CHAPTER 48: 48-ACCUSED OF STARTING RUMORS

Clementine:

"No," I replied, shaking my head and shrugging.

"Oh, really? Well, I was just listening to our ringleaders talk, and something reached my ears—some information. I think she was pregnant by him," she said with a look of sadness on her face.

"Really? I didn’t know." And I could tell she didn’t like that I wasn’t giving her anything.

"You’re Clementine, right?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest, though it felt more playful than confrontational.

"I know you know everything, but it’s okay if you don’t want to tell. I guess I should stop gossiping too. I have such a bad habit of it."

She kept yapping, and I could tell she was a sweet pea. The more she spoke, the more I realized her entire boujee look was just a front. She was as gentle as a flower.

"By the way, my name is Oriana Winchester. I’m a royal beta’s daughter back in my pack," she said, extending her hand for a handshake.

"Clementine Stark," I said in a soft, steady voice.

"I know you, Clementine. The one who came as an ugly duckling and turned out to be a swan," she said.

My smile started to fade, and I guess she noticed.

"Oops. So sorry," she said, covering her mouth. But I had to admit, I was kind of enjoying talking to her.

"No, it’s all right. You’re pretty much as crazy as I am," I said with a smile to relax her a bit.

"You know what, we can be friends. We don’t have to be enemies just because we’re in different squads," she exclaimed excitedly and I solely agreed with her.

I was glad she understood that we didn’t have to be toxic toward each other. But that’s when Haiden appeared. I had no idea he had overheard the last part of our conversation.

"Make sure you don’t spill your secrets to her. Ask her ex-best friends. She has a habit of spilling secrets and starting rumors," he said in a creepy, judgmental tone as he walked past us, went straight into the room, and slammed the door shut.

Now it was just Oriana staring at me.

"I’ll go ahead and sleep," she said with an awkward laugh, quickly turning to rush away.

I could tell Haiden had done a great job ruining my reputation and stealing my one chance to have a good friend. After she left, I walked back inside to sleep.

That night was so hard for me to get through. The minute I would fall asleep, I had dreams of the North. I did not realize the aftereffects of being there would be so strong. Once we had taken care of the faun, we all thought that would be it. We hadn’t encountered such a dangerous species. The number of lives lost was actually fewer than in the previous squads on their first missions. Maybe their monster was more deadly. Ours was mostly affected by his emotional state. So he wasn’t, strictly speaking, born a monster. He was turned into one after he was wronged.

Still, three were lost in total in the North. Two died, one by the faun, the other by a wild wolf. However, Sadie was also counted among the three because she went missing. And everybody knew that once someone goes missing there, they almost always end up dead. Their bodies would turn up in later missions. Or maybe not.

There were some rumors that people still live in the North, but they must have adapted to it. As for Sadie, in the state she was in, it was hardly possible she survived. But that’s where my nightmares came from. I would fall asleep and see her in the storm. I was so anxious, so worried. I kind of blamed myself. I wished we hadn’t listened to Ian and stayed behind.

Then morning arrived. It was a pretty chill day for us. The ringleaders acted like they hadn’t sent us on a death mission. They were all smiles, as if they were our buddies. I’m pretty sure others thought they were. As for me, I just couldn’t. My first interaction with them was that Rue was great, but then again, she was following the rules of the Headmaster. And I could barely ever see her as a friend. The minute she had to enforce the rules, she became stern.

"So, there is a storm in the North,’ Troy said, walking in and rubbing his hands. We had all gotten ready for the day, but there wasn’t much we could do. However, we were supposed to be in the hall for the main breakfast. That was changed. I heard that over time, they’ll give us more luxuries, or a more normal living situation, at least in terms of meals. But I could be wrong. They always change the rules based on their mood.

"Let’s not tell this to Haiden," Yorick suggested to Troy, who gave him a head nod. The Alphas were so odd. They’d have a full-blown fight, hit each other until they were bleeding, and the next minute, they’d be sitting together, sharing biscuits.

The loud crinkle of the biscuit wrapper opening from Yorick turned heads. Even I looked up to stare at him, and he mouthed an apology to everyone before offering Troy a biscuit. I guess he had saved some, or probably stolen them from the celebrations yesterday.

Ian had not spoken much. I even noticed that when Rue was handing out sweets to everyone, he held his in his hand and, once he was getting off the train, tossed it onto the ground.

"Ian, do you want some?" Yorick asked, holding his arm out so Ian could grab a biscuit. However, Ian stayed seated on his bed, head down, fingers clenched together. He only shook his head, no words, no thank you, nothing. Then Yorick moved his hand from left to right, offering the biscuit to me.

"No, thank you," I said softly, even though I didn’t want to speak to either of the two who had played me in the past.

"You know, we should stop thinking about the grudges we held before. The past is the past. We’re in the future now, and we’re crusaders, not some teenagers." As soon as Troy started his lecture on how we should deal with our emotions and treat each other, I tilted my head and raised an eyebrow. But it was someone else’s reaction that caught Yorick and Troy’s attention.

I followed their gaze and saw Ian staring at them with the same expression I had on my face, his head slightly tilted.

"You know, I’m done pretending like this is normal," Ian said quietly, making us all stare at him, then at each other.