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Chapter 10.3
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Their conversation was interrupted by Sarah’s parents entering the room and sitting down next to their daughter. Earnestly, Sarah’s mother looked at Nyla. “Dear, would it be too much for you to tell us about the day you saved Dylan?”
“Mom!” Dylan hissed. His cheeks tinged red.
“Seriously, Mom, she's a guest,” Sarah added.
“I don’t mind,” Nyla said, drawing everyone’s gaze. She looked back blandly.
“Well, thank you,” Dylan’s father chimed in, solemn and serious.
Nyla thought back to that night. She remembered it perfectly, just like
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Somehow the threat of expulsion from Alet Academy was enough to keep anyone else from attacking Nyla. The hallways were still fair game – the students were continually shoving and tripping her – but nothing worse seemed to be brewing. By the end of the first month, her bent hands were raw from catching herself when she fell, but Nyla felt safe with Sarah and Eason by her side.Mason was still on house arrest as she liked to remind everyone by screaming and crying every chance she got. Her animosity towards Nyla had only grown until it seemed like a living being inhabiting the house. Nyla avoided her as much as possible. The only time she couldn’t was at dinner, where they sat next to each other at Edmond’s command. They obeyed Edmond, but still pretended as if the other weren’t there.At one such meal, Edmond turned to Nyla. “Are you ready for your first campaign stop?”Caught off guard, Nyla asked, “It’s tim
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Traipsing downstairs and still yawning, Nyla found Edmond and Eason waiting for her. “Ready?” Edmond asked, glancing at his phone. Nyla nodded, and stepped down next to them. Edmond turned and strode up the hall, Eason and Nyla trailing in his shadow. Instead of walking next to her, Eason walked ahead. She could have easily caught up to him, but he was firmly planted in the middle of the hallway with no room on either side of him for Nyla. She found herself frowning. Whatever happened last night between us didn’t solve whatever problem he has. The thought unsettled her. How could she fix it if she didn’t understand? She just wanted her friend back. The five-hour car ride was silent. Edmond sat on his phone, typing away to invisible people. The moment Eason had settled into his seat, he had closed hi
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His speech then turned to Nyla and her accomplishments both on the battlefield and in the classroom. He motioned her forward, and Nyla realized that the crowd was silent again, engaged in his tales once more. I’m the main focus. I can turn the tide of their opinion. Without thinking, Nyla gestured for Edmond to stand aside so she could stand at the podium. He hesitated for only a moment before announcing, “And now I give Nyla the opportunity to speak on my behalf.” His hard eyes dug into the back of her skull. He’s scared of what I’m about to say, but he knows they aren’t buying his speech either. “First,” Nyla said, h
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As Nyla approached the door, it opened not by a sensor but by a maid dressed in a classic black and white outfit. The sight of the woman took Nyla aback – the maids at the Braun’s household didn’t wear anything nearly as atrocious. The style had fallen out of fashion several centuries ago, even she knew that.Passing through the rooms in the shadow of the maid, Nyla took in the grandeur of the house. It was almost as stately as the Governor’s mansion except here everything reeked of old money passed down through the generations. Every room had its own style of décor, but the whites were all faded to a dull cream, and the air was a bit stuffy.The maid deposited her into a small dining room meant for intimate meals among the family. Two people sat waiting for her at the small table: a stunning, older woman with a single inky black braid cast over her shoulder and someone who looked exactly like the Major. It was like looking at a picture.
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“Why wasn’t Carter buried with these? It’s part of the dress uniform?” Nyla asked, bewildered. Had they broken protocol for some reason? Silence stretched out, and she glanced up to find the James’ staring not at her but at each other. “They didn’t tell her?” Michael asked his mother, his face ashen. “They must not have.” Madame James turned back to Nyla. “Dear, there wasn’t anything to bury. None of Carter made it home. His – his body was destroyed by the blast.” Nyla stared at the older woman uncomprehendingly. The Major had been shot, and yes, there had been an explosion, but he hadn’t been destroyed in it. Nyla had pulled him out of the rubble. There hadn’t been a se
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“Yes?” Nyla called out, swiveling in her desk chair to see the newcomer enter her room. Eason stepped in. He had his large hoverboard under one arm. Lifting it up slightly, he asked, “Want to learn how to ride this thing?” Nyla beamed – she’d been craving a lesson since Eason had told her he knew how to fly. “Yes!” She bounded out of her chair and grabbed her shoes, putting them on as they walked out the door and down the stairs. “Where are we going to practice?” Nyla asked as they stepped onto the back patio. “Over by the tennis courts,” Eason pointed with his free hand. “I know you don’t want to be too close to the pool, even if there’s no chance you’ll fall off and through the pool room’s roof.” “How do you know I won’t fall?” Nyla asked with a serious tone to her voice. She wasn’t afraid of heights, but she knew falling off a moving board going twenty miles per hour would hurt immensely. Even Menhits, who were hardier than normal humans, would be damaged
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Eason didn’t say anything, but instead hopped off the board. He ran his hands through his hair and muttered at the ground. Spinning to face her, with a wild glint in his eyes, he asked, “Even with Mason hating your guts? You’ll stay here with us?”Nyla nodded slowly. “Do you ever think Mason will leave her room?” The girl had refused to leave her suite except for dinner. She was like a ghost.“Yeah, she will. She just has to cool off, and in this case, who knows how long that will take. She still thinks she was in the right, that’s the rough part. I hate that she hates you, Nyla. I wish I could make it easier on you.”Nyla toyed with the words rolling around her mouth as she stared at Eason. She knew it made Eason uncomfortable for some reason when she spoke about the Major – sometimes it even seemed to make him mad. Did she dare tell him what she’d found out about the Major’s body? But if s
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Nyla considered the proposition. Almost instantly, she discarded the notion; school was too stressful for her and in general, a waste of time. Anything she read, she immediately memorized. “After I’m done at Alet, I think I'm going to be done with school in general. But I know you’d be a good teacher, Eason. A really good one. You’re so patient with me.” “I just help you identify what you already feel. That’s not really teaching. You’re still human, I’m not really teaching you anything new.” Nyla rolled over onto her side so she could see his profile. “But I’m a Menhit, Eason.” She watched his scowl. “That doesn’t mean you aren’t human, Nyla.”&n
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The days in the James’ household fell into a pattern. Every morning she rose later than she ever had been allowed to before. She then traipsed downstairs to have a light breakfast with Madame James, who was delighted to have a young woman in the house after having raised only boys. The rest of her day was spent reading or exploring the mansion, which was old enough to have hidden rooms long forgotten. This morning Nyla rose the latest she had yet and headed downstairs still in her pajamas. Yawning, she entered the family dining room only to find two guests sitting with Madame James. “Sarah! Breanne!” The girls leaped up, squealing, and attacked Nyla with affection. They each squeezed Nyla tight enough to make her ribs crack. “Nyla!” Gazing over their heads, Nyla found Madame James smiling serenely while sipping on her tea. “What’s going on?” Nyla choked out. Sarah and Breanne let her go and backed up a step. “I was about to send someone up to wake you
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As dawn was reaching her fingers out across the sky, Nyla arrived. She stood at the front gates that blocked her path and contemplated what to do. She knew she looked a mess; her hair must be a rat’s nest after all the flying. It’d be rude if she flew over the wall. Without any other option, Nyla pressed the buzzer.“Yes?”“This is Nyla Bra- just Nyla. May I come in?”She heard a scurry of movement and then a muffled, “Oof,” before a bell chimed, and the gate swung open. Taking it as an invitation, Nyla started up the long drive. About halfway up it, she was met by Madame James, who flung herself at Nyla, hanging onto her by her neck.“Nyla! We’ve been waiting all night for you!”Michael loped over, his pace much more sedate. “Mom was about to go out looking for you herself if you didn’t get here soon.”“How did you know I was coming?” Nyla asked,
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Breanne swallowed and turned to Sarah. “What do we do now?”“Find a place to hide, of course. We’ve got our food, Eason will be busy dancing for a while, and everything else is about to turn political,” Sarah said matter of factly.“Sounds good to me,” Breanne agreed, looking towards Nyla, who hesitated for just a moment before nodding.“Good. I saw back doors somewhere,” Sarah ushered them outside, where they found a small gazebo tucked away. “This is perfect!”They had barely sat down before Sarah leaped back up. “I forgot! You guys stay right here!” She rushed back inside before either girl could respond.Breanne turned to Nyla. “What’s that about, you think?”“No idea.” Nyla gave Breanne a perusal. “You look uncomfortable.”Breanne blushed to the roots of her beautiful, chaotic hair that had been left to its own
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Nyla and her friends were sitting on their rooftop spot, avoiding the noise downstairs when Sarah turned to Eason. “Are you having the usual aging out party for your birthday?”“Birthday?” asked Nyla, her attention diverted from her sandwich, which was in the process of falling apart. “Your birthday is coming up?”Eason laughed. “Nyla, it’s next week. Where have you been?”In a dark, dark place.“But that means you’ll be eighteen and will graduate.” Panic started bubbling up in Nyla’s chest. She couldn’t handle school without Eason by her side.He seemed to know exactly where her thoughts had gone. “Calm down, Nyla. Sarah and Breanne will still be here with you. You’re eighteen next month anyway. You’ll only have to survive a little bit of time.”“We’ll be here for you,” Breanne tried to comfort Nyla.
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“Oh.” Eason turned round eyes to Nyla.“I’ve had excessive training on obstacle courses. I find them quite easy. But it’s been quite some time since I’ve practiced. Who knows how long it’ll take me,” lied Nyla. She walked over and stood before the peg wall, grabbing a peg in each hand. All she had to do was pull herself up the wall by placing a peg in one of the many holes going up, again and again, until she reached the top.Taking the peg in her right hand, she reached up and placed it in the highest hole she could reach. She followed with her left and then pulled herself up using just her arms. She froze with her feet off the ground, she counted to ten before removing the right peg and reaching up again, placing it in a higher hole. After counting to seven, she did the same with her left hand. Once both pegs were secure, she pulled herself up again. Repeating the pattern, Nyla inched her way up the wall, counting in be
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Nyla stayed in the hospital for an additional two days waiting for the wound to be completely healed and no longer tender. When she told Dr. Bunder she was ready to leave, the doctor told her, “We need to run some tests first, and then you’re free to go.”Automatically, Nyla’s mind went to the warning in her letter. She cast a glance at Eason, who was sitting by her bedside again. He met her eyes, a little crease forming between his eyebrows. “Are they really necessary? She says she’s feeling better, and Nyla would know best.”“I’m afraid they are. They’re the same tests you did last time you were here.” She paused, then continued, “You know how everything has to be documented because you’re a Menhit.” Seeing no way out of it, Nyla consented to the tests, praying nothing terrible would come of it. Perhaps th
