Free Darkling by Mima Sabolic

anger.”
    “Whatever. Tomorrow at nine. Good night.”
    He left me at the door of my dorm and left before I could say anything.
     

Chapter 5
    The Reception
     
     
    “Where you going so early?” Julia eyed my morning tea.
    “There are those who have to train today,” I said in a sulky voice.
    “He’s no joke, right? You could always complain to a higher authority, you know, ‘cause today, my dear, is a vacation day.”
    “Right, and where would that leave me?”
    “If it’s any consolation, he won’t bother you for long. There’s a Council meeting before lunch, and Belun has to be present.”
    “Great. When is the reception?” I muttered.
    “It starts at six. You decided what to wear yet?”
    That made me think of Set’s question from the night before. But he was her team leader; I couldn’t just spill that in a chat.
    “I see myself in black.”
    She smiled approvingly.
    “Your team leader….”
    “Set?”
    “Yeah, how’re things between him and Belun?”
    “Not sure, but I’d say they have history. I’ve seen some animosity a couple of times between them, but nothing more than that. They are both on the Council, so my guess is political disagreements.”
    “Maybe.” That was new information. “So, are you meeting someone special tonight?” She gave me a secretive look, and winked but said nothing. I didn’t feel I could pry.
    I put on my new sportswear. Brown yoga pants, with a pale yellow t-shirt and orange hoodie. And new Nikes. I felt better—who said clothes don’t make the man? Okay, that was me, like a zillion times before—but in these clothes my self-esteem jumped about thirty-five percent, and that seemed like it would be enough to help me survive another day in this place.
    Belun was waiting in the gym.
    “Good morning.”
    When did we start being so polite?
    “Good morning,” I replied, hiding my nervousness.
    “We’ll be running.”
    And go running we did—ninety minutes of torture on the same forest path that I had taken the night before, which made me think of our strange little meeting. However, I couldn’t decide which part was stranger: encountering Set or Belun. Suddenly I realized that Belun hadn’t had any right to shoo me to bed. It’s not like there was a curfew in the compound, and I could meet whomever I liked after hours. Not that Set and I had planned to meet, but still. Belun had taken me to my dorm as if I was disobedient child! And it’s not like he was that much older than I, well, at least not in the way of physical appearance—I mean, he looked like a college senior. Oh crap, what had I been thinking! He was much older, like centuries older!
    I stole a glance at him, but he instantly turned his eyes on me. I looked away, feeling like I had been caught doing something wrong.
    “C’mon, don’t lag behind.”
    “I’m doing my best!”
    “Hardly.”
    I frowned and tried to speed up.
    Of course we walked back, I couldn’t jog anymore. When would this torment end?
    “So, has it started?”
    “Has what started?” I asked, surprised.
    “Sweat to blood transformation?”
    I barked a weird sort of laugh. “Why, you making a new race behind the Elders’ back?”
    “Warriors are not a sub-race.”
    “I’m not here to be a Warrior. I’m an Inquirer.”
    “I’m not making you into a Warrior, just a physically capable person.”
    I was silent. Clearly he thought I was a total idiot.
    “Are you coming tonight?” he asked.
    “Do you like the soft aroma of a good A Negative?”  He didn’t reply; actually he didn’t open his mouth again.  Training over.
    Great. Half a step forward, five steps back.
    This time for breakfast I ate cereal and fresh orange juice. The dining room was almost empty, so I ate fast and returned to my suite and relaxed on the couch—God, I’d missed that.
    I flipped through the millions of satellite channels and found nothing interesting, as usual. Annoying. The more I flipped, the stupider it got. At some