Javi smiled. “This is where we come to train. Hand to hand combat and weapons training. All of it, here. There’s a huge outdoor section on the other side.”
Above us the sunlight poured in from the glass ceiling. Javi pushed a button along the side wall, and I gasped as the ground shifted beneath us.
Large objects sprang up from the markings on the floor. A giant wooden bridge. Two massive rock faces. A huge platform complete with foam sponges and a tall balance beam.
“What is this?”
“Obstacle course,” Javi explained.
My head spun from the sheer magnitude of the place. This was no high school gymnasium. I doubted even the freaking army had a training facility this extra. In the far corner two boxing rings stood and on the other side, a caged boxing ring.
“This is insane.”
Javi stood proudly with his arms crossed over his chest. “Impressive, huh?”
“But where are all the weapons?”
He nodded toward a padlocked door behind me. “There. But you need a professor to open it.” A frown formed on his face. “Weird. There should be one on duty now. The next training class is about to start.”
“I am on duty,” a deep voice drawled.
I jumped and Javi’s shoulders tensed.
“Do you have a permission slip to be in here outside of class time?” A tall, willowy looking man spoke.
“Yes, sir.” Javi straightened and fished out a crumpled looking piece of paper to hand him.
“Hmmm.” The older man nodded as he read it.
His cold blue eyes snapped to mine. “Tour’s over. My class is about to start.”
Class? My eyebrow arched. He didn’t look like he could lift more than fifty pounds. He swept a long strand of silvery hair out of his face and sneered.
“Yes, Professor Cassiano, sir.” Javi saluted and ushered me out.
I glanced over my shoulder to see him watching us with a pinched face. Clearly, someone was not happy about our presence.
“What was all that about?” I rounded on Javi as the door shut behind us.
“We’re not really supposed to be in there unsupervised.” He shrugged. “Especially now since two students were caught doing it in the caged ring.”
My lip curled. “Gross.”
Javi’s eyes widened in a look of horror. “You don’t think he thought we were doing that, do you?” He cursed, shaking his head.
“Eeew. Gross, Javi. Didn’t you put on your slip you were taking your cousin on tour?”
His eyebrows knitted together. “No. There’s no room for a detailed reason.”
“So, yeah. He probably thought that.”
“Should we go back and explain?” He ran his fingers through his hair, a worried expression on his face.
“I don’t know. He told us to leave.”
He stared at the door for a moment and turned back to me. “Okay. Yeah. Let’s forget about that. Uh… ready for the rest of the tour?”
I shrugged. “Do I have a choice?”
His lips flattened. Ignoring my attitude, he led me down the steps and paused.
“Next, stop… let’s check out the office building. There’s a doctor’s clinic there, the professor’s offices, and the headmaster’s office.
“Joy,” I murmured.
I walked with Javi, wishing I had another coffee.
The building was massive, more like a museum than an office building. Wide open spaces and sleek, expensive furniture. Once again, I was surprised to find water colored beach paintings on the wall. They really loved their beach themes.
“What’s the deal with all the pictures?” I asked Javi.
He glanced in my direction. “What about them?”
“Why beaches?”
He shrugged. “Why not? We have to appear like a normal school on the outside. For when the ordinaires try to enroll.”
“The ordinaires… like normal people? Why would they want to come here?”
“It’s an elite private academy with the highest level of security and curriculum,” he explained, clearly parroting a spiel he’d memorized.
My eyebrows arched. “But don’t they figure out… what you really do here?”
He snorted. “We don’t let them enroll. They come and take a tour and then we mind zap them. Make them forget they wanted to come in the first place.”
His words left me speechless. Mind zap? What kind of freak school were they trying to send me to?
“This is the headmaster’s office,” Javi paused and turned to me, “but maybe we should leave that for another day.”
I frowned. “What other day?”
He ignored me and continued walking down the hall, his boots thumped loudly on the marble.
“What other day, Javi?” I scurried to catch up to him.
“Javier. Rose,” my tío called from ahead.
We stopped in front of him. I bristled, on guard for whatever he was going to do or say next.
He wore a dark suit and sneered at us with all the flair and self-importance of a politician or royal. My fists curled in response. The metal of the bracelet bit into my flesh, making me wince.
Heat rushed through me. I glared at him while he did his best to ignore me.
“Have you already begun the tour, then?” He turned to Javi.
Javi straightened to his full height. “Yes. We were just on the way to the library.”
Tío nodded. “Very good. Finish the tour, and I’ll meet you after lunch. I have a meeting to attend.”
Used to being dismissed, my cousin gave him a firm nod in response and motioned for me to follow. Once we were around the corner, he visibly relaxed and became his cheery self again.
“Wow.”
He looked at me. “What?”
“Your dad really did a number on you, huh?”
His brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
I gave him a pointed look. “You act like his puppet when he’s around and you’re not the one with a bracelet.”
The tips of his ears reddened. “I do not.”
I took a step back. “Okay. Obviously, you’re not ready to deal with that. My bad.”
“I am not his puppet.”
“All right. Sorry.” I fell silent.
There was definitely some beef between them and judging by my cousin’s scowl, he was not open to me pointing it out.
Our footsteps echoed in the hall, filling the awkward silence. By the time we’d made it
