Chapter 11

            The rest of the day went by in a quick second. I was sad that I didn’t see Hojoon at all again, not even Hansol. Taking note of their missing presence, the gifts that they gave me were starting to falter again, but just slightly. Saturday morning I got a surprise breakfast that was waiting for me on my vanity; that only meant one thing. Sue must’ve dropped it off while I was still asleep. Immediately I found myself gulping the whole thing down. I remembered that I didn’t have anything that much the other day because of what I found out about P-Goon and Hojoon. It made me sick to my stomach to think that Hojoon was hurting himself. And it was all because of P-Goon. After taking a shower and getting back into comfortable clothes again, the secret passage way seemed like it was beckoning me to explore it again. But I forced myself to wait until it was the right time again. I had to make sure to keep the closet door closed in my bathroom whenever P-Goon made a visit. I wouldn’t want him to find out that I have a secret passage that leads to their little meeting place.

            The rest of the day went normal; every now and then I would go on my laptop and search random facts about the Zodiac. It’s funny how everything that is said about the signs is actually true…from personality to Elements, it all fit. But...I wanted to know more. Even though I read from the diary, my unanswered questions itched in the back of my mind, like it was begging to be answered. I had to force them back to prevent me to steal the diary again. Well, more like borrow. I was on information about Aries when I heard a knock on my door. My head popped up at the sudden sound. The clock said that it was almost time for lunch, but it was a weekend…aren’t we allowed to go places now?

            “Come in!” I said not looking away from my laptop.

            “Ok, I’ll let you in,” I heard Sue’s voice from outside the hallway.

            “You got to promise me that you won’t tell.” Hojoon’s voice came loud and clear in my ears. I pushed my laptop aside and slowly walked to see Sue outside the door looking around carefully.

            “I promise. Now, remember what I told you.” She whispered.

            Hojoon nodded, closing the door. I didn’t want to seem like I was creeping on the two of them, although I would like to know what they were whispering to each other about. Instead I smiled once he turned around and a warm smile appeared on his face.

            “Hello, stranger.” I couldn’t keep my big smile off my face as he came over and embraced me into a warm hug. The shirt he was wearing was a black short sleeve shirt and it hugged his muscles in all the right places. Hojoon’s hair was a bit messy, but it was a neat sort of messy, as if he woke out of bed and ran his fingers through his hair. Another thing that I noticed was his glasses. They were gone and I was confused as to where they could be. But I decided to let that go as he let me go as we sat on my bed. He sat the end while I leaned my back against the pillows and continued to save pages that consisted of the Zodiac.

            “So,” I said, making his head pop up. Hojoon was silently tracing the outlines of the patterns on my bed sheets, and when he missed a curve, his facial expression saddened. “What were you and Sue talking about?”

            Hojoon sat up and scratched the back of his head. I tried to hide my blush by ducking my head down below the laptop. “Well, that’s the thing I came here today. I came here to give you news.”

            I closed the laptop and moved it to my nightstand. Scooting closer to Hojoon’s spot, I rolled my eyes and dropped my head. “Let me guess...P-Goon sent you here to give me news?”

            Hojoon shook his head, his facial expression serious. “No, completely the opposite, really. At the meeting last night, when we were discussing new rules about…well you, he had the rules to make it so that you wouldn’t…” he paused a moment before giving a sigh. “See us.”

            “But…I’m seeing you right now. And I saw Jenissi and Hansol the other day.”

            “That’s because Jenissi was with Hansol. As long as either P-Goon or Jenissi are around, you might be able to see us.” Hojoon explained.

            “And you mean see us as in…”

            “Hang with us. Talk with us. Whatever the case may be.” He finished.

            My muscles tensed as I noticed what he was doing. “You’re…you’re going against P-Goon.”

            “Well, I had to start my courage from somewhere.” His smile was cute, a light blush coming on his cheeks.

            I sighed. “And I’m guessing that Sue knows about this?”

            “Of course. I told her about how we are together, and she let me in. I have to tell you things, since I won’t be able to talk to you in school.” He explained.

            How we are together. His sentence replayed over and over again in my head. The more I thought about it, the more I almost missed his words.

            His hand waved in front of me, making me get out of my phase. “Are you paying attention?”

            “Sorry,” a small smile appeared on my face remembering his words, “go ahead.”

            “So, you know about what P-Goon is teaching me?” his hand automatically went towards mine and his hand was now intertwined with mine, his thumb going over the little dip that was between my forefinger and my thumb. It was soothing, and I could tell what he was saying through the action. I could only nod to his question, trying to pay attention. When I looked up at his face again, my eyes connected with his, and I could see that his bags underneath were completely gone; not one sign of darkness was to be seen. And his eyes…his eyes were a blue-gray color, almost the color of the sky in autumn on a cloudy day. “I’ve kind of did a bad thing…”

            I tilted my head in confusion. “What bad thing?”

            His other hand went up towards his eyes and pointed underneath. “I know that you’ve noticed that I have gotten bags underneath my eyes since I’ve been training with P-Goon. And I could tell that you’ve noticed them disappearing little by little, I could tell by your face that you’ve just noticed them completely gone. Well…I did it. Somehow the little knowledge that I learned when I was in the Earth Element classes helped me.”

            This was bad. Very bad. My heart was the speed of a cheetah running to catch its prey across the field. I had to think of something to not think of bad ideas. “Well, you know what they say…people who possess Air can usually do two Elements. So, don’t actually think of that as bad. You probably combined the power of Air and Earth to create some sort of healing thing.” I looked up at his eyes where his glasses would usually be and thought the same thing; he could’ve healed his vision as well. “Is that why you don’t have your glasses?”

            Hojoon bit his lip, looking worried. “Yes. Since I…well, healed the bags underneath, it helped out my vision as well. But it won’t last long.” His hand squeezed mine. “What if P-Goon finds out?”

            “That is up for you to decide.” I put my other hand over both of ours, reassuring him. “If you want to tell him that you might be developing more than one power, he might understand, considering that it is possible for Air to have two Elements.”

            Hojoon nodded and the next moment that he looked at me, something was different in him, as if something or someone else was in his body. It was like the first time when he visited me in my room, which I couldn’t believe was yesterday. His hand went to my cheek, cupping my face. My cheeks blazed fire when he touched me and I was pretty sure he could feel the pulse in my hands.

            “Why…” he started, his voice barely a whisper. “Why do you have the ability to understand people very easily? To let them…in your heart easily?”

            “I wouldn’t say that I let P-Goon in my heart easily.” I said, a little laugh came out, trying to hide my nervousness.

            “No, but…” his thumb was going around in a circle on the bottom corner of my cheek. Carefully, he moved his thumb across the bottom of my lip gently, as if it was a delicate flower. “I don’t want your knowledge of understanding to overpower the knowledge of actually knowing. Two sayings can mean something totally different. And if that someone gets the wrong message…” Hojoon’s face came closer to mine, his lips were inches away from mine. His breath hit my chin, traveling down to neck. It literally sent shivers down my spine, but I tried to keep myself together. I tried my best not to crave into kissing him. But the last time that he did this, he left me hanging. My eyes became heavy all of a sudden and I tried my best to keep them open. His scent of musk and burning leaves filled my senses, sending my mind spinning. It consumed me and it was a very warm and welcoming feeling, spreading warmth throughout my body and around us, like an aura. “I wouldn’t want to see your heart getting broken.”

            There wasn’t a second where I thought he was going to kiss me, but when he sighed and his touch broke away, it left me breathless as he got up from my bed, leaving me in a daze. “I have to get going now. P-Goon will wonder where I am.” He smiled as he looked at my facial expression; parted lips, droopy eyes, and flushed cheeks. Realizing that he was starring, I scratched the back of my head and sighed, bringing myself back together.

            “Just…just be careful, ok?” I asked him as he simply nodded and headed out of the door. I fell back against my bed and tried to get over his out of character act. Part of me knew that I wouldn’t see him tomorrow, so I would have to wait…painfully. The second that he left, I missed his light touch and kind words. Each time he would pull something like that, it was like someone else was in his body…either that or his hormones were acting up.

            “Pull yourself together, Trin.” I whispered to myself.

            The rest of the day went fast, nothing but pages upon pages of information about the Zodiac’s personalities and traits that I would have to read later.

A surprise visit came to my door on Sunday; it was Sue. I had so many questions for her about how and why she decided to let Hojoon visit me yesterday, but I couldn’t come up with that courage to ask her. To be honest, I was a bit afraid of what she’d say. The first thing that she noticed is that I just had the key attached to my necklace. I told her that I wanted to keep the clock pendant where it wanted to be. She understood, but she wants me to be cautious of going through the passage. I still haven’t told her what was at the end, but I have a feeling that she will find out soon enough. I didn’t have any other dreams from the past…yet. I still believe that it was the clock’s doing, but since I haven’t had it on lately, I’ve been having normal dreams.

            But the normal dreams doesn’t always mean…normal. I’ve had my fair share of having hazy nightmares these past two nights. I don’t want to get too far into it. Each night I would wake up in a cold sweat. Some nights I would call up Sue to keep me company. She was very mother like…it was as if she was another mother to me, and I liked that since my parents were far away. Sue would hold me and tell me that it’s alright and tell me that it was just a dream. In one of my dreams, something terrible happened to her and when I looked at her, I told her to be safe.

            “Trinity,” she said sighing. “Isn’t it always me that tells you to be safe?”

            Well, it made me laugh because it was true.

            That Monday night, I didn’t have any dreams, but I did get up to quite a rude awakening. Literally.

            “Wake up pile of sunshine.” I heard a booming voice at my doorway.

            “P-Goon, would you please? Other students are sleeping. Some classes don’t start for another two hours.” I heard Sue behind him.

            I groaned as I tossed and turned in my bed. What was P-Goon doing here again? Oh, right…Element practice. When I didn’t get out of bed, I heard one of them come over to my bedside and with a yank my covers came off my body, a cold breeze hitting the skin that was visible from my pajamas. Opening my eyes, I noticed that it was P-Goon.

            “Let’s go.” He cocked his head to the side.

            “Fine.” I sighed getting up, not looking at the time. What time was this supposed to be at? Oh, right. Six in the morning. And the sun wasn’t even out yet. “But don’t expect me to go fast. I just got up.”

            “I wouldn’t want to waste your time.” P-Goon said sternly.

            I grabbed my uniform and my coat and headed towards the bathroom, getting changed as slow as possible. It was kind of fun making him mad, but it was true that I was tired. About ten minutes later, I was all ready to go.

            “God, you girls take forever. You’re almost as bad as Hansol.” P-Goon rolled his eyes. Geez, I wonder where I heard that before. “Follow me.” Sue made room for us out the door, and when Sue showed me her extra key to lock my room, I nodded and followed P-Goon until we were out of the door. A cold breeze hit my legs, but that didn’t seem to bother me as much as I had a thick coat on.

            “What are you going to have me do?” I asked as I followed him towards the building that we all had a student meeting in. The grass was wet and it tickled the top of my ankles as I kept following him. We went behind the square building and got to an open field. It was wide with nothing but trees surrounding us. The sun was starting to rise, but that didn’t mean it was starting to get sunny. The sky was ugly shades of gray, swirling together like it was a piece of artwork. On the ground, I could see some burnt areas. I’m surprised that those areas didn’t turn to ash with how dark it’s burnt.

            “We’re at the training spot.” He explained as he started to walk in front of me pacing. His hands were behind his back as if he was teaching a lesson. “This spot is only for me and the others-”

            “Then why am I here if it’s just for your group?” he glared at me for interrupting.

            “You just got to be patient.” He pointed a finger towards me. “I was going to say that I brought you here because it’s the most open space and, well, because I can. Now, you are Air, right?”

            “As far as I know.” I shrugged. I looked around seeing if P-Goon had any cans for me to knock over, or any equipment for me to practice on. Nothing. It was just us two in the field. “Where’s the equipment?”

            P-Goon laughed, throwing his head back. “I am the equipment.”

            I put my hands up and shook my head. “No, no, no! I meant…actual equipment.”

            “You didn’t hear a word I said, did you?” he put a hand to his forehead, closing his eyes.

            “I did,” I sighed. “I just didn’t want to believe it.”

            “Ok, enough with the games.” P-Goon all of a sudden got serious. “Show me what you got.”           

            He stood several feet away from, hands on his hips, and his eyes were studying me.

            “But…I didn’t have that much…” I trailed off as I could see the impatience in his eyes. “Ok, but if I hurt you-”

            “You won’t. Now let’s go!” He yelled, confident that I won’t hurt him.

            Straightening my back, I raised my hands in front of me. I could feel the lightness flow throughout my body, and for the first time, I could see my veins turn a gray color. The crawling feeling came back through my arms as I concentrated on P-Goon. I told myself that I didn’t want to hurt him that much, so taking control of the feeling, it slowed down immensely. The needle like pain that happened the first time was more subtle as I felt the wind coming out of my hands, pushing my arms back. I could see the cloud knock P-Goon back just by several steps. My veins went back to normal as I let go of the power, clapping could be heard in the distance.

            “Ok, not bad…for a beginner.” P-Goon said straightening his uniform. “Now, do it harder.”

            “I am not,” I started.

            “Don’t argue with me.” He interrupted.

            I groaned as I closed my eyes this time so I could focus better. P-Goon entered my mind and I could feel the crawling again, only this time it was stronger. I noticed something…my emotions from earlier were calm and collected, resulting into a not so powerful strike. But this time, P-Goon made me mad, which is resulting into everything going faster tenfold. Furrowing my eyebrows, I prepared myself for the pain, and sure enough, the needle feeling penetrated out of my hand as I heard a thud coming after. I opened my eyes and I saw P-Goon lying back on the ground, his hand on his stomach. Immediately I unfocused on my powers and ran towards his side, worried that I hurt him, although my hands were stinging like hell, that was the least important thing on my mind right now.

            “Oh my God, are you ok?” I asked kneeling beside him.

            A cough came from his mouth as he sat up on his elbows. His eyes were glaring at me as I was taken aback. “I said harder, not forced.”

            “But…I didn’t force it.” I answered as he got up and wiped off any dirt that was on him. “I was just doing what you told me to do.” Getting up so I can talk to him properly, I touched his arm making sure that he was ok, but he flinched away. “I’m sorry if I hurt you. But…I know how to control the impact of my powers.”

            “And what is that?” He asked raising an eyebrow as he was rubbing his arm.

            “Emotions.” I answered.

            “Well,” A small smile appeared on his face. “That’s one thing I taught you. Now, here’s the next part.”

            P-Goon held out his hand, and in an instant, he created an ice cicle. But it wasn’t like the way that Hansol did. P-Goon did it instantly, his veins turning a bright blue for a second, before they turned back to normal. Holding the ice in his hand, he walked over to me.

            “See this?” He mentioned to the steam that was rising. Well, at least it looked like steam. “You learned that you can manipulate the other Elements, right?”

            I nodded my head trying to remember how to do it. Although, Mr. Eves never said how we can do it, other than he said it takes a lot of practice and patience.

            “But…he told us-” I got interrupted. What a surprise.

            “Forget what he told you.” P-Goon’s attitude now was different. He was pushing me, it’s true, but the tone of his voice was softer. What was he doing? “Just do what you think is right. Think of your Element and how it works. Remember, only you can control it. Concentrate on the ice, think of the energy it’s giving off, and take it in your hands. Try it at least.”

            I gave P-Goon an unsure look, but he just urged me to try. “You know, if this doesn’t work…” I’m surprised that he didn’t say anything as I sighed and put out my hands, concentrating on the ice. The cold radiated onto my hands, sending chills down my arm. Suddenly the cold from outside didn’t bother me anymore. In fact it felt like a fire compared to the ice that P-Goon made. I let my muscles in my hands relax, opening my pores and letting in the cold that the ice was radiating. In my mind, I imagined holding the ice cicle in my hand, that I had control of it. The image was simple, but the technique was tough to push through. My hands felt like they were dipped in hot water and I was immediately put in a freezer, but only my hands. The sensation stung like a million bees, but my skin felt numb in the process, which gave off an after burn. My vision was becoming blurry as I continued to accumulate the entire Element. My hands were beginning to falter, and I was about to give up, my eyes never becoming clearer. The icy temperature that was surrounding my hands was beginning to be too much for me. I could feel P-Goon’s eyes studying me; seeing how far I can go. But I couldn’t give up. I had to show him that I can do this. Giving my hands a squeeze, my pores didn’t sting anymore.

            I let out a deep breath as if I was holding it the entire time. But who knows? Maybe I was and I was just too focused on what I was doing. I…I think I just gave up. It was too much for me to handle. But then I heard it.

            Drip.

Opening my eyes, I saw that the ice was all melted on P-Goon’s hands, leaving nothing but a dripping puddle in his palm, dripping down to the ground. The first thing I noticed was that around my hands was a blue fog. Inside the fog was floating blue particles that sparkled, even though the sun, which was halfway through its rising stage, was behind gray clouds.

“I…” I started, stunned at what I did.

“You did it,” A little smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Now, let’s see what you can do with it.”

Moving my hands, the fog went along with it, as if it was attracted towards my hands. But the first thing that I noticed was that my hands felt tight; my nerves, my muscles, everything felt like it were clumped together, just to keep the Element attached. Flinging my hands up, the blue fog flew up in the air, the blue sparkles turning into snowflakes. It was a beautiful sight; snow in the fall time, some of the snowflakes landed in P-Goon’s hair as laughter erupted from my mouth; both from excitement and the hilarity of P-Goon’s facial expression.

“This is incredible!” I said, twirling around from my achievement, ignoring the pain that was surging from my arms all the way down towards my hands. Even in my peripheral vision, they were bright red and throbbing from the pain.

“That was good,” P-Goon nodded his head. “But not good enough.”

“What? Did you not just see what I did?! Mr. Eves says that it’ll take lots of practice and patience to do that. Obviously I did it with ease!”

“Ease?!” His voice rose as he came towards me, grabbing my hands so that they were facing upwards, making me see the horror of what the price of using an ability too fast. Little holes covered the skin of my palm, but they were just singe marks, going no deeper than the top layer of skin. “This was not using your powers with ease, Trinity! This was forced! I told you to try it!” He dropped my hands back down to my sides.

“I did try it!” I started to shout to him as I caressed my hands together to get the stinging feeling away.

“Here’s another lesson. Don’t have your emotions take control on how you use your powers. It’s good when attacking an enemy. But for practice…”

I wanted to explain to him that I wasn’t forcing myself. Totally the opposite, actually. I was proving myself. I used everything that I learned the past two days to make what I just did happen.

“Ok, why can’t we just come to terms that I did…well…what was thought impossible on the first try?” Shrugging my shoulders, I hoped to make him come to an agreement and have us stop fighting. But something was already running through his mind. I could tell by his facial expressions. P-Goon’s eyebrows would furrow together, his eyes slightly at a glare.

“Did Ovan agree with Marikan when he found out?” He faced me. The fact that he was comparing me to Marikan pissed me off. I already told him that I wasn’t going to be like Marikan!

“Would you stop comparing me to him?!” I shouted, my hands balling up into fists, the stinging feeling was nothing but numbness.

“I was just pointing out to a historical event. I never said that I was comparing him to you. God, you got to stop going to conclusions. But if your powers are this powerful that you were able to do that…it must mean that-”

            A rustling noise in the distance interrupted our conversation. Emerging from the trees where the path leads back to the Academy, Hojoon appeared, a confused look on his face. Blood rushed to my cheeks and a little fear took over my head, hoping that he didn’t hear us fight. Following close behind him, emerging from the shadows was Jenissi. Oh joy.

            “P-Goon? I thought we had practice this morning?” He asked coming towards us.

            “I had other plans.” He answered pointing towards me.

            “Sorry, P-Goon, he wanted to be here early.” Jenissi apologized, P-Goon nodding his head in understanding.

            “Hojoon!” I smiled as I ran towards him, but since P-Goon and Jenissi was here, it took me everything in me not to hug him. It wasn’t that I couldn’t, but since I found out the new rules told from him, I had to watch my actions. He returned the smile and looked down to see that my hands were fire red.

            “Your hands! Are you ok?” Hojoon took my hands in his as he examined them.

            “She’s ok, Hojoon.” P-Goon answered for me.

            I rolled my eyes mentally at P-Goon. “Thanks for answering me when I could’ve done it.”

            “Trinity, your time for practice is up.” P-Goon called to me.

            “Hojoon, time for your training.” P-Goon ignored what I said.

            I turned around and gave him a look.

            “Hey,” Hojoon whispered towards me. “I’ll be alright.”

            Sighing, I could only nod and gave his hands a tight squeeze, ignoring my own pain with my hands. Hojoon walked towards P-Goon, waving goodbye to me. I was about to wave back, but Jenissi put my hand down, turned me around and had me walk with him.

“Hey! At least I could’ve said bye!” I sighed. I was worried about Hojoon with P-Goon. He was still pushing him over his limits and I didn’t feel comfortable. Even I thought that P-Goon was pushing me…just like he said back in that room.

“He’ll be fine.” The tone in Jenissi’s voice sounded like how he talked about the subject of Hojoon back with P-Goon. This only made me more nervous. I took a deep breath and tried to take care of my hands as best as I could before I saw Jenissi roll his eyes and stopped coming in front of me.

“Give me your hands.” He held out one of his hands as he went on the inside of his jacket and brought out that roll of fabric again. I brought my hands up as he carefully wrapped the fabric around my hands, gently. I winced when it rubbed against my wounds, but soon the soothing sensation took over the stinging.

“Why are you taking me back to the Academy?” I asked after he was finally done.

“Didn’t you understand when we told you that you would get escorted to and back from the Academy?” Jenissi sighed turning me around and making me walk back, but our pace was slow since classes still didn’t start for a while yet. The sun was almost raised all the way, beams of light flashed through the clouds, giving off subtle warmth. But it was still cold.

“Ah, right.” I nodded, ending that conversation quickly. I guess that other things have been on my mind since I got told of what was going to happen to me. Like the dream and the secret passage way that I found connecting to my room.

“You know,” Jenissi started, ending the silence. “Your hands…they are pretty bad.”

“And you just notice this now?”

A small smile appeared on his face. “I’m wondering what you did. You know…since we are going to keep an eye on you, thief, we are going to keep updated on your power.”

I rolled my eyes. “So, what are you guys now, an agenda and track keeper? Am I too much for you guys? Seems like you have to slow down just to keep up with me.”

Jenissi gave me a glare. “Your attitude is just like Hansol’s. You need to stop hanging out with that boy. He wouldn’t stop talking about you at the meetings.”

My cheeks got a little red when he said that last sentence. But I didn’t let it get to me as I gave a big sigh. “Well, it wouldn’t be if you would stop pushing my buttons.”

“We’re pushing your buttons? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” Jenissi’s voice got louder. “With how much you messed with us, I’m surprised that P-Goon didn’t crack yet.”

“I messed with you guys?!” Now my voice was getting louder.

“Don’t even start.” Jenissi held up his hand. The Academy was getting into view clearer now, students could be seen going out of the dorm buildings, yawning along the way, swaying back and forth from their tiredness. It made them look like zombies getting back their common sense and waking up from their sleeplike state. Not too far from the entrance of the Academy, Hansol’s laugh could be heard, followed by the voices of Yano and A-Tom. I started to get excited from hearing them, and my feet started to move faster on their own, but my collar got caught by Jenissi’s hand, sending me back to his side.

I gave him a glare. “What was that for?”

“You’ll learn soon enough. In fact, for your first period, you shall see what I mean.” I wanted to tell him that I already knew from Hojoon’s visit on Saturday, but I had to remember that he wasn’t even allowed to see me without Jenissi or P-Goon around. As we were near the entrance, Yano gave me a quick sad smile before being pushed by A-Tom into the building and then there was Hansol; the second he saw me on the steps, he stopped playing around with the two boys, and crossed his arms against his chest. Jenissi stopped us in the middle of the steps as other students were walking up, they gave Jenissi room and kept their voices to a minimum. Kind of like how students are with P-Goon, but the second that they went past Hansol, the girls instantly waved cutely at him, and Hansol would do a quick wink and smirk that would send any girl’s heart flutter. Hell, it even made my heart skip a beat or two. But I had to concentrate at what was really going on. Hansol looked back at us and had a bit of a glare on his face, as if he was mad at Jenissi, or was he mad at me for my own mistake. Jenissi gave a nod of his head towards Hansol to enter the Academy. I wanted to ask why he wasn’t talking to him, but I decided to wait.

Hansol’s hands were curled into fists as he stormed inside the building. I’m surprised that he didn’t let off steam. As soon as he was inside, Jenissi continued walking me up the stairs.

“Whatever you did pissed him off.” I whispered.

“No.” He answered. “What you did pissed him off.”

“Are you so sure?” I asked him in my head. As far as I know, it was P-Goon’s idea to not have the members around me or hang with me unless Jenissi or P-Goon was around. Jenissi was right there, why couldn’t Hansol and the others just come up and talk? Maybe they were scared. Whatever the case was, I could see that Hansol was more pissed off at Jenissi than he was with me. Heading into the Academy, something was different. A flashback from my dream where I was in the room and flew up the stairs at the end came into my mind. The main stairway, which was still guarded by the two men up on top, seemed to be a key component. I don’t know how I got the feeling, but something in me screamed that it had to do something with the room. I wanted to investigate, but that would have to wait another day.

“Are you ready for your first class?” Jenissi asked as he escorted me towards my first class, and in a second, I could see that the seating arrangements were completely different. Hansol, Yano, and A-Tom were all together in the front, and most of the students were preoccupying the rest of the front. In the back left corner of the room, a lonely desk sat in a dark corner; the only source of light was just a little sunlight from the window. Hansol looked my way and his glare didn’t seem to leave him since the last time I saw him. “Why don’t you head on to your seat?” Jenissi lightly pushed me into the room, and once I was inside, students were whispering to each other. News must’ve spread faster than a rumor about a celebrity. It was as if a dark cloud hung over my head as I made my way towards the back corner of the room; Yano and A-Tom were sitting with their backs straight up and their hands folded in front of them, waiting for the new teacher to have us start learning. Hansol took a quick glance behind him, his face going from a glare to a sad frown. It was as if he was saying “Why did you do what you did?” It was obvious he didn’t like what was going on here anymore. Curling my hands into fists, I knew that I had to pass P-Goon’s test. But this wasn’t going to go his way. Instead, things are going to go my way. And with the secret passage, I have the advantage of being in the lead. I’m going to show him how I pass.