Sleep definitely didn't come easy to me tonight, my mind ran crazy with thoughts of the past, small memories of Cohen's methods of 'training' and the pain they caused that's still hurting me despite the fact he's dead.

I've been laying in this ridiculously soft bed for hours unable to drift away into sleep. It's completely silent but it's not comfortable, I feel like someone could come in and attack at any moment. My mind and body are ready to spring into action at any sense of danger.

The only light coming into the room is from the alarm clock on the bedside table next to me, the white light reading 2:34 in the morning. Coming to the conclusion that I won't be sleeping tonight I get out of bed and continue looking through my new room.

It really is beautiful, and Callie did an amazing job. I put all my clothes into the closet after Callie left and they only take up a very small portion of it. There's a desk in the corner and windows that are covered with drapes, drawing them back I look out. To the right there's a large field area with different sets of lines on them, I guess that's where they do some of the training.

I hope the training here is different from Cohen's.

I didn't escape a world of torture just to be placed in a different one. Although when looking at my roommates none of them had bruises or winced when they walked, so maybe things weren't the same here, or at least I can hope so.

I venture off into the connected bathroom staring at myself in the mirror, my eye's lack the sparkle I see in Callie's, the happiness and excitement that radiates off of her.

Not dwelling on it, I turn on the shower, stripping my clothes and stepping into the hot steam. The hot water is comforting, and I can't believe I get it all the time now, after being so used to cold or lukewarm showers.

After my shower I bring myself back into the room that's now lit from the moonlight, I head to the closet and dress myself in cotton shorts and a long sleeve.

Taking my copy of Wuthering Heights I flip on the lamp light and slide into bed, opening my book and beginning to read, getting lost in the world of literature.

***

A knock sounds on my door, I lift my head and my eye's are drawn to the window, its now light outside. I stand and make my way to the door, opening it to find a smiling Callie on the other side.

"HI, Jade."

I smile at her enthusiasm and move to the side inviting her in. she gladly strides in and heads towards my closet.

"I'm giving you a full tour of the building today and then to the health center to get your physical done," Callie informs me without looking back.

She starts looking through my clothes, pulling out a tight long sleeve and a pair of battered old jeans. She hands them to me and pushes me towards the bathroom, "come on bestie, we can get breakfast first if you hurry."

I change into the clothes and walk back into the room. Callie's standing by my bed side table, my copy of Wuthering Heights in her hand. "Is this your own copy," she asks. I give her an answering nod when she looks at me, she flips to the first page and turns it toward me, "who's Cohen?"

My blood goes cold at the mention of his name. She turns the book back towards her and inspects the page where I know the message reads in fancy cursive. 'Good job yesterday Blue, except this as gift and my thanks' accompanied by Cohen's signature at the bottom.

Callie looks at me expectantly, waiting for my answer. "Not someone worth talking about," I deadpan. Callie looks stunned by my tone of voice and places the book down on the bed side table. 

Guilt starts gnawing at me for speaking to her like that when she didn't deserve it eats at me as I drop my gaze and mutter a "sorry."

She looks at me and smiles a genuine smile and I feel my shoulders relax. "Not a good person," she asks her tone light and playful.

I smile and give her a shrug while answering honestly, "worst I knew."

Her eye's pop out as I start walking out the door, she trails behind me. "Knew?"

I look behind my shoulder still walking down the hall, her gaze full of questions and curiosity. "He's dead," I say lacking all compassion from my tone.

"Who's dead?"

I whip my head around to find Phoenix at the end of the hallway waiting for my answer. My feet stop and I open and close my mouth not knowing how to respond. Luckily Callie comes up besides me and saves me. "One of the guy's in the vampire diaries."

Phoenix rolls his eyes and stares at Callie, "you're still watching that?"

"Yes, and now I've restarted the whole series because Jade hasn't seen it, so were watching it together."

Phoenix stares at me sympathetically, "I'm sorry she got to you before we got a chance to warn you."

I give him an amused shrug as Callie steps forward shoving his chest. He gives her a pained expression as she rolls her eyes and starts walking towards the kitchen. Phoenix smiles at her reaction and turns back to me, "at least she won't ask me to watch it with her anymore." I give a small chuckle and start following Callie towards the kitchen.

Entering the kitchen, I find Finn standing in front of the stove and Callie pulling down a few plates from the cabinet. Phoenix follows me laughing to himself, the sound catches both Callie and Finn's attention.

Callie scowls at Phoenix while Finn clenches his jaw glaring at Phoenix then me, his hands tightening on the spatula in his hands. He averts his gaze back to the pan as Callie continues to glare. Her gaze shifts to me and she smiles, "Finn's making eggs, take a seat."

I do as I'm told and slide onto the stool she motioned to, she places an empty plate in front of me and three others in front of the other seats. She sits on the stool next to me and smiles, "eggs are my favorite food. Do you have a favorite food?"

I lift my shoulders into a shrug. I'm not quite sure I have a favorite food, although I don't have a very expansive pallet, all the foods I have tried haven't really been mind blowing, I'll be okay with what's available and be thankful for it, but nothing really sticks out. I mean I like pasta, but I couldn't eat it all the time.

Callie makes a thoughtful expression and turns to Phoenix, "what's your favorite food?"

"Easy, peanut butter," he answers without skipping a beat.

She turns to Finn, "What about you Finn, what's your favorite?"

Its quiet for a moment before the big man grunts out a "Pickles," without turning around. My brows furrow at his answer.

What the fuck is a pickle?

Before I can give Callie, a questioning glace Finn turns around pan and spatula in hand and begins placing them on the plates. When he gets to me he scoops two large spoonful's of eggs onto my plate, I look at him confused.

How on earth am I supposed to eat all of this?

Sensing my eyes on him he looks up at me before adding another spoonful onto my plate before moving onto Phoenix's. Staring down at my small mountain of eggs, Callie leans towards me and whispers in my ear, "I'll eat whatever you can't." I look at the giant smile on her face and smile. Turning back to my plate I grab my fork and start eating.

Waiting for Callie to finish the rest of my eggs, Phoenix gets up from his seat, placing his dishes in the sink he stalks off towards the door with a "see you wonderful people later." I smile as I watch him leave.

I hear a grunt from the left and turn to see Finn staring daggers at my head, my smile drops as he get's up from the stool and around the counter.

Is he upset that I gave my eggs to Callie?

Callie finishes and we both place our plates in the sink, before she turns to me, "you ready to go?"

I nod, following her to the door, Finn follows us out, most likely going to his classes.

We make our way down the staircase, Callie and I side by side with Finn following behind, I can feel all the stares on me as we pass the bottom two floors, people coming in and out of their rooms, people in the hallway talking with friends, and those engrossed in books most likely studying last second for an exam.

They all stop when we reach the floor, their eyes following me and Callie then to Finn before darting their eye's anywhere but where we are.

Huh, weird.

It wasn't like this yesterday when I arrived, they all stared openly like they were trying to dissect me, but now they almost look afraid.

I turn my head to look at Finn, his eyes narrowing as he glares at everyone around us, now everyone's scared impressions make sense.

Finn can be sort of a scary character, his large stature can be intimidating and the scowl on his face does nothing to help, but even with his 'don't look at me look', he's still the most beautiful person in the room.

Making our way onto the ground floor my eye's find Adeline behind her desk smiling at me, I give her a little nod back, a bit overwhelmed with the amount of people around me at the moment.

Anxiety crawls around me trying to drag me to the floor into an abys, my hearts beating rapidly taking in at least fifty students standing and talking in the room. 

Although the room isn't small and could hold more than triple the amount comfortably, that doesn't make the room feel any bigger.

This Is the most amount of people I've been in a room with in my life, and the feeling isn't a great one.

"This is the community room, anyone can come down here at any time," Callie interrupts my spiraling with her enthusiastic voice. "there's snack and drinks in the kitchen that everyone is welcomed to. The main reception area is also here, you've already met Adeline and the women next to her is Flora." Callie points to a short dark-haired woman with cute glasses currently busy with talking to another student, she gives off a nice, warm, and welcoming felling just like Adeline. "Most students hang out here or the courtyard before the first bell rings, indicating ten minutes until classes begins." Right as she finishes a ringing sounds three times as students slowly start leaving the room and making their way outside. More students trickle down from the stairs, everyone talking about with their friends.

In less than two minutes everyone that was originally in the community room are gone and the room is unsettlingly quiet compared to the blustering around and loud chatter not even two minutes ago.

I turn to find Finn still behind us, my brows furrow, confused as to why he isn't also heading off to class. "Finn is joining us for the tour," Callie answers before I have the chance to ask. I turn towards her, a mischievous smile on her face that I can't seem to find the reason for.

Without getting any further information, Callie starts heading towards one of the office doors by the reception desk. Not moving I turn back to Finn to find him already looking at me, his eye's narrowed at me and jaw clenched, a moment passes before he speaks, "stop looking at me," the venom in his voice makes my gaze shift a little.

Finn rolls his eyes and shoulders past me, I stand still for a moment before following him to where Callie's standing at a door engraved with the word headmaster. Callie gives a knock on the door before a mans voice sounds a "come in."

We enter the office, theirs a man behind a large desk, he gives of an aura of authority. The left side of the office is filled with books while the right side is bare with the exception of a few framed photos. There's a leather couch to the right of the door against the wall, and two leather chairs in front of his desk. "Ahh, come on in and take a seat." I follow Callie to the leather chairs while Finn takes a seat on the couch. As we approach, he raises from his seat and offers his hand to me, "nice to meet you Jade, I'm headmaster Griffin but feel free to call me Antonio." I stare at his outstretched hand for a moment before taking it in my own and giving a quick shake before releasing it.

I sit down in the chair next to Callie, looking over the headmaster. He's attractive for someone who look to be in his late forties'/early fifties. His silver hair is short and well styled matching his suit, he looks like he works out regularly as well and looks nothing like the headmasters or principles in any of the shows I've seen. His desk is clean and organized lacking the stack of files that were always on the orphanage desk. His smile is kind and eye's warm, but he's still intimidating. 

He seems to analyze me, searching for something but it doesn't seem in pity, but instead interest.

Looking away from me he settles his gaze to Callie before looking at Finn behind us, "It's good to see you two as well, is Jade settling in nicely on the top floor?"

With that Callie gives him a huge smile, "it's going great so far, and I think she will fit in nicely." Finn gives a grunt from behind us.

"Something to say Finn," the headmaster questions. his eyes slightly narrowed in on Finn.

"Yes, why exactly was she placed with us?"

I can hear the distain in his voice, clearly unhappy with his new living situation. Callie turns her head to Finn and give him a very unpleasant glare that I would have never thought she was capable of if I hadn't seen it myself. 

Finn ignores her, continuing his stare on the headmaster.

Fixing my gaze back in front of me the headmaster sighs before giving me a small smile, "Jade is a particularly special student, and the top floor is the best place for her." I look at him wide eyed, I thought it was because they had no other rooms.

"And what makes her so special," Finn questions, clearly not trying to hide the distain in his tone.

The headmaster gives him a mischievous smirk, "you'll find out soon Finn."

Finn has no answer as my mind starts running a mile a minute, the information hitting me like a truck.

He knows.

I narrow my eyes at the headmaster, he grins knowingly at me, no shred of remorse for what he's just unleased. 

I knew this wasn't a fucking regular school.

"What is this place," my voice rings out around the room dripping with venom as the headmaster just smiles at me.

"Crimson Academy, but some call it 'the school of assassin's'" I stare at him not finding this amusing in the slightest. "The students here are taught advanced courses as well as completing training, where their bodies are pushed to their physical limits to get them ready for their life after the academy. Many of the students here leave working for powerful crime families, building bombs or guns, working as hunters, or assassins, or just being the head of a crime family in general. Not many people are allowed into this school, and those who are either show great promise or already have a reputation in crime." The corner of his lip tips up at the end of his sentence, clearly knowing which one of the two I am, my only question is how does he know about me?

My blood is running hot, I had my suspicions after last night, but now that they're confirmed I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't leave, I have nowhere else to go and the thought of the people here knowing who I am doesn't make me feel too great.

But if they're all the same as you then why be worried.

When I killed Cohen, I thought that I was leaving this life behind, long forgotten in the bottom of the basement, but I should have known it wouldn't be that easy. This life's a part of me now and I can't forget that.