Page 47 of Validus Vale Academy 1
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Footsteps sound on the stairs.
“Theo?”
Willow comes running towards me. “What’s wrong? Are you alright?” My new friend squats down at eye level, putting a gentle hand on my arm. “Theo?” Her gaze is filled with concern.
Am I alright? No. No, I’m not.
I wish I could tell her what just happened, but I just can’t. Gods. All the secrets crammed behind my lips are choking me. I finally have a real friend, and I can’t even talk to her properly. Why does everything have to be so hard? How is it fair that Elites can command their lessers to silence? Or that they have parents on school boards, so can assault whomever they like?
Willow puts a second hand on my other arm and pulls me towards her. “Deep breaths, Theo. Come on, breathe with me.”
Am I having a panic attack? Maybe. After a few minutes, I begin to feel more together. “Sorry, Willow,” I mumble, aware that I’m a complete mess. The front of my shirt is wet with tears.
“Oh, Theo. Why on earth are you apologizing? What’s upset you?” She loops an arm around my waist and helps me to stand. “Come up to my room, come on, I’m not taking no for an answer.”
I nod, grateful to have someone making decisions for me—my mind doesn’t seem to be functioning. Willow chatters about inconsequential things as we climb the stairs, and my legs shake with fatigue all the way to her third-floor room. Opening the door, she ushers me in. “You sit on the bed, I’ll make us hot chocolate.”
I blink away the tears and take in my surroundings. Willow’s room is not particularly large, but it is still twice the size of mine. The walls are painted a delicate primrose yellow, and the brown school-issued bedding is covered with fluffy cream and white throws. The room has one large window, through which I can see the lights of the main school building.
There’s a state-of-the-art coffee machine sitting on top of her dresser, and Willow’s room also boasts a mini fridge at the foot of the bed. Willow notices me studying her room and makes an embarrassed face. “My parents had a decorator come out last week. We’re not allowed to change out the Defectivum furniture, but Mom could have it spruced up a little.”
“It’s great,” I tell her. No wonder she was so shocked by my basement.
Willow proceeds to create two massive mugs of steaming chocolate. She’s about to pass me one when she tilts her head to one side, opens a sock drawer, and brings out a glass bottle. “I think you need a splash of rum as well. My grandad swears it’s a cure-all.”
She passes me a mug and tucks a blanket over my knees. “You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong, but I’d love to help if I can. A problem shared is a problem halved and all that.”
“Thanks,” I whisper, taking a sip. “Things have gone a little to shit.”
“Then tell me how I can help. Where does it all start?” she asks.
Huh. I have a moment of clarity. Cosmo forbade me from talking about the twins to anyone inauthority, but Willow? She’s just a dud. “This time last year at Validus Vale…” I say, then pause.
“Go on, but only if you want to tell me.”
I appreciate her trying not to be nosy, but it’s a relief to share some of this with a friend. Wrapping the blanket tighter around my body, I nod. “I’d like to, thanks. Maybe we can have a little more rum, and I’ll tell you what happened to me when I was here for the lottery intensive. And also what I found out tonight, which, I have to admit, has knocked the stuffing out of me.”
Willow gives me a reassuring smile and a slug more rum. “Spill those mysterious Theo-beans. Whatever it is, I’ve got your back.”
“Ok,” I say, “Settle in, this is a bit of a ride.”
My friend gets comfortable, and I pull the blanket closer around my body, then begin. “I arrived as a new lottery student, and I’d only been at Validus Vale for two days when I met Wes and Donovan Hart. They were sophomores and already top Elites.”
Sitting on Willow’s narrow bed, scenes run through my head like a TV show recap. My face breaks out into a smile when I remember tripping over Donovan’s sprawled legs and landing directly in Wes’s lap. I’d been walking by the lake in my lottery student uniform, nose in a book, next thing I knew, I’d gone flying. Suddenly, I was gazing up into a pair of laughing turquoise eyes, surrounded by a mess of unruly, chocolate-brown curls. The boy looking at me had full, pouting lips, which widened into a crooked grin as he laughed. “What do we have here?”
I quickly pushed myself off him, hair falling all over my flaming, embarrassed face.
“Don’t move,” another voice said, and I heard the click of a camera shutter. I twisted my head, and there was another boy. He was very much like the first, but with a darker, more intensestare. This one looked at me from above the viewfinder, his face breaking into a smile. “Hello, little witch,” he said. “Glad you could drop in.”
That broke the tension, and I sat back on my haunches. “Sorry about that. I’m a klutz.”
“Please don’t apologize,” the ocean-eyed boy said. “Your klutziness is our gain.” Even though it was said lightly, both boys were gazing at me intently, bringing more heat to my cheeks. I reached out to rescue my paperback, but the dark-eyed boy beat me to it. He picked it up, and amusement spread over his face. “Want to tell us what you’re reading?” he asked, and raised an eyebrow.
I very muchdid notwant to do that. I’d been reading a romance novel set in Ancient Rome. It featured gods and goddesses (along with the occasional human) engaging in all sorts of sexy behavior. I tried to snatch the book from him, but he held it out of my reach. Not in a bullying way, more teasing. “Sorry, babe. You’re not getting this back until…” he looked at the other boy (who must be his brother) with a speaking glance. “Until...you agree to go on a date with us.”
Huh? A date? And withus. Like the two of them?
