My chest tightens; I’m being an awful friend and I know it. Xavier shared with me about his upbringing and now, Tilly’s sharing information that could getherinto trouble. I haven’t even told them about Sebastian sleeping in my room last night, even though I desperatelywant to. I need to vent and get it off my chest. But when you’re so used to sitting with your own thoughts and relying only on yourself, it’s hard to let others in. Sometimes choosing to keep your walls up is easier than letting them down, only to be disappointed in the long run.
I let my walls down around Sebastian once and look where that got me.
I tell myself I just need more time, that hopefully soon the cynical part of me will begin to trust again and I won’t feel so guilty each time Tilly and Xavier share a piece of themselves with me, while I only drip feed information back to them.
My mouth opens to ask Tilly more, but my eyes catch on a handful of second- and third-year students walking in our direction from across the dining hall. Their eyes are trained directly on me.
Something in my gut twists. Anticipation. Tension. Maybe a bit of fear. Not for myself, but for the two people seated with me. I’ve seen what the students of Valmora Academy are capable of; the last thing I want is for Xavier or Tilly to come into contact with that kind of maliciousness because they’re associated with me.
‘Incoming.’ I hear Xavier’s low voice. He’s spotted them as well.
My hand instinctively curls around the breakfast knife beside my tray. It’s not sharp, but a piece of metal is still a piece of metal. I’m sure shoved into an eyeball it’d hurt all the same. I slip it into the sleeve of my top and drop my hands to my lap, right in time for the group of students to crowd around us. There are six of them, I count. Three of us.
‘Well, look what we have here,’ one of them drawls, lifting her pointed nose at me. I realise she’s the unit leader of Agate. I remember her cold voice from ceremony day. Her gaze darts to Xavier. ‘Davis? I expected better from you.’
Xavier sighs, reclining in his seat. ‘Ah, the sound of home. I must say, I haven’t missed those words.’
Tilly snorts, it’s barely audible over the noise of the dining hall, but it’s loud enough to draw eyes her way.
No. Not her! Their attention on Tilly makes me uneasy, so I do the only thing I can think of and recentre their hatred on me. That’s why they’re here anyway.
‘I wonder,’ I lean forward, pursing my lips, ‘how much air you must inflate inside that head of yours to make it that big each day.’
Helena.That’s her name. Her dark eyes whip to mine. ‘What did you just say?’ she asks in a deadly tone.
‘It reallyisimpressive.’ I smile. ‘In fact, if I close my eyes, I can almost picture your teeny-tiny brain bouncing around in there with all the space you’ve given it. Tell me, do your thoughts echo?’
Helena’s face tightens with rage. In the corner of my eye, I spot Xavier’s shoulder shaking with silent laughter. Someone behind her at another table lets out a snigger, but she doesn’t turn. Her focus is entirely on me, which is where I wanted it.
‘You’ve got a sharp tongue, Nocthare,’ she says. ‘Too bad it’s wasted on a magicless gutter-rat.’
‘And gutter-rats don’t get to eat in the dining hall,’ I hear one of her lackey s growl into my ear before his hand snatches past me and steals the coffee from my tray. Rude. I wanted that. ‘They eat outside in the trash.’
‘You’d know, wouldn’t you? It’s where you found your personality,’ I quip, annoyed now.
‘Bitch,’ he mutters before taking a long drag from my cup, winking at me as he wipes his lips with the back of his hand.
Suddenly a slash of cold air hits my chest, shoving me back down in my seat. My hands snap out to grasp onto the table to stabilise myself, but the tips of my fingers grab my tray instead. It flips up and the food careens toward me, spilling into my lap and the floor.
I hear Tilly’s gasp from across the table, muffled by Helena’s vicious cackle. ‘Perfect ! Go on, gutter -rat, eat your food off the ground.’
Helena is a bully. I could tell that from the moment she stepped out of Agate on ceremony day. But I also know she won’t truly hurt me, not in such a public setting. Despite what I said before, she’s too intelligentfor that. She’s just the type of person who wants everyone to know she has the loudest bark in the room.
I can feel dozens of eyes lingering on our table. Silent observers eager to see what happens next. I try to school my breathing into a steady rhythm. My natural instinct is to react, to lash out or say something that’ll no doubt anger her more. Because whileshe’sall bark, my instinct is to bite. I try to rein that in as I flick the food off my clothing and onto the floor with the rest of it. But then I see Tilly start to rise from her seat and I pause.
‘Helena!’ she starts, whirling around to face the student who stands a good head taller than her. ‘If you—’ her words are cut off when another male student grabs her by the shoulders and shoves her back in her seat. She falls into it unceremoniously, whacking her back against the table with enough force for the entire thing to shift.
I see red. Any attempt at calming my thoughts flies out the damn window.
‘Sit the fuck down, Revlock,’ he hisses, forcing her to lean back as he looms over her, placing his hands on either side of her body on the table.
The knife up my sleeve drops into my waiting hand, my fingers curling around it and in one swift movement, I leap forward and stab the knife right between his index and middle finger. Nicking the skin just the perfect amount to draw some blood.
His eyes flare wide; his head snaps up to meet my deadly glare. I hear several gasps around us.
‘Touch my friend again,’ I warn, cold and low, ‘and next time the knife will go through your starsdamn hand!’
A crease forms between his brows, clearly noting the seriousness in my tone. His hands slide off the table as he rises to stand up. My fingers stay wrapped around the handle of the knife that’s wedged into the table.
