The one thing that took my mind off it was the mines. Over the past few months, the Institute had really grown on me. I mean, most of the students were shit, and the professors weren’t much better, but I had everything I needed here— includingher.
But if there was one thing I absolutely despised about the Institute, it was the mines. I didn’t mind the physical labor; in fact, I found it relaxing. It took my mind off things and gave me something to do. It was the narrow tunnels and blocked passageways that got me.
Confined quarters didn’t usually bother me, as long as I could feel the bigger world outside— a door, a window,anything. Down here in the noxite mines, it was a labyrinth of tunnels, one that was so difficult to navigate that no inmate would dare sneak off and try to escape. Your skeleton would remain here forever if you died down here— that was for certain.
It was the Yapluma in me talking, Ava had told me. We didn’t like places where we couldn’t control the air. In the tunnels, there wasn’t much Air to work with, and it set me on edge every time my Work-Study class came down here.
The mines were located off campus, not far from the Institute. We had to take a bus to get there. I’d spent my first semester at the Institute learning about the mines in my Work-Study course. I knew my equipment and the safety procedures in place. Still, it took a few days to get into a groove, and stop worrying about hitting someone with my ax every time I swung it. Our powers didn’t work well down here— if at all. Not with all the noxite around. So we had to work the old fashioned way, instead of with magic.
“I don’t know why we bother with this,” a Nivita kid named Thaddeus complained while we were working the mines. “They’re just going to put this noxite into new fences, cuffs, and darts to keep us in line.”
“I think thisclassis what they hope keeps us in line,” Chancey replied. He was an angel, and one of the few people I got along with at the Institute. He was a rebel— always collecting money and making bets when it was against the rules. Then again, everyone here was a bit of a rebel.
I scoffed, wiping the sweat from my brow. “This isn’t a class. It’s cheap labor.”
I swung my ax and felt it connect with the wall. A large chunk of rock broke free and tumbled across the ground near my feet.
Noxite was a metal present within the rocks beneath Shade Hills, one that had the ability to take magic away from supernaturals. It was incredibly strong on its own, but there was more rock than there was noxite, so the walls of the mines crumbled pretty easily after a couple swings of my ax. Once I knocked a few pieces free, I’d load them into a wheelbarrow, where the rock would be taken to another part of the mines. There, the noxite was extracted and melted down.
Chancey blew a breath, like he was ready for a break. “Does that bother you, Charlie?”
I shrugged. “The labor is fine. I just think we should all get compensated fairly.”
Someone listening in on the conversation laughed. “Fair? Nothing’sfairat the Institute.”
“Go suck a dragon cock, Edwin,” Chancey snapped at him. “You’re just bitter you didn’t win the Games.”
It wasn’t until Chancey called him by name that I recognized who’d spoken. It was Edwin Halloway, a warlock with an ego bigger than the mines. I’d just met him this semester, but according to Chancey, he’d competed in the Games two years ago and lost half his team before their first kill. I didn’t like Edwin.
“What doyouknow about the Games?” Edwin sneered. “You didn’t even compete.”
Chancey ignored Edwin and turned to me. “You looking to make some extra cash?”
I swung my ax and frowned. “Even if I was, I don’t have enough to enter one of your bets.”
“That’s just it, my friend,” Chancey said smoothly. “There are more ways than one to make money inside the Institute. What do you weigh, Charlie?”
I groaned. “Don’t tell me you’re betting on my weight now.”
It wouldn’t surprise me, considering some of the stuff Chancey came up with. After we came in second place in the Games, he must be all over my team’s stats.
“This isn’t a bet,” Chancey assured me, though I wasn’t sure I believed him. “I’m just saying, they don’t make muscles likethatanymore.”
I tossed a pile of rocks into a nearby wheelbarrow. “Great. Now you’re hitting on me.”
Chancey laughed. “You wish.”
“He was totally hitting on you,” Thaddeus snickered.
From a few paces away, Edwin scoffed loudly.
I was just about to say something, but Chancey beat me to it. “What’s that, Ed? You got a problem with bisexual guys?”
“I didn’t say nothing,” Edwin shot back. “If anyone’s got eyes for someone in this mine, it’s not going to be theblind kid.”
My hands tightened on my ax, but I knew better than to respond. I’d heard that kind of shit enough times. It wasn’t worth my energy.
“That’s a shit thing to say,” Chancey growled, taking a step forward.
