Tora (The Tora Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  Eva hurried behind, trying to keep up, glancing at the buildings as she went along, pedantic not to miss any of the details. She was still trying to figure out whether she’d filled out her giant stack of registration forms correctly.

  “Any questions? She asked, flipping her head back to Eva momentarily to gain a response, allowing Eva no time to think for herself.

  “Good.”

  Eva released the handle and wheeled her suitcase behind the woman. She wondered whether there was anyone to help her carry her enormous duffel bag she’d been dragging in her other arm. Anyone other than the attendant who looked like she could burst into a fury at any moment. They walked past a stone archway, the gateway to what looked like a cemetery.

  There were endless rows of wonky headstones chiselled in calligraphy, some letters washed out by the weather and time, bare vases absent of flowers. Eva couldn’t stop staring at them. The fact that she was in a school and she was walking through a cemetery was an unexpected surprise. Who was buried here? It was a cross between apocalyptic fiction, medieval mystery and a gothic fantasy. Some graves looking at least a few hundred years old, were in tatters. It looked as though the burial site had copped the bad weather, evident by the green moss taking over the headstones and the random tufts of lumpy brown grass. Everything about the gravesite was grave and miserable. The few leafless trees that stood, branched out low as if uniting in a respectful gesture of mourning. She stopped and crouched at one of the headstones.

  IN LOVING MEMORY

  ~†~

  EVE EVERT AND DAVID DELGORIOUS

  DIED: 1645 AGED 17

  FELL OFF A WILD HORSE.

  THEIR MEMORY CASTS A LIGHT FOR THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY. UNITED IN ETERNAL LOVE.

  RIP

  Eva’s eyes caught the memo on one of the headstones. SADNESS FLIES AWAY ON THE WINGS OF TIME. And another. TIME FLIES OVER US, BUT LEAVES ITS SHADOW BEHIND.

  The grave brought up infant memories of her parents. Everyone had said they’d died in a car accident, but she’d never been able to see their grave. She had never been to say goodbye to them formally.

  They brushed past a large Greek statue centred in a circular opening at the gravesite that looked like it was supposed to be somewhere else.

  “Don’t lag behind girl.” The attendant said, causing Eva to jerk her head away automatically as if she’d been caught doing something naughty or she’d nosily been peeking into something private that she shouldn’t have. “We don’t have all day.” The woman said in her highlander accent voice, tapping her loosely on the shoulder and waving her off dismissively.

  Eva hurried to catch up with the quick-paced-woman who Eva sensed wasn’t the patient, home making mother type.

  Before Eva could stammer an apology, a skinny, dark-haired girl had appeared before her, wagging her long fingers in front of Eva’s face.

  “Oooooh! The reds are watching you.” She cooed in an intended spooky storytelling voice, dancing in a circle around Eva. She jumped beside one of the grave tomb memorial sites and attempted to imitate a zombie. “Oooooh, we’re watching yoooouuuu.” Her face fell and her pupils enlarged, waiting for some kind of instinctive (spontaneous) response suggesting fear to lead off from.

  Eva looked to her attendant who looked up from her paper work and was glowering at the crazy girl. Had this girl been eavesdropping on their whole conversation? Eva mused to herself. She wondered if there’d be another surprise lurking around the corner.

  “Miss Reardon.” She said, adapting a normal voice. Her glowing brown eyes snapped away from Eva, in lost interest, to her tour guide counterpart giving Eva a chance to get some breathing space from the girl. Her waning interest reminded Eva of the group of southern girls back at Margate who constantly sought attention and recognition. Eva watched the girl who sported a dark woollen sweater and tight leather jeans. Her pale face was quite the contrast against her black clothing, making her appearance project a ghostly gothic figure. So far, it seemed everyone here had the same unusual taste for dark clothing, or it was part of Combe Bank’s dress code which Eva may have missed when she was reading the contract. All the people she had come into contact so far in one way or another had given her the dirty glance as though what she was wearing was either inappropriate or lacking style. Eva didn’t blame them, especially for her poor sense of style or her mother’s for that matter. This morning Michelle had forced her to slip on her old turtle neck blue faded cotton sweater that hugged her body in all the wrong places. It did nothing for her minimalistic curves, making her upper body look lanky and her flat chest unflattering.

  “Not you Ariana.” The woman growled, rolling her eyes and clearing her throat, though it was clear, judging by her genuine smile and over exaggerated peppery voice, she had some coarse affection and respect for the wild girl.

  “Get away from here!” She ordered.

  It was clear to Eva that Ariana couldn’t return the love. She mimed a flipping off motion in the attendant’s direction and turned to Eva, daring for her to be offended.

  “Your attitude isn’t acceptable in my books, Ariana.” She said, shaking her head and cutting her off with her hands. “And just for that attitude,” she furiously scribbled a note onto a bright yellow sticky note with a harsh red marker, “you’ll be given the task of showing little miss innocent angel around the campus.”

  The attendant pointed at Eva who was anything but an innocent angel. Had she read her record? All the faults marked against her name? She’d been blamed for all the incidences that went on a Margate despite most of the accusations being untrue. Of course she had. Otherwise she wouldn’t have ended up here. Eva couldn’t decide whether that comment was a compliment or not. But the cockiness in which the lady had said it, disheartened her a little. Were they all as serious as this? Eva wondered, or did they just have a dry sense of humour that she wasn’t used to? If some of the girls from Margate had been here, they would probably laugh at how hostile and serious everyone was around here. You were like walking on egg shells. If you did or said the wrong thing, you’d be picked up for it. Either way, the attendant had just placed her in the trust of a stranger and Eva couldn’t help feeling a little coy and intimidated by the girl.

  Before Eva knew what was happening, Ariana was already whisking her across the graveyard towards the commons. She could feel the dark descending over her as she left the gravesite and Eva wondered if it was a bad omen. A gust of frosty air blew over her bare skin and she tugged her sweater around her body. Soft clouds of snow floated like feathers to the ground beneath her shoes. She wondered what Michelle would be doing right now. Sitting on the lounge, a glass of red wine in hand, watching Jimmy Fallon, having a non-descript conversation with her Aunty Dotty, or trying to pass the time by baking her famous homemade cookies. Would she be missing her? She’d be home for thanksgiving and Christmas right? Apart from her homesickness, she’d wished she’d bothered to pay more attention to the forecast that morning like Michelle had reminded her about. If she’d known it was going to be snowing here, she would have bothered to stuff her winter coat into her suitcase as well. Then she wouldn’t be here dreaming of sitting in front of the log fire right now.

  “Ahh.” Ariana sighed suddenly after a long silence, causing Eva to jump in a major way, forgetting she was in her presence. Eva flushed with shame, cursing herself for being so embarrassing and directed a glare to Ariana for noticing, who slipped a massive lopsided grin.

  “Soooo glad I bumped into you.” She said without looking at Eva, but into the distance as if she was talking to an imaginary object. Then she turned to Eva, sizing her up, tapping one finger against her pale lips “I was just thinking, I could really use a new slave,” she said stepping forward to loop her arm through Eva’s.

  They stopped before a set of eastern facing cinder block classrooms, where a crowd of people who looked about Eva’s age or older gathered, waiting for morning classes to resume. They took a seat on the bench under a dangling weeping wil
low tree. And a sudden burst of loneliness pinched her. Ariana nudged her from her observational trance and Eva saw her pull a pair of scissors from her pocket.

  “What?” Eva was about to ask where she’d got the scissors when Ariana cut her off, seeing her reaction.

  “What do you need scissors for?” Ariana finished.

  “Fair enough, a pretty feasible question to ask,” she shrugged, looking down at them.

  “I always make sure I have my sticky fingers with when the distractions depot box is brought out again.”

  “Um. What?”

  “Oh, right, you don’t know.” She said, tilting her head back. Every new kid goes through a process of de-distractionisation; Miss Reardon likes to call it, which is essentially removing all your possessions; things that will distract you from ‘academy life at Combe Bank,’ she quoted with her fingers, rolling her eyes. Be prepared to dish.”

  “You’ll know what I mean later.”

  Eva sucked her breath, trying to dissolve what Ariana meant into her own terms.

  “Does that include my – my phone?” She asked hesitantly.

  “Good! Mwaahh my dear,” She said, blowing a kiss like an Italian nonna deciding her food had hit the nail, then laughed, clamping one hand down on the bar of the bench. “Your phone doesn’t discriminate from mine!”

  Eva’s gasped and dropped her eyes.

  She continued. “That includes phones, cameras, scissors, knives, watches, they all get discarded!”

  “Watches?” Eva asked.

  “Ha! You just spoke like a true newbie. I take it you were expecting a little more from this place?” She said, pausing, “Like a spring break. Am I right?”

  Instead of answering, Eva shrugged.

  A little more from this place? It sounded like everything here was strictly forbidden! Her connection to the world outside of Combe Bank Academy, would be limited now. No more late night chats with friends, slumber parties, Skype sessions, gossiping and chatting about boys. How was she supposed to keep track of time and ensure she didn’t arrive at her classes late as the attendant had warned without a watch? Rules! Rules! Rules! Now that so many guidelines had been laid down, she was beginning to doubt how lenient they were with holidays.

  “Hey! It’s not that bad,” Ariana said, noticing Eva’s mortified expression. “They probably banned watches, because counting down the time gave us something to do.” She joked.

  “Besides,” she said staring at her chipped red nails, “It’s nowhere near as bad as being cooped up in this hell hole twenty four seven, three hundred and sixty five days a year.”

  Eva nearly choked on her saliva.

  “What?” She gaped in disbelief. “You spend the whole summer…..here?” Eva winced.

  “Yee..ep. Hate to disappoint you.” She replied. “We never get to leave this asshole. Ever.” They shared a knowing glance. “I asked the exact same thing when I ended up here.”

  Ariana had just confirmed her worst suspicion. Comb Bank Academy suddenly sounded a whole lot worse than she’d envisaged. What would Michelle say when she said she couldn’t be home for Christmas or thanksgiving? She always prepared a feast for the family? What were these celebrations without family? While there was a lot to winge about, Ariana knew how to pass the time. She dived into the complexities of life at Combe Back. Something Eva was going to have to learn: to immerse herself.

  Eva tried to imagine an entire summer spent at Comb Bank. She had remembered Thea describing her experience at boarding school as being unforgettable. But this wasn’t exactly a boarding school. Glancing at the faces of people her age, their expressions convinced her that reform school was a bludge.

  “But you get used to it. Eventually. If you find ways to pass the time.” Ariana twisted a small ring around her forefinger. She pulled out her satchel and dug through her bag, pulling out a hairbrush and a box of hair dye.

  “Hey, while you’re here, you could do me a favour.” She said, throwing anonymous items into a separate plastic bag and tossing it over to Eva.

  Eva crossed her legs over the bench and went through the bag. There was everything from hair extensions to green hair dye. All Eva could think of was Ariana sure got bored often, to be able to have all these hairstyling products, unless she held an unofficial casual job as a hairdresser at Combe Bank.

  “Um. Oh-kay.” Eva said, roaming through the bag. There was so much in the bag that she wasn’t exactly sure what she was looking for. “What do you do with all this – this stuff?” She asked.

  “Don’t worry, you can say it.” She cracked a smile. “People call me a ‘hairoholic.’ But I don’t own all these things. I just pick things up from around the place, you’d be surprised how many girls dye their hair here, you know.”

  Not really, it wasn’t surprising at all. Eva thought, glancing over at a cluster of girls standing outside at a building cladded in the colour of yellowed teeth. There was no diversity here. All girls were wearing the kind of shabby black unoriginal clothes that Eva’s mother would never let her wear. Like Eva, pale skin was a common feature amongst them, as well as tattoos, studded necklaces and impossibly high heels that looked painful to walk in. They had a rough gothic look about them, a certain kind of hardness that she had occasionally seen back in Boca Raton. They, were the kind of girls who died their hair crazy colours. If any blonde haired girls were out there, she would have picked them out from the crowd by now. Maybe Ariana’s comment was a joke, but she hadn’t been paying too much attention to her comical expression at the time. When a few girls turned around to see what noise was going on behind Eva, they caught her studying them. Simultaneously, they scrunched their faces, and raised their devilish eyebrows shooting her a “mind-your-own-business-look;” angrily whipping their heads back to the main source of action. Eva, baffled, realised how stupid and intrusive she must have looked to them. It was true, she should have been more cautious around here. Considering all the schools she been at, she should have been treading more carefully. Besides, did she want to make enemies or friends?

  “Oh dear.” Eva wondered aloud.

  “Huh?”

  Ariana suddenly jerked her head up quickly, oblivious to what had just gone down.

  “Never mind.”

  “Most of the girls do it to experience a change.” Ariana continued on with their last conversation which Eva had already lost track of, twirling a loose strand of dyed hair in a loop around her finger. They cover themselves up I guess.”

  “You mean they like to change their identity?”

  “Exactly.”

  The closest Eva had got to dye her hair was when she’d used bleaching powder in year seven at a friend’s sleepover. It was like a ritual at her old school, a symbol of teenager-hood. But the next morning her mother was furious and made her scrub the minerals out of her scalp. So that was the end of that craze.

  “How did you end up here?” Eva asked.

  Ariana hesitated. “Let’s not go there.” She said quickly, looking away as though she was embarrassed about something.

  She turned to Eva and said, “How about we talk about you, Eva instead.”

  “How do you know my name? She asked.

  “Um honey,” she said in a shrill voice, putting a hand to her hip, breaking into a laugh and gave her that you-have-a-lot-to-learn glance.

  “Ev..er..y..one knows who you are. You’re the newest girl since the new semester broke out. News gets around like a lightening flash around here.” She clicked her fingers.

  Her confidence had just plummeted. Now she knew slipping behind the group to disappear wasn’t an option, it made her feel a whole lot worse. Being the new kid again sucked, but not as much as starting school mid-term after everyone had settled into their new classes. It stirred up a cold grey fear in the pit of her stomach.

  Eva straddled one of bleachers. In many ways, her school in Boca Raton had been rather conservative. The girls were forced to wear dresses that fell down to their ankles, even in the summ
er. Religion was compulsory and more often than not, she was forced along with her classmates to attend regular sittings at the chapel on the school grounds. She tried to imagine Ariana at Margate College making a crude joke in a loud, lively voice. She tried to imagine what Thea would make of her. No one had been as boisterous and wild as Ariana was.

  “Now pull out those scissors and make me look fab!”

  “What?” Eva’s jaw dropped. “But your hair is – gorgeous!”

  It was true: Eva would do anything to have hair her hair. Ariana pulled her hair out of her high bun, letting it fall loosely over her shoulders into locks that Eva was deeply envious of. Her hair was Neutrogena pretty, ready to be displayed on the pages of a magazine. In the sunlight, her enviable waves sparkled a little, giving off a tinge of defiant red, revealing highlights Eva hadn’t noticed before.

  “But what about the cams?” Eva looked up to find a dome planted above her head reflecting a smaller concave image of Eva from above.

  “I refuse to even acknowledge them.” She said, crossing her arms. “They’re not patrolled like you think they are.”

  “I’d like my hair to fall just below my ears.” She waved a photo in Eva’s face. “See. It’s edgy and I like it.”

  Eva crossed and uncrossed her legs. She wasn’t sure whether to feel unnerved by the way Ariana assumed she could have anything she wanted.

  Eva frowned.

  “Don’t give me that –i-don’t-know-how-to-chop-off-hair-look. I don’t care what you do with it as long as I look like her.” Ariana demanded.

  “Alright.” Eva said, unsure how to proceed.

  Sitting awkwardly in a back to front chair on the deck, Michelle had gone about looping her teased hair into a messy ponytail before cutting the whole lot off. But Eva was sure there had to be a more efficient way of chopping hair. Eva tucked her hair behind her ears, but short wisps of baby hair flopped back in front again. Eva gathered her thick long hair in her hands and grabbed a hair tie from Ariana’s open palm, tying it into a bunch. She took the scissors and just below the hair tie, she began to cut away.