"We need to go to the left here," she says. "Why what?"
I let out a pent up sigh. "Why aren't you more annoyed about this?"
"This being you asking about Mathias, or that I'm showing you to your room?"
"Both?" As much as it surprises me, I can already feel myself warming up to her.
"Mathias may be my friend, but he's more than capable of looking after himself. And you don't need to worry, he hasn't had a serious girlfriend in the entire time I've known him."
"Ah, so he sleeps around." That's not good.
She snorts in amusement. "No, I don't think so. He just likes to flirt, but secretly, he's a bit of a romantic." She stops at a door with one-hundred-and-fifty-seven written on it. "This is you."
She slots a key into the door and pulls it open, gesturing for me to enter.
A small grateful smile spreads over my face as I slip into the room.
"Would you like to come in? I have a few more questions." I know I don't need all of them answering right away, but it'll help.
"Absolutely," she responds, coming to join me.
I glance around the room and decide to settle myself on the bed. My bed. That's a surreal thought. I've never had a room to myself before, but now I do. It's a weird feeling and is going to take some getting used to.
Juliet pulls out the rolling desk chair and takes a seat. "What would you like to know?"
I bite my bottom lip. That's a good question. Everything is racing around my head as I try to get a handle on what's happening.
"Can you see the ghosts too?" I blurt.
"Yes. All reapers can. But I can't talk to them. That's why we work in pairs."
"Oh." I'm sure my confusion must show on my face.
"Some reapers around the world learn how to do it differently. There's one sect who like to take a special kind of mushroom that lets the ghosts communicate with them, but it's not nice. I wouldn't try it if I were you," she warns.
"Duly noted."
"Lessons haven't been going on for that long," she continues. "So you won't have much catching up to do. And we'll all be here to help you. Especially those of us here in Sakura Grove, it's right there in our Grove motto, every stranger is an opportunity."
"That's an interesting motto."
"A little, but it's been that since the founding of the academy, there's no changing it now."
"What does being in a Grove mean?" I blurt. "I'm not really clear on that."
"Did you not have Houses at your previous school?" she asks.
I shake my head.
"Ah, I can see how that might be confusing. The Groves are just a way to promote different people working together. Otherwise, students tend to stick to their friends and no one else."
"But won't everyone just make friends within their Grove instead?"
An uneasy expression crosses her face. "A lot of us already knew one another before coming here," she admits. "But that doesn't mean anything. You'll make friends in no time."
I'm not sure I completely believe her about that. I've never really been one to make friends, even if I also haven't made a lot of enemies either. I'm the kind of person who fades into the background and no one pays any attention to.
But maybe that's because people sensed I was different in some way. We didn't have many supernaturals at my school.