Page 28 of Above
Hands grabbed me from behind, the warmth of them seeping through the thick leather. Dofrel rolled his eyes at whoever had a hold of me. Without missing a beat, he twisted around andleft, heading towards his group of cores. All I did was continue to sway and dance, my movements offbeat as I swam in a world within my mind. At some point, the hands moved from their safe place at my waist down to my hips, which was followed by the harmonica abruptly being cut off.
“Well, Supernova, it seems like I should help you up a mountain more often.” Talon’s hushed voice against my ear had my already sweaty head feeling claustrophobic. We were so close that I could feel the bulge in his pants every few seconds when we swayed into one another.
“Supernova?” I questioned, my movements slowing. Because really, what else was there to say? He knew he didn’t help me. In reality, it was me doing the heavy lifting. I saved him. All of them. But still, I was somehow expected to be thankful.
“Yes. An explosion of energy far too great for anyone to understand or comprehend. A star reaching its potential. Like you,” he stated, voice husky and inviting. But the words weren’t as lovely.
“A star that reaches its limit, bursts, and then collapses. Are you inadvertently telling me I have peaked?” I teased, though I couldn’t keep my animosity at bay for long. A soft chuckle tickled my ear, one of his hands wrapping around to my stomach, where it flattened and stilled.
“I am telling you that you have the capability of being the most powerful creature this world has ever known. I see it. Do you, Supernova?”
My breath caught, a lump rising and sticking in my throat. Was he teasing me? Both of us knew what he was saying was a lie, so what else could it serve as other than humiliation?
“Ha! Please, she is more like the black hole that comes after,” said that gravely, deep voice that I had quickly learned to loathe. Shaking Talon off of me, I turned to my left and faced Altair. His normally perfectly styled silver-blonde locks were in disarray, aswere his clothes. He was surrounded by doting trainees at all times, but at the moment he stood with only his core group to back him up. That must have been why the harmonica stopped. Dofrel was summoned by his handler.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I hissed out. Altair’s full lips parted, ready to issue a lashing, but Talon once again stepped in between us.
“Az, leave her the fuck alone.”
“You aren’t my keeper!” I yelled, shoving Talon out of the way. Zade. Shoving Zade out of the way. He wasn’t my friend or ally or even acquaintance. I needed to remember that.
“Yeah, Talon, let the little black hole defend herself.” Altair laughed as he waved off Zade, who looked furious as his russet skin began to darken further, reddening with his growing agitation.
“Don’t call me that,” I fumed. The alcohol rolled within me, what once made me carefree and joyful now heating my blood with rage. Boiling me from the inside out.
Altair stepped towards me, smiling like he knew not of hardship, fear, or anything but his soft life of privilege. It was the stance of a man who believed he deserved everything he wanted, including my death.
“You’re right, it doesn’t roll off the tongue. Maybe you aren’t a black hole. That’s something that sucks the life out of people. That destroys everything in its wake. But you can’t even do that. You are barely getting by as is. You’re more of a void, aren’t you? The unending blackness that not even the stars can reach. Emptiness. Useless in every way.” Altair stepped even closer, my chest mere inches from his stomach. Behind his smirk was real resentment. Hatred festering in his soul that seemed to seep from his pores and taint the air. Everyone was watching us now, and the collective feeling was seemingly agreement. “You are the opposite of a blessing, Tershetta, you are a fucking plague. Oneday, I promise that all of you filthy, worthless akhatas will get what’s coming to you.”
Silence consumed the forest, everyone resisting their urge to so much as breathe while they waited for my response. My comeback that would surely put the spoiled purist in his place. Only one thing came to mind as I took in his insult. The sole retaliation that would hurt him even half as bad as he had hurt me. So I smiled back, crossed my arms, and looked right into his grey eyes.
“Well, even if I am a void, at least I’m something. In the eyes of the stars, it seems your family is quite literally nothing. You sit here, holding your head high and dominating the space, but really you know—just as we all do—that the only thing more pathetic than an assumed mistake is a proven one. Like I said before, you disgusting snake, we’re both akhatas now. Looks like we’re just waiting to see which of us the stars regret most.”
Altair’s sharp face remained stony, but I knew I got to him. His eyes, once a dark grey from his anger, began to fade back to a near silver. The pain overtaking the rage. Good, now we could both cry inside our blankets tonight.
Turning, I made my way back to my secluded spot, aiming to do just that. I was done with trying to be like them. Clearly I would never be welcomed. And anyway, I wasn’t here to fit in. My family needed me.
Just as I caught sight of my black quilt, I heard Altair’s voice ring out again.
“Goodnight, Little Void. Remember that the stars aren’t the only ones who can remind you of what you are.”
Oh, I wouldn’t.
Chapter Fourteen
Nova
“I saw someone use tech today during morning grunt training. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen, even from afar. I meant to tell Celeste about it, but there was another protest. Seven eadi were hung at the gallows, and she refused to talk to me for the rest of the day.”
-From the journal of Nova Tershetta, 9278 AS
The first night we lay in our new beds felt like coming back to life.
My roommates were asleep only moments after they hit their beds. The boy’s snores were loud, his constant moving even louder, but the girl slept softly. I, on the other hand, took a few moments to secure our room. Like I often did with the door to my lab back home, I willed ours to disappear beneath a cloaking charm. Then, just to be safe, I warded it too, ordering not only my magic, but my shadows as well to block the entryway. How well I did was debatable. This was new, the thrumming and burning inside of me so different than what I had tested for the last twenty-five years. Which meant that the wards could easily fail or not even exist, but all I could hope for was the opposite. Over the next three months I would be able to learn. That had to be enough.
Turning, I stared at the two sleeping forms. Our room was small, the three beds lined up against the back wall with thin wooden cabinets between them and windows above them. Nothing else graced the floors or the walls, though we each had belongings at the foot of our beds.
While neither of the sleeping trainees were cores, I couldn’t trust that they wouldn’t hurt me. Everyone here seemed to despise me at least a little. Expected, but awful all the same. Sometimes, I thought maybe I despised myself too. As I lay in my bed, which was thankfully farthest from the door, I let myself think something even more heinous.
