Through the Archway

Chapter Two - Part Three

Evelyn

The halls were crammed with students rushing to their next class, or chatting idly in small groups. As always, Evelyn felt oddly out of place as she passed through them. Everyone was so much older than her, and so easy-going around each other. Evelyn could never get to know them; whenever she tried to strike up a conversation, ask questions, or comment on a class, all she got was a polite response, maybe a small smile, and then the heads turned away from her.

It was pointless, trying to make friends with the other students - she had absolutely nothing in common with any of them. She could see right through their boring lives, right down to the secrets they held. And to them, she was a mystery. What was interesting to Evelyn was bizarre to them... and trying to listen to their mundane gossip made her want to beat her head against the nearest wall. James was the only friend she had, and he'd been threatened by Thomas.

There was no question that Thomas was desperate to use the archways, but Evelyn had no clue as to how far he'd go. And why? Why did he care so much? What was beyond the desert that he so desperately wanted to reach? Evelyn shook her head and readjusted her grip on her books. She'd just have to be more careful.

She went from class to class in a sort of haze, unable to clear her mind. In her private lessons for her powers, she almost levitated her tutor to the ceiling before she realized what she was doing. The archways sat ever-present at the back of her mind. Though she tried to push them aside, it was useless.

Evelyn walked into her last class of the day, Our History, considerably less focused than usual. She chose a desk at the very back of the class with the archways,Thomas, and Will swirling around in her mind.

Outside, the sun was setting, and orange light streamed through the windows. The rest of the class filed in and plopped into their seats. A tall boy with dark, curly hair shouted at his friend to sit with him. Tablets came out of pockets and book-bags as the class waited for the teacher to come in.

Evelyn forced herself into a state of calm. Thomas and the archways could wait until later.

The door by the desk at the front of the room opened, and Evelyn straightened in her seat as Professor Wallace entered.

At this point the class had collapsed into a state of pandemonium - the students were talking and laughing loudly, papers were flying, and a loud explosion sounded to Evelyn's right.

"Silence please!" The teacher, a short woman with graying hair, shouted. The class froze immediately. A paper airplane skidded to the ground. Although Professor Wallace was short and very unassuming, she had a tendency to get irritated very easily, and then add extra homework as punishment for bad behavior.

"Last week we discussed the formation of our realms. Today we will be going over what life was like before the Visitors arrived and the war began since most of you failed this portion of the last exam. I expect essays on the beliefs and culture of our native ancestors - no complaining!" She added when half the class groaned. Professor Wallace glared around at them all.

She went on to explain how technology had shaped the world they lived in, but Evelyn wasn't really paying attention. She'd gotten a perfect grade on that essay, which she had turned in weeks ago, without really trying.

"Can anyone tell me why we live in a monarchial society when our technology is so advanced? Why aspects of both cultures, visitor and human, have survived thousands of years?" The teacher called out. No one raised their hands. Some looked around at others, as though hoping someone would have the nerve to speak up. Evelyn knew the answer of course, but she hated drawing attention to herself.

A tentative hand rose near the front of the class. "It was in the agreement of the first council, right? The visitors agreed to not destroy the humans' culture, and... the humans agreed to let them rule?"

"Close, but not quite correct. The new arrivals to our world were already part of the culture. They had been visiting for years, without revealing what they truly were. When the humans realized that these visitors were the beings they had been idolizing, they wanted them to rule." Evelyn scoffed. She doubted very much that the humans had wanted anything other than their freedom. Everyone else in the room ate it up and nodded. Gullible, she thought.

How they believed these lies was completely beyond her. It was part of why she wanted to make the archways work again. If she could prove they weren't dangerous as they had been told, then as a result it would prove that the council has been lying for centuries. Your father has shared in the lying, a small voice had reminded her. Was that what Thomas meant by "common interests"? Exposing the truth to the world? She had to find out what he knew. If she could just get the archways to work! Then she could just go to the desert and find out what all the fuss was about.

Realization hit her and she grinned. So that was why Thomas was so interested in the archways. He needed them to get past the mountains. It proved one thing - whatever he claimed to "know" was just theory; or perhaps something he had been told. He had no proof of anything.

Evelyn pulled out her journal: small, yellowed pages wrapped in faded brown leather. Her father had given it to her on her last birthday after he had chided her for her habit of staring off into space.

"Write in this every morning and night; leave no detail out," he had said, "For the rest of the day, try to live in reality with the rest of us." It was her most prized possession - pages of tiny, cramped writing of her every thought and idea. She kept it close by, always within arm's reach. When it wasn't being put to use, she kept it well hidden beneath a floorboard in her room, using her powers to make the board unyielding to anyone but her.

She flipped absentmindedly through pages upon pages of notes on the archways, drawings of them, and failed experiments. There was nothing new for her to write, so she took to rereading her old notes, hoping to find something she had missed before.

It didn't take long before her chattering classmates and her monotonous teacher faded into the background, and she was once again consumed by the challenge, lost in her own mind.