Seven Deadly

Chapter 3: St. Selaphiel's Academy

This is turning out to be the worst birthday ever.

The school bus was packed with students from the local public school, Serpentwood High. I guess they aren’t used to seeing students from St. Selaphiel's Academy on the school bus. A group of loud, catty girls around my own age took one look at my private school uniform and started asking me questions about the place - what is it like? Are my parents super rich? Is it true that the cafeteria has a Starbucks in it, and is it true that the students have to say prayers at the start and end of every class? 

Despite me having told them that I know as little as they did (it being my first day and all), they didn’t seem to believe me, and they only left me alone when they got off the bus at the entrance of their own school. I heard one of the girls call out  “Bye, snobby b***h! Catch you later!” as they got off the bus. I know the insult was directed at me, because I was the only one left on the bus, apart from the driver. 

And the driver is a decrepit, ancient, paper thin old man - hardly a ‘snobby b***h’.

So now I’m sitting alone on a practically empty bus, which is slowly winding its way up a road going into the mountains cradling Serpentwood. The scenery changes from autumnal deciduous forest - blood red maples and aspens crowned with sunshine yellow leaves - into thick, dense pine forest, the smell of sap heavy on the air. 

After about twenty minutes winding up along the road, a tall wrought iron fence comes into view before us. The fence crosses the road, and finally the bus pulls up to a set of magnificent black gates, which are at least a hundred feet tall. The black wrought iron bars are spiked with sharp barbs - as if to keep something out.

Or maybe, to keep something in.

Each column on either side of the open gates is topped with a golden shield, which I recognise as the school crest of St. Selaphiel's Academy - two scaly serpents twined around a gilded apple, their serpentine eyes glowing bright red. It takes me a moment to realise that the eyes must be some sort of precious jewel - rubies, maybe - illuminated in the rays of morning sunlight.

"This is as far as I go," the driver says, turning around in his seat to look back at me. "The outer gates. You'll need to walk the rest of the way." 

Weird, but ok.

He opens the bus doors, so I grab my book bag and hop off, thanking the bus driver quickly as I depart. In that moment he shoots me a quick glance, his weather-beaten wrinkled face creased in concern. There is something unsettled in his facial expression - some curiosity, but also a flash of distrust and apprehension. Then he shakes his head, and presses the button that closes the bus doors behind me.

The tyres of the bus screech as he pulls off, thundering away from the school the way he came at breakneck speed. It’s as if he can’t get away fast enough.

The gates before me are closed, and for one dreadful moment I wonder if they're actually locked. 

Don't they know I'm coming? Is someone meant to meet me here? Was I supposed to call ahead?

I lift one hand up to feel the cool black metal, pushing gently, and to my surprise the massive gates groan and slowly swing open just wide enough to let me though.

They swing closed behind me as I slip through, and I realise they must be electric, or automatic. 

The road ahead curves uphill and turns sharply to the left, and it's densely forested on either side, so that I can't see how far away up the road the school building is. I'm sure it's close though. 

That old bus driver wouldn't make me walk if it was super far... would he? Well, there's only one way to find out.

I start walking, clutching my book bag as I climb the steep road. After a few minutes, the pines trees give way to a grove of oak and ash trees clinging to the side of the steep hill, their branches wreathed in dark green ivy and dripping with emerald moss. I hurry up the road, no time to stop and stare - but as I pass through the grove, I catch glimpses of old lichen-encrusted stones dotted amongst the gloomy undergrowth, half-hidden beneath sword ferns and leaf litter. And there’s writing on some of the stones. And some are shaped like crosses, and angels. 

With a little shudder, I realise that they’re actually gravestones.

What sort of high school has its own graveyard? So creepy.

Finally, I seem to reach the top of the hill, and I find myself on a plateau forested with more oak and ash trees. A magnificent scene rises up to meet me.

I'm standing before a second set of gates, smaller than the first, and made out of what appears to be pure, glimmering gold.

The inner gates, I guess. And behind them... the most beautiful vision I could ever have imagined.

I take a moment to pause in front of the school gates, trying to take it all in. After all the various schools I’ve attended over the years, it takes a lot to surprise me, or to really interest me. It takes a lot to rattle me. But this place… this place is different.

This place is absolutely amazing. 

I’ve never seen anything quite like it - not outside of the movies or my own imagination, anyway.

It's like something out of a fairytale, or my wildest dreams.

The 'school', if it can even really be called that, is an awe-inspiring massive stone building, more like a Gothic cathedral than a school really. A riot of pointed towers, turrets and flying buttresses soar into the air, and the grand facade is decorated with a host of statues. Gargoyles and biblical figures, angels and demons - an entire stone army looks down on the school grounds, watching the passing world with uncaring sightless eyes. In the nave above the entrance (comprised of two giant wooden double doors), a magnificent stained glass rose window twinkles in the morning light, depicting a host of white-winged angels on a hill, blowing golden trumpets.

There are lush green lawns in front of the building, with the occasional topiary tree and stone fountains, and several cobblestone paths winding their way around the grounds. Students dressed like me in the dark forest green blazer and grey tartan are milling around outside, and even the occasional nun in full black-and-white habit can be seen. 

As I’m lost in thought, staring at my new school spellbound, a deep booming sound of church bells rings out over the school grounds. I look up at bell tower, wondering why none of this was mentioned on the school's website. It was next to impossible to find out anything about the school online - there weren't even pictures.

Why all the secrecy? What on earth is this place, even? One thing's for sure - it's not a normal high school.

As the bells echo and fade into silence, the students and nuns head into the building, and I pull my phone out of my pocket to check the time.

The words "No reception" blink back at me from the screen, and there are no bars on the signal icon. 

No internet or phone reception? At a high school, in this day and age? What in the world is going on? No wonder there isn't much about the school online. I'm stuck out in the middle of nowhere, with no way of contacting the outside world. What the hell have I walked into here? I guess there's only one way to find out.

Gathering my strength, I swallow down my anxiety, praying that I can make it through today unscathed.

Ready or not. Let’s get this over and done with.