Page 44 of Escaping Hallow Hill Academy
I swing at him, and he dodges, reaching out to grab my wrists and pull me to him. I’m pressed all over his warm body, but all it does is send little shocks of pain through my already aching bones.
“Let go of me, you bastard!” I shove against him, but he shakes me, pulling me harder against him.
“Fucking stop it,” he growls darkly. “Do you want to fucking die?” The question is said on the softest and darkest of whispers. I swear I almost imagine it. Swear I can nearly hear it in my mind.
“Liars and thieves at this academy are punished.” There’s her voice again.
Krist.
Sialen flips me around so I’m staring at the headmistress from across the desk once more. She’s there at the entrance, her nails raking across the wood like she’s trying to intimidate me.
I refuse to be intimidated. She can do whatever she wants. She can poison me, hurt me, torture me, and I still won’t give in. I won’t become one of the spineless, brainless creatures here. I won’t become like her.
“She is too out of control.” Something shines in her eyes that’s alien. Malicious.
Cold fear slices down my body until I’m practically choking on it, but I force it away.
Behind me, Sialen stills. “She can still learn, headmistress—”
“Shut your filthy Sekar mouth. I did not ask what you thought.”
Sialen’s hands tighten along my arms. I can feel his rage rolling through him, because I feel it myself.
“We had such high hopes for you.” Krist flicks her fingers, her distracted gaze staring at me, but also somewhere very far away. “Your powers show promise, but you’re too uncontrollable, and a subject who is uncontrollable is dangerous.” Her wide mouth curls into a painted smile. “Dr. Hyde can fix that easily.”
Sialen pulls me closer. “Headmistress, I really don’t think—”
“Silence!”
Pain stabs through the both of us. Sialen grunts in my ear and wraps his arm around my stomach as if steeling himself against the onslaught of agony. He doubles over me, and I bend with him, feeling his chest press tightly against the metal on my spine.
It hurts. Everything hurts to the point of it being blinding. I’m panting for breath, but no air fills my lungs. I grasp for Sialen, holding his wrist in my hand, and he reaches for me right back.
If we share anything outside of our Sekar lineage, it’s this. This pain, this belladonna coursing through our blood, this pain that feels like it’s cracking through our bones.
My vision blurs, and my hearing starts to fade. I can make out the distant sound of a maniac cackle and feel the rumbles of Sialen’s grunts against my cheek, and the agony is all I know before we are both falling to the ground and darkness claims us.
And for the first time, I pray to my Holy Lady of Death to keep my life.
Because this Academy will surely kill me.
* * *
Cold seeps through my body, an ache through my bones and muscles like I've never known before. My eyes open, and a blinding white light stabs through my skull.
Groaning, I twist slightly, but I already know that my body is tied down with restraints. I don’t even need to try and call to my magic, because I already know it won’t be there. I’m an empty well of a witch, and that frightens me more than being tied down does: being magicless, not feeling Lady Death beside me, inside me.
A whimper threatens to escape my throat, but I swallow it.
I won’t be weak. I can’t be fucking weak. Not here. This thing on my spine is already a weakness, so I need to find strength in other places.
I struggle against my bindings, wiggling from side to side to see if I can slip out of them somehow.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” A voice stops me short. My breaths come out in harsh pants. I can’t see the speaker; I can’t even recognize the tone.
“Where are you?” I demand. I like to look my enemies in the eye. I like memorizing the faces of those I mean to kill.
“We’ve only ever had one other Sekar in our laboratory,” the voice continues. It comes from everywhere and nowhere at once. I know, instinctually, the identity of this man—or whatever the fuck he is.
