The Dandelion System

Chapter 26

The next day storm had gotten stronger, almost a blizzard now.

The white sky had darkened into grey, and soon it would be time for supper. The dorms were empty and eerie. No more laughter flowed through the halls and there were no more colorful dresses swirling. 

When I went down the stairs, I saw Oriana, wearing a black dress like everyone else a few steps below me. When she heard my footsteps, she turned around and gave me a tired smile as I descended to stand next to her.

"Are you staying?" I asked. While half the girls had asked to leave, the weather wasn't safe enough for horses and carriages to work.

She nodded before tugging at her hair.

"The truth is I don't want to. I'm scared," she confessed. "But my father wants me to continue; he went through so much for this."

Although I never met her father, I already harbored hatred for him. He manipulated the system so Oriana became a contestant, got people to look for the dandelion seeds, and now he was making her risk her life just so he could get a higher position. Throughout all of this, not once did he listen to what his daughter wanted.

"What about you, Karina? Are you staying for Prince Otto?" I gave an absent nod, but when I picture Otto, he's wearing Oscar's solemn expression and Oscar's voice rings through my mind.

When we entered the dining room in the Grey Castle this time, as the blizzard made it inconvenient to walk back and forth for food, and there were less girls. Garnett stayed in her room with the doctors. I look at the other girls wearing black. They were scattered around the long table, and instead of the usually bustling feast, it felt like a funeral procession.

Oriana and I sat down next to Annabelle.

"You can't leave, can you?" I asked her.

"Yes." She fidgeted in her seat, obviously uncomfortable with being stranded. Being stranded at Taraxac, being stranded without a home, and being stranded in the Dandelion System and possibly the next victim.

I look around the table and I find myself missing Lorna and Garnett.

They said that Lorna was stabbed in the chest in her bedroom at night. She was still tucked in bed, hinting that she was killed while she was sleeping. Whoever the murderer was, they were as cowardly as well as sneaky. That morning, Garnett discovered her bloody body under bloodstained covers.

I took a peek at Priscilla, who sat alone now, without Lorna and Garnett. She ate absently and her eyes are unfocused. Was it possible that it was only an act and that she was the one behind the scenes? Or was it the Queen and Priscilla was simply a pawn, like me?

I wondered the girls sitting at the table with me had chose to stay of their free will or, like Oriana and Annabelle, were tied down by an invisible string.

They clearly didn't look like they were sitting here, risking their lives, to collect Dandelion Seeds. Their faces were nonchalant with an eery calmness but the corners of their lips drooped and their eyes were rim-rimmed or swollen. How did I look?

Like a murderer?

Dinner ended quickly and almost no one had cleared their plates, not to mention the dishes that were completely touched. We shuffled outside the dining room and I am surprised to see a girl step out in front me. Blithe.

"Lady Karina." Blithe's voice was urgent. "I need to talk to you, do you have time?" I narrowed my eyes. I turned to Oriana and Annabelle and smiled, telling them to go ahead. They left, and I turned back to Blithe.

"What's wrong?"

"If you don't mind, I'd rather go somewhere more—well, private."

I hardly knew her, she acted strange when I mentioned Aideen, and recently there was a string of murders—should I really trust her? What exactly was so secretive that she had to go so far to to tell me? Or was she going to lure me away?