Behind the Walls. NOVEL By Claire Darcy.

9. A Falling Star.

ACE.

I was forced back to consciousness by the suffocating pain that clutched my neck. The first thing I saw was the ground- a staggering distance below me, swirling with the height.

There was a gorilla-sized hand around my neck, holding me suspended out off the roof of one of the many glassy buildings at the Academy. I grabbed on to the arm that held me and began kicking my legs about, trying to struggle back onto the roof.

"Keep still!" the soldier barked, loosening his grip the slightest bit to threaten me. My stomach lurched as I looked down at the ground below. So high. So very, very, high.

A crowd was forming at the base of the building, all teenagers who were being pushed back by more aggressive soldiers. The ground: solid concrete. If I turned my head, I could see the building next to this one, which was a little taller. The window that was in line with this one's roof was filled with curious and confused teenage faces, probably wondering what on earth was going on with this girl, dangling out over the edge.

"Please don't drop me," I begged, my voice forced and squeaky. I gasped for air- I could feel the pressure building up. Hanging by my neck was not fun. The second man, who wasn't holding me, growled.

"We were told to get rid of you. That's what we're doing," he sneered, "And making an example of you in the process."

I gasped for air once more, the confusion and panic I had felt before now settling into a deadly calm.

"You can't. You won't," I said, trying to keep my voice even. The teenagers that littered the floor below were gathered in an expecting silence, looking as small as ants, none of them aware of what was going on.

"Give us one good reason why I shouldn't just drop you," the brawny soldier challenged. My mind started spinning. I had to think quickly.

"Because if you do, all those other teenagers -the ones watching- they'll realize how weak you are. They'll realize that you couldn't even control one girl without resorting to your worst. There'll be rebellion and outbreaks everywhere. Your authority will be gone, and the prodigies will unite to drag you to the ground."

The soldier froze in a contemplative silence. Then he sneered.

"Dumb kid! You think you're so big and tough, don't you? You're wrong. You don't stand a chance against this storm," he argued, his voice rising.

I stopped cold, my eyes glaring into his.

"You're wrong," I said quietly, "I am the storm."

The guard laughed, then dropped me.

My feet hit the concrete edge for one moment, and I was teetering backwards, flailing over the ground so far below, my arms grasping forwards to try and stop myself.

Every tiny detail seemed to come into focus; the ledge at my feet, the cracks in the brickwork, the air shifting through my fingers, the weight of gravity pushing down... and then before I could even get a whimper of a scream out, my feet slipped.

And I fell.

...

Rowan followed Frankie downstairs and out of the lobby. They waited for Tyler outside building 7. He'd be there any second.

"It's quiet out," Frankie commented, looking about the place. She absently pulled her straight blonde hair into a ponytail, her side fringe falling out. Her hair was painfully perfect.

"Yeah, where is everyone?" Rowan wondered aloud, unfazed by the way the sunlight caught in the blonde girl's hair. Perhaps he would never notice things like that again- perhaps he was too far gone to notice pretty, useless things.
He only wondered about where everyone was.