Tora (The Tora Trilogy Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

here? Let alone a year? The thought of that was daunting. Thea would probably find new friends and forget she’d even been gone by the time she got back. Would Margate just forget that she’d left altogether? How would Michelle cope having nothing to do? All these questions whirled in her head all at once. And she wished she knew the answers.
    Imposing iron gates marked the entrance. Eva wandered towards them. The clouds swirled overhead casting shadows around her. Everything was deathly silent apart from the crows that hung over the trees. Eva turned her back. There was no one around. She gripped the straps of her bag around her shoulders. The gates were dull, encrusted silver chipped bearing grey frame. She stopped once she’d reached the gates and squinted her eyes at the sign written in goofy bold lettering. Coome Bank Academy. She drew in a slow breath. She pressed the intercom buzzer, and following a few moments of silence, the gate suddenly flew open.
    At first stretch, the campus looked about a hundred years old. Signs of age were marked by the rusty antique windows of worn buildings in the distance. Old autumn leaves crunched beneath her tennis shoes as she made her way across the campus. She shivered. Frost bit her fingers and the hairs on her arms began to stand on end. Autumn in Gracor suddenly felt like winter in Boca Raton.
    Michelle had told her to watch out for the main office, but all the buildings looked the same. The buildings were grey and boring and on a day as gloomy as this, they blended into their surroundings.
    The clouds were sewn into the sky like a group of people huddled together. Was the weather always like this?
    “New girl.” Eva jumped as a hand gripped her shoulder blade. “Office. That way.” 
    The girl steered her towards a tiny stone building hidden behind a wall of trees and overgrown plants. Even the roof was embedded in moss. She was a Goth caked in pale makeup, a heavy dose of eyeliner, piercings covering a large portion of her face around her ears, nose and mouth with a baseball cap pulled over her eyes.
    “Thank you.” Eva said to no one in particular for the girl had disappeared as quickly as she’d surfaced.
    She arrived at the steps of the building at a door with no handle. A door with no handle? Where was the office sign? The exterior was covered in cob webs. Well that wasn’t exactly welcoming .
    Walking slowly up the four steps, she realised how dilapidated the reception was, because the steps creaked with every step.
    Eva pushed open the door to the dark wood panelled office and looked around. Some fowl smelling stuffed crows had their wings fanned out on the walls and two waiting chairs with knobbly legs were squashed together in the corner. There were no modern furnishings or ceiling lights, but small dim lamps were placed (positioned) around the room. The floor boards creaked under her feet. She couldn’t hear anything apart from her own two feet carrying herself through the stuffy room that reeked of mothballs. Her heart thrummed beneath her chest. This room was giving off an eerie vibe that made Eva shiver. Nostalgia was hitting home.
    “Is anyone here?” Eva asked.
    After no reply, Eva (wondered) walked over to the counter and stared at the hideous collection of ornaments and the business cards that looked as though they’d been sitting there for years. A vase of flowers stood in misery, exhibiting a dead stalk and some shrivelled up brown aged petals. The desk was layered in a film of dust and the smell of the old varnished table was pungent. Had anyone ventured towards this office recently? She wondered.
    “Sorry about the wait.”
    A grungy man bobbed his head up from below the counter catching Eva by surprise. He was a tall and thin man with a beard, small glasses and dishevelled hair that made him look like a wacky scientist. The first image that popped into her head was Albert Einstein. He almost looked identical, but without the grey hair, about