Atlas Academy: Secrets Uncovered

All I could think was that I was thankful I’d been taking track for at least a while, because I probably wouldn’t have made it halfway there, it being farther away than the length of three football fields. But the longer we ran the slower we got, until we were between the middle and the back of the crowd. I was on the left edge of the crowd, so I could see who was doing well and I saw a girl with long almost black brown hair tied into a ponytail at the very front, followed closely by a few others.

They got to the Coliseum a few minutes before the bulk of the crowd, and it was then that I saw three men waiting there for us. They were all standing with their hands behind their backs and wearing the Atlas uniform, the man in front looking like a drill sergeant. And he was looking at me. Under his scary gaze I picked up the pace on my pained jogging, but even as I hurried to keep pace with the crowd, I thought I’d done especially well for just having been in track a few months. Why is he staring at me? Why doesn’t he stare at the others behind me? My coach would’ve been proud. I thought.

But this guy definitely wasn’t and that was clear, because the longer he waited on us, the harder his gaze became. He was a pretty tall man, though some of the assassin boys like Buddy and Silas were catching up to him, he had very light almost-white blonde hair in a high and tight cut, an almost copper tan and ice blue eyes that were digging into me as we all finally reached him. His eyes continued to bore into me for a few minutes before he finally looked at the rest of the students.

“Welcome ladies,” he growled when everyone had gotten to us, addressing the boys as well as the girls, “to Close Combat. This year you’ll be learning basic hand-to-hand combat moves and a few different martial arts styles. Any questions?” He looked out over the crowd and everyone was silent, but then just remembering something, he added, “My name is Bear. I’ll be your coach, and if you continue to display attempts as pathetic as your run over here, if you don’t give me everything you have in your sorry bodies, I will make these six years here the most miserable years of your wretched lives.” His voice grew even more gravelly and threatening as he glared at us. I knew right then why they called him Bear and I shivered involuntarily.

His eyes flashed in my direction and all the air left my body for a minute. I’m going to die. I thought. He could crush me between his fingers. This was not going to end well.

His assistant coaches separated us into three smaller groups of thirty in the field in front of the Coliseum, and as we were spreading out from each other I noticed there were other Novice ranks on the other side of the Coliseum. Apparently the inside of the Coliseum was for the peepers.

He showed us a move he demonstrated on a kid, who I felt bad for because he ended up on the ground both times. And not on a soft mat either, they didn’t have that here, so the only soft thing we were going to feel was the grass, and it was only an inch high. Then he told us to face the person next to us, which for me just happened to be Mickey.

Apparently, instead of getting a personal trainer to help me work out, I should’ve gotten one that taught me how to fight because I still ended up on the ground. I never flipped her once and every time I hit the ground she’d say sorry and something like “move faster next time”, “that was too fast”, “Oh, did you break your nose? Sorry!” This last time was when Bear decided to walk over.

“How’s it going girls?” he asked, like he hadn’t just seen me take a face plant in the dirt.

“Fine.” I said, picking myself up again.

“Damien, if you’re going to lie, at least do it well. Or try harder.” he said, giving me a withering look.

“Yes, sir.” I said, because what else was I supposed to say? No way was I going to smart off to this guy. I turned my back to him and lunged at Mickey again, only to be thrown to the ground, again.

I tried a few more times, and just when I thought I was beginning to get a handle on her pattern of moves since it took her longer to put me down, Bear’s voice was behind me saying, “Okay, Cooper stand down for a minute. Damien?” I picked myself off the ground and looked at him expectantly. What’s he gonna do now? Humiliate me in front of everyone? I thought.

Nope. It was worse.

“Damien,” he said again, putting his hands behind his back and walking around us slowly, like he was thinking over his words carefully. “Your mother may not have mentioned it, but I knew her very well. We were good friends, she and I, and I was even privileged enough to accompany her on a few missions. And I have to say… you’re nothing like her.” He came to a stop on Mickey’s right and spun to look at me.

I couldn’t believe what he’d just said. Mickey’s eyes were as wide as mine with shock, and a few of the sparring pairs around us paused in their attacks. But then that shock turned to anger. “What?” I said, looking at him with incredulity.

“You have none of the raw talent for fighting she had.” he said, starting back around Mickey and shaking his head like it was a sad thing to say. “She was the best female fighter I’ve ever seen, and I was hoping that gene would be passed on, but it disappoints me that it wasn’t.”

I couldn’t believe he was actually saying these things in front of everyone! What was he doing to me! I let out a seething breath and said through a clenched jaw, “I’ll get better.”

“No.” he said, his head snapping up as he took three big steps until he was towering over me a few inches away. “You won’t.” I was just about to tell him he didn’t have any clue what I was capable of when he continued. “I will not let you taint your mother’s greatness… so I will tutor you.”

This caught me so off guard I didn’t breathe for a minute and just looked up at him, dumbfounded. And I wasn’t the only one either, because everyone around us had completely stopped fighting, and soon twenty-nine pairs of eyes were staring at us. “What?” I said, this time in almost a whisper. What was this guy going to do to me?

“You get two hours of study time after school, and then you’re mine.” As he said the last part he leaned in towards me and pointed at me, then to his chest. His voice was sinister, and so was the smile that crossed his face, making a shiver run up my spine and a chill go through to my bones.

Then he walked away and I turned to Mickey, my face pale, as she said, “It was nice knowing you.”

“You can do the eulogy at my funeral.” I said sadly as Bear called for us to watch another move and then practice it. I squared off at her again, and after giving me a sympathetic look, she drove me into the dirt. And after we did four moves of the hand-to-hand combat —yeah that wasn’t even the whole class— I at least got a break when we started on Tai Chi for our first martial arts style.

This went on for an hour, and when everyone’s watches started beeping I was grateful because I thought we were going back to the school or to our dorms. This nightmare was finally over! But instead, to my utter horror, I got to spend another two hours with this monster. First, we went to the Jungle by the Ocean, which could change its environment to any jungle or forest in the world and had animatronic things that changed into animals native to that specific forest or jungle. So we were in an African jungle where I had to swing from “particularly strong vines designed to support humans, climbing and jumping trees all without slowing down or stopping because it builds upper body strength and increases maneuverability and speed blah, blah, blah, blah!”

I fell, a lot, I swung into trees, a lot, and I got beat up by a monkey! A MONKEY! Now I didn’t bleed that much since it really only jumped on me and bit my hand, making me let go of the branch I was holding, and fall the long way down to the ground on my back. The wind was knocked out of me and my hand hurt like hell because it was bleeding, not profusely, but still. But did Bear care? No! I think I even heard him laugh when the monkey got me, and then he made me get up and start again. That’s right, no nurse.

Thankfully I thought, the next class was going to be better. It had to be, even just a little. And it was. A little.

Because the next class we had with Bear was in the school building, which was nice, and in the Training Ground, which wasn’t so nice. This room changes terrain to whatever it’s set to, so since Bear was such a nice coach, he made us get on an overhang! It was so painful and humiliating after everything else, I think I blocked it out as soon as I left the room.

“Remember what we talked about, Damien.” Bear growled sinisterly at me as Buddy and Mickey were on either side of me just in case I fell. I nodded at him and when we were around the corner I sighed.

By now, word of my illustrious tutor had gotten around pretty good and everyone who passed either told me it was a miracle because Bear never tutored, or if they’d seen me fight they told me I was better off dead. And I agreed with the latter.

“I can’t believe you get Bear as a tutor. I have to tell you that I’m insanely jealous.” Buddy said as we made our way down the steps to the entrance hall.

“You can have him for all I care.” I said, “I don’t want him.”

“I can’t believe he actually said all that stuff.” Mickey said, rubbing my back comfortingly when we met up at the bottom and then proceeded down the tunnels.

“And in front of our entire class.” Johnny added as we went down the halls and to our table in the Dining Hall.

“And just think,” I said, “I have to deal with even more of him tonight!” I gave a helpless sigh and laid my head on the table. “You know, I work out, I work out a lot. I was in two sports and even had a personal trainer. So why am I so sore after just one session with this guy?”

“Well, actually it was three. First the Hand-to-Hand, the Jungle, and then the —

“Yeah, I get what you mean.” Buddy said, cutting Morgan off as he was ticking the lessons off on his fingers. Morgan glared at him as he continued, “I worked out all the time, and I’m pretty good at fighting, but this guy… Man, he’s awesome! I feel great, my blood is pumping. I can’t wait until next time!”

“Yeah, but look at you. You’ve got huge bulging muscles and I never heard about you getting driven into the dirt the whole time.” I said, glancing at him and then lifting my head off the table.

“Sorry about that.” said Mickey, still wearing a sympathetic look.

“It’s okay, but how’d you learn to fight like that already?” I asked.

“I’m the only girl with four brothers. I had to be tough.” she said, smiling. I looked over at Morgan, who was smiling and nodding, and smiled back, wondering what their family life must be like.