I sat in the chair hugging my knees, my flying suit, completely restored, was abandoned on the floor. Victor’s light grey suit, also newly cleaned, hung off the bed. The flashes of bright white light illuminated the room and shadows painted the floor with opaque silhouettes of the furniture.
I hid my face in my hands, too exhausted to cry.
“Are you kidding me?” Victor shouted at Tynan, when both of us came out from the castle.
My dark suit looked two sizes too big and sagged at the bottom. There was no way I could buy myself a suit since my adopted family could barely afford the food on their table. But, they gave me the suit of some long gone relative, and I was happy to finally have something that would not be ripped to shreds after transforming.
I glanced at Victor. He was barely taller than me at the age of thirteen. It was something I continuously reminded him of, because I knew how much it bothered him.
“That’s right. I’m going to train with you,” I said.
“You can’t do this! Ty? Are you serious? We’re going to be the laughing stock of the whole clan. Having a girl among us. Do you know what they’ll do to us?” Victor followed Tynan, but the latter did not seem too bothered by his words.
“Sol, check what weapons we have,” Tynan said.
Sol nodded and walked back into the building.
“What do you mean? Are we giving her our valuable weapons too?” Victor would not shut up.
“Are you expecting me to fight with my bare hands?” I asked.
“I expect you to go back to the other girls and play with dolls and make... flower... wreaths.”
“Screw you.” I hissed.
“She’s staying,” Tynan said.
“Clearly, you haven’t thought this through. Do you know what’ll happen if we all go to the competition together? There’ll be no going back,” Victor continued.
“She’s staying,” Tynan repeated, his brows furrowed.
“I’m not going with you then.” Victor crossed his arms on his chest.
“Seriously?” Tynan glanced at him.
“Yeah.”
“Alright.” Tynan adjusted the curved knife on his belt.
“What do you mean ‘alright’? Are you still going along with it?”
“Yes.”
“You would rather side with her than with me?”
“I’m not siding with anyone. But if we want to survive, we need more warriors on our side. If you want to sit this one out, be my guest.”
Victor only gritted his teeth and gave me another look of hate.
His light hair looked unruly and cut shorter on the sides. He just recently received his first set of weapons and was incredibly smug about it. He was also quite skinny for his age and by the look of it, he would not grow much taller.
I gave him a mocking smile and followed the others.
He did not join us at the fight later that day.
“Do you think you’re good enough?” A boy pushed me and I hit the stone wall behind me.
Pain exploded in my neck and shoulders. I glared at him. This guy and his group were like a pack of wild dogs that only attacked when no one was around. Really dumb, but ruthless, they would never come at me if Ty or Sol were around.
