Читать книгу Midnight Academy. Born at midnight - - Страница 3

My guide and I walked out of the main building of the academy, under the light of the lanterns, together with madam. During my descent to the first floor, I learned that my things would be brought directly to the room allocated to me. But not mom. My parent chose not to see me before leaving, which was incredibly offensive. But she sent a note through Madame Pelisey.

However, I didn’t read anything new in it. Aletra Evesey promised to write to me once a week and asked me not to be stubborn, emphasizing that my presence at this academy was the best decision for both of us. This way she wouldn’t worry about me, because I was now under reliable protection.

But she didn’t take into account that I’m not a soulless robot either. Where should I put my excitement? How to get rid of emerging fears?

Having stood on the porch of the academy to wait for Madame Pelisey to disappear behind the gate, I confidently headed towards it, completely ignoring both the gargoyle that was not sparing my nerves and the student assigned to me.

No matter what mom says, we will be safer together. I'll look after her, and she'll look after me. This plan worked perfectly for eighteen years.

And it’s elementary: who will be on duty while mom is sleeping? When I grew up, we took turns doing this service.

No, I understood perfectly well that she was tired. I didn't like the nomadic life either. At first it seemed interesting: new cities, new people, so much unknown ahead. But the complete lack of consistency is annoying. Everyone wants a home where they can return after long travels and feel relaxed and comfortable.

– Hey, where are you going? – the brunette called out to me as soon as I ran down the steps. – The freshman dormitory is on the other side.

“Go there yourself,” I snapped, simultaneously sticking out my tongue to the once again petrified gargoyle. “I’m not going to stay here just because your madam said so.”

“So they brought you here by force?”

“They brought it,” I stubbornly corrected, walking around the flower beds along the stone-paved path.

– I'm sorry.

I looked at the guy in surprise, but only for a moment. His face actually showed genuine regret.

“People rarely come here against their will. Usually due to an unstable gift.

– I don’t have any gift! – I repeated the lie.

“Yes, whatever you say,” he said conciliatoryly. “But you still can’t get out of the gate.” For this you need a pass.

– I can do without a pass. Go about your business already. I definitely don't need spies.

Having reached the gate, I just waved away the guy who again wanted to tell me something. Instead, she touched the gate, intending to simply climb over it. I hoped that my mother was delayed on this side or had not yet managed to drive away from the library, unloading my few things, otherwise it would be more difficult to find her.

But I will find it. Because together and only together we are strong.

However, as soon as I grabbed the metal bars with my other hand, I was abruptly thrown away from the gate. It was so thrown that if I landed on the grass or path, I would definitely have left bruises.

But I was lucky. The brunette softened my fall. By yourself. Having knocked him down, I found us in a flowerbed with shaped grass. Turning over to face him, she found it.

“I told you: you need a pass to go out the gate,” Nirel raised his head.

At the same time, he held me by the waist with both hands.

Resting her palms on his chest to be as far away from his face as possible, she looked around. It threw us back quite a bit – about thirty meters. I wonder if I can get a ladder around here somewhere?

The guy's voice broke into my thoughts:

– I understand that you are angry now.

I was truly surprised.

–Am I angry? Yes, I'm furious. Mom left me here, and she went to hell.

“She probably had reasons for this.” I'm sure if she could, she wouldn't leave you here.

Pulling me close again, he suddenly rolled with me. Now I was lying on the grass, which made me both embarrassed and taken aback, because his face was again unacceptably close, and he was hanging over me, supporting the weight of his body in his arms.

– You don’t even know her! – I was indignant, floundering under him.

In order to free himself, he had to turn on his side and with an effort, out of stubbornness, tear one of his hands off the ground. This was the only way I was able to roll away and get to my feet.

The student then stood up.

– Can we get a ladder? Or a high stepladder?

Carefully suppressing the embarrassment that arose out of nowhere, I took a closer look at the surrounding surroundings. I looked among the flower beds, grass, benches and bushes for something that I could use to build a lifting tower. The benches were not suitable for this purpose: their metal legs were embedded in the paths.

– Very unlikely. And even if something similar can be found at the academy, no one will give you anything. Let's go, I'll take you to the dorm. There is still a little time before dinner to settle into the new place.

– Nirel… That’s your name, right? – I clarified, just in case, and, having received a confident nod, continued: – Nirel, you need to go and settle in. And I need to get a pass. Where can I get it?

– Only with the freshman curator. And for this you need to go to the hostel.

A mocking smile appeared on his lips. And so I understood its nature. To get the pass, I still have to do what I just tried my best to avoid.

“I’m sure you’ll like it here,” he softened, motioning for me to go forward.

– But not me.

Walking around him in a wide circle, I walked with an independent air to the two-story building closest to the academy. It was also built from gray stone. Under the night sky it seemed dark and gloomy.

“The freshman building is on the other side,” they politely informed me, but I directly felt that the guy was laughing at that moment.

Personally, I was not laughing. Time irrevocably slipped through our fingers, and the longer we walked along the paths past benches and lampposts, falling under the shadows of trees with voluminous foliage, the stronger the confidence grew in me that I would not make it in time.

I won’t be able to get near our rental car before my mom leaves.

–Are you a freshman too? – I asked, looking sideways at my guide.

I felt comfortable walking next to him in silence, but my innate curiosity did not allow me to remain silent. Nirel was like those who were called “golden boys” in the schools where I studied. Ideal appearance, ideal manners and enormous pride tied to immense arrogance.

If these guys didn't have a brain at all, they were incredibly annoying. And if everything was in order with the thought, then they evoked fear on an instinctive level. Because they made wonderful manipulators.

I didn’t yet understand which nut I got.

– Freshman? – the student was restrainedly surprised, defiantly raising his right eyebrow. – No, I'm already on the third. There are two and a half years left until graduation.

– And this one?

Hinting at Spider-Man, I played with my eyebrows.

– This? – Nirel asked, frowning. -Are you talking about Percy? He's also in third. He just can’t come to terms with the fact that I have a better gift of premonition than he does.

A chuckle escaped the expressive lips, and with an effort of will I forced myself to look at his eyes.

“I thought that I wouldn’t be able to find him in the form of a spider.”

– Find… Were you playing hide and seek, or what?

I was horrified. Is there really nothing to do here?

– You can say so. Only the territory is not limited and there are no rules. Each of us has abilities. So we checked them.

– Like acute vision or hearing? – I suggested casually, trying not to be seen as being overly interested.

The guy thought for a moment.

– Let’s put it this way: what do you know about Midnighters anyway?

As promised, by this time the guy had escorted me to the freshman building, but I was in no hurry to go inside the gray two-story building.

I understood that running to the gate, rustling with slippers, no longer made sense. Now you need to act with a cool head, with a clearly defined plan. This technique worked best. At least with mom.

Sitting down on a bench opposite the high porch, I decided to find out as much information as possible. Moreover, Nirel answered willingly, did not hide anything and tried to add more details, as if he were explaining to a child.

I was not a child, but my knowledge was characterized by one single word – meager. There was nothing I could do to make the story easier for my interlocutor. I knew almost nothing that was really, in my opinion, important.

I only learned today that there is a territory hidden from human eyes. After a sleepless night spent on the road, a hectic morning with changing cars, and a not very tasty lunch at an eatery with the telling name “Massacre,” my mother brought me to the central city library in Ashwool.

This building was very different from its counterparts on the street. The old houses here were demolished one after another due to their unsuitable condition, and in their place two-story townhouses with an attic under the roof were built. Red brick, dark brown roof. The houses with several apartments looked cozy and well-kept, but the library did not correspond at all to their architecture, or to the new look of the area as a whole.

No, this building also looked clean and tidy. But at the same time, it felt like Her Majesty the Queen in a fluffy crinoline dress was stuck between modern families from an advertisement for toothpaste or mayonnaise. I was even afraid to go inside. No, I wasn’t afraid that the walls would suddenly collapse, but I was sincerely worried whether we could even go there.

What if, instead of a library, there has long been a museum with the most valuable exhibits from the times of that same queen?

I was wrong. Inside, the treasury of knowledge resembled the most ordinary library, as I imagined it in my imagination. Not a school one, of course, there were many times more books here, but it was not forced to the point of “impossible to pass through.”

Along the walls there were neat, identical cabinets made of light wood, up to the ceiling. They stood inside the hall in such a way that they created endlessly stretching rows, at the very end of which only dull darkness could be seen.

To the right of the entrance, behind the long counter, a dressing room with elongated floor hangers with dozens of hooks was visible through a wide window. And right in front of us there was a narrow table, behind which, under the dim light of a table lamp, a stern older lady was revealed.

Everything seemed strict: the neat bun of gray hair, the look, and the light gray dress, which I could see only after the woman stood up.

– A psycho has been chasing us for eighteen years, and we came to the library? – I was puzzled, shivering under the gaze of almost colorless gray eyes. – What do you want to find here, mom? A guide on the topic “how to properly bury the corpse of a maniac”?

Mom tried to stop me:

– Don’t be sarcastic and stop being angry.

– But you don’t explain anything! Although I promised! – I was indignant, raising my voice.

“It’s not customary to shout here, mademoiselle,” the librarian croaked colorlessly.

And I had a persistent desire to poke her with a stick from a distance to ask: “Is she even alive?” Because of the echo, the voice seemed otherworldly, as if distant and at the same time three-dimensional.

Turning to me, the parent hugged me tightly, squeezing my shoulders. And when she pulled away, her gaze found my eyes. She looked carefully, piercingly, directly, as only she could.

If she now says that we will now live here, I will certainly bite her.

“Sally, I just don’t have that much time to tell you everything right now.” One question will lead to another. This conversation is not for one minute,” she tenderly touched my cheek with her palm. “But I want you to know, daughter, that I love you very much.” Everything that I have done, am doing and will do is solely for your sake.

– Why did we come to the library? – I persistently repeated my question, because the answer to it was the simplest.

And something else will definitely not follow him. Just one word: information, books, manual. About how to survive autonomously in the forest for a whole year if a maniac is chasing you.

But my mother couldn’t fit it into one word:

– Because this is where there is a passage to places where ordinary people cannot get.

– But we are ordinary people!

I became stubborn. She became stubborn because she wanted to finally hear at least some specifics. The recognition that I had been secretly waiting for for the last four years – ever since I realized that I was a little, but still different from normal people. Ever since I began to subconsciously guess that the maniac was somehow connected with my abilities.

Guess, yes. But don’t believe in it, don’t think about it, don’t reflect. Out of fear of being right, I cut off my guesses in the bud.

The lady in gray was clearly starting to get angry:

– Silence.

“One more second, please,” Mom asked, turning around for a moment, after which she said with a soft smile: “No, Sally.” We are not ordinary people. At least I do. I'm Midnight, honey. One of those who never sleeps at night. Of those who maintain order on this side of the world and on the other.

– Which one? By Dark? – I remembered her words in the car.

– This is what I was talking about. Behind one answer there is the next question, but I really don’t have time now, although I would really like to finally get rid of this burden. One thing I can say for sure: you will get all the answers to your questions elsewhere. Then when you are safe. We're on the second floor.

The last statement she made was no longer for me. Hearing this simple phrase, the Gray Lady silently took her chair again and feigned painstaking work. We freely walked past her desk to the massive gilded door that was located on the right.

The simple curls on the canvas sparkled under the dim light of the lamps. The door looked like the entrance to a treasury and nothing else, but behind it there was a wide staircase of two flights, with carved railings and finials in the form of folded wings of bats.

I even dared to touch one.

Having gone up to the second floor, we just as easily found ourselves in another room. It was almost no different from the previous one, but what is most striking is that we were greeted by the same Gray Lady with a face that did not express any emotions at all.

There were two options: either I had gone crazy, or my mother had gone crazy. However, it could not be ruled out that we had both been out of our minds for a long time.

Questions, questions, questions… Biting my tongue, I kept expecting that we would now meet with someone from the top of this mental hospital. With someone who will quickly and succinctly insert all the necessary information into my head, and then we will go on a new trip. Somewhere where the maniac who was pursuing us will definitely not get to.

But reality, as always, did not agree with the fantasies.

Silently nodding to the librarian, my mother took out a dagger with large red stones in the hilt from her jacket and suddenly turned to me. More precisely, to the door behind me, and therefore I had to actively step aside.

I watched, feeling confused, as she inserted the blade into the gap between the door and the floor. Repeating the outline of the doorway with its point, the mother straightened up and opened the door, turning the round gilded handle.

She let me go ahead.

I went down with caution. So far nothing has changed in the surroundings. The same staircase, the same walls and tops. Even the hall on the first floor is still the same. And the Gray Lady is the same. Stands there, doesn't blink.

Looking at my mother, I received a warm, indulgent smile. And it was a no-brainer that she knew something that I had no idea about yet. But the longer I had to wait for the explosion, the more terrible the pictures of my near future became.

And yet I was the first to go out onto the porch. She went out, looked around and almost counted the steps. The parent caught me by the shoulders literally at the last moment.

Her gaze again expressed understanding. She seemed to know how much confusion was in me now and what feelings and doubts were overwhelming me.

Now I was going down much slower. Firstly, because it finally dawned on me: instead of bright day, we were greeted by night. Secondly, the street was radically different from Ashwool Street. Instead of sprawling construction projects and brand new townhouses, there were long Victorian-style houses with white trim, carved corners and low railings around the balconies.

Two horses harnessed to a dark carriage rushed past us. Here and there there were passers-by who seemed to have stepped out of the pages of a history textbook or the frames of a pseudo-historical film.

“You will study here,” my mother said, as soon as we stopped at the gates of the academy, behind which stood a gloomy tall building with spiers and ugly gargoyles on the ledges.

“I’ve already graduated from school,” I reminded, forcing myself to stay in place by an effort of will.

It was simply unbearable to want to take even a couple of steps back.

– This is not a school, Sally. This is an academy for Midnighters.

Taking a large burgundy rectangular map from the inside pocket of her jacket, she placed it directly into the open mouth of the stone bat. The mouth instantly closed and opened with a click, leaving two impressive holes on the card. Then the gate next to the gate creaked open.

I was in no hurry to go inside.

“But you yourself said that I’m not like that.” What will I learn here then?

– Everything that I didn’t tell you about, because I recklessly believed that this side would never touch you. But she touched, which means you must be prepared for the fact that our world is not as simple as it seems at first glance. And he won’t find you here,” she was the first to go through the gate.

Without doubting for a moment, I immediately followed her, hoping to finally get an answer to the main question. Clenching my fingers into fists, I felt that the solution was already close.

– Who, mom? Who have we been hiding from all this time?

Silently continuing our way past the working fountain, on which stood an ugly stone gargoyle, she nevertheless responded dully, as soon as we reached the steps of the main building:

– From the Hunter.

But it didn’t become one gram clearer.

“Hey, you seem to be lost in thought,” Nirel touched my hand, pulling me out of recent memories.

Catching the attentive gaze of his green eyes, I directly and unvarnishedly blurted out what I knew about the Midnighters. There were only two theses: for some reason they do not sleep at night and maintain order in the world on both sides.

“Very generalized, of course,” he drawled slightly dissatisfied. – That is, you don’t know anything at all about where you ended up.

“Actually,” I confirmed dully. – We entered the library from one side and left from the other. I thought I had lost my mind.

Having carefully examined me from head to toe, the student made an unexpected conclusion:

– So you are one of the Coming Ones. – But, probably catching the misunderstanding on my face, he added: – From those who came from the world of people. And I’m wondering why your clothes and shoes are so strange. Okay, then let's start with the main thing. Our ancestors were not people.

“Of course, not people,” I agreed, suspecting that we would now plunge somewhere much deeper than the Stone Age. – Everyone knows that we descended from monkeys.

Nirel did not deny this fact:

– Once upon a time – perhaps. But then our ancestors chose a different path. They, Sally, became vampires.