Wren looked at himself in the changing room mirror. The robes he was given were a bit baggy. Instead of the bright white that the instructors all wore, the recruits were given grey robes. It was supposed to separate the recruits from the instructors, and show they weren’t good enough to wear the white just yet. However, the grey robes looked good on Wren, they offset his dark curly hair nicely and the green trim around the sleeves and collar complimented his equally green eyes.

He raised a hand to his face and traced the bruises around his eye, they were tender, but felt a lot better than when he had been sat on the Ark. He cursed himself in the mirror. The bruises were a reminder to not forget himself, the people here weren’t going to accept him and he had to come to terms with that. The sooner he did, the better off he would be.

Wren swished the curtain back and exited the changing room. At the same time another curtain opened and Liam exited a changing room from across the hall. He looked good in the robes, even better than Wren, it was like they were made for him. Then again, Wren wondered if they were actually made for him, with his father being an instructor and all. The sleeves of the robes hung tight to Liam’s large arms, showing off his muscles before they were cut off on the forearm, showing off his band.

The two boys locked eyes, sharing an awkward look. Liam gave a swift nod and exited the changing rooms.

Outside the changing rooms a crowd, dressed all in grey robes, had gathered round a noticeboard. On the noticeboard, sheets had been placed, delegating the separation of recruits into their dorm rooms. Wren picked up from the crowd that the dorm rooms were divided so that each dorm had three recruits.

Wren walked straight past the noticeboard, not wanting to see who he would be rooming with. After the day he had had, he wasn’t quite ready to meet any more new people, it could wait until he’d explored the island a bit.

Wren had no clue where he was going, similarly to the Ark, the island had no signposts or maps. He was walking blind. In the end he decided to pick a direction and walk.

The paths on the island were surrounded by thick forest, too thick to see through, meaning that he had little visibility and little idea of where he was. Eventually he came to another outcropping, not dissimilar to the outcropping by the port; it seemed that the island was littered with these outcroppings. Whether they were a natural part of the ecosystem or man made for the purpose of placing an academy on top of the island, Wren did not know. In this outcropping was a large open building, the walls made of glass, glistening in the sunlight. Wren had to place a hand over his eyes so he could still see. It was a canteen, with tables lined up inside and benches on the outside. The inside was empty, obviously they had missed the dinner rush after arriving on the sky island, but Wren wasn’t hungry, it always took a few days for his stomach to settle in a new place and he could never eat until that happened. A few of the new recruits, already dressed in their robes were sat down on the benches outside, enjoying the sunlight.

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Wren quickly moved on, not wanting to bother the group.

He continued down the path that he’d been on, once again journeying through a thick forest until he reached another outcropping. This time the outcropping was filled with multiple nondescript buildings, about three stories high each. If he was honest, they were quite boring to look at and he assumed that they were just office buildings for the instructors and staff. Not taking much interest, he again walked back down the path.

He was wondering how close he was to the edge of the island now, the path he had been on was generally going in a straight line and he had been travelling for quite some time now. Wren could even see the beginnings of the suns going down. He knew that the island was big but he didn’t think it would go on forever.

He’d finally reached the end of the island. Before him was another building, much larger than any of the others he’d seen before. It was shaped like a cylinder and stretched way up into the sky. It looked to be at least fifty stories high, Wren was wondering how he hadn’t seen it on his approach. Surrounding the cylindrical building were a ring of what appeared to be wind turbines. Wren had to hand it to the designer, the wind was stronger on the edge of the island than anywhere else and so it was the perfect place to situate the turbines.

Wren approached. The building was made of a deep grey metal, and he could hear a quiet whirring coming from it. Long wires stretched out from the side of the building, connecting to the wind turbines. Whatever was inside, was powered by the sky islands winds and was whatever was making the noise that Wren could hear. The front door was slightly ajar, and as Wren drew closer, the noise grew louder. Plastered on the door was a sign in red capital letters.

AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY

He took one look at the sign, opened the door and stepped inside.

Up a small flight of steps and stood at a railing, Wren looked out into the room. It was strange, he had never seen anything like it before.

Below the railing, the floor was completely made of a metal grating, meshed with holes in it. Underneath the grating were two large turbines, much bigger than the ones outside. The wind turbines outside must have been what was used to power the ones inside as they moved round and round fast. Wren caught a flash of white and looked up. High up in the room, was a figure, riding the currents of the turbines, twisting and turning. It reminded Wren of the movements Liam’s dad had performed when he first appeared.

The figure glided down, slowly coming into view. Wren could see her clearly, it was the instructor from the Ark. Her long flowing white hair was flipping about in the wind as she dove down, obscuring and revealing the large pretty smile plastered across her face. She gracefully landed on the grating and the turbines beneath her started to slow down. She looked up at Wren.

“You.” She said.

“Me.”