Chap 14

“So where are we going?” Ilios asked.

“School” Jason said,

They all let out a collective groan as Jason laughed at their misery.

“Don’t worry, we’re just checking them out today.” He continued. “And it’s not like school’s the end of the world.”

“Ha! You don’t know that, we’ve been to a school! Do you know what they make us do?” Peyton proclaimed.

“What?” Jason looked at him, amused.

“Math” Peyton whispered before shuddering at the thought. “And letters”

“Those are important things which we all have to learn if we’re gonna make it somewhere in life. I don’t care if you hate them Peyt, you’re gonna learn them.” Jason said, still smiling.

“Who’s the driver by the way?” Nasha suddenly asked.

“Eh? Oh, he’s Fletcher.” Jason was caught unawares by the sudden change in the direction of the conversation.

Nasha sighed “I know that, but who is he? What does he do, how does he appear and disappear?”

Jason looked around the rest of the cabin to see everyone looking at him intently. Even Ilios who was sticking her head out the window looked at Jason questioningly.

Jason sighed “Well I don’t know what to tell you, he’s a mysterious man that keeps to himself, I met him on my travels in the city of Lamarr, it was a foggy night and I was making my way back to the inn when I saw a figure surrounded by strange hooded apparitions. The group fought in an animalistic way but the figure fended them off without breaking a sweat. I rushed to the stranger’s aid without heed for my own welfare, but it turned out that the provocateurs weren’t that ordinary to begin with, my blade did nothing against them as they tore at me instead. But it gave the man I was trying to save an opening. Taking out an eerily green blunderbuss, he shot them all in the back without reloading, it was quite the sight. The man, who turned out to be Fletcher, has helped me ever since.”

Jason saw that all the children were looking at him wide eyed with their mouths hanging open.

“Is that true?” Gwandere asked.

Jason snorted “No.”

They all let out a collective groan once more.

“Don’t tease us like that.” Peyt said.

“Why? It was fun.” Jason smiled at him.

The cobblestones clattered under the hooves of the two horses that pulled the party further into the city and group soon lapsed into silence. Or at least as close to silence as you could get with four teenagers in the same space. Ilios and Gwandere kept pointing at things and giggled to each other as the sight of the city passed by, while Nasha asked questions about Fletcher, determined to figure out something about him. At one point Peyt stood up and opened leaned out the window.

“What are you doing?” Jason asked.

“I’m climbing up to the roof.” Peyt said as he tried to pull himself and out onto the roof. “Are you gonna try and stop me?”

Jason laughed “Remember what I said?”

“Yeah I accepted the consequences.” Peyt said.

“Good” Jason chuckled before yanking Peyton back inside hard. He fell on his butt and cried out.

“What was that for?”

Jason looked at him and smiled “That’s what the consequences are for trying to climb out of the train.” The he slapped Peyton “And that’s for talking back to me.”

Not once did Jason raise his voice, in fact he smiled right through the whole ordeal. Everyone looked at the scene uncomfortably while Peyton glared daggers back at Jason.

“Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do?” Peyton shot back. “You’re not my dad!”

Jason smiled at him “I might not be but I’ll be damned if you do something stupid while under my charge.”

Peyton, still smouldering, tried to attack Jason from the ground, he lunged forward and took a swing at him with his fists. They didn’t do much to Jason, they just glanced of his chest. But Jason didn’t just take it, he swung back and Peyton flew to the other side like a sack of grain tossed into the mill.

“Stop it! Don’t hurt him!” Gwandere cried out as she scooted over to Peyton and covered him with her body.

Jason raised an eyebrow. “Gwandere I have no intention of hurting him, I’m teaching him.”

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“The hell you are! You knocked him out cold!” Ilios shouted from her seat.

“Yes I am. I taught him that every action has a consequence.” Jason replied mildly.

“And you had to punch him for that?” Gwandere said, incredulous.

Jason looked at the two girls for a moment before answering. “Tell me, if Peyton walked down the street and someone knocked him aside, and he chose to punch him. What do you think would have happened?”

“He would’ve been beaten to a pulp.” Nasha replied.

“Exactly. Gwandere, Ilios, I didn’t punch Peyt because he insulted my pride, but because he tried to punch me first. I want him to realise that everything he does, no matter how small or how insignificant, could hurt him and those he cares about in some way.”

“But you still didn’t have to punch him.”  Ilios said, mollified.

Jason was getting annoyed now. “Listen here missy. Just because I came into your life doesn’t mean it’s all sunshine and buttercups. Everything you have right now could vanish into nothingness in a second, I’m taking you to school so that you’ll learn something that you can use to survive with on your own.”

Everyone sat quietly as the carriage rolled by the city, but no one looked outside at the wondrous scenes.

“Argh…” Peyton groaned as he slowly sat up.

“Peyt! Are you okay? How many fingers am I holding up.” Gwandere bent over him.

“I’m fine, leave me alone.” Peyt sat up, noticed Jason and scowled.

Jason grinned “You call yourself a man when you go unconscious from a love tap?”

Peyton scowl deepened but he said nothing. Jason nodded, “Good, you’re learning. Remember that feeling, it will become a lifesaving asset one day. Now let’s go.”

Peyton blinked, and then looked outside. The carriage has stopped and they were in front of yet another giant building, this one was a full out Roman style place, with aqueducts and everything.

Jason opened the door, hopped out, and motion for the others to follow. As they got out they were once again awed by the majesty of money. The place they stopped at was definitely Roman, the grass was trimmed, the trees were narrow and tall, and the pathways were white gravel, and everything was made of marble, from the columns to the floors to the fountains to the walls. All marble, it was very pretty.

“Woah” Gwandere said.

“I know” Ilios commented.

“Ahem”

They turned around to see a man standing just a bit to the side where the carriage stopped, he was old and bald, dressed in a bright yellow and green patterned shirt with embroidered pants, a thin ruby danced on a silver chain from his neck.

“Good Morning, my name is Elturrus Pastus, a teacher of the Reeva Collegium. Is there anything I can help you with?” The man asked politely.

Jason stepped forward with a big smile plastered all over his face, “Jason Fyr, it is a pleasure to meet a teacher of the academy. I’m here with my nephew and nieces, my sister and I just moved to the city and are currently looking for a place to enrol the kids into, so we’d like to take a tour around the place if it isn’t too much trouble.”

“Ah, we’re in the middle of the term currently but I’m sure we can make some arrangements, please follow me.” Elturrus said.

“The Reeva Collegium has been around for centuries and is therefore one of the most trusted and influential places of learning. Dating back to the Platonic era, it’s been renovated countless times but the original style never changed.” Pastus said as they walked past a basketball court. “However there have been a few upgrades in the name of progress.”

They walked into a building that looked completely different yet exactly the same as the last one.

“This is the Laboratory. It is the place where the sciences are taught.” Pastus said as they walked passed classrooms, they could see children in grand oaken desks sitting in pairs and writing notes while a teacher would point at diagrams and explain things. Even though elves and humans made up the bulk of the students and staff, there was a surprising amount of diversity in the clothing, from turbans to tricorne hats.

“Hold on,” Jason stopped. “Is that a pirate?”

Pastus frowned. “That’s Neville sir, bright lad, very talented poet. We try not to judge others by their background here.”

Jason shook his head “Well I’ll be.”

They left the building and headed to what looked like an actual restaurant.

“This is the cafeteria, where students meet at breaks, we serve food from dawn till dusk.”

Wooden benches sat side by side with little umbrellas on top of them, a thin wall covered in vines surrounded the entire thing and there were lamps hung at intervals but were unlit.

“As you can see, the cafeteria was one of the more recent changes.” Pastus coughed into his hand.

“Very nice” Jason commented.

They continued their tour to yet another different-yet -same building. Jason shook his head “I don’t get it, how can you tell the difference apart?”

“Safety feature” Pastus replied. “You cannot find what you’re looking for unless you’re a student, staff member or accompanied by one of the two.”

“Safety precaution?” Jason asked.

“There have been a few incidents of overzealous parents.” Pastus answered.

They entered the building, which turned out to be the Library. It was nice and cozy, and sported quite the collection.

“We have a library on campus for most things a student needs but we allow seniors to leave during the day to peruse the public one for projects that need deeper research.” Pastus informed the group.

Jason turned to the kids “You’ve all been awfully quiet, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, we’re just a bit overwhelmed that’s all.” Gwandere said.

“Really?”

They nodded in unison.

Jason shrugged, “Carry on then Elturrus.”

The teacher nodded and they headed past another building,

“These are the girls’ dormitories, the boys’ can be located on the other side of the school.” Pastus said,

Jason raised an eyebrow. “Really? I take it it’s another precaution?” he stated.

Pastus nodded but said nothing as they continued.

“And this here is the administration Block.”

They arrived back at the main building where they left the coach, Fletcher was still sitting there motionless.

“Well thank you for the tour, we appreciated it” Jason started.

“My pleasure Lord Fyr, if you choose to enrol at the school, just come in here and speak with the administration.” Pastus bowed before leaving them at the steps of the Administration.

“Well that was pleasant don’t you think?” Jason asked as he turned back to his group.

“Didn’t you notice?” Peyton asked, incredulous.

“Notice what?” Jason said.

“He was a vampire!” Gwandere nearly shouted.

Jason took a step back “Woah, hold your horses! So what if he was?”

Ilios took the stage, “You really don’t get it? Bloodsucking monstrosity? Killer of men and eater of children?”

Jason looked at them “Now listen here, just because he’s a vampire doesn’t mean we have to be prejudiced against him, I’m sure he’s more than qualified to be a teacher of this school and any urges he might have are more than under control.”

They all stared at him in horror, “But he’s a vampire!” Gwandere said again.

Jason snorted “Kids these days. Right I don’t want to hang around, let’s go to the next one.”

“We’re not finished?” Ilios asked as she got into the coach.

“Nope. Next up is item number two.” Jason hollered as he jumped in after them.

“Where are we going next?” Peyton asked.

“You should know me better by now.” Jason laughed.