DOES MISS STARKOV ALWAYS SPEAK FOR YOU WHEN YOU'RE IN HER PRESENCE?
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Forich was one of the older boys at the orphanage — he'd always hated Mal and Alina simply because their parents were different. The cruel boy was sitting in the mess hall, surrounded by younger children and spinning a story, getting ready for the visitors on their way. They came every year.
Lysander stood around the corner, listening intently. She didn't want Forich to see her but she still wanted to know. She wanted to know what her future held.
"Three of them. In special uniforms, all done up and regal. They put you in a line and they go one at a time," he was explaining.
"How many questions is it?" someone asked.
"It's not that kind of test. And they've got this device. It's all special made, like. They prick your arm."
"Does it hurt?"
"Only for a bit," he shrugged. "Then you find out if you're Grisha, and you go and live in the Little Palace and eat sweet melon and Kerch candies, wear special coats."
A boy perked up with interest. "Has anyone from here been picked?"
"Once. First year in. Lucian. The little pyro was an Inferni, of course."
"I want to be a Tidemaker," a young girl said with a dreamy sigh.
"I bet I'm a Squaller," a boy said, puffing his chest up.
"You break wind, you don't make it," Forich said snidely, making several of the others laugh.
Lysander didn't overhear Mal come up behind her, but he had Alina with him, who instantly reached for Lysander's hand.
"How does the test work?" Mal questioned, drawing attention to them.
"For you?" he scoffed. "For you, it won't. They don't do the test if you're sick or injured. Thanks to your little scrap with dinner, you're gonna have to skip this year, mutt."
Lysander looked down at Mal's bandaged hand with a frown, knowing his injury was partly her fault. If he couldn't be tested, he wouldn't be able to leave.
Then Lysander's eyes widened, realizing that if she wasn't tested, she wouldn't have to leave either. Because she couldn't imagine a world where she didn't wake up next to Alina each morning and meet Mal at the breakfast table. The Grisha's fancy way of living couldn't beat that.
So, when Ana Kuya said that they had visitors, Lysander reached for Mal's uninjured hand and ran, dragging her two friends out of the orphanage and to the meadow. She didn't have to explain herself — Alina felt the exact same way even if she didn't know she was Grisha. She just didn't want them all to be separated.
Once they were far enough away and the grass was tall enough, the three of them dropped onto their stomachs, keeping keen eyes on the back door of the orphanage.
