“Your transport will be here first thing tomorrow morning, Kaden. You have to be transported by bus, and I will accompany you. I should warn you, there will be armed guards along the route as well as, um, specialists who will be with us to keep you… secure,” he muttered.
I could see by his expression that he was afraid. Usually he hid it well, but I figured they were on high alert and probably thought I was going to try to escape. Fuck him. Fuck them all! I had nowhere to run to. I’d only hurt those who hurt kids.
Oh well, there was no point in defending myself. My only hope was that once I was at the school, where there were more students with similar abilities, I’d have someone who could at least relate.
Chapter four
Lysander
“Ladies,gentlemen,settledown,please. Let’s get started,” the woman at the podium said into the microphone.
We were all gathered in a huge gymnasium. The woman behind the microphone was tall and extremely skinny. It was almost like looking at a pole with glasses and a lot of intensely controlled hair wrapped tightly in a bun. I immediately thought of the old movies about some kid on a prairie that I’d watched when I was a kid.
“Thank you. I’m Dr. Grace Bisbee, the dean of student services. In a moment, you’ll be introduced to our president, Dr. Aynesworth. We know you must all have a million questions, and we will, of course, answer all of them during your orientation week. After this morning’s discussion, you’ll be assigned groups alphabetically by your last names.”
A noise blasted behind me, quickly followed by snickering.
Dr. Bisbee looked cross, looking toward what I figured was another teacher who waved his hand palm down like he was throwing a net out to sea. Immediately an oppressive cloud lay over all of us.
“You’ve been asked to refrain from using your powers. You’ll notice they won’t work now. Mr. Burns will lift the cloud before we leave this morning’s session, but please note we are very serious about the rules regarding using your power. If you ignore the rules, the consequences will be swift and immediate.”
Dr. Bisbee was staring at some jock-looking guy a few rows behind me. He was blushing deeply, and the entire room had turned to see his reaction. When he didn’t respond, Dr. Bisbee continued.
“As I was saying, we will begin orientation today. Powers are to be restrained until you start classes to allow us to evaluate your skill, willpower, control, and fortitude. We will also begin classifying you based on skills this week.”
Just then, a large man, nearly as tall as Dr. Bisbee, walked in. When the dean saw him, she nodded. “Okay, I will turn the floor over to Dr. Aynesworth, our school president.”
We clapped halfheartedly, but with the cloud of oppression hanging over us, I was guessing we were all afraid not to.
“Good, good,” Dr. Aynesworth said.
For a moment it looked like he was focused on the cloud. Then he looked at the jock and shook his head before smiling again.
“Welcome, students, to Erudo College for the Science of Superpowers. As I’m sure Dr. Bisbee has explained, we will begin orientation as soon as this session ends. Before we start, I wish to speak to you directly about what sort of school this is.”
The president scanned the crowd before beginning, almost like he was willing all of us to pay attention.
“First, we are nothing like what you’ve heard. Erudo College and all the power schools spread across the country operate with some level of secrecy. That is to protect you as students. So, that means over ninety percent of what you’ve heard is wrong. As many of you are still under eighteen, we expect you to follow the same rules and laws that our host country has designated.”
He took a moment to look around the room, and his eyes settled on mine. He shook his head, and continued, “Power isn’t difficult to understand. Not really. When the first humans began to experience superpowers, there was a belief that the powers were outside the physics of the known universe. That’s untrue. We’ve simply evolved to utilize different elements of physics. But the rules that govern our universe still apply.”
I could hear students beginning to squirm, attention already beginning to lapse. Ignoring the short attention spans, Dr. Aynesworth went on, “First, let’s dispel the whole notion of superhero versus sidekick. Those are ludicrous notions that will do nothing but keep you from reaching your full potential. We’ve learned these past sixty years that there are those with exothermic abilities and those with endothermic abilities. The people we think of as superheroes are usually, but not always, exothermic and can convert and utilize energy easily. While people with endothermic skills are generally less flashy. I imagine those of you who possess exothermic abilities have already begun to build the attitude that you are superior to the rest of us.”
He chuckled, then added, “Here’s another piece of information that will probably dispel that myth. For every person with an energy, there is someone with the exact opposite. Like magnets, you will be attracted to each other. Don’t try too hard to resist the attraction. Once you find your pairing, if indeed they are attending our school, you will both be able to utilize your powers much better than those who operate without an energy match or, as we call them, your polarity.”
“What about our nemesis?” someone yelled out.
Dr. Aynesworth sighed. “So, we don’t know who will choose to do good and who won’t. In that way, we’re the same as any educational institution. Some of you will use what we teach you to make the world a better place, some won’t. But regarding the nemesis theory? There’s no proof there is a bad to anyone’s good.”
“That’s not what my mom said,” a young woman sitting close to the front said.
“Aah, Miss Beckerman. We are fully aware of your mom’s thesis on the subject. You should know, as we discussed before you arrived, that we do not subscribe to that theory here at Erudo. However, we do emphasize what science tells us about the two energy levels I’ve already mentioned. Without one, there cannot be the other,” he said quickly, continuing to ignore the waving hand of the woman who’d challenged him. “As you can see, we are a science school. You will be taught the basic physics of what we know regarding your powers. You will be required to learn all the same elements of science our non-super relations learn in their higher classes.”
I heard several moans around me. Luckily, I was always good with science and math, but many of my friends weren’t. I could imagine how frustrating it would be to a lot of the students around me.
“So, that’s it from me. You can now separate into your different groups. You’ll see upperclassmen sitting at tables around the gymnasium. Please go to the table your name corresponds to. And welcome, students. Welcome!”
The entire gym began to erupt with sound, and I turned to find the P table.
