Наталья Соколова – LIMBO (страница 8)

He waved his hand in our direction. Jake turned to me and measured me with an appraising look. My classmate's eyes had become serpentine again – thin and elongated. I shuddered.

"Some of you have already learned the truth about yourselves," the professor, clasping his hands behind his back, was now pacing back and forth across the stage. "From your parents or from your benefactors – it's not so important. And of course, I also contributed my bit – those who attended my preparatory lessons were laughing the loudest just now. Others were less fortunate. They have yet to meet their hidden 'self' and go through the stages of denial, anger and bargaining. I suppose it won't come to depression. Yes, dear students of groups 'P' and 'S' – that is, those who were given colored passes – at this moment I'm addressing you. I hope you believed me and won't conduct experiments on yourself, testing your ability to be reborn from dust and ashes. If not – I suggest not delaying and doing it right now in front of the whole audience. So to speak, to consolidate the material covered. There are still bullets left in the gun."

The first-years, blinking fearfully, looked at the podium where the matte-black Makarov14 gun with a brown plastic grip lay.

"No volunteers. Wonderful. You are much more perceptive than the previous intake."

"And those with white passes," asked Lizzy's neighbor, the guy who a minute ago had screamed the loudest, "group 'M'. Who are they?"

"In order to help you, the imperishable ones, cope with your uncontrollable, difficult-to-subdue nature, our institute – LIMBO – was formed. Here you study shoulder to shoulder, in the same cohort, with mages – that is, essentially, with ordinary, mortal people who pass on secret, metaphysical knowledge from mouth to mouth as a family heirloom. You will recognize them by their unique, telling surnames, which they have inherited from father to son and mother to daughter since time immemorial. Remember them! Unlike you, whose immortality is, so to speak, an accidental mistake of nature, it is the hereditary mages who will later head, following their ancestors, a special FSB department, in which the best of the eternal ones will work in service to the Fatherland!.."

"And what will happen to the worst?" squeaked a short girl from the back row.

"You don't need to know this at all, young lady. Your business is to study diligently and listen to your teachers. We, unlike phoenixes and serpents, are not immortal, which means we're spending our precious time with you slackers. Please be so kind as to value it."

"Could you tell us what the letters 'BO' mean?" another pressing question came from a freshman.

Mr. Wordsworth, as if in passing, rubbed the face of his wristwatch with his fingertip:

"I would like to chat with you more, ladies and gentlemen, but I cannot. The show is over. See you tomorrow at the lecture."

He descended from the stage much more nimbly than he had climbed it. Hobbled between the rows. Opened the window frame wide, as if it were a door, and fearlessly stepped outside.

The first-year students started shouting again. What is he doing! It's good that our third floor is actually the first above ground, otherwise such a reckless act could have ended badly.

"He'll get himself killed one day," Jake muttered, shooting a glance toward the open, tapping against the wall, wooden frame.

I couldn't tell whether the guy was worried about the philosopher or, on the contrary, wished for him to get himself killed sooner. Taking off the copper key from his chest, the rector unlocked the assembly hall door, and the freshmen, making noise and jostling, ran away.

Well, at least now it's clear that 'BO' doesn't stand for Business Objectives.

I walked down the corridor between Jake and Liz, hugging my briefcase to my chest. Somehow I couldn't bring myself to put it on my back right now. It seemed like I really had wings there. More precisely, just one – but sharp as a thousand knives.

"BO is for Bonkers," the guy grumbled irritably, as if reading my thoughts.

Or for Boundlessness?.. Wait a minute, what does this mean… If the baldy had stabbed me yesterday in the alley, nothing would have happened to me?!

No way, that's nonsense. The crazy old man must be raving. Or maybe it's just a prank? Some kind of theatrical performance for freshmen before initiation? And my dreams about flying are just a coincidence?..

"Guys, what do you think about all this?" I spoke up, emerging from my thoughts.

"I think that today after classes we need to get wasted again," Liz blurted out.

"I'm in," sighed Jake 'the Snake' still rubbing his fingers on his chest where the bullet had recently hit. The blood stopped flowing surprisingly quickly. Although, what am I talking about. There must have been some kind of capsule with red liquid hidden under his shirt. All the liquid leaked out, and the show was over.

"What did he promise you?" I was itching with curiosity. "An automatic pass? Ha, or rather, a pistol pass?!.."

I laughed, releasing the tension:

"By the way, about the pistol. You put the bullet in your mouth beforehand to spit out later, that's clear. But if the weapon is a mock-up, how did such a loud shot sound happen and where did the smell of gunpowder come from?"

They both stopped and looked at me synchronously.

"Niki," Jake finally said, starting to unbutton his shirt. "This isn't a prank."

"Okay, Gill, wait," Liz hastily interrupted him. "That's not a sight for the fainthearted, and our phoenix doesn't need it. You understand? Let her just get drunk with us one last time on the first of September. Like a normal person! You'll have plenty of time to scare her later…"

Chapter 5: Straight to HELL

"Niki," Liz poked me in the back with a pencil, "have you heard that girls are disappearing around here?"

The Biology classroom was dark – the light from the windows was blocked by the branches and leaves of plants. The teacher – an unremarkable quiet middle-aged woman in a beige sweater and thick glasses – was especially fond of monstera and palm trees. On the windowsills, like in a dense tropical forest, real thickets towered. And there were also many cats of various colors freely walking around the classroom, jumping on chairs and desks, rubbing against students. Ginger, gray, tortoiseshell, tabby, black with white paws, and of course, pure black.

One cat looked plumper than the others and walked slowly – she seemed to be pregnant. When she jumped, not without difficulty, onto the teacher's desk and lay down right on the gradebook, Ms. Alexis, smiling modestly, didn't chase her away to take attendance. She only mentioned, for some reason, while gently stroking the fluffy cat, that soon second-year students who received C grades on their summer exam would face a retake. It turns out that in LIMBO you get immediately expelled for an F, but C-s are allowed to be retaken if you don't accumulate more than five of them during your entire studies. I didn't listen to the rest.

"What do you mean 'disappearing'?" I turned to Liz. "From where? And to where?!"

"From the dorm. And where to – nobody can tell you that. None of them have been found yet…"

Interrupted by our chatter, the Biology teacher sighed. She was silent for a bit, trying to regain her lost train of thought, then adjusted her ponytail of dull blonde hair – for which I privately nicknamed her "Gray Mouse" – and continued speaking. Something about that for "S" group students her subject is one of the core ones, and at the exam, unlike others, they will have to complete not a theory test, but a complex practical task. This did not apply to Liz and me, so after being quiet for half a minute, we got back to our conversation.

"The dorm, as you know, is just two steps from the institute!" the redhead whispered. "But they leave their evening extra classes, swipe their passes at the turnstiles, and that's it."

"When did this start?"

"Since March they disappeared once a month. On the new moon. On the twenty-ninth day! Do you understand what that means?"

"No," I answered honestly, shuddering.

"It's the Satanic day!" Liz exclaimed, making big eyes. "Most likely, they're being sacrificed! There are rumors that it's someone from 'our own', because with our level of energy protection, no outsider could simply get inside! And certainly they wouldn't have learned the personal info about the missing students that only the rector and teachers know…"

"Hey, Charm, stop distracting!" Jake interrupted in a loud whisper. "I can't hear a damn thing Ms. Alexis is saying. You can gossip during the break."

"Anyway, Niki, just be careful there, okay?"

"But I'm… kind of immortal? And seemingly with superpowers?.."

"Ha! They know who they're dealing with. They'll tie a camel thread around your throat – and goodbye to your abilities."

"What do you mean?!"

"And also, they can draw a seal…"

Jake hissed again and gave us both a contemptuous look. His yellow eyes flashed angrily in the dimness of the classroom. So as not to piss him off, I finally turned away, opened my book to the first section, and immediately winced.