The Shadows That Dwell Within (The Warrior Queens book #1) (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 3 - Victoria

Penelope must've got the next train out because she caught up with them shortly after they arrived in Amiticia. She was a mousy girl with long black hair and big brown eyes. Adelaide was the only person Penelope knew. She sat next to Adelaide the entire time and bit her nails. They waited at the Amitician train station for what felt like hours.

"Have you ever been to Amiticia?" Penelope asked.

"Yes" Adelaide answered. "I promised I'd never come back"

"Why" Penelope said, her eyes twinkled with curiosity.

Adelaide tensed. "I don't like it there. It rains too much"

Penelope's face fell. "So it's not as beautiful as Concordia?"

"No nothing is"

"I don't like Amiticia either" Rosaline said. "I was nearly killed in Amiticia"

"I bet there is a great story there" Nicholas grinned.

Rosaline grinned back. If there was one thing Rosaline loved more than her job is was telling stories about her past.

"Well, back when I was a thief" Rosaline began.

As Rosaline told one of her ridiculous stories about how she almost stole the crown jewels, some other people crowded around her, following her ever word. Adelaide, who normally joined in with Rosaline and her preposterous tales, was nowhere to be seen.

Victoria wandered around the station. Unlike the train station in Concordia, this one was filled with homeless people. The stench of the poor reminded Victoria of the orphanage she grew up in. When Victoria was five she was kidnapped from her very own living room. Her father being the head of the AIA, could afford to be a huge ransom. The kidnappers were only interested in money. Victoria was sure they would've given her back once the money came through.

But little Victoria escaped through a vent and wandered through the streets until someone found her and put her in the orphanage. When the AIA failed to trace her she was presumed dead. Her mother killed herself six months after that.

Victoria turned away from the homeless people. She knew the life of poverty all too well. When she joined the AIA she vowed she would eradicate it. No more hunger, no more disease on the street, a home for every person. These people huddling in the station for shelter, begging for survival, were proof that she had failed.

Victoria eventually found Adelaide outside the station.

"Hello" Victoria said.

Adelaide didn't say anything for a while. For a second, Victoria thought she was going to stay silent.

Then Adelaide said "Victoria...I'm afraid"

"That's a first"

Adelaide didn't turn around or even look at Victoria. She just stayed seated and gazed off into the distance with a look of contempt on her face.

"I'm serious. Coming back to Amiticia, is something I'd never thought I'd do. So many memories...what if people find out about my past? What will they think?"

"Maybe you shouldn't worry about too much about what other people think of you" Victoria said.

"I'm not like you. I care about my reputation" Adelaide said finally turning around.

Victoria took the empty seat near Adelaide.

"People look up to us, agents of the AIA. They might see us as heroes of some sort, but in reality we're just people who happen to catch criminals for a living. We might be extraordinary, we might not be. But people need someone to idolise. If they saw us for what we really are; humans just like them, would they believe in us at all? It would be like believing in themselves, and that's one of the hardest things to do. We all too often doubt ourselves. Becoming an AIA agent, it means becoming a symbol of hope for people. And sometimes hope is the only thing keeping us going" Victoria said.