindlyshut up,’ the Terran sniped. He held his non-dangling arm over his eyes even while he talked, his elbow almost scraping against the ceiling, and his pompous tone raised my hackles. It was almost as if he were talking down on us, but surely he wasn’t so antisocial as to be purposefully rude on the first day. He was more than likely grouchy from a long journey and lack of sleep, but his incivility left a bad taste in my mouth. Exhausted or not, it was no excuse to be mean. Either way, I let it roll over my back as if he had never spoken.

Bromm, however, winced at his bunkmate’s snappiness, the light in his eyes dimming slightly. Something about that stirred a protectiveness within me. No one should have their light dimmed because of an asshole with an attitude. I wasn’t exactly sure why I felt so strongly about it. Perhaps it was because his was the first truly friendly face I had encountered in a long,longtime, but I couldn’t stand to see him cave in on himself like that.

Leaning forward, blatantly ignoring the rude Terran, I extended the Griknot a metaphorical olive branch. ‘We’ll probably get called up for a meal and orientation soon. Once everyone’s put their bags in their rooms.’

The grateful smile I received was bright. His beard parted to reveal a set of pearly white teeth, sharp like a shark’s, bordered by a pair of plump purple lips. It was the first time I had seen a Griknot reveal their face in such a manner, and I suddenly understood how so many found the species so attractive.

The shock of the revelation forced my eyes wider before Iaverted my gaze, unwilling to dig deeper into the discovery. But not before I caught the slight darkening of Bromm’s cheeks. They turned a purplish shade that matched his lips, and, to my dismay, my own cheeks heated in embarrassment.

The Terran let out an exaggerated groan, turning on his side to give us his back and burying his head beneath the pillow to drown us out. The room fell into the loudest silence I had ever experienced, and I decided in that moment that I hated him.

I wasn’t sure what had come over me. I needed to keep my head down, not make any waves, and keep an emotional distance from everyone. It was something Libby had always warned me about after my many failed attempts at making friends. And losing the ones I did have just proved emotional attachments of any sort were too dangerous.

The speakers crackled, jolting me out of my head, breaking the silence and cutting through the thick tension. ‘Cadets, promptly make your way to the great hall on deck fourteen. I repeat, promptly make your way to the great hall on deck fourteen.’

Before the rest of us could even move, the Terran had jumped from his bunk with an aggravated sigh and exited the room in a huff. I pursed my lips at the doors when they slid shut behind him but was on my feet and reopening them a beat later. In the hallway, both Bromm and Foryk caught up and kept pace with me for the trip up. Despite my blatant refusal to acknowledge them, my eyes remaining firmly fixed ahead, they remained by my side even as we congregated in the great hall.

Standing at attention in the cavernous room flanked by the two men, ice raced through my veins. Despite my anxiety screaming at me to push them away, a small part of me felt giddy that they stuck close, like we could actually cultivate a successful friendship. Yet, my ever-present trust issues alongside my delicate mission would make that an impossibility. I didn’t know these men, and I didn’t intend to ever let them know me. Not truly. Bromm and Forykseemed nice enough, but that didn’t equate to trust. The last thing I needed was them paying close enough attention to me to notice I wasn’t who I claimed to be, and then outing me to the world.

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