Page 7 of The Tribrid Princess and the Taste of Chaos (The Rossi Legacies #7)

Sienna

I look away, keeping my head down as I wheel my suitcase past them, the sound of the wheels loud in the now silence, as she stops laughing and I can feel that familiar stare piercing into me.

“So, are you excited about the game?” I hear her asking.

I don’t hear his reply, if he even gives one.

The end of the hall seems so far away, and I try to stay calm as I feel the familiar storm inside of me, just trying to get away from them as fast as possible.

I close my eyes and try to count to ten before taking another long, deep breath and exhaling slowly.

Once I’m out of their view, my shoulders slump, and I place a hand to my chest. I wish I didn’t care, but ever since we were younger, he’s always been so cold towards me, and it bothers me. But he has that dumb attitude that all stupid girls like me fall for and crush on. Why?

There’s no logic to liking an asshole, and I’d never admit that. No way. Not when our family is linked.

Five minutes later, I reach my dorm room, unlocking the door with the fingerprint scanner and code. I step inside and stop in my tracks when the girl on the other side of the room is very much not the roommate I expected.

Gods, please don’t tell me I have a different roommate!

The girl with straight, black hair turns in her chair. It takes me a second, but I recognise her… Anna, that’s her name.

“So, I’m taking it you didn’t know you have a new roomie?” Anna remarks, cocking a brow. “I’m Anna, Anna Wang.”

“Hey, yeah, I know you. I mean, I’ve seen you around,” I mumble.

She nods.

“Cool.”

An awkward pause follows, and I scan the room quickly, trying to think of what to say. “You’re going to be put into a division this term, too, right?” I ask. She doesn’t seem rude, one of those who kept her business to herself and her small, tight-knit group of friends.

She nods. “Yup, and I think it’s why we’re put together since we won’t be in these rooms long,” she grimaces. “I had a room to myself last term since my old roommate moved to Third Division.”

She’s nice, and I’m grateful for it, but I’m not sure she’ll appreciate it when I wake her up with my random nightmares. My last roommate hated it, and the one before that was even worse, but she was put into a division in the middle of last year, and I had been incredibly happy.

But for now, Anna’s positive attitude makes me feel a little at ease, and I smile, closing the door behind me.

“Oh, that makes sense. I wonder where Carrie moved to,” I muse.

Anna pauses from whatever she’s writing and swivels in her chair. “You haven’t heard?”

“Heard what?” I ask, placing my suitcase on my bed.

Anna looks uneasy before she glances at the window, and then at me. “Uh, she was killed a few days ago. Her pack was attacked by a wraith.”

I freeze, my heart thundering as I turn and look at her, the words sinking in. Carrie’s dead!

Gods…

Wraiths are one of the things that slipped through the veil in the last year. They are terrifying since they’re so hard to kill, especially if they’ve taken a name, but luckily, most don’t.

“I’m sorry,” Anna says, probably assuming we were friends from my silence.

We weren’t. She didn’t like me and enjoyed making my life as miserable as possible when she could, but still, knowing she’s dead is upsetting.

I sit on my bed, staring at the ground. Anna shrugs, returning to her notebook.

Crawlers once plagued my dreams before they made their first appearance, and shortly after Dad’s death, I dreamt of manananggals.

We’ve not run into any here in England, but shortly after that dream, several European countries had many attacks by them.

And wraiths, I dreamt of them a few months ago.

I knew what they were since Uncle Leo and Azura had dealt with them several years ago.

Sighing, I tug my hood off and comb my fingers through my curls, massaging my scalp.

Anna remains at her desk studying away, and I notice the coloured lines on her uniform that’s folded on the shelf beside her bed, confirming what I wasn’t too sure about. She’s Luminara.

The room itself is a decent size. We both get a bed with a desk beside it. In the centre, between the two desks, is a window. The wardrobe is beside the door, and we have a shelf at the bottom of the bed. A small adjoining bathroom for us to share leads off from her side of the room.

I begin unpacking, thinking about Carrie before I leave to go meet up with the girls. Classes will resume in the morning, and that will mean morning till night. We’ll be worked so thoroughly there won’t be much time to loiter around.

The following morning , sleep still tugs at my eyes, and I fight it with everything as I stand in line, as we shuffle towards one of the few training halls that we have.

I hope it’s not a session with other years.

The more the people, the worse I feel. I hug myself, sinking into the oversized hoodie that I’m wearing over my training uniform, which consists of grey fitted pants and a fitted high-neck turtleneck with short sleeves.

There are a few bands of silver running through the fabric along the seams, the colour of my Path.

These training clothes can go through hell and still survive.

Saves us a lot of money in clothes, I guess.

They were rolled out in the middle of last year, courtesy of Schattenblüte, the company that makes state-of-the-art clothing and armour for combat.

It’s nice, but it fits you like a glove, and everyone may hate me for saying this, but the boys definitely enjoy seeing the girls fight on a mat, and we all know why.

Pervs.

“Shame you’re all covered up there, Rossi,” one of the boys from my year whispers as he brushes past me roughly. “We all know you’re going to lose in seconds, but hey, seeing you thrown around that mat is super fun,” he snickers, and I simply cast him a glare before looking away.

See? That’s what I mean.

“Anyone want to bet on how long Rossi will last?” someone else adds snidely, making several other people laugh.

I make the mistake of looking around and see how many people are masking their smiles.

Only because I am a Rossi… or things would be so much worse.

I’m here amongst those considered the strongest of our generation.

I finally manage to squeeze through the doors and feel like I can breathe when I spot a couple of young men walking past wearing black.

Black clothes that are extremely similar to mine, but black means they are assigned into divisions.

Heaven and Allie will start off in white, then move to grey, where I am right now, not in a division and not a newbie. Boy, will Allie hate wearing white.

The bustle of talking, the hormones, the auras, the excitement of those around me wanting to get on the training mats and spar heightens.

Breathe… I need to focus on myself and only me.

I pull the sleeve of my hoodie back and stare at the tattoo on my wrist, tracing it with my eyes as I try to close off the storm of emotions from around me. Fear claws at me, and I feel a lump forming in my throat.

Please, come on, hold on. It won’t last long…

I look around and slowly back away, wanting to find a corner. Not all the squads are here, maybe half – no, maybe a third, plus it’s only our year and older years. None of the younger ones are here.

But the emotions are so intense, so powerful.

“Alright! Everyone, pair off, or I’ll do it for you. You have five minutes to warm up!” Alpha John is one of our trainers. He’s retired now from his alpha duties. His son, who is in his late twenties, is now heading his pack. Even the teachers here are powerful, chosen for their skill.

I move to the mat in the corner and focus on my warm-ups, trying to practice my breathing as everyone talks and catches up about how their holidays went.

My walls. Focus on my walls. Focus, it’s just going to be two hours…

The moment Alpha John tells us to pair off, I look up to see Maddie, one of the girls from 3rd year who doesn’t have a partner, be sent my way by Alpha John. She looks pissed off and scoffs when she sees me.

“Will you even be able to throw in two punches or will you fall to your knees and cry like you usually do?” she mutters. Her mockery stings.

You don’t know why.

I don’t reply as I fall into stance, focus…

“Begin!” Alpha John’s voice rings through the air, and the surge of auras as the majority turn to offence hits me like a train. I can feel it, the hunger to win, the adrenaline to overpower their enemies, the sheer will to succeed.

Maddie throws a punch, and I dodge, trying to block the emotions out, but that uncontrollable energy within me is waking up.

Maddie’s eyes are full of annoyance and a drive to win.

Wanting to hurt me as she throws punch after punch that I keep blocking, still struggling to squash the chaos that is rising inside of me, unable to focus on the match at all.

Muscle memory is all that is working, as all my attention focuses on controlling the power within.

Punch. Dodge. Kick. Kick. Duck. Stumble.

I stagger back as a punch connects with my throat, and I’m thrown to the ground. The surge of energy ripples inside of me as if in defiance.

Stay down! I command it, but it’s futile.

The desire to destroy seeps into every crack of the room, hungry and eager, wanting to curl around the minds of every single person in this hall.

Wanting to latch onto their fury, their despair, their hate.

It’s trying to whisper to them, wanting to tempt them, begging them to tear into one another, to spill blood, to drown in madness until nothing remains but carnage.

I want that.

Stop!

I clutch my head, nails digging into my scalp, despising the thoughts that slither through my mind, thoughts that I can never speak out loud or tell anyone.

It wants them dead. It wants me to kill.

“You’re so pathetic. I didn’t even go hard on you!” Maddie’s taunt rings through my head, hammering loudly inside my skull.

Before I can stop it, a sliver of that chaotic energy reaches toward her. I yank it back just as her foot slams into the side of my head, the impact sending me sprawling.

I could end them. Every single one of them. A flick of my wrist, and they’d be gone. They’d be dead.

STOP!

A whimper escapes before I can stifle it. The dread coils tighter, suffocating me, holding me in its chokehold.

Control it, come on, you can do this! I tell myself.

“Enough, Maddie!” Alpha John says, “Sienna?”

I blink as I look up, trying to hold in the reins is a losing battle inside of me. Unable to reply, I stumble to my feet and run from the room, ignoring the snickers that follow me.

The doors slam shut behind me, and I keep running until I’ve rounded the corner. Only then do I allow myself to stop and gasp for air, gulping it down hungrily as I wipe the sweat from my clammy forehead.

I hate being here.

I lean against the wall and slide down it. How long until Heaven or Allie begins to question it? How long until these horrible thoughts in my head have to be spoken out loud? Then everyone will know I’m an awful human being.

Everyone will be disappointed. My eyes sting with frustration as I turn and run down the silent hallways. Everyone would be in class; everyone should be. I should be. But I’m not. Because I’m a loser.

Dad… I miss you.

If he were here, I know he’d never judge me. He’d help me. I need you, Dad. I beg, wishing he could hear me and somehow appear.

Tears spill down my cheeks, the fear that I might hurt someone with the power that yearns for destruction once again is drowning me. I could never live with myself if I hurt someone innocent!

I stop before a set of large doors.

The library…

Unknowingly, my feet brought me here.

A place where I feel the safest, where the silence is welcoming, the smell of books pleasant, and the cosiness of just being surrounded by books is all I need.

I push open the doors and step inside, quietly making my way through the large shelves, going deeper and deeper within the library, hoping that no one ever finds me again.

I only stop when even the sun doesn’t reach the shelves, having reached the narrowest, darkest corner of the library and drop to the floor, wrapping my arms around my legs and burying my head in my knees.

I can never get far, because the moment I’m exposed to the storm of others’ emotions, the thing inside of me craves destruction, death and doom.

I’m scared, scared of myself.