"Where's my room?"
Once the tyrant had explained away the loss of time, someone kindly informed me that I would have a regular guard. Since I was most familiar with Tony, he was appointed leader of my goon squad. He'd always been pretty heavily involved with my supervision on school grounds. We'd gotten close enough that I could usually peel away information from him.
"Right this way. Did you bring anything with you?"
I snorted, "As if. They practically snatched me out of the shower."
His eyebrows rose with my exaggeration. Okay, so it wasn't totally true. I was fully clothed when they busted down the door, and they allowed me to pack a single bag to stop my kicking and screaming. They kept it with them and said they would bring it to my room after they checked it over for security purposes. They saw everything I put in that stupid bag. Why did they need to check it even more?
"Wait…" I paused.
This was a different path than I remembered. It was all bright and colorful. Normally I was roomed with a demon kind and the paths were much less colorful than this. Mostly deep navy and dark purples, not yellow and…pink.
Tony had continued ahead so I jogged to catch up. "Why are we going this way? Isn't this the angel dorms?"
He nodded. "Crown Prince Andul choose your housing once word was given that you were in route."
"Him? Why did he get to choose? What about Corton?"
"Crown Prince Corton was unavailable during that discussion."
Unavailable? Oh! Oh gross! The books had angels and demons all wrong for the most part. Unfortunately, the constant sexual desire was a bit true. Demons fed off energy, and that act certainly generated enough of it.
It made sense, though. Risking my behavior on someone who was distracted with other activities would be beneficial to me since I could sneak out easily. Letting Andul have more control of me was the smarter choice. Not my choice, but it was smart. He didn't seem like the type who knew anything about fun.
"Since you were a late addition, they only had a room on the top floor available."
Bullshit. This school was huge. There was no way they didn't have other rooms available. Depending on the roster at the start of the year, students could pay to have a room all to themselves. This was a choice made so I couldn't hop out of the window. Again.
Year one? Yep, I jumped out of my first-floor window pretty much every night. Year two? Sheet rope tied to the bed from the second floor. In year three, I brought in a rope ladder since I was up on the third floor.
"We both know they're just trying to prevent me from escaping," I sighed in defeat.
I didn't expect to be back at school, let alone be prepared for my eighth year. Escaping from the eighth floor? I had no clue how I was going to succeed with that one. At least we had an elevator. Just because I was fit didn't mean I enjoyed exercise. I was quite content to sit on a couch and binge trash TV with a bucket of popcorn.
"You're lucky you've barely received a slap on the wrist." His eyes gave me a pointed stare. "Next time you won't be so lucky."
From what I heard, the pain of my father's death and betrayal caused my roguish behavior. It was a phase that I would soon overcome once that traumatic experience had lessened. Fancy words meant for some design I didn't yet know.
But Tony was right. The next time would have significant consequences if they caught me. I still didn't even understand what my purpose would be in this life. Schooling was meant to hone our powers. Last thing anyone needed was a supernatural running loose amongst the humans with their powers running rampant. A large part of the population knew of our existence, but we didn't broadcast that information out there. Supernaturals had never openly admitted we existed to the world, and if they did… They didn't last for long.
"Melissa Evans is going to be your roommate," he opened the door to a larger room than I'd had before. "Try not to cause too much trouble."
"Me?" I grabbed my chest with wide eyes. "I never cause trouble."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Is that why you now have your own guard detail?"
"Warden detail," I corrected.
He didn't respond and I heard the door click shut behind me. The room was nothing like my happy little space I'd created during my absence. A bathroom was between the two bedroom areas, so at least there was a little bit of separation between us. Judging by the ungodly amount of pinks on the left side of the room, Melissa and I weren't going to get along too well.
I moved over to her side and looked at the furry comforter. She owned way too many stuffed animals. Each one meant to be cute and placed upright on the bed and windowsill. Posters of actors lined her walls between painted flower portraits. Her closet was no better. Collared shirts with more skirts and shorts than pants.
I wouldn't consider myself goth by any means, but I didn't feel the need to flaunt my feminine genes with pinks the way she clearly did. She was either going to be immature and sweet thinking the world was full of ponies and rainbows, or she was going to think she was better than everyone else. The type that acted sweet and innocent in front of people but then turned into a nasty, vile woman when she thought no one was looking.
I'd spent the last two years watching people. Being observant taught me a lot more about human and supernatural behavior. When people thought they weren't being watched, or inebriated, you learned the most about them.
I sighed and flopped back on the bed. I already knew she wasn't going to be the sweet type. This was going to suck.