School of Deaths Read Online Free Page B

Small lights stood on either side of the steps. They lit up when Cronk walked near them, and turned off behind Suzie. She peered closer, bending down, and realized they were flowers. Each flower glowed brighter the closer she got; the lit ones shined like hot flame. Cronk coughed and she kept moving.
    They climbed higher and higher. From the top of the steps, a vast plain opened, stretching beneath them. A path was lit with flowers, and many men in black robes walked beneath two enormous mountains. Or were they towers? The two pillars stretched for miles into the sky, like enormous stalagmites: great columns of twisted, gnarled rock pocked by thousands of tiny lights. They stood taller than any skyscraper Suzie had dreamt of, yet were far too narrow to be mountains. The pinnacles of the rocky towers were lit as well; two of the brighter stars she had seen earlier were actually those tips.
    Between the well-lit towers stretched an elaborate maze of long, rocky mounds. A strange, fiery white light filled the area, with occasional darker squares amid the mounds. Around the entire complex, a ring of arches glowed. Cronk started walking down the hill, toward the arches.
    “The C-C-C-College,” he said, gesturing with a hand.
    “College?”
    “The C-C-College of Deaths.”
    Suzie didn’t ask more, but looked around in apprehension and wonder. She climbed down step after step, until they got to the plain. The air still smelled of strawberries: not a fake strawberry smell like when her mom made sandwiches with jelly, but the delicious smell of fresh-picked strawberries in spring. They were Suzie’s favorite fruit. Her mouth watered and her heart calmed.
    Cronk led her down the lit path toward the glowing arches. As they approached, Suzie realized the arches were blades: pairs of oversized scythe blades, like Cronk’s. The steel on each blade glowed, and each pair formed an arch. The arches stretched over twenty feet high, but seemed tiny compared to the strange stony formations beyond, which in turn were dwarfed by the gargantuan towers. Cronk stopped before the arches.
    “Only D-D-Deaths can p-p-pass,” he said. He walked under two of the glowing blades. Suzie wondered if they were sharp.
    He raised a hand, beckoning her forward.
    “But you said only Deaths can pass,” said Suzie.
    He nodded and waved her forward again. She took a deep breath and walked through the arches. Nothing happened. Cronk smiled and continued walking.
    Suzie wondered why Cronk had told her that. Was she actually a Death now? Was that what she had signed?
    They continued into the complex, and she passed more men in black robes. Some were her father’s age, like Cronk, while others seemed ancient.
    “Billy, get a load of that.” She turned and a group of robed boys, no older than herself, stared and pointed. Others looked as well, until every figure around them gawked at her.
    “Keep wa-wa-walking,” said Cronk. Suzie turned her face down, but felt the cold stares of a hundred boys and men.
    “It’s a girl,” somebody shouted. “I don’t believe it.”
    Everyone seemed to talk at once. Suzie glanced up. The area was packed, and more men and boys were pouring in from every direction. They stood on their tiptoes to try and watch her.
    Cronk pulled her to the side, and they entered a doorway in one of the stone mounds. He ushered her through a hall and to another door, where he knocked.
    “Come in,” said a gravelly voice.
    Cronk opened the door and Suzie stepped in. She glanced behind her at two robed boys peeking from behind a corner. Cronk closed the door.
    “Hello,” said the gravel-voiced man. He extended a hand, which Suzie shook.
    “I am Hann,” he said. “A teacher here. You are Susan Sarnio?”
    “Yes,” she said. “Please, Mr. Hann, what am I supposed to do here?”
    He laughed. “You are supposed to go to school, to train as a new Death. Surely the old goat told you that? He may be a ’Mental, but it’s his