Knight of the Black Rose (20 page)

"Way to keep the big secret," Troy said sarcastically.

"We're on a different planet, I think they would have realised," Methos told him.

"The sky is a different colour," Eddie added.

"They have a point about that," Lucy agreed.

"No one actually looks like an alien," Philip said not really believing them.

"And what do you think aliens with magical powers look like?" Lucy asked him seriously.

"Well I always thought that aliens would be like little green men," Philip told her.

"Well, I'm a girl...and only my eyes are green," Lucy told him smiling. "But everyone looks the same, so they can pass,"

"Meaning, if you work hard enough, you'll be able to learn to change your appearance," Selena told him, and then added as an after thought. “Well, maybe...not everyone really has the power to do that,”

"That's so cool," Philip said excitedly and looking at them all in a new light.

"I want to learn to change into some sort of animal, now that’s cool," Troy told them.

"That can take years to learn, and you have to be powerful to be able to pull something like that off," Lucy told them. "They probably have ratings on us all,"

"Ratings?" Libby asked.

"You mean they can test to see how powerful we all are?" Philip asked.

"Yeah, you have to be at a high level to begin with to be able to get in here, so don't worry about that," Eddie told him.

They talked about this and that for the rest of the meal until the plates and trays stopped refilling themselves and quite a few people were becoming restless around them and at other tables.

Professor Odin stood once more and waited until everyone fell silent. "Well then, it appears as though everyone enjoyed the welcome feast. Now that we've all been fed we should retire for the night, back to our dorms for the evening, get some well earned rest before classes begin in the morning. Everyone knows the way back to their dorms, first years will be lead over by Monitors; a list of your room assignments will have been posted, each door marked on with who is to stay in it. If there are any problems with the arrangement, please do see your head of estate in the morning, but we hope that you don't have any problems. We all hope that you have a stimulating and knowledgably year here at Burnaby Advanced."

As he finished the students from the higher years all began to make a move, leaving their tables in groups and going for the far doors which had opened for them all to leave; the first years on the other hand stayed where they were while they waited for these students who were supposed to be showing them to their dorms. They didn't have to worry about waiting long on the Cadell table as two older students made their way over to them through the crowd; they were two older boys dressed in the school uniform like everyone else.

They came over to their table towering over them, the boy on the left must have been at least five and a half foot tall already and looked as though he actually worked over; he had dark shaven hair and light pastel brown coloured eyes. The other boy wasn't as taller but he looked as though he worked out as well, with his jacket straining across his chest; he had long bags of dusty coloured hair that fell over his amber eyes, and he was smiling at Lucy.

"Hi Lu...finally made it,"

"Hi Lewis," Lucy said smiling back at him.

"You know her?" the other boy asked a little confused.

"She's Jake's little sister," Lewis told him.

He nodded accepting this. "Oh...okay then,"

"So, how many people do you actually know here?" Troy asked her as they all started to get up to leave.

"I know him because he's my brother’s friend," Lucy told him as she walked around the table.

"Who do you think we'll get to share a room with?" Libby asked nervously as she quickly caught up to Lucy and Selena.

"You'll find out soon enough," Lewis told them. "Oh, this Ca'von,"

"Is there a gym here?" Alex asked looking up at him.

"Kind of...but everyone here has to work out in some way or another," Ca'von told him as he made his way to the front of the group, so that he could lead them out and also make a path through the rest of the students, that didn't seem to care that they were supposed to be letting to the first years through in a group so that they wouldn't be separated and get lost on their first night.

"What does he mean we all have to work out?" Libby asked confused.

Lucy wasn't completely sure herself, but she could only think of one answer. "Well...err...I guess...you know back at your old school you did PE or gym, whatever you called it...they must have something here,"

Lewis looked back over his shoulder grinning broadly. "You could say that, but I'm sure that you'll do just fine,"

"Wow..."Libby whispered. "He's..."

"He can hear everything that you say," Lucy told her.

"Spoil sport," Lewis teased.

"All you like, is knowing that every girl in the school adores you," Ca'von said scowling as he moved a couple of students out of his path. "Do you mind?"

The students looked back and decided that they should make a path for him after all, clearing the way towards the door; the whole group following close together so that they wouldn't be separated.

"My sisters said this place is huge," Troy told them. "We'll never remember everything about it,"

Alex's face lit up at this. "They're challenging us already?"

Ca'von stopped suddenly and turned around. "You can't leave your dorms after lights out...the latest you can return to your room as a first year is nine o'clock, unless you have permission from a professor to stay out,"

"Nine o'clock isn't a bad starting point," Alex said.

Ca'von stared at the two of them as though he was trying to read their minds and what they were actually planning, but in the end he turned back around and carried on walking seeing as the crowd behind them was growing somewhat impatient. They made their way out into a large lobby that had several corridors leading on straight ahead, then there was another open door to their left, which Ca'von and Lewis lead them towards.

"It's a bit of a walk to our dorms, but you'll get used to it," Ca'von told them.

"And you don't have to worry, it isn't that often that we all eat together in the main hall...just a couple of times a year," Lewis told them.

As they approached the door they could already feel the cool breeze from the outside, but they still followed even though none of them understood why they were going outside, after only seeing more trees when they had arrived. They walked out onto a stone path with buildings on the other side, but they didn't go over to them; they looked like they were at least four story high and there were quite a few of them, which some of the students behind them were heading over to them.

Lewis pointed to the buildings that they were passing. "To your left as you can see, are dorms; these belong to Pallas. There are two blocks for each year group, boys and girls, with a bridge connecting them at the lounge level,"

"There's magic up stopping guys from entering the girls room...it's painful, so I've been told," Ca'von warned them.

They were passing a large building on their right which was connecting to the one that they had just left by one of the corridors, there appeared to be several doors allowing access and windows evenly spread out on each of the six floors.

"How big is this place?" Troy asked.

"Where's the actual school part?" Will asked.

Lewis stopped suddenly. "This is only the estate, this side is half then it's mirrored on the other side with the other three estates,"

"The school is separate, you'll have to take a ride on a coach every day," Ca'von told them. "The whole area around the estate is surrounded by forest and enchantments so anyone who doesn't belong with the school can't get in,"

They carried on walking with Lexis pointing buildings out as he went. "This building on the right, has arenas so that you can train and practice spells. There are also club rooms, enough for everyone; seeing as there's six floors. There's three of these buildings, meaning that you have to share them with another estate. This one is for Pallas and Punga. Just behind it, in the middle is the teachers offices and quarters; so they're at reach for everyone. To your left again, that large building is for Pallas and Punga as well; it's their joint food halls and lounges."

They all walked behind him in silence taking this all in, they had known that it was going to big and impressive but this was completely something else, and they haven’t even seen the school itself yet, which according to their guides was another coach trip away.

"As you can see, these are the dorms for Punga," Lewis told them. "Just behind them, very important; is the transport hanger. The transport hanger as you've gathered is where all the vehicles are kept, there's also another one for the other three estates. That's where you have to go every morning to get your coach to school."

"They're magically timed...you should get schedules with your class timetables," Ca'von told them.

They were getting to the end of the building with the arenas and came to a large open space that had seating evenly spaced out and a water fountain, set back was another building that was connected to the middle build that they had been told about; then as they carried on looking, they saw that it was connected to another building and then it was connected to another.

"Yeah, this is the library...just a smaller one than school of course," Lewis told them. "Then the nurse and their quarters. The long building that it's joined to is for us and Disa...well that one and the one behind it. This one is our arena and club rooms, then it's the joint food halls and lounges."

"The joint food halls do get used...but be warned some of the Disa lot don't get along with us...it's just the way things are," Ca'von told them.

"They think they're better than everyone else," Lewis added, then quickly went on. "So as you've probably worked out, this building on your left is the food halls for Punga and Cadell, if you didn't want to share with Disa. It's easier for mornings to be honest, when you need to get to school without all the long walks in-between."

They walked on a little longer in silence making their way onto the path that led towards the food halls, and then they saw the next lot of dorms; they were led around them, from the front to the very back in the corner.

"As you've gathered this is the Cadell dorm area, yours is here," Lewis told them standing in front of the two buildings with the bridge over head. "These will be your dorms until you leave now."

"Boys on the left and girls on the right," Ca'von told them. "When you go in, they'll be two rooms on the ground floor then stairs no lift working at this time of night and then three rooms, again more stairs to the lounge and the bridge. The roof can also be accessed not just for lessons."

Lewis stepped out ready to walk away. "So yeah, we'll see you around them,"

"How are we supposed to know which room is ours?" Jessica whispered.

"The names are on the doors," Lewis said over his shoulder as he walked away with Ca'von following closely.

They all stared after them and then at each other as if wondering what they were supposed to be doing, it took them a couple of minutes before they finally split into two groups and went into the buildings that they were told were for them.

Will pushed the door open and went in first with Troy and Alex right behind him after a little struggle, which he had lost; there was a small open area with two rooms before them and then stairs on their immediate right leading up.

Will went over to the doors and read aloud the names that were listed. "Ethan, Methos, Duncan and Jasper,"

"That's us then," Eddie said as he and Methos stepped around the others. "See you tomorrow,"

"See ya," Alex said as Will went onto the next room.

"Patrick, Callis, Jacob and Ashley," Will read aloud again, and again their names weren't here which meant that their rooms were upstairs. "See ya,"

Troy led the way this time up the stairs with the other six following them.

"You know, I've just realised we're an odd number...which means that someone will end up sitting next to a girl in class," Alex told them.

"Lucy's fine," Troy said off handily.

"She has other friends here though," Will reminded him.

"Whatever...we'll work something out,” Troy told him as he scanned the names of the first room. "Err...Glen...weird...err, Aaron and Connor,"

"Why's my name weird?" the boy Glen asked.

"It's my dads name," Will told him.

"Oh..." Glen said, the look on his face saying everything.

"Here it is," Alex said as their door opened for him. "The three of us sharing,"

"See the rest of ya tomorrow," Troy said as he followed Will and Alex into their room.