“I mean I came through the portal to that big meeting amphitheater and wandered all over the two floors above this one, and there’snobody there.”
“That’s not surprising. Most of the people on the council have regular jobs and lives. I’m the only one that does this full time, me and a staff of assistants and clerks.” He talked with me all the way back up both flights of stairs. He obviously knew where every room was and its purpose. “There’s a small army that stays on site, two or three people from most of the Unseen factions. And a staff to keep the place clean, but it’s a skeleton crew.”
By the time he finished telling me all about who was normally at the Junta headquarters, we were up three flights of stairs, and walking through the door that lead to the path to my school. I’d tried to pay attention but I knew I’d need a guide probably several more times before I could make the trek myself.
“I’ll leave you here,” Alexander said at the entrance to the school. I smiled and thanked him for his help. Before he turned to walk back into the main building, he caught my hand and brought it to his lips. “I love having you here, Jen. We should make it a regular thing.”
I watched him walk back into the headquarters with a crooked smile on my face. He really was growing on me.
Turning to enter the school, I discovered I was right. They needed a ton of help. There were people bustling around everywhere. “Who’s in charge?” I asked a man carrying a box full of what looked like bedding.
“Big guy in the back,” he said as he passed by.
“Big guy, okay.” I walked toward the back of the building, peeking into every room on the way. Most were dorms or bedrooms. The classrooms were bare. And there was one room that I was pretty sure was fireproof, but I’d have to ask.
I finally reached the back room and found the big guy was none other than my newest friend. “Doryu!” I exclaimed, thrilled to see him. “I didn’t know you were running this show.”
“I’m not, really. Just providing my expertise about what I think the Sárkány will need. This is going to be your school.”
“I’m glad you’re here. I don’t know the first thing about building anything.”
“You’re in luck. I was an engineer in a former life, a very long time ago.” He handed a to-do list to a woman that walked in. I tried not to do a double take, because she had gills. I had to learn how to take all the different features and abilities that I’d be seeing without a discernible reaction. The last thing I wanted to do was offend someone.
“Was that a fireproof room I saw?”
“Absolutely. It’s covered in a thin sheet of metal, but it’ll also be spelled to contain fire.”
“What about smoke?”
“We don’t make smoke, not really. We can smoke before we burst into flames, but our actual flames are more magical than real and don’t put off smoke while they’re on our body, unless something else catches on fire.”
“Our clothes?”
“They’d smoke, yeah. But anyone in that room would go in with minimal clothing.”
“I’m going to have to be one of the students on that one.” I’d never started figuring out how to bring out my flames.
“It will be my pleasure to get you into something skimpy and teach you.”
I barked out a laugh. He was a cheeky one. “Oh, really?”
“Oh, yes.” He pulled out a drawer and put his clipboard into it, then turned to me. “I’m all yours. Would you like a tour?”
“I absolutely would.”
We walked around the school, talking about the future of our species. He was clearly worried about his kinsmen. “Have you helped with the evacuations?”
“I was going to, but I decided to stay here and help get this place ready so that they’d have somewhere to go. Giving them a crash course in Earth and ten thousand dollars isn’t enough. They need more time to acclimate.”
I agreed with him. I’d been on a Sárkány crash course, and having a neutral safe space to go to would’ve been heaven. “Have we arranged for what we’ll need to accommodate the people like Riley who come with children?”
“Yes, there’s a storage area downstairs with cribs and other baby implements, and we will arrange for other needed items on a case by case basis.”
The building was wonderful. It had everything we needed to start a school for pupils of all ages. When we finished the tour, I settled in with him in one of the dorm rooms where we assembled beds.
“You know, you’d think we could get someone to hocus pocus this into shape,” I said as I finished another bed with a screw left over. I grabbed the instructions and tried to see where I’d missed a step. “Also, I think it’s delightful that the Unseen gets their furniture from IKEA.”
He gave me a blank look. “Where?”
