5. Hostilities
A eden sat at the table in the busy food hall, along with the rest of his cohort, but he wasn’t hungry.
Some students were already sitting down, eating their food while they had the chance. Others were still lining up with their plates in lines that snaked up and down the hall in an organised manner.
The tables were huge, running pretty much the full length of the hall and made from huge slabs of oak which left little doubt about the size of the trees they must have been carved from.
Aeden could tell it was oak because of the grain of the wood, which he had worked with often during his time at the farm with his grandfather.
Seven tables were lined up, with all of the older students already sat down eating when the new recruits had arrived in the hall.
Not to Aeden’s surprise, the tables were already segregated by class and year group. He himself sat at the far end of the Support table, as far away from the food line as possible. He hadn’t gotten any food, nor did he feel like eating .
He sat with his head bowed in a stupor as he stared at the surface of the table. There had been no denying that connecting to the weave would be difficult, but there was a deep coldness in the hollows of his chest that had left him unsettled.
That overwhelming feeling of sadness, of being completely isolated, the underlying sensation of grief – it had all brought up Aeden’s own emotions.
He told himself it was just the weave, but despite knowing they were not his feelings – that they were that of the Aer-Kin with whom he had grasped the faintest of connections – he hadn’t expected to be bringing all these feelings away from the hatchery with him.
Was he somehow connected to the weave without realising it?
He couldn’t feel a connection, yet he couldn’t describe the sensation or understand it fully.
It was as though he had absorbed the feelings, and although he had removed himself from the weave, the feelings of the Aer-Kin were still with him.
He didn’t like it, not one bit, and his mind swirled with thoughts on the matter. The hatchery had been the one place he had been most excited to visit. It was where most of the students wanted to head to first. Now he couldn’t think of anything worse than going back.
“Are you okay?” Harrison asked as he took a seat on the bench opposite him. “You haven’t said a word since we left the hatchery.”
Aeden heard the words, but they were muffled as he was zoned out.
“Hello?” Harrison said, waving a hand in front of Aeden’s face .
Aeden snapped out of his trance and gathered himself. “Sorry, what were you saying?” He attempted to feign a smile of confidence but couldn’t help but feel that he failed miserably.
Judging by Harrison’s confused expression, he was right. “I said, are you okay? Shit, Aeden, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“As much as I hate to agree with him, he’s kind of right,” Serene said. She was sitting next to Vivienne, who was sandwiched between her and Harrison. Aeden hadn’t even noticed them.
“I’m fine,” Aeden said. He couldn’t help but feel defensive. He didn’t like being the centre of attention. “It’s just, connecting with the weave has left me feeling . . .” He paused while he tried to think of word to describe it. “A little off,” he settled on.
“At least you connected to the weave. I felt nothing,” Harrison said, his shoulders sinking slightly. “There’s always next time, I guess.”
“Well, you better connect to it quick if you don’t want to be kicked from the cohort before we even get to the trials,” Serene said.
Harrison grinned. “Do I sense an air of concern for me?”
“Ew, no,” Serene cut him off straight away.
Vivienne laughed as she continued slurping her soup. “You need to eat,” she said, “looks like we have combat training for the rest of the day after this.”
“I don’t have much of an appetite. I might grab something on our way out. I’m sure I saw someone with some fruit before.” Aeden was more than happy to eat on the move if he had to, but if he was honest with himself, he simply didn’t have the stomach for it.
“Wait, did you say combat training?” Harrison asked, the smirk on his face quickly washing away.
“Yes,” Vivienne said with confusion, “have you not looked at your schedule?” She glanced up at Aeden, raising an eyebrow. “Have you?”
Aeden shook his head. “I’ve been a little distracted,” he said, raising his hand to the back of his head and smiling.
“Well, if I was you, I would get your head out of your ass. You’re not going to survive the first week if you don’t,” Serene said. “Don’t let the niceties and the grandeur of this hall fool you. This place is deadly.”
Aeden was not naive. He knew all too well the reputation of the academy. It had been his goal just to get to this point. To find out exactly what had happened to his parents fifteen years ago.
“I see you have survived your first lesson,” a sneering voice said from behind Aeden.
He turned to see who it was and was greeted by the smug face of Kael Blackthorn, who was sitting on the bench on the other side of the table. He had an eyebrow raised as his eyes wandered judgingly over Aeden and the others.
“Pity.” Kael raised a vibrant green apple and took a crisp bite from it. “Still, there’s the rest of the day.”
He had a group of students around him who were all sat with sneering looks as if they were the fiercest of rivals, yet Aeden had no clue who any of them were.
“I’d just worry about you and your table,” Aeden said, waving a hand and turning his back.
He didn’t want to get drawn into anything, and he had no time for Kael.
He could already tell his type: a smug, self-assured rich kid who could do no wrong, as no doubt his parents would bail him out.
The group that surrounded him did nothing but add to Aeden’s preconceived thoughts about them all.
They sat as if they were a nest of vipers ready to strike.
As Aeden turned to face the others, he reached across to Harrison’s plate and grabbed an apple.
“Hope you don’t mind,” he said, and then he started to cut the apple with a small knife on the table before taking a bite.
It wasn’t as ripe as he would have liked and was a far cry from the apples they grew on the farm back home, but it would do for now.
Harrison and Serene sat dumbfounded, jaws wide open. Vivienne, on the other hand, seemed more interested in finishing her plate of food.
“Did you just make a threat?” Kael asked.
Aeden simply carried on eating his apple.
“What are you doing?” Harrison said, muttering under his breath. He looked as white as a ghost as the colour drained from him.
“Eating an apple,” Aeden said. “You guys told me I needed to eat.”
“I’m talking to you,” Kael said, his tone more than threatening.
Aeden continued to ignore him. Footsteps soon approached him from behind, and he could feel the frustration exuding from Kael as he stood over him.
“I don’t want any trouble,” Aeden said as he finished his apple without turning around.
But something changed inside him. He couldn’t help but poke the viper’s nest just a bit, even though he knew he should keep his head down.
The academy may have been a means to an end for Aeden, but that didn’t mean he was going to be a pushover while he was here.
He certainly wasn’t worried about defending himself.
Kael leaned towards Aeden, placing his hand on the table as he tried to intimidate him.
Harrison’s eyes were wide with anxiety, and Serene looked ready to faint as Vivienne raised her head from her plate and realised the hostility of the situation.
Aeden didn’t understand why they were so intimidated by Kael. Sure, he had coin and the family bloodline, but here he was just another student. It was the same with Cassian and Rowan, although Cassian didn’t seem too fazed by standing up to him, much to the dismay of his cousin.
“I’m talking to you,” Kael said in Aeden’s ear.
“And I said, you should focus on your own table.”
“You should know your place,” Kael growled. “You’re all Support, and your role here is to do just that: support us so that we can do our jobs. You are literally needed for nothing else. You don’t lead, you don’t fight. All you are worthy of doing is wiping the muck from my boots.”
Aeden let out an exaggerated yawn. “Are you done now? Because we were just having a conversation, and you’re kind of interrupting things.”
Harrison let out a high-pitched whimper at Aeden’s response.
Kael’s face reddened, as if he was beyond boiling point. Aeden knew full well that he was a Support – that much was in his blood – but that didn’t mean he was going to be spoken to like this.
“Perhaps your friends here know how to stay in line better than you. What’s your name? ”
Aeden turned his head and frowned. “The fuck has it got to do with you?”
He could see a vein throbbing at the side of Kael’s head. He had him right where he wanted him.
Kael stared across the table at Harrison, who started shrinking into himself with the unwanted attention.
“His name, now!” Kael slammed his fist onto the table, causing the others to jump and drawing instant silence from around them.
Harrison opened his mouth, ready to speak on command as if Kael had some kind of compulsion over him.
“Listen, if you have an issue, you’re welcome to take that up with me, but don’t speak to my friends like that, okay? My name is Aeden, Aeden Harrington. Now, as I said, if you don’t mind, me and my friends were having dinner.”
The next few seconds were a blur of movement.
Kael dragged his arm back to sucker punch Aeden in the side of the head.
It was something Aeden had been anticipating, so he’d already figured out his next move.
With the blunted knife still sitting loosely in his hand, Aeden tightened his grip and, spinning quickly, rammed it straight into Kael’s leg, who let out a pained roar.
Before he had time to do anything else, Aeden hopped from a sitting position to standing on the bench and threw out a punch to the side of Kael’s face, then jumped down and grabbed hold of the scruff of Kael’s blazer.
He pushed him backwards with his forearm until they reached the wall of the dinner hall.
Still gripping the knife in his hand, Aeden raised the knife to Kael’s throat .
“Listen to me now,” he said through gritted teeth, “I watch everything, I analyse everything. You are not here by merit, you are here by your perceived birthright, your family name. You have no idea the shit I’ve had to go through just to get to this point.”
Kael didn’t flinch. He simply stared into Aeden’s eyes with burning hatred, his pupils aflame with anger. But he couldn’t respond, as Aeden had the knife pressed against his throat with enough pressure to solicit the faintest of cuts – not enough to cause serious harm, but enough to draw blood.
“Do you know who you’re dealing with?” Kael said.
“Does it really look like I give a shit? This place is brutal enough without having a dick like you breathing down mine or my friends’ necks, so I will tell you this: you can either take it or leave it.
” Aeden pressed the knife a little more firmly against Kael’s neck; he wanted to find out how far he could push him.
Aeden showed no emotion, no anger, no loss of control, remaining composed as he continued. “Fuck with me or my friends, and I swear the next time I will have no problem with slitting your throat. Do you understand?”
Kael stared as Aeden refused to move. He knew that it was only a matter of seconds before one of the faculty intervened. He was surprised it was taking them this long.
Kael raised his hands to either side of him. “I understand,” he said, finally dropping his gaze.
Aeden knew too well how people like him worked, wanting to flex their muscles on the first day to establish the pecking order.
Aeden wasn’t interested in that, but he knew he needed to show that he couldn’t be intimidated and that he was willing to go to extremes to prove a point. Hopefully this little display would ensure that he and his new friends would be left alone. For the time being, at least.
“Step away,” a voice boomed.
Aeden stepped back and dropped the knife. The teacher in question was at least twice Aeden’s size, who now raised his hands as Kael regained his composure and straightened his blazer.
“Come with me,” the faculty member said.
He was a bald, middle-aged man, and his sleeves were torn off at the shoulders, revealing tree trunk-like arms. His face was filled with scars that told Aeden this guy had seen a few fights in his time and had clearly not lost. He grabbed hold of Aeden’s collar and dragged him away with incredible power.
Aeden may have drawn blood, but he was aware that far worse things could happen between the students at the academy.
After all, the academy did come with its own reputation.
He knew that it wasn’t uncommon for fights to break out, factions to form, that kind of thing.
This was survival of the fittest, and he was not going to allow anyone to intimidate him.
He cast one last glance at Kael as he was led away.
Judging by his face, Aeden knew he had made an enemy, but at least he had shown he was not one to be messed with.
Now he just had to deal with the consequences of his actions.