Fight With Fire

3

I wake up at normal time checking my iae to see if it bled like I do the morning after I fill it in. I hold ice over my cheek to make the swelling go down. I sit on the edge of my bed staring at my reflection in the mirror across the room. My dark brown, almost black hair is in a messy braid that falls down my back. I am not tall compared to everyone I hang out with but I am tall compared to most Oaris. I have dark brown eyes, a thin nose, and full lips. I am very thin but I am stronger than I look. My iae, covering most of my left cheek, does not look awkward as it would on most other people but it has always been a part of who I am. It makes me look fierce.

I walk out the room into the deserted hallway. Everyone will have woken up early to get in line to see the list. Luckily, I'm not the type to wait in line.

I climb down the 60 stories of stairs feeling my legs protest in exhaustion. In the great hall everyone is standing in line waiting impatiently. The rest of the elites are easily spotted wearing tight clothing that shows their large iaes. They are standing in the middle of the line. I bite back my sigh of frustration as I walk by them toward the front of the line.

"Ella! We're back here!" I hear Penelope trying to grab my attention. I role my eyes keeping my back towards her. I know the twins have fallen into step behind me knowing better than to protest. Finn appears at my side like I knew he would. When we get to the front I push some small girls out of the way dragging Finn by the arm right behind me. Too scared to stand near him they stay out of the way.

I feel a gush of wind as Ivy appears next to me holding a piece of paper. "Here's the mock list we made." (Hrsthemclstwemde) I grab it hastily comparing it to the list on the wall. Ivy copies down the whole list on the wall in seconds moving her hand in lightning speed. There are two columns, one with the Aerdell categories including a row for Oaris at the bottom, and the second column with the number of people. The only difference between this list and our mock list is that the mock list has names whereas this just has numbers.

I point at the row for Flying. "What is this?" Everyone looks over my shoulder looking at the column stating there is 1 garnished person with the Aerdell for flying.

Josh is the first to speak his confusion. "We would know if there was someone flying around the school, wouldn't we?"

"We haven't see a flier around here for decades." James says leaning over his twin.

"I'll find them but that's not the only thing." I explain searching the list again.

Penelope's high voice threatens to break my eardrum, "Well obviously there are all the Phiars but all of them hide it so you can't blame yourself."

I take a step back leading with my elbow so I knock the breath out of Penelope. She moves away from me getting the hint. "That's not what I was looking at." I point to the Giving section saying 2. "There are lots of Givers in this school but the only fully garnished one is Finn." I turn to Finn seeing him take this in when a bell sounds. Ivy silently hands over both the copied list and our mock list. I turn in the opposite direction of everyone else. They are all in Tefra classes being fully garnished. I'm in the Oari classes. This is better today because all the people who are hiding, including the Flier and Giver will be in my class.

After getting searched by a supervisor, I walk into the classroom listening to all the gossip about the list. Mostly about the Flier.

I move towards the back of the room and the stronger Oaris swarm me taking the desks near where I'm standing. I don't take a seat and just stand listening to the conversation. "-and they've been hiding for a long time because it takes a while to become fully garnished." Some girl, Katherine I think, was ranting about the Flier.