Chapter 2: The Academy

The school appeared like a beacon in the dusky sky. The trees lining the road melted away as manicured lawn appeared to the left of the road. The bus turned onto the entrance road, winding up toward the bright lights shining through the night sky. Dusk had fallen over the school, the sun already set behind the horizon and weary students were unloading from the buses already parked in front of the great stone entrance. 

Madame Richert stood at the front of their bus, clapping her hands to draw attention from the students in her care.

"We have arrived. You will all proceed into the entranceway where you will find professors ready to direct you to the banquet hall. We will be eating dinner and then you will find your house assignments. Your luggage will be taken to your rooms directly for you. If you have any questions, you will be finding your head of house shortly and they will be able to help you navigate your first year at The Academy." She walked down the aisle toward the back so everyone could hear her as she spoke. Once she reached the end of the bus she turned around and proceeded down the aisle toward the bus doors.

"We will proceed inside in an orderly fashion." She led the way down the steps as students yawned and gathered their things to make their way into the school entrance. Elizabeth brought up the end of the students filing down the bus stairs and into the school. 

The school was forbidding, stone walls stretching 100 feet in either direction of the great, wooden front doors. The doors were thrown open, students and professors alike milling in and out. As many lost faces adorned the crowd as happy ones, and Ellie knew she wasn't the only terrified new student at The Academy.

Ellie walked up the stone entrance steps, determined to find food then rush to her dorm as soon as she could so she could sleep and forget this day ever happened. Perhaps denial was the best course. She rushed up the stairs, tripping on the last step. Her hands went flying as she was thrust forward toward the stone step. Her phone, which had been in her right hand, went skidding along the stone step. Just when she thought she was going to crash into the stone floor, two strong hands grabbed her arms and righted her. Piercing green eyes assessed her as Jake held onto her arms to steady her walk.

"Easy there," Jake said, assessing her as she steadied herself. "No need to break a leg to escape the festivities." His eyes twinkled in humor.

Ellie's breath caught in her throat, his eyes bore into her mind. A wisp of a memory from a different time sat on the fringe of her mind, not quite within reach. A sense of deja vu hit her and she shook her head to clear the confusion.

"Thanks," she said shakily. 

Jake dropped her arms and walked next to her inside the great hall, picking up her phone as he went and handing it to her. She accepted it with a nod. 

"It's not so bad, you know," Jake said easily. "You won't be the only one here this year without a wolf and the houses we get sorted into are determined by compatibility." 

"I guess so," Ellie answered, not quite sure she believed Jake's assessment. 

"Come on, let's go eat. Everything's always better after food," Jake smiled at her and pulled her arm forward, leading her toward the back of a long wooden table with benches. He sat and motioned for her to sit next to him. She complied, mostly because she had nowhere else to go but partly because she was drawn to his kindness.

The tables were set with plates, a buffet was set up at the front of the hall. Jake set his phone on the table, unlocking it to check the time, then tossed his bag next to his seat, grabbed his plate, and motioned for Ellie to do the same. Ellie dropped her bag and phone, grabbed her plate, and followed Jake to the buffet line already swarming with students.

Once Ellie and Jake had returned to their places, the table had filled with other students. Jake seemed to know everyone as he called out greetings as he walked through the hall. 

"Hey, man, how's the old Alpha these days?" a dark-skinned, dark-haired boy asked Jake as they both sat at the table.

"Determined to make my life hell," Jake replied, shaking his head in frustration. "He's had me training every morning at 5 each day for the last 3 months. I swear school will be a vacation compared to that."

"Ouch, that's much worse than my summer," the boy smirked, "Angela, Courtney, Cristine, Meredith, Tiffany, ..."

"Alright, alright, we get it," Jake rolled his eyes. "Just keep it under wraps." 

Ellie snorted, nearly choking on her bite. Jake looked at her, eyes twinkling. 

"Firash, this is Ellie. Ellie, this is Firash." Jake made the introduction. "Firash is a year older than us."

"So you're Elizabeth Carter, eh?" Firash's eyes sparkled as he assessed her.

"No, Firash." Jake's voice was stern. 

"It's nice to meet you, Firash," Ellie said softly, trying to not draw attention to herself, but finding it hard to avoid all of the eyes following her with these two personalities by her side.

"Likewise." his hungry gaze dropped to her chest as Jake punched his arm.

"Leave her alone," Jake warned.

"Hi, Ellie, I'm Meredith. Not the Meredith that Firash just mentioned though," a feminine voice spoke to her from the other side of the table, her eyes twinkled in amusement. Ellie saw the girl roll her eyes in Firash's direction while she laughed and Ellie was grateful for the reprieve. Meredith had dark wavy hair and an athletic build, her deep brown eyes showing her amusement at Firash.

"It could be though, if you wanted," Firash winked at Meredith, but she just rolled her eyes again and brushed him off.

"Hi, Meredith."

"Not a big talker, eh?" Firash interjected.

Ellie shook her head.

"No problem, here comes Sam and she could talk a unicorn into becoming a mermaid," Firash noted as a bubbly redhead sat next to Meredith. 

"Oh my gosh, you're Elizabeth Carter! I'm Sam! Well, actually I'm Samantha, but everyone calls me Sam."

"How do you know who I am?" Elizabeth asked in surprise.

"Everyone knows who you are! Oh, and I should warn you, Sarah Bordeaux and Jane Samson over there, they hate you. But you probably already know that. Don't you live in the same city as them? Oh gosh, sorry, that was pretty rude of me," She paused noticing Jake's gaze as she blushed. "I talk too much, seriously, my mom keeps telling me that I need to let other people talk too, but honestly I just can't help myself the words just keep coming. See? Exhibit A," she indicated her face as she very obviously kept talking despite Jake's attempts to get her to hush.

"It's ok, I've known Sarah and Jane since kindergarten. The feeling is entirely mutual," Ellie added, not wanting to dwell too long on the unpleasant topic she added, "when do we find our dorms?"

"Already sick of us?" Firash laughed.

"I don't blame you," Sam interjected, sticking her tongue out at Firash, "he can be quite a headache. I think we're supposed to be getting our schedules and assignments while we eat. Oh, look over there!" She pointed toward some teachers walking around with papers in their hands, "I'll bet they're going to be handing us our assignments next. I hope I'm in your house, Ellie! I've heard so much about you, I just know we're going to be best friends!" 

Ellie raised an eyebrow, assessing Sam, wondering what exactly she had heard and from whom. 

"Come on, you need dessert!" Sam stood up, grabbing her plate and Ellie's and motioning her head toward the buffet. "Meredith! You too!" She gave Meredith an intense look and jerked her head sideways violently. She was definitely not subtle.

Ellie unlocked her phone to see what time it was, set her phone by her place, and followed Sam to the dessert table.

"Listen, Ellie, I know you just met us, but we're going to the village this weekend to shop. Do you want to come with us? They have so many things there, shops, restaurants, and oh my gosh, there is this little Italian restaurant, it's so fantastic. I think I gain 10 pounds just thinking about it. Seriously, the best. So, what do you say?"

"Um, sure, I guess," Ellie replied, overwhelmed by this talkative redhead, unsure what else to say.

"Mom said you were shy, but my goodness, you don't talk much, do you?" Sam rattled along.

Ellie shook her head.

"How does your mom know who I am?"

Sam brushed off her question, "We've all heard about you, you're the reason the school started accepting non-wolf applicants."

"Applicants?"

"Yeah, you have to apply to The Academy. Not everyone gets accepted." Meredith had replied to Ellie this time, interjecting while Sam had to take a breath.

"I didn't apply."

"No?" Meredith questioned; her eyes confused. "That's odd, maybe your parents did?"

"Yeah, maybe." Ellie burned with anger at the thought of her parents applying to the academy without asking her first. Her parents had made it sound like they had no control over the situation, and they were forced to send Ellie.

"Oh my gosh, these are the best!" Sam grabbed two slices of pecan pie and pointed them out to Ellie. "You have to try them! I don't know what they put in it, but it is to die for. Literally, I would probably die knowing I couldn't have these anymore." 

Ellie mindlessly added pecan pie to her plate, mostly to avoid a conflict about dying if she never tasted it again, but her mind was burning in anger. She couldn't wait to get to her room and her phone, she and her parents had a lot to catch up on.

"Seriously, Meredith, do you remember when we ate these cinnamon rolls until we got sick? I can't even stand the smell of them now." 

Meredith laughed and nodded her head, "Yeah, we had a Jane Austen marathon and woke up to Piper and her trays of buns that she brought back from here. I think we ate two full trays." She wrinkled her nose at the cinnamon buns and quickly backed away toward the puddings.

Ellie laughed, "I did that once. It was just me and mom, but we have Jane Austen marathons a lot. We didn't gorge on cinnamon buns, but I can't eat sour cream and chive chips any longer for the same reason." 

Sam looked at her in astonishment. She leaned over and gave her a one-sided hug laughing, "There's hope for you yet. You'll be the debate team captain by the time I'm done with you!"

Meredith chuckled at Ellie's horror-struck face. Sam cackled gleefully; her face covered with evil humor. The girls went back to sit and finish eating, the boys had already filled a second plate and were going for a third. 

"They eat a lot," Ellie mused.

"They're werewolves, we all eat a lot," Meredith said. Then she grimaced, "Sorry, I keep forgetting you're different."

"It's ok. There's a lot I don't know. My parents kept that side of their lives from me."

"Hello, ladies," a prim voice spoke over the hum of student voices.

"Hi, Professor Harlowe!"

"Hello, Samantha, I have your assignments here," Professor Harlowe sorted through the papers on her clipboard, pulling three separate pieces out of the pile and handing them to the girls. 

"Meredith, Samantha, Elizabeth, let me know if you need assistance finding your house."

"Our house? As in one house? We're in the same house?" Samantha quickly looked at her paper, then grabbed Meredith's and Ellie's. "YES! We are! Thank you, Professor!" Samantha jumped up and hugged Professor Harlowe. Professor Harlowe looked uncomfortable, gently patting Samantha's back as she extracted herself from the hug. 

"Yes, alright, you will want to check in with Piper, she's the head of the girl's dormitory." Professor Harlowe addressed the boys coming to sit down. "Gentlemen, here are your assignments as well. You will want to check in with Gregory, he is the head of your dormitory."

Professor Harlowe moved on to hand out more assignments as Samantha grabbed Jake's paper and screamed in excitement. "Yes! We're all House Ackley! Oh man, that's a relief. I was afraid I'd be in House Paxton." She let out a shudder as she cringed. 

"What other houses are there?" Ellie asked. Her ignorance was painfully obvious as she glanced at Sam and Meredith. It was Jake that intercepted Samantha's attempt to explain the school.

"The houses are named after the benefactors that fund the house. They change from time to time, but for the last two centuries, they've been fairly constant. There's House Ackley, which we are all in, House Paxton as Samantha stated, which is where Mark, Sarah, and Jane are," Jake watched as Ellie visibly relaxed at the news, "Then there's also House Estrada, House Northrup, and House Reindl."

"So, there are 5 houses?" Ellie asked.

"Yep and House Ackley is obviously the best!" Samantha snorted. "Right, Jake?" Samantha was unusually quiet as she waited for Jake's response.

Jake's eyes twinkled, "Yes, obviously."

"What am I missing?" Ellie asked.

"Jake's last name is Ackley." Meredith chimed in.

Ellie's eyes got wide. Firash walked up with his last plate of food. "I thought everyone knew he was practically royalty." Firash gave Jake a mock bow. Jake pushed him over, Firash almost lost his footing but came crashing down on the bench instead with a laugh.

"Apparently not," Meredith snorted. "Aw, look, his head's already starting to deflate. Well done, Ellie."

Ellie glanced at Jake. Jake was definitely not lacking in confidence, but his faux wounded expression was enough to send Ellie into a fit of laughter, quite out of character.

"It's my grandfather's house," Jake added in explanation. "He's head of House Ackley both in the real world and here. He provides our funding."

"Provides our funding..." Ellie trailed off, her question lingering.

"Each head of the house gets to choose which members are invited to their house from the applications submitted each year. House Ackley, as the largest benefactor, gets the first choice. The other houses can veto choices if they feel the individual will be a better fit in their house. It's a whole process and it takes the better part of a month over the summer to decide who is going into which houses. At the end of the day, the family in charge of each house will then donate funding to the school to cover the tuition and fees for each member of their house. In return, the Head of House expects its members to be more amenable to jobs that benefit their house once their education has concluded."

Ellie looked pale as she heard Jake's explanation. 

"So, your family chooses who is in your house?"

"Basically," Jake said uncomfortably.

"What do you mean, amenable to jobs that benefit their house?" Ellie asked as her stomach sank at the thought of being trapped in this world longer than she had intended.

"Well, Ackley House is a conglomerate. They own hotels, banks, and restaurants mostly. There are a few smaller businesses, like bars and pubs that former members opened with help from the parent corporation." Samantha finally found a chance to interrupt the explanation.

"So, we will be expected to work for one of the businesses, or open a business for House Ackley, when we graduate?" Ellie asked in horror.

"Well, not expected per se, but the opportunity is there," Jake explained carefully, aware the information was not being received as positively as he had hoped.

Firash finally finished his food and the five stood up, grabbing their bags, ready to find their dormitory. 

"So, ladies, House Ackley, huh?" Firash wiggled his eyebrows, "You let me know when you're going to have those naked pillow fights, I want my invite. Those are the house rules, after all."

"Naked pillow fights are reserved for special occasions; you have to earn an invite." Samantha prattled; Meredith snorted. Ellie's eyes got wide as she looked from Samantha to Meredith.

"She's kidding," Jake laughed, "Though if that changes..." His eyes sparkled as he nudged Ellie's arm. Ellie laughed and shook her head, heat flooding her face. 

Samantha and Meredith exchanged smiles as they looped arms with Firash, pulling him ahead.

"Lead the way, O wise one," Samantha teased Firash, "Don't you know all? Where's our dorm, how do we get there?"

"Well, you, milady, are in luck. I DO know all! Right this way," he tucked his arms into his body, pulling Meredith and Samantha closer as he turned left down a long hall and proceeded out a side door into the dark evening.

The campus was a series of buildings connected with sidewalks. Lamps lit the way between buildings, some of the walkways were covered while others had benches and stands nestled along the cobblestone. They walked along the brick cobblestone toward the dormitory with the name Ackley written on the side. The dormitory was a large stone structure with four towers rising from each corner of the building into the sky.  

"We're all in the same dormitory?" Ellie asked nervously.

"Yep, but the girls have the west wing, and the boys have the east wing," Firash said, disappointment lacing his words. 

Firash stepped forward to open the doors to the dormitory, holding it open for Samantha, Meredith, and Ellie to enter. Ellie looked around, noting the dual fireplaces on each side of the common area. Couches and chairs sat grouped around the fireplaces facing the fire and more were scattered through the room, grouped in circles. Students milled around the common area as Firash and Jake entered behind the girls.  Staircases wrapped up and around the fireplaces, leading toward the upper floors. 

Jake gestured to the left, "the girl's dormitories are up that way and boys' dormitories are over there," he gestured to the right of the room. Ellie nodded, the day was catching up to her and all she wanted was to fall asleep with her book, a pillow, and a giant cup of hot chocolate. She didn't see a cafeteria around so she guessed the hot chocolate would have to wait.

Meredith noticed the fatigue on Ellie's face so she grabbed her arm gently and led her toward the stairs. "Come on, let's go find our room." Samantha followed behind as Ellie nodded. Ellie felt stares on the back of her head as she made her way toward the staircase. 

"Is that Elizabeth Carter?" one girl whispered, just loud enough for Ellie to hear. Ellie closed her eyes in exasperation and dejection. So much for an incognito two years at The Academy.

"Yes, it is!" Samantha whirled around facing the rest of the common area. "What's it to you?" she asked bluntly. Ellie didn't turn around to see what happened next, but she heard Samantha's voice following her and Meredith up the stairs. 

"You'd better leave her alone if you're going to be a bitch while she's here." Sam's voice was drowned by the curve of the staircase as Ellie and Meredith hurried out of the common room and up the first flight of stairs. A girl on the landing glanced at the two and motioned upward, "You're on the third floor, Meredith." 

"Thanks, Piper," Meredith answered. Ellie glanced at the girl again, wondering who Piper was, the name having been mentioned a few times already. The girl's bright red curls made it obvious, she had to be related to Samantha.

"Is that...?" Ellie began, losing her train of thought.

"Yeah, that's Samantha's older sister. She knows who you are, like everyone else."

"Why do they know me?" Ellie asked, "And please don't give me a bullshit answer like everyone else has."

"You're a bit of a legend for werewolves, for what you did for the Alpha." Meredith looked cautiously at Ellie.

"What I did for the Alpha?" Ellie asked in confusion.

"When you saved his family from the bomb at the mall. You were 9, right?"

"I did what?"

"You saved the Alpha and all of those people in the mall from the bomb," Meredith said so matter-of-factly that Ellie's head was swimming.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Confusion filtered through Ellie's brain, her memory a cloud of haze as she tried to make sense of Meredith's words.

Samantha came up behind them. "Yeah, Ellie, you and your mom were at the mall, there was a bomb, and you found out and screamed out for everyone to leave. You saved about a hundred people that day, but most importantly, you saved one of the most important Alphas on the west coast. There was a terrorist attack, and they think the terrorist was targeting the Alpha and his family, but you warned them to get out. You saved them. I mean, I heard it was kind of freaky, your shouting was wild, nothing at all like you are now..." 

Ellie's head swam, blackness engulfed her vision as she swayed on her feet. Her body fell with a thump on the ground as she drifted into the dark bliss.