Page 22 of Redeemed

“I ran into some… obstacles,” I say carefully.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you. Um, what’s your name?”

“Hea—” I clear my throat. “Haven. My name is Haven.”

“Oh, that’s really pretty,” she says softly.

“Thank you.”

Athelia gestures to her things. “I… I took this side of the room, as long as that’s okay with you? If you’d prefer it, I can move all my shit.”

My eyes widen involuntarily. Colton swore quite a bit last night, and it caught me off guard then, too. But hearing a woman swear? At Cornerstone, it’s forbidden, but the men still do it when they’re angry. But not the women—neverthe women.

Another thing to adjust to, I suppose.

“I don’t mind this side,” I say.

“All right. Well, then—”

“Can I ask you a question?” I blurt.

Athelia gives me an amused look. “Sure.”

“Your… your hair. Were you born with it like that?”

Her expression quickly morphs into a frown. “Like what?”

“Green.”

A shocked laugh leaves Athelia’s lips before she claps a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry, that was mean. No, my hair is naturally brown. I dye it green.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize you could do that.”

Giving me a concerned stare, Athelia lowers herself onto the edge of her bed. “You’ve never seen someone with colored hair before?”

“No, never. I grew up…”Oh, what was the word Julie used?“I grew up very sheltered.”

“Huh. Well, all right.” Her eyes rove over my side of the room. “Are you still moving in? I can help you bring the rest of your stuff up.”

“No, this is all I have.”

“This isit?”Her eyes widen. “You don’t even have textbooks!”

“They’re all on here.” I hold up my tablet. “Although I can’t figure out how to work it.”

“Oh, I can help you.” Standing, she moves closer to me. “Can I sit on your bed?”

“Sure.”

Taking the tablet from my hands, Athelia inspects the buttons on the sides. With her this close, I get a subtle whiff of honeysuckles, and it soothes something inside me. The scent reminds me of summer and Ruth and playing hide and seek on Cornerstone’s grounds.

“Here—this one on the top is the power button. You have to hold it down to turn it on.” She does so, and the screen comes to life a few seconds later. “There we go. It’ll take a minute to fully wake up.”

Unbidden, a giggle falls from my lips. “Wake up?”

“Yeah.” She laughs, too. “I guess it’s a little silly to say that about tech, huh? Oh—here we go! So this is your home screen. It looks like you’ve already got the typical apps installed. Photos, notes, browser, some games, all that jazz.”

Most of those words go over my head, but I nod anyway. “And where would the textbooks be?”

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