by Cara Wylde
“Oooh.” My desperation was evident in my voice, behavior, movements… everything. I reached out and took the badge from him, all the while using my scythe as a crutch. I was afraid I’d faint from so much stress and, frankly, sheer terror. When I wrapped my fingers around my VDC badge, the dining hall broke into an uproar.
I’m never going to be a Grim Reaper. I’m going to be Grim Reaper meat.”
CHAPTER SIX
I was sitting at the end of the table, as far from the guys as I could. The VDC wasn’t only an all-boys club (well, with one tiny, blue-haired exception this year), but it was also the most numerous Cabal. The other three Cabals had a manageable number of students, but the VDC was fucking huge. Talk about fierce competition.
They didn’t leave me alone for long. After Headmaster Colin was done with the list and announced that dinner could be served, the VDC guys started pointing at me, laughing, shoving each other playfully, and making jokes at my expense. Normie, they called me. Petty human. Idiot. Ugly face. Kuchka. That one hurt the most. They couldn’t possibly know my dad called me that in his random moments of anger. They knew I was Bulgarian. My name had given it away. They particularly liked that insult, too.
“Kuchka,” Sariel laughed. “It sounds way better than bitch.”
How could an archangel be so cruel and still look divinely handsome while doing it? I made myself small in my seat. Normally, I would have stood up for myself, but they were a gang, and I was one girl. I looked over at Klaus at the Merciful Death table. The Neutral Death table was between us, and I could barely catch a glimpse of him. He waved at me, and I gave him a weak smile. Damn it. This is just my luck. How the hell does the only human girl in this stupid school end up in the only Cabal where girls aren’t allowed? Well, it seemed that they were allowed. It just so happened that no girl before me had showed skills to become a Violent Death Reaper. And what does it even mean? Violent. Like, do I hack my victims over and over with my scythe after they’re already dead? And are they my victims if their time has come? So many questions, such a bad time to zone out and lose myself in them. When I came back to the present, I noticed the boys had crowded around me. I was squeezed in between GC and a dark-haired guy I didn’t know.
“Why so sad, normie? You’re here now, so why don’t you just relax and play with us?”
He tried to sneak his hand around my waist, and I pushed him away.
“Don’t touch me,” I growled.
“Are you sure? Don’t say no when you actually want to say yes.”
I looked at him as if he were from another planet and suffered from a complete lack of understanding of plain English.
“No. No means no. Get off of me. Go sit somewhere else, you’re suffocating and obnoxious.”
He laughed out loud. “That’s exactly what all my bitches say. And they always come back for more! Normie, you’re reading me like an open book. We’re meant to be together. For a few hours, at least.”
I rolled my eyes. He didn’t attempt to grab me by the waist again, so there was that. As we sat side by side, our arms touched, and no matter how hard I wanted to pull away, I couldn’t. Skin on skin. We were all still wearing our PE uniforms and, frankly, I was surprised none of us stank after all the jumping, flying, and teleporting we’d done just two hours before. It must have been the fabric. It was probably enchanted. Because mages.
Servants brought in the food on large trays and plates, then bottles of water, lemonade, and even some light beer. Students dug in, piling potatoes, roast, steamed vegetables, and bread onto their plates, pouring each other beer, cheering, and congratulating each other. I bit my lower lip as I stared at my empty plate. Between GC and the dark-haired guy, I could barely move. GC stood up, leaned over the table, and cut himself a huge piece of roast. His arm brushed mine again, and a sigh escaped my lips. This was going to be hard. No. This was going to be hell. I took my fork and my knife and dared to look up at the food, trying to decide what was closer to me and more accessible. I really didn’t want to attract even more attention. Sariel was sitting across from me, sending me murderous looks every two minutes. Paz was busy chewing on a potato, and Francis was ignoring everyone.
The atmosphere changed when a bunch of girls grabbed their plates and glasses and came to sit down at the VDC table. I cocked an eyebrow. Oh, so eating with your Cabal wasn’t a rule. As Lorna squeezed between Sariel and Francis, and Pandora practically straddled Paz’s lap, I took my plate and looked for a way to escape. I was sure the MDC wouldn’t mind adopting me.
“Move, please?” I asked GC when he pretended like he hadn’t noticed I wanted to get out of there.
“What? Why? You’re not going anywhere, normie.”
I furrowed my brows. “Yes, I am. Move!”
Two girls came to stand behind GC, a curvy redhead and an exotic beauty with dark skin and dark eyes. The redhead scowled at me. She looked almost as threatening as Pandora. So, all redheads were major bitches? Come on! What a cliché!
“Scram, dumpster girl. You’re in my spot.”
“How am I in your spot? I can’t be in your spot on the first day of school.”
She leaned in and hissed in my face. “My spot is next to GC. Always. Do yourself a favor and don’t ever forget it.”
I threw my hands in the air, in a gesture of surrender. “Okay, okay! I don’t want to sit here, anyway. Now, if the false god would kindly let me out…”
It was the brunette’s turn to scowl at me. “Watch your mouth, dumpster girl. He’s a god in his own right. Mortals worshipped his ancestor, they brought offerings to him, sacrificed goats on his altar, bathed his feet in their blood… If that doesn’t scream god to you, then you’re dumber than I thought, and you shouldn’t be here. You know nothing about our world. Go back to the filthy trailer you came from, human.”
I clenched my jaw. I didn’t have to sit here and take this. “I don’t live in a trailer, bitch.” I stood up, ready to jump over the bench if GC really refused to move.
“What did you call me?” The dark-skinned girl slammed her plate on the table and lounged at me like a cat who’d just spotted a rat. Wings sprouted out of her back, and I knew she was some sort of angel. Was it me, or were the heavenly creatures worse than the hellish ones? I didn’t have time to ponder on that, because her claws sank into my hair. She pulled my head back, and I screamed in pain, my hands latching onto her wrists. Even when I scratched at her arms, she refused to let go.
“Come on, now, Sammy,” GC said between fits of laughter. “I’m sure she didn’t mean it. Give her a chance to apologize.”
“Fuck her, and fuck you for taking her side,” the girl I now knew was called Sammy spat out.
Well, that didn’t sit well with GC. His face darkened, his blond hair turned red in an instant, and his shifting eyes settled on a deep, bottomless black. He stood up slowly, and I thought he was just going to stare the girl down, but he went farther than that. He grabbed her by the arm and squeezed until she was forced to let go of my hair. As I scrambled to grab my plate and get out of there, I saw the red, angry marks he’d left on her skin. Somehow, that didn’t make me feel any better. It was nice of him to stand up for me, but not like that. Certainly, not like that. She was hurting me, yes, but there was something even worse about a man hurting a woman. Women fought sometimes, grabbed each other by the hair, scratched at each other’s faces, and even punched each other, but it was different. Still not okay, but different. At least, they were on the same level.
“I don’t want you here, Samantha. Go away.”
“But, but… you wanted me yesterday,” she whined, her lower lip trembling.
So, they knew each other before the Academy? Anyway, I had no intention to stick around and hear the rest of their heated argument. I rounded the NDC table and went straight for the MDC, where I knew Klaus would welcome me with open arms. Maybe I could make some friends, too. I figured because they were Merciful, maybe they didn’t care
that much about where I came from or that I was a human.
“Where is she going?” I heard Sariel’s voice behind me, and I almost froze in place. “GC, you idiot, you had one job. Lorna?”
“On it,” the mage girl chirped.
I had to get to Klaus. I had to. I willed my legs to move faster, but to my horror, I seemed to have no control over them anymore. Before I could wrap my head around what was happening, I felt myself being dragged back. I dropped the plate and grabbed onto the edge of the NDC table. The Neutral Death students stared at me with wide eyes, then a couple of them broke out in giggles and full-blown laughter. The force was so damn strong that my fingers slipped, and I was now grabbing at air, kicking my arms and legs frantically, trying to get some level of control over my own body and the direction it was moving in. There was no use. A weak yelp left my lips when my hip hit the edge of the VDC table. GC wrapped a strong arm around my waist and pulled me down next to him. Sammy had vanished, but the other girl, the redhead, was still there, sitting where I’d been sitting before.
“There she is,” GC laughed. “Back where she belongs.”
“Let go of me.”
“Oh, normie, but I’m not the one doing this.”
I followed his gaze and saw Lorna, next to Sariel, with both hands in the air, her long fingers that ended in red claws pointing at me. There was a look of concentration on her face. When she wasn’t scowling or getting ready to insult someone, she was beautiful. She was doing this. She was using her powers on me.
“Tell her to stop,” I hissed at Sariel.
The archangel cocked an eyebrow and took a sip of light beer. “Who? Me? Tell her to stop? Why would I? I’m not the boss of her. She does what she wants.”
Oh, but he was the boss of her, even if he didn’t want to. Lorna followed him everywhere, and the more he ignored her, the more she shadowed him, studied his every move and listened to his every word. Besides, I’d heard him order her to seize me. So, who was he trying to fool?
“Anyway, Lorna knows what she’s doing,” he continued, an evil smirk tugging at his lips. “There are rules, kuchka, and you need to learn to respect them. You were sorted in the Violent Death Cabal. We don’t want you here, I believe that’s obvious. Alas, we don’t seem to have a say in the matter, although I’ll make sure my parents have a serious talk with Headmaster Colin. Until we figure out what to do with you, you’re going to respect the rules and sit right here, with us, with the Cabal you belong to. For now. I do hope Headmaster Colin sees reason and kicks you out. Not just out of our Cabal, but out of the school.”
“There’s no rule that says I have to sit with you,” I hissed. “If there were, then the girls shouldn’t be here.”
“Don’t you worry about them, normie,” GC said, his arm coming to rest around my shoulders. He placed an empty plate in front of me and poured me some beer. “You should drink something at least, if you’re not hungry.”
I am hungry. If you fools would just back off and leave me be…
“Oh, silly me. Of course she must be hungry,” Lorna said in a sweet, fake voice.
“Then, maybe, let me go?” I still couldn’t move. It felt as if I was stuck inside my own body. My brain was sending signals to my legs and hands, but none of my muscles wanted to respond. I was paralyzed and unable to even push GC away. His arm around my shoulders burned me through my uniform. His body emanated such heat that I could feel beads of sweat gathering at the roots of my hair.
“I can’t do that, dumpster girl,” Lorna smiled innocently. “We can’t risk you trying to run away again. But I can help you with the food. Here…”
At a flick of her wrist, a huge piece of roast smacked me right in the face. I closed my eyes and pursed my lips. The smell of grease, sauces, and spices filled my nostrils, along with a generous splash of juices. I would have enjoyed the taste and the smell in other circumstances.
“Come on, don’t make this harder on yourself,” Lorna said. “Open your mouth like a good dumpster girl and take a bite. I bet you’ve never tasted anything like it. Can you even afford to buy meat where you come from, or do you live on peas and cabbage?”
The piece of roast smacked me again, and I spluttered, trying to get the juices out of my nose and mouth. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. The entire VDC table was laughing now. No, the entire dining hall was laughing and cheering Lorna on. I couldn’t believe the professors didn’t notice what was happening. They were eating peacefully at their table, chatting between them and with the parents, not even sparing the students a glance. The VDC guys had started banging on the table and chanting “feed her, feed her, feed her”. The only one who hadn’t joined in was Francis Saint-Germain. Even Pazuzu, the demon, was chanting now, with Pandora doing the same by his side.
This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening. I had suffered many horrible pranks in my life. I had been bullied all through high school, and by my dad at home. But I had never been in the position where I couldn’t defend myself at all, where I couldn’t even speak because my mouth was full of food, and I couldn’t move and fight back because my whole body was paralyzed. Tears pooled under my eyelids, and I squeezed my eyes shut to keep them in. I wasn’t going to cry in front of them. Never. How long could she pull this off? How long would it take her… them… until they got bored and went back to their business, whatever that was? How long? They had to stop at some point.
“Maybe she doesn’t like roast,” Pandora said. “Maybe she’s vegetarian.”
“Good point, girl!”
Once the roast stopped hitting me in the face, things got worse. A flurry of potatoes and steamed vegetables hit my mouth, cheeks, forehead, jaw, and dripped down my chest. The dining hall roared with laughter. I felt a tear escape my tightly shut eyes, and I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t wipe it off either, since I couldn’t move my arms. I did my best to breathe in and out evenly and focus on holding in the rest of the tears. I wasn’t going to break down in front of them. I wasn’t.
Something warm, wet, and slightly creamy hit me in the right cheek and dripped down the side of my face, staining my uniform. It felt like goo, and it smelled like tomatoes. Crap. Tomato soup. I had tomato soup on my face!
“I would think that’s enough, Lorna,” a low, gentle voice said. “You’ve made your point.”
I didn’t recognize it, but it sure as hell wasn’t Sariel or Paz. GC was still laughing his head off, and for a moment, I’d hoped it would be Klaus who had come over to rescue me, but Klaus didn’t sound that grave and calm, yet indisputably confident. The food attack stopped, and I dared to open my eyes. Francis was looking straight at me, and there was something in his mossy green eyes. Compassion? Pitty? Before I could make up my mind, he averted his gaze and poured some sparkling water into his tall glass.
Surprisingly, everyone at the table settled down. Lorna sent me one last bitchy look, then turned back to her food and to her favorite activity: pestering Sariel. Pandora leaned in and whispered something in Paz’s ear, but Paz didn’t laugh, nor showed much interest in what she was saying. GC finally removed his arm from around my shoulders, and that was when I realized I could move again.
“Here, normie, let me help you clean up.”
He started rubbing the soup off my cheek with a white, cotton napkin, but I pulled away and snatched the napkin from him.
“I don’t need your help,” I snapped. I shot to my feet and ran out of there before anyone else at the VDC table decided I needed another lesson.
CHAPTER SEVEN
A maid was kind enough to help me find my room. The VDC dormitories were in the north tower. There were four towers marking the four corners of the rectangle that was the Academy building, and now I knew they all had dormitories, on each level. The maid told me the VDC was in the north one, while the MDC occupied the south tower, the RDC the west tower, and the NDC the east tower. Great. So, Klaus was, basica
lly, in the tower across the court. As I followed the maid down the winding corridor, I felt so alone. I was the first student to retire to the dormitory, so at least I could enjoy some peace for a while. If no one saw what room I got in, then maybe I could sneak out in the morning, too, and they’d never know which one was mine.
All the rooms seemed huge and luxurious. I managed a sneak peek into one of them when two maids opened the door and wheeled out a cart filled with bed sheets, pillows, and cleaning supplies. It looked more like an apartment than a room! I glimpsed an open space kitchen with a bar and a fridge, a long leather couch, and a TV that was bigger than my room back home. The maids closed the door quickly, sending me a curious glance.
Wow! If I get a room like that just for myself, then I might have a chance to survive. It doesn’t matter how much they bully me. If I can just retreat in my own suite, read and binge-watch my favorite shows, then I’m good. I can to this.
“This way,” the maid said when she noticed I’d stopped in the middle of the corridor.
I followed her quickly. We went past the last room, and then down another corridor that was darker and narrower. The doors here seemed to be closer together.
“This is it.”
She pushed a door open, and I stepped inside. I murmured a “thank you”, and she disappeared down the hall. To say that I was disappointed would have been a massive understatement. My room was nothing like the ones I’d walked by. It was considerably smaller, with only a four-poster bed in the middle, a desk by the window, and an oldish armchair and a coffee table in the other corner. There was a mini fridge under the desk, and when I checked, it was stocked with a bottle of water, a soda, and some peanuts. I had never stayed in a hotel but was pretty sure that was what a hotel room must have looked like. A three-star hotel room. There was a small bathroom, too, with only a shower cabin. My shoulders slumped. Back home, I had an old bathtub, and it was my favorite thing in the world. Now, I lived at an expensive Academy, and I didn’t even get that small luxury? This sucks. On the other hand, maybe it wasn’t that bad. At least, the whole room was mine, and the space was more than enough for me. I didn’t have a huge TV, but a laptop was waiting for me on the desk and, frankly, I didn’t mind watching my shows on a laptop. Whatever. I hadn’t been born in luxury, so this was actually nice, if I thought about it. Now I wished I hadn’t seen that other room.
