Violet Eden Chapters 04 - Endless

largest population of exiles in the world. You should be bombarded by your senses.’
    ‘How am I supposed to stay here then?’ I asked, my panic levels rising.
    Lincoln, who’d put a few feet between us, answered. ‘You’ll adjust. And inside the Academy it will be easier.’
    ‘Why?’
    He smiled grimly, still recovering from the power-drain, and pointed to the top of the skyscraper we were standing in front of. ‘Because they have strong shields and occupy the top floor. You can be certain there are no exiles in any of their buildings.’
    Did he just say buildings, plural?
    The black-suited Grigori who had collected us from the airport held open the large glass doors of the building.
    I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, concentrating on the senses, letting them come to me, but on my terms. I had to master this. If I was bombarded by another attack of the senses and it was during a fight, I needed to be able to control them.
    I felt the senses come to me. There were so many exiles and all so close by. It took the concept of fear to another level altogether.
    Thesenses built inside me and started to become unbearable but, breathing deeply and steadily, this time I managed to push them down and move them to the background. They were still distracting, but for now, it was going to have to do.
    I looked at Linc, who was waiting, and nodded. He smiled, the type of smile he gave me when I’d done well in training.
    As we walked through the doors I ignored the stern looks coming from Dad, who didn’t realise Lincoln had just saved my ass, and moved ahead – now was not the time for explanations. I was fairly certain Evelyn understood exactly what had happened since she had a tight grip on Dad’s arm and was steering him away from us.
    I nodded to her in thanks.
    She ignored me in that annoying way of hers.

    As soon as the lift doors opened on the top floor I was washed with another bout of senses, but they were different – subtle and comforting – signalling the presence of my own people.
    ‘How many Grigori are here?’ I whispered to Griffin.
    ‘Around a hundred students plus up to another hundred senior Grigori are based here at any given time.’
    ‘Wow.’ That explained the sensory influx.
    Eight silent and heavily armed Grigori dressed entirely in black appeared to take Evelyn to their holding rooms. Griffin had prepared us for this, but Dad struggled to keep his cool as she was led away in restraints.
    The waiting room – where the rest of us had been deposited – was massive, and ultra-modern. The walls of the building wereglass, offering magnificent views over Manhattan. It was astoundingly beautiful, and a touch like being in a fishbowl.
    ‘Come with me,’ Lincoln said quietly, moving to the side of the room. I followed him to the windows.
    ‘What?’ I asked.
    He pointed outside and then I saw it.
    Nothing could have prepared me for the sight before me. And when his extended arm panned to the right, I gasped.
    ‘How … how? That’s not … Are they flying ?’ My eyes could not make sense of what I was seeing. People were walking around in mid-air, literally. Nothing below them, nothing above them, and yet they looked like it was the most natural thing in the world. I looked down to the street – there was a wind blowing, trees swaying – but when I looked back at the people wandering around in the sky no one seemed affected.
    Lincoln grinned. ‘The Academy owns a number of buildings. There are walkways between them.’
    I couldn’t take my eyes off the sky-folk. ‘There are people wandering around in the sky , Linc. Explain this to me.’
    He laughed one of his low, secretive laughs. One that echoed through my entire body. One that told me he adored me. One that somehow I knew, out of everyone in the world, was reserved for me. The laugh that broke my heart.
    Breathe.
    ‘I’m glad you find me amusing. Less laughing, more telling!’
    He laughed again and I was about a second away from either throwing a punch or throwing myself at him, when a woman’s voice caught our attention.
    ‘Isee we have all made it,’ Josephine said, her tone of superiority cutting through all the other noise.
    She stood tall and prim, dressed in a navy suit that was cinched at the waist, her dark hair held back in a bun. She was attractive, in a very severe way. Appraising us one by one, Josephine may just as well have called us riff-raff to our faces.
    She nodded to Zoe and Spence. ‘Welcome