Chapter 11

The morning we were supposed to start Fourth Level, I woke up from something that felt very much like a dream, and somehow very different at the same time.

Something very vivid - like the time I had jerked back from Cas's touch because I knew I'd felt it before, when I hadn't. Something real yet distant. A memory, maybe, except I didn't see how I could have missed the presence of a memory for such a long time. Still, the longer I thought about it, the more I realized it was greater than a dream.

Another classmate, someone whose name had escaped me, stood in front of me, his back to me. He was taller than I was, with a slim frame and jet-black hair. He wore the dark blue uniform of an academy student, and yet I couldn't recall ever seeing him in academy.

He turned around, beginning to look over his sharp, defined shoulder, to face me, and before I could glimpse anything more than the outline of his profile, the image vanished. I replayed it over and over in my head as I changed into my usual academy uniform and left my room. My thoughts only paused in spinning their wheels because I ran into Ora on the way down the stairs.

"Miranda! You'd better watch where you're walking," she chided, taking hold of my shoulders as she passed. "You wouldn't want to injure yourself on your first day of Fourth-Level Academy."

"I know," I said and sighed.

"Good luck today, by the way." Ora winked and continued up the stairs.

"Thank you."

My parents and Maegan already sat around the table when I reached the kitchen. Drea stood in the corner, rearranging plates and utensils. I walked in and pulled out my chair.

"Good morning, Mir," Maegan said from the table.

"Good morning."

"You're later than usual," my mother said.

"Yeah. Sorry." I wasn't usually late to breakfast, but the dream-memory had caught me off guard, and besides, today I would attend Fourth Level for the first time. I wanted to look and feel the best I could. "I should probably leave soon, just in case. But I wanted to say hello."

My mother smiled. "Thank you, Miranda."

"Here." My father handed me two pieces of toast and a napkin from the center of the table. "Take these with you. You can eat them on the way."

"Thanks. I'll need it." I took the toast and pushed my chair back out. "Maegan, you're on your own this morning. My academy isn't close to yours like it used to be."

"I have Drea," she said and stuck her tongue out.

"Whatever you say, Mae." I grabbed the toast and my bag and headed for the door, checking the straps on the backpack before hefting it completely over my shoulder. "Hopefully they'll give me some replacement gear."

"Have a good day," my parents said together.

"You, too. See you later."

I stepped across the threshold and began the journey to the Incipio Academy for Fourth-Level Programming and Operation.

#

The route was a little longer and a little different than all of my walks to school before, but I made it in time to get to class. At the entrance, I met Cas, Elen, and Kalle.

"Morning, Miranda," Kalle said when I approached.

"Morning. Where are Tristan and Shiri?" I asked, glancing around.

Kalle shrugged. "No idea. I know they made it, so I don't understand what's holding them up."

"The fact that they didn't know how to get here?" Cas said with a smirk, but Kalle just raised an eyebrow at him.

"All the buildings in the academic district are right next to each other," she said. "Besides, they're both Fourth Level students. They should know how to follow directions."

"Kalle," Cas said, his tone softening. "I was just kidding. Calm down."

"I'm just annoyed." Kalle crossed her arms. "They were supposed to be here."

"They'll be here," Elen said.

Five minutes later, the warning bells rang, and we started to walk toward our first classes. We still couldn't see any sign of Tristan and Shiri, but we had to move on without them. I thought again to the hooded man and the messages on the wall.

Kalle and I had our first class together, but Cas and Elen went off to different classes in the morning. We split up, and Kalle and I went searching for the right classroom. The instructor, a middle-aged woman with dark hair, welcomed us and assigned us seats. There were other students already seated, some of them older and some of them from outside Valdemaras's academic district. Just before the instructor walked to the door to close it and start class, Shiri and Tristan burst in, looking like they'd just run all the way here.

"Well," our instructor said. "Good morning."

"Morning," Shiri and Tristan said. They moved to a couple of open seats on the end, but the instructor redirected them to a different pair of seats in the middle.

I happened to glance at Kalle, and she cast a pointed glance at Shiri and Tristan before giving me a confused look. Where were they? she mouthed.

I shrugged. Shiri turned to look at me, and I pretended I hadn't seen her.