Atlas Academy: Secrets Uncovered

Two hours later, I was walking out of my dorm building. Since school ended at five-thirty here, it was late evening now. I was still wearing my exercise outfit since it was still warm enough for shorts. I looked around and saw hardly anybody outside besides a few kids heading off towards the pond as I entered the courtyard and pushed one of the knobs.

I had to run to Bear again, watching him as he watched me, until I finally came to a stop before him at the Coliseum. He smiled sinisterly and chuckled darkly under his breath. “What?” I asked.

“We have a lot of work to do.” he said, “Which, if you think about it, isn’t very funny. It’s gonna be hard for you, and I’m gonna make it hard. But if you can survive this, you’ll be unstoppable.” The smile slid off his face as he said this and then he stepped closer and put his face into mine as he said, “If you can survive it.”

I glared at him and said, “Bring it on.”

And boy, did he.

“Okay Damien,” he said, clasping his hands behind his back and pacing, “what I want you to do is run laps around the Coliseum.”

“How many?” I asked, slightly horrified of the answer.

“I don’t know,” he said, turning to me and grinning evilly. “How many can you do?” Then he blew his whistle and I glared at him before starting around the Coliseum.

And that’s how my nightmare started. Every time I passed him, he would look at his timer and say something like “You call that running? Pick it up!” and “Your time is unacceptable, Damien! I thought you did this as a sport! I’m surprised you won anything.”, “That’s too much, you’re supposed to be running, not killing yourself. Keep it steady!” Then when I would stop and say that was all I could do, he would tell me I was lazy and that I could crank out a couple more, and then while I did those he would be telling me not to push myself too much. This guy was crazy!

“Pick up your feet girl, I could run faster than you in my sleep!” he was saying as he looked at my time while I ran passed.

“Speaking of sleep, could I go get some?” I said, stopping and bending over to catch my breath.

“First of all,” he said, “stand up straight and put your hands on your head, you get better air that way. And Second,” his voice grew rougher as he took a few steps up to me and continued, “we stop when I say we do.”

“Okay, and when is that going to be?” I said, looking at him and waiting for him to say it.

Then he smiled and even laughed a little, shaking his head as he said, “Boy, you are just like your mother.”

I stopped and looked at him. “I thought you said I wasn’t anything like her?” I said, confused.

“Your mouth, sweetheart, your smart-elec mouth. It used to get her into a lot of trouble too.” he said, taking his whistle from around his neck and laying that and the timer on the ground.

I watched him do this with apprehension growing in me. “What do you mean ‘too’?”

“I mean,” he said, straightening and looking at me in amusement of my fear, “That your session just got extended.”

“What? When was it gonna end?” I asked, distraught and mad at myself for saying anything.

“In about an hour, but what does that matter now? Now we stop whenever I feel like it.” he said, grinning evilly at me. “Now let’s review your close combat moves.”

He squared off against me and I jumped back at his sudden move, then skittishly did the same. We went through the moves he’d taught earlier, and as I went up against him I started really wishing for Mickey again. Because Bear was much less caring in the way he threw me down and landed his blows. More than once I was afraid he would break a bone or something, knocking the breath out of me as I repeatedly hit the ground and sometimes falling or stumbling backwards when he’d land a blow.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked after a particularly painful blow that sent me sprawling. We were both breathing heavily and sweating, me doing more of both than Bear.

“Doing what, tutoring you? I already told you, I’m not going to let you ruin your mother’s memory.” he said, looking at me like I was stupid and shook his head.

“No, why are you being so rough with me? I’m a kid! You act like I know what I’m doing, but I’ve never been in a fight in my life!” I said in exasperation.

He straightened from his sparring position and said, “Stop whining, Damien. I haven’t broken any bones or even caused you to bleed.”

“You’re not tutoring me, you’re beating me to death!” I yelled, glaring at him.

“That’s enough!” He roared, taking a step towards me and pointing a finger at me. I jumped back at the sound of his voice. He shook his head and said, “Still after all this time you haven’t run out of energy for that mouth. I want to see what I’m dealing with, and we’re not gonna stop until I find out. Now if you’re done being dramatic, get up and let’s start again.” He beckoned to me and then lowered once again into position.

I looked at him for a minute, thinking I’ll be unconscious from exhaustion when he finally stops, then gave a deep sigh and stood. We kept at it a while longer, then being the evil man that he was, made me run around the Coliseum a few more times, though it was more like hobbling. He claimed it was to see how well I’d fare chasing an assailant while injured.

Yeah, right.

***

“Hey Ry, how’s it going?” Buddy asked as he slid in beside me at breakfast at seven-thirty. I just looked at him and he said, “Oh, sorry I asked.”

“She didn’t even get back in until after three.” Mickey said incredulously, taking a bite of her omelet. “It was almost four by the time she got in bed.”

Behind us, there was a yell of “Mail Call!” as a man loaded down with two almost overflowing mail bags bearing the Atlas insignia started down towards the 1st Class peepers. The boys all shook their heads and gave me a sympathetic look. “Wow.” Buddy said in disbelief.

“One must make sacrifices to be the best.” came a smooth voice and we turned to see Sasha sitting down a few spaces down. “Some more than others, apparently.” she added after taking a bite of some toast.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” asked Mickey.

Just then, another girl just as beautiful as Sasha slid in next to her. More slender than her, with light green eyes and long light brown hair, she didn’t say anything and they shared a look before Sasha turned back to us. “It means exactly what I said.” she said, looking at Mickey like she should’ve known. “Not everyone is cut out to be here, and sometimes, they let people in thinking they’ll be good for the school, but in the end they just let them down.”