School of Good and Evil II

Chapter 3

I arrived late in the night, close to a little city called Gavaldon. It was cold and the alleys were dirty and deserted. I did not understand. Why bring me here in the middle of the night ? Why was no one there?

The school could not be located in the middle of a village. So I decided to came out of it to venture out on the trail in the heart of the woods that went away several times, an icy breeze forced me to fold the flaps of my coat against me to Don't end up freezing. After about twenty minutes walking, I began seriously to fed up. Why hadn't Henrick sent me to the right place ? Wasn't there a plan to find the damn school ? I was walking furiously in the wind and cold, my black hair beating the air furiously at my back, when a rustling sound drew my attention further into the woods. So I left the trail and walked through the brambles and bushes in the direction of the sound without forgetting to grumbling in mid-tones against Henrick, unable to send me directly to the school of good and evil, but alsow against the wind, the cold, bushes and brambles which made me cold and ruined my boots and my canvas trousers. I was now lost, unable to find my way back, and no strange noises could be heard anymore. I was about to turn back when my gaze met a pair of eyes. I froze, unable to look away as a figure emerged from the darkness. It was a young man, fifteen years old at the most. His hair was so blond that it formed like a halo around his face.

- Is that you ?

I frowned and took a step towards him without understanding what he was talking about.

- Me what ?

- I heard someone call me, that's why I went out.

Indeed, he looked a little lost, and he was dressed only in simple canvas pyjamas. I beckoned him to come towards me.

- No, I didn't call you, I Don't even know your name. But I heard a strange noise too.

He looked surprised, and now frightened. But he introduced himself all the same :

- My name is Bastian. It is perhaps

He stopped in mid-sentence and turned back to the darkness. I leaned to look over his shoulder but saw nothing.

- Bastian ? What are you looking at ?

He made a movement to turn towards me again but never completed it, a huge, featherless bird-like shape had risen from the sky, plunging us into darkness. I barely had time to meet Bastian's green eyes, flooded with terror, before his cry tore through the silence, just as the bird's giant talons wrapped around us. I felt the fear coming over me, more and more violent with each beat of the wings that propelled us with force higher and higher into the sky. Bastian struggled with all his strength, trapped in the other bird's talon. He was screaming his head off. And I was tempted to do the same, but I was too terrified to move. Henrick had trust in me, and I had uncontrollable vertigo. It was then that a building appeared in my field of vision, a castle in two parts, one fairy-like and the other darker. The two pieces had obviously been brought together a short time ago to only have a huge neutral tower between them, and a large paved courtyard connected them. I began to strike the bird's talons angrily, screaming at the top of my lungs :

- Fucking degenerate school ! Can't they open a gate like everyone else?!

But I was not out of the woods yet. Just as I thought we were out of danger, the bird flew over the courtyard in the centre of which stood a huge fountain. It circled once or twice, bringing us closer to the ground. But we were still a long way from it when it dropped when it dropped us into the void.