Holy shit. “What if I win?” I quickened my steps, trying to walk right behind them.
I was pandering to their obviously competitive nature, and hoping that I lasted longer than a single rotation in the process. It was a dangerous game, but dangerous games were pretty much the only games I knew how to play, so at least I was in familiar territory.
“Well then I guess you win the favours,” Siret returned thoughtfully. “Should we let her play?” he asked the others.
“She doesn’t have a gift,” Yael pointed out. “She’s way out of her league.”
They definitely underestimated the power of my clumsy-curse.
“So there’s no harm in letting me play,” I added gently. I was attempting to be coaxing. Siret snorted—he clearly wasn’t buying it.
“Sure.” He grinned, walking backwards again to show me the way his cat’s eyes were crinkling at the corners. “You can play with the big boys, little dirt-dweller.”
“But you guys can’t use your gifts,” I quickly added, now that he’d already agreed. “Because then it’s no fun, no challenge. You want at least a little bit of a challenge, don’t you?”
“Is the dweller trying to manipulate us?” Yael asked the others. He sounded unimpressed and bemused all at once.
“Cute,” Aros added, his silky voice doing funny things to me. “It manipulates.”
Wow. Ouch.
We entered a classroom, and even though I knew it wasn’t the classroom I was supposed to be in, I still attempted to move against the wall with all the other dwellers. It was Siret who stopped me, grabbing my arm with a chuckle and forcing me past a few rows of shocked sols toward the back row of seats. I suspected that people left the back row of each classroom purposefully empty, just for the Abcurse brothers. He dragged me into the row and forced me to take a seat beside him. Aros claimed the seat on my other side, and Yael lowered himself into the aisle seat, indicating that I’d have to fight past two of them if I wanted to escape. I stared back at the sea of faces all now staring at me. They weren’t staring at the Abcurse brothers, even though they were clearly at fault for this. Nope. Apparently, I was going to be the one to take the fall, because nobody wanted to punish them.
Teacher Christin—or at least I assumed it was the same teacher that the guys had mentioned—strolled into the room, her nose stuck into a book, a mumbled, “Hello students,” floating eerily over the still-staring room full of sols. She glanced up when she realised that nobody had answered, and her eyes traced all the attention back to me.
“Dweller?” She seemed too surprised to think of anything more to say.
And now I had a choice. I could get myself sentenced to death-by-sacrifice, and somehow use the favours I won to get myself out of the death-by-sacrifice, or I could … Run? Hide? Play dead? Ask to use the bathroom? I really had no idea.
“Last I checked,” I attempted to drawl nonchalantly. “That’s me. I’m a dweller. Dirty, er, dirtiness and everything. What’s it to you, woman?”
Her mouth dropped, her fingers loosening around the book. I watched as it fell—seemingly in slow motion—toward the floor, landing with a deafening thump that echoed off the walls. She looked toward the sols either side of me, probably hoping for some kind of explanation. The sols admittedly looked a little put-off, but I was sure it was only because they hadn’t actually thought that I would try to get myself sentenced to death. Pfft. They clearly didn’t know me.
“Now insult her again,” Yael suggested, his persuasive voice washing over me.
He wasn’t actually using his gift on me, but he was making it sound as though he was. Now I couldn’t insult her again, otherwise it would be because of him that I got sentenced to death. I turned to glare at him, but he wasn’t paying attention to me. He was leaning back, his arms crossed over his broad chest, his green eyes almost shining, because he was just that entertained by the rapidly reddening face of the teacher.
“I’ll do what I want!” I exclaimed, surging to my feet and attempting to barge past Aros to poke a finger into Yael’s face.
Unfortunately, Aros had only drawn back enough for me to get one leg past before slipping forward in his seat again. His knees closed around my other leg, trapping me solidly. He was much stronger than he looked. I froze, my eyes locked onto Yael’s face. Whatever insult I had been mustering, ready to shout at him, died. I could feel it fizzle out, making way for shock. I didn’t even know why I was so shocked, I really didn’t. It had nothing to do with the fact that even sitting next to Aros had been making my head spin a little bit, and it definitely had nothing to do with the fact that him now touching me had scattered my brains to the far ends of the room. I was avoiding looking at him, but Yael was meeting my stare, and he had this knowing expression on his face that made me want to sucker-punch him in the face.
So …