Ara shook her head in confusion. She hadn’t expected a warm reunion, but she hadn’t expected this foreign and cold one. They were still sisters and had shared everything growing up. One year couldn’t possibly erase eighteen others.
“Seren,” Ara corrected. “I’m happy you made it through the trials and are here. You are going to love Calami. The first year is hard, but it goes by fast. If you need anything, I—”
“I don’t need anything from you, Arabella. It’s better if we just stay out of each other’s way. We don’t have to pretend at anything.”
Ara fought to understand her sister’s words when she felt someone bump their hips into hers.
“There you are! That was even better than last year!” Roxie glowed with exhilaration. Her smile faded as she saw Ara and slowly turned to face Seren.
“Oh,” Roxie said the word as if it were a delightful secret before she held out her hand to Seren and put on her most charming smile. “And who might you be? My name is Roxanne Laurier, and it is truly a pleasure to meet you.”
Despite the tension that had been there moments ago, Ara found herself laughing. Roxie was a chronic flirt, and no one was ever immune to her charm. From the way Seren was staring at Roxie’s hand as if it were a venomous snake, Ara wondered if that was no longer true.
“Roxie, this is my sister. Seren.”
Roxie jerked back her hand and mouthed an apology to Ara that forced a laugh from her. Roxie turned back to Seren with a warm smile.
“It’s great to finally meet you, Seren. Ara talks about you all the time.”
“Ara?” Seren raised her eyebrows.
Ara shifted uncomfortably. “Roxie started it and it just kind of stuck.”
“I see you shed all of who you used to be when you left. That’s fine,Bella. It doesn’t change what I said before. You stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours.”
Seren twisted on her heels and left Ara staring at her fading form as she stalked back to Calami. The crackling of the fire seemed to echo her bewilderment.
“So that went well,” Roxie said beside her.
“I’m not sure what just happened,” Ara said dumbly as her mind tried to understand.
Roxie wrapped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her into her. Ara relished the comfort and familiarity of her friend.
“Come on, let’s go get some hot chocolate.” As they began walking, Roxie said, “Sorry I hit on your evil little sister.”
Ara laughed. “Evil?”
Roxie nodded in all seriousness. “It’s the only explanation, I mean, look at you. There is no way you two could be sisters. You are like grace personified. Tall, thin, golden blonde hair, beautiful even when you are sweaty. You radiate kindness like it’s your calling in life. It’s annoying, but I’ve grown to accept it over the past year. However, you are trying to tell me the woman I just saw is your sister? The opposite of you in every way possible? Thus, she must be evil.”
Ara laughed and shook her head. “I think you might just be offended that one person in all of Lynoria didn’t immediately succumb to your charm.”
“Perhaps,” Roxie conceded, “but let’s just say I am keeping one eye on your evil baby sister.”
Ara was inclined to agree that she would also keep a watchful eye on her sister. Something happened in the last year. It was the only explanation for how Seren had glared at her because, in the back of her mind, Ara knew what it had meant. It had been something akin to hatred, and it made Ara’s blood run cold. Suddenly, every comfort she had given herself on why she left for Calami seemed insignificant under the weight of the hatred in her sister’s eyes.
Chapter three
Seren Marudas
Theweeksthatfollowedwere brutal and exhausting. Seren woke tired and went to bed with a bone-deep ache in her body. Each class edged her magic closer to its limits. Evidently, the briar maze trials had been only a taste of the challenges Calami Tower had to offer. It seemed they meant to push the Hatchlings until they broke and then remake them in the renowned Calami image. In this process, Seren had learned more about her magic in three weeks alone than the rest of her life combined. But it still wasn’t enough. Nightmares plagued her; again and again she woke, rigid and sweat-slick, her teeth aching from being ground together as she tossed and turned beneath her thick blankets.
The candle on her desk had burned itself to a stub, its flame suffocated by wax. She sat up, appraising the dark room. Shadows crept along the dormitory wall. It’d been this way since her first night; the waking and restlessness. The gripping fear. Perhaps tonight would be the night she would do it, slink out into the evening and visit the Whispering Woods. One of the older students had mentioned that a similar test to the maze trials would be given at the end of the year, only that it would be an individual event. In her words, the first step toward Calami success was to learn to work together, the second was learning to have trust in conquering obstacles alone. But Seren knew she wouldn’t have made it through without Lily. And even with all the new magic being thrust upon her, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to do it now.
Chancing a look at her roommate’s sleeping form curled up in the center of her twin bed, a pulse of warmth filled her chest. She’d never felt a connection like the one growing between them. Friendship in Little Ridge had been hard to come by, especially for a rarity. She missed home, missed her father and the farm, and the way her mother had been before it all went to ruin. But despite that, she knew she never wanted to go back. If finding a way to overcome this ridiculous fear was her only hope of staying at Calami, she would do it.
Decidedly, she rose, tip-toeing to the closet, where she pulled on her thick uniform and made a grab for her black caplet before creeping out into the hall.
Being the niece of Calami’s headmistress, Lily had shown her some of the most elusive passageways out of Calami. Beneath the light of the full moon, Seren slipped through slender tree limbs and weeping willows that shuddered against a gentle wind. Unnatural stillness settled in the air, far too quiet for a woodland so lush and boundless. Not a hoot from an owl nor chirp from a cricket. The silence gave rise to an eerie prickle beneath the neckline of her scratchy dress. Sweat gathered at the small of her back as she pressed further into the dense wood, a timid ball of flame cupped within her hand to light the way.
