A smaller sleeping platform crouches across from mine, occupied by a girl with golden hair who blinks at me in annoyance.
That son of a bitch!
“Who the hell are you and where the fuck am I?” I snarl, though I’m pretty sure I already know. Instantly hunting for weapons, exits, and anything useful in this pastel hellscape. “And did he just leave?”
“Welcome to Rathe U.” The girl huffs, hauling herself upright. Her head is a tangled nest of blond, cropped close to her chin, and there’re some strange cuffs around her wrist. “I’m Elena and I’m guessing you’re my housemate.”
Housemate?!
“Creed said nothing about a housemate. I don’t like people.”
“Yeah, well. We don’t exactly have a say here, now do we.” She drives her soft square cushion down over her head and rotates to her other side. “And I wouldn’t speak of our kings by name. Or get any delusional ideas about them. Royals don’t talk to us ordinaries.”
Ordinaries?
Ah, yes, now this I had heard of from whiny exiles. There’s a little power scale those born of Rathe live by, inadvertently pitting them all against one another based on the magic that runs through their blood.
Ordinaries are considered the lesser of them because of powers so, well,ordinary.An exiled Fae male once said that he was an ordinary. Weird, considering his power sucked the life out of those he murdered, which led to him being sent to the island in the first place. A power bank is no joke. They literally suck the energy out of you and into themselves. If that’s not a superior power, I don’t know what is.
Pathetic, the weight these people put into what our minds can do.
They forget their hands are just as much of a weapon.
Was Creed right, do I have dormant powers that the island has suppressed?
The thought makes me feel like a sheep. I allowed Creed to ship me here with the others with the promise of…what, exactly?
Knowledge I won’t even need once I go back home?
Powers I may or may not have that will just disappear all over again once I step foot off the island?
Damn, girl. You really are a fucking fool, so easily played.
I don’t belong here.
I belong on that island where no one can toy with me. Where no one can manipulate me to want. Or worse.
Hope.
There is no point in either.
I need to be careful here.
I need to remember that my life is one I’ll live on my own.
I need to remember to have nothing is to lose nothing.
I glare at my supposed new roommate, who’s clearly familiar with this place.
My eyes fall to the edge of her clothing chamber, where something revolting spins in small circles, a light purple glow swirling around it.
The crisp white blouse is embroidered with tiny silver runes down the sleeves; and the pleated skirt of black and gold lookslike it’ll tear in three seconds flat.
“Yours is in there.” She points to another tall chamber, my name sparking through the center like flames every few moments.
“My what?”
She rolls her eyes, hands still half-buried under her pillow. “That’s the school uniform. You’ll need it to enter your classes.”
