The Curiosity of The Enigmatic

There’s only so much a sane person can handle. After that first day of school I decided that that was it. I’m going to blab. To prattle, to shout out loud and announce it.

Of course I had to do this with someone I could trust. Someone who wouldn’t gently try to coax me into a van heading straight for the crazy house. Someone who wouldn’t start screeching with laughter in my face or trying to make me believe they understood what it meant to be ‘invisible’ in the social sense. Too bad I don’t have someone like that.

Speaking of vans...A mysterious one was parked right where my mother usually fetched me from, right around the bend of the road where no else ever parked. She always thought I needed my space and had insisted on the fetching agreements to save me embarrassment. My mother read too many Parents' guide to teenager books.

I had never been overly curious...okay, maybe just a little, but since I’ve been small I’ve been drilled on safety etiquette. Strange black vans with tinted windows and no number plate certainly fell in the top ten of things to avoid by at least twenty metres. And I was only ten metres from it before I realised my mistake.

And before you could say ‘pink elephant’ the door facing me swung open. I readied myself to scream my head off, to kick, punch and pull all other sorts of rebellious anti-kidnapping stunts but all that I managed was a feeble, “Oh,” when I felt a pinprick in my neck and collapsed face first into a stranger’s arms.

The world spun, and I felt a nauseous spell coming on. I suppressed it and tried to sit up straight, to make sense of my surroundings and to start screaming. But my arms hung limply by my sides and I panicked. I knew my eyes were open but it was still pitch dark. I laid still for what felt like hours before I felt feeling returning to my all my limbs. I flexed my toes in my school shoes and curled and uncurled my fingers. After that I merely breathed in and out; I was too shocked with the reality of the situation I was in, my mind on the horrors that would surely lay before me.

Someone nudged me with their foot and I cringed away. A soothing voice issued from the darkness to my left, “Don’t be scared Tania. We mean you no harm.” The owner of the feminine voice gently helped me sit up. I was too weak to protest and it did feel better not to be lying on my back anymore.

“She’s not an alien. Sheesh, your first recruiting mission and you’re already messing things up,” growled a man’s voice further off.”

“I’m not the one who shot her with a tranquiliser gun,” the woman growled back.

“It’s protocol. Some would naturally put up a fuss to be being dragged into a van and I’m sure you wouldn’t want a huge commotion to sort out.”

“Quiet. I think she’s come to.” I grimaced. They were a bit far off but their gentle bantering had put me at ease. It seemed they didn’t mean me any harm...for now.

“Should we take off her blindfold?”

“Not until she’s inside the Chamber. Did you EVEN look through the contract? Argh...I’m sick of getting newbies for what is supposedly the most important step in the system.”
I felt myself being hauled gently to my feet and I was steered in a direction by the woman’s arm on my shoulder. I stumbled every now and then but after what I guessed was ten minutes and after my panic had come back tenfold, and I was practically hyperventilating, my blindfold was removed and I found myself in a large room lit only by the image thrown on the opposite wall by a projector. It was a logo, a silhouette, that of the globe that rested on the back of a man. I remembered from geography, that he was called Atlas, after the Greek god. I looked around and my heart sank in my shoes: There was no window so I could not determine the outside surroundings.

But what there was completely and utterly shocked me. Desks were lined up in front of the projector, at least fifteen of them and almost everyone was occupied by a boy or girl of my age or younger. Had they been snatched just like I had been? Were they waiting for me? Why did this place look like a schoolroom? I locked that snippet of knowledge into a mental drawer just in case I could ever escape.

My captors sat me down at one of the desks and then disappeared without another sound. I had sneaked a peek at them earlier but had found t my disappointment that their faces were covered by black masks. I looked around me and caught the glances of a few of the children. A few smiled wanly and others had such dead expressions I feared that they were still under the effects of the tranquiliser but it didn’t seem so for their movements were smooth as they turned back to the image on the wall. I noticed with shock that a few were actually strapped to their chairs by iron bands across their wrists and ankles.

The image on the screen flickered and a man’s benevolent face came into view. He was sitting at a large desk and his crisp black and white suit stood out. His black greying hair was neatly combed back and his eerie strikingly green eyes were accentuated by the blood red tie he wore. He seemed to be in his late thirties.

“Welcome to the Prestige Academy,” his voice was liquid silver and melted away all of my stress and fears. “All of you are new recruits to this very unique institution. Your exclusive abilities are the choosing grounds for new pupils. Here, we instruct you on how to harness your powers, how to mask your presence and identity. How to make revenue out of your ability that in the past caused you more trouble than it was worth. Here, we teach you ...how to become superheroes.”

The man smiled and splayed his hands out on the table. “If you have come here not of your own free will I must apologise. We were a bit behind schedule and could not contact all of you beforehand. Those of you who have applied to the Academy, please fill out the subject choice form that you will receive in your inboxes tonight. To the rest of you please take note of this: We will not harm you unless you try to harm anyone else in the vicinity. We are only here to offer you a once in a lifetime opportunity to reach your full potential and to profit from it. I’m sure you already know why you’ve been chosen. But you do have a choice whether to join your new school mates or not. If not, you will suffer no harm and will be returned to where we found you, I can say no more on that topic. School fees are not an issue here; we are a privately funded and sponsored institution. Now, on to less gloomy topics...”

The image of the man and desk faded and was replaced by a girl’s wobbling smiling face. It was obvious she was handling the camera herself, for it jiggled and rocked until I felt sick looking at it.

Finally the image came to a dead stand still; she had put the camera down on a flat surface and retreated a few paces. Behind her, I saw a large open sport’s field upon which strange apparatus’ were in use.

“Hi! I’m Melanie, and I’ll be giving you a personal tour of your new school.” I started and nearly fell backwards. The girl had slitted amber cat eyes and her face was covered in a slight glossy tawny fur.

“My appearance may startle some of you but for others I’m sure you don’t find me so strange. You may think, “This is a school for freaks and monsters!” and you may be right as you’re one as well. But here, freaks and monsters become what we’ve only dreamt of.” The camera was rotated by someone from behind and we had a full view of the sport’s field. My eyes widened as I took in children doing acrobatic flips off two storey wooden walls, landing either on both legs as if they’d just jumped off a chair, or in once case, disappearing right through the ground and reappearing seconds later next to their team mates who high fived and congratulated them. There was a pan out to the left and we were offered views of more children, scaling walls upside down, racing down tracks at impossible speeds, clearing fantastically difficult obstacle courses as if they were doing elaborate dances.

This is unreal, I thought watching feat after feat of superhuman power.

“This is a daily exercise routine,” the cat-girl said. “Next, I’ll show you our just as impressive academic, cultural, recreation and stealth sections.”

After that, there was a blur of classrooms fitted with futuristic computers, an art classroom where students were sculpturing massive statues out of marble or soapstone, a swimming pool that could rival any Olympic adversary, a library where the shelves towered to the roof and so much more that my brain went into overdrive and short circuited. I sat there dazed wondering how any of this was possible.

The tour ended and Melanie appeared again smiling ecstatically. “And all of this is located in a secure beautiful section of the country, surrounded by acres and acres of natural woodland. The student dormitories are located less than half a kilometre from the school and offer peaceful settings and personal computers per room sharing. Thank you for watching and I hope to see every one of you walking in our halls within the next two weeks. Farewell!”

The man and desk reappeared and smiling he highlighted some details and then the image blurred and faded away. I looked down as I had been instructed to find a brochure and papers neatly stacked on my desk. When did they get here? I leafed through the brochure and found it to say the exact same things Melanie had. The papers were for subjects choices, application forms for the dormitory and finally a very detailed page in small print about what the school aimed for and what the students could achieve. Below that was blank lined area where one had to explain one’s power in detail, how far along was it, did anyone in your family have similar powers, were your family aware of your powers, etc.
Then there was a declaration of secrecy that had to be signed along with your parent’s signature.

If in the case your parent/s/guardian/s, do not know of your power, the Academy would advise you telling at least one of them as this makes the transition into our school much easier. If you find it impossible to broach the subject with them, the school will approach them on your behalf and explain matters in detail. If they do not cooperate we will employ other safe methods that we cannot disclose at this point.
If becoming a member of this institution is your dream, we will make sure nothing stands in your way to join us.

Please send in your application by the 26th January. If we do not receive it before or on the date we will assume you are not interested and will take steps to ensure our own safety in matters of the law should you wish to voice complaint to the authorities.

The twenty fifth is in a week's time, I thought biting the inside of my cheek. Argh! How can I even be contemplating it?! They kidnapped me, for crying out loud! I should...But then the hidden warning in the last few lines sprung to mind. No, they wouldn’t let us blab if they could help it.

I gave a weak laugh. It wasn’t as if I was hurt? They had said they wouldn’t harm those who declined their offer and would return them home right? So I could just...

“Here, we instruct you on how to harness your powers...” If so then I would be able to control my invisibility. I would no longer have to fear going outside of my room. Could they really help me? How did they even know I had any powers? How is any of this possible?!
Out of the corner of my eye I saw that the children who had been strapped in earlier had been released by their ankles. A few were filling in the forms with the provided pens and others, like me, were dumbstruck and utterly at a loss for words.

I have to tell dad then, I thought grimacing. This is the only way forward for someone like me. But what if he didn’t believe me?