Chapter 4

They’re a funny thing, jail cells because for some reason, they make you feel like you’re in jail.
I looked around for my family, but they were nowhere to be seen and suddenly panic washed over me as I manically tried to escape the horrid cell that was like a mobility toilet cubicle. It had metal bars and everything. The bed was made from a wooden surface and the toilet was disgusting. There was no floor, it was just dirt and the walls were cold, decaying bricks. I grabbed at the metal bars and screamed, demanding they let me out. A big beefy man with thinning black hair and a uniform like the Fat Controller from Thomas the Tank Engine, walked up to my prison cell,
“Master Colvin wishes to see you,” he told me sternly, as he unlocked my bars and let me free. I really wanted to find a way to steal his keys but I’d better not because he could take me definitely. I was little anxious to see this Colvin dude because the Fat Controller had called him master, so was he like the head honcho of this prison or something? He led me out of the prison area and into a courtyard. The courtyard had a floor of crème coloured cobblestones and a large water fountain in the centre that had a sculpture of a husky with its mouth open, pouring out the water. It was surrounded by many high, castle-like towers with somewhat gothic windows. Grunting and cursing under his breath, he moved a heavy wooden door and took me up a big spiral staircase. By the time we got up the stairs, I was kind of hungry. The room we were in was about three times the size of my prison cell and it had yellowish crème wallpaper and ugly carpet. Amid the ugly interior decorating was a very flash desk that looked very out of place and big leather chair. After the Fat Controller cleared his throat about four times, the chair spun around and there was Master Colvin.
It was Mr. Russia.
“Thank you, Eli, you may go,” he smiled and he looked much more professional - his trench coat had been exchanged for a neat, business-like tuxedo and his hair was tied into a slightly dishevelled ponytail. I looked at him and still felt the need to slap him.
“April, how lovely to see you again,” yes, how lovely because last time you saw me I gave you a black eye, does this mean you want another one? I thought bitterly. “I think we got off on the wrong foot yesterday,”
“Oh, no, I think we really hit it off,” I murmured darkly and sarcastically but he didn’t take any notice of it. Instead he just kept talking.
“Firstly, I would like to apologise for my violent actions towards you yesterday,” he smiled pleasantly, but I wasn’t convinced and I just shook my head, glaring at him,
“Firstly, I would like to know where the hell you took my family,” the bottom left corner of his mouth twitched as I mimicked his formality with dashing precision because I’m just that mature.
“They are safe,” he replied cautiously, avoiding my eyes and then I looked at him, making my icy glare colder than an iceberg in Antarctica.
“I didn’t ask if they were safe, Colvin,” that was just an added bonus. I was glad and would have normally been contented with that, but I needed to know where they were, so that I could help them bust out of this hell hole wherever it was.
“They are probably settling into their new dormitories. Saint Rurik’s Academy is the very best training facility for lycanthropes and I think you will find it rather fitting to reside here until the age of eighteen.” I snorted, under your rule, buddy? I don’t think so.
“That’s likely,” This time, he couldn’t handle my snarky remarks and so he just told me sternly,
“Unless you would prefer to be shot dead by animal control or dismembered by a vampire, I suggest you take me up on this offer of training or you will be left to their mercy or we will keep you locked in the dungeon with no human contact.”     He was a little more frustrated - that was me; Avril; bringing out the worst in people since 1995. I smiled at him and then thought to myself how I could work his frustration to my advantage...
“You don’t want another lycanthrope to die do you?” He shook his head, raising his eyebrow,
“Certainly not and especially one with strength like you, you could have potential. Now what is it you would like in order for you to become a willing pupil at Saint Rurik’s Academy?” It was like he was a mind-reader. I had pretty much aimed at blackmailing him but he did that part for me and basically said, ‘what are your demands?’ which saved me some of my breath. Don’t cha just love it when that happens? I looked at him and assessed my options - I could ask for a room with my family because at least then I would know they were safe. Worry always tugged at me when I didn’t know where they were - especially Tegan, not that I was picking favourites of course. “Of course you’ll be on a different schedule to your friends because you are all at different levels of lycanthropy,” okay, so that was out of the question. In that case, I had no other demands but for him to let me the hell out of here. I bet that our skill level had nothing to do with it. He probably knew that even if we had spend five minutes together we would have come up with an escape plan because we’re orphans - champions at sticky situations.
“What does that mean?” I asked and he just laughed,
“Case in point, this is precisely why you could not survive on your own. Your level of lycanthropy is your level of fighting skill and the way you can control your gifts.” I looked at him with an incredulous look - we didn’t have gifts, we had a virus like zombies for crying out loud! He instructed Fat Controller - whose name was actually Jessop - to lead me to my room. There was yet more stairs to climb and I was getting a serious workout. When I got to my room, it was the closest to the ground which was about as high as the third-storey bedroom at the mansion we’d just came out of. Jessop left me alone and I looked around. It was a room that was a standard room about as big as the room back at the other house. There were four beds made with ugly blue blankets and white cotton sheets. It was all tucked in nicely and it really made me feel like I should just go over there and mess it up. The drapes were really tattered and worn out and the windows were collecting dust. The carpet matched the colour of the dust on the windows and everywhere I looked on the roof, there were cobwebs. By the looks of this place, it hadn’t been used in centuries. Looking around further, I saw my backpack of things that I had. Being an orphan, it was hard to get clothes but somehow, we got some thanks to the highly stylish nuns at the Church back in America, but there was no way we were going back there - not with this new ‘training school’ we now had to attend. I slumped down on my bed and I thought of how much this reminded me of Little Sisters. I’d first met Charlie two weeks after I’d met Jake and that was when our beds got mixed up and we had to share because they had ran out of stretchers on the floor. We’d been pretty tight and then the next day, I introduced her to Jake and she introduced us to Tegan and the rest was history. Tegan - she better be okay, they all had better be okay, if they weren’t... I would find them and bust them out of here and we could go back to running just like the good old days, taking each day as it came, without knowing whether we were going to live or die and having that adrenaline run through our veins as we faced our enemies fearlessly. Nothing was able to stop us... except when they took Tegan. United we stand and divided we fall and all that. I thought of her and how scared she might have been if she woke up in a prison cell like me and how cold and alone she felt and what if she was still like that now? I had to find her, it was eating away at me and it would drive me insane if I didn’t see for myself that my group was safe. Getting up from my ugly new bed, I surveyed the room for possible, quick escape routes to make a run for it if I had to. I found three. A trapdoor which I don’t think I was meant to see, a window and - wait for it - the door. I had to find them, but I couldn’t really find enough nerve to climb out the window and I didn’t know enough about the school yet to go through the cellar door, so it had to be the door. After an eternity of intense stair-climbing, I walked around the school, trying to find my sisters and my brother. Somehow, I ended up in the courtyard, wandering around like a headless chicken. I walked into this guy who had fire-engine red hair and green eyes and had no blemishes or imperfections anywhere. He was a pretty boy. He gave me a disgusted look,
“Do not touch the merchandise,” not only was he a pretty boy, he was an arrogant jerk. He finally looked up to see who he was addressing and then when he saw me, he screwed his nose up, “Great, another new b***h to add to the pack,” he murmured darkly and I almost punched him... I said almost.
“Great, another a*****e who thinks he’s all that when really, he’s just a small little kid on the inside who wants to feel badass,” I snapped at him with heavy sarcasm flowing through my voice. The boy rolled his eyes and walked away, which was probably just as well because I was getting very agitated. My family were somewhere and I had no idea where. Master Colvin said they’d be settling into their dormitories but where were they?
Circling the courtyard, pacing, I wondered where those dormitories could be because this school was as big as Hogwarts or something. Then something made me jump. It was something that sounded like a church bell and then a huge rush of people suddenly filled the courtyard and Tegan and Charlie happened to be amongst them. Relief washing through me, I hugged Tegan and smiled at Charlie. Thank God they were okay. I don’t know what I would have done if they had been stuck in a horrible cage like I was even if only for a little while - actually, no scratch that; I would know exactly what to do. Bust them out. Just seeing little Tegan again made me feel like the whole world’s weight had just been lifted off my shoulders. I’d become dependent on that kid - both to keep me sane and to give me a purpose for not going nuts at everyone of whom irritated me. It was amazing what a nine year old could do. Eventually, Jake caught up to us and we were all together again. We all felt so much better - knowing everyone was safe and sound here in this school, suffering together. The courtyard was then cleared and then we got called to see Master Colvin’s secretary - they must have loved me up in that big building.