“Hey, Rocks, we’re going to need some help over here!”
I froze, before slowly defrosting enough to face Emmy.
“What should I do? If I ignore them will they come over here and kill me?” I was whispering frantically under my breath, trying to make myself as small as possible against the wall.
“Are they talking to you?” Atti asked, his voice going a bit high-pitched at the end. “What is ‘rocks?’ Why are they singling you out?”
Great freaking question. What the hell did they want with me? Come on, gods, this just isn’t funny anymore.
“Are you deaf, Rocks?”
I let out a little shriek, before plunging forward and head-butting the hard chest of a sol that had appeared to stand before me.
I hit him with a solid thud, but his body didn’t even shift an inch. I, on the other hand, was shot back against the wall where I crumbled like a bag of … you guessed it … rocks. Looking up through messy hair, I knew I was staring at one of the Abcurse brothers, but not one I had seen before. He was golden. There was no other way to describe him. Rich, golden hair, the colour of the sun as it crests the sky in the early morning. His skin was also sun-kissed, his eyes like newly-cut topazes, the yellow jewel which was mined in the fourth ring. He was prettier than his brothers. Like really freaking gorgeous. No shiny sol would ever compare to this one; and that made me very wary.
He grinned at me, displaying his perfect white teeth, and there were suddenly all these warm feelings around my heart. Like happiness had sprouted throughout my body and was spreading like a weed.
He offered me his hand, and I knew from the gasps along the line of resident-dwellers that he was paying far more attention to me than a sol normally did to a dweller. Ignoring it—sure it was a trap—I pulled myself up and pressed back against the wall. The sol reached out then, dropping one of his hands against the wall. “No need to throw yourself at me, sweetheart.” His low, lilting words drifted into my ear. “If you ask nicely, I’m sure we could sort something out … Why don’t you give it a try? My name is Aros … go ahead, say please, Aros—”
Before I could stutter out some asinine reply, a voice cut across the room. “Hey, Seduction, get your ass back over here! We don’t need Rocks anymore.”
Siret dismissed me as the rest of the sols laughed like it was the funniest thing any Minatsol inhabitant had ever said. Aros drew back, his smile dimming to a half-smirk. “Guess I’ll see you around, dweller.”
Then he was gone, taking all his warmth and energy with him. I sagged against the wall, chest heaving in and out as I fought for air. Atti turned sympathetic eyes on me, his brow creased as he dropped a hand briefly on my shoulder. “I’m really sorry, Willa. Those five are trouble and any dweller who catches their eye hasn’t lasted very long in Blesswood. As soon as they turn their attention to one of us, they make it their mission to destroy …” He trailed off, seeing the look of horror on my face, and then tried for something a little more supportive. “If you can manage it, stay as far from them as you can. Don’t let them see you, and they’ll eventually get bored and turn their attention to someone else.”
I didn’t reply. I was still trying to catch my breath. His advice was great, someone just needed to tell my clumsy curse and the gods, because they clearly weren’t done amusing themselves with my misfortunes yet. Emmy remained quiet, choosing not to mention the encounter as we dragged ourselves back to our dingy little dweller cave. She was trying to be considerate, because she knew me well enough to know that I definitely didn’t want to analyse what had happened. She asked me once if I was okay, and I grunted out a reply. That was the extent of our conversation for the night, and I quickly fell onto the second bed in her room, even though I was pretty sure there was a room in the male dweller section with Will Knight written above the door. I pulled the blankets over my head, screwed my eyes closed, and forbade the Abcurse brothers from haunting me until sunrise.
The next morning, all dweller recruits were up with the sound of bells, indicating first light—which of course we couldn’t see from our concrete tomb.
“When do we pull night duty?” I asked Emmy as we quickly dressed. We didn’t exactly have uniforms, but the requirement was plain colours, and a modest amount of coverage, so as not to offend the sols with our dirt-dweller-ness.
“You’re on call for your dorm rooms at all times,” she said, pulling on her black top, which had long sleeves, and hung almost to mid-thigh.