I Applied for a Delivery Job and Got Turned Into a Flying Reindeer?!

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Justin knew the moment he woke up, and his antlers punctured his pillow, that the previous night hadn't been a dream.

He got out of bed with a sigh, his hooves clicking on the hard wooden floor. Somewhere in the distance, a bell was ringing. Lucas had told him that bell was the signal for the fliers in training to wake up and prepare for lessons. Breakfast was being served in the mess hall, and anyone who slept in wouldn't find a scrap of food to eat until lunch. After breakfast, the trainees would divide up into their units, each of which was headed by one of the Council of Eight, and training would begin for the day.

He had been told all of this in a thirty second run-on sentence, and Lucas had rocketed away the moment he was finished, as if just being near Justin was enough to dampen his Christmas spirit.

Justin had been too exhausted, both physically and mentally, to care, so now he took a moment to inspect his new living space. Beside his bed, there was a writing desk and chair next to a small bookshelf. A few books sat waiting on the shelves, and when he took a closer look Justin realized they were all textbooks on things like flying and aerodynamics. On the far side of the room, there was a closet, as well a bathroom with a shower, looking oddly modern compared to the almost-medieval aesthetic of everything else.

The room was surprisingly large for just one person, but Justin noted that there was an empty bed a few feet away from his. Had they given him his own room because that was the only one available on short notice, he wondered? Or was this their way of isolating him from the others so that he didn't...how did they put it?...poison their ears and hearts?

Going to his closet, Justin wasn't surprised to find it already filled with clothes. After everything else that had happened, a full wardrobe with his exact measurements appearing overnight was practically mundane at this point. He put on a new pair of dark green pants, struggling for a few seconds to get his inflexible hooves through the legs, a white undershirt, and a festive red jacket. On the back of the jacket, there was a green emblem in the shape of a fox's head. Lucas hadn't mentioned this, but Justin assumed it was to identify the trainees in Vixen's unit. After buttoning it up, Justin made his way to the door, but then hesitated.

What am I going to do? he thought, dread rising up inside his heart like an overflowing toilet. The council already thinks I work for their enemy, whoever that is. There's no way they're going to treat me like any other student.

His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast the day before. He didn't fully understand how the time of day here in Val Luminara related to the time back home, but he did know he'd missed at least two meals. As much as he wanted to pretend that none of this was really happening, he couldn't just hide here in his room.

Well, I guess I could, he admitted, but maybe I should wait and see how things go before resigning myself to starvation.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed open the door and stepped into the hallway. The corridor was bustling with other bucks hurrying to get to the mess hall. Justin's heart immediately shot into his throat, but when none of them stopped to confront him for his sins against Christmas, he calmed down a little. His mind was buzzing from being around so many of these things at the same time—he still hadn't come to terms with the fact that he was one of those things yet—but to his credit, he did manage not to panic. Keeping his head down, Justin followed the crowd, doing his best not to attract any attention.

He failed.

"Hey, that's him," someone whispered. "The lightless one!"

Justin's ears twitched involuntarily, but he managed not to look at whoever was talking.