She took off before I could demand to know how they planned on finding me at ‘all times,’ and I tried not to take it personally. Emmy didn’t deal with stress very well, and whenever I got into too much trouble, she always went silent, drawn into a private little crisis on my behalf.
Wait … at all times? Were there restrictions? What if they needed me when I was in the bathroom? What if more than one of the rooms needed me at the same time?
“Deal with it later,” I murmured to myself, slipping on my flat boots.
They were the only pair I owned, but they were of the highest quality. They had been handcrafted by my mother, before she decided that leather work was a waste of her time, and that it’d be more productive for her to spend her sun-cycles exploring the tavern instead. I had expected Leader Graham to pull her up many life-cycles ago, since there was no room for those who were without skills to exist in the village. Everyone must pay their way. Everyone must provide. She managed to get away with it though, and I hated to think about what she might have exchanged for her special privileges.
Still, I wondered how she was doing without Emmy and me. I wondered if she’d even noticed yet. A yearning for home sank into my body, filtering through my blood and into my bones. Settling in with permanence. I had to accept that I’d never go back. I knew that, logically; but emotionally, being at Blesswood still didn’t feel real. If Emmy hadn’t been there, I’d have probably started thinking about escape by now. I’d have taken my chances on the road through the nine rings, and made my way back to the village.
“Will! Hurry up! The next bell is about to ring and you haven’t eaten yet!”
Emmy’s voice cut through my moment of sadness, indicating that she was actually waiting for me at the end of the hallway. I sprang into action, my feet tangling in the bedsheets I hadn’t bothered to put back up on my rock-hard bed. It had been so narrow and uncomfortable that early this morning I’d ended up on the floor. Which was why I was now tripping over the sheets and flying through the air.
I tumbled out of the open doorway, the stone floor biting into my skin. I heard a deep sigh above me, and by the time I stared up, a bandage had appeared in Emmy’s hand. It took her a click to patch up my elbows, and quickly stitch the hole in the knee of my black pants. A new record, for her.
The bells tolled again then, and we started running. I managed to snatch up two pieces of hard bread from the almost empty tray of food which sat on the table in the main recruits’ room, shovelling the tasteless cardboard into my mouth as I hurried after my friend.
“You need to attend to your dorms first,” Emmy breathlessly informed me, as we ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
It was a miracle that I didn’t crack my skull open at any point.
Which reminded me … “I forgot the cap to hide my hair,” I mumbled around my breakfast.
Swallowing it, I took a moment to run my hands over my head. Shit. My hair wasn’t even pulled back, instead hanging in a mass of scruffy, white-blond curls. “My hair is out, and the boobs, Emmy. I didn’t wear a top to hide the boobs!” My top was white for freak’s sake. White and fitted. It was actually my usual sleep-shirt—I’d been too busy agonising to change properly. I might as well have just stepped out naked.
Emmy grabbed my hands, pulling them from my hair, before she started dragging me in her now-familiar way. “Don’t worry about it. The sols have early training in the arena, so none of them will be in their rooms. If you pass any, just keep your head down and hopefully they won’t notice you.”
Before I could protest again, she was gone. Dashing across the domed room, heading east toward the female dorms. We knew the layout from our basic tour the previous sun-cycle, but it was easy to lose direction—everything looked so similar. I did at least remember where the male dorms were. The path lay to the west, on the opposite side to where I was supposed to be cleaning. Supply carts were located at the beginning of the sleeping quarters, which meant that I had nothing to hide behind until I got there. Wrapping my hair up in my hands, I quickly swirled it around, and then tucked it into the back of my shirt. This was the best I had. I took off with my head lowered, my eyes constantly moving to make sure no sol crossed my path.