Midnight Academy. Born at midnight

– Mother!

She didn't respond, didn't say anything. At some point, for a split second, I even thought that this was the end. That I spent all eighteen years in prohibitions in order to die like this stupidly, running away from a monster that I had never seen with my own eyes…

I didn't even have the courage to close my eyes.

Our car managed to fly through the rails just a few seconds before colliding with the train, completely demolishing the barrier on both sides. At that moment I wasn’t breathing at all. And my heart seemed to stop.

I desperately wanted to cling to my mother’s hand, but I perfectly understood that I could only hinder her. After what I had experienced, the last thing I wanted was to kill us.

Looking in the rearview mirror, between the rushing carriages of the train, I saw only the shadow of a black jeep forced to stop. When we turned at the intersection, he was no longer following us, but I still didn’t dare say anything.

The mother stopped only when we pulled off the road into a forest straight towards the lake, disappearing with the car behind the dense greenery of the trees. And that’s where her nerves gave way. Covering her face with her hands, she almost lay there for several minutes, leaning on the steering wheel.

“Mom…” I wanted to apologize for the mistrust.

But she exhaled sharply, straightened up and interrupted me:

“Sally, this can’t go on any longer.” We need to hide you so that he can't get to you. I swear I didn't mean to bring you into this. I didn't think you'd spend your first eighteen years on the run. I wanted an ordinary life for you, like I once had. – Stroking my cheek with her palm, she smiled through her tears. “As long as you’re around, I can’t deal with him, because I’ll never forgive myself if I put you in danger.”

– Mom, you speak in riddles. “I don’t understand anything,” I admitted, but tears stood as a veil in my eyes.

Exhaling loudly again, as if she had gained determination, she started the car.

– Go. I'll tell you something on the way. For starters…” she taxied back onto the highway leading to Ashwool. – You should know that our world has another – the Dark Side.

Chapter 2. Polunochnikov Academy

Silence. It was cold, like water in a barrel that had stood outside the country house all winter. She was tense – my nails dug into the flesh of my palms to the point of palpable pain, while I waited for the end of the conversation that was happening without my participation on the other side of the wall. It drove me crazy, because the unknown is the worst creation of our imperfect world.

Out of the corner of my eye, noticing some movement on the dark, porous floor tiles, I suddenly jumped up and froze in horror. My lips immediately dried up at the sight of a disgusting white spider, which confidently moved all its legs, clearly intending to stroll past me.

Or maybe to me! It was impossible to predict his desires from his beady black eyes. But I knew one thing for sure: I didn’t want to cross paths with this individual the size of my fist under any pretext.

Because I was terribly afraid of spiders. To the point of muteness. Until loss of consciousness. As a child, this was my biggest fear. The babayka, the brownie and the under-bed monster weren’t even close to them.

But this is in childhood. A large amount of free time and almost unlimited access to any literature through an e-book played a role. Using various methods, I was able to slightly reduce the degree of my relationship with these multi-legged creatures. Now I perceived them much easier. But if there was an option not to be in the same room with them, I did everything to get rid of these monsters.

Because to preserve the psyche of both of us, we should have stayed away from each other.

In one leap, I moved to the window, I opened it by touch, without taking my gaze off this big-eyed one. A light breeze with a pleasant evening coolness stroked my face and ruffled my hair, but I didn’t even think about wasting time getting myself in order.

Instead, she blocked the white furry man’s path, decisively and boldly placing her foot in his way.

Stopping abruptly, he looked at me as if with incomprehension, rising slightly on his front paws with indignation. I looked this way and that.

I tried my best to keep my cool.

In the end, probably considering me inadequate, the spider chose a workaround.

But stubbornness is my second self. This corridor is too small for the two of us and my great fear.

Take a deep breath, exhale slowly. Carefully grabbing the furry one by his disgusting body with my fingers, I instantly sat him down on the metal frame outside the window and slammed the shutter, locking it tightly.

The heart was beating fast and fast. My pulse beat like a drum in my ears, and through it I could hear my own rapid breathing. This moment, while I was carrying the spider, seemed like an eternity to me. The furry one tried to get out, to reach me with his nasty paws, tickled my skin with them and resisted with all his might.

Even the spiders here were strange! I've never come across white ones in my life. I just sincerely hoped that it was not poisonous!

After wiping my palms on my overalls, I returned to the door, took a breath and allowed myself to close my eyelids for a moment. However, she immediately realized that she had so absurdly missed some part of the conversation. Incredible regret immediately closed around my throat like a pressing ring, but what I had done could not be undone.

I could not think adequately if I knew that there was a spider close to me.

“…don’t let Sally near the Recorder,” I caught, concentrating on the voices.

“Are you afraid that she will find out who her father is?” – the question from Madame Pelisey sounded mockingly.

I leaned against the wall as close as possible. This was the second topic that my mother and I never discussed openly and frankly. Once, when I was older, I received a meager answer from her that it was a casual one-night stand, which she never regretted at all.

But I was sorely lacking this data. One smart person wrote that we are our past, tied to the destinies of our ancestors. If you don't know your family, you simply don't know yourself.

“I wouldn’t want to complicate things even more,” the parent answered restrainedly.

“Aletra, I haven’t agreed to take her yet.” You have always been unbearably stubborn in your intentions and decisions! – the head of the academy was indignant with admiration that was inexplicable to me. – Okay, I'll take your daughter. But only out of respect for my late friend. Your mother was a wonderful person and would never forgive me if I left her granddaughter in trouble. Notes? What are you going to do next?

I was literally torn apart by the overwhelming emotions. They tipped over like cold water, crawling under my clothes with prickly needles that made my skin burn unbearably. I wanted to hear my mother's plans. Yes, I just had to know them! Not for the sake of peace: worries will overtake me anyway, because I already know that she is going to deal with our pursuer.

I had to hear her plans so that I could find her if something happened.

Yes, part of me has already accepted that I will stay in this dark academy for a while, because my mother is really stubborn and stubborn. If she has already decided something, then so be it.

But the other part!

I didn’t know how yet, but I was going to leave this frightening strange prison at any cost. What were your mother's abilities? Did she even have them? And who then was the one who haunted us all these years? Mad scientists with their sights set on a superhero? Decided to blackmail him into fulfilling his every whim, helping him do evil?

Each new idea seemed crazier than the previous one. I knew that I would simply go crazy if I stayed here without any initiative, waiting for news from my mother. Because in the real world, superheroes weren't immortal.

– What will you do with the Hunter? – Madame Pelisey asked measuredly, even casually.

And I realized that because of my own emotions I had again missed part of the conversation. Tired. I was already too tired, and my concentration level kept jumping, allowing me to hear only fragments now.

I probably won't get away with two hours of sleep this time.

Mom’s voice now seemed terribly distant:

– I’ll take him as far as possible and…

– Excuse me, have you seen a white spider here? – a voice unfamiliar to me burst into the silence of the corridor.

Turning around, I saw a handsome guy about the same age two steps away from me. He smiled politely as he looked at me. Apparently, he was waiting for an answer, but there was still no answer, because I practically hovered, my gaze fixed on his face.