REVOLUTION: A Rebel Among Monsters ✔

Three••The Journal

Quincy dragged Melaynia out into the scorching heat. He set her onto the smooth leathery seat of his crystal carriage, its polished wood with stone accents gleaming in the sun. Its rubber wheels infused with liquid crystals were too bright to look at.

"I'd be fine walking," she said as he slid in beside her and inserted the crystal key into a slot above the lever.

The contraption's engine powered on, and the tires screeched as he grabbed the directional lever. The carriage moved off his property and onto the paved road.

Neither said a word as he directed them to Melaynia's farming neighborhood. They rolled past upper-class residences, small businesses, and other carriages much less fancy than his.

But as the vehicle turned onto her street, she craned her neck to him. "You won't even try to believe me, will you?"

A few houses down, he shifted into her driveway—shorter than his—and a few feet from the front door, he parked, turning off the machine.

When he twisted to her, liquid pooled up in his eyes like the nearby blue sea. "I'm worried about you, Mel." He sucked in his plump lips as he lowered his gaze. "You've been so stressed about school and you study too hard and instead of helping you, I took you on an adventure I knew wouldn't end well and... this is my fault. I caused those nightmares by pushing you. You... need some rest." He took Melaynia's tiny hands in his and brought them to his mouth, his warm breath skidding over her skin. "If you're still hallucinating in a few days, then something's up. But for now, I think you're sleep-deprived."

She fought the disappointment as it tried to reveal on her face through her tugging eyebrows and scrunching nose. She pried herself out of his grip. "As always." She scoffed. "School doesn't stress me, though. And the adventure... a thrill. It was where you took me that caused the problem, Quinn." Glancing at her house, its sturdy walls, its safe space, she exited the carriage. "These nightmares link to the Forbidden Side and the crystals, it's too coincidental. So you and your judgmental ways can get some rest, not me."

He reached out, his fingertips brushing her arm as she dropped to the ground. "Mel, come on, don't be that way," he said, leaning over the seat, stretching out to touch her. "We're soul matches! We argue, we disagree—I'm not being judgmental, I'm being rational! Logical! I'm trying to help!"

She snorted. "Soul matches! Ha!"

I'll die before we can be sure of that.

She blinked back tears, hoping he wouldn't notice. "Tell your parents I said hi. Maybe I'll visit when I'm done resting."

"Mel!" He jumped out of the vehicle and scurried up to her, attempting to bar her route. "Let me hug you, at least. Let's not part like this, okay?"

There it was—his pleading face. When his eyes rounded and he slouched and his lower lip quivered enough to make her want to bite it. When his weakness made her want to nestle against his shoulder blade and sniff in his fruity scent—

She frowned as she shoved past him. "You can hug me when you're willing to accept that I'm not hallucinating and I am the next selected one!" Her palm wrapped around the doorknob. "See you, Quinn."

He'd protest; he'd get in the vehicle and sit there for several minutes, debating rushing inside and trying to make her see reason. But she didn't wait, and slammed the door in his face.

Being enraged got her creative juices flowing, so she wrote up part of her final geography expose and reviewed all her notes. Succeeding would get her good recommendations for Level Five training and placement. Thinking of that helped her forget the argument with Quincy.