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T h e H o l l o w s O f
H I R A E T H
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They led me to a room, and I was quarantined off with a load of special ones I've never spoken to before-because I was in the room with the elder special ones. Yes, there are elders; we aren't all fresh, young and youthful. The youngest here-apart from me-was a twenty-five year old man, working as an accountant for the academy. He'd already explained to me how easily the academy could slip into debt by adding up huge numbers and taking the result away from an even bigger number. I was baffled to say the least.

Still, he's the only who I could have a semi-decent conversation with. The rest tended to scowl or stare at me, depending on who they were. Women who looked old enough to be mothers would give me sympathetic glances, with a tinge of helplessness, and perhaps anger, whilst the older women would mother the hell out of me. One asked me seven times in a row if I was sure I didn't want a drink.

I huffed, annoyed with my current circumstance. Where's Jameson?

"So I tried to make money using some failed business the academy got rid of," I tuned back into the accountants babble.

"Didn't work in the end, but it was fine because the academy had built an alliance with the-"

"Do you know any other inside secrets of the academy?" I interrupted him. The accountant stared at me for a while before laughing.

"You want me to give you confidential information?" He continued to laugh and I glowered at him, unnerved at the fact that I was being laughed at.

"You're a child, why would I give information to a ten year old?" The accountant snickered once more. I gave him a menacing glare. I was not a child.

"I'm fifteen, just nearly sixteen, I'd watch your mouth if I were you, I can legally have sex in six days." Sky. What the fuck. I was, of course, joking; what better way to respond to a mocking comment than with another mocking comment?

The man just simply laughed, and I gave a rather reluctant half-smile, half-grimace in response. "You're funny, you know," The man told me, picking up his plastic cup, containing a small supply of water, "You're a headstrong kind of funny, like you run the world but you could still tell me a joke whilst getting me to back off." The man took a sip of his drink as I watched him curiously.

"It's not a bad thing, Sky." The man knew my name, and within the last hour, I had not slipped such a detail out.

My eyes pierced his, "How do you know my name?" I asked him as he finished his drink.

"Everyone here knows your name," He offered as a response, "They all know who you are," He continued, beckoning me to follow him to the water machine. I followed, watching as he swiftly prepared two drinks.

"You've noticed all the angered looks? Maybe some of fear? Curiosity? Maybe even pity?" The guy raised his eyebrow as he passed me my drink.

"I guess.." I trailed off, watching as the man downed his cup in one, whilst I held onto mine gingerly.

"They all know you, some are angry that they'd place such a dangerous girl in the same room as us, some are scared of the result of the above, some are curious about you," He refilled his cup.

"So they hate me?" I asked pathetically. Sky, you're not supposed to be a child.

The guy snickered, "I guess." My heart sank. "Most are just wondering what you're all about; you know, word gets about-there are whispers of an endangered, possibly invincible, fifteen year old girl. You know, what with all the attacks thrown on you, I'm surprised you're still alive." The guy continued to babble, but this time I was listening. He spoke in an odd manner, and it was slightly difficult to follow his trail of thoughts as he spoke them one after another.

"Well, there are a lot of people to thank for that-"

"You're guardian, yes, very famous too. You guys are like celebrities." He told me and I opened my mouth but his thoughts once more shot out of his mouth at lightning speed. "There are whispers that the two of you are like kindred spirits, it isn't just him protecting you-and rather willingly at that-it goes the other way too, doesn't it, Sky?"

My palms became clammy as I sipped at my drink, using it as a ruse to come up with a viable response. "And what are you trying to accuse me of.."

"Garrett." He finished, catching on to my need to mock him throughout this new turn of a conversation.

"Garrett." I echoed, but using my sarcastic 'rule the world' tone of voice.

"Which of my words sounded accusatory?" Garrett asked in response and I narrowed my eyes, "Maybe it was simply your paranoia that made you hear accusations." He added with a raised eyebrow. I had been so sure he was about to accuse-and rightly so-Jameson and I of feeling those illegal feelings for each other. I had jumped to a conclusion, but you can never be too sure.

I was about to respond when the door to the room was jerked open, and a herd of guardians came bounding in. Soon, a huddle of special ones was formed, but I managed to squeeze through the crowd. A guardian spotted me before I had the chance to ask what was going on.

"Sky?" The guardian asked, as if sussing out who I was. I nodded cluelessly and he held out a palm for me to take. I stared at it.

"Jameson gave a strict order that we'd get you to safety first." My ears perked up at Jameson's name, and so I grudgingly placed my palm into the guardian's one.

The guardian led me out first, walking towards a set of vans, each containing nine seats. He got into the passenger side, sitting on the seat closest to the driver, then helped me up onto the seat next to him.

As we waited for the other seven people to arrive, I twiddled my thumbs together in deep thought.

The guardian interrupted my deep thought, "I'm Kai, and you are Sky." The guardian, Kai, spoke as he fiddled with the air con.

I smiled, "I've never been beaten to an introduction before, and was the rhyme necessary?" I asked, liking that our conversation was lighthearted.

Kai turned to look at me, "Are you accusing me of making up a name that rhymes with yours on the spot?" He inquired with a smooth laugh.

I shrugged, "People can surprise you." I tried to joke, but my admission came out more depressed than humorous, but I couldn't figure out what I had exactly meant when my subconscious switched the subject from being lighthearted to a therapist level of deep.

Kai blew out a breath, "So there's some deep shit in your life then." I couldn't help but burst into laughter, no matter how terribly true that statement was.

"You have a beautiful laugh." Kai noted, complimenting me in a way that I had never been complimented before.

I frowned, "Why haven't I heard that before?" I asked jokingly, turning to Kai to display a ear to ear grin.

Kai shrugged, "Maybe you don't laugh enough around other people."

I snickered, "Okay, my dearest shrink." I mocked him, trying to steer our conversation away from uneasy subjects. Then, as it turned out, I didn't need to do much steering, as we were soon accompanied by other special ones and other guardians.

The guardian who got in the drivers side gave Kai a mocking glance, "You chatting 'er up?" He laughed, looking behind Kai to spot me.

"The ''er'," I echoed, "Has a name." I sassed, expecting a different response than what I got. He laughed. Why is everyone bloody laughing at me today?

"And I'm sure Kai knows all about that name." Was the last thing I heard before the car engine was started and we zoomed off down the road, leaving, what I assumed, was a threat behind us.

"I'm sorry about Gerard." Kai leaned down and whispered into my ear twenty minutes into our journey. I shivered as his breath and the air con combined gave me chills-but not Jameson-chills, they were cold-chills.

"It's fine." I whispered back, thinking nothing of the incident as I worried about what was to come next. Kai turned down the air con and I smiled at him gratefully.

Tired of today's shenanigans, I leaned my head against the glass of the window, then soon regretted it as the car went over bumps. I thought about leaning my head to the other side, but I didn't want to disturb the safe space between Kai and I. Getting fed up and restless, I eventually let my head lull to the side, and then I let sleep greet me at the end of the tunnel of the unknown.

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What is a tunnel

What is a funnel

Funnel tunnel

Kai seems interested in Sky

Is there a boy who isn't interested in Sky

-FreeFireMc (the boy who isn't interested in Sky)

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Next update: Friyay
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CHAPTER NINETY-SIX SPOILER:

Danger can lead to good things :)

Any suggestions on 'good things'?

And do you remember any important dates?