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Through the open doorway, I caught a glimpse of the bathroom. It was nice enough. The sink, toilet, and shower were all gray, of course.
Sighing, I opened my suitcase and filled my wardrobe before sticking the empty suitcase beneath my bed.
Ayla’s side of the room looked like she’d already been living there for months. Clothes lay everywhere… except in her wardrobe. A bag of chips was open on her desk, and a sketchbook lay on her pillow. The page had a few soft pencil lines on it, so she must have just started drawing as I’d come in.
Stepping over to the window, I stared out at the expansive lawn. It was beautiful, but I found myself wishing I had a view of water instead. I’d been on land less than a day, and it was already starting to feel restrictive.
Plus, my tentacles itched.
“So I already talked to the left side of the hall. We’ve got a vampire, a witch, two shapeshifters and a banshee in residence… and me.” Ayla twirled a pencil between her fingers. “And you. What are you?”
“Isn’t that kind of a personal question?” I tried to deflect.
“Yeah. Sorry about that.” Ayla groaned. “I’m always talking first and thinking later. You can tell me in your own time. I’m cool with everybody, you know? We’re all just people. Looking for fun, love, and life experiences.”
“Uh-huh.” Was it a succubus’s special power to talk someone to death?
I thought succubuses made people horny. Maybe this one tried talking people up to arousal? If so, I could understand why she’d saidno sex.She sucked at it.
Ayla kept going, oblivious to my inner discussion. “And Tricia’s already got guy problems; they broke up, but they’re both coming here, so she asked me if I had any anti-love powers—which would be cool—but I don’t. Then she said that if I couldn’t dothat,the least I could do was get her a really good one-night stand, which, I’m not really into that side of succubus culture, you know?”
Did she ever stop to breathe? I wasn’t sure how long land dwellers could go without air, but Ayla seemed like she’d have great breath control.
I ran my finger along my cuff and looked around my side of the room. It was boring, but I didn’t need anything else.
Actually, I did need one more thing. Textbooks.
“I’m going to the bookstore,” I said.
Ayla broke off her one-sided conversation and sat up. “Perfect! I’ll go with you. Give me a minute.”
“You don’t have to—”
Ignoring me, Ayla hopped into the bathroom and reappeared a moment later with her hairbrush. “Your hair’s lush, by the way. Is the color natural? Sorry, probably another rude question. But if you dye, that ombre is perfection. I’m just saying.”
“It’s natural,” I murmured, not knowing what else to say.
Ayla seemed like an unstoppable force of sociability. And I… I just wanted to be left alone.
“You shouldalwaystell me if I’m being inappropriate about physical appearance. It’s such a big part of succubus culture, and I want to unlearn it, but we literallyexistto enhance the beauty of things. Have you ever tried to unlearn your entire bloodline? It’s insane. My brothers can’t believe I’m doing it. Of course, they spend all their time thinking with their— Oh, hang on.”
Her phone began ringing. Thank Poseidon and all the gods of the sea!
She answered it and headed back into the bathroom.
Alone, I sat back down on my bed, feeling lost. It felt rude not to wait for her, but I hadn’t exactly invited her along either.
Ayla stuck her head out of the bathroom. “Freshman orientation. Five minutes. Should we go and buy books after?”
“I’ll just stay in,” I decided.
“No orientation?” Her perfect eyes grew wide. “How are you supposed to know where the best coffee shop is? No, wait. I’ll tell you. Don’t worry. I’ll get all the gossip and fill you in. Just don’t spend all day moping in here being homesick, okay?”
She brought the phone back up to her ear. “Hey, Kit-Kat. She says she doesn’t want to come, but I’m all in.”
I ignored Ayla’s chatter as she reapplied her mascara and halfheartedly lifted my hand when she waved goodbye at the door. Even after she closed it, I could hear her voice echoing down the hall.
Finally alone, I bounced a bit on the bed, testing it. I’d have to get used to sleeping this way. In the Deep, we mostly floated, but Slaymore had a strict policy about us holding to our human forms at least 90 percent of the time.
