"Thomas."
The voice came from behind him. It wasn't Dylan.
Thomas turned.
A thin man was coming down one of the side staircases of the lobby. He looked to be about forty years old. His dark hair was slightly messy, and he wore a gray Academy uniform with no visible insignia.
He didn't look like an explorer.
He looked like a professor.
"Thomas Lych," the man said as he approached. "Welcome."
He extended his hand.
"I'm Jhonatan Coulin."
Thomas shook it with a bit of hesitation.
"I'm the first-year advisor."
He gestured toward the portraits surrounding the lobby.
"And the one responsible for making sure none of you end up here too quickly."
Thomas looked again at his father's portrait.
Coulin followed his gaze.
"It's a bad habit," he said. "Arriving and staring at the paintings."
"He was my father."
"I know."
The answer was so natural that Thomas lifted his head.
"You knew him?"
The advisor hesitated for a moment.
"Everyone here knew your father."
He adjusted his glasses.
"Or at least we thought we did."
A brief silence followed.
Coulin tapped the floor lightly with the tip of his shoe, as if remembering something.
"Come."
He pointed toward a corridor that opened behind the lobby.
"Before you get lost in the building."
"I'll see you at the end of the day. Good luck, and welcome to the Academy."
Dylan said this before walking away.
Thomas and the advisor walked a few meters.
The corridor was full of numbered doors. Some stood open, revealing laboratories, maps projected on giant screens, students debating in groups.
"Most students who arrive here believe they know what Impossible Cities are," Coulin said as they walked.
Thomas didn't respond.
"They repeat what the news says."
He stopped in front of a window that looked out over an inner courtyard.
"They appear every twelve years. They remain for one hundred days. Then they disappear."
Thomas nodded.
"That's what they say."
Coulin looked at him.
"That's what we believed."
The man pointed toward the horizon, where a faint luminous barrier could be seen in the distance.
The perimeter of the new Impossible City.
"Your father believed something different."
Thomas felt his stomach tighten.
"What did he believe?"
The advisor smiled slightly.
"That the cities don't appear."
Thomas remembered Dylan's words.
"Then…"
"Exactly," Coulin said.
He adjusted his glasses again.
"The real question isn't why they appear."
He paused.
"The real question is why we started seeing them."
Thomas looked toward the city on the horizon.
The luminous barrier seemed to pulse softly in the distance.
Coulin started walking again.
"Come."
He pointed to a door at the end of the corridor.
"There are a few things you should see before classes begin."
At that moment someone came running down the corridor.
"Professor!"
A boy nearly collided with Thomas. His gray first-year uniform was poorly buttoned, and his brown hair was completely messy.
He stopped abruptly when he saw Thomas.
"Ah… sorry."
He looked at Coulin.
"I didn't know you were with someone."
The advisor sighed patiently.
"Daniel, if you run through the hallways again I'm going to assume you're fleeing from something."
"No," the boy said. "I'm just late."
He looked at Thomas again.
"New?"
Thomas nodded.
"Yes."
The boy smiled.
"Welcome to the strangest place in the world."
He extended his hand.
"Daniel Reyes."
Thomas hesitated a moment before shaking it.
"Thomas."
Daniel tilted his head.
"Yeah, I know."
Thomas frowned.
"How?"
Daniel pointed his thumb toward the lobby.
"The whole Academy knows you arrived today."
He paused.
"The son of Gabriel Ibarra."
Thomas felt immediate discomfort, and Daniel seemed to notice.
"Don't worry," he said. "Everyone here has some kind of strange story."
He looked at Coulin.
"Although yours is particularly good."
The advisor cleared his throat.
"Daniel, weren't you supposed to be in the orientation room?"
"Yes."
"Then go."
Daniel began walking away down the corridor, but stopped a few steps later and turned toward Thomas.
"Oh, by the way."
He smiled.
"They say you made a beast explode with a punch."
Thomas didn't respond.
Daniel raised his hands.
"Don't worry. Everyone here has something strange."
He glanced toward the door at the end of the corridor.
"Some of us just take longer to discover it."
Then he left.
Coulin watched Thomas for a few seconds.
"Ignore him."
Thomas looked down the corridor where Daniel had disappeared.
"Does he always talk that much?"
"Only when he's nervous."
The advisor resumed walking.
"And in this place… everyone is."
Coulin opened the door at the end of the corridor.
"First-year dormitories."
The hallway was long and narrow. The doors were numbered with metal plates. From some rooms came voices, laughter, quiet music.
"You'll share a room with three other students," Coulin said.
He stopped in front of door 214.
"Here."
He pushed the door open.
The room was spacious, with four beds lined up against the walls and a huge window overlooking the inner campus.
There were desks, shelves, and several boxes still unopened.
A tall boy was sitting on one of the beds reading a tablet. He looked up when they entered.
"Ah," he said. "The new one."
On another bed, Daniel was lying on his back staring at the ceiling.
"I told you he'd show up here!" he said, jumping to his feet. "Welcome to prison."
The advisor ignored the comment.
"Thomas Lych," he said. "Your roommates."
He pointed to the boy with the tablet.
"Akira Sato."
The boy gave a small nod.
"And you already know Daniel."
"A pleasure," Daniel said, exaggerating a bow.
One bed remained empty.
"The fourth student hasn't arrived yet," Coulin said. "He'll be here tomorrow."
Thomas placed his backpack on the empty bed.
"Well, I suggest you all get some rest. Tomorrow the initial evaluations begin."
When he turned to leave, Daniel asked:
"Professor."
Coulin stopped.
"Is it true what they say?"
"What thing?"
Daniel looked at Thomas.
"The beast."
The advisor watched him for a few seconds.
"Good night."
And he left.
The door closed, and a brief silence filled the room.
Daniel spoke first.
"Well… now then."
He crossed his arms and looked at Thomas.
"So is it true?"
Thomas frowned.
"What thing?"
"The beast."
Before he could answer, something changed.
First it was heat.
A sudden sensation in his back.
The mark.
Thomas clenched his teeth.
The burning appeared like a needle piercing beneath the skin.
The dormitory lights flickered.
Akira slowly lifted his eyes from the tablet.
"Do you feel that too?"
The vibration came a second later.
A deep tremor ran through the building, as if something enormous had moved beneath the ground.
The window glass rattled.
Daniel stood up.
"What the hell was that?"
Thomas leaned against the desk.
The burning in his back was growing stronger.
He staggered toward the window.
Outside, the Academy campus was lit by spotlights and security lights.
Far away, behind the buildings, the luminous perimeter of the new Impossible City pulsed slowly like a heart.
Thomas narrowed his eyes.
Then he saw it.
A tall figure.
Too tall.
It stood among the trees in the courtyard, motionless, looking directly toward the dormitory window.
Thomas felt the air freeze inside his chest.
The same white robe.
The same impossible height.
The man who had tried to take him on the beach.
Thomas stepped back.
He blinked.
The figure was gone.
"What's wrong?" Daniel asked.
Thomas looked again toward the courtyard.
Only trees moving in the wind.
"Nothing," he said.
But the mark on his back was still burning.
Akira was still staring at the horizon.
"That's not normal," he murmured.
Thomas looked again at the Impossible City barrier.
Each pulse of light seemed to pass straight through his back.
Daniel stepped closer.
"What are you looking at?"
Thomas didn't answer.
He only thought one thing.
They had come for him.
And now they knew where he was.