Page 10 of Unshaken

“The Angels denied her entry to Caelum,”another voice says without an ounce of care. Well, I know what they truly think.

“Their loss is our gain,” aman’s voice says from somewhere behind me, the timbre is deep and penetrating, with just a hint of smile behind. Another familiar voice, but when I try to grab hold of the memory of why I recognize it, it evades me.

“She’s so much more.”The voices begin to speed up, and I am just catching snippets of what they are saying.

“She seems too sure of herself. She may die within the first week,”another calls out of the group. What? Die?

“Strong,”someone says again.

“She will serve a great purpose,” someone says with awe.

“Is that a good thing? Or a bad thing?”someone counters, and all of this back-and-forth bickering is giving me a headache. Or that could be hunger and dehydration causing my discomfort.

“Who are her parents?”someone shouts over the noise, and the room goes quiet. No one says anything for a moment. I almost want to speak for myself and tell them exactly who my parents are. I almost feel like I should be privy to this conversation or am I listening in on something I shouldn’t?

“It appears she’s here with us,”says the woman who spoke in the beginning.

“Telepathy?”someone asks, astonished. I feel as astonished as the woman who asked the question. I wish I was Telepathic.

“How is that possible?”someone gasps in shock. Well, shit, I want to know as well.

“I demand to know who her parents are?”Someone slams their hand down on something. I assume they are all sitting around a table.

“Surely they’re Light Guardian,”someone says with disgust, and I wish I could see all of their faces and put them to a memory.

“She could be a potential danger?”someone says finally as the other voices die down around the man who spoke.

“Of course, you would say that. You are threatened by anything new,” saysthe deep male voice, he has me leaning into the darkness towards him.“I suggest we watch, and we learn. She knows so much already, she’s hardly even a student. She’s twenty-three.”

The voices all raise again. They all talk over each other, having separate arguments about me and what I mean for the school. They speak about me as if I am some wonder, when all I am is a failed would-be Light Guardian whose Witch community would rather see me married off and shut away from the world than attend an Academy like this. These people have no clue who I am or what I am hearing, but the way they talk about me has my hackles raised. My fists clench and my determination flares to life. I guess it’s time to prove some bitches wrong. I’m here now and I will see this shit through. I couldn’t care less what these people think of me. I will get what I need from this school and move on with my life.

“ENOUGH!”The woman’s voice yells, quieting the room once more.“What part of she’s listening do you not understand? She probably doesn’t even know how she’s doing it, but she is. I agree with Lyrik. We wait and we watch. The doors will tell us more once she chooses one.”I hear the sound of a gavel fall with a resounding smack, and I am yanked back into my body. Eyes opening, I stand, well, stumble back away from the platform, making sure I take my key with me. Placing it back over my head, I immediately seek out Rook.

“Could you hear that?”I asked him.

“I did. I’m glad you were touching me so our connection wasn’t severed,”he says in relief.

“Any idea who those people are?”I ask, quickly looking around the room for some random door to open and the procession of people in question to come marching out to meet me.

“The board. Like I said before, you are strong, Micah. From the sound of those people in the room, some of them are afraid of you, and some curious. From this moment forward, tread carefully. Trust will be hard earned in a place like this.”I nod my head in acknowledgment even though we are having a telepathic conversation.

“OK. So, what now?”I ask, but he doesn’t have a chance to reply.

“Micah Jones, you may enter the gates of HellNight Academy. Choose your door and be admitted.” A nice, pleasant voice cuts into our conversation, and my eyes instantly go to four doors behind the platform. All of them are a different color, almost identical to the intertwined figure eights inside the bow of my key. There is a gold double door with black cast iron fixtures. The door next to it is copper, and it looks like it would lead to a barn with white zigzag wood patterns in the middle. The next door is black, shiny with an ornate glass doorknob. The last and final door is nothing special, just wooden, not painted, no special doorknob. Plain. I take them all in as I step closer, pulling my luggage behind me. I can feel power coming off each one of them. Strong pulsating power, one, however, is stronger than the other. How I know this, I have no idea. I don’t know if I can just walk through any of them, but they all have a keyhole for me to use my key in. I can only assume that my key will open only one of them. The only one meant for me. OK, no pressure.

“Let it call to you,”Rook says finally after I stand there for a minute starring at each door like I’m Indiana Jones from theLast Crusademovie. The film is my father’s favorite. I can almost hear the line of the old dead templar from that scene. “Choose but choose wisely.” I remember laughing as my father would always look at Marcus and I, repeating the words like they were a mantra that we should adhere to. I guess there is no time like the present. I blow out a breath and I start with the gold door. Why not? It’s gold. I raise my hand and run my fingers over it, and to be honest, it has all the bells and whistles, but not a lot of anything else, the magic feels weak here. So, I move on. It’s a shame because it’s pretty.

“It couldn’t be that easy,”I say to Rook as I approach the copper barn door.

“All that glitters isn’t gold, Micah.”Rook laughs gently as I touch the copper door and the power hits me like a freight train, right in my chest. Rough, volatile, it’s practically humming with the magic behind it, but again, I don’t have the urge to use my key.

“I was almost sure of that one.”I look back at the barn door with longing. Was that the strongest one?

“Almost is the key word here, Micah. Get it, key,” Rook says playfully, and I can’t help but smile. He seems a lot calmer now that we have reached this part. I reach the black door, and I can see my reflection. My face looks exhausted, light amber eyes lack their shine and dark circles are under them from my sleepless night. My clothes that I specifically chose to make an impression, cling to me from the humid climate I have been walking in for hours. The only thing still decent is my hair, give or take a few sprigs of Spanish moss stuck to a few of my braids. Ugh. Please don’t let me meet anyone important once I get past these doors, I silently pray as I place my hand on the black door and run my fingers down the smooth texture. The magic calls to me, but there is nothing pushing me to go through this one either. Which leaves me with the last door.

“Rook, it can’t be this door. There is nothing special about it,”I huff in exasperation as I walk to the wooden door and stand before it. Rook doesn’t reply this time. No jokes, nothing but silence as I raise my hand. As soon as my fingers reach out to brush against it, the magic grabs hold of me. I suck in a sharp breath as it caresses my fingers and dances up my arms, embracing my body in what feels like a warm hug. This is the door. We were meant to be, it calls to me in whispers. The door sings a silent song of praise that only I can hear, and I find myself removing my key without second thought and slide it in the keyhole. With a quick turn, the lock disengages and the door swings open.

“Welcome to HellNight Academy, Micah,” the cheerful voice says as I grab my luggage and pull my key out of the door. The next thing I hear is the voice of the woman I heard as I listened in on the board's conversation.

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