Starling Rise

Chapter 7 Part 2:

So tired . . . 

Eris struggled to open her eyes. Where was she now? She squinted at her surroundings. Oh. Right. The iron horse. The carriage had brought her to the very depths of Domere city, where she'd been dropped off at some sort of station. After waiting for hours in one of many long lines of kids, very rushed adults had asked her a ton of confusing questions, stamped a letter and number on the side of her head and luggage, and hustled her into a small barn on rails called a boxcar. 

She had been in this thing for days it seemed, crammed together with three dozen or so other girls her age. When the train had first blasted its whistle and began to move, Eris had nearly panicked. The boxcar was made of wood planks after all, with large see-through cracks in the floor and walls. The speed at which they were traveling was unbelievable. Eris hadn't even known what a train was, let alone ridden inside one. She wondered why Mother had never told her about it. Maybe they hadn't used trains when she was a little girl. 

How'd I even fall asleep? Eris straightened as a squealing sound reached her ears. The train was slowing down. Her heart pounded as she strained to peer out one of the cracks in the boxcar. The other girls began gathering their carryon baggage and standing up, so Eris followed suit. At that moment the large door slid open with a loud bang, and the girls nearest it backed away, crowding against the opposite side of the boxcar. Eris's hand instinctively went to her dagger. She'd known Celestulus dominated the education system, but she hadn't been prepared to see one so soon.

The Celestulus stood on a platform lower than the height of the boxcar floor, yet he was so big he had to bend to see inside. His dark skin shone in the dim light, glaring off his bald head. "Alright everybody out!" His powerful voice was like deep rumbling thunder.

The girls all scrambled to obey, stumbling over each other in their haste to get down the gangplank as quickly as possible. Eris was swept along, following the crowd down to the platform where another Celestulus was waiting silently. All along the train children of all ages were streaming out of boxcars onto the platform, which seemed to be inside . . . Someplace. Eris had never seen a building this big.

"Get in line! In line!" The big Celestulus bellowed, striding along the platform. The tip of one of his folded wings clipped a girl as he passed, knocking her down. Eris was too far away to help her, so she settled for glowering at the giant alien. Once all the children were more or less in a line, the big Celestulus faced them.

"I'm only going to say this once!" He scanned them with dark orange-red eyes. "First through third years into the wagons! Fourth through eighth years, in the SkyTrans! MOVE!"

Eris was buffeted on all sides as she followed the crowd of girls around her to the parade of wagons on the far side of . . . Whatever this place was. Only they were unlike any wagons she'd ever seen. In the shape of angular, oversized potatoes, these things had six wheels instead of four, and were made entirely out of metal. There were no windows, and no horses harnessed to the front. A human adult stood at the door to each one, checking each child's forehead as they passed.

It seemed each of these odd wagons held twelve kids a piece. It took awhile since Eris was at the very back of the crowd, but eventually she climbed the iron steps into a giant steel beast. Inside it was lit with orange glowing stick things, revealing long metal benches on each side. Eris quickly sat down, her palms sweating. When the wagon began to move, she was startled at how smoothly it ran. Hey wait! My stuff!

"Our baggage is still on the train!" she exclaimed, whirling to the girl next to her.

The girl gave her a quizzical stare. "They have it delivered to our dormitories."

"Oh." Eris willed her heartbeat to slow down.

The girl across from her squinted. "What year are you?"

"First year."

"How old are you?"

"Eleven."

The entire wagon of girls turned to stare at her. Eris met their gazes, growing apprehension in her gut. "What?"

But the girls all looked away silently, refusing to speak. No one said a word until the wagon came to a stop, and the metal door opened. As the girls began filing out, the one beside Eris turned to face her.

"Whatever you do," she murmured softly, "act like you're a second year or you're done for." With that she turned and followed the others outside.

Act like . . . How?!

Eris swallowed and stepped out into the light. Her mouth fell open. Looming above her was a building so massive, it nearly filled her entire vision. The Edwin's mansion was nothing compared to this. This place . . . it reached up into the clouds. Suddenly remembering what the girl had told her, Eris clamped her mouth shut and quickly stepped down off the wagon, trying not to gawk. She caught up to the other girls, who were amassing around two Celestulus. 

"This the last of the female eleven year olds?" The female Celestulus questioned her companion. 

He studied a flat transparent device in his hands. "According to registration we should have one eighty seven total. They make . . ." His coal black eyes scanned the crowd of children. "One forty-nine."

The female Celestulus exhaled