Page 14 of A Taste of Torment
There’s a large fireplace, blazing with multicolored flames, and a painting of an open field with a massive black void looming over it.
I raise my brows at the image but don’t have time to examine it for long. The ceiling is at least fifty feet high with patchwork stones and discolored glass. There are several sets of open archways lining the path, all made from spiraling cobblestone.
The sound of excited chattering comes from down the hall but halts the moment I step into the next room. A boy with horns peeks out from one of the archways then darts back out of sight.
“Welcome to the Minor dorms!” Lola announces in a squeaky high voice, her arms spread wide.
“Looks like everyone is excited to have me,” I mutter, eyeing a group of four girls huddled in the corner, watching me in tense silence.
“Oh, they’ll warm up to you,” Janet assures me. “You’re just the topic of likeallthe rumors since lunch. No one is quite sure what to make of you.”
My eyebrows furrow. “What kind of rumors?”
“Oh, you know… You’re a dark sorceress hellbent on world domination. You’re a potion master’s kid that slipped Jarron a love potion. You killed a man in Reno once. The usual.” Lola shrugs. I almost smile—almost. But the whole potion thing kind of gets under my skin.
“They think I gave him a love potion?”
“They’re dumb rumors. People just like to be dramatic. You’ve obviously got some kind of history with the bad-boy prince, and your parents are potions masters. It’s a large leap, but people like to chatter.” Janet shrugs. “It’ll blow over quickly. Trust me.”
I twist my fingers together and force a smile.
“Come on, I’ll show you around.”
Janet weaves me in and out of the various rooms of Minor Hall. There’s a decent sized dining hall filled with scuffed-up, round wooden tables, a small library, a game room, and a TV room filled with mismatched couches. It feels like a super outdated summer camp.
Most of the students here are small in stature or timid. There are a couple pretty girls with horns and a boy so large I assume he’s part giant.
Even though everyone hushes when I come near, and whisper the moment I’m out of earshot, the weight I’d felt in the halls and in the lunchroom is noticeably absent.
Even to many of these creatures, I’m weak. But this is the kind of weakness I can make up for with my intelligence and skill. The difference between me and fae, demons, and wolf shifters? Not so much.
If things really do calm down, I think I could find myself feeling at home here.
This part of the school is reserved for the weakest of all students. Most freshman live here, but there’s also a whole set of dorms for the upper classmen that remain in Minor Hall. With special permission, or testing out, each student has the opportunity to access a new hall, each one a step up. Major Hall is a bit stronger than Minor but still on the weak side of things. Some of the more dangerous creatures are never allowed to be in Minor, no matter how weak or young. Which is what I assume is happening with the runt shifter in my defense class who’s in Major Hall despite being a rather weak freshman.
As a human senior, I’ll certainly remain in Minor Hall throughout my time here, which I don’t intend to be long. Janet is a senior, and Lola a junior. Both have told me they’ll remain in Minor Hall until they graduate too.
It doesn’t really matter to me one way or another. I don’t care if people think I’m weak. I only care that they’re right.
The moment I figure out who hurt my sister and get my revenge, I’ll be back to normal human school and none of this will matter.
Janet flops onto a massive U-shaped leather couch in the middle of the common room. “My room is down that way,” Janet points to the right, “and yours is down that one.” She motions to the hall entrance next to it. “We’ll be close. And we can totally hang out in any of the common areas.”
I sit beside her. “That’s good.”
I know I’m not the easiest person in the world to befriend. My list of flaws are a mile wide. I’m fearful of this place, and it makes me act very defensively. But these two have accepted me instantly and treat me like an equal. I don’t think they’ll ever truly understand how significant that is and how much I’ll burn the world down if anyone hurts them. And I’ve only known them for a single day.
“It’s cool in here,” I admit, looking up at the mismatched colored glass on the ceiling and names carved into the wood, even in hard-to-reach places.
“I mean, it’s the outcast hall,” Janet says with a sigh, slumping even further until she’s practically lying on it. “We get the least luxuries and instead get noses turned up in our direction. But once we’re behind these gates, we’re safe. I mean, other than a few freshmen here that act like they’re better than us and can’t wait to test out, we’re a big dysfunctional family.”
Lola lands on my shoulder. “Jerks in this section of the school are few and far between. Just ignore them and you’ll love it here.”
“I already do,” I say. “You guys have made it— bearable. I really want to thank you for being my friend. I don’t have many of them and it… it means a lot.”
“So you like it here?” Janet grins.
“More than I expected to, for sure.”
