The plane touched down in Montana. She decided to leave Arachne beneath her shirt, pulling her out in the much more crowded plane didn’t seem like a good idea. She gathered up her belongings and departed with Juliana.
Jordan’s group joined them outside the gate. Shelby was notably keeping her distance. Her eyes were all but glued to the pet carrier. Eva just smiled and gave her a little wave. If only she knew where Arachne really was.
Waiting in the lobby to greet the new students was Zoe Baxter. The gruff voiced man who had been with her in the alley stood just behind her.
“Welcome,” Zoe Baxter said, “to Brakket Magical Academy.”
Chapter 008
“Welcome to Brakket Magical Academy.” Zoe Baxter looked over the students. She quickly spotted her candidates. Eva Spencer and Juliana Rivas looked already acquainted. Good.
Zoe was a bit disappointed in the lack of Shalise’s presence. She would have to make another visit to the girl’s orphanage and impress upon her the importance of attending a proper magical school, namely Brakket.
Jordan Anderson, one of Wayne’s candidates, stood close to Eva. He had a small entourage around him all of whom seemed to know each other. Whispers went back and forth between all six students. Two of them kept shooting wary glances at a small pet carrier in Eva’s hands.
That must be the tarantula Eva mentioned. The girl must have shown them. Judging by their looks, they didn’t like what they saw. Zoe planned to avoid her candidate’s room as much as possible once they moved in.
Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as she imagined.
Zoe let her gaze move past the other students. Some she recognized as being candidates for other teachers, others she drew a blank on. Altogether there were only twenty-two students. Seven less than last year.
Hopefully the school wouldn’t shut down before the students had a chance to prove themselves.
“You were all personally met by an instructor before you came here. They will be your primary advisors.” Zoe paused, gesturing to herself. “I am Zoe Baxter, instructor of magical theory.” She waved her hand towards her companion. “This is Wayne Lurcher, alchemy instructor.
“We will be taking a short bus ride to the dormitories where we will meet the rest of the teaching staff. If you forgot who your primary advisor is, find either myself or Mr. Lurcher and we will assist you. There will be a short orientation of the dormitories when we arrive. Afterwards, you will be free to do as you wish, though there will be a meal provided free of charge after the orientation.”
Zoe surveyed the students once again, looking for any sign of confusion. Her search came up short, but she still elected to ask, “any immediate questions?”
A slightly rounder boy standing near Jordan Anderson raised his hand. Zoe nodded towards him.
“Are the dorms co-ed?”
Zoe frowned while Wayne answered with a terse, “rooms are divided by gender, but you’ll all be in the same building.”
“There are detectors,” Zoe added, “to ensure no untoward behavior with the opposite sex occurs on school property.”
The boy made a comment to his peers that Zoe didn’t catch. They gave a few chuckles and quieted down.
“If there are no other questions,” Zoe paused and glanced around the room. When no one raised a hand, she continued, “the bus is waiting.”
They got the students loaded up and set out on their way.
Zoe kept an eye on the students as they drove. She listened for any comments or questions. Most of the students looked fairly tired however and the rest looked hungry. Not much chit-chat went on between them.
She did keep a special eye on her candidates. Eva almost looked like she wanted to come up and speak with her when they first boarded, but had moved on to sit next to Juliana. At one point, Zoe caught the girl peeking down her own shirt. She gave a sigh while Juliana looked on with a tired look. Zoe didn’t think the black-haired girl had much to complain about, at least for her age. Still, Zoe smiled sadly, remembering all too well her own feelings when she was younger.
The bus lurched to a halt outside the Rickenbacker Hall. The students were brought into the lounge where the other instructors waited. Before they could separate to their advisors, Zoe called their attention once again.
“This is the Rickenbacker Lounge. The noticeboard,” she gestured towards a simple bulletin board, “will have all important information regarding anything the school feels you need to be made aware of. Students may use it to post their own notices so long as they do not interfere with school information. I encourage you to make a habit of checking it each night before you sleep. You may find your advisors now.”
The group dispersed to the various instructors. Eva, Juliana, Jordan, and the round boy, Maxwell maybe, stuck behind.
“You didn’t find a third after all, Wayne?”
“I don’t see a third for you.”
“She is just wrapping things up at her home. She’ll be along before school starts.”
Wayne just huffed. “Come on, boys.” He marched off. The two boys shared a glance and followed after him.
“What was that about?” Juliana asked.
“Originally, Eva was to be one of his candidates.” Zoe glanced towards the girl in question. “He got in a bit of a tantrum when you ran away, and I snatched you up.”
“Candidates?”
“Just who we all picked to enter the school, like I did for each of you.”
Eva spoke up. “Did no one want come to this school without being recruited by an instructor?”
Zoe spared a glance at the other few students who had yet to leave the lounge. This was not a line of questioning she wanted to get into in front of others. “Let me show you to your rooms. You can ask questions there.”
She led the girls up to the third floor and stopped in front of a room.
“Room three-thirteen?” Juliana asked.
“What luck! I’d sure hate to be those poor folk in room seven-seven-seven.” Oddly, Zoe didn’t detect much sarcasm in Eva’s voice.
“There are only three floors in both dorms, room three-twenty is as high as it goes.”
Zoe ignored Eva’s scoff as she held out two black cards. “These will open the door to your room with a swipe. They will also open all amenity rooms in this building as well as anywhere else you have access to across the entire campus. Don’t lose them.”
She pulled out her own card and opened the door. Inside was the standard dorm room for the Rickenbacker. Three beds with plenty of storage drawers beneath them and a desk at the end of each bed. Two windows gave plenty of space between the beds. There was a small kitchen and dining area. No open stoves but there was a fridge and microwave.
A single bathroom lay through a small door.
“You can fight amongst yourselves which bed you want. There will be a third member of your dorm arriving sometime this summer, so do keep the spare clean.”
The two girls immediately darted for the beds with walls. They set their things down on their respective desks and Eva turned back to Zoe.
“Should I be worried that our extra luggage isn’t here?”
“It is being brought in a second vehicle. It should be delivered by the time we finish eating. If you did not put your name on it, there is an office adjacent to the lobby that has a lost and found.
“Unless I am mistaken you had concerns about our recruitment methods?”
Eva sat on the bed she had chosen and regarded Zoe with a wary look. “I’m not complaining. I doubt I would have even attended any kind of magical schooling without you. However, I’ve heard rumors,” she said as her eyes flicked towards Juliana who had taken a seat on her own bed, “that this school is barely holding together.”