Page 22 of Blood of the Fallen
Pride.
Had the magistrates ever looked at me like that? I seemed to recall they had. I’d been one of the best students at the Academy, after all, so they must have. Right?
I lowered my head, unsure of how to continue.
Ila helped me along. “What happened next?”
“I pretended to… slit my wrist too and fell face-first into the spring. I thought I would drown or be discovered, but they hauled me out before either of those could happen. Then…” My voice faltered, and I didn’t think I would be able to continue.
She reached out and placed a hand on my knee. I felt the light touch through my leggings and was tempted to reach out and squeeze her fingers in mine, but I wasn’t sure I would be able to bear it, especially right now as I recalled those awful moments.
“They threw everyone on top of wooden carts and wheeled us out to a mass grave. They swung the bodies like garbage bags and dropped them in, including me.” My last words came out as mere trembling whispers. “I climbed out of the hole and ran for my life. They chased me, but I was able to escape. The next morning Novuk found me.”
“Oh, Sheela.” Tears were now spilling down Ila’s face. She moved to sit next to me and wrapped an arm around my back.
We sat in that position for a long time, Ila saying nothing while I silently cried, allowing my grief to bubble to the surface as it pleased. When my tears were spent, Ila made me lie down, placing a rolled-up pelt under my head.
“The tea will help you sleep,” she said, “and when you wake up, you will feel a lot better.”
I returned her gentle smile, knowing that she was telling the truth. I already felt better just because someone elseknew, someone who cared about me. It was as if a steel band had been wrapped tightly around my chest, and it’d just been released.
“I must ask,” Ila said as I drifted to sleep, “can I share this with our mother?”
Our mother, the words sounded so strange.
“It may help us find a way to unmask the Academy.”
I nodded. “Yes,” I responded. “We need… to do… that.”
My heavy eyelids closed, and I slipped into a tranquil sleep, free of nightmares.
CHAPTER 9
Thatevening,Iwokeup feeling refreshed and oddly light.
I stepped outside of the tent to find the sky painted in beautiful twilight colors, a dark pink being the most prevalent.
The smell of grilled meat and fish filled my nostrils, making my stomach rumble. I searched the area for Ila and the triad, but I didn’t spot them. I walked toward the campfire in the center, following the scent of food. Before I got there, Desna stepped in front of me.
“Tired of lazing around?” she asked with a smirk. She had her many braids up in a knot, making her look even taller. Her lean arms were bare and shining with sweat.
I could see why she would think I was lazy. Since I joined the pack, I had been nothing but a burden, but that was going to change. I had never shied away from work.
Choosing to be nice, I offered a civil answer, even though the words felt like glue in my mouth. “I feel much better now, and I will make sure to pull my own weight from now on.”
Desna’s upper lip curled up, and she scanned me as if I’d just sprouted bat wings. “I certainly doubt that,” she said, then spat on the ground and walked away.
“It was nice seeing you, too,” I said sarcastically, unable to help myself.
She huffed in response, and I resisted the urge to flip her the finger.
Nirliq and Terit pulled away from a group of kids and ran toward me. The little girl abruptly took my hand in hers, but, like before, the contact didn’t repel me, which gave me hope I might, one day, be rid of the phobia. Maybe there was hope for me.
“Come eat with us!” She pulled me along toward the large campfire in the center of the camp, where I discovered the source of the delicious smell. A flank from something like a wild boar was roasting over a slow fire.
The man who seemed to be in charge of cooking—a heavyset individual with a protruding stomach and a long braided beard draped over it—was presiding over the operation, a sharp carving knife in his hand. He slowly turned the skewered meat as juices dripped and sizzled on the hot coals. Something like a claw ran down the length of my spine, scraping and setting my teeth on edge. The phantom scent of burned hair invaded my nose, and I fought the urge to vomit.
“Do you feel all right?” Nirliq asked, peering up at me with huge brown eyes.
