“What girl?” Junior asks, cocking his head to the side.
“The human, Ryxa Day.” Both Seth and I say at the same time.
“You know it creeps me out when the two of you speak like tha-. Wait did you say Ryxa Day?”
“Yup.” We both pop the P and then laugh.
“She’s the girl I ran into in the office and the one Kier was going on about.” He brushes his hand through his silver-white hair. “I swear for a moment there I thought I was seeing my mother when I first saw her.” Junior says, making us both turn to stare at him with our mouths open. He’s never once shown an ounce of interest in any girl, not even when he was attending the school here two years ago.
“Don’t look at me like that.” He says, jumping to his feet and walking across the grass towards the bathrooms. “I have no interest in humans.” He stops walking and turns to face the two of us. “Although, I’m not entirely convinced she is human.” The cocky smirk twisting his lips makes my insides churn.
“Who’s not human?” All three of us groan at the sound of Deite’s shrill voice. I briefly had a fling with her last year. I mean come on, she’s smoking hot and has a mouth like a hoover; of course, I had a thing for her, but it ended the moment she began making plans for our wedding. I wasn’t ready then, nor am I ready now, to tie myself to someone like her. She might be good in bed, but she thinks the sun shines out of her own ass.
“Just a singer, her voice is so angelic she doesn’t seem human.” I lie, holding my breath for a few beats, hoping she buys it.
Thankfully she nods, but she also comes closer, placing her hand on my arm, “Yeah, I’ve heard of her. Some of the other Gods have been questioning it too.” Her hand goes up my arm and latches onto my bicep. I want to shudder in revulsion at the feel of her skin on mine, but I hold my body still, refusing to allow her the satisfaction of a reaction from me.
“I even heard a rumour that they think she might be a Siren. She did rise to fame in days where most humans take months to gain that kind of a following.” She keeps talking as we walk inside the building. I manage to wriggle out of her grasp as we reach the bathrooms. I slip into the men’s room and the bloody bitch follows, continuing to talk. “I know I came on too strong last year, but I thought, since we’re both more mature now-.”
“No. Get out.” I snarl, slamming the door to the shower stall and locking it for good measure.
“You heard the man, leave.” Seth laughs as he too locks himself inside one of the stalls.
“Don’t tell me what to do Seth!” She snaps, banging on the stall I’m hiding in. “Let me in, Ty, we need to talk about this.”
“That’s five demerits, this is the men’s bathroom.” Junior snaps. I peer over the shower stall door and smirk as I see Junior shoving her out the main door of the bathroom and closing it in her face. “Why is that so satisfying?” He asks on a laugh.
“Because she’s a bitch who won’t take no for an answer?” I mutter under my breath as I turn the water on. Sleeping with that bitch was the biggest mistake I ever made.
SEVEN
RYXA
Orientation was boring. Not only did they make us walk all around the grounds but they took us on a walk through the entire castle. Going up and down seven flights of stairs is killer on the butt muscles and thighs.
Finally, our last stop on the tour is the top floor of the main building within the castle walls. Our guide, Ms Harker, takes us up the stairs that lead to the God’s residence, the very same stairs that Golden had tried to convince me to ascend earlier. At the top of the stairs, we emerge onto a landing that is set out like a medieval sitting room.
Then we’re shown a God’s room. It’s obvious from the stale air that no God actually lives in this room, however, the sheer size of it would be capable of holding at least four people in each room comfortably. And by each room, I’m referring to the fact that the Gods-in-training seem to have mini apartments all to themselves. A sitting room, two bedrooms, their own little kitchen/dining area and full bathrooms. Considering there are only supposed to be ten Gods-in-training here at any given time, it stands to reason there’d only be ten God rooms.
I’m wrong.
As Ms Harker explains it, there’s also two junior Gods who live on this floor of the castle. We pass several more rooms, all of which have their doors firmly closed and then down another hallway, past another set of stairs and emerge into what looks like a common room.
“Communal bathrooms are to the left. She points to the two doors clearly marked with the little blue male and female signs, then she takes ten steps and waves her hands towards the row of doors down the final hallway.
“Dorms are co-ed, don’t do anything stupid, the Gods have very strict rules and anyone breaking them will be removed from the school. You’ll find your names on the boards attached to the doors. Inside you’ll find your rulebook, a printed schedule and all the necessary supplies you’ll need.”
She turns away from us, then spins back to face us, “You’re all expected to be at the dining hall for the evening meal between five and seven and at the arena at six sharp tomorrow morning. Anyone late will be on cleaning duty for the rest of the month.” With those parting words, she leaves us all standing there gaping.
“Come on, Ryx, let’s see who they’ve housed us with.” Eric says, pulling on my arm to get me moving. We don’t even take two steps before Eric lets out a groan. “Hope you don’t snore Ryx.” The very first dorm room has both our names on the board hanging from a brass hook on the door, along with the number eight right above the hook.
“This should be interesting.” I mutter, trying to hide my nervousness as Eric opensourdorm room door. Our room is nothing like the God’s ones. It’s just that, a single room with two single beds, a wardrobe on either side of the room and two matching desks and chairs. Hidden behind a door in the back corner of the room is a half bath, with only a toilet, sink and a small cabinet.
“So this isn’t awkward at all.” Eric laughs as he opens the wardrobe on the left hand side of the room. The wardrobe has only shelves and a single space for hanging, no drawers, which means he’s standing there staring right at my lacy underwear. The blush covering my skin is not pretty in the least. After standing still for far too long, he shuts the wardrobe door with a sheepish grin, “I guess this side of the room is supposed to be yours.”
“You think?” I mutter looking at the bright pink bedding on the bed. His bed has plain black bedding and I’m almost tempted to tell him to swap with me just so I don’t have nightmares about being surrounded by so much pink.
“There’s a partition that pulls out from the wall.” He says, pulling said partition across the room. “It doesn’t go the entire length, but it separates the beds and wardrobes, so at least we’ll have some semblance of privacy.”