Page 9 of By the Orchid and the Owl
The fourth pair of mansions looked the most… normal to me, minus the sheer size of them: made of chiseled stone with huge, street-facing balconies and tangled ivy climbing up the sides. A few older kids waved from the balconies, various birds squatting on their shoulders.
I blinked again with dry eyes. Good. I would not cry, and Iwouldmake friends. After, of course, I had found Quinn and Lander and asked them what the hell they’d thought about that little demonstration in the courtyard.
“Finally,” the buzzcut prince said, “the Mind Manipulator houses. A rule to live by.” He stopped abruptly, causing a few inductees behind him to run into his sweat-drenched back. “Donotmess with the Mind Manipulators. And if you end up being one of them…” he gave a nervous chuckle. “Please be nice to the rest of us.”
I couldn’t disagree with his assessment. The Mind Manipulator houses, the last pair on Bascite Boulevard, were made of that same impassive-looking marble as the classrooms back by the courtyard, with looming pillars and hundreds of little windows framed by black shutters.
Like eyes peering into your soul, I thought.
I could only hope that I wouldn’t have to live in there for the next five years.
“Now this…” Buzzcut spread his arms as we approached the end of the boulevard, which opened to a field capped by a curved stone stadium. “Is the arena where we hold assemblies, play pentaball, and—tomorrow—host the Branding.”
Through the gaps between bodies, I could see the field. Perhaps usually carpeted with clean-cut grass, it was now thoroughly trampled as the hundreds of newcomers began leaking onto it, formulating clusters of cliques. Dozens and dozens of tents, canvas and bamboo, from the looks of them, lined the field, and just as many carts of food were being pushed around by second- or third-years.
“For tonight,” Buzzcut said, “you may eat dinner and find a tent to stay the night in. Every tent will be supplied with nightclothes, sleeping bags, and generic toiletries. Your belongings will be returned to you when your magic is activated and you join a sector.”
A voice within our group shouted out, “Which ones are the girl tents?”
Buzzcut raised a ginger eyebrow. “The tents are not separated into girls’ ones or boys’ ones tonight. Tonight, you may do whatever you wish. Besides, of course, killing anyone, messing with the shield, or running away, as Coen Steeler said.”
Coen Steeler. The man with the annoying smirk. I remembered how he’d said it wasn’t difficult to behave, and I felt my heart flop away from me like a damned fish. Were they really allowing us to just…sleep together? In tents on the Branding ceremony field? I’d kissed Wilder, of course, but anything further than our touching and groping… I wasn’t prepared for tonight. Not at all.
Quinn and Lander. I had to find them right now.
As soon as Buzzcut released us, I marched forward, narrowing my eyes into calculating slits that only took in general colors and shapes. I’d known Quinn and Lander my whole life, so why was it so hard to pick them out now?
Left and right, in and out, I zigzagged between tents and groups of shrieking, laughing boys and girls, ignoring the smells of food that wafted out from those carts and made my stomach absolutely ache with its emptiness.
No, I would not eat until I’d found them. Until I’d—
There. A sheet of silky red hair.
Manners aside, I pushed through a mass of limbs and sweat-sparkling skin to reach her, where she was chatting amiably with a group of other girls.
“Quinn!”
“Rayna,thereyou are.” Quinn pulled me into a lazy hug with one arm. Her other hand held some kind of sandwich with sprouts hanging out, which she deftly snuck into mine. “Here, do you want the rest of this? I’ve had my fill. Rayna, this is Jenia… what did you say your surname was, Jenia?”
“Leake,” the nearest girl said, and her eyes, sultry and gray, scanned my whole body. She had permanently pouting lips and hair a brighter blonde than mine, except hers was glossy like Quinn’s. I forced myself not to touch the stray strands of my own mess of curls. “And you are…?” she asked me.
“Rayna.” I attempted a smile.
“Well, obviously. I heard her say your name. I meant how do you know her?”
I blinked. The possessiveness in the tone, the pure lack of warmth… I couldn’t see how Quinn wasn’t downright scowling at her as she cut in with, “She’s my best friend from home. I’m glad you found us, Ray. We were just talking about these hot-as-shit Shape Shifters over near the stadiums who are actually turning into lions right in front of the first-years.”
“Oh. Wait, what?” Hot-as-shit Shape Shifters? Where was Lander? I took a bite of the sandwich and was about to ask when another girl barged toward us.
“Guys, they’re letting people pet them now. C’mon, you have to try it.”
And she pulled Quinn and Jenia with her, toward the Shifters, away from me.
For some reason, I stood rooted to the grass, and Quinn didn’t even look back.
CHAPTER
5
