We continue walking. There are ten floors, on the first and second floor there’s the kitchen, mess halls and storages. On the third to seventh floor there are bed rooms, and common rooms, bathrooms and a gym on each floor, also a pool the fifth floor. The common rooms are where everyone spends their time in the evenings. The last three floors are just training floors. On the eight floor is where all the mind reading and meditations is. On the ninth floor is where the normal studying takes place. You know like the borings subjects that every kid has in a regular school. Since this isn’t a regular school, those aren’t the subjects they have. The subjects they offer are subjects like mythical creatures, a general knowledge about the outside world, monster class, English class, and a second language which can be Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish or French. On the last but not least floor, that’s where are the warrior fighting goes on. People learn to spare, sword fight and many other different techniques that might be useful in battle. Great, just like PE class I think to myself.
“I can’t do basketball in PE class, let alone fight with swords and shields.”
“You’ll have to learn. It is our way of surviving.”
“Wait, your fighting determines whether you live or die?” It sounded like a dumb question. But Jake answered it anyway.
“Yes. Jasmine, you don’t understand. The monsters, they stop at nothing, they kill everything in their way, no exceptions. If you are caught with one of those Hazards, and you can’t fight, you’ll die. ”
“What do the monsters want from us?”
“Nothing. It is the other way around. We want to kill them.”
“Because they are monsters. Makes sense.”
“Yes, they create too much damage. Our job is to protect the world.”
“The whole world?”
“Yes, you know the portal we used to get here?” I nod slowly. “That is how we teleport. We think of a destination, and we magically appear there. Sometimes it goes wrong and you might end up on the wrong street, but usually it’s quite accurate. But the portal only works when you know exactly what you are doing. Also to access the portal it has to be a peaceful place. Usually anywhere no one else is. But in New York, the amount of monsters is too much, their forces are too strong, and their magic overpowers ours. That is why we flew to San Francisco. ”
“So where exactly are we now?”
“Jasmine, you have already seen and learnt so much today. Maybe I should wait with the details after you’ve settled.”
“I’m pretty sure nothing can be harder to believe than teleport able portals.”
“You’ve still got a lot to learn.”
“Whatever. Tell me tomorrow then. This is a lot to take in anyway.”
I start walking down the hall again, taking in the scenery. I don’t know exactly what was holding Jake back, but he obviously wanted to wait with the details. By the looks of things, I have nothing but time.
“Yeah, a lot.”