CHAPTER 37: A NEW VEIN

Raising a shattered face to the heavens, the dark Titaness fought back, beginning a struggle that lasted for over a decade.

“All right, all right, start packing together now. We’ve got a lot to cover today.” An official-looking young man stepped in through the doors of the Somnasium right behind them, chainmail flashing from beneath his iron-grey business suit. A clipboard was tucked beneath his arm, and his fingers flicked across a bronze abacus while he spoke and walked at the same time. “As you know, at the end of the year before the next, we perform proficiency exams to determine your progress throughout this past year and help determine placement for the next. That does not mean we are not still observing the time you spend-”

  Bridget slipped back into her thoughts, lingering on the subtle armor the newest guest teacher for Cell Maneuvers wore. If only armor was any good to her family. It certainly hadn’t done her father any good. At the thought of Kerr, her mouth twisted at the edges. A very horrible part of her wished that he had worn less, that it had been less effective, moved out of the way even faster–

  “Bridget pay attention!” Niles hissed. “I’m not failing because you’re running off doing whatever. This is important!”

  “Lay off her.” Tuck retorted quietly, yet with enough of a rare show of force in his voice that it raised his cousin’s eyebrows. Once he was sure Niles was done, he added, “We can do a recap before our turn, if needed.”

  Niles’ mouth went flat, the line of his shoulders snapping taut to match as he whipped back around to continue listening.

  “--in pairs. One will be responsible for escorting the ‘package’ which we will call the BoneEagle egg for the sake of this exercise, the other pair of the Cell will be responsible for defending them long enough to make it from one side,” The instructor pointed to the right side of the Somnasium, “to the other. If your package sustains damage, the exercise is over.”

  Despite the simplicity in his instructions, the exercise seemed to be one in torture rather than teamwork or defense. Warrin’s Cell barely made it a quarter of the way across before disastrously slipping down a small muddy slope that the Instructor covered with vines, their ‘egg’ cracking at the bottom. Parvati’s group was overrun by a single illusory BoneEagle that still managed to gouge the rock, Thurston’s slipped when trying to cast defensive spells, and the rest were similarly harried into damaging theirs.

  Their instructor watched silently, meticulously taking notes on a clipboard with what could only be described as a gleeful smile in the corner of his mouth, resetting the room’s terrain after each failure so no single group got an advantage.

  “I want Tuck with me,” Niles said when their turn came up before anyone could open their mouth. “We’re on defense.”

  Gail looked like she was about to object when the lancer added. “I need someone that’s going to have my back and not just try to murder the thing. I wouldn’t run off and leave one of you behind, and Tuck won’t either.”

  Briddy shrugged, making her way over to the large, egg-shaped rock that sat at one side of the circular room. Gail followed, muttering obscenities under her breath about what she’d leave Niles.

  “Didn’t Tuck charge in and leave all of us behind in the first group exercise we ever did?” Bridget said, crouching down to pick up the heavy stone.

  “Yep,” Gail grunted, taking her place on the other side.

  They shared a long-suffering look as Niles and Tuck flanked them, wielding their weapons and watching the sky. Silver-fine tendrils of fog around them hardened into golden-dun dunes, and then they were off. Within seconds, the BoneEagle’s jointed talons were scraping at their ears, the treacherous ground and their heavy cargo making it nearly impossible for the girls to dodge.

  Halfway across, Niles got Tuck to launch him into the air in a flailing facsimile of Adelaide’s vault from the Guildhunt, and Bridget had to resist rolling her eyes. Gail had no such qualms.

  “I would’ve done it better.” She muttered.

  “Jealous,” Bridget grunted.

  Gail tried to swat her, her grip slipping on the stone. Briddy slid to a knee in an effort to catch it, toppling to her side when her friend lost touch completely. She rolled down the sandy dune as she protected their package with her body, barrelling over and over. The breath was knocked from her body as she fell, the light blending into the ground before blazing bright once more.

  A raging screech rang out from overhead as Bridget slid to a stop, and she looked up just in time to see the BoneEagle swooping, Niles still partially attached to its back. Releasing the egg, Vex sprang to her hands as she struggled to get to her feet, putting her body between their package and the creature.

  She was swinging the golden blade into a defensive position when Tuck and Gail came crashing down the dune, war cries leaving their lips as they swung into the BoneEagle. Niles was launched off its back somewhere into the distance as Gail drove the beast’s head into the ground, and Tuck came to scoop up Bridget and the egg.

  “Let’s get going.” He said, covered in sand and out of breath.

  The two of them managed to get the rock the rest of the way to the suited teacher, who barely acknowledged the delivery, fixated on where Gail was still force-feeding sand to the illusory BoneEagle. When he turned the projection off, she cheerfully dusted off her hands and walked over to where Bridget and Tuck were grabbing their stuff.

  “Well, that was one of the best classes we’ve had all year.” She said with a grin.

  “Was it?” Nile’s voice cut in as he pushed past, snatching his bag. “How wonderful.”

  “What’s your problem?” Gail muttered.

  “We succeeded!” Tuck clapped his cousin on the shoulder. “Only Cell to do so!”

  The lancer didn’t turn around. “Did we?”

  Bridget exhaled, sharing a look with Gail. The two of them were hastily turning to join the rest of their classmates when Niles added: “Or did Bridget find a way to make it about herself again? Like the Guildhunt and everything else we do?”

  She was halfway through opening her mouth, cheeks aflame, when Tuck’s deep voice spoke over her. “That’s enough.”

  He walked over to his cousin and put his hand on his shoulder, about to say something else, but Niles shoved it off and stormed away without a backward glance.

  “I’ve got it.” Tuck grimaced, grabbing his bag and following suit.

  Watching their backs shrink in the distance, Bridget shook her head. “What’s his deal?” She muttered, adjusting her bag strap.

  “Jealous,” Gail said.

  “Of what? He’s an heir just like we are.”

  The tall girl shrugged as she began to pick her way across the misty floors of the arena. “Talent? Personality? I dunno. Maybe he wishes he had your family.”

  “He can have it,” Bridget grumbled, and felt a small twinge of regret for the words. Despite his many shortcomings, not even Niles deserved to live in that house. No one did.

  “Or maybe…” Gail trailed off, a crooked smile quirking the corners of her mouth like they danced on a puppet’s strings.

  “Maybe what?” Bridget walked a few steps faster to catch up to her friend’s long-legged gait.

  Gail leaned in, covering her mouth with one hand as she said. “Maybe he’s just jealous of how pretty you are.”

  Briddy stopped in her tracks, momentarily flustered and squawking for words.

  “What-you can’t believe- that’s not funny!”

  She chased Gail (who was roaring with laughter at the look on her face) all the way out of the Somnasium, trying to swat at her all the while. Bridget was so occupied trying to land a blow that she crashed into Gail’s back when the girl came to a sudden stop, the hard muscle providing little cushion for Briddy’s face.

  “Oomph! Why’d you-” Bridget trailed off as she followed Gail’s gaze around the edge of the Somnasium.

  Past Gail’s shoulder, two figures huddled around the side of the building, the air between them rife with tension thicker than the heat in the air. One waved his hands about, stalking back and forth, while the other watched with crossed arms. Heated words rang out between them.

  Tuck’s shaggy, sandy locks were easy to place, and it didn’t take much for Bridget to put two and two together after that. Mouth tightening, she took off in their direction. Enough was enough. She put up with Niles’ comments, the rumors, and the acrimonious looks as best she could, but seeing him yell at Tuck was too much.

  Sweet Tuck, the first with a joke, who always tried his best to make everyone smile, didn’t deserve this when he spent so much of himself trying to make others feel better.

  And you did?

  She ignored whatever arcane lecture Vex was trying to prompt her into listening to as she marched forward.

  “-accept that it’s your fault.” Bridget heard Tuck say. “No one forced you up onto that thing’s back!”

  “No, it was working before everything went to rot! If your head wasn’t shoved so far up Bridget’s ass, maybe you would see that.”

  Tuck scoffed. “Maybe it might’ve if you worked on your issues instead of blaming them on her.”

  Bridget was halfway to them now, her steps slowing once she understood the nature of their argument. Gail drew up beside her, glancing over in question.

  She was partially through opening her mouth, an answer on her lips to explain how awkward this was, but the words were punctuated by a loud, meaty slap, leaving them to fall like a bird pierced with an arrow mid-flight. Bridget’s feet were already flying by the time she took in the fact that Niles had raised another hand at his cousin, who stood holding his jaw with one hand.

  Sprinting into lancer at full force, Bridget tackled his midsection with her head like a battering ram.

  “You!” She snarled as they fell, Niles kicking back at her.

  They hit the ground with a shuddering impact that shuddered through both of their bodies, wrestling until she came out on top, her knee in his chest. Bridget drew back a fist. “Scum.” The word hissed from her throat, strangled and foreign. “He’s your family.”

  Niles glared at her. “Get off-”

  “Family doesn’t do that!”

  “He’s my cousin–”

  “AND YOU HIT HIM! HOW COULD YOU!? How could–” Briddy choked on the words. “How could you hit her?” Briddy dropped her hand, grabbing his shirt and shaking him where he lay. Tears wet her eyes.

  “Someone help me! She’s clearly crazy! I’m being attacked!” Niles began yelling, and footsteps thudded nearby.

  “People are coming Bridget,” Gail said from somewhere behind them. “If you’re gonna hit him, be quick about it.”

  “No one is hitting anyone.” Tuck sounded so quiet, so tired, that Bridget released Niles’ shirt and turned around to look at him. A red mark already bloomed across his chin where his cousin’s fist had struck, but he reached out to Bridget with a small smile on anyways. “Let’s go.”

  Seeing him like that struck her just as deeply as it had when she had seen Adelaide. She saw same the acceptance in his eyes that ripped into Bridget’s heart as she accepted his outstretched hand; felt the same injustice shooting hot streaks of pain that swelled her throat shut.

  It isn’t right. She screamed into the silence within her so loud she thought her mind would burst. This is wrong.

  “What in the Sculptor’s–Niles, are you alright?!” Kurtis dashed past them to the mostly prone boy.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  It isn’t right. Vex whispered with her as Gail made a face, walking over to Tuck and Briddy.

  “Let’s just go back to the dorms,” Tuck murmured, looking between the murderous faces both women wore. “Please.”

  His eyes were so tired, shadowed by the thoughts he held away from them, and the shade being cast by the circular walls of the Somansium.

  Bridget swallowed, and nodded, ignoring Kurtis’ blustering about teachers and medical as she forced herself to walk away.

  But when she heard Niles open his big, stupid mouth to claim he was the one attacked by her, Bridget whirled back around to look at him with narrowed grey eyes. “Liar.” She spat out.

  Kurtis’ mouth leapt to a snarl like a trap sprung. “You don’t get to speak to him like that.”

  “You don’t dictate how I speak.” Bridget snapped back “Especially not after what he just did.”

  “Sculptor, you really are crazy.” Kurtis gave a derisive laugh. “And after this, hopefully expelled.”

  Bridget’s jaw dropped slightly. She looked over at her friends, to see if they were hearing the same things she was. Tuck was looking away in discomfort, but Gail was a simmering kettle about to boil, her eyes bright.

  “He.” Gail pointed at Niles. “Hit.” She swung her arm over to his cousin, voice trembling with fury. “Him.”

  “So you think you saw–”

  “No, Niles hit him, did you not hear her? Are you deaf?” Bridget glared at him.

  “That doesn’t mean you can talk to me or him like this-” Kurtis began.

  “No. Nope. You know what? You’re not a part of this, Kurtis!” Bridget cut a hand through the air.

  Niles, who had allowed the golden-haired boy to pick him up off the ground as though he were mortally wounded, an arm slung over his shoulders, chose this moment to butt back in. “He is if I want him here!”

  Bridget took a deep breath, bringing her hands together and steepling the tips before pointing them forward. Every bit of patience she had was gone, the filter that guarded her tongue, missing. “Fine. Kurtis can contribute to the conversation once he has an opinion to share that he took the time to form on his own and not through Niles.”

  The curly-headed boy glowered at her. “I don’t have to apologize for taking your victim’s side.”

  “I’m not asking for your apology. I’m telling you to back out of the conversation because your opinion doesn’t matter. It’s weak, shallow, and a shadow of something I might have respected had you bothered to form it on your own.”

  She barely registered his eyes widening before she stomped over to Niles, jabbing a finger at his chest. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, so many slights to address, small hurts and jagged, gaping wounds that had torn their relationship asunder into the ragged cloth it now was. Perhaps they could have been friends if they had both made different choices, and grown to be different people. A part of her twisted, hard. They hadn’t, though. And to her, Tuck, Gail, and Asher had become the most important people; the most precious and rare of ores, never before seen in the rock of a world that she thought to be dead and devoid of feeling. A new vein that could be pricked; and he had struck deep.

  Jabbing a finger at his chest, Bridget held nothing back. “Never again.” She spat, “I don’t care how mad you get, or how bad your day is, or how slighted you feel. Never. Because when you do, if you have a little slip-up, the pain I’m going to make you feel will be millions of times worse. You hurt him, I hurt you.”

  “And I’ll dig the grave.” Gail snarled.

  Bridget looked deep into Niles’ eyes, past the frames of the spectacles and the watery blue-grey of his irises, looking for something she wasn’t even sure of. Sorrow, maybe? Regret? Instead, all she registered was flickering outrage and the flush of his cheeks, so she gave one last jab at his chest, and turned on her heel.

  Tuck and Gail looked back at her, one of them shifting his weight back and forth restlessly, the other still glaring at the people behind her. Bridget had enough time to take a step toward them before there was a sound not unlike the stopper being pulled from a particularly clogged sink. She barely made out the gasped ending of the word: “-bar!” before a force hit her from behind like she had been struck in the back with a careening cart, and her entire body was eclipsed by terrible heat.

  Flying forward into the ground, Bridget’s world became a spinning mixture of sand and hard, hot tile under her cheek. Ringing pulsed through her ears with each heartbeat as the taste of coppery blood filled her mouth, and something singed and acrid tickled at her nostrils. Shaking her head, Bridget pushed herself up to her knees, taking note of the fact that fat droplets of blood were dripping from her face down onto the white tile of the pathway below.

  “-too damn far!” A voice roared.

  Briddy turned her head to see Gail standing between her and Niles, arms outstretched in a shield.

  “She threatened me! You all heard it!”

  “AND YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS THE WAY TO HANDLE IT?” The tall girl roared.

  Letting her eyes fall to the burnt ends of her hair, and the smoking, but unmarked fabric of her Shroud, a final piece within Bridget snapped. The strange humming began again, starting in her torso and filling out until her whole body shook. Looking back at the blood dripping on the ground, she realized the droplets were coming from her chin, which had split during the fall.

  NO QUARTER FOR COWARDS. Vex’s voice shook her head, and Bridget needed no further permission.

  Pulling her feet up underneath her, Bridget leapt to stand. Flexing her fingers, she darted around Gail, golden mist trickling down her wrist in spiral strands.

  Upon seeing her approach, Niles raised another hand and began to cast. “Im-”

  Vex slid to rest in the air near his neck, and he let the rest of the spell die.

  “No, cast another.” Bridget hissed. “I dare you.”

  Kurtis made as if to stop her, but spotted something behind her, paled, and stopped in his tracks.

  Bridget turned her attention back to Niles, who was glancing away, as though listening to something else. She wondered if it was his relic. She realized she didn’t care.

  “You call me crazy,” She said, tapping his cheek with the flat of Vex’s blade to get his attention. “and then you attack me like that? What is wrong with you?”

  He glared at her for a long moment, an effect which Bridget found petulant rather than intimidating, and then said. “You’re done, you realize that? With this? Done.” He gestured with a sneer at the blade.

  Bridget took a step back, her sword still leveled at him. She shook her head, half-baffled, and half-disappointed. “You’re not going to own up to any of your actions, then?”

  “How about you own up for your actions, Bridget? Summoning a relic against another student was one of the first things they told us not to do after we got here.” Niles drew himself up, no longer needing the support of Kurtis’ arm.

  “That’s not what–”

  “I was in a minor argument with my cousin, and you barged in, attacked me, and held a relic to my throat! That’s nowhere near equitable!”

  “Niles…” Gail growled.

  He put a hand to his chest. “You threatened my life over a disagreement about a class assignment, Bridget. Don’t you think that’s a bit far?”

  Bridget took another step back, the strange strength fading. Then she took another, Vex’s summoning releasing into shimmering air. Had she gone too far? Sculptor, she was turning to violence just like her father. Shame and panic bloomed within her from the seed Niles had planted, creating a deep pit at the bottom of her stomach that released thick fumes of revulsion and rejection that pulsed with each breath.

  Listen to what you know to be true, not what others tell you is. Vex’s voice sliced through the mire, the first breath of fresh air after being trapped in a stifling cave, fresh water after a hot summer’s day.

  Bridget closed her eyes and took a breath.

  “No.”

  “You can’t just say no to things you don’t like,” Niles said.

  “It didn’t happen like that and you know it.” She lifted her chin, eyes burning.

  Niles smirked. “I think you’ll find it is, no matter what you tell yourself, Bridget.”

  His confidence riled her, the finality in which he said things, the threats and attacks he had inflicted upon her. Was he going to get away with it?

  “You’re that sure?” She said softly.

  “You can’t change the truth.”

  She looked up at him and followed his eyes towards Tuck, who wouldn’t look at any of them. Clearly, Niles thought he could change it. Or that at least, he was going to try to. Fine, then.

  WHACK.

  “MMfph!”

  “Bridget!” Tuck gasped.

  “Finally,” Gail muttered.

  Slapping Niles in the face might not have been necessary, but Bridget figured if he was going to control the narrative somehow, she might as well make it the truth. “That one’s for what you did to Tuck earlier.” She cooed, pushing him towards Kurtis. “Thought you might want to match.”

  “You’ve completely lost it.” He gaped, turning around.

  “And you ever had ‘it’? After what you just pulled? Not a single thing you’ve said or done here has been convincing of anything other than the fact that you're a self-serving, vainglorious, cowardly brat.”

  “What does that make you?! You attacked me!”

  Bridget fixed him with a long, cold look. “One of those that know the truth. May it keep you up at night.”

  Spinning on her heel, she stalked away, Tuck and Gail flanking close behind.

  Bridget glanced over at her friends, doing a double-take. Gail’s fists were covered in the layered green metal of her relic, the over-large proportions of the gauntlets making her taut arms seem spindly. Funny, Niles had forgotten to make a big deal about that.

  The trio was silent as they shuffled back to the dorms, and Tuck parted ways to head over to Loyalty House for a shower. Neither girl thought this a good idea, but he quieted their protests with a single hand, held up in the air.

  “I just need some space.” He’d said.

  Bridget felt her stomach curdle as she watched him trudge away, shoulders drooping under a quiet, crushing load. The rancid bloom Niles had planted in the core of her stomach began to resurface like a weed. Slowly, she turned to face Gail, only to find her already gone. Fear raced through Briddy, sending her limbs trembling like a lead. Had they all already abandoned her now that they had seen her act like her father? Did people truly not want her when she acted out? Was she an abus–

  “Bridget?” Gail poked her head out of the sleeping area and found her in a small ball between the tables.

  She received a muffled reply.

  “What?” Gail picked her way through, crouching down beside the Briddy-ball.

  “I’m so sorry,” Bridget whispered.

  Gail’s face changed as understanding dawned across her angular features, and she straightened, yanking Briddy up with her. Placing a hand on her lower back, she herded her out of the Common area. “Nothing to be sorry about.” She said simply, opening one of the doors in the wall that bisected the house and ushering Briddy through.

  “I–” The word was cut off in a strangled sound as Bridget noticed a letter sitting in the articulated metal arms of the Keepedish next to her bed. Jerking forward, she nearly tripped over her own feet as she snatched the envelope out and slid a finger under the seal. Adelaide’s sloppy scrawl covered the front.

  Inside, a small scrap of paper held a hastily scrawled message, each word pricking Bridget’s eyes as she read:

Briddy,

Real torture is being here. I would rather jump off the Mountaincore a couple hundred more times than wake up here tomorrow (or sit through dinner with mother tonight), but here I am. anyways. Talking to you brought me out of it for a bit. Thanks.

Adelaide.

P.S. Nolan says hi, and to keep your clip in.

  Bridget sank onto her bed, letting the paper flutter to the covers like a discarded feather from a wing. She drew her knees up into her chest, falling to her side so that her body curved like the crescent moon. Closing her eyes, she tried to hold back the deluge threatening to drown her out entirely. Talking with Adelaide had seemed a lifetime ago, certainly not this morning, and yet her sister’s bruised and battered face still stood starkly within her mind.

  The bed shifted, the mattress dipping low, bringing Bridget’s nose the scent of sweet honey and cinnamon spice mixed with the richness of freshly turned summer soil. She opened her eyes to look directly into Gail’s hazel ones, who had laid down opposite her. The curtains of the bed around them had closed, creating the illusion of their own, small, private world.

  Bridget laid her head back down, fighting to keep her unfeeling mask in place. She was exhausted, and at the same time, she didn’t know if things would ever stop. If her mind would ever quiet down. Between Adelaide, hanging up on home yet again, and Niles– Sculptor, what was going to happen to her?

  A single tear fought its way free of her eye, beading atop her cheek and making a break for her chin. It was halted halfway by Gail’s slim, calloused finger, flicking it aside like a bug.

  “I’m sorry,” Bridget whispered. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

  “What? No.” Gail gently flicked her nose. “Be sorry you didn’t hit him harder.”

  Briddy just shook her head, pulling away from the affection. Her eyes burned as they betrayed her, filling with tears. Gail watched her face as though studying a wild creature, letting her hand drop to the bedspread between them.

  “Briddy, what’s going on with you?”

  Continuing to shake her head, Bridget wiped at her face, as though she could dab back the tears, stuff them deep inside and keep the mask on her feelings intact. She couldn’t be weak now, she had already messed up enough for one day.

  “Bridget.” Gentle fingers seized her chin, turning her to face Gail. They were so close, she could feel her breath tickling her face. “Talk to me.”

  Briddy looked at her friend, wavering back and forth until their eyes locked, hazel melting into grey. Then, the mask cracked, and her words followed.