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Chapter 23: Warped

Chapter 23: Warped

AMBER’S MOUTH WAS DRY AND when she opened her eyes she saw the grey floor, inches away from her face. Sitting up, she surveyed the room. Her heart beat fast and hard against her ribcage and she could feel the thumps resounding through her limbs like the thuds of her knives on the targets. It was elevated, almost as fast as when she had “training” sessions with Leone and Janna.

When she picked up one of the knives that had been scattered all around the room and looked at herself in the twisted metal of its blade, she saw her messed up, tangled hair, and lower – her eyebrows drawn together, and lower once more – eyes like lumps of silver. It’s getting easier and easier to switch. I almost don’t feel it anymore. She flung the blade over her shoulder and barely registered the clang when it landed among the others.

She wished the knives would just disappear, and then she might feel a little better. The others would be walking by her room soon to go to dinner, and they would see. But she didn’t feel like standing up from her slumped-seated-almost-falling-over position. On the other hand, there wasn’t much point in preventing them from confirming something all of them already knew. Let them be afraid. The thought sent something too similar to anticipation running down her spine. For now. I’ll solve that problem later. She glanced down again, at the knives with their twisted blades, and their metal shinier than ever, but warped like a frozen waterfall.

One flash of emotion and she’d split and sharpened blades into weapons more dangerous than their original use. Maybe I’m dangerous even without the whole Demon thing. She’d have control though. That was enough to get everything back on track.

Voices floated down the corridor, from the direction of their bedrooms. Too late. She stretched out her legs, then curled her knees into her chest, pressing her cheek to her kneecaps and watching the window out of the corner of her eye. At least I didn’t outright change this time. It’s just a small thing. A small, small thing… Daniel and Leone walked by, chatting and smiling. They seemed to be getting closer and closer the more time they spent at the Athenaeum – she could see that even though she hadn’t talked to Daniel in a week. They’re more like mother and son than Nicholas and Leone are, maybe more than they’re ever going to be.

Leone glanced into her training room and gave her a fleeting smile, despite having taken in its current state of littered weapons. She said something that made Daniel laugh, probably so he wouldn’t look in, and she caught the glint of light off his glasses and behind that, green eyes flashing with mirth. The not-anticipation feeling ran another lap up her spine. They disappeared beyond her line of sight.

Now she had to wait till dinner was over, so Sol could come back, assess the damage and hopefully tell her she was done for the day. She wasn’t going to move till then. Someone would clean up after her. A knock on the glass of her window drew her attention back to it. Nicholas winked as if in greeting and pointed at the knives on the floor. He raised an eyebrow and, seeing his curious look, she turned away, digging her nails into the flesh of her calves. Sometimes I want to kill him as much as Daniel does – no, did. She didn’t know what happened after they got shoved in a room together, but they seemed fine now. If only other things could be solved so easily.

Calida might have walked by her room in the minutes that passed after Nicholas disappeared, but she didn’t raise her head to see her. She wasn’t worth looking for anyway. Amber passed the time by staring at the walls and the ceiling, examining the angles at which her knives had hit the targets and doing anything she could not to look at what lay on the floor around her.