Chapter SIX

ALEXANDRIA

I did not know how long I had passed out. Or was I asleep?

“Wake up,” someone kicked my sides roughly. “Wake the fuck up.”

“Ugh,” I groaned, blinking rapidly. Where was I?

The memories hit me. The accident, my mums screaming, me repeating the weird words. I sat up slowly, a dull ache in my head, confusion flooding my brain.

I blinked slowly, trying to focus. My sides hurt, the place the person had kicked stinging and I sat up slowly, careful not to upset the aching parts.

“Good,” a loud screeching voice made me close my ears. “You are awake.”

“Am I?” I asked. “What happened?”

“I don't know, but you need to stand up and get processed quickly.”

I finally got my bearings. I was in what seemed to be a little room, all white. The person speaking to me was typing on what seemed to be on a computer, but there was something off about her.

“Where am I?”

“Like I said, Processing,” she groaned. “You're literally the first human here in a thousand years and I have post traumatic stress disorder from the last.”

A thousand years ago. “There's no way you are that old,” I mumbled, looking at the little woman sitting on the chair. She raised her head up, purple eyes meeting mine. “Thank you,” she smiled, showing me a sharp tooth.

“Holy fuck,” I shuddered. “What are you?”

“What are you, a wimp?” She tossed back. “I am a wood faerie, or whatever you guys up there are calling us now.”

“Yeah, and wood faeries do not exist,” I snapped back. “You know, they are fictional for a reason.”

She blinked. “You poor soul, you are clueless.”

Of course I was clueless. “Where are my mums? We were being chased by this weird doctor and what seemed to be a wolf.”

“Ugh, you met a wolf, smelling beings,” she answered. “I don't know where your mothers are. Come sit.”

I walked to the chair opposite hers, eyeing her with suspicion. Her nails were long, purple like her eyes and she was bald. Completely bald.

“Stop looking at the head,” she said. “Name.”

“Alexandria,” I answered.

“Age?”

“Probably a thousand years too huh?” I joked. She sent a stern glare my way, making me swallow nervously. “Twenty-one years old.”

“Species?”

“Human?” I asked unsure, raising a brow. She continued typing on the computer. “Since you are human, any sickness, allergies, anything at all that can easily kill you?”

“No allergies,” I replied. “Death is not exactly on my bingo card.”

“Babay, death is on everyone's card, it's just a matter of where and when. Okay get up,” she instructed. I stood up, waiting for her to come over the desk. “All I need now is just to place your mark.”

“Wait what?”

Hot searing flashing pain shot up my chest before I could ask what mark. Her fingers dug into my skin, her face the picture of concentration as I screamed, practically getting burned.

“Shit,” I cried as she pulled her fingers away. “No warning?”

“Not really,” she shrugged. “Would you have let me do it if you knew?”

No shit I wouldn't have. A small web of veins started to firm across where she cut open, stitching itself backwards. “Well, you have been accepted. Welcome to the Academy of the Damned.”

Was this it?

“Oh no,” she laughed, seeing my expression. “It's not here. Okay, ta da.”

She clapped her hand and a portal opened beneath my feet, and I fell down. Somehow, the fact she had said we were going down helped me, but I could stop the scream coming from my lips as I fell.

Finally, my body hit the floor. Red mud stained my clothes, some of it getting into my mouth. I stood up, dusting myself quickly.

“Move,” someone brushed my shoulder in a low growl. I watched the creature move, my mouth hanging open. Its legs were horse-like, its upper body human and it had wings in its back. That's when I realized I was in what seemed to be a long line.

“Move, bitch,” another person said. But just like the others, this wasn't human either. My feet moved, like my instincts were protecting me. Large birds flew across the red sky, their screeching noise enough to send chills down my spine but the crowd I was in seemed very unbothered.

Above is, iron gates loomed ahead. They seemed to stretch up into the sky, looking more like a prison than a house. The road we walked in was narrow and the screams of falling down into what I did not want to imagine covered us kike a cloak.

Finally, I got to the entrance of the gates.

Academy of The Damned.

I followed the crowd inside, my hand wrapped around the only piece of familiarity I had. The necklace my mum's had given me was kind of a comfort, but it still did nothing, when what looked like a dragon passed me slowly, crushing the unlucky souls beneath its feet.

There was a big signpost that said orientation and so I pushed through the crowd, heading there. A small gathering of people stood, and a tall girl stood there. Her hair was brown, down to her waist but when she stared at the crowd, she had no pupils in her eyes.

“Gather ye, new comers,” she grinned. “Welcome to the Academy of the Damned, where your soul comes to learn what it is to perish.”

There was a small band of what seemed to be demons behind her. “I am Alstra, your let's say caregiver for today. I am required to tell you little imps everything about the academy.”

Finally, I could understand what the fuck my mothers has sent me to.

“Now, I can smell something weird here,” she smiled, her grin showing razor-like teeth. “My my my,” she dropped to the ground and began waddling through the crowd.

I pushed backwards, trying to hide but it was too late. Alstra walked straight for me, her grin growing.

“My my, do we have a human in hell?”