Read Online The Academy: Book 2 by Chad Leito - Free Book Online Page B

know why he had lied to Teddy; he had broken up with Charlotte because he had been scared. But why lie? Asa thought about it and remembered that he hadn’t yet healed completely from the diffuse bruises and abrasions he had obtained in the caves, nor had he yet caught up on sleep. Maybe I was just grumpy that day. But who does he think he is, calling me scared?
    Asa remembered that scene in the rec room, and was surprised to recollect that he had been so forceful with Teddy. Now, as he watched his friend towel off his dead-looking pale-yellow face, Asa wondered if he would still feel comfortable telling Teddy that he was wrong.
    I’m being paranoid again, he thought.
    The two of them discarded their towels between the bathtub and fire, so that they would dry, and were about to leave Asa’s dwelling when Teddy used his body to make a physical barrier between Asa and the door.
    “You’re lying to me, Asa.” He sneered down at Asa, the pupils in the center of his yellow-green eyes looked too big.
    “Huh?” Asa’s heart was racing again.
    “You act like you don’t love her, but I can tell you do.”
    “Get off it,” Asa said, and shoved Teddy out of the way. To his relief, Teddy took a few steps away from the door ( he didn’t have to, he’s much too strong for me to move him like that ). Asa opened the door and stepped out. Teddy quickly followed.
    The air was filled with the sounds of hundreds of great wings flapping in the air. All around the mountainside, second semester students were opening up their wings and taking off into the air.
    Asa took a quick look back at the forest he had been in earlier that day. The tall timbers swayed with the wind, and somewhere in the distance the Multipliers were camping. He wondered what Joney and Michael and Edna were doing. And then he remembered something…
    He and Jen were high up in the trees, while Joney tried to carefully read the lettering on the goggles. “Jul Conway.” And then Ed na had begun to walk around, jittery and fearful.
    “ Oh my! Joney! If this trapped up Jul Conway, I think that we are in very, very big trouble!” She began to pace, the goggles still in her hands. “Do you think it was him? What do we do?”
    This memory didn’t make sense to Asa with Robert King’s death. Teddy had suggested that the video would help him make sense of what happened, but it only seemed to muddy the issue.
    Why are they afraid of Conway? How does this fit in with the rest of it?
    But now wasn’t the time to talk about it. Teddy had already expanded his wings out beside him and was running down the mountainside to gain momentum when Asa snapped out of his daydream.
    Moments later, Asa was in the air, flapping his bat-like wings and gaining altitude.  The air was crisp and clear, with blue skies directly overhead. The wind pulled Asa towards Town, and the shadow beneath him slipped off the mountain and began to zoom over the canopy of the Arctic jungle.
    When he was high over the water, he looked over and saw the Winggame courts bobbing in the gentle chop. He started his descent at this point, thinking, if it weren’t for the violence, I would really like it here. This place is beautiful. Flying is wonderful, and if the Multipliers didn’t tamper with my team, I would actually like Winggame. Asa exhaled, and was surprised at how much he desired to play the game fairly.
    Asa glided down in between buildings and landed with a run on the cobblestone path. The road glistened with a thin layer of water, and radiated warmth up to Asa. As he had learned last semester, the streets were heated so that snow wouldn’t cake up and make walking difficult.
    A line of Fishies was walking down the cobblestone, looking around, seeming to be trying to take everything in. All across the road, upper classmen were landing from the sky, sprinting faster upon impact than any natural human possibly could. On the steps leading up to a tall, stone, London-style clock tower stood a troop