She laughs, catching my sarcasm. “It’s funny now, but you won’t be laughing by dinner. Which, by the way, we eat in the cafeteria as a big group. One big dysfunctional family.”
“Great,” I say. “I can’t wait for that.”
Sadie starts walking again. “Here’s your first class. Ask the teacher at the end for directions to the next class. Don’t trust any of the students to give you correct directions.”
“Got it. Everyone is out to get me,” I deadpan.
“It’s true,” she says. “You and me, we’re different. There aren’t a lot of non-demon kids in this school and I think we freaks should stick together.”
I force a smile. Her sentiment is nice, but it’s not exactly heartening to be called afreak. That’s what it felt like growing up. When you’re a foster kid and the word gets out that your mom killed herself, you’re seen as different. I suppose maybe it helped prepare me for this in some weird way.
“I’ll see you at dinner,” Sadie says. “You remember how to get back to the room?”
“Yeah.” There’s one question that has been nagging me since I got here and I can’t hold it in anymore. “Hey, Sadie.”
She turns back to look at me. “Yeah?”
“Do dead people come here? Like they say in the stories?”
“Kind of,” she says. “Souls do, but not whole people.” Her brow furrows. “Your mom?”
I nod. “Just figured I should prepare myself, you know. Don’t want to turn a corner and run into her unexpectedly.”
“She won’t be here,” she says. “Angels go to another place after they die.”
“She might have been an angel, but she was noangel,” I say.
“Even the bad ones go there,” she says. “They only end up here if they choose to come here.”
Well, that explained why the evil prince was so pissed about my mom. And why he was surprised when he found out she was dead. So she was somewhere else. Or at least her soul was.
I tuck that knowledge away to explore more later. Right now, I have a first class to tackle.