I knew that not all of us were supposed to be in art class, but again the teacher did not ask a single question when we filed in. It was becoming very clear who ran this school, and it definitely wasn’t the humans.
I had no experience with art. Supplies were expensive, and my mom had never been interested. Today the class was on pottery, but it wasn’t hands-on yet, just learning about the property of the clay, temperatures, movement to shape, setup of the kiln, and more information like that. It was much easier for me to follow than math, and I was surprised when the bell rang.
Nerves had my stomach jumping. It was lunchtime. We were about to try the great overlord minor experiment. Maybe we would start a riot. Or maybe, just maybe, this would be the beginning of something better for Overworld.
Change was coming no matter what. It was time to see which way the dice rolled.
10
The cafeteria was unbelievable, bigger, brighter, and more luxurious than I would have ever expected. There was a long buffet on the ground level, and the line of kids moving through it was almost mesmerizing. They had it down to a fine art, hundreds of students moving through and collecting food without any issue.
I started to head in that direction until I realized Lexen was leading us away from it, toward a set of stairs in the center of the room. Stairs that led up to the first level. As I stepped out onto this landing, my eyes got very wide.Holy fancy pants.
It was a six-star restaurant up here: black and white linen tablecloths, wine glasses, cutlery. There were no waiters I could see, but there was another long buffet. Their own private buffet.
“They call them the elites,” Emma said to me. “The humans think all Daelighters are from the families of the “founding fathers,” because their last names are the houses’ names. There are about fifty of them in the school, and they all get special treatment.”
“Your friends don’t eat up here with you?” I asked, wondering if this new life she had with Lexen had caused issue for her.
Emma shook her head. “No, this is elite only.” Her face screwed up, eyes sad. “It caused a lot of problems at first, with my human friends. The words “traitor” and “stuck-up-bitch” might have gotten thrown around a few times, but eventually we sorted it all out. I try and spend time with them in class, but they know Lex is my priority. Neither of them blames me, they both think he’s hot as hell.”
Lexan’s lips twitched, but he refrained from saying anything.
We were not the first ones on the elite level. There were a few small groups already eating. It was immediately clear that they had split themselves into houses. In one corner they were almost all blond, tanned, and broad shouldered, just like Xander.
“House of Royale,” Emma confirmed.
In the opposite corner were the brown-skinned, brown-haired individuals. High cheekbones and lots of pretty eyes were a common trait there. I mean, they had unique and individual looks, but you could tell they were from the same house.
“House of Leights,” Emma said, following my line of sight.
Which left House of Imperial and House of Darken in their own respective corners. Imperials were glaring absolute daggers in my direction, and I realized that this was the first time I would come face to face with a group of Daniel’s people.
Outside of passing through the egg room.
So far, it was going as well as expected.
My dreary thoughts were cut off as we arrived at the start of the buffet. I wiped at my mouth, just in case any drool escaped while I stared at the array of dishes artfully displayed in stainless steel trays. Normally I had simple tastes in food. As I’d told Daniel, grilled cheese was my favorite, but I was more than a little impressed with their selection here.
“Daelighters don’t eat much meat,” Emma told me. “But they make fruit and vegetables into the most delicious meals.”
I shrugged. “I’ve never been a huge fan of meat. Especially red meat.”
Her eyes widened. “Me neither. I think it’s because we were born in Overworld.”
Hmmm, that would make sense; we’d definitely taken on other traits from that world.
When it was my turn to walk down the line, I started to scoop food onto my plate. A creamy sundried tomato pasta, pumpkin and spice salad, fruit cup, and to finish it off, mashed potatoes with a creamy mushroom sauce.
I skipped most of the next dishes; my plate was pretty much full anyway, but right near the end I hesitated over the vegetarian pizza. Daniel, who was behind me in the line, laughed when I pouted. “You can come back if you finish what you have and want more. We’ll stay here until you’ve had enough.”
I blasted him with my brightest smile. It actually hurt my cheeks and made me realize how rarely I used to smile. I needed to work on that, finding the joy in the small things – once we dealt with Laous, and I found my mom. My smile faded away, and I wondered if I’d ever be able to just feel happy without guilt. I supposed that was pretty much life; happiness and guilt often went hand in hand.
Daniel and I were the first to finish filling our plates and took a seat at a large round table right in the center of the room. I had no idea who usually sat there, since territories were very clearly designated. The moment Lexen, Star, and Emma joined us, the entire floor went deadly silent. We ignored this, continuing to talk normally while eating the mouthwatering food.
It took a while, but eventually ninety percent of the Daelighters surrounding us went back to their conversations as well. A few of the Darkens even threw smiles in our direction and gave slow head nods to Lexen. The Imperials had the most attitude, especially when Xander and Chase joined us, but no one said anything outright.
“Well … that went okay,” Emma said after about twenty minutes. She looked between the four overlords. “Right?”
