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I turned to bolt out the door, my heart pounding in my chest, but then paused, thinking of the throwing stars. She’d said everything. Dashing back in, I tugged off my pillowcase and wrapped it around the Japanese box, quickly nestling it in the center of my bag. I hoped it’d be safe.
Hoisting it all on my back, I ran out the door. The shoulder strap snagged on my parka and was dragging my sleeves up in an annoying way. I took a split second to adjust it.
“Acari Drew,” Masha snapped, punctuating her words with a flick of her whip. “Get in the ranks. ”
I jerked my hands back to my sides. The other girls stood two by two, and I joined them, my heart thumping sharply in my chest. A scrappy, heart-faced girl and I merged together to bring up the end of the line. We didn’t make eye contact.
“Acari,” one of the Initiates ordered. “March. ”
It was the weirdest thing, but march we did. Without training, without direction, we fell into step as though marching were something hardwired into our reptilian brains.
“Halt,” the same Initiate shouted when we reached the end of the hall.
A couple of the girls pitched into each other and were rewarded with a snap of Masha’s whip on the backs of their thighs.
The Initiates had stopped us in front of the bathroom and now stood, whispering among themselves. My gaze twitched to them and then quickly back again. The last thing I wanted was accidental eye contact. In their catsuits, they seemed like a cadre of diabolical supermodels.
I tried to measure my breathing and slow my pounding heart.
Why were we standing there in front of the bathroom? What, were they going to let us use the potty before our night of hazing?
The group of Initiates split up to surround us. “Get in,” a statuesque redhead ordered.
A girl at the front of the line looked dumbfounded, and Masha cracked her whip onto the white tiled floor. “Yes, Acari. In there. Now. ”
Oh, God. They were taking us into the bathroom. Dread unfurled in my belly as my imagination ran with all the possible hazing that could happen in a bathroom. My brain was swamped with images of things cleaned with toothbrushes and heads submerged in toilets.
Of all my wildest imaginings, though, nothing came close to the reality.
“It’s a Hot Party, girls. ” The redhead shooed us into the showers, an open space with six nozzles sprouting from antiseptic white tiles. “First one to fall loses. ”
Fisting my hands at my sides, I shuffled in behind the others. My palms were sweaty. Like everyone else, I’d donned my outdoor gear, including a pair of what I guessed were ski gloves.
Just don’t slip. I found a spot at the edge and widened my feet to brace myself. I imagined myself anchored to the tiles. It’d be easy enough not to fall, right?
Wrong.
The Initiates turned on the showers. Full blast, and all the way to hot.
Masha leaned to whisper in my ear. “Happy Hot Party, Acari. ”
Despite the rising temperature, we all pulled our hoods up over our fleece hats. It was that or get scalded. My brain felt like it was boiling.
Some got it worse than others. I was grateful not to have a spot directly beneath the jets. Regardless of position, everyone shifted from foot to foot, withstanding in stoic silence. The parkas protected our skin, and our boots were sturdy, but there was a small stretch of lower thigh and knee that felt roasted pink.
I could tell by the shifty looks on the other girls’ faces that everyone was waiting to see who would fall first. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who feared what the penalty might be.
I’d thought the scalding water was the punishment, but I soon discovered I was mistaken. It was the steam.
After a few minutes, the steam became uncomfortable. After five, it was suffocating. By ten, it was unbearable. It choked me. A white haze of vapor hung all around, pressing down on my chest. Burning my lungs. Making me woozy. I longed for a gulp of cold, fresh air.
I sensed rustling. Girls shifted. They were parting to let Lilac pass. She had me in her sights.
I could see it in her eyes. She wanted a single room as badly as I did.
The girl with the heart-shaped face stood just in front of me. A swatch of her auburn hair was soaked a burnt sienna color and plastered to her cheek. She looked disoriented.
Heart Face didn’t step aside quickly enough, and Lilac shouldered past her. The girl started to tumble forward, and I instinctively caught her by the elbow to steady her. Our eyes met for a flicker of a second. She looked stunned and almost uneasy at my touch. I flinched my hand back.
