23. Loveleena
LOVELEENA
Loveleena hadn’t seen much of Serena or Ren since the first week of school, and now an entire month had gone by, and she still wasn’t any closer to finding Park.
The whole school was clique-y, but the Slayers seemed to have some sort of edge over the rest of the specialties. Logically, the Clevers should be the ones with the most intel. But the Clevers had their heads buried in books, so busy with data that they forgot to stop and look around.
Slayers had social power which she needed, badly.
Her noble name was useless, as no one seemed to care about her familial association here.
And if she didn’t have that, she needed to get in with the Slayers and capitalize on their perceived social standing.
Plus, the way Serena and her friends reacted to Park’s name at breakfast that day told her Park had been here, and for whatever reason, the Slayers knew him.
If she could earn their trust, she was sure it would lead her to Park.
Surprisingly, she was fairly skilled at Combat and seemed to outperform most of her classmates.
That was wild to her since she hadn’t fought a day in her life.
But every time she stepped onto the Battlegrounds, she channeled all of her emotions about Park’s disappearance into her training and managed to beat her opponent regularly.
Not that her opponents were particularly skilled.
At this point, she was mostly fighting fellow first years. But even so, it gave her a leg up.
A month into Mastery—the course that taught hands-on creature skills—Professor Mescal Harlan finally brought in a real creature.
Where he captured and kept them was anyone’s guess.
Mastery was the busiest and biggest lecture because all first years attended together.
Second and third years did most of their Mastery education out beyond the wall, she was told.
Unfortunately, she had almost every class with Kumani.
It was bad enough she was stuck with Kumani as a roommate, which they discovered very quickly made it impossible not to speak to each other.
They agreed to be friends, but still, Loveleena tried to keep their interactions short and to the point.
Kumani was becoming increasingly suspicious of Loveleena.
She still didn’t believe the lukewarm story about deciding to become a Defender all of a sudden.
She suspected there was an ulterior motive.
There was, but Loveleena had no desire to involve her in it.
Reluctantly, she made it through Alchemy and Strategy by partnering up with Kumani, who seemed to have a knack for both specialties.
She copied Kumani’s assignments, making small changes here and there so it looked like her own, and memorized the material as she went.
Kumani still had no idea, and Loveleena intended to keep it that way.
What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. Overall, she was actually pretty pleased with herself given her lack of preparation for this whole student Defender thing.
She had always attracted people like a mulberry wine bar on a warm summer evening, and it was no different here at the Academy.
She had been late for class on several occasions because she had been busy talking to second and third years, trying to casually see if they would mention anything about Park.
They didn’t. She wrongly assumed that her professors would give her a little leeway since she was a noble and all.
But here, the professors treated her just like everyone else.
She had made friends with a group from Trivium: Kumani, Artie, Rory, Ahmina, and Emerson.
As an Alva, she had always been protected.
Safe. But here at the Academy she was exposed.
For the first time in her life, she felt very out of her depth.
Noble rules didn’t apply here. In fact, nothing she was used to applied here.
Her name didn’t protect her. Which was why she was grateful to have found a friend group.
It was still a little awkward between her and Kumani, but the familiarity comforted her.
At first, she was just focused on getting her bearings.
But now that enough time had gone by, the grief of not being able to say goodbye to her family loomed over her.
She constantly pushed down the guilt that threatened to rise, waging a quiet war in her chest. She may have resented the expectations her parents had of her as a noble daughter, but she still loved them and missed them dearly.
She felt awful for leaving without saying goodbye to her siblings, as annoying as they were.
Guilt gnawing at her, she sat in Trivium with the rest of her squad, waiting to be advised on what their first assessment would entail.
“By the way…” She sat on top of Ahmina’s desk, her legs folded in front of her. “Thanks again for the toiletries. You’re a life saver.”
Since her first week, she had managed to convince Headmaster Adeyemi to lend her enough coins to purchase undergarments and loungewear from Defender Village, promising that her family would send money once they received the letter she’d sent explaining her absence.
She couldn’t bear to think they were worrying about her as she had Park. Thankfully, Adeyemi conceded.
Ahmina looked appalled that Loveleena was sitting on her desk. “It was no problem.”
Loveleena’s noblewoman manners kicked in, and she untangled her legs, swinging them over the side to join the conversation beside her.
“They’re probably going to toss us in to fight the Hydras,” Artie said. Since the start of school, it had become the thing to joke about getting thrown into the Hydra enclosure.
“Why would they do that?” Ahmina said, rolling her eyes. “We’d literally all just die.”
Loveleena watched Lennox to try and gauge his reaction, but his face remained neutral, glancing back and forth between Artie and Rory as they spoke.
“Why else would they keep them caged up like that?” Artie said.
“They’re studying them in a more controlled environment,” Lennox said casually. “Which is why they’re on the outer edge of the wall.”
“See, Artie, they’re NOT used to wipe out an entire class of first years,” Rory argued.
“I didn’t say that,” Lennox said, looking delighted at the prospect of it.
“Hydras are aggressive in nature, yes, but they don’t attack unless they have no way to escape,” Ahmina said, hands clasped in her lap. “So I would assume that they put different stimuli in the cage with them to see how they respond while enclosed.”
“And?” Loveleena asked. She eyed Lennox suspiciously.
“They kill every time, ruthlessly shredding their opponent in seconds.” The whole room went silent, listening to his words.
“Well, if that’s ever going to be part of an assessment, I doubt it will be the first one,” Kumani said as the voice of reason.
“So, what’s our first test then?” Artie questioned.
“I'm not telling you what it is; that would take away the fun in watching you all scramble.” Lennox leaned back in his chair, a glint in his eye.
“This isn’t a game, Lennox; we could die,” Ahmina said, scowling.
“You could but you probably won’t.”
“How do you know?” Ahmina crossed her arms.
“You won’t.” He looked her in the eye as he said it, and Loveleena shifted in her seat at the tension. She couldn’t place it, but she felt as though some unspoken conversation was happening between them.
“Why is everyone so somber? You didn’t kill someone already, did you?” Ren strode into the room like he owned the place. Arrogant jerk, she thought. He was sweaty and fatigued, wearing his usual stick-straight northerner posture—it made him look more like a glowering statue than a real person.
“About time you showed up,” Lennox said.
“Missed me that much, Lenny?” Not waiting for a response, Ren turned his attention to the others. “We ran into a challenge while out doing field work. Professor Barrow instructed me to tell you to meet back here later this evening at sunset.”
A few students groaned, and everyone packed up their things. Loveleena waited for her peers to shuffle out before approaching Ren.
“I need to talk to you,” she said, trying to keep up with his speed as they walked down the hall. She was dying to tell him about her interaction with Serena in the mess hall and ask him about Park.
“Not now, Alva.”
“It’s important.”
He didn’t even look at her. “Later.”
She slowed as he walked off, contempt brewing in her veins.