Page 13 of Feel Free to Scream

I fidget, but end up letting her do it. There’s a little more powder and cream than I would have guessed, looking at her. While she works, she tells me she’s not touching up my skin much as we have different skin colors. Hers is the warm, Mediterranean tan we see on Italians in the summer, and mine is similar to aTwilightvampire. Or a ghost.

See you later, little ghost.

I feel myself flushing. Quite frankly, men like him shouldn’t be allowed to talk to regular girls. They make us stupid.

“There, how about that?”

She holds a mirror up to my face, and my eyes widen. I don’t think I’ve ever looked or felt this pretty. My lips aren’t the scarlet of hers, but a deep blush, closer to mauve. My lashes are longer than your average horse’s and there’s a certain glow to my skin that looks completely natural. Sadly, my natural state has never been this perfect. I also look like I don’t have a single pore.

“You’re very good at this.” I’m glad she didn’t transform me into someone who doesn’t look like me.

“Thanks! I’ve been cosplaying since I was like, twelve, so I use makeup a lot.”

“No, thankyou. You’ll have to teach me how to do that, without foundation.”

“I’ll talk you through it next time. Consider it my first payback for a year’s worth of wyvern parties! Are you ready?”

6

KELLER

In another life, I could have been a wyvern. Out of the seven Rothford houses, that’s the one that fits me the most.

Raventhorn Hall was the first, and only house here. It used to be called the Legacy Lounge, and included a number of second sons and debutantes attending Rothford as a finishing school. It hasn’t changed much: it’s still a bunch of Heritage heirs from big families, and the girls they can screw and manipulate to their heart’s content. In all honesty, their play is a little too extreme and controlling for me. I have certainly had fun with them on occasion, but I find the idea of their constant power exchange exhausting.

When Rothford went from a tiny, exclusive college to the household name it currently is, they built the dorm and all six other houses at the same time, to separate us from the plebes.

The houses are lined up by order of importance, the least prestigious being right at the gate of our private drive, and the most, at the end.

Lion’s Den is the first. Honestly, the four dozen students living there are basically an embarrassment to the Thorn Falls elite. They’re…chill. I can smell the stench of weed as I drive past at any time, any day. They do have the largest house, and throw a mean party. Over the six years I’ve spent in Rothford so far, the four nights I hung out with them are the only four nights I don’t remember. Somehow, I survived their cocktail of booze, drugs, and decadence. Most of them call themselves artists. Don’t ask them what actual art they produce, though, unless you want to engage in conversation about gum sculptures and spit paint.

Next, there’s the Sharks. The jocks. They’re the only ones with an outdoor pool, and that’s all the positive things I can say about them. I genuinely can’t recall a single conversation with one of them that didn’t make me want to gouge my eyes out.No, I don’t need a protein shake recommendation, thank you very much. No, I haven’t watched you last football game. Yes, I actually sat through half of your hockey game, but that’s only because it’s entertaining. Also, you suck.

The Serpent House is the third on our lane, and the first half-decent one. It’s, in a way, the house of aspiration. Some of the members aren’t all that rich, or influential, or with the right last name. But they have the skills and willingness to become someone one day. Wannabe lawyers, business owners, even some of my fellow med students are in that house. But it’s ahungryvibe, meant for go-getters who don’t truly have anything yet.

Then, there’s the Web. In a perfect twist of universal sarcasm, it’s the IT guys, tech geniuses, math freaks, and all that. They’re intelligent enough, I suppose, but I understand about one word out of ten from them; their skills are definitely not social.

The last two houses could have been one, if there wasn’t a risk of us killing each other in our sleep. The wyverns and the vespers.

Those houses are not all that different from the serpents—meant for those willing to rise above all—except, we aren’t aspiring. We have it. The name, the money, the fame. I’d say the main difference between the wyverns and the vespers is that the wyverns are direct, all for a show of force, punching their way through life to get their way—metaphorically speaking, of course. They have people they pay for the actual punches. We vespers are less obvious. Yes, we’ll get our way, and yes, someone might get threatened, or perhaps disappear, but no one would ever suspect us. We’d lead the charge on the search for the body, and cry into our monogram handkerchief at the funeral. Unsurprisingly, almost all our alumni go into politics.

I truly could have been a wyvern. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty if there’s a need. The thing is, I joined Rothford the same year as Markus Goltz, my cousin, and we genuinelywouldhave murdered each other. Aware of that, the legacy council sat us down our freshman year and asked how we’d dispose of each other’s body. I guess my answer earned me a place in the tower. Besides, my other cousin, Sebastian, was a vesper, and likely wouldn’t have survived years under the same roof as Markus.

I’m not complaining about the outcome.

By now I really should leave, get my own place in town. I have my Bachelor of Science, double majoring in biology and biochemistry. I’m on my first year of med school. Most of the other vespers are annoying little undergrads with too much time on their hands, while my course of study is going to be demanding. But staying here is convenient, just five minutes’ drive away from my classes—or a twenty-minute jog if I feel so inclined. There are showers in the Dome, and I keep a change of clothes in the legacy council chambers, so I’ve been known to occasionally do that when my schedule was so packed I couldn’t fit in a proper work out.

Besides, I am the head of Vesper Tower, and as of this term, also the head of legacies. It has a nice ring to it…and a lot of direct acting power attached to the titles. I wouldn’t want to miss out on any of the benefits. Such as getting the wyverns to throw this party. I wouldn’t want to messmyhouse up right before the start of school. And yes, my cousin almost punched me for it.

The wyverns do tend to have parties every Saturday, but typically, they are close doors, legacy only, and a lot easier to manage. I couldn’t have that today.

Winking at Markus, I move on to another one of my cousins, Sebastian, and his new wife.

“Hestia,” I say, grinning at the beautiful, blue-haired firecracker my cousin met and promptly married.

Like, six months later. He’s ridiculous.

“Hey, Keller!”

---