The Arena by Bradford Bates

Author:Bradford Bates [Bates, Bradford]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780996638920
Published: 2015-09-29T23:00:00+00:00

11

Jackson

I headed back to my dorm room in a semi stunned kind of silence. I was going to have to sit down and think real hard about what I wanted from this place and if it was worth it. Stillman conveniently left out that there would be a risk of dying in the future. Not to mention having to fight for a living, and against what? Pretenders, what did that even mean? I wasn’t sure that was the kind of life I wanted. On the other hand, it was what my parents had done. That seemed not to have worked out so well for them, but just how many people had they saved before their lives were cut short? I found it harder and harder to be mad at them, knowing they’d put their lives on the line to save people they didn’t even know.

Just what was magic, anyway? I had yet to see any of my fellow students actually cast a spell. What if it was all just smoke and mirrors? I was starting to wonder if I had just found myself trapped in some kind of weird cult. Then I remembered Alby and what she had said. You are one of them. I guess I was one of them, but what exactly did that mean? I had been excited to go to college and was looking forward to a normal life. Being one of the Gifted meant I would never do anything normal again. It was still a bit of a shocker. We’d better get to the magic part pretty soon so I could see if working somewhere where I could die daily was worth it.

Swiping my card on the door panel and opening it, I almost missed the note taped to the front. Great, just what I needed: some asshat leaving a note on my door. As if I didn’t already have enough to think about tonight. Isn’t that how it always worked out? Just when you thought you couldn’t take it anymore, something else always landed in your lap. I plucked the note from the door and headed inside.

Taking a look at the note, I was surprised to see that the envelope was imprinted with the same symbol as my necklace. Underneath the symbol, the words “Novus Ordo Seclorum” were printed. “New order of the ages,” I thought. Just like on the back of the one dollar bill. Placing the note on the counter, I moved into the kitchen to get a frozen pizza ready for dinner. Yeah, it was only four thirty, but hey, when you have to be up by six for a two-hour-plus workout, it pays to get in bed early.

Plucking the note off the counter, I plopped down onto the couch to open it up. I had to read the note a few times before I grew frustrated by more cryptic shit. Not everyone who helps you is a friend. Seriously, what the hell did that even mean? It was like when we used to just add Confucius says in front of things to make them sound like sage advice.

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