Element [The Darkling]

Chapter Five

The coach was filled with an awkward silence. Alina and I sat across from Ivan and another Heartrender. Alina wouldn't speak to me after she stopped crying. She probably had many questions. I would too. It was clear to anyone who saw me fight or saw my demonstration in the tent that I knew I had powers. I knew how to use them.

But I wasn't Grisha.

So technically, I didn't lie about that.

That didn't save me from the trouble I was in. And Mal.

Saints, Mal must be so lost and confused. His two best friends turned out to be Grisha, and they were lying to him about it. That might not be the truth, but that doesn't mean that's not how he'll see it.

Alina and I were given a Healer and a Tidemaker's keftas, although I really didn't want one. "This is Fedyor." Ivan spoke up, and I looked up to see him finally introducing the man sitting beside him. He seemed much nicer than Ivan. He had olive skin and jet black hair, with dark eyes.

"Pleasure to meet you." He said with a smile. I looked away. "They call this a kefta. It's bulletproof." Fedyor explained. "The uniform of the Second Army."

"What about the First Army? Back in Kribirsk. A thousand soldiers marching with us. Isn't that safer?" Alina questioned desperately.

"Slower, not safer." Ivan replied. His blue eyes were cold and emotionless. He had brown hair, but it was shaved down to almost nothing, the color only visible in the scruff around his face.

"If you left me in the cartography unit, no one would look twice at us." Alina protested.

"She has a point," I agreed quietly.

"Why is that?" Fedyor asked. "You summon pure sunlight. Your kind of Etherealki has just been a theory, a picture in a storybook. Until now. And you're something entirely new. You're very special girls, so... how has no one looked twice at you before?" Fedyor was in disbelief that we'd remain unseen.

"I try to avoid being seen," I replied quietly.

"Are you joking?" Alina asked, and he shook his head. "Maybe it's nicer inside the Little Palace, but out here, when you're different... when you look different... everything's at risk of becoming a fight." Alina said sharply.

"Especially with Grisha," I murmured, and Alina nodded.

"What do you mean?" Fedyor asked, and I scoffed.

"Seriously? What, you don't know how your kind behaves when your General's not around? Grisha bully us. They push us to our breaking point, use their powers against us, try to start up fights. And if you do get in a fight, there's no winning against you. If you lose, you end up seriously injured in the medika. No Healer to fix you up and send you along. And if you win, you get thrown in the cells just for sticking up to a bully. A bully who abuses their power, all while crying 'victim'. People don't avoid Grisha because we hate you for having powers. We avoid Grisha because of what you do with them. Because we always suffer for it." I said sharply, looking away, bitterness in my voice. "Always."