“I don’t know whereforwardis,” Charlie grumbled.
I huffed. I knew I wasn’t communicating well, but my brain was still foggy, and it was hard for the thoughts in my head to travel down to my mouth.
“It’s okay,” I said. “My arms work. I can do it.”
“I’ll get it,” he told me. “I’m just getting used to it.”
If I was being honest, I didn’t have the strength to push myself around the prison at all hours of the day, at least not yet. I depended on Charlie to help me get around now.
Conversation buzzed through the halls, most of it vulgar slurs aimed at other magical races. We tried to avoid the crowds as much as possible, but we could still hear shouts coming from the cafeteria when we passed.
A crowd had formed at the entry. Two students circled each other, an Elementai and an angel. The angel had his wings out, and the Elementai had a ball of Fire in his hand, ready to strike.
Fights weren’t exactly uncommon at the Institute, but this one seemed different. “Stop for a minute,” I told Charlie.
“We don’t need to get involved,” he said immediately.
Before we could move on, the angel said, “I’m sick of looking at your kind, hanging around here like some sort of fucking disease. The world would be better if monsters like you didn’t exist!”
This wasn’t your daily Institute trash-talk. This fight meant something.
The Elementai laughed, but it wasn’t funny at all… it sounded dark. “I’m not afraid of you. Your people were ripped apart byourFirebombs.”
That really pissed the angel off. His face went red as he screamed, “My mother’sdead, and it’s your fault, you savage!”
“Your mom deserved it!” the Elementai shouted back. “My sister was assaulted by your people!”
“Your sister’s a dyke,” the angel growled. “She deserved far worse than what she got.”
The angel’s words made me sick. A loud growl came from the crowd. A man stormed into the center of the circle, erupting into a griffin. A shifter had taken on their animal form to defend the Elementai.
“Take that back,” the griffin threatened. “Or you’ll live to regret it.”
“And what are you gonna do about it, traitor? You gonna switch sides in order to win, since we lost the first war?” A vampire girl stepped out of the crowd. She stood tall beside the angel, like she was certain that he was right.
The crowd around the area was quickly beginning to take sides. Students paired up with either the Elementai or the angel, ready to partake in something that was much bigger than a prison brawl. These people were angry about the attacks and battles that were happening in the world out there, and they wanted blood.
This is what we’d done. We’d caused this division amongst so many people.
Screams erupted throughout the room and into the hallway as the Elementai pulled out a knife. Who knew where he got it. When I looked closer, I saw it was some sort of homemade shiv, one the inmate must’ve put together from stuff he’d cobbled around the prison.
Charlie knew when to get the hell out of situations before they got bad, so he wheeled me away before chaos erupted. Oberi guided him down the hall as the group behind us erupted into a vicious free-for-all. A couple of girls screamed that someone had been stabbed, and my stomach dropped. I heard the click of noxite guns as the guards scrambled to end the fight.
“Don’t pay attention, pidge,” Charlie told me. “This happens a lot lately.”
My stomach dropped. The inmates were all worked up over the war, and they couldn’t stop arguing about who should win.
“We should do something. Break it up,” I suggested.
Charlie paused, like he was thinking about it. Then he shook his head and stated, “I’m never leaving your side again.”
Oberi nudged my hand with his nose.Let’s get out of here, before they bring the fight to us.
I didn’t say anything more about the fight. Usually, I’d rant about how unfair it was that the rest of the supernatural world called ussavages, and go on about the social injustices of the prison system. I’d want to get involved and find a solution that would bring everyone together, despite this war tearing us all apart.
But I let Charlie wheel me away without another protest. Something was very different about me now.
And I hated it.
