Free The Academy: Book 2 by Chad Leito

of raccoons, all of which had half-sized brooms in their hands as they swept the thin layer of snow away. Then there were the Multipliers, which could be identified by their black gums and the fact that they didn’t wear the utility suits that the graduates and students wore; Asa counted six in the vicinity, four of which he had never seen before. Is that normal? His eyes darted around quickly. Are there more than usual? Or is it possible that I just have never noticed them before?
    The Fishies were mesmerized, their faces wide-eyed, and Asa was struck by a sense that he had become desensitized to all the wonders of the Academy. He watched the way these normal humans walked, and noticed that compared to the mutated beings around them their strides looked labored. On some of them, their suits clung unflatteringly to rolls of fat and unhealthy bony hip protrusions.
    Not for long, Asa thought. He looked down at his own body and appreciated the drastic transformation he had made for a moment. There wasn’t an inch of skin on his body that didn’t seem to stretch over packed muscles as dense as lead. Even my hands look different, he thought, flexing them into fists.
    Asa looked back to see a pack of five Fishie girls staring at him and giggling amongst each other. When he glared at them, they blushed red and pretended not to see him anymore. Have they already been told I’m a murderer? They’ve only been here a day!
    Conway strode in front of the line of Fishies, leading them into the center of Town. He was tall and lean, with a sureness in his stride that was comforting. He was the man who the Academy had assigned as his “mentor” last semester, and he had been one of Asa’s father’s friends.
    He might have sensed Asa staring at him, because he turned and looked at the second semester student. As usual, his face was serious and stern-looking, with heavy, concerned lines above his eyebrows. But there is something else in that look. Asa felt that Conway was trying to communicate something to him, but he didn’t know what.
    Conway turned back, and continued to walk forward. For some reason, the look that Conway had given him sped up his heart rate. Asa tried to control his breathing as he walked. If Conway had tried to convey a message, there was no way that Asa could ask him about it. The man had risked his life last semester, and had made Asa more informed about the workings of the Academy than he had a right to be, by the Academy’s standards.
    Maybe he didn’t intend anything by the look. He could just be tired. He sure looks it.
    Conway’s hair had turned even grayer in the past month. Asa thought that with Robert King dying, the graduates were surely going through an incredibly busy time.
    But still, Asa had a suspicion that he couldn’t let go that Conway had been trying to tell him something. His speculations included the idea that Teddy had suggested—that the Multipliers were going to attack at the assembly. He also wondered if the rumors were true, and there was going to be a task this year that encompassed all students in one enormous, gladiator-style fight.
    But it can’t be true. It wouldn’t be fair.
    The last thing that Asa considered was the possibility that Conway had been trying to communicate a good thing. Perhaps with Robert King dead, the Academy was going to disassemble.
    But then why did they bring in a new batch of Fishies? And, there are still four owners of Alfatrex, even with Robert King dead. Surely they’ll find some sick way to use us.
    Asa felt less and less sure with each effort to rationalize what was going on. So, finally, he switched to a different subject. Up ahead, Charlotte was walking shoulder-to-shoulder with Shashowt. Asa watched them as they moved forward into the stadium-style seating that had been put out.
    He had mixed feelings about seeing them together; maybe they were just friends, but Asa thought that Shashowt had other intentions. Asa knew that he had broken off