Uninvited: A Paranormal Urban Fantasy Novel (The Dark Skies Trilogy Book Two) (9 page)

“
W
ow
,” Ruby frowns at the note in her hand. “They sure aren’t wasting any time.”

Ruby and I have been told to report to the headmaster’s office at Saint Benedict’s Academy at 8 a.m.

She continues, “We don’t even get a long weekend and wham, bam, back-to-school, ma’am.”

“Please,” I sniff, shaking my head. “This is the story of my life. I’ve bounced from school to school, and I never get a break.”

I didn’t sleep very well, so I got up early to visit my still unconscious uncle. The nurse on duty said his condition remains stable. Not better, but not worse.

For now, I can live with - not worse.

“While you were out, one of the nuns brought us a few school uniforms,” Ruby tells me.

“Uniforms?” I ask, fearing the worst.

“Oh, yes.” Ruby walks to the closed closet and says, “And they’re as bad as you’re imagining.”

We saw girls walking around yesterday in terrible sack-like jumpers, made from burgundy and gray plaid wool, over starched white blouses complete with a round Peter Pan collars.

Dowdy is the nicest word that springs to mind.

Ruby slings open the closet door revealing four of that exact uniform hanging on hangers.

“Great.” I hold up one of the amorphous sack dresses. “This makes our Oakdale Prep blazer and skirt look like it walked straight off the Paris runway.”

We get changed and head over to the school.

The entire Academy part of the compound lives in an old brick and stone mansion across the street from the dorms.

It may be the prettiest school I’ve ever attended. The wide hallways are planked in rich dark wood. Decorative molding and carved cornices line the tall coved ceilings.

We make our way through the crowded corridors to the Head Master’s office. I take a good look at Ruby, who walks half a step in front of me. It’s hard not to feel annoyed when she somehow makes our dreadful new uniform look good.

“Hello ladies, I’m Brother Carlyle. I’m the principal around these parts,” says a distinguished man in a blue blazer who looks like he really belongs in a chemistry lab. “Technically I’m the headmaster, but that sounds so stuffy.”

His office with its heavy built-in bookshelves filled with leather bound books resembles someone’s posh private study more than a school administrator’s office.

He smiles warmly at us. “Have a seat, and let’s chat.”

We spend fifteen minutes talking about our crazy adventure. He’s very sympathetic to Ruby being separated from her family.

“I have two boys of my own, and I can tell you that I’d be distraught if this happened to them, so I want you to know that we’re going to make sure that you have the best experience possible while you’re with us.”

Ruby, who’s held it together incredibly well so far, finally cracks and wipes away a tear. “I appreciate that.”

“So I bet bright girls like you two are wondering why there’s a boarding school at a monastery in the middle of an immense forest that also happens to house a massive telescope and a hospital for sick aliens?”

Ruby and I exchange looks.

“It crossed our minds,” I say.

He leans back in his chair and gives us a wry smile. “We are a highly unique institution. The vast majority of our students come from different…. Let’s just say eras.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Ruby pointedly asks.

“For the last 70 or so years, the incidents of alien abductions on this planet has sky-rocketed,” he says matter-a-factly. “We know that the Greys, an evil alien race who are the most powerful ally of the Draconians, are behind more than 95% of all Earthly abductions.”

“Are Greys those big almond-shaped eyed, hairless aliens with bulbous football shaped heads?” Ruby asks. “Like the ones on the stickers and tee shirts?”

“There are a few variations,” he nods. “But, basically, yes that’s them. We believe that they’ve been mapping our genes and running experiments on their captives. It’s all quite disturbing. We have thousands of accounts of these abductions.”

“And our government knows all this?” I ask.

“Every government knows this,” he replies.“The United States recovered a crashed alien spacecraft at Roswell in the 1950s and held two Greys captive for many years. As you know, parts of our own government have even been infiltrated with Horlocks, who are nothing more than agents working for and controlled by the Greys. So far the government has been powerless to rid themselves of the influences we now call the Grey Menace.”

“What does this have to do with your school?” Ruby isn’t following his logic.

“Usually, a subject is abducted and returned within a few hours. Their memories are almost always erased. However, it’s not uncommon for abductees to be gone for longer periods of time - weeks, months. Sometimes, even years.”

“Years?” I ask. “How many years?”

“Forty-four years is the longest we have on record. But, of course, we can’t verify that this is actually the longest abduction. In fact, I’d be shocked to discover that it was.”

Completely freaked out, Ruby and I sit quietly listening.

“Frequently, when an abductee returns, they haven’t aged. You can imagine how difficult it would be to be returned five, ten, twenty years after you’ve been abducted to find you’re the same, but everyone you love is different.

“The families of the victims often find it challenging to cope with this information, and the abductees themselves have an extremely hard time re-entering society. So that’s where we come in. We’re more than just a school. We specifically assist children who’ve returned after many years of being held by the Greys.”

Now I understand why the kids here seem so different. They are literally living out of time and place.

“How terrible,” Ruby says. “To be taken and held so long that your own family can’t deal with you when you return.” She says this with a quaver in her voice like perhaps she’s afraid this might happen to her, that her family won’t want her back.

“It’s not that the families don’t want them, Ruby,” Brother Carlyle says gently. “It’s more that they are unable to effectively handle with the trauma that the victim has experience. And, by the way, frequently we are eventually able to reunite the families.”

“Do they remember what happened to them while they were held captive?” I ask, thinking about my uncle’s experiences with the Horlocks.

“Not if they’re lucky,” Brother Carlyle replies. “Some have been experimented on, while others have been subjected to bizarre mental interrogations. They almost universally have no, or very limited, memories of what they experienced. From what we know, this is surely a blessing.”

“We’re able to give them the therapy they need, as well as getting them up to speed on how the 21st-century works.” He pauses, then changes direction. “Of course, we do have a few students who’ve been orphaned because the rest of their family has been abducted, and they’ve been left behind.”

“Why would the Greys take a whole family except one member?” I ask.

“It could be for any number of contributing factors. But we keep those kids here in the hopes that their families will soon be returned, and they’ll be able to go home.”

“Waylon?” Ruby asks as it occurs to her that this might be the case for her new crush. “He was abducted?”

Brother Carlyle nods. “He’s one of our veterans. He was taken when he was six-years-old and returned almost forty years later having only aged five years. He’s been living with us since he was eleven-years-old.”

Ruby’s face falls. “The poor guy.”

Brother Carlyle claps his hands and sits forward in this chair resting his elbows on the desk. “Alright ladies, now that you understand the lay of the land, let’s talk about what we’re going to do with you. We received copies of your transcripts today.”

“Hold up.” Ruby cuts him off. “Our school sent them to you this fast?”

This is an excellent question because that would mean the nice folks at Oakdale Prep in Ocean Grove would know what happened and where we are, all of which I thought was supposed to be some big hairy secret.

“Not exactly.” He turns around and picks up two folders sitting on the credenza behind him. “We snuck in through a proverbial backdoor and located them.” Then he turns his focus to me. “Astrid, I see by your transcript that you’ve done biology a couple of times already.”

“Three times.”

“Is that because you enjoy science or was it just a coincidence?”

“Oh, um…” No one has ever asked me for my input on classes before. I usually show up at a new school, and they just tell me where I fit into their system. “I like science, and I think I’m pretty good at it, but to be perfectly honest, I would prefer not to have to take biology again.”

“Ah! you misunderstand me,” he says. “I don’t want you to take it again. In fact, I’m asking about it because we have an alternate program that might be appropriate if you like biology and the life sciences, in general.”

I’m a little confused. “Okay.”

“We have a very interesting hands-on lab program.” He writes something on a piece of paper and hands it to me. Report to the barn and give them this.”

“The barn?” Livestock does not sound appealing to me.

“Just ask the kids. They’ll tell you how to get there.”

“Okay, Ruby, let’s talk about you,” Brother Carlyle reaches for her folder.

“I have a question first. Do you have driver’s ed?” Ruby asks. I’ve forgotten that she doesn’t have a license yet because she’s driven me around a whole bunch of times lately. “It might be a good idea if Astrid and I actually get a legal driver’s license soon.”

“I think we can work on that.”

I
don’t know
about you, but I have pretty low expectations when someone tells me to
head on over to the barn
.

On a piece of school stationery, Brother Carlyle drew a precise little map with exact directions on how to get to this barn. Yet, somehow, I still managed to get lost.

It’s midmorning so everyone must be in class or something because no one else is around. I stopped to try to figure out exactly where I am. After a moment, I turn the map over and wonder if I've been reading it upside down this whole time.

Suddenly, a cold chill runs down my spine as the wind picks up. I have the strangest feeling someone is watching me.

I turn a slow circle but don't see anyone. Still, it's the strangest feeling.

Attempting to concentrate on the map, I finally figure out that I probably should have gone left when I turned right. That was my big mistake. So I backtrack down the narrow paved path.

As I pass a crazy looking, two-story glass gymnasium, the wind picks up again, and I glance over my shoulder. For a moment, I almost think I hear footsteps coming up behind me. I whip around, but there's no one there.

My mind is playing tricks on me.

I start down the path again. But, a wave of panic washes over me. As my heart pounds, my brisk pace quickly turns into a full blown sprint.

Luckily, when I come winging around a corner, I spot the unmistakable sight of a red barn in the distance. It’s actually three long, low buildings connected to make one large U-shaped complex.

Approaching the open barn doors, I spot a cluster of kids about my age inside. They don't see me yet, but I feel safe just knowing they’re there. I slow my pace to catch my breath.

I know I'm being ridiculous, but I can’t help myself as I turn to look behind me one last time.

There's no one there. No one following me. No monster giving chase.

I feel ridiculous for being so afraid, but I can't shake the feeling that I someone's watching me.

“Hi. I’m Bella.” A girl with strawberry-blond hair and a big smile greets me as I walk up to her.

“Oh, hey, I’m Astrid,” I say, glancing over her shoulder at a cluster of kids inside the barn. It’s a mixture of boys and girls, laughing and talking around stacked bales of hay.

“We’ve been expecting you.”

“Sorry if I’m late. I somehow got turned around and went the wrong way.”

She chuckles, “Everyone gets lost trying to find us back here. C’mon, I’ll introduce you to the gang.” I follow her toward the barn as she says, “So I’m president of the Zoological Society here at St. B’s.”

“Wow,” I say. “I’m impressed.”

“Don’t be too impressed. It’s not like I have any real power over anything other than how many bales of hay we need and the schedule for the stall clean up. Speaking of which, you might want to stay on my good side, or you might end up with back to back assignments cleaning the stalls.”

“Duly noted,” I nod.

“Brother C told us you have some pretty impressive experience in our field."

“Oh, I do?” Honestly, I have no idea what she's talking about. I hardly think taking bio three times counts as “impressive” experience. “I’ve never worked with livestock or large animals.”

“That’s okay,” Bella smiles. “No one has any prior experience working with the animals that live here.”

We move inside the barn. The stables smell like stables. And everyone is wearing jeans, boots, and old T-shirts making me feel out of place in my school uniform.

Bella said, “I see no one told you that you should bring a second change of clothes. That's okay. You can just kind of watch today. These guys can be a little tricky if you don't know how to handle them. I'd hate for you to get bitten on the very first visit.”

Everyone laughs, and even though I’m not sure why we’re laughing, I laugh along. But as soon as we move farther into the stables, I stop laughing and my jaw drops.

I was expecting horses and cows and pigs. Maybe even a llama or two.

But these aren’t regular farm animals. And, by regular I mean animals commonly found on earth. Instead, I find myself face-to-face with a menagerie of incredible alien creatures.

“What the…" The words trail off.

Again, everyone laughs.

“Oh, I see," Bella smiles. "Brother Carlyle loves to surprise the new students. He must think it's hysterical to have you discover we house exotic alien animals here.”

The stalls range in size and shape, but each divided pen holds a different species or group of species. The size of the creatures ranges from something comparable to a hefty elephant to that of a teeny tiny mouse. There must be 20 to 25 different species. With the exception of the small herd of half a dozen two-headed purple mice-like creatures, all of the animals are different.

“Whoa! Where did these creatures come from?" I ask as we walked between the stalls.

“Some were left by their owners. Or their owners died. Some were brought back from expeditions,” Bella explains, following closely behind me. “We're currently the only sanctuary for orphaned intergalactic creatures on the planet."

“This is amazing,” I say, realizing how lucky I am to get this opportunity. “I really, really want to be part of your group.”

“Great,” Bella smiles. “Then let’s get started cleaning stalls. Sorry to tell you that’s actually how everyone starts. I think we have an extra pair of overalls in the storage shed."

I then have the privilege of spending the next 90 minutes cleaning the strangest poop you can imagine.

And here’s the weird thing - I enjoyed it.

Not the poop part (please!), but being around the animals.

One of the animals, a little hairless six-legged pig-like creature has an intricately wound bandage on one of its legs. It occurs to me they must have a veterinary or something.

“Who takes care of these animals?” I ask Bella. “I mean is there a vet?”

She smiles, “We have an incredible veterinary. He knows everything. And you should see him with the animals. He's amazing. He can calm the most anxious animal or soothe an angry beast. I’m so inspired by him.”

Then she quietly whispers. “And, we’re pretty sure that he's an alien too. At least, that's what we think. I mean, I’m sure they told you we have a couple of actual aliens living among the residents here at St. B’s. No one knows who they are, but obviously, we all try to figure it out.”

“Oh wow, that’s crazy,” I nod, feeling really uncomfortable. “How can you tell who’s an alien.”

“You can’t. Except sometimes they have some special power or talent. We think our vet has some special powers.”

“Like a superhero?” A familiar voice speaks from behind us.

Bella and I both whip around to find Jax standing there. Bella instantly turns bright red.

“Anyone tell you that eavesdropping is creepy?” I scold Jax. “Bella was just telling me about this amazing vet who works here.”

“Amazing vet?” Jax arches an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Apparently, he’s got some sort of magic touch with the creatures,” I reply as Bella tugs on my shirt, looking even more embarrassed than she did a moment ago. It finally dawns on me. “Wait? You're not… the vet, are you?”