Aralyn's POV
The silence was strange, but I wasn't complaining.
Ever since Velmira had left, not a single word had come from Serenessa, not one glare, not one insult, and not even a twitch of an eye in my direction. It was like I didn't exist to her anymore, and honestly, that suited me just fine.
If ignoring me was her way of handling the situation, I'd take it over death threats any day.
It was the first time since arriving here that I felt like I could finally breathe.
I'd changed out of those blood-stained clothes that still smelled faintly of smoke and sweat and taken a long, slow bath in the surprisingly fancy bathroom attached to our room.
The water had glowed differently the moment I stepped in, and even though it freaked me out at first, I was too exhausted to care. I just let it wash over me, scrubbing my skin until it hurt, like I was trying to scrape away everything that had happened since I found that cursed mirror.
When I came back out, I stood in front of the mirror by my bed, wrapped in a soft towel, my wet hair clinging to my shoulders.
I looked like a stranger, with tired eyes, extra pale skin, and lips that were so dry and cracked from not drinking enough water.
I'd been on the run, fought with a girl who could rot limbs on command, and seen magic I still couldn't wrap my head around, and I was still standing.
Barely, but still.
I rested both hands on the edge of the small wooden dresser and leaned in closer, narrowing my eyes at my reflection like maybe I could find the old Aralyn somewhere in there. The version of me who was used to dodging Darius's men, sneaking out of alleyways, and pretending to be invisible.
The version of me who never imagined she'd leave Vasthral.
Speaking of which… I exhaled shakily, my thoughts going back, against my will, to the place I'd escaped.
Vasthral.
I could see it in my mind without even trying. The cracked stone roads, the crooked buildings stacked too close together, and the smell of smoke and burning oil and something always slightly rotten in the air.
Darius's men were probably crawling through the streets by now. I could practically hear them barking out orders, shoving people aside as they searched the alleys. Maybe they'd found the trail of blood I left behind, and maybe someone had already offered to turn me in for a few gold coins.
Or worse, maybe they'd put a price on my head. A face drawn on posters, nailed to every wall in every tavern. Wanted: Aralyn. Dead or alive.
I clenched my jaw and looked away from the mirror.
I couldn't let myself spiral.
I'd made it out. I was in a new place now. A safer one, hopefully. Even if it was filled with winged girls who hated me and magic that appeared out of thin air.
Speaking of magic, I turned toward my bed, where I still hadn't gotten over what had happened earlier.
After Velmira left, I'd sat down on the mattress, mentally kicking myself for again forgetting to ask her for a change of clothes, but just as I started thinking about how I'd have to spend the rest of the day in a towel or crawl back into that disgusting pajama shirt, things began to happen.
It started with a hum and a strange looking light, and then, one by one, clothes started to appear out of nowhere, folded neatly right at the edge of my bed.
A full stack.
Two sets of neatly pressed uniforms, deep blue and gold. Two pajama sets, casual shirts, shorts, trousers, underclothes (I didn't even want to question how they got my size), and a pair of black boots that looked like they'd been freshly waxed.
I had just sat there, staring with my mouth wide open and my heart racing.
I'd nearly screamed, but one glance at the curtain around Serenessa's bed and I'd swallowed it down. I wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of hearing me lose my mind.
I shook my head now, still staring at the clothes. They were still folded in perfect stacks, like someone, or something, had taken time to lay them out just right.
"I'm never getting used to this," I muttered under my breath while shaking my head in disbelief.
After staring and looking around for what felt like forever, I decided I needed to move around, so I finally settled on one of the shorts and a pale blue top that somehow managed to be both comfortable and weirdly elegant.
I wasn't sure if it was the fabric or the way it fit me perfectly, but it was clear that someone, or something, had gone out of their way to make sure it suited me.
I tossed my towel over the end of the bed, grabbed the small silver key Velmira had given me, and stuffed it into the hidden pocket inside the shorts. After a moment of hesitation, I glanced over my shoulder at Serenessa's curtain.
Still closed and still silent.
Good.
Not waiting around for her to change her mind and curse the rest of my limbs, I slipped out of the room and into the hallway.
The silence that greeted me was almost eerie. I'd expected some kind of bustle, maybe footsteps, voices, something to remind me this was a school and not a castle-shaped ghost town, but the halls were empty again.
I paused in the middle of the hallway, chewing on my bottom lip.
Where should I go?
I'd already been in the direction where I found Elyra, which made me think the Healer's Corner and other helpful areas were somewhere that way. So, naturally, I decided to head in the opposite direction. If I was going to get to know this place, I figured I might as well start with what I didn't know yet.
Speaking of Elyra, all I really knew about her was her name and the fact that she had green hair, pointy ears like Velmira, and a surprisingly calm attitude. She'd been kind to me, and that alone made her stick in my memory.
I hoped I'd run into her again because I still had a lot more questions than I'd been able to ask back in the Healer's Corner.
The halls I wandered into now were quieter than I expected, too quiet, and I found myself glancing over my shoulder more than once.
Was the school always this dead? Where were the other students?
Sure, it was a big place. Maybe classes were in session, or maybe people were hiding in rooms, practicing spells, or levitating their homework or something. Still, the emptiness made me feel like I'd stepped into a dream.
I kept going anyway, doing my best to memorize every turn and hallway, just in case I got lost and had to backtrack. The corridors curved in strange ways, and half the doors I passed had strange symbols etched into the wood—runes or sigils or words in a language I couldn't understand.
Some glowed faintly when I walked by, others didn't. I wasn't brave enough to try opening any of them, and as I continued on, I heard it.
A loud voice, male, angry, and close.
"Say that again, and I swear I'll kill you."
I froze.
The words had come from just around the corner, where the hallway curved to the right. My heart thudded in my chest, and I stood perfectly still, not daring to breathe too loudly.
I wasn't sure what scared me more, the fact that someone had just said that out loud or the fact that it sounded real, not like a joke or like someone bluffing.
There was a tone in that voice, cold and focused, like whoever it was, they meant every single word.
I took a tiny step back, and my instincts told me to turn and walk away quietly and quickly, but another part of me, the one that had survived Vasthral, the one that had learned how to read danger from a distance, told me to listen.
Just for a second, just enough to understand what I was walking into. So I stayed where I was, frozen in place, wide-eyed, and waited to hear what came next.