17. Zeina
ZEINA
Zeina watched the first-year tours from the roof of a building in the Defender Village.
It was a great vantage point, and she was quite proud to have found it so quickly.
While eavesdropping, she learned some of the students’ and professors’ names, and because she was so high up, she could see most of the school grounds and old Jarrah town.
Still, she couldn’t see beyond the wall.
From a distance, she watched as three Defenders climbed a ladder that led to an enclave at the top of the wall.
They threw buckets of whatever passed for Hydra feed over its edge and descended back down the ladder as quickly as they came.
On the other side, the Hydra roared in response, their beaks snapping.
Tales of the Academy’s Hydra were legendary. For a long time, she didn’t even believe the Academy housed Hydra, let alone that the creatures posed any real threat. So, when she heard them bellow, curiosity got the better of her, and she had to see them for herself.
After the Defenders were long gone, the sun dipped below the mountains and the Glowbugs surfaced, Zeina climbed up the steel ladder to the top of the wall.
It was a long climb, and even though Zeina was comfortable with heights, the journey still set her nerves on edge.
Once at the top, she clung to the walls of the small enclave for safety.
The Defenders had left multiple buckets laying around and the smell of rotting flesh was potent.
What or who the skin once belonged to, she wasn’t sure.
She covered her nose to shield from the foul smell.
The view was incredible, unlike anything Zeina had seen in her life, and she took a shuddering breath. The vast forest beyond the wall spread as far as the eye could see, and below her in a giant iron enclosure on the other side of the wall lay three Hydra.
Sleeping. They were sleeping.
All curled up in a pile, their long-spiked tails and multiple heads intertwined, resting on shoulders and torsos, their skin covered in a pattern of navy and seafoam scales.
They looked so peaceful. And even though, logically speaking, she knew they were deadly, her heart still ached a little, seeing them caged like that.
Even as the last of the light melted from the sky, she remained there.
Sitting with her back to stone, she watched the Gala.
As the night progressed, the laughter and screams of students and faculty grew louder.
It was quite a beautiful sight, really. The candles made the colorful flowers of the courtyard glow like lanterns, and she soaked in the joyful energy of the crowd.
She was used to being on the outside of parties, birthdays, and celebrations.
She never let herself imagine what it would be like to go to one, because it never felt possible.
But tonight, she let her mind wonder. She pictured herself in a deep red gown with pink accents and jewelry up her arms. She’d place beading in her hair, carefully, like the girls her age did, and she would pin the sides to frame her face.
She imagined herself talking with a group of fellow students.
“It’s a nice night,” she would say, and someone would reply, “It’s beautiful. ”
She lived in this alternate universe, one where she was accepted—welcomed, even—until she felt sleepy and the last of the candles burned out.
The Hydras had awoken and started wailing, signaling feeding time.
Hurriedly, she climbed back down the wall as quickly as she could to avoid the Defenders who would soon come with fresh buckets of rotted carcass.
As she made her way back across campus, reality hit.
The cool night air sent a shiver across her arms, and she rubbed them to rid of her goosebumps. Time to look for a place to sleep.