The Trial

Chapter 9

When I started to come to, I was glad to see that I was in my room. at least, I hoped it was my room and not another simulation. slowly, I sat myself up and glanced around. everything seemed normal. nothing was out of place. I slid out of bed and went to the bathroom, knocking on the door to make sure mason wasn't in there. when no response came, I cautiously opened the door. 

the other door was open, so I quietly closed it, before I went to grab my uniform and started getting ready. I knew it was still early in the morning, since no one had come to wake me up, and I could still here mason slightly snoring, which put me a little at ease about being in another simulation. 

after I showered and put on my clothes, I went to the sink to brush my teeth and put my hair up. I froze at my reflection. I looked like I hadn't slept in weeks and was rather pale in comparison to my normal skin tone. there were dark bags under my eyes. that, however, wasn't what made my whole body tense up. the faint but giant hickey slash bit mark on the side of neck was. 

I shook my head and told myself that it was because the bite healing over. my mind wanted to argue, but I attempted to ignore it. there was no way Ares would actually want me in any way, shape, or form. It was my blood that appealed to him, especially since it was my birthday. he had come to that conclusion himself, and that was explanation enough. a simple need for blood that every shifter gets once in a while. 

much like vampires, they need a small amount of blood from time to time. unlike vampires, they don't have to have it or actually need it, and they eat other things. vampires only drink blood. I ended my internal argument and left the bathroom, after I'd finished up, closing the door behind me. 

after tucking my blade safely away in its sheath behind my back, I noticed the book that mason and I had grabbed from the room full of crap. curiosity got the better of me, so I opened it and skimmed through it, reading a page or two here and there. from what I could tell, a women named Kathrine had written it, and it seemed like she wasn't all there in the head. The mention of a man that didn't age caught my attention, so I read a few more pages. 

before I could get too involved, I set the book, deciding to read more of it later on, and left my room to go outside. I needed some sunlight to get a little color back into my rather pale skin. as the fresh, warm air hit my face, I took a deep, soothing breath. I wondered what time it was and if I had time for a short jog to get my blood pumping and my muscles working. 

I didn't see or hear anyone around, but I still had no idea what time it was. frowning at the only downfall of being bathed in daylight all year, apart from the three days of darkness, I decided to play it safe and simply jog around the building, until someone else showed up or came looking for me.

I used the time to get my head back on straight. I was so focused on what I needed to do that I hadn't noticed a few cars were in the parking lot that hadn't been there before, until I was about to round the corner to the front door for about the tenth time. i paused and glanced over, looking for anyone, but the cars were empty. 

I was just about to turn around and keep jogging, when I heard someone quietly talking. "her plan could work." I wasn't sure who the voice belonged to, but I didn't want to be rude and listen in on their conversation. 

as I turned to jog around the building in the opposite direction, I heard Ares' voice. "it's a good plan, but I don't like it."

"why not? she's brilliant. she's studied every aspect of the day, events, and participants. she could very well change everything."

"what if he kills her?"

"that's a risk we've all taken, Ares, including yourself a few times."

I was surprised to hear that part. Ares had taken more than one shot at changing our history. I wasn't even aware that we could try more than one time. then again, he wasn't human. whatever injuries he'd sustained, he could've healed from a lot faster than a human. what would be a killing blow to a human would most likely just take him a little longer to heal from. it made sense, after I thought about for a moment.