Chapter 13
“Are you listening to me?” Breno asked. I blinked, disoriented, tearing my gaze away from the three figures in rough shape near the entrance.
“What?” I stared at my friend. He was clearly waiting for an answer, but I had no idea what he’d asked. We were sitting on the losers’ bench, and his right eye sported a purple bruise that made him look wild.
“I can’t believe I’ve been talking to myself for ten straight minutes and you weren’t even listening,” Breno grumbled, tossing his phone onto the table in front of us and crossing his arms over his chest, sulking.
The truth is, when Adrian, Miverik, and Ethan walked through the gym door covered in bruises, I completely lost focus on the conversation.
All three were in terrible shape: Adrian had his left arm in a sling; Miverik had probably broken his nose and had it reset, judging by the horrible bruising around his nose and eyes; and Ethan was wearing a cervical collar and limping slightly.
I couldn’t look away from them, my mind spinning with theories about what had happened.
One thing was obvious: if they were injured and using human medical equipment, it was because they hadn’t gone to the hospital.
And if they hadn’t gone to the hospital, it was because they didn’t want anyone to know what had happened to them.
“Yes! It’d be awesome if you came with me. It’s an official class party, Kay!”
“Where exactly is this party?” I asked, giving him my full attention.
I watched his smile fade.
“In the faeric district.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You know it’s complicated for me to go there. Especially after yesterday.” The last thing I needed was to show up at a party full of arrogant faerics and end up causing more trouble.
“I know, Kay. Those bastards deserve a slow, painful death. The car they were in should’ve flipped harder. Would’ve done the whole faeric race a favor.”
We glanced toward the left corner of the mat, where Adrian, Ethan, and Miverik huddled together, heads down, avoiding eye contact with the rest of the class. Naoki wasn’t there—he was still recovering—but he’d be released in two days, thanks to Dr. Selene’s surgical skills.
“Wait!” I turned to Breno, frowning. “What car?”
“You didn’t hear?” Breno asked, leaning back against the wall with a satisfied expression. “Apparently they got into an accident early this morning. When we woke up in the dorm, they were already like this. They said a dog ran into the road and they lost control.”
“Hmm,” I muttered, thinking about how suspicious it all seemed.
My eyes kept shifting between the three boys and Zion, who was explaining an attack move to Lorena.
Sometimes I caught him glaring at the boys with a murderous look, and other times his gaze would land on me before quickly darting away, his expression blank.
In those moments, I couldn’t stop thinking about last night—the damn note I’d found that morning was burning a hole in my pocket.
Zion was right there, twenty meters away, but it felt like a black hole had formed between us, swallowing any chance of interaction. I didn’t know what to think about the boys anymore, but something told me this wasn’t a car accident—it was a Zion accident. And that left me even more confused.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you.”
“By Nuadros’s beard, Breno!” I exclaimed, turning to face him. “Enough already—you’ve apologized like ten times, and it’s not even your fault. Everything’s fine, okay?”
“Everything’s not fine, Kay. Those sons of bitches practically beat you up and tried to assault Adele—that’s definitely not fine.
I think it’s absurd that Yonserians still pull this sexist crap.
It makes no sense for them to think they’re the most evolved beings on Jupiter and keep treating their own women like garbage. ”
Just thinking about it made me shiver. Yonser was notorious for its sexist, patriarchal culture.
The situation had improved somewhat over the years, thanks to the UFNO—the United Four Nations Organization—which had been intervening for the past decade after uncovering various horrific practices against women.
I stared at Anninka, sitting on the winners’ bench.
Her vrokiu sat firmly over her hair, and black clothing still covered every inch of her skin, leaving only her pale face and violet eyes visible, accentuated by black eyeliner.
This was one of the many issues being slowly addressed.
During the UFNO interrogations, Yonserian leaders had defended their nation’s dress code, claiming it wasn’t meant to oppress their women but was a custom spread by the religion of Anabel, the Goddess of Death.
They’d also argued that the vrokiu, along with the thermal clothing, protected their sensitive skin from solar rays that could cause cancer.
The argument might even have been scientifically valid. However, no one had ever seen a male Yonserian cover up, even though their skin had the same lack of melanin as the women’s.
And so the vrokiu was no longer mandatory.
The UFNO maintained that women didn’t need to wear it, since sunscreen was effective against ultraviolet rays.
Still, some Yonserian women kept wearing it—whether by choice, habit, or simply out of fear.
Anninka always wore hers, while Adele, despite pulling her hair back in a ponytail, never hid it under the black fabric.
And even though I didn’t like her, part of me was glad about that, especially after hearing what Naoki had said about her.
Breno kept watching the boys with the look of someone itching to start trouble.
The thing was, he didn't know even half of what had happened, since the director had kept the whole part about Naoki's incident under wraps.
The class had no idea that Adele and I had gotten into trouble with the quartet.
I chose not to tell the whole story because I didn't want my friend getting into another fight with them.
And also because Ivanov had paid dearly for keeping it quiet.
I trusted Breno a lot, but he might let the information slip without meaning to.
“Hey?” I snapped my fingers in front of his face to get his attention. “They're already hurt enough, so stop it. I don't want you getting involved. I have to learn to fight my own battles, don't I?”
“The thing is, you don't know how to fight your own battles.”
“And if you fight them for me, I never will.”
“Maybe, but if you want to really fight, you have to stop hiding from the enemy—and that's one more reason to come to the party with me!”
I rolled my eyes.
“It's not safe, Breno. I've already maxed out my humiliation quota for this semester. We'll have to save something like that for next year.”
“Come on, Kay.” He clicked his tongue in disapproval. “I'll be there, and no one's going to do anything to you because it's a pre-graduation party and there'll be security.”
He snapped his fingers and a blocking bubble surrounded me.
I kept forgetting how easily he could create these barriers.
I poked the bubble and it vibrated around me, but Breno quickly dissolved it.
I sighed, staring into his blue eyes. Today he was wearing his cap backwards and had that impeccably disheveled look.
Earlier, I'd noticed some girls admiring his body during the warm-up, but I didn't say anything—after all, his ego might inflate to the point where it wouldn't fit inside the gymnasium.
“It's a nighttime party, Breno. Going to the faerie district in daylight is fine, but at night it's dangerous for people like me.” On the other side of the gymnasium, Hiro was training with the punching bag.
His red, peeling headphones sat over his ears, and from here I could hear the heavy music blasting through them.
I wondered if it was dangerous for him too.
Even though only his height and green eyes betrayed his genetics, he was still a descendant.
“Besides, I don't like this whole university party thing. Too many people packed together suffocates me.”
“Oh, by Amarwen's braids, Kyller! How do you know you don't like university parties if you've never let yourself go to one?” He raised his voice, going overboard, and some students started paying attention to our conversation.
“It's a class party, and I've told you a thousand times I'll protect you.
You never go out with me, never come to class events, you don't even invite me to do anything fun.
I'm starting to think you either don't have fun or you're just avoiding me.”
While he laid out my social aversion, I elbowed him in the ribs and shot him a silent “shut up” with my eyes.
He looked around and seemed to notice how many people were staring.
Then he flashed a huge smile at the curious onlookers, who immediately looked away, pretending they hadn't seen anything.
Zion glanced at me over his shoulder, as if he'd also picked up on something.
“They don't like me, so why should I go to their parties?” I asked quietly, watching the students waiting for their fights on the mat.
Breno and I had been thrashed. Today I'd fought Anninka, the level 300 Yonserian with water power, and Breno had fought Hiro.
Now we were both sitting on the losers' bench.
“Just flip your sentence around and you've got a pretty good answer: 'they don't like you because you don't go to their parties,'” he exclaimed, as if it were obvious.
I thought about what Zion had said about earning my place here. The students' aversion certainly started with my physical appearance, but I'd also never done anything to change that first impression.
“It just doesn't seem like a good idea.” Actually, every instinct I had told me this would be foolish—suicidal, even.