The Solstice Daughters

chapter 5

THE wails of a child echoed through the lightless hallways of the compressed Thorthen house. Condensation dripped down the windows from the outside, painting images within the fog. Each curtain remained shut, passing a solemn feel within each room. Korah and Yazin Thorten resided within their deep sleep comas, having built up the endurance to ignore the cries of the infant.

Januaries frost was prevented with levels of hand-stitched duvets and blankets; meaning the wood in the fire place sat idle, having not been lit in the multiple days winter had hit the kingdom.

A figure slipped into the infants room, hoping to come to the rescue. The child continued to release screams from the pits of its lungs, ignoring the attempts at soothing it through being rocked and fourth in warm arms.

Madox pierced his teeth into his lower lip as he circled the baby in multiple positions, eyes droopy and arms limp from the cold. "Tonk, please. I'm sorry, please stop crying." He consoled, keeping a sharp eye on the digital clock attached to the wall opposite him.

The infant's cries refused to falter over the next eight minutes , leaving Madox with no choice but to place it back into the crib it had previously resided in and escape the room with sore arm muscles.

The morning frost enveloped his entire body as he stepped outside the house, but not before he triple-locked the door and checked another three times to be certain he'd done it properly.

Madox pulled out his trusty flashlight as he pushed his weight up and over the grass hills between the Thorten House and the city center. The sky was still dark but chances of rain were low, making the slippery ice on the cobblestone downtown the trickiest bit of the trip.

Besides the harmony of crickets, the streets were silent. It was too early for most but Madox liked to make it to school half an hour before the bell sounded so he could in homeroom and watch the sun rise over orange and purple streaks.

Linora, the school's entrance security stood firm in front of the gates with a bored expression covering her face, until her eyes caught the boy's incoming frame.

"Five minutes later than usual, today." She announced with an eyebrow raised. She wore the same uniform she did everyday: tight black pants, a loose black t-shirt and her favorite leather jacket.

Linora was not that much older than Madox, having graduated three years back. She was assigned to this post after two years of training, which the boy thought was pretty unfortunate but she didn't seem to mind.

"Baby was crying." He replied, leaning in to give her the routine high five. He proceeded to ask her the same question he asked every morning she came in a different combination of clothes, "How do you expect to fight in that outfit?"

The security guard rolled her eyes with a scoff. "The most 'fighting' I've had to do at this dump is pulling two kids off each other because the one stole the other's scroll." She shrugged "Oh and reporting kids for having sex in the Youngling playground."

Madox cringed. He'd been witness to that a few times, himself.

"Go on in, have a good day, kid." Linora swung the keys around on her finger insinuating the gates were already open for him to venture inside. From the corner of his eye, he spot two other students making their way down the street so he sprinted in, claiming the seat next to the window as his own.

Pressing his fingertips to the glass of the frozen window, he absorbed the peace of the empty class, hoping to enjoy it before it filled to the brim with nose pickers, talkers and spitball players.