The Iron Realm (The Iron Soul Book 1) Page 5

  She slowed down and came to a halt before the parking lot and the start of North Riverside Drive. Using a bench, Alex stretched out her muscles while she debated going further or turning around. The ringing of her phone interrupted the debate and she pulled it out with a practiced motion to answer it.

  “Hello sweetheart,” her mother greeted warmly. “I know you just finished your classes, but I wanted to see how they went.”

  Alex swallowed. She wanted to say that she was seeing and hearing things. That other kids on campus were seeing them too and she had no idea what was happening. She wanted to ask her mother if she could come home and join Kayla and Hannah at the University of Washington in the spring.

  “Rough huh,” her mother said on the other end, interpreting her silence. “It's going to be a transition,” her mother reassured her gently. “The first week and finals week will be the hardest.”

  “I'm not sure this was a good idea,” Alex choked out.

  “You loved the school when we visited,” she reminded Alex. “You're just nervous because you don't know anyone yet and are a little homesick. It will pass. Your brother had a similar experience when he started college, remember him calling home every night for the first week.”

  “Yeah,” Alex managed to reply.

  “And now I'm lucky if he calls once a month,” her mother grumbled before adding, “Give it time sweetheart.”

  “I think I may be sick,” Alex blurted out.

  “It's probably just nerves,” her mother told her, switching into pediatrician mode. “But keep an eye on your symptoms and keep a list. If you're not feeling better by the end of the week go to the Campus Health Center,” her mother ordered. “And remember to take your vitamins and drink lots of fluids.”

  “Yes Mom,” Alex answered dutifully. “I'm just…I don't know.”

  “Give it time sweetheart,” her mother urged. Alex heard a beeping in the background. “I'm afraid I'm being paged,” her mother informed her gently. “One of the other doctors is ill so I'm on a long shift at the clinic today.”

  “Bye Mom,” Alex said softly. “Tell Dad I love him.”

  “I will,” her mother promised. “I'll talk to you soon.”

  The call ended and Alex sighed. Collapsing back on the bench, Alex stared out over the lake. She looked down at her phone and pulled up the notepad feature. With a frown and a huff, she typed in:

  Symptoms: visual, auditory and olfactory hallucinations started first day of school.

  5

  The Second Day

  The alarm clock blasted out a cheerful pop song from its spot of the edge of Alex's desk. Groaning, she reached up and turned it off, snatching her mp3 player from the dock. Alex brushed a strand of loose blonde hair out of her face and looked over at Jenny's side of the room. Jenny was already up and putting on mascara in front of her vanity.

  “I think we should get a plant,” Jenny announced as she spotted Alex moving in the mirror.

  “A plant?” Alex repeated still not fully awake.

  “Yeah,” Jenny told her, turning to face Alex, “Something alive and green.” She gestured to their room which still lacked personal touches beyond the photos they'd both put up. “We should get a rug for the middle too.”

  “Uh okay,” Alex agreed, rubbing her eyes. She looked over at the clock with a frown. It was eight o'clock, but she didn't remember setting it.

  “Are you feeling better?” Jenny asked her as she sat down on her bed. “I came back at six to see if you wanted dinner and you were already asleep. I turned your alarm on when I got back from dinner to be on the safe side.”

  Tossing back her comforter, Alex glanced down. Sure enough she was still in her running sweats and an old t-shirt. She'd come back to her dorm and laid down under the covers with Galahad to calm down, but that was the last thing she remembered. Jenny was watching her with a concerned expression, but put on a smile when Alex looked back at her.

  “Tell you what, how about you get dressed real quick and join me for breakfast,” Jenny suggested. Seeing Alex's hesitation, she quickly added, “Arthur has morning football training so it'll just be us. You really should eat something since you skipped dinner.”

  Nodding, Alex climbed out of her bed and grabbed her toiletry kit and slippers. Jenny gave her an encouraging smile before she started packing a bag for her first class of the day. Alex slipped out into the hallway where other students were moving around and talking. She strode down the hall to the communal bathroom, waving to a few of the other girls on their floor. Steam was billowing out of the large shower area to the right of the main door and the tiled walls amplified the chatter of the line of girls who were using the long counter of sinks and mirrors. Thankfully, a sink was free at the far end and Alex set her bag on the counter before looking at herself in the mirror.

  There were no bags under her eyes and she looked fine except for her messy hair. Considering her reflection for a moment, Alex thought about how long she'd slept. Maybe everything she'd seen and heard yesterday was because she was overtired and stressed. Letting out a long breath, Alex smiled slowly at her reflection.

  “New day,” she told herself before pulling out her toothbrush.

  After brushing her teeth, washing her face and taming her hair, Alex felt much better about the world. Jenny was double checking her schedule for the day when she returned and waited patiently while Alex pulled on some clothes.

  “Sorry if I worried you,” Alex apologized while brushing her hair back into a ponytail. “I'm not sure what happened.”

  “Stress,” Jenny told her, standing from her desk chair. “If Arthur wasn't here I don't think I'd be coping very well.” Jenny shrugged as she collected her key and student card. “And I called my Dad last night just to hear his voice.”

  “What about your mom?” Alex asked before she thought better of it.

  “My mom died when I was ten,” Jenny answered wistfully, “Cancer.”

  “I'm sorry,” Alex replied quickly.

  “It's okay,” Jenny assured her with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. “We're still getting to know each other, it's a process.”

  Alex remained quiet until they sat down at a two seat table against the left wall of Michaels Cafeteria.

  “So I never asked your parents what they do,” Jenny told her as she cut apart her omelet.

  “My dad is a journalist and mom is a pediatrician,” Alex explained and recalled something Jenny had mentioned a few days ago. “Your dad is a lawyer right?”

  “That's right,” Jenny replied with a proud smile. “He became a senior partner two years ago.”

  “That's nice,” Alex acknowledged. “That means he's one of the bosses of his firm right?”

  Jenny chuckled, “Close enough.”

  “What's your class this morning?” Alex asked to move the subject away from parents.

  “I've got History of Media and Society and then we've got History of Civilization this afternoon,” Jenny reminded her. “You've got science right?”

  “My general physics class is this morning,” Alex replied after taking a sip of her juice. “My physics lab is only on Thursdays.”

  They ate in silence for a few minutes, but then Alex noticed Jenny looking over her shoulder with an odd look.

  “What?” Alex questioned.

  “Two people across the room keep looking over at us,” Jenny told her.

  “Cute boys?” Alex asked with a teasing smile before turning to look over her shoulder.

  She froze as she spotted Nicole and Aiden, two of her hallucination triggers, sitting together at a table and looking at her.

  “Do you know them?” Jenny asked with a nod towards them.

  “I have a class with each of them,” Alex admitted as she turned back to Jenny, determined to ignore them. “I wouldn't say I know them.”

  Jenny looked at her, clearly waiting for more, but Alex dug into her eggs and ham even though her appetite had vanished. After a moment, her roommate
looked over at the pair once again with a warning look before turning her attention to her yogurt and blueberries.

  They split up soon after so Jenny could make it to her class and Alex could get back to the dorm for a shower. As Alex waved and started to walk away, Jenny caught her hand.

  “Why don't you meet Arthur and me for lunch today,” Jenny suggested, “Eleven fifteen at the Commons Food Court.”

  “You sure?” Alex asked. “You haven't been able to spend much time with him.” Studying Jenny's expression, Alex added, “I'm alright Jenny, seriously. I'll see you later.”

  “If you change your mind it shouldn't be hard to find us,” Jenny added tentatively before she took a step away from Alex. “Have a good morning.”

  “You too,” Alex replied, giving Jenny a smile and turning to walk across the lawn to their dorm.

  After a shower, Alex felt a bit better even if she was a bit rushed in getting to her morning class. The Natural Sciences Building was a large three story looming brick building near the west edge of campus with a modern steel and brick addition on its north end. The main entrance had cases of awards and an old fashioned, but beautiful metal astronomy display of the solar system in a large dome. There were two sets of staircases leading up, and someone had been kind enough to post paper signs by each one to guide the new students. Following the signs, Alex made her way into the new side of the building and located room 203.

  It was a chemistry classroom with large black topped tables that each had a set of drawers built into the side and a gas nozzles in the middle. There were two chairs at each table and a few students were already sitting, spread out through the room's six rows of three tables. Once again, Alex glanced around to see if she knew anyone, but tensed as she spotted Aiden sitting in the back of the room. He looked up at her and gave her a small smile before gesturing to the chair next to him. Alex set her things down on the front row table closest to the door and sat down, turning her back on him. As she was unpacking her things, someone walked behind her and pulled out the second chair next to her and sat down. She didn't even have to look to know who it was.

  “Go away,” she grumbled, not looking at him.

  “How about we start with hi nice to meet you, I'm Aiden Bosco,” he suggested in an entirely too calm voice. “Ignoring it isn't going to change what happened.”

  “Nothing happened,” Alex growled stubbornly.

  “That was convincing,” Aiden chuckled. “Look it's weird, but it only seems to happen the first time.”

  “Go away,” Alex repeated as she glanced up hopefully at the clock.

  “Look,” Aiden said in a much more gentle voice. “It freaked me out the first time, it happened with my best friend two weeks ago. I got back from a road trip with my family and went to see Nikki and suddenly I'm seeing her grandmother's clay studio. She told me that she saw something with you yesterday, the same thing that I saw: a big field and a thunderstorm in the distance with lightning.”

  “If I tell you my name will you go away?” Alex asked tensely.

  Aiden chuckled and leaned forward in an attempt to see Alex's face, but she refused to look at him. “I already know that you're Alex Adams; Nikki was in class with you when you did introductions,” he reminded her.

  Alex opened her mouth to reply when her attention was caught by another student walking into the room. He had a slight built and was a little taller than Alex, but shorter than Aiden. He had sharp cheekbones that made Alex jealous, a few freckles and bright green eyes. But around his right leg, all the way up to his waist was a metal leg brace and he was half leaning on a wooden cane with a carved head. Alex swallowed and watched as he took two steps into the room, knowing she shouldn't stare. Then the young man turned and looked at her, his green eyes meeting her gray eyes. Alex would have screamed in frustration if she could have when it happened again.

  There was a sense of warmth as the scent of freshly baked bread and cookies surrounded her. The sound of jazz music was coming somewhere in the distance. She was looking up at dried flower bouquets tied with red ribbon hanging from a beam on the ceiling.

  Alex snapped back to reality to find the young man leaning against her desk and taking a few slow breaths. Dropping her eyes, Alex put her hands into her lap as she tried to stop them from shaking. Aiden put a hand on her shoulder and said something to the young man who moved away a moment later. Alex heard him sit down in the desk directly behind them.

  “That was Brandon Fisher,” Aiden told Alex once she stopped glaring at her tablet. “I met him yesterday in my technical writing class.”

  “Shut up,” Alex hissed, but Aiden ignored her.

  “Fresh bread and cookies, jazz music and dried flowers,” he supplied. “That was my vision, Nikki hasn't met him yet.”

  “I told you-” Alex started to say, but the professor rapped a wooden ruler against his desk at the front of the room. He was an older man with a no-nonsense feel about him, dressed in a three piece suit.

  “Enough chatter,” the professor announced. “Welcome to General Physics 1; I am Professor Whittaker. I'm going to assume that those of you taking this class in order to fulfill your general science requirement have signed up for a lab as well. If you haven't, then I urge you to see if you can still register.”

  Ignoring Aiden, Alex focused completely on Professor's Whittaker's introduction to the class. She'd been introduced to physics in high school with Newton's Three Laws of Motion and the spectrum of light, but Whittaker quickly made it clear that they were going much further than that. He announced that by the end of the semester they would have a basic understanding of the physical laws, their applications, heat, electricity, magnetism and light. She noted down her assignment as the class wound down and ignored Aiden as she packed up. As soon as Professor Whittaker dismissed them, Alex bolted for the door and let herself get swept up in the wave of students leaving classrooms.

  Alex returned to her dorm room to drop off her textbooks and found a note on her desk from Jenny once again inviting her for lunch. She glanced over at the clock and nibbled at her lip. It was 11 o'clock so she had time to meet up with her…. Alex paused, Jenny was trying to be her friend and Arthur was her boyfriend. They were nice to be making an effort, especially Jenny who was probably wondering what disorder she had. Decision made, Alex made sure she had her student card and grabbed her things for History of Civilization which started after lunch.

  The University Student Union Building was the newest buildings on campus and had replaced an old brick classroom building. On her first tour of the campus, the building had clearly been the pride and joy of the school as it served as the main hub of student activity and housed most student services. It was a tall building that mixed brickwork, metal and lot of windows together over four floors. The shaded lawn across from the main doors was filled with students eating sandwiches or out of to-go containers as they lounged on the grass.

  Walking inside, Alex looked around the long food court seating area that dominated the first floor of the commons building. The space was two stories high above Alex's head with a curved ceiling that was a decorative mix of wood, metal and round lights. A walkway circled the food court with a large curved staircase linking the first floor and the second floor. To her right was the entrance to the administration offices, financial aid and the enrollment office through one imposing set of double doors. To the left was the food court with a collection of counters that each had their own type of food and menus. Yesterday Alex had just grabbed a sandwich from a large display of prepared foods, but today she decided to try something new.

  Moving past the checkout stations, Alex scanned the various counter shops for any sign of Jenny or Arthur. Her eyes landed on a familiar purple top and head of long black wavy hair in front of the custom sub shop. Grabbing a tray, Alex walked towards Jenny to confirm it was her roommate.

  “Hi,” Alex greeted as she came up beside Jenny.

  Her roommate beamed at her as she turned, but her expression gr
ew concerned as she studied Alex. “Rough morning?”

  “Not the best,” Alex admitted. “Where are you two?”

  “We don't have a spot yet,” Jenny informed her as she checked her phone.

  “Alright,” Alex told her, “I'll find you.” She stepped away from Jenny and headed for the counter that smelled of burgers and fries.

  “Hey Alex,” Arthur greeted, surprising Alex and making her jump. “Sorry,” he apologized.

  “Oh hey Arthur,” Alex answered with a soft blush. “Sorry, I didn't notice you.”

  “Can't blame you,” Arthur told her a wide smile. “That smell is rather distracting isn't it.”