The Cursed Academy

A room with a view and goodbye to you.

Coach Blackclaw led us out of his office and into the atrium. A group of students were busy filling feed dishes with bird seed and bowls with fresh water. Other students were tending the flowers and plants.  One of the adults supervising the group was loudly providing them with safety instructions as he was passing out gardening gloves. "Remember everyone!  DO NOT get the sap of the Colorado  Blue Columbine on your bare skin. Those are the blue and white flowers. It can cause a rash on your skin if you do." 

'Good to know.'  I thought as I turned my attention back to Grandmother and Coach Blackclaw.

"The dorm rooms are this way." He said with a smile.  He and Robin really favored each other.  They both had the same reddish brown hair and ruddy complexion.  Coach Blackclaw was just slightly taller than Robin, and Robin was almost six feet tall. Grandmother and I had to walk quickly to keep up with his long strides.  

As we were walking toward the exit,  I  couldn't help but notice the rows and rows of  class photos that lined the stone wall. Each of them were in an elegantly carved frame made of blue and gray stone.  Some of them were so old and faded I could barely see the faces and some of the oldest pictures were just faded out completely. Some pictures had one or two or three faces left that were still distinguishable, but not so many of the older ones.  But, the one thing I did notice is that there were  boys AND girls in most of the oldest pictures that I could still see.  It changed to pictures with girls-only classes about 200 years ago. 

"Why are so many of them blank? " I asked.  

'And what happened to the boys' I thought.

"They are faded because they are not photographs.  Photography did not exist until 1872 when Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, an inventor from France, made the first permanent photographic image.  No, these are memorygraphs.  You see at that moment in time each person thinks of that exact moment in time and those thoughts are captured in this special frame made of Lapis Lazuli.  However, as each person passes from this world to the next, their memory travels to the afterlife with them, so the memorygraph fades. Eventually everyone's memory of that moment in time no longer exists and the picture just completely fades." he solemnly explained to Grandmother and I.  

"So many faded pictures." Grandmother sighed, her eyes were...shiny.  

'Is she....CRYING?'

Coach Blackwell saw my grandmother dabbing her eyes with a tissue and quickly moved us toward the exit. He walked straight out of the building and across the courtyard away from the three main buildings toward the smaller, older building we had seen on our way in.  It really did remind me of the primary school back home.  It's just a one story building.  Not large. It looks old though.

"We have not yet finished remodeling our dormitories.  This building is the last one to be renovated and we plant to start with construction over the summer break.  For now, we have asked our scholarship students and a few others to call this home." 

'So much for living in the gorgeous glass mansion, I guess.'  

Grandmother looked indignant "Excuse me? Vice Principal Blackclaw?  This was not part of our arrangement.  I have paid her tuition.  Why is she not getting a new dormitory room?"

"With all due respect, Ms. Swiftstone,  It is because we have to hide her identity and her wolf. We do not need anyone questioning why she isn't living with the other girls who are also here on scholarship.  We place them together to provide extra assistance to them as they may not have access to the resources available to them that some of the ...more ...well-to-do students have readily available." Coach Blackclaw explained to Grandmother who was in an increasingly agitated state of anger. "It isn't a BAD thing, Clarissa." he scolded Grandmother.

Grandmother started to settle down a little bit.  I know she just wants what is best for me and that is cool  I think she was way more upset than I am.  I just liked the pretty house.  I have slept in the forest for weeks when I was on survival campouts with my pack.  I just need somewhere to rest my head and a place to study.  

'Oh well, maybe my room will at least have a view of the main building.' 

He opened the front door to the building and led us over to the reception desk and spoke to the unusual looking girl sitting there.

"Andrea.  This is Sophia Lilylight.  She is a new student here.  Sophia this is Andrea Clariverse.  She is going to show you to your room.  

"Hi Sophia!" said the perky girl behind the desk.  She looked about my age and had straight long blonde hair that hung all the way to her waist in a thick braid down her back.  Her eyes were so blue that they looked icy-white and her skin was so pale she almost seemed translucent.  "I have been waiting for you to get here.  Robin dropped your bags off in your room just a little bit ago.  We are so excited to have you here!  Would you like to go to your room now?"

"Yes, please." I vigorously shook my head yes to stress exactly how ready I really am to go to my room.

Sophia, I am going with Vice Principal Blackwell back to the main building to have some dinner in the dining hall and then I am leaving for a hotel in town." Grandmother just couldn't bring herself to call him coach.  "We have an issue of concern to discuss and your presence is neither requested nor required.  Now come and say goodbye to me."

I slowly walked over to Grandmother and let her wrap me in her arms while I put mine around her.  I didn't want to let her go.  I still had so many questions. 

'I don't think she knows exactly how much I am going to miss her.'  

"You know where to find me and how to contact me" she whispered in my ear before releasing me from her comforting hug. She turned and walked away following Coach Blackclaw back to the main building.

I wiped my eyes and as soon as my vision cleared, I saw Andrea standing in front of me.

"You are like, the third person who has cried today when their parents left." she said with an eerie smile. "You will be fine.  They are...now. I made sure of it." she started walking down the long hallway on the left. 

"Follow me.  Your room is this way."  Andrea said, hooking her arm around my elbow.  As we walked down the hallway together, she sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose and asked...

"Did someone spill pine cleaner?"