The Necklace: The Trial Realm

Chapter Fourteen: Secret Keeper

"Bestie!" Yael's voice echoes in the long hallway as he lithely pushes and shoves through the crowds of bodies herding towards the mess hall for breakfast. "Wait up!" I pull to the side, getting out of the way of the others to wait until he catches up to me. When he reaches me he loops his arm through mine and immediately starts running his mouth. "Where were you? I tried to meet you at your room but you weren't there and then I got chewed out by some lady who I think may have been a man in a past life for being on the girl's floor, so I waited by the gym, thinking you'd gone to workout your little ninja muscles-."

"-What's a ninja?"

"-but you weren't in there either, so then I thought I was going to have to start a search party to find you, which you know would have been hard for me, what with having to find people to find you...too much work, I do love you though. So I decided to just go to breakfast, which we are late for now, but it's ok because I found you." He takes a deep breath and grins broadly as we push in the line into the mess hall. "Speaking of which, who are you super proud of for finding the gym and the food room all by myself?"

I pinch the bridge of my nose and peer at him. "I'm guessing, you?"

He beams, head tilted back and twinkling purple eyes catching the overhead lighting. "All by myself." He says again, piquing my interest.

"All by yourself?" I ask, folding my arms over my chest and narrowing my eyes.

He hums as he releases a deep breath. "Ooookay, not entirely by myself, but that's only if we are counting asking for directions from multiple people, which I'm not."

I roll my eyes but suddenly Yael is jerking to a stop, his mouth hanging open on another remark that doesn't tumble out. He stares, more like gawks, at Brynlynn as she walks towards us with her tray piled high with food.

"I still can't believe it," She's already saying before she even gets close. "I'm so happy I could just keel over and die...but that would be silly because then I couldn't enjoy this as much." Yael and I follow her gaze to the furthest table where Courtlyn and her crew, that is missing quite a few girls, sit. Courtlyn tries her best to hide her lack of hair beneath her hat, but it's pretty obvious that something is really off with her.

"Every girl here thinks you are like their role model now." She giggles, then turns when someone across the room calls her name. "Come sit with me when you get food, ok?"

"Sure." I nod and I move forward in the line, having to drag Yael along with me to keep him from just standing there to watch her go.

He snaps out of his trance the moment she's seated well across the room, then he turns to me, folding his arms and tilting his head. "Busy morning, eh?" He motions towards Courtlyn, but she's the last thing on my mind.

Serge had been very specific about not letting anyone know what happened outside, so as badly as I was ripping apart on the inside with the urge to tell someone about what I'd just seen and done, I knew I couldn't.

"You have no idea." I sigh instead, letting Yael think I mean Courtlyn.

Yael talks my ear off some more about his roommate not liking him, his shower running cold on him, his dislike for being tall...really any and every thought that flits into his head, flies right back out of his mouth. The whole time we get our food together I can't help thinking of freeing that must be. I barely can talk at all.

Sure there were some secrets to be kept back home, but since I've gotten here, I've been given secret after secret and no one to talk to about any of it.