Read Spearwood Academy Volume Two (The Spearwood Academy Book 2) for Free Online Page B

it, let’s keep moving.”
    He turns back around
with a sigh and we continue to move. It feels like we’ve been walking forever.
He stops. I nearly run into his backside. I still, then I hear it, the thing
that made him stop, voices. Off in the distance, but not too far. We walk
quieter toward the noise, the end of the passage meets us. A brick wall makes
up the hidden door. Maverick places a finger to his lips. He places a hand on
the wall in front of us. I watch, in amazement, the wall becomes transparent
and I can see into the room beyond. I recognize it, it’s one of the rooms from
the backwaters. In fact, it looks like the room Bullock teaches me in, the dent
in the wall by the door is the same.   Bullock stands in front of his
teacher desk. Perlow, his lapdog, a robed figure and a woman stand in front of
him. It looks to be an Ancient, but I can tell from here that it isn’t the one
that I met the other day. This one gives off a different vibe. The woman has a
ruby embedded in her forehead, her head is shaved bald.
    “How has the girl
made in progress?” asks the woman.
    “She’s slow to learn
the techniques, but she has a natural talent that shows through with her
emotions,” says Bullock, he keeps his eyes on the ground.
    “Has she shown one
preference to an element over another?” The woman’s voice reminds me of a
robot.
    Bullock shakes his
head. “No.”
    “Make sure she
chooses one, we can’t have her having control of all of them,” says Roseman.
    Bullock nods. “Yes,
sir.”
    “Make sure she gets
stronger, we need her in the coming war,” says the woman.
    “Yes, my lord.”
    War? What war?
    “Turn around and
remove your shirt, to receive your comeuppance,” says the woman.
    Bullock swallows
hard and he fidgets with his hands, before turning around and taking off his
shirt. He reveals a back riddled with thick scars. My hand moves to cover my
mouth. The robed figure raises its arm; the robe slides down, revealing dark
orange scales and blood red talons. Perlow looks off to the wall and Roseman
watches Bullock’s back.  The talons come down across his back. Bullock
doesn’t make a sound. His glasses fall off his face and onto the floor. 
The blood comes to the surface, it bubbles and falls down his back.
    “For the sins of
your father, may you not make the same mistakes. Pray
that the Sun god blesses you,” says the woman.
    Bullock turns back
around, his face as white as a ghost. He goes to one knee and places his arm
across his chest. “Thank you, my lord.”
    Perlow and Roseman
follow his example. The robed figure’s head turns to look at the wall we are
behind. For a second I think they know we are hiding here. Without another
word, the woman and the Ancient leave the room. Perlow kneels next to Bullock
and places his hand on his shoulder. He flinches away from the touch. “Let’s
get you to Dr. Quinn.”
    Roseman stands.
“Leave him, Perlow. He’ll be fine on his own. We have work to attend to.”
    It’s the first time
I’ve ever seen Roseman take control. He isn’t the lap dog I thought he was, is
it all just an act?
    “You’ll keep your
promise, right?” asks Bullock. “I teach the girl and will be integrated into
the families again, I’ll no longer be an Outcast?”
    Bullock is an
Outcast? But the others made it sound like Outcast don’t survive here.
    “Yes,” says Roseman.
    Perlow stands, but
still looks with worry down at Bullock. “Stay strong,” he says.
    They both leave the
room now. Bullock lets out a shaking breath and turns to use the desk to help
him up. Blood runs still fresh down his back, and has seeped into the top of
his slacks. He stumbles over to the wall on the right and puts both hands to
it. I watch, with wide eyes, as a bed rises out of the floor. It’s a simple
bed, like the white cots found in the infirmary. This is where he sleeps? Why
doesn’t he have a dorm room with the other boys? He collapses onto the bed,
lying on his stomach.