Surviving Year One (Grim Reaper Academy 1)

“More power to you, girl. If you can start saying no to the two Mighty Jerks who, let’s face it, kind of act like they own your soul now.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “No, they don’t.”

“Oh, you are so naïve. You don’t know how they talk about you when you’re not there.”

“How?”

“It’s a pissing contest! GC rubs it in Paz’s face that you’re sharing his bed when you make Paz sleep on the couch. Paz rubs it in GC’s face that you like his bathtub better. The whole school knows that you sleep on your right side, that you have nightmares and talk about some creature with yellow eyes in your sleep, that you wake up before the alarm every day, that you like your coffee dark with one cube of brown sugar… and the list can go on.”

I was livid. I stopped in the middle of the corridor and fixed him with wide, shocked eyes. “You’re kidding me…”

“Nope.” He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his slacks. “They’re competing so hard, that they’re constantly trying to prove who knows you better. I don’t think they even realize the whole school thinks this is the best soap opera ever.” He chuckled. “Every morning, we’re eagerly awaiting the next episode. And it’s so cool that an episode runs, basically, the entire day.”

“Crap. Fuck. I had no idea. They act normal around me.”

“Sure. And the second you turn your back, they turn the school into a cockfighting arena. For real cocks, you know. The hard, fleshy kind.”

“Eww! Come on, I don’t need that image in my head.”

He stepped closer to whisper in my ear. “Have you seen them? I mean… their cocks. Whose is bigger?”

“Oh my God, Klaus! Knock it off! No, I haven’t seen them.” I thought for a second. “Okay, I might have seen GC’s when he shifted into a golden calf. But not up close, or anything.”

“You didn’t touch it? Aww…” He looked genuinely disappointed. “Girl, you’re not taking advantage of this soap opera. We’re all here, cheering for you, thinking you’re getting some every night, and you’re wasting your time, and ours, playing the innocent virgin.”

“Okay, this conversation is over.” I turned on my heels and headed toward the north tower. “See you at dinner.”

Those idiots! I can’t believe them! On the other hand, what else could I have expected from two popular guys, one a false god and one a demon, who were used to having whatever and whoever they wanted all the time? My refusal to sleep with either of them had taken them out of their comfort zone, and this was how they knew to react. I rushed up the spiral staircase, then down the corridor of the rich students. I eyed GC’s door, then Paz’s, and I could have gone to either dorm if I wanted to, since they had given me copies of their keys, but I was done with that. From now on, I was going to live and sleep in my own room. Some of my clothes and books were in theirs, but I could get them later. My laptop was at Paz’s, but it could wait until after dinner.

I forced myself to look away from Paz’s door as I went past it, and just as I was getting ready to turn the corner down my corridor, I thought I caught a glimpse of someone going in the same direction. Not a maid. The red and black uniform told me it was a male student. Weird. Except GC and Paz, when they feel like hovering around my door, no other students come here. I followed the figure, and the closer I got to the guy, the greater the feeling that I knew

who he was. The lights on this corridor were dim, and some of them had been broken a long time ago. The janitor didn’t particularly think it was important to attend to the parts of the Academy that weren’t frequented much.

Short brown hair and a certain, familiar rigidity in his step. Francis. But what was he doing here? That was when a thought crossed my mind. I hadn’t seen Francis in class for two days, or so. He’d been at the VDC table for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but not in class. I’d been so busy juggling my two boyfriends that I hadn’t given it much thought, and now, here he was, walking briskly toward the end of a corridor students never bothered with. I hadn’t bothered with exploring it so farther down, either. I knew most of the rooms here were either small, cramped supply rooms, or old dormitories that had been turned into dumps for broken furniture. My bedroom was, most likely, the only one still in use.

He stopped in front of a door and produced a key out of the pocket of his uniform jacket. The key turned in the lock with an eerie, metallic sound. I stopped in my tracks. He looked up at me, and I froze when his eyes locked with mine. They weren’t the mossy green I knew. His eyes were yellow, with an elongated pupil that reminded me of the eyes of a cold-blooded reptile. It was just for a second, though. He didn’t say anything to me, didn’t react in any way. It was almost as if he looked right through me, then he opened the door and disappeared in the room. He left it open.

“What the…” I looked around me. There was no one else on the corridor, and the door he’d disappeared through was hanging open, tempting me to follow him. “Does he want me to follow him?” And, for all that’s holy, what was with the eyes? Familiar. So familiar…

“Everyone knows you have nightmares and talk about some creature with yellow eyes in your sleep,” I could hear Klaus say.

“Francis? I’d been dreaming about Francis all along?”

Okay, that was that. Time to confront him. Determinately, I walked toward the door and stopped before the empty room. As I’d guessed, it used to be a dormitory, but now it was mostly bare, with only an old mirror on one wall, and a few chairs piled up in a corner. What I hadn’t expected to see was a tall shelf that covered the entire wall to the right, and which had been moved to reveal a dark, hidden entrance. Since Francis was nowhere in sight, it was only logical that he’d sneaked through there.

“Hidden entrances and secret tunnels?” I chuckled to myself. “My jam…”

As I stepped over the threshold, something white that floated in the air caught my attention. I narrowed my eyes, and realized it was a feather. A long, fat, white feather.

“Where did you come from?” I caught it in midair and looked at it more closely. It could have been a goose feather, I guessed. “Weird.” I tucked it in the pocket of my uniform blazer and walked toward the fake shelf.

I pushed it open all the way, so the light from the room would fall over the dark stone stairs and reveal where they led. It didn’t help much. The light only illuminated a few stairs down, and from what I could see, it was a spiral staircase, which meant that it was similar to the one the students used to get up and down the tower. I wasn’t great at spatial orientation, but this staircase seemed to be opposite the main one. I wondered if it went farther down than the one we’d all been using. Why would it be hidden, otherwise? My heart started beating faster. This was exciting. If it had been anyone else but Francis, I wouldn’t have followed him here. But Francis was harmless. So harmless that sometimes I thought he should have been in the Neutral Death Cabal.

“Okay, here we go.” I took out my phone and tapped the flashlight. Careful not to slam the shelf closed behind me, I climbed down the first few stairs. There wasn’t much I could hold onto, so I followed the closest wall with my hand, noticing how the stone got damper and damper the more I descended.

Soon, the space opened up a bit, and I realized I couldn’t hold onto the wall for support anymore. I squeezed my hand at my side, holding my phone up with the other one. The stone stairs seemed to go on forever. I was, practically, descending down the tower, so I knew it would take a while. When I felt like I should have reached the landing on the ground floor, but instead, I was still descending, adrenaline rushed through my veins. Okay, so this wasn’t exactly an alternate exit.

The tiny light coming from my phone didn’t help me much. It was just enough for me to not miss a step or slip on the wet stone. Damp as hell down here! Not that Hell would be literally damp. If I looked up, I couldn’t see the ceiling. It was as if I was in the middle of a tubular cavern that became slightly larger with every step I took. At some point, I thought I could see the end of it. Down at my feet, there was light pouring over from somewhere. The light revealed water. If I continued down the stairs, I would end up ankle-deep in warm water the color of rust. I could tell it was warm because I could feel the humidity rising from its surface.