Faith Heights

Chapter 6

"When do the students that fail hear back about the interviews?" Rhea asked.

I shrugged, clicking my pen as I fought against the contagion of her agitated tone. "I don't know. One minute, we're all safe, and the next, another handful have disappeared without a trace."

Rhea stared up from the table and into an empty pocket of air, her sparkling green eyes glazed with apprehension.

We'd moved to the library for a few hours of restless study after our second interviews. Rhea needed to find a copy of a prescribed novel to borrow, and I'd been going a little stir crazy staring at the same four walls of my dorm room. 

Our unease over the looming interviews had slowly diminished as the week moved to a close, and our class had begun to adopt a balanced rhythm- not entirely unlike you would expect of a typical high school classroom. But just as our class found a steady beat, Leclair had glided into the room and announced the scheduling of our second interviews. The minutes in Leclair's office had passed by with the same hazy trepidation as the first, and I was too glad that it was over to dwell much on my time in the dim room.

Rhea found me moments after the interviews had concluded, tugging me towards the library in the hope that it would be empty on a late Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, our hopes proved fruitless. It was bizarre experience, walking into a library and being instantly met with a wave of intrigued looks, as if we'd screamed bloody murder into the quiet space.

Rhea and I joined a few other scholarship students cosied around a back table, clearly nurturing the same hope of hiding from the curious eyes. The area was filled with a dozen identical tables, woven in between intimidatingly tall book aisles. Every inch of wall was hidden behind shelves of stacked books, all the way to the raised ceiling. Sliding ladders rested against the walls in scatterings around the room, creating something of an obstacle course between the narrow walkways. Sleek computers lined the front wall on either side of the entrance's glass doors, alien technology amongst the room's antiquated atmosphere. 

My fingers were stiff from keeping them crossed as we studied. It had been a few hours since the interviews, so I assumed both Rhea and I were safe for at least another week. I dreaded thinking about the disastrous sense of failure I'd feel if I was thrown from the school before discovering what extravagant specifics gave Faith Heights such a golden - albeit shadowed- reputation.

Rhea and I were blearily reading through the assigned chapter of our biology textbooks when three students advanced on the table. Two of them tall, brunet figures that could have been brothers, and a girl with slick dark hair and onyx eyes. I recognised one of the boys as one of Jackson's football-throwing friends, but the recognition didn't ease the tension in my shoulders as they loomed closer.

Our table exchanged raised eyebrows when the newcomers remained silent before us. I drummed my fingers against the table, two minutes passing before I prodded, "Can we help you with something?"

The girl smiled, her teeth so white that they almost glowed in the softening evening light. "Actually, we hoped you could help us. We're having our annual 'Welcome Back' party tonight out in the woods, and we would love it if you all came along to introduce yourselves."

Another long look was exchanged between those seated. The slim girl at the table's other end – Elena – spoke up. "In the woods?" She lowered her voice. "Won't we get in trouble?"

I could tell that each of us were thinking the same thing; as tempting as it might be, we couldn't risk our scholarships for an impromptu social gathering. But the raven-haired girl waved away Elena's worries. "The headmistress knows all about the party. It's a tradition. It's also a chance for all new students – scholarship or otherwise – to meet the rest of the school."