Chapter 14

 

AFTER FREI’S MERCILESS workout, I slept better than I had in a while. The next morning we had our meeting with the principal and deputy.

The principal, Henry Smyth, was the money behind the place. On the public side, he was Ivy League. The heir of an oil fortune and a man who had been given awards for his generous nature. He was known to sponsor orphaned children from all around the world and give them an education, a future. They would get to study and grow in a rich environment with privileged children, gifted children. His father had been as much a devoted hero to those homeless children.

In reality, he was a second generation slave trader who had nothing to do with black gold. His fortune had been built on training up children to be criminals or goodness knows what else and selling them to the highest bidder.

It was far worse than some of the stuff I’d witnessed back in Serenity. The mentally ill had taken some lumps but boy, these kids were getting it far worse. I don’t think I’d ever felt lucky for getting locked up before but I did now.

The briefing had been short and sour. I’d chosen to stare out of the window through most of it to hide the growing fury. The staff present were the skill captains, a matron called Ms. Harrison, Smyth, Jäger, and me.

Harrison did most of the reporting to Jäger and Smyth. She looked like a prison warden. Tight, scraped-back gray hair. A thin, long pointy nose and lips thinner than her plucked eyebrows. She could make Mrs. Stein proud with the scowl she sported. 

We were told that the other staff were ignorant of the true nature of the academy. The students were too. In fact some of those who were privileged could be sold should their parents wish.

My parents had a lot to answer for but not even Uncle Abe would have done it to his own children. Actually, on second thought . . .

As they rambled on, talking about profit margins, safety drills, and announcements, I found myself taking in the people and the room. Maybe it was Frei’s training but it felt as if I needed to assess them all somehow. What stuck out was they had a look about them. I wasn’t sure if it was the faint prickling of my burdens but they set off alarm bells. They felt wrong. Something about the way they interacted felt out of place and I didn’t know how to explain it.

Sawyer had a neck as thick as a tree trunk. Veins bulged out on the sides like he was a snake from a basket. Shaved blonde hair with streaks of scars. He wouldn’t have been out of place in Serenity. He never seemed to blink. His blue eyes were fixed on the table.

Jones watched everything. He was skinnier than Sawyer with deep brown skin that was patchy with scars. He either was real clumsy or a stuntman. His demeanor made me think of Uncle Abe back in Oppidum, perched on his nest egg, scouring for any delicious information.

His gaze rested a lot on Frei, who ignored him, but it was clear she had a checkered history here. 

Sawyer, in particular, raked his eyes over her most of the time we sat there. The glint was volatile, angry, bitter. The way Frei acted like he didn’t exist told me enough. That dislike was mutual.

None of the three ever looked at Smyth, Jäger, or any of the staff. They didn’t even meet my eyes. Where they sat, to the side, placed them as less important than me and Harrison. We sat in front of the table, included. They were on the outside.

As Frei and I trudged toward the gym block opposite, the urge to know got the better of me.

“Nobody ever called you by your name,” I said, guessing it was as good a place as any to start. “Only Locks.”

“Yes. I didn’t have a name.” She didn’t sound offended, more a statement of fact. “They never used to bother naming most kids, only the important ones. Then they got named by someone or by their trade.”

“I gotta call them something.” How would they know I was talking to them?

We strolled along, her focus on the floor. “They have names now. Makes them easier to track electronically.”

“So how did you get your name?” She looked like an Ursula to me. Ursula Frei suited her.

“Renee said if I was going to work with CIG, I needed to leave Locks in the past.” She smiled. “We knew I had German roots, that much was clear.”

“So you picked that way.” She’d picked well, however she got there.

“I liked Frei, it spoke to me.” She met my eyes. “It means free.”

“Well, if you don’t count the fact that you are bound by CIG and got to tell them where you are.” We headed down the path. The students were quiet, walking in uniform lines in front of us.

Frei narrowed her eyes but then laughed. “You got me there.”

We headed into the gym building. There were rooms feeding off a main hallway with a shiny floor. Bland, institutional doors with window panes in the top.

I could see the different things they’d been set up for. Some looked like classrooms, fitness suites, treatment rooms. It was a jock’s paradise.

That’s if you didn’t count the whole slave thing.

“So why can’t you guys look at them?” We headed into the main gym and I stared at the mass of kids sitting cross-legged in the hall. It was something I hadn’t done since I was in kindergarten. “I mean, you don’t talk, you don’t look.”

“Let it go,” she whispered, her words curt. I tensed until she gave my hand a quick squeeze.

“Fine,” I muttered as the other staff filtered in behind us. “But I ain’t letting you get sucked back in and I ain’t got the stamina to push weights with you every night.”

I couldn’t feel my arms as it was.

“I won’t. You and our dear friend remind me.”

I knew she meant Renee. “Good. I like you grumpy as you are.”

She smiled at me with such genuine warmth that it was hard to put her with the cold icy commander I knew. “Quit staring, Samson. Get to work.”

She stalked to the other side next to the benches with me in tow. To have survived all she had with such coolness said a lot about her spirit. Slave or not, it couldn’t crush her inside.

No, Frei was proof that they could take everything away and a soul could still be stronger. Maybe that’s what had forged her into the hero she was. Either way. I felt proud to know her and duty bound to support her. She’d need me, that much was clear.

 

THE KIDS WERE all divided up according to the skill sets that the tests had shown. They sat on the floor in those corresponding sections. One lot in the center and four behind them.

Harrison introduced herself to the new staff in a nasal, “I’m better than you,” twang. She told us that the group in front were called the gold group as Renee and a woman with short dark hair walked in.

I fought the urge to grin and wave. It was always a relief to see Renee. I folded my arms to stop myself from thinking how fun that would have been to explain.

Renee and the woman beside her would be in charge of the gold group. It was clear to me that these were the kids our POIs would be part of. They had a mixture of privileged kids and gifted slaves. They were the most valuable merchandise as Jäger would say. I glanced at him with the thought. He was watching me and shot a charming smile back. Oh brother.

Renee wouldn’t be happy my lunatic magnet was working again. By what she did to Sam, Jäger should hide his kneecaps. That made me smile and I swallowed, realizing I was still staring in Jäger’s direction.

Frei stepped forward as Harrison spoke. She was given the group at the back, to the left of the gold group. They were silver. They were a fit-looking bunch who would make great thieves.

Jones got the group to the right of hers, they were bronze. So the academy was into metals. A lot of the bronze group were smaller, more wiry. He didn’t look like much of a thief but then what did I know. Maybe they had other skills, like staring at people and creeping them out.

Sawyer got the ones on the far right, Titanium, who looked as friendly as he did. Seriously, those were the brats who prowled high school halls and tormented poor kids who’d broken away from the pack.

They felt nasty. I could still feel the pent up issues. I felt relieved I was bigger than the lot of them.

Then Harrison informed me that the group remaining was mine. Mostly boys, girls, some . . . well . . . maybe varying on that spectrum. Most were on the weedy side or looked vacant. We didn’t even get metal. We were wood.

I tried not to chuckle. If I was in this for money, I might have scowled but instead I just fought not to shake my head and laugh. Wooden misfits. It was perfect.

Frei had told me that I had to train them to be muscle. By Blackbear, they were gonna be the finest, funniest muscle this place had seen. Wooden misfit muscle.

“You’ll be expected to teach the touring students from the gold group during the season,” Harrison told me, making me pay attention. “The same for the others going through academic classes.”

The season? Like hunting season? I looked at Frei whose look told me she would once again explain later.

“It is good for all our students to have secondary skills,” Harrison told us.

I’d bet. A thug who could steal and paint a Picasso would be worth a few dollars.

“Each child will have a report from the skill captains and head tutors.” She motioned to Renee and the dark-headed woman. “Professor Worthington, head of humanities, and Professor Owens, head of sciences, will hand them to you during their tours.” She was addressing me ’cause I guess everybody else knew.

I was too busy staring at Renee. She’d been Doctor Serena Llys when we’d met. So was she Professor Worthington or Owens and was I gonna like her or want to yell at her?

“Samson,” Harrison said. “Is the new head of Physical Education.”

Renee’s eyes flickered with amusement but then she averted them to look at the woman beside her.

“Locks is her deputy,” Harrison continued.

My eyes were still on Renee as a deep frown etched across her brow. She knew Frei’s old name.

“Jones and Sawyer tend to take care of the team sports,” Harrison told me, “but they’ll be in the engineering block should you need them.”

Harrison smiled and her eyes flicked to the gold group. I could almost envision her rubbing her jewel-heavy fingers together. I noticed there was no wedding ring though. Not surprising. She’d probably sold him.

“So there’s no dedicated male coach?” the professor beside Renee asked. She had a soft, cultured accent, which made me think of maybe Boston or more like the Hamptons.

Her eyes were wide, intelligent. She wasn’t a lot taller than Renee but she was lean and pretty much supermodel potential. I didn’t know what her genes were but she looked like she’d been built for aesthetics. Renee and her were a lot more attractive than my high school teachers had been. Most of them had worn cardigans . . . all year around.

“There’s no need,” Harrison said. “Samson has proven she can coach in any environment.”

I had? I needed to re-run my cover because I did not remember that. I knew nothing about coaching.

“The reports will be filed to whom?” Renee asked with some fancy accent that I guessed was English. It amazed me how she could do that with such ease.

“To me, Professor Worthington,” Harrison answered and clapped her hands together. “I expect results.”

Was that for us or the students?

At her command the students got to their feet like they’d been stung, turned in neat rows, and filed out in silence like mini-soldiers. The gold group did it with more pride in their step while mine looked like they might trip over their own feet.

“Ten bucks I get mine growing bulk and marching yours off the hall,” I whispered into Frei’s ear as we followed them out.

She grinned at me. “You’re on.”

From the glint in her eyes, I was glad that I weren’t one of her group. I’d been through her boot camp. Poor things didn’t know what was gonna hit them.

Then I smiled and winked at Renee as Frei and I sauntered past. Neither did mine.