Kryptos Academy- Chapter Three

Instructions

Chapter Three Abbie “You ran into the birds, hair streaming behind you like ribbons, like playthings of the wind.” -Tyler Knott Gregson The plane landed like a bird in a field of pigeons. It was so ordinary that I hardly even noticed it. I was just sitting on my bench next to my oddly square-shaped house, counting the cobblestones beneath my feet when I heard a sound like a cargo plane. Cargo planes land in Mexico all the time, so I didn’t pay attention to it much. That might’ve been since I was busy listening to Chloe Moriondo, and vibin’ with her SO HARD that I made people around me stare. I pulled down my super oversized sweater trying to hide my wings. My beak within my half plague-doctor mask chirped. I always had to be careful here. I rested on that bench, lying sideways, braiding grass, for what felt like years before I noticed that the cargo plane was still there. Cargo planes that land here usually don’t stay for more than five minutes. They’re all scared of getting attacked by harpies. I slowly stepped up off the bench, grabbed my backpack, and creeped towards it, stepping through the trees. Two extremely pale people were kneeling in the jungle in front of the plane, holding clipboards. “You told us there was someone here.” The taller one says. “Well, they aren’t coming. It’s been ten minutes already. The students are getting restless. And you KNOW what happens when the students get restless.” The short one responded. “Oh, I’m not used to handling them, is this a cryptid thing?” The short one shook his head. “Nope. It’s a middle school thing. We had better go before they start a riot.” I watched them step back into the plane curiously. Middle schoolers, clipboards, cryptids… it all seemed to coincide, but how? And why? Just as the plane began rolling, a spark finally formed in my mind. It was the plane for Kryptos Academy. The plane I was supposed to board. The boarding school I had literally signed up for. I was officially the biggest idiot in the jungle. But the plane was taking off. So I did the second most foolish thing I had done today, and chased it. My feet pounded on the ground, and I leaned down, wings out, following its movements. When it began to lift off, I leaped. And then I fell through the air gracefully on top of the plane. Because really, you know, flying’s just fancy falling. When I was on top of the plane, holding on for dear life, I knew one thing: I couldn’t stay here for the whole flight. I couldn’t even stay here until the next stop. So I reached my claw forward, hooked it into the plane, and began to army crawl across the roof. As one does. When I- finally!- got to the window, I knocked hard on the front, trying to get the attention of whoever was driving it. “Let me in!!” I screamed. But they couldn’t hear me, since they were inside the glass, and I could barely hear myself, since the wind was so loud. Fortunately, they seemed to get the memo, since they grabbed their radio and the plane began to slowly move down. Or maybe they were going to enable the window wipes. I crossed my talons for good luck. After what felt like an eternity of my claws poking into the plane’s metal, it finally stopped moving. I sighed in relief as the door opened. I flew into the door and landed on my feet on the ledge. I grinned and looked around the bus. The back-most empty seat was behind two kids, one wearing all green and the other wearing all black, that didn’t look like they’d be too annoying. So I sat down and leaned my head back still trying to comprehend what the heck just happened. That’s when the person wearing green looked back at me. “We need you to resolve an argument. Cavetown or Madilyn Mei?” “Chloe Moriondo.” I smirked. “What? Come on!!” The kid groaned. “Face it. She makes better music.” They shook their head at me. “No way, nobody makes music better than Madilyn Mei. They’re the queen.” “If you say so.” I snickered. I leaned back into the seat, sinking into the soft fabric, and fell asleep. Almost. Then I realized my talon paint was probably chipped from my little stunt, so I snapped awake and grabbed it out of my bag. First things first, right?