The Academie (26 page)

“
It’s not like
that!”

I stared at him, annoyed. I didn’t
need this now. I didn’t need him here, interrogating me.

“
Allie, I know what an ass
I was now. I know how wrong I was.”

I didn’t believe him.

“
I need to talk to you
about something—something I’ve found. You’re the only one I think
might believe me.”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
I’ve been thinking a lot
about what you said.”

“
What, that I didn’t want
to have anything to do with you anymore?”

“
Well, that, yes. But no,”
he shook his head in a frustrated gesture I’d seen him make a
hundred times. “Something else.”

“
What?”

“
That this isn’t the real
world.”

“
It took you this long to
figure out that school isn’t like real life?”

“
No, it’s more than that.
I’ve been noticing things.”

“
What?”

“
Weird things. Nothing
big. Just, little things. Stupid things.”

“
Like what?”

“
Our laundry, for example.
It always gets washed, but where does it go? Who brings it
back?”

“
You’re worried about the
laundry service?”

“
No, not just that.
There’s more. The food. Where does it come from?”

“
What does it
matter?”

“
Have you ever seen it
delivered?”

“
No. So it happens during
classes. So what?”

“
Fine. How about this: no
one is pregnant.”

“
What?”

“
Guys and girls locked up
in a closed environment together. Plenty of relationships going on.
No parents watching over it all. You do the math.”

“
Well, the sergeants are
there all the time. Where would the couples go? We don’t get a lot
of free time.”

“
You
got away.”

He was right. I had slipped up to the
dorm more than once when I wasn’t allowed and no one seemed to
notice, and I’d been off school grounds twice now without being
spotted. Odds were, a couple could steal moments away for whatever
they wanted and not get caught.

“
Maybe they’ve just been
lucky?”

“
Come on. Think about
it.”

“
Okay, fine. It’s
weird.”

“
There’ve been so many
other weird things too. Inconsistencies…”

I considered telling him everything
but decided against it. I didn’t know if I could trust him
yet.

That night, I dreamt of Bryan again.
We were back in his bedroom, his arms wrapped around me and our
fingers tangled together as we lay on his bed. Everything was
perfect, and I finally felt safe and comfortable again. Like I was
home.

Then I looked down at our hands. To my
horror, mine were covered in thick, gooey paint; colors swirled and
blended in an unappealing fashion.

I sat up quickly and found I was
covered in it—layers of earthy greens and browns were caked on my
feet, legs, and thighs. Much of it was still clumpy and wet. It was
smeared everywhere, staining his bedcovers.

“
Oh Bryan, I’m so sorry….I
walked through your painting.”

“
It’s okay,” he said, now
sitting up too. “I knew you would.”

I started to cry and attempted to wipe
the tears, but my hands were too covered in paint. I shook my head
and flailed my hands in frustration. “I’m losing my
mind!”

“
No,” he said, gently
wiping the tears from my cheeks. “You’re finding it.”

The dream hung with me as I went down
to breakfast.

“
How are you doing today?”
Stevie asked.

“
Fine. Weird dreams.” I
was still trying to shake it off.

Robert looked at me over
his glasses. “
Heard
anything interesting lately?”

I wasn’t amused. “Yes, actually. I had
a really interesting conversation with Matt yesterday.”

“
You guys are speaking
again?” Ruby asked.

“
Apparently so. He just
came up to me and said he was sorry and then went on about some
weird stuff he’s been noticing.”

“
Like what?” Stevie
asked.

“
Something about the
laundry mysteriously getting done, and the food being secretly
delivered, and the fact that nobody here is pregnant.”

“
You guys are both a
couple of interesting characters,” Robert answered.

“
No, I noticed that,” Tina
said. “Nobody’s knocked up. It’s weird, isn’t it?”

“
It’s great,” Robert
replied.

Tina rolled her eyes.

“
You guys haven’t noticed
anything else strange, have you?” I asked, pretty much knowing the
response I’d get.

They shook their heads, and the
conversation moved on to other things.

“
I noticed a couple of
weird things,” Tina confessed as we got ready for bed that
night.

I looked up from the drawer I’d been
rummaging through for my bed clothes.

“
It’s stupid, really.
Probably nothing. I just…I went to put on my shoes one day and I
thought they said they were size seven—I wear an eight—but I put
them on and they fit fine. The next day, for whatever reason, I
looked again, and they said eight.”

She hesitated, and I could sense there
was more.

“
Then, the other day, I
went to review my bio notes, and I couldn’t find them anywhere.
They should have been in my blue spiral notebook, but they weren’t.
The notebook was blank. And it didn’t look like pages had been torn
out; it looked brand new.

“
The next day, I went to
take notes in class again, and there were all my old notes. Thought
I was just losing it,” she said.

“
You and me both,” I
answered.

37.
forbidden territory

“
Matt, I need to talk
you.” He was lined up to be picked for a basketball team at
Saturday open rec hours, but he followed me to the sidelines. “You
still think weird stuff is going on here?”

He nodded.

“
Anything new
happen?”

He shook his head.

“
I’ve had some things
happen.”

“
You have?” He looked
surprised and relieved.

I recalled everything I could
remember, from the room of nothing I mistakenly stepped into on
testing day, to my recent excursion to the coffee shop.

“
You’ve been off-campus?”
he said a little too loudly.

“
Shhh!
Yes, but you’re missing the point.” I looked to see if anyone
else was listening. “Matt, I think I may know what’s going on
here.”

“
What?”

“
I don’t want to say yet.
We’ll talk tomorrow. Sign up for the movie option in the afternoon
and then come find me.”

That night, I attempted something I
hadn’t even considered since the day of the incident with Shara. I
meditated.

This time I didn’t think of
Bryan.

Since it was banned, I had to be
discreet. I waited until lights out and then lay in my bed,
focusing not on sleep, but on clearing my mind.

At first, my heart pounded with fear.
Not only was I doing something that was now forbidden, but I still
had no idea what had happened to Shara. For all I knew, she was
dead.

I shuddered at the thought.

It took a while to slow my heartbeat.
I tried to remember some of the things Shara had taught me. I
focused on my breathing, gently letting my thoughts wash
away.

I don’t know how long I laid there
before I was able to quiet my mind.

I heard it before I felt anything. The
quiet beeping, as though from a hundred computers.

I didn’t attempt to open
my eyes, trying hard not to draw attention to myself.
I don’t want the men to return.
Even so, I could sense that there were wires
taped all over my body. Muscles contracted painfully in my calf,
followed by my thigh.

I gasped and opened my
eyes.

Around me I could hear the rhythmic
breathing of the girls of my dorm. They slept quietly, unaware that
their dreams weren’t so far off from reality.

38.
déjà vu

“
How do you know it wasn’t
a dream?”
Matt whispered at the movie the
next day.

“
I guess there’s no way to
prove it; no way to be sure. But I don’t think I
was….
Matt, it was so
real.
”

“
I’m not trying to
discount it, but I’ve had very realistic dreams before.”

I sighed.

“
Okay,” he said. “Let’s
assume it was real. What does it mean?”

“
I don’t know.”

It was true. I knew there was
something weird going on, but I knew that a year ago. What did I
know now that I didn’t know before?

“
We need to think
scientifically. Let’s make a list of possibilities and then we can
narrow them down one by one.”

“
Shhhh!”
The girl in the row ahead of us obviously wished
she had sat somewhere else.

“
Okay,”
I whispered to Matt.
“We’ll make our own lists and compare notes after English
class.”

The girl in the row ahead gave us a
look. I smiled at Matt, and we sat quietly through the rest of the
movie. I knew, like me, he wouldn’t be watching, but rather
thinking, imagining what The Academie could possibly be up
to.

“
Okay, I’ve got Calculus
next so—”

“
You’re in Calc?” I
interrupted.

Matt nodded.

“
Well, you ought to be
able to figure out our little Academie problem then, Mr.
Brainiac.”

“
Little did The Academie
know when they were teaching me all this stuff, that it would be
used against them someday,”
he whispered.
He grinned, and it made me smile. It was nice to have him
back.

“
Anyway, as I was saying,
I have Calc next, so how about we walk in that direction to make it
look discreet, and we can compare notes on the way?”

“
Why am I walking you to
your class? Isn’t the guy supposed to walk the girl?”

“
One, I’m not your
boyfriend, and two, I’m your
little
brother—as you keep reminding me—so I think you
should see me safely to class.” He grinned and I laughed at the
ridiculousness of it. He may be my younger brother, but he now
stood a good six inches above me. Little he was not.

“
Fine. So, what’s on your
list?” I asked.

“
Drugs.”

“
Naturally. I’ve thought
about this one ever since you started acting weird here over a year
ago.” He made a face, but I ignored it and moved on. “I can’t
figure out how they’d be doing it—not that it’s not possible. I’ve
looked up some drugs though and I haven’t noticed people with the
side effects. Also, I did get a chance to see inside the cafeteria
kitchen once, and I didn’t see anything suspicious.”

He paused, thinking.

“
Let’s not rule it out yet
though,” I added. “Remember, I did see some pretty wild things on
my way back from the coffee shop the last time, and since I’ve been
sane ever since, I have trouble chocking it up to
insanity.”

“
Maybe it was temporary
insanity?” he teased.

I shoved him into the wall.

“
Okay…….. You’re only
a
little
crazy!”

I shoved him again. “I can still take
you, you know.”

“
You wish.”

“
Oh yeah? Sergeant
Fratelli’s been teaching us fencing! Take that!”

“
What? No way.”

“
Oh yeah. And I’m quite
good at it too.”

“
We’ve been working on
bowling,”
he mumbled.

“
Ha! Yeah, well, you have
to get into the special class to get to do the cool stuff, I
guess.”

“
What class?”

“
Basic
Fitness.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Yeah,
that’s about right…. Anyway, back to business. We’re almost to my
classroom.”

“
Okay, I came up with a
theory: hypnosis.”

“
Hmmm…possible. Have you
looked anything up on it yet?”

“
In fact, I
have.”

He looked impressed.