Chapter 21 Kidan
KIDAN
A bully—Noel Andrew—used to terrorize June every chance he could get, slamming books on her desk to wake her violently, calling her a drug addict, a zombie, in need of her next hit, and once, he had tried to kiss June while she slept at his party.
Kidan had hauled him into his bedroom and beat him to a pulp to the cheers of other students. Then, when they realized she wasn’t stopping, those cheers had melted into distressed calls, shouting at her to stop.
The bottom of Kidan’s stomach had drifted into the abyss. Then she’d waited for the rest of her to fade too. Yet Kidan remained in a nightmare glass, time tilted to the side where the fear meant for the foul things in the world was now directed at her.
When June awoke, she didn’t know what Noel had done. Only that he stopped bothering her.
All those instances of saving June, protecting June… all of it had meant nothing in the end.
The circle Kidan had interrupted watched her with wide eyes.
They were polite enough not to ask her to move and some even inched forward.
Kidan recognized a few students from the previous semester, trying their luck at Dranacti again, hardened with failure.
Their hungry gazes trailed the silver pin fixed on her sleeve.
Jealousy was a horrible motivator.
“How did you do it?” a girl asked after a moment. A bronze Rojit House pin, a fern, was fixed to her white sweater. “Professor Andreyas says only one student graduates.”
A tense exchange of looks flickered between the students, the brewing stages of rivalry and competition. All part of Dranacti. Kidan’s mouth twisted. Fostering distrust and encouraging them to murder, and none of them had a fucking clue.
Her instinct, shamefully so, was to get June away from this place.
June wasn’t a killer. She could barely stomach seeing Mama Anoet sick.
What would she say when she found out Kidan had murdered her?
June would judge her, hate her even more.
Her protective instinct was drowning in stirring rage, building to a fever the longer Kidan ignored it.
It would only make her sick if she didn’t let it out.
Yusef hesitated for a moment, something dark moving across his face before his casual smile returned. “I failed twice. My best strategy? Find the smartest girl in the room and follow her around.”
Slen narrowed her eyes at him, before turning to the Rojit girl. “Find your purpose. The reason why you want to graduate must outweigh your fears and shortcomings.”
The Rojit girl nodded urgently. “That must be why we got partnered up based on our answers.”
Of course the first task the professor assigned in Dranacti was the Scales of Sovane. And Kidan had paid the price with Ramyn Ajtaf.
June sat close to a girl with golden glasses and soft round cheeks.
Kidan pointed with her chin. “Is she your partner?”
Though her sister straightened in surprise, she didn’t answer.
The girl did, defiance lingering in her upturned chin. “Yes, I’m Qara Umil.”
This must be Yusef’s cousin.
Kidan fought the image of Ramyn from taking her place. The smell of sweet peaches from Ramyn’s scarf tickled her nose. Would June have it in her to betray Qara?
“Let me tell you another story that’ll help you understand Sovane Ezariah,” Kidan began, voice cool as mountain ice. “The leader who suffered two minds and two souls.”
This time, they all inched forward, eager to learn.
Slen and Yusef leaned back, letting her take the stage.
“This story is about two sisters who were once very close. Never spent a day apart really, beginning from the womb. Until one fateful day, the pretty sister got kidnapped and disappeared without a trace. Poof.” Kidan snapped her fingers, the others hanging on her every word.
“Now the older sister, who was quite stupid, drove herself insane trying to find her lost sister.”
A tense silence lingered above them, swelling like the gray clouds.
Kidan was careful to not look at June. Her sister was watching.
A twisted smile formed on her lips. “For fourteen months and twenty days, the stupid sister never stopped searching. But here’s where it gets interesting. The pretty sister was never kidnapped. She chose to leave. She’d found a new family to help her… what was the phrase she used? Feel safe.”
There was nothing but venom in her tone. A few students averted their eyes.
Kidan didn’t care.
“Wait, I’m confused,” Qara said. “She left without telling her sister?”
“Exactly.” Kidan’s answer was a dry, foreign laugh.
Some students shifted uncomfortably and played with their sleeves but they mattered little. Finally, she looked to June, taking note of every wince or aversion of her gaze.
“Now, why do we think the pretty sister could abandon her twin?”
June angled her head to the ground. She always did when she was about to cry.
Kidan returned her attention to the group, feeling like their stony professor. “How is this similar to Sovane’s story?”
An Ajtaf girl with a house pin of a golden tower fiddled with her book. “Sovane Ezariah had to leave behind his good heart so he could rule with strategy. He went on to become a cunning, cold leader. Maybe that’s the lesson here? Some people choose power over love, over family.”
Slen leaned forward, approval in her eyes. “What’s your name?”
The short-haired girl beamed. “Tal Ajtaf.”
“I like you,” Kidan said, and Tal smiled shyly.
“Maybe,” Qara Umil said, eyes hard, “she ran away because her sister wasn’t a very nice person.”
Kidan hopped off the bench, eyes latching on to Qara’s.
The girl leaned back, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Kidan crept even closer to Qara. To her innocent brown eyes. Dranacti would soon dim them. The air shifted, and a hum built inside Kidan, fed by the fear wafting off the students.
They were afraid of her, and she’d barely done a thing.
She tried not to smile.
“You might be right,” Kidan said. There was an intake of breath from somewhere in the group. “That is the only explanation, right? The stupid sister must have been cruel, horrible, abusive. The pretty sister must have felt trapped.”
Slowly, Qara nodded, her lashes fluttering.
Kidan looked down on them from a great height. “You hear that, June? Your partner thinks it’s a good thing you ran away.”
Qara whipped her head in June’s direction, eyes wide. Everyone’s gaze pointed like a straight arrow toward June. Never one for focused attention, her sister trembled. Kidan stared down at her with little compassion. This was nothing. Absolutely nothing to what June had put her through.
Her honeyed eyes grew glassy, but June didn’t cry. Kidan would have felt better if she did. Instead, June gathered her things and hurried off. Qara, with an angry frown, followed her.
Another memory flashed. June running away from the bullies at school, coming to hang out with Kidan in the woodworking room. Telling her how she’d never make friends, never fit in. It dissolved into the present just as quickly, leaving her cold and detached.
Yusef was watching Kidan with caution. But she must have imagined it because he turned and smiled, all ease. “Well, good luck, everyone. Off you go.”
The students stood and began to cross to the Philosophy Tower. Exhausted, Kidan leaned against the bench.
“I have some time to give you another Amharic lesson,” Slen said, studying her closely. “Meet me in Room 3 in an hour.”
Kidan nodded, barely hearing the words. A pounding filled her ears, and June’s hurt features were coming in and out of her vision. She felt satisfied yet wanted to throw up.
Yusef’s gaze was pinned on her, making her scalp itch. “You become a different person around her.”
Kidan exhaled slowly.
“I need a walk,” she said, grabbing her bag.
She missed GK the most during her walks. He would always watch the crowd, scanning for danger so she didn’t have to. His bones clinking.
This was all wrong. June’s kind smile and warm eyes used to anchor her, every inch of the world could burn and she’d be fine as long as she had her sister. This couldn’t be how they were.
Kidan turned into the corridor attached to the outside of the School of Art building and braced beneath a portrait of the first dean of Uxlay and Professor Andreyas.
It was an oil painting with only three colors—black, brown, and a splash of burning gold for the house pins fixed to their chests.
The intersecting light and dark mountains of Adane House.
Rahel Adane, Kidan’s ancestor, sat with a straight posture, the same dark eyes that ran in their bloodline clearly visible.
The professor had not changed at all, cornrowed hair and deep brown skin gracing him well.
Had Kidan’s ancestors fought with their siblings too? Did Mahlet and Aunt Silia ever compete for Adane House and let it tear them apart?
A shadow turned the corner, making Kidan stagger from the painting.
For a second, she hoped it was Susenyos.
Seeking comfort in his familiar face. But a metal arm caught the light and twinkled.
Samson’s dark expression held a sickly new interest. From here, he would have had a direct view of Sheba Square and her interaction with June.
Kidan’s shoulders tensed, anger spreading in her veins. Was that why he looked so pleased?
Besides demanding her blood once a day, Samson was either trapped in Professor Andreyas’s mandatory lectures or slipping away from Uxlay as if he couldn’t stand the conformity of dranaics. It was odd to see him in the middle of campus.
Disconcerting to see the beginnings of a smile on his lips.