Chapter 4
Iwalk into the female dormitory building and head into the room Levington placed me in. It’s on the third floor with half a dozen other rooms alongside it.
Unfortunately, it’s a shared room—all of them are—similar to the War Camps but with fewer beds and slightly more space and luxury. The minute I walk into the room, I feel more at ease than I did in the one I woke up in. Even the glares and narrowed looks from the other girls aren’t deterring me.
There’s a small balcony at the end of the room and four beds in total with two sitting on each side of the room. Three of the four beds are already occupied with the last one on the right free.
I ignore their stares as I make my way to it and place the small black bag of items I took from the Alita building.
A girl with long chestnut brown hair, pale skin with a sprinkle of freckles and green eyes gets up from her bed and starts making her way over to me.
“I thought the commander was pulling my leg when he said there was going to be an Alita placed in our room,” she says. “But I also thought all Alita’s were special snowflakes that needed protecting. What could you have possibly done to put in a room with the norms?”
I glance between them. “The norms?”
“Us. Human.” She tilts her head. “Mostly. Apart from a small percentage with Shadow DNA, but it still means shit.”
I shrug. “I grew up in the human world so I’m more human than Alita, I guess. I also haven’t a clue how to fly or even use my wings so maybe I don’t deserve such a special privilege.”
A small smile tugs at the corner of her mouth while her eyes narrow on me. “You’re the companion to the four Shadows that came here, aren’t you?”
Companion… At least that’s all they think.
The other girls get up from their beds with a gleam of interest now in their eyes and start inching toward us.
I nod. “Is that going to be an issue?”
“It’s just unusual that they followed you here,” she says with a suspicious look. One that I completely ignore.
“I’ve never heard of an Alita that has companions. And four wingless Shadows at that.”
I ignore that piece of information she just gave for now. “Wingless Shadows?” I say finding it funny that I call their Shadows something similar.
She raises a brow. “They don’t have wings, do they?”
She shrugs. “And it’s better than what our Shadows call them.”
“Which is?” I prod, wondering what my mates are in for. Though I doubt they’ll play good Boy Scouts while they’re here. They’re probably burning the male dorms down as we speak. That, or starting a few fights with the Winged Shadows.
“Soulless demons that should not exist,” she says with a straight face as if she believes it too.
I mean… they are assholes.
I shake my head and ignore the little group now formed around me as I start unpacking the small pile of things into the storage box at the end of my bed.
It’s done in seconds, leaving my mind to turn to the four assholes in question.
Maybe I should check on them…
Before I overthink it too much, I reach out to Knox, but immediately hit against a wall.
My heart drops. He’s… blocked me out. Completely. He’s never blocked me out before.
“I’m Ember,” the girl with freckles says distracting me from my little pity party before turning to the other girls and pointing to the one with dark eyes that look almost completely black.
She has a blunt black bob with thick pink streaks.
“Maia,” she says and then points to another girl with wild red hair that instantly reminds me of Robin, making my stomach churn with worry.
“And that’s Remi,” Ember says.
“Sena,” I tell them.
“Are you all companions too?” I ask wondering how it all works here. There seems to be a lot more females here than the Shadow academy.
Ember gives me a funny look. “The Shadows here don’t need companions. They have the crystal to anchor them.”
I frown. “Then why are you here?”
She rolls her eyes. “Our foolish human leaders made sure any female found with Shadow DNA had to be brought to one of the academies. Just in case we can procreate more Shadows.”
Oh, right. I forgot about that shitty human deal.
“At least we were brought here and not the other academy,” Maia says before giving me a wince. “No offense.”
“None taken,” I tell her.
“If you stay in this room, you’ll be treated like any other new recruit that starts off here and not an Alita,” Ember warns with a look.
“Good. I don’t want any privileges or advantages.
” I glance around the room, finding a door nearly hidden among the two large storage crates at the back near the small balcony.
The curtains are wide open, revealing the building directly across from us.
The male dormitory and where my… where the four-males-that-now-hate-me are.
I push the thought away as Ember chuckles, grabbing my attention. “You’ll regret saying that in a few days.”
Maia walks over to the balcony and opens the sliding door before turning back to us. She takes a couple of steps and opens her mouth to say something, but never gets the chance as a large black ball shoots over her head and into the middle of the room.
Black smoke immediately billows out of it making my eyes burn and blur. The room is covered in thick black smoke in seconds, completely blinding me.
A hacking cough sounds from somewhere to my right followed by a grunt and spew of curses to my left.
An angry growl passes me as I hear a swoosh, and the black smoke slowly starts to clear.
Remi comes into view first. “Shit. I guess the prank war has started early,” she says with a groan.
“Prank war?” I ask as I squeeze my eyes shut waiting for the burn to pass.
I blink my blurry eyes open to find the three girls all looking pissed as hell, glaring toward the male dorms.
It takes a minute, but the blur finally clears along with the black smoke.
“Every semester the male Shadows go up against the females,” Ember says.
“What’s the point?” I ask.
“The winners get bragging rights for the rest of the semester,” she replies with a shrug.
Maia smirks at me. “The commander allows it as long as we don’t go too far.”
Sounds like the perfect distraction I could use right now. “What are the rules?” I ask.
“No powers used on one another, meaning us. No true bodily harm,” Remi says.
“It can only last two weeks, too,” Maia says.
“But everything else is fair game?” I ask already thinking of a couple of things we can do. I need some normality right now. Or at least as normal as I’m going to get here.
Ember stares at me with a raised brow and small smile. “Have something in mind, little Alita?”
I smirk. “I might.”
Remi said powers couldn’t be used on each other, but she never said I couldn’t use them on myself.
Using my shield as a stepping-stone, I keep my eyes peeled for anyone that might see me before climbing up the side of the male dorms to the open window on the third floor.
The girls from the other dorms are already handling the other rooms so me, Ember, Remi, and Maia only need to focus on this one.
All student males are also out for the night thanks to a sleeping medication we slipped into their meals.
Remi feigned insomnia and a male nurse at the healing center was only too happy to help.
We just needed to get past the older Shadow males that guard the dorms.
My mates are also still ignoring me, so I couldn’t even give them a heads up on the little evil prank we’ve got planned.
I tell myself it’s their own damn fault while Remi, Maia, and Ember show up with wide eyes on the stepping-stone I created.
They keep their questions to themselves and stay quiet as possible, but I can see the dozens of questions brimming in their eyes as I help them up the side of the building and onto the third floor.
We silently make it inside and quickly get to work on our plan, taping all the taps under the faucet, switching out all lotion and moisturizers with instant-tan, and swapping shampoos for different colored hair dyes.
The color of the rainbow will take a whole new meaning to them when they wake up tomorrow.
It takes a couple of hours to get through the four rooms along this hall, but the sleeping tablets hold and keep the men knocked out.
Once we’re finished, we start making our way down the hall.
“Let’s use the side escape this time, Remi says. “I’m glad we could use your weird shield-thing but using it to descend might be a little tricker and we—”
“Shit,” Maia whispers and I glance up to find four familiar pissed off forms blocking our exit.
I sigh. “Go.”
“You sure?” Ember says. “They look pissed.”
“That’s their normal expression,” I tell her, and Malakai narrows his eyes on me.
“Get going, I’ll be back soon,” I tell them.
“If you’re sure?” she says and I nod.
They leave quickly, moving around the four assholes before disappearing down the hall.
“I’m guessing you all missed lunch?” I give them an innocent expression.
Theon glares at me. “Luckily, it seems.”
I shrug trying to act nonchalant when I feel everything but. “If you hadn’t shut me out, I would have been able to give you all a heads up,” I admit, starting to feel more pissed than hurt right now.
Knox clenches his jaw. “You shut us out all the time.”
They’re right I do. But I also let them in. Let them see parts of me I never let anyone see.
But I guess none of that matters now.
“If that’s how we’re doing this, then let’s keep it that way.” I take a step back from them and watch them still.
“In fact, none of you even have to stay here. There’s nothing keeping you here now anyway, right?” If they can’t accept who I am now, then maybe it’s better this way.
“Head back to the Shadow Academy,” I tell them while avoiding their gazes. Rather than pass them, I turn around with every intention of climbing back down the side of the building.
“Sena?!” Theon calls out, but I ignore him and quicken my pace, locking down every damn connection between us, so they don’t feel or sense how vulnerable and damn broken I’m starting to feel.