Page 74 of Darkening Truth
I pout, “I would rather be naked, and for you to be naked, and the others.”
A groan sounds behind me.
“So would we, but you’re hungry. We haven’t eaten all day, and besides that, you’ll need your energy if you want to play, right?” Storm suggests.
I grumble, “Don’t come at me with logic, I don’t want logic.”
My muttering has the guys all laughing.
When we get to the dining hall, it’s got maybe half of the number of students that it used to have, maybe even less. A few of them look up when we walk in, but for the most part, they ignore us and carry on their conversations.
“It’s a lot more subdued in here than it used to be,” Loki points out with a frown as we go through the line.
“Yeah, I think that’s understandable though. Everyone here would have lost someone they cared about by now. Most likely multiple someone’s,” Reaper adds.
“It’s a harsh reality to be faced with,” Zev replies with sadness as we all take our seats.
We eat in silence for a while. For me, it’s because I’m really hungry, and the academy makes some of the best food that I have ever eaten. For the others, I think they’re observing and seeing who is missing.
The teachers are seated at their giant table at the front of the room like they always were, but even they aren’t behaving as they used to. All of them look rather sombre, and although there is the odd smile cracked here and there, no one is relaxed anymore, and there are a couple of teachers missing.
They can’t have been lost in the games, I know that, but maybe the old Headmaster let in teachers that weren’t qualified, as well as taking bribes to let students in. Fitz isn’t in here, but from what Tishrel said, he’s gone off the deep end into crazy town.
I’d still like to talk to him, he seemed to know a lot about the games, and I trusted him. He may know why, after so long, we got pulled back here, I mean, technically, we did two levels. At least I think we did.
If I’m being honest, it’s all a big blur. I got kidnapped, tortured, and nearly died in the midst of all that, so I haven’t exactly been keeping track. I’m sure someone is though.
“Did you hear?” Someone at the next table over asks, distracting me from my own confusing thoughts.
My curiosity is immediately piqued. I’m nosey. It’s why I made such a good assassin. You had to do recon before you took someone out, and I love sticking my nose in other people’s business.
“About what?” Someone else replies, sounding as interested as I am.
“Blood Moon Academy finally went back to the Demon Realm. No one really knows why it just up and disappeared,” she replies.
“Oh, well it’s about time. It’s been here for far longer than it should have been. We all sort of figured it was because of the Centres and their Bonded suddenly appearing, and that woman and her Bonded finding them. What was her name?”
“Sage,” she replies. “She’s not like any Centre I ever read about though. She kicked arse. And she grew up in the Earth Realm!”
I smile, I love hearing about people who are underestimated, proving everyone else wrong. I’d quite like to meet Sage one day. I’ve heard a few things about her.
Well, officially meet her. Technically, I have already met her, she was in Monty’s shop when I ‘killed’ him for my father. I could have sworn she looked straight at me. She shouldn’t have been able to see me though, since I was in the Void. Although I guess I was only half cloaked by the Void, not fully in it, meaning I could still see what was going on and position myself better in the room. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to meet her.
Their conversation quickly moves on, and I lose interest again as I turn my attention to the other people around us and people-watch instead.
“Hey guys, it’s good to have you back,” a slim vampire says as he comes up to the table and takes a seat.
“Hey, Ronny,” Loki greets him with a smile.
They carry on talking for a while, and I simply observe since they’re catching up on people that I have no idea about.
“Rex and Devinir’s teams are the latest ones to go,” Ronny says.
Kill frowns, “No, they aren’t. We saw them outside of the gym a couple of hours ago.”
Ronny smirks, “They’ve literally just been sent packing. Apparently, the Headmaster ripped them a fucking new one. They left his office looking as white as sheets and practically ran from the academy.”
My eyebrows raise.
