Free The Academy: Book 2 by Chad Leito Page A

their relationship, and that he had no right to dictate who she saw. But still, the sight of Shashowt beside her made Asa grit his teeth.
    Teddy gave Asa a knowing look as they passed beneath stone archways into the Town Center.
    They walked up a long row of stairs with the other students moving in the same direction. The layout looked different than it had just weeks ago when they had the end of semester meeting. Asa wondered if the stone structure could somehow change shapes, or if someone actually had to re-carve it.
    As Asa crested the flight of stairs leading to the meeting place, he was floored. By the faces of the other students, Asa guessed that they felt the same way. The center was beautiful. The smooth stone bleachers had been obsessively cleaned so that the intricate carvings of vines, leaves, and acorns gleamed. The marble was so white and shining that it resembled the surface of a pool of milk. The stage to which all the seats faced was covered in thick black and white striped carpet: Asa guessed that it was made entirely of artic tiger fur.
    Sprinkled over every surface of the enormous Town Center were hundreds of thousand s of red rose petals. They were strewn across the aisles, the seats, and the stage. At a distance, the pedals looked like large drops of blood.
                  Asa and Teddy made their way to the top of the steps, twenty rows above where anyone else was sitting. They had both gotten used to sitting alone: ever since Asa killed Shelby last semester, his reputation as a brute had only grown. People had also been sure to keep their distance from he and his only friend here, Teddy.
    They watched as the students filled their seats. Asa noticed that the students all seemed m ore stoic than usual; the pedal-strewn hall was filled with the sounds of footsteps and whispering, serious voices.
    For the Fishies, the reason for their mood was obvious: They were in an entirely new environment, and just as Asa had done last semester, they would probably keep their mouth s shut until they knew the Academy’s customs.
    As for the older classmen, Asa thought that many of them were trying to portray themselves as tough. They puffed out their chests, flexed their jaws, and tried their best to concentrate on their footsteps to be sure they wouldn’t trip. Tonight, the Winggame player draft was scheduled to begin. Because it was advantageous to be put on a good team, every interaction leading up to the draft was crucial for the players. Last semester, Asa had been selected first among the Fishies after an upper classmen noticed him flying along the mountainside. The rumor spread, and by the time the draft came, he was highly desired.
    And, with the draft coming earlier this semester, the students were feeling added pressure to make every effort to impress. With lives relying on how well a team drafted, the students could be sure that someone was watching them, judging them, at all times.
    Asa and Teddy sat on the pedal strewn bleachers, not talking. Asa couldn’t keep his mind from returning to the idea Teddy proposed in the dwelling.
    What if now that Robert King is dead, the Multipliers want to kill you and Charlotte, and take over the Academy. Maybe they’ll want to move it—to hell with what the crows might reveal.
    He looked over at Charlotte, and watched as she bent her arm behind her in a most unnatural way to scratch her back; she was only able to do this because of the mutations she had attained at the King Mountain Task last semester, which made her unnaturally flexible.
    Out of the corner of his eye, Asa saw a figure break the invisible social barrier that insured no student ventured within twenty rows of Asa and Teddy. It was Jen. She wore an enormous smile on her face, and her short hair bounced up and down as she moved up the stairs. “Asa!” she shouted, waving.
    Why is she coming to sit by me?
    With the serious tension that filled the room of students trying to attain a position