by Amanda Jones
She didn’t know how she made it out the office and up the stairs. The room was empty and it crossed her mind that Delyse was waiting for her in the cafeteria, but the only thing Avelyn could see clearly was her bed. She flung herself on the covers, and started crying so loud that the pillow could barely muffle the sound. At some point she heard the door open, and soon felt the mattress sink under another’s weight. She didn’t know who it was, and she didn’t care. She refused to raise her face from the pillow or answer the person’s questions of “what happened?” and “are you all right?”. A small hand was gently rubbing her back, and Avelyn cried and cried until she felt there were no more tears left.
***
Avelyn’s nightstand was covered in a pile of used tissues which had started spilling on the floor. Claudia had to bring another box from the supplies room, and Avelyn had already used half of it. She was in bed, propped up on her pillow, with Delyse to her right, Claudia to her left, and Amelia at her feet, on the farthest edge of the bed. None of her roommates had had a chance to say anything, because the moment Claudia and Delyse had entered the room and saw Amelia trying to soothe their friend, Avelyn started to tell them what had happened in a torrent of words and tears. They all listened to her silently. Seeing her in that state made Claudia’s big, brown eyes tear up as well. Delyse was going through her own shock and wasn’t sure how to react. On one hand, she was aware of the tragedy that had befallen her friend. Avelyn’s dreams had been crushed in a matter of hours, and all because she had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. If the werewolf hadn’t seen her in the garden that morning, Delyse would have been the one to pack her bags right now and get ready for the trip to the Black Forest Mountains, where Blackmane’s clan lived. On the other hand, she couldn’t help feeling betrayed and even a bit jealous. She knew that Avelyn hadn’t done anything on purpose, but it was hard to think straight when her father’s reproachful voice was already ringing in her head. Amelia was the only one who was not impressed by Avelyn’s tragedy. She had been the one to find her lying in bed, crying and holding her pillow for dear life. She had thought that something truly awful had happened to Avelyn, and that’s why she had tried to calm her down. It was against Amelia’s unwritten rules to show sympathy, especially towards Avelyn, whom she almost despised, but at that moment the only reasonable explanation that had crossed her mind was that Avelyn had just found out she was being thrown out of Alma Venus earlier. Yes, with that kind of terrible faith Amelia was able to empathize, but not with Avelyn’s complaints that she had actually been bought by an Alpha wolf.
Avelyn sniffed her nose, wiped her red, swollen eyes, and threw the tissue on the floor. Claudia was attached to her arm, and the girl’s short, frizzy hair was tickling Avelyn’s neck. Avelyn looked at Delyse, afraid of what her friend would say. However, Delyse was not the one to speak first.
“That’s ridiculous,” said Amelia.
All three girls turned to look at her, and Claudia rolled her eyes like she had heard that part before.
“You’re complaining because someone is finally taking you away from this hellhole of a school. It’s stupid.”
“Seriously, no one has asked for your opinion,” said Claudia.
“I don’t need to be asked for my opinion to say what I believe is the truth. Miss Delacroix was right. No, not with that part when she tried to make you feel bad because you’re curvier than the rest of us. That was cruel and retarded. But when she told you that Alma Venus has actually given you a chance for a better life. As I see it, this Blackmane guy has the money and power to keep you like a friggin’ princess for the rest of your life. You’ve got issues if you can’t see it.”
“Oh, shut up, Amelia. You’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” Delyse rose from Avelyn’s bed and sat down on the other one. Her voice sounded weak and filled with resignation.
“Well, then, enlighten me.” When Delyse made a gesture of dismissal with her hand and said nothing, Amelia continued. “No, no, let’s not drop it like this. Let me tell you some things once and for all.” She pulled her brown hair away from her face, and made herself comfortable at Avelyn’s feet. “You’re blind if you can’t see what Alma Venus, as bad and fucking wrong as it is, has done for all of you. Ok, maybe not exactly for you, Delyse. In fact, I think you’re the only one who has any right to complain about the whole situation.”
Delyse sighed, but didn’t interrupt Amelia. She didn’t have the energy.
“Claudia, your mother abandoned you at the gate of Alma Venus right after you were born. What do you think would have happened to you if Delacroix hadn’t taken you in? It was a gamble for her, wasn’t it? Your mom didn’t even stick around to see if she could get some money for sacrificing you to the peace treaty with such generosity.”
Claudia detached herself from Avelyn’s arm and straightened her back. She looked right into Amelia’s cold, green eyes, but didn’t contradict her. Her roommate had a point, at least in what she was concerned.
“And, Avelyn, I don’t have to repeat what Delacroix has already made all too clear. I’m sure that if you make an effort to see past your arrogance and self-importance, you’ll see that she wasn’t that wrong.”
“What’s your point?” asked Avelyn, a bit annoyed.
“Have I ever told you how I ended up here?” Amelia continued. “Don’t answer that. It’s a rhetorical question. I haven’t, because you all have always been too self-absorbed and too pleased with your positions as victims to accept that there may be another side of the coin. My parents were murdered when I was 3. I don’t know why, no one ever bothered to give me an explanation. I do know that it wasn’t for money, because the guys just came into our home, shot them in their bed, and didn’t steal anything. I was lying under the cover, waiting for them to finish me as well. One of them entered my bedroom, moved his flashlight around and saw me shivering in bed, but didn’t do anything. He closed the door, and they all left. I spent four years in one of the shittiest orphanages in London. They barely fed us. Each day, we’d have a disgusting pea soup and some old bread, because I’m sure those who worked there and were supposed to take care of us preferred to take all the good, fresh food home to their own children. We had to make do with two changes of clothes, and the classes we had to attend were a joke. Everything was just a sad, fucking joke until I turned 7 and something good finally happened: Monique Delacroix came to the orphanage with two Guardians and checked all the girls there. She picked me. Out of the twenty-something girls under the age of 10, I was the only one she wanted to buy. So, there you go. That’s my story. I was a messed up orphan, unfed and dirty, and Delacroix took me out of that hell and brought me to Alma Venus. The Guardians gave me clothes and a warm bed I didn’t have to share with two other dirty orphans, and I could eat as much as I wanted. Alma Venus gave me a second chance. It gave most of the pitiful girls here a second chance, and it blows my mind how few of them can see it.”
There was silence in the room. None of the three girls could look into Amelia’s eyes anymore. For the first time, they wondered if the reason for which they hadn’t known the story was that they never cared enough to listen to what Amelia had to say. It was true that she had always kept her distance and had been unpleasant whenever one of them mentioned how much they hated Alma Venus, but they had never considered that Amelia had her own reasons to like the school and support the idea of shifter brides.
“Whatever,” said Amelia when she saw that no one was going to say anything.
“Amelia,” started Avelyn. She hesitated for a second, unsure of how to continue. “I’m… sorry.”
“I said whatever.”
“No, I…,” she finally raised her chin and looked into her roommate’s eyes. “I get you. I get your position, but I can’t entirely agree with it. It’s true that some of us are orphans, and some of us were abandoned, but I wish that you could see that doesn’t change the fact that Alma Venus, just like hundreds of other boarding schools around the world
, is forcing young girls into marriages they don’t desire. It’s wrong, humiliating, and dehumanizing. I wish you could see what the real problem is.”
“And what is the real problem?” There was a hint of sarcasm in Amelia’s voice.
“Society is the real problem,” answered Delyse before Avelyn could continue. “At first, it was just the government, the ones who signed the treaty and agreed to the terms. But then, people started to accept the situation and even embrace it. Now, society expects us to do our part and keep the peace. We’ve all heard rumors about how the girls who are thrown out of the boarding schools are treated. They can’t get jobs, they have to beg or steal to feed themselves. And all that because society thinks that if no shifter chose you to be his wife, then you’re worthless. They don’t want you on their streets, they don’t want to rent you even the filthiest room so you’d have a place to sleep. They’d rather you rot in a shifter brothel.”
Amelia threaded her fingers through her thin, medium-length brown hair and pulled at some knots. She had the habit to play with her hair, twist it, or pull it when she was nervous or upset.
“Yes,” she whispered. “But we can’t change than, can we?”
“No, we can’t,” said Avelyn.
“We have to make the best of what we have,” added Amelia.
“That doesn’t mean we have to like it,” finished Avelyn.
“No, I guess it doesn’t.” Amelia turned her head to look out the window. The moon was peeking from between the tree branches.
“So, now what?” asked Claudia. “What are you going to do?”
Avelyn closed her eyes and thought for a minute. She felt better after telling everything to her friends, but she realized that she had been so caught up in her grief that she hadn’t thought of a solution. Crying and complaining about her situation didn’t help. It eased her soul, but it wouldn’t save her from what was to happen the next day. For a second, she considered giving in and accepting her destiny, but then a part of her rose against that thought. That part of her that could still picture the name Joanna Throne on a fake ID and could feel the smell of freshly baked cookies coming from a small Italian bakery.
“I run away.” And there it was: the decision she feared most was taken by that part of her being.
“What?” jumped Claudia. “You don’t mean that.”
Delyse sighed and moved back to Avelyn’s bed. “You know that’s not going to work, Ave.”
Avelyn looked into her friend’s sad eyes and felt a sharp pain cut through her chest. She realized how selfish she was, thinking only of how her life had been destroyed. What would Delyse do now? Would her father understand it hadn’t been her fault?
“I am so sorry. I swear I never meant for this to happen. I never thought that idiot would do something like this.”
“Don’t,” Delyse stopped her. “Let’s not talk about this. You don’t have to tell me what I already know.”
“If I get away tonight you might still have a chance to be chosen.”
Delyse entertained that thought for a second, but she immediately came back to reality. “You’ve already tried two times, and they both ended badly.”
“I was young then and I had no idea what I was doing.”
“Do you now?”
Avelyn changed her position. Her back had started to hurt, so she pulled the blanket off and crossed her legs. No, she had no idea what she was doing. If she did manage to make it beyond the gate, she had no idea what she would do next. The only solution that crossed her mind was to go straight to the train station and get on the first train that made a stop in Myrtle Valley. Later, she’d find a safe place where she could take her time to make a plan and travel to Italy. She realized that once she’d be on the train, things would be easy. The hard part was to get out of Alma Venus. Just as Delyse said, Avelyn had tried twice already. The first time she was only 10. She remembered she had a fight with one of the teachers and she was so angry that she decided to run away. It was intended more as a punishment for those who had wronged her, than as an attempt to truly escape the boarding school. She had managed to trick the gate-keeper into letting her out. She had told him that the wind which was blowing hard that day had blown away her hat and taken it beyond the fence. The gate-keeper told her he couldn’t see it, but she swore it was somewhere among the trees. She looked innocent enough, so he allowed her to go look for her hat. When she didn’t return in ten minutes, he went after her, and he found her almost at the edge of the forest. But Avelyn hadn’t known she was so close to freedom. She thought she had lost her way. The second time she tried to run away she was 17. This time it hadn’t been on impulse, and she had made a serious plan. The idea was to climb over the fence, so she chose a good spot somewhere behind the school, where she thought that no one would see her. Only a couple of dorms faced that part of the fence, and the trees in the garden covered most of the view anyway. But, as she was struggling to climb the iron fence and drop on the other side, the gate-keeper and one of the Guardians flashed their lights on her back. They screamed at her to come down, and for a second she considered pushing forward, but she knew they would catch her later in the forest. That damn forest she knew nothing about. She always believed that someone had tipped them off that night, but she had no idea who it could have been. The only ones who had known about her plan were Delyse and Claudia.
“I don’t know,” she answered. “No, actually, I have no idea, but I have to do it. I have to try.” Avelyn looked at Delyse and then at Claudia. Amelia turned her eyes back to all of them and was studying Avelyn intently. Avelyn cursed herself for talking about running away in front of her.
Amelia saw the fear and insecurity on Avelyn’s face, and smiled. “All right. You can’t trick any gate-keeper, and I don’t think you can climb over the fence. Maybe you had a chance at 17, but now… I really don’t think so. No offense.”
Amelia knew all the details because Miss Delacroix had made it a point to not only punish Avelyn for her silly attempts, but also to tell the entire school about them to make an example of her.
Avelyn took a clean tissue to wipe her sweaty palms. “I know. I’ll have to come up with something different.”
“You’d better not tell anyone about this,” said Claudia giving Amelia a threatening look.
“Relax, I won’t,” said Amelia. “What kind of person do you think I am? And, anyway,” she turned to Avelyn. “You don’t stand a chance.”
There was silence again because none of the girls could contradict Amelia. They all knew Alma Venus was well guarded by two gate-keepers, and since Avelyn’s last attempt, Miss Delacroix had installed cameras to survey the fence around the whole school. She even considered installing some cameras inside the building, but then changed her mind, deciding that it wasn’t necessary. There were rarely any conflicts between students, as they were all girls, and the investment was not justified. Avelyn had been the only student who had tried to run away in the past 40 years, and she thought the cameras outside were enough to prevent that from happening again. So, there was no way of sneaking out without being seen, and all four girls knew that.
“Unless…” added Amelia, a wicked grin on her lips.
“Unless what?” asked Avelyn.
“Unless there’s another way out.”
“And is there?” intervened Delyse. Amelia’s weird behavior and unexpected words had grabbed her interest.
Avelyn considered her roommate’s words. She thought about them and, for some reason, Amelia’s suggestion made sense. The problem was that she couldn’t quite figure out how. There was something that she was missing, like the last piece of a puzzle which had somehow ended up under the bed and she couldn’t find it. She knew exactly where it fit, and she knew that if she found it she would have the solution. Then it dawned on her.
“There was this story… This medieval story about a girl who disguised herself as a boy to study here when Alma Venus was a cathedral school. Then, she fell in love with a monk
and got pregnant. Her lover took her…” a bright smile lit her eyes and her whole face when she realized the legend made sense in the light of Amelia’s words. “… he took her in the secret tunnels beneath the monastery to give birth to her child.”
Claudia looked dumbfounded. Delyse eyed Avelyn incredulously and was ready to tell her the story sounded like fantasy, but Amelia was faster.
“So, you’ve read the legend.”
“No. Actually, someone told it to me. At that time I thought it was stupid, but now…”
“It is stupid,” said Delyse. “I’ve never heard of such a story, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I haven’t heard of any secret tunnels underneath the school either.”
“Yeah…” said Claudia. “They would have mentioned them in History, don’t you think?”
“Or, maybe, they wouldn’t have mentioned them anywhere,” said Amelia, “given that there had been other girls who tried to escape Alma Venus before Avelyn.”
“It makes sense!” said Avelyn excitedly. She changed her position again and she was now on her knees in the middle of the bed, facing Amelia. “It makes all the sense in the world!”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” interrupted Delyse. “First, it’s still just a legend. And, if it were real, and there are, indeed, secret tunnels underneath the school, then we sure have no idea where the entrance might be.”
“Except we do,” said Amelia. “Or, at least, I do.”
“What?” Claudia almost screamed, prompting Avelyn and Delyse to motion for her to keep it down. “Sorry. What?” She whispered this time. “How would you know something like that?”
“Because I’ve used them.” Amelia dropped the bomb and now all eyes were on her. “Ok, listen. Avelyn, I have no idea why I’m doing this, because I sure as hell don’t agree with you and your plan of running away. We’re not friends. We’ve never been friends. But I’m going to help you this one time. Or, maybe I’m just helping Delyse get this wolf guy and get her father off of her hair. It doesn’t matter. The thing is that this has to stay between us four.” Saying this, Amelia moved her eyes slowly from one roommate to another. Claudia nodded her head in silence, Avelyn nodded her head vigorously and refrained from clapping her hands, and Delyse whispered a faded “yes”. “Good,” concluded Amelia and sighed with relief.
