Shadow Walker (Neteru Academy Books) (16 page)

“Shadows!” someone yelled, and the Great Hall exploded in whoops and yells.

From the response of the students and from the smiling faces among the faculty, this clearly was how the Shadows made their entrance during the talent divisions. Couldn’t someone have warned them before she died of heart failure? She looked at Tami, whose eyes were glowing with excitement—now that she knew they weren’t being attacked.

“Oh, that was awesome!” she said, and Sarah laughed.

“We welcome our new Shadows—the most talented members of the Specials division,” Counselor Z said, and the applause rose once again.

Next the sound of trumpets filled the Hall, and six large flags dropped from the ceiling. Each was a different color or combination of colors and bore a different symbol. The red-and-white flag with a gold crown represented the Specials; the purple flag with the image of an eye represented the Clairvoyants; the yellow flag with a lightning bolt down the middle represented the Tacticals; the orange flag with the image of an open lotus blossom represented the Olfactors; the blue flag with the image of an Akhan war horn represented the Audios; and the green flag with an Akhan war drum represented the Blends.

Six flag bearers appeared and began to walk down the aisles. Cheers went up around the room as the students cheered for their divisions.

“Who is that? Tami asked, staring.

Sarah followed her line of vision and immediately saw who she was talking about. It was the Specials flag bearer.

He was tall and dark-haired, and his intense gray eyes held a hypnotic quality. His gaze almost seemed intrusive; Sarah wanted to look away but couldn’t. It was hard to tell what he was. Part vampire, maybe?

“Hybrid, you think?” Allie whispered in a rush. “Like some kinda telepath…but he also gives off something else, something that scares me.”

“Whatever he is, he’s sexy as hell,” Tami murmured.

Sarah just shrugged, her eyes still following the boy with the hypnotic gray eyes. Allie was right; there was something frightening about his vibe. She tried to shake off her uneasy response to him, reasoning that if an ancient oracle, plus her mom and Nana, had allowed him to enter the Academy, then he couldn’t be genuinely dangerous.

Once the flag bearers got to the front, they turned and faced the assembly.

“You have each received your letters, now please take your place behind your division’s flag,” Counselor Z said. “Come, come now,” she continued, when no one leaped to their feet. “Get behind the flag of your talent.”

Sarah looked around in confusion and was horrified to realize that all eyes were fastened on the Neteru Guardian kids. This was the moment they had all been waiting for, and no one was moving until they saw what divisions the Neteru crew had placed in.

Sarah wanted to die. There went her slender hopes of slipping into her division unnoticed. She’d known all along that it had been a pointless fantasy, but still…

The rest of the compound girls sat there, frozen, looking at Sarah to make the first move. Why were they looking at her? She was going to sit there all day if she had to.

Of course, Al had no qualms about rising to the occasion. He shone in moments like this, and why wouldn’t he? He wasn’t a Blend and hadn’t shamed his parents. Her brother stood, shoulders thrown back proudly, and walked calmly and confidently to the Specials flag bearer and stood behind him. Cheers erupted all over the Great Hall, clearly from other Specials. They had scored big, getting one of the Neteru kids in their section. When Val got up and joined her brother, more cheers rose.

Miguel stepped out and walked over to the Audio section. Cheers went up just as he was about to step behind the flag bearer when Counselor Zehiradangra said, “Wait.”

The Hall fell silent.

They watched Miguel lift his chin and straighten defensively. His parents, along with Aunt Juanita and Uncle Jose, leaned forward apprehensively, trying unsuccessfully to seem neutral. There was a heated discussion going on up on the dais that made Sarah and the others crane their necks.

“Young man, you are in the wrong section,” Counselor Zehiradangra told him. “Your placement has been re-evaluated. You will be with the Specials starting today.” Miguel’s face lit up. “But note,” she added. “From those to whom much is given, much is required….”

Ignoring the implicit warning in the oracle’s words, the Specials broke out into a collective chant. “Special Forces, hoorah!”

Whoops and cheers rang out as Miguel ran over to bump fists with Alejandro and Valencio, laughing. And Uncle Jose’s joy was uncontained as he shouted, “Yes! That’s my boy!”

When things settled down again, all eyes turned back to the remaining Neteru kids.

Allie had started to spark. Hyacinth took her hand, but she looked at Sarah with sad eyes and shook her head
. I don’t want to,
she said in Sarah’s mind.
I don’t want to be separated from you guys.

You have to,
Sarah mentally told her and smiled a little.

“Oh, what the hell?” Tami said, standing abruptly, breaking into Sarah’s thoughts. Her friends stared as she marched over and stood behind the Blend flag bearer, lifting her chin defiantly.

At first no one said anything, and then confused murmurs rose throughout the Hall. Even the Blend flag bearer looked like he didn’t understand what was going on until a few scattered but puzzled cheers gave way to more enthusiastic ones, as if the Blends were slowly realizing that Tami standing behind their flag wasn’t a joke. But Sarah heard comments like, “One of them is a Blend?” and “Are you serious?”

She leaned forward and whispered , “Hyacinth, Allie, just go.”

“No, I—”

“
Go
,” Sarah said, her tone leaving no room for argument. “Now.”

Hyacinth’s shoulders slumped. Allie bit her lip as though she were about to cry. But both of them reluctantly got up and walked across the Great Hall, and then Hyacinth stood behind the Clairvoyant flag, while Allie went to stand with the Tactical division. Wild cheers went up around the Hall, and someone yelled out, “Now that’s more like it!”

Sarah noticed that Melissa Gray and her two friends clapped apathetically. She looked meaningfully at her stressed-out compound brother, Donnie.

He nodded, but he looked like he was about to puke.

Sarah took a deep breath and then stood up.

A hush fell over the crowd again. She refused to look at her parents’ expressions and imagined they had to be dying a thousand deaths, just like she was now. If she’d looked and seen pity in their eyes, she might have bolted for the door. Instead, she kept her gaze focused on the flag bearers.

Sarah began to walk down the aisle, aware that Donnie was following her. She felt the weight of everyone’s gaze on her and raised her eyes to meet Tami’s, which were locked on hers in moral support. Her best friend gave her an encouraging nod, though Tami hardly looked like she was enjoying herself. Maybe the old saying was true and misery
did
love company. Sarah was halfway to her destiny when Counselor Zehiradangra called out to her.

“Sarah.”

Startled, she stopped in her tracks and looked up.

Her mother and grandmother looked mildly surprised, as well. Her father took a step forward, suddenly tense.

“Latent talent is often the most powerful force,” Counselor Z said calmly. “There are many gifts competing within you for dominance, and I predict that in a very short time you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”

Now what in the world did that mean?

Sarah saw her mother smile, while her father continued to frown. Had he hoped that Counselor Z would place
her
in the Specials at the last minute, too?

“You may join your division.”

No last-minute save, and in front of the whole school. Hushed snickers followed her. Damn…why couldn’t she have caught a break like Miguel had?

Sarah walked the rest of the distance and stepped behind the Blends flag bearer, then listened as the Great Hall exploded in a cacophony of voices—both scandalized and unbelieving. The fact that one of the Neterus was a Blend was obviously bad enough, but also the daughter of the Riveras, plus a third from the Neteru compound…? The school seemed to be in a complete uproar. Sarah closed her eyes, wishing the floor would just open up and swallow her whole.

“Now will everyone please join their divisions?” Counselor Z called out in exasperation.

The rest of the students jumped to their feet and scrambled to line up behind the appropriate flags. When they had all gathered with their divisions, Headmistress Stone stepped forward once again. She raised her hands.

“Hope is the future. Hope is our students,” she called out. “Hope is that one day, we will all be free!”

The dragons shifted, their inner illumination lighting the tapestries, which displayed images of all the Guardian teams from around the world, whether they had children at the Academy or not.

Multicolored lights danced within leaping, spiraling, twining dragon bodies. The sound of Kalimbas and African, Asian and Latin drums filled the air from the edges of the Great Hall, as Nod beings created a fusion of world music, adding in didgeridoos, bagpipes, lyres, gourd shakers, cow bells and harps.

“Your life-changing journey begins right now,” Headmistress Stone said, excitement and pride brimming in her eyes.
“Ashe.”

Sarah looked over at Ayana, who smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.

The talent divisions were finally over.

Pandemonium broke out as the ceremony came to a close and the students said their good-byes to their parents. Thirty tapestries were lit, each one bearing an incoming student’s larger-than-life smiling image, along with the flag from their country of origin, which gleamed as brightly as their smiles. The images shifted to include the parents. There were proud couples, cheering single mothers and happy single fathers, even grandparents and other surrogates. Some were just shimmering images of the dead. The complex variety of what made up a family was as wonderfully assorted as all the new faces that Sarah had encountered since her arrival.

She watched as her mom and dad spent time with the other new students, especially those who had no parents. Her mother produced tiny items from her pockets to hand to each one. Some got a small charm for their hair, or a bracelet, some a tiny ring. Each student got something from her as a token of remembrance, but what they seemed to crave most was her mother’s hug.

And her mother didn’t rush those angel-winged embraces.

Her mother held each student until they were ready to let her go. Then she said something to them, something private and nice, that made that student nod and stand up taller or outright promise her they’d never forget what she’d said. Her mother had that effect on people. It was surely something from the divine. What was odd was seeing the same support being offered by her dad…a steady hand on a shoulder, a deep, introspective word, a pep talk such as only he could deliver, and then a hug followed by a fist bump that left even the eldest, most confident guys in the hall starstruck.

Maybe it was then, for the first time in her life, that she truly understood just what she’d had. Her grandmother’s words and the stories that Ayana had brought home from school now made her realize how afraid she’d been all these years…just how scared she was that, one day, when they left home, her parents might not come back. When her mother faced her, Sarah barreled into her arms. Humiliation singed her; she wasn’t supposed to act like a big baby in front of all these people.

Willing herself not to cry, she inhaled deeply as her mother stroked her back.

“I’m gonna miss you, too,” her mother said in her ear. “You know you are my favorite girl, and you know I believe in you. Grow. Learn. Make friends. Now it’s your turn. That’s all you have to do in order to make your dad and me proud, all right?”

Sarah nodded quickly, her face still hidden as she sniffed hard, those glorious wings of her mother’s surrounding her with downy warmth.

“I know you’re scared,” her mother whispered. “So am I. I’ve never done this before, either.”

Sarah looked up into her mother’s shimmering eyes and took in her soft smile.

“Never have I left my babies away from home. This is new for me. You be the strong one for me today, all right?”

Sarah smiled and sniffed hard as her father came over and broke into their hug.

“Hey, doesn’t Dad get some love?”

He pulled her away from her mother and into his arms. “I was always papi. Now…I guess you’re too big for me to be hugging you in front of all your new friends, huh? But I don’t care, I’m gonna do it anyway, even if I embarrass both of us.”

Sarah laughed as she laid her head against her father’s chest and allowed two big tears to roll down the bridge of her nose. “You’ll always be my papi,” she said through another hard sniff.

Her dad hugged her tighter and spoke into her hair. “Good. You let all these good-looking knuckleheads in here know your father has fangs, too. You call me.”

She laughed and stared up at him. “Daddy, we’ve been through this already—like a couple of hours ago.”

He let her go with a wide grin. “Yeah, I know, I know, I’m sounding like a broken record.”

Sarah frowned and tilted her head in curiosity.

“You’re dating yourself, honey,” her mother said, smiling hard.

Her father slapped his forehead and gave her a lopsided grin. “What am I gonna do, boo? Answer me that. Somewhere along the way I lost track of time and got old. How in the hell that happened, I don’t know.”

“Goes like that,” Uncle Mike said, lifting Sarah off her feet for a hug, and making her laugh as he passed her off to her uncle Jack. “All these kids are growing up so fast. Look at my Ayana.”

“It happened in your sleep, dude,” Uncle Jack said, laughing and hugging her as he moved between the students. “It snuck up on ya. The passage of time is a weapon from the dark side, man—ask me how I know!”

Her father laughed as her aunts fought to get a hug in between her uncles’ attentions, as everybody’s children became anybody’s in a jumble of extended family.