The Lost Queen Book 1 - Alden

16. Tour

Mr. Aver is sitting in the conference room when we get back. "Alden, with your skills and work history, the IT department would like you to volunteer with them for 10 hours a week. Is that ok with you?"

"Yes, that's fine."

"I figured that's what you would say, so I have already set your schedule up like that. You will be with the IT department for 10 hours a week and the culinary department for 5 hours per week. Here is a copy of your full quarter schedule."

VAMP 101 Mon & Wednesday 10-11AM Room M405

Law 101 Tue 10-11:30 Room M210

BIO 101-Body Mon & Thurs 2-4PM Room M411

Nutrition 101 Plants Fri 11-12PM M509

Nutrition 101 LAB Fri 2-4PM M511

Fencing Wednesday 6-7:30PM Room M104

WORK IT Tues 1-5PM Wednesday 2-4PM Friday 5-8PM Room M110

WORK Culinary Mon 5-8PM Thursday 9-11AM Room Green

Study Group Saturday 1-5PM

"Now that everyone has a copy of their schedules, are there any questions? Also, your power classes will not begin until the last quarter of this year, so they are not on this schedule. And future schedules will be passed on through the website."

"What is room Green?" I scratch my head.

"Green house. You will see them on your tour. I guess they couldn't be bothered to give them an actual room number."

"What is room A?" Joe asks.

"Archery, it really moves around depending on what you are studying that week. Sometimes it's by targets in an open area, other times it's in a tree line. The instructor will contact you prior to the first meeting and let you all know where to meet at."

"What happens if we need to miss a day?"

"We understand stuff happens, you will need to make up any missed school work as well as any missed hours from work. In order to get your $350 credit per month, you need to volunteer 60 hours of time. Also, if you are going to miss work, please let the head of the department know as soon as possible. It won't make much of a difference in the green houses, and you can pretty much make the time up whenever you want. But other jobs like cooking or grocery store clerk can cause huge problems if someone doesn't show up. So please let your department know."

Emberlynna walks in, "Are we ready for the tour?"

"Yes, they have their schedules, and are ready to go for Monday. And the IT department got the locks reprogrammed, so the new keys will work on them now."

"Oh good. I was wondering about that, someone said they couldn't get into the pool this morning. Glad it's fixed."

"We couldn't get into the gym this morning, we thought it was closed. So, we went for a run instead. It'll be nice to be able to use that from now on."

"Yea, ran right into some of the kings police." Jenny gasps and Clark has everyone's attention. "Seen some other student get hit with one of their batons too."

"Who?" Emberlynna tilts her head.

Clark looks at me for help, "Matt is his name. But we don't know anything else about him."

"I'll deal with it." Mr. Aver damn near runs out.

"Thank you for letting us know. We are going to begin the tour. The first floor consists of offices, conference rooms, and the IT department. The defense classrooms are also on this floor, but they are only used in the evenings. The gym and the pool are on this floor. The gym is at one end of the hall and the pool is at the other. The only food on this floor is the dining room. If you would, please follow me."

"As you can see here, the dining room will write what they are having for dinner on this white board. It's usually written by noon. Tonight there will be cheesy shepherd's pie and salad. We are going to go up to the 2nd floor now. As we walk by the gym, please check your keys and make sure they open the door."

The door opens with no problem. The gym looks nice on the inside, lots of new machines. We get on the elevator and go to floor 2. "Now, as you will notice, there are 2 elevators on the ends of the hallway, and 2 in the middle. You can use any of them for use in the Main building. This is generally a quiet floor, mostly classrooms here. Some of them include, history, supernatural, law, reproduction, but we also have the library and computer lab in the middle, which you are free to use. You can peak in quietly as we go by. And this is room 210. That is where your law class will be held. Follow me to this elevator, and we will go up to the 3rd floor."

"As we get out of the elevator, you will notice housekeeping keeps a room here. This is where you will report if that was your chosen work field. To the left here, we have the bakery and coffee shops. Across the hall are the clothes and bookshops. The cafeteria takes up the full center here, as I'm sure you've been here by now. Here on this white board, the theme for the cafeteria dinner is listed. Tonight's theme is backyard BBQ. If I remember right, this would be BBQ chicken and ribs, corn on the cob, baked beans, stuff like that."

Victor takes a moment to talk about how much he likes BBQ.

"Proceeding down the hall, we have the grocery store and deli. And this is the last shop we have on this floor. It is the household shop. They have a little bit of everything, from pots and pans to dishwashers. And the last room on this floor is the restaurant. This one specializes in fish."

"So we can use our credits at any of these shops?" Jenny looks around.

"Yes, any of them. Except the food places. You get 3 meals a day. These do not come out of your credits. Your card will be scanned each time you eat a meal, whichever place you choose to eat at. However, the grocery store does come out of your credits. So, I would NOT suggest paying for and cooking your 3 meals per day. On to floor 4. Actually, we'll go to floor 5. Both 4 and 5 only have classrooms and labs, so they are the same."

"My classroom is on this floor. I have 509 for nutrition and 511 for the lab. As you can see, every single room on the fifth floor is for different power class and their labs, except mine. Here is 509. Feel free to check it out."

It's like stepping into a different world. There were plants growing everywhere. The room has 11 student desks in it and each has a different plant on it. There are plants hanging in front of the windows, and some hanging from the ceilings.

"Each of you will specialize in a different herb while you are in my class. You will end the quarter with an oral presentation of the amazing things your herb can do. If you go through that door you can enter the lab."

The lab has some plants as well, but it also has kitchen appliances. As well as diagrams on how to cut animals to get the best cuts of meat.

"Let's go back to the elevator. We will tour the towers."

"There are 2 towers. East and West. Or E and W. We are going to go up into the west tower. Starting on floor 1, the west tower has housekeeping and maintenance. The East tower has a stockroom and a professor's area. The 2nd floor of both towers is a laundry room. Students as well as housekeepers can use these. You are welcome to get a washer and dryer for your room."

"We are going to get out here... This is the 3rd floor on the west tower. This is our theater. Every Saturday night and about half the Fridays, something will happen in here. It's usually posted about in the elevators, so keep an eye out for that. Back into the elevator. And I should probably let you know, the 3rd floor in the east tower is the medical area. Please don't go there expecting to watch a show."

"Floors 4-9 on both sides are apartments. Floor 10 is a study area. Go ahead and exit the elevator, but please remain quiet as it is a study area.... Feel free to come in here and grab a desk or comfortable chair and study. There are computers in the back area. There is also 1 conference room on each of the towers. Those are for group projects and such. They are soundproof, so don't worry about being quiet in those. And back to the elevator."

"Our last stop in the towers is the Spa. It is on the 20th floor in the West Tower. You can schedule massages here. But feel free to stop whenever. There are steam rooms, dry rooms, a salt soaking pool, lots of flavored water to cool down. I believe they even have acupuncture now. Here's the aromatherapy room. Lots of options here. You should keep the spa in mind as it can help with relaxation quite a bit."

"We are not going to go over to the East tower, but there is a lounge on the 20th floor. They have live bands on Saturday nights. Other nights they are open from 7-10p. Sometimes they play music or have theme contests or karaoke. The weekly plan is usually on the door. They serve alcohol, and it has a descent selection of bar foods. It's always a nice option if you enjoy listening to music and having a couple of drinks."

"Is it open tonight?" Victor blurts out.

Me and Clark laugh.

"It's not like you 2 weren't thinking it."

"No, it doesn't open till the official start of the semester on Monday. But you all have 350 credits for the month and the grocery store is open." Emberlynna winks.

"Sweet."

"We will now go to the outdoor part of the tour. Follow me. This area, between the 2 towers, has a few hot tubs. It also has 1 pool, which is heated and has a swim up bar. It does get quite cold here, so there are not a lot of exterior activities. But during the summer term, it will have some chairs and tables and things to enjoy."

"Follow me this way. Here you will find the greenhouses. This is where our fruit and vegetables come from. On occasion, we will run low and have to hypnotize someone, so we can get free shipments. But we try to grow everything on our own. Behind those, is the chicken barn. As you can imagine, we go through a lot of eggs. We do have dairy, pig, and cow farms as well, but they are off site. Over in that direction you can see the grounds keeping building and that other one is another maintenance area, and behind those are another greenhouse and the solar field. And we own quite a lot of woods here. There is also a lake back there that we own. Are there any questions?"

"Are we allowed to hike or run in the woods?" Clark doesn't want to go to town again anytime soon.

"Absolutely. Feel free, the scenery and wildlife here are amazing. And I would like to also point out that the king's police will likely leave the area a few days after the 1st quarter starts. They are trying to catch vampires who are not fully registered with the school. And while I would never say they are nice, they generally will not hurt registered students as long as you comply with what they are asking."

"What happens if they catch someone not FULLY registered?" I have to ask.

"They will not make it to school... Please make sure to always carry your key cards. They prove you are a registered student. All the king's police have to do is scan them. If you do not have that card, I'm not sure what will happen."

That's harsh.

"That concludes the tour for today. We didn't go over everything, but you should have a better idea of where everything is now. Alden and Clark, Mr. Aver would like to speak with you. He is in the conference room now. Everyone else is free to go."

Mr. Aver is in the room when we get there. "Did Matt tell you anything else about himself? Like what year of studies he's in or anything at all?"

Clark shrugs, "Nothing I can remember."

"I can't recall anything else. We were in a hurry to get out of there and back to school."

"There's no Matt enrolled for classes here..." he shrugs his shoulders. "If you remember anything else, let me know right away please."

"We will."

"Thanks, you 2 have a good day."

As soon as he walks out the door, Clark turns to me. "What do you think that's about?"

"I don't know. It's sure weird though. Maybe we got his name wrong. Keep your eyes open, maybe we will see him again."