18. Aurora
AURORA
Luckily, the water wasn’t deep, so I didn’t go in over my head.
But my towels floated away immediately, and my head went under for a minute.
When I found my feet, I pushed up quickly, panicked to be under the water.
I shot to the surface and was relieved when my head broke the surface almost at once and found I could stand.
Looking up, I saw all four of my new friends laughing at me—not really in a mean way. It was more just boyish enthusiasm.
“Got you!” Toady crowed, pointing. “You should have seen yourself, Runt!”
“You looked so surprised!” Leaper exclaimed.
Bugs was laughing so hard he couldn’t even speak.
“Guys, you shouldn’t have done that—he might not be able to swim,” Jorn-o was the only one not laughing.
“Actually, I can’t,” I said and then I realized something—the water was just about at my waist, and I was completely naked.
I was naked and my body was revealed…yet no one was saying anything. No one was looking at me strangely. My breasts were small but as I said before, my nipples were prominent. But none of my new friends were looking at them.
I had to fight not to cover my breasts with my arms. I didn’t want to draw attention to my female assets when it seemed that no one was looking at them. So I just frowned at them and swiped my wet hair back from my forehead.
It’s working—it’s really working, whispered a voice in my head. I could hardly believe it, but it seemed that the Dragon Glass pendant was doing its job. Nobody saw anything but just another skinny male cadet when they looked at me.
“Oh shit—you really can’t swim?” Bugs asked, breaking into my train of thought. He still wore his thick glasses and kept swiping at the lenses with his fingers as they fogged up from the steam.
“No, I can’t,” I said shortly.
“No wonder you didn’t want to come to the Cook-pot yesterday,” Jorn-o said, frowning.
“No, I just didn’t feel good,” I protested. “Hey, can someone give me a towel? Mine are lost now.”
Despite knowing that they weren’t seeing me as I really was, I still felt incredibly vulnerable. I had never been naked in front of anyone before and here I was, as bare as the day I was born, in the middle of a group of males who were also naked.
“Oh, sorry—here, you can have mine.” Jorn-o handed me his towel as I stepped out of the pool.
But as I stepped out of the water and reached for the offered towel, I happened to see someone looking at me.
It was Ryse Skoren. He was standing across the steaming lake from me, and his strange eyes were narrowed. His dark brows were pulled low, and he was clearly studying me.
I felt a cold chill that had nothing to do with being wet and naked rush over my entire body. Could he see me—the real me? No one else was paying any attention but the North Wing Leader was staring at me with an intensity that turned my blood to ice.
“Here—give me that!”
Quickly, I snatched the towel that Jorn-o was holding out and wrapped it around myself.
“Hey,” Toady said, frowning. “Why are you wearing it like that?”
I looked down and realized that I’d wrapped the towel around my entire body, securing it under my arm. It was the way a woman wore a towel—not the way a man did. The boys around me who were still wearing towels had them wrapped around their waists.
“I…I’m just cold,” I said, though steam was rising from the water around me. “I think I’ll head back to the dorm.”
“Okay—see you later.” Leaper shrugged.
“Toady, you shouldn’t have pushed him in,” I heard Jorn-o say, as I turned away from them.
“Well, how was I supposed to know he couldn’t swim?” was the answer but I didn’t stay to hear any more.
I fled the Cook-pot, my heart thudding against my ribs. I half expected Ryse Skoren to follow me, but he didn’t.
Regardless, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he had seen me—the real me—despite my Dragon Glass pendant which seemed to be fooling everyone else.