The Academy: Book 2 (76 page)

             
“I’ll tell you later,” Asa said. He looked across the room and saw Roxanne entering the hall. Travis was by her side, smiling, showing black gums. Asa hated him.
She should be with Bruce,
he thought.

             
“That’s fine, I understand you not wanting to talk about it.” Jen said. “We probably shouldn’t talk about that here anyway.”

             
They chatted for ten or fifteen more minutes. They talked about Jen’s blood canary, and about how she had finally taught the giant bird to sit on command. Asa was only half-listening. He was watching Charlotte, who had managed to already drink two self-poured, stout glasses of vodka punch and her second glass of wine.
If she keeps drinking like this, she’s going to pass out in the first hour.

             
A creeping, low voice responded in Asa’s mind:
It’s as though she wants to pass out. It’s like she’s self-administering anesthetic before going through something that she knows is going to be very painful.

             
Asa felt sick.

             
“Do you want to dance?”

             
The song had shifted to something slower. “Sure,” Asa said.

             
He and Jen want to the dance floor. He put his right arm around her and clasped his left hand with her right hand. His back was now to Charlotte, and he looked right at Jen.

             
“You look pale, Asa.” She scooted closer to him and smiled. “And I can feel your heart beating. You don’t have to be scared of me. I like you.”

             
It took Asa a moment to process this;
she thinks that I’m nervous because of her.
Asa played along. “I’ve just never been good with girls,” he said. This was true.

             
They danced, moving rhythmically back and forth together, and Asa found Jen’s touch soothing to him. “You’re okay,” she said. “There’s no need to be nervous.” Even though she didn’t know what he was nervous about, her words made him feel better. He could smell her perfume as she looked up at him with dazzling green eyes that reflected the candles surrounding the room. He felt safe with Jen. He pulled her closer.

             
As they danced, he regretfully decided that he would have to leave when the song ended. He knew that it would disappoint Jen, but he thought that she might understand later, when he explained. Even if she didn’t forgive him, that was better than her getting killed. Asa thought of Bruce’s carcass. He didn’t want anyone else to die for him.

             
The song ended and Jen lingered beside Asa, looking up at him. He didn’t think about what he was doing, but he bent down and kissed her. He withdrew a second later, startled by what he had done; frightened that she would reject him. But she didn’t. She just looked up, smiling, and said, “Usually I initiate our kisses.”

             
Asa smiled. He felt pale and clammy.

             
“Do you feel okay, Asa?”

             
“Yeah,” he responded, trying to sound cheerful. “I’ve just got to go to the bathroom.”

             
She looked concerned, but he left anyways. He walked out a side door, and moved into one of the bathrooms in the hallway. The bathroom was candle lit, just as the dance hall was. He moved to one of the sinks, splashed water into his face, and then looked into the mirror. He felt sick with anxiety. “I look like hell,” he whispered to himself. It was true; he looked pale enough to be dead.

             
He wiped his face with a hand towel and walked out of the bathroom at a quick pace. He wanted to leave Town Hall, go, grab the bombs, and be at the Multiplier’s lair before anyone knew he was gone. He didn’t want someone coming looking for him.

             
“Asa!”

             
A hand grabbed his forearm tightly and he shrieked a little. He turned, and saw Charlotte, looking up at him. She smelled strongly of alcohol, and grabbed the side of his coat, pulling her body towards him.

             
She laughed at nothing apparent. She looked drunk. “Asa! How are you? I went out into the hallway when I saw you going to the bathroom.”

             
She stumbled and he wrapped his arms around her to prop her up. His hands lingered over her back, though, even though there was no reason for them to remain.

             
“I’m drunk,” she said, her eyes rolling a bit.

             
“Is everything okay, Charlotte?” he asked.

             
Suddenly, the sadness that Asa had seen in the ballroom returned. She looked on the verge of tears. “I’m sorry I got drunk. You don’t hate me, do you?”

             
“No! No! Why would I hate you?”

             
She stumbled some more, and ignored the question. “Can I tell you something that might be bad, Asa?” Before he could answer, she went on. “When I wrote you that letter, at the beginning of the semester, after you broke up with me…” she hiccupped… “I signed it ‘yours for now.’ But I don’t think that I meant it. I still have feelings for you.”

             
And then, she kissed him. She tasted like alcohol, and he immediately pulled back, not wanting to actively participate in kissing her while she was drunk. They had a history between each other, and she had never soberly made a move like this this semester.

             
“What’s going on, Asa?” she asked. Her eyes were lidded.

             
“Yeah? What’s going on, Asa?” The sound came from behind him, and he turned around and saw Jen. Asa took his arms away from Charlotte. Whereas Charlotte had been threatening tears, Jen was really crying.

             
“Jen…” Asa began, reaching out for her.

             
But she shook her head, still crying, and went into the girls’ bathroom.

             
Asa left Charlotte standing there, in the middle of the hallway, and was about to follow Jen into the bathroom when he paused. His hand was on the bathroom door. He felt torn between going now, and attempting to explain what Jen had just seen to her.
I should leave,
he decided.
If I don’t show back up to the dance, Jen will just think that I got upset and left. She won’t come looking for me.

             
Asa inhaled deeply. Now, he felt like crying. He turned away from Jen and Charlotte and began to run down the hallway towards the door to the outside.

             
“Asa!” Charlotte called after him.

             
But he didn’t stop. He ran out into the night and saw that the fog had grown even thicker.

37

Behind the Waterfall

              Asa ran along the cobblestone streets until he turned around and Town Hall had disappeared into the fog. Visibility was very minimal. He could see floating yellow fires down the streets; the lights were dim, and he could not see the streetlamps that they rested upon.

             
He was breathing hard, not so much from the short run as from the immense stress he was under. He felt like something was constricting his chest so that he couldn’t get a full breath.

             
For a moment, his brain wondered what he would say to Jen next time they spoke.
Or to Charlotte?
He shook his head violently back and forth, as though trying to sling the thoughts out.

             
There’s not time to think about that now. I can think about it after tonight. Right now, I need to get to Viola’s and grab the bombs.

             
He began to slide his wings out, and then growled,
“Damn it!”
The fabric of his clothing did not budge as he pressed his wings against it. He slid out of his jacket, and then his vest.

             
Asa looked around. He now had his jacket and his vest in hand, and was wearing a white shirt with a black tie. His mind went back to Jen catching he and Charlotte kissing and he was overcome with a wave of anger, frustration, and embarrassment.

             
“She kissed
me!
” he cried, and in a jolt of rage he shot his wings clear through his white shirt, creating two separate holes, right above his shoulder blades. His membranous wings stretched out to either side of him, and he began to flap them downwards.

             
He felt his feet leave the ground and in just a few moments the Town was invisible to him in the thick fog. He was flying blind through the night. He had oriented himself to where Mount Two was using the buildings in Town. Now that he was in the air, he trusted himself and flew forward without any visual cues.

             
It occurred to him then that he might never see The Town again.
I could die tonight. Or, the Multipliers could blow it up. They could carry a large amount of bombs with them, and just destroy the whole area instead of individually attacking each student and graduate.

             
He hadn’t thought of this before, and the realization that he had not gone through all the possibilities made him feel exposed and scared. He kept flapping his wings anyway, and soon the vague shape of Mount Two came up in front of him.

             
He landed in the doorway of Viola’s dwelling and let himself inside with a screech of the door hinges. He took the box of matches from the table beside the doorway, lit one, and then lit one of the small candles that Viola used to light up the rest of the room. Asa intended to just use the single stick as a light, and then blow it out when he was done. He intended to move as fast as possible.

             
He walked past the kitchen table and peered around the room. Viola’s makeup bag was still sitting on the table. On the floor of the bathroom was Asa’s Academy-issued white suit. He decided not to put it on; that would take too much time. The mug Asa had drunk coffee out of before going to the dance sat in the sink. It struck Asa as perverse that he be reminded of all these very normal things now that he was about to set off on a mission to kill hundreds of thousands of Multipliers. It was like the Universe was taunting him with all the small things that he would miss if he died.

             
An image of Bruce’s bloody body—his guts spilled out onto the floor—rose to Asa’s mind and he gritted his teeth. He knew that what he was doing was worth trying, no matter the consequences.

             
I’m going to have to fight them sooner or later. Either I’ll attack them, or they’ll attack me. I’d rather end this on my terms.

             
Boom Boom’s bombs were in a potato sack on the floor, between the kitchen counter and the bathroom. Asa picked up the sack and looked inside. There were six of them in there, each weighing roughly fifteen pounds. Asa reached his hand inside and felt one of the explosives. It was cold. The outside stone was speckled with dirt. It was hard and unmoving against his fingertips.

             
In that moment, he felt more confident than ever before. In the past, he had viewed this mission in a W
hy not try? What’s there to lose?
kind of way. Now, touching the bombs and seeing how heavy they were, he felt that his goal was more tangible.
Mike Plode made these bombs,
he told himself.
And he also made explosives that successfully blew up a whole bank. And Teddy, who is the smartest person I know when it comes to physics, thinks that this will work!