Aralyn's POV
When I opened the door, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was honestly just hoping for someone normal. Someone who'd smile and maybe say something like, "Hi, you must be new," and then maybe help me figure out what the hell I was supposed to do now that I was stuck in this weird academy.
But unfortunately for me, that hope lasted about three seconds because just as I stepped one foot into the room, something heavy flew at me out of nowhere and smacked me square in the forehead.
Thud.
"Ah—!"
I stumbled back, grabbing my head with both hands as the pain exploded like a flash of lightning behind my eyes.
A book. A huge one. The edge of it had hit me so hard that I felt the sting instantly.
Tears welled up, not because I was crying, not really, but because it hurt, and it was so sudden. I stayed crouched down near the door, both hands pressed to the side of my head, breathing hard and just trying to stop the dizziness.
Was this a trap? Had I walked into the wrong room?
And then I heard a voice. Loud and pissed off.
"Get. Out!"
I froze.
It wasn't just the words, it was the way they were said like a command, and like I was a cockroach that had wandered into a palace.
Still clutching my head, I slowly turned around, and my heart dropped when I saw who was sitting on the bed across the room.
It was her.
The girl I'd seen earlier, the one who had wings and flew through the academy like some kind of heavenly being. She had looked down at me then with pure disgust, like I was dirt on her boots.
Now, the wings were gone, but the expression on her face? Just as furious.
"You again," she muttered, shaking her head like this was all some sick joke.
I blinked through the throbbing in my head. "Did you just throw that at me?" I asked, pointing toward the book still lying open on the floor.
"You walked into my room," she said flatly, like that somehow explained everything.
"They told me this was my room too," I said, trying not to let my voice shake. "I have a key." I fished it out of my pocket and held it up like proof, even though I had a feeling she didn't care.
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Of course they'd give me a roommate. Just my luck."
I straightened up a little, still sore but trying not to show it. "What's your problem with me?"
"You want the list?" she snapped. "Let's start with the fact that you clearly don't belong here, and I don't like seeing faces like yours."
That hit me harder than the book.
"I never said I did, and you don't even know me," I shot back. "And just so you know, I didn't even ask to be brought here. I don't even know how any of this works, and I'm just trying to figure it out. So please, can you not throw a book at me? You could have killed me."
She looked at me for a long second. "Yeah, well, figure out your problem somewhere else if you don't want something thrown at you, because I promise, the next one won't be a book."
I stared at her, feeling absolutely stunned to the point where I wasn't even sure what to say.
My head was pounding where the book hit me, but I couldn't just stand here forever like a kicked puppy.
If this place really wanted me to "find myself," then maybe that started with not letting some strange girl walk all over me.
So I took a deep breath, steadying myself, and turned to face her again.
"Look," I said, "I know you're not thrilled about having a roommate. Believe me, I didn't exactly dream of this either, but if you've got a problem with me being here, take it up with the school. I'm not the one who put me in this room."
There was no response, but I wasn't done.
"If they decide to move me, fine. I'll go, but until then, this is just as much my room as it is yours, and I'm not going anywhere just because you're in a bad mood."
Still nothing.
I let out a quiet sigh and turned back to my bed—the plain one, which was obviously the unused side. I just wanted a moment to breathe.
I sat down slowly, trying to shake the feeling that I was seconds away from crying again. That's when I remembered that I never asked Velmira for a change of clothes.
My hand dragged down my face, and I groaned softly. "Great. Just great," I muttered under my breath.
Before I could even lie down or close my eyes for a minute, I heard movement again.
I looked up, and she was standing now. Her face was exactly the same, sharp, tense, and like she was already fed up with my existence.
"I'm asking nicely," she said, her tone stern. "For the second time. Get out of my room."
I blinked at her. Seriously? Nicely?
I touched the sore spot on my forehead and gave her a pointed look.
"You didn't exactly start off with 'nice,'" I said, motioning to where the book had nailed me earlier. "That thing nearly knocked me out, and I'm still seeing spots."
She crossed her arms and didn't say anything.
"And even if you did ask nicely now," I went on, standing up slowly, "I don't have anywhere else to go. This is the room they gave me, and unless someone tells me otherwise, this is where I'm staying."
Still no apology. No understanding. Just that same angry glare like I'd ruined her entire life by breathing the same air.
"If you've got a problem," I added, "go tell whoever's in charge. I'm not the one to blame here."
We stood still, locked in some kind of silent battle, when she finally spoke again.
"What's your name?"
I blinked, caught off guard. After everything—after throwing a book at my head, yelling at me to leave, and practically treating me like trash—now she wanted to know my name?
"Aralyn," I said slowly, cautiously, like the word might set something off.
She nodded once, and for a split second, I thought maybe, just maybe, she was trying to start over.
"What about you?" I asked, still trying to figure out what had shifted.
She stepped a little closer and said, "Serenessa."
The name fit her, like someone who lived up in the clouds and looked down on everyone else.
Then she did something I didn't expect. She reached out her hand, just like that. No explanation, no change in expression. Just a hand, palm open, waiting.
I stared at it for a moment. It felt… weird. Suspicious, even, but something about the way she stood there, completely still, made it hard to tell what she wanted.
I didn't trust her. Not even a little, but maybe this was her way of trying to make peace, her version of "sorry I tried to mentally destroy you five minutes ago."
So, against every screaming instinct in my body, I reached out and shook her hand.
That's when everything went wrong.
The second my fingers touched hers, she squeezed, hard, and not in a friendly, firm handshake kind of way. More like she was trying to crush the bones in my hand.
I flinched. "Hey—what are you—"
I tried to pull away, but I couldn't. Her grip didn't budge, and it was like being trapped in a bear trap.
Her face stayed completely calm as she looked me dead in the eye. "If you don't leave this room, I will rot your body until you're unrecognizable."
My stomach dropped. "What?" I gasped.
Then she let go, and everything inside me lit up with panic. It started as a dull ache in my palm. Then it spread fast. My skin began to tingle, then burn, and when I looked down…I screamed.
My hand was turning brown. The skin looked dry and cracked, like something left to rot in the sun, and the color was spreading fast up my wrist, black veins crawling under the surface like roots.
"Oh my god—what the hell!"
I stumbled backward, clutching my hand, with my heart racing. "What did you do? What is this?!"
But Serenessa just stood there, completely calm, like this was normal, and like this was a Tuesday.
"This is a warning," she said coldly. "Leave, or next time, I won't stop at your hand."
Tears blurred my vision, and I couldn't think, neither could I breathe. I just kept staring at my hand, watching the slow crawl of something unnatural and terrifying spreading up my skin.
"Please," I whispered. "Please stop it, please."
For a second, she didn't move, and then, with a flick of her fingers, the pain faded, and the rotting stopped.
It didn't go away. My hand still looked awful, like something from a nightmare, but at least it wasn't spreading anymore.
I dropped to the floor, shaking all over, and holding my hand to my chest while Serenessa turned and walked back to her bed like she hadn't just threatened my life. She pulled the curtain around her bed and disappeared behind it, giving no apology, no explanation.
Nothing.