Page 13 of Wicked Dove (Institute Thirteen #1)

NINE

ELODIE

The door closes behind me with a thud, confirming the departure of Professor Morton, Kael, and his friend, leaving me with my new roommate.

I blink at her and she exhales, her shoulders slumping before she shakes it off and hurries to the window that sits in the middle of the wall across from me. She nips on her bottom lip, watching, waiting, until she bounces on the balls of her feet, spinning to me with a smile.

“I’m going to assume they warned you against rooming with me,” she states, and I nod. “Did they call me psychotic?”

I frown. Why does she look excited by the fact?

“That’s the exact word they used,” I murmur, and she beams.

“Excellent,” she squeals, fist bumping the air before realizing she’s still wielding a knife.

“Oh, uh, sorry. Let me get rid of this,” she explains, waving the knife around in a more casual fashion, before she turns back into the ensuite, the sound of the running faucet echoing in the room a few moments later.

I don't move an inch, but curiosity gets the better of me. “Do you always walk around with a bloody knife?”

She laughs, amusement clear in her tone. “Only when someone is pissing me off,” she offers, and I grin.

“Good to know. But to clarify, whose blood is that?” I ask, hoping she doesn’t say an old roommate. Her laugh is louder this time, a cackle that comes all the way from her stomach.

“Oh, it's red dye,” she explains, and I blink.

“Red dye?” I repeat, and I can hear her giggle.

The faucet turns off and a moment later, she reappears in the doorway, a grin across her face.

“Yeah, so they all leave me the fuck alone,” she states, and I nod.

“That’s fair.”

She leans against the doorway, folding her arms over her chest as she rakes her eyes over me from head to toe. “So, what brings you to Institute Thirteen?”

Pursing my lips, I decide to observe her as intently as she assesses me, avoiding her question for a little longer.

There's no blood on her clothes anymore, revealing a pink and white gingham-checked dress that falls mid-thigh with spaghetti straps keeping it in place.

There are no crimson speckles in her blonde hair either.

She looks exactly like a mean girl would back home, and far from psychotic.

When my gaze lands on hers again, she cocks a brow in question at me and I clear my throat. “Honestly, I don't know,” I finally answer, and she hums in acknowledgment.

“So, you triggered your magic.” It’s a statement, not a question, one that has her pushing off the door frame as my eyebrows rise in surprise.

“How did you guess?”

She waves a hand at me. “You have that bewildered look in your eyes like you haven't known that supernaturals exist your whole life.”

I brush a loose curl behind my ear, clearing my throat again. “That's accurate.” She smiles as she gathers the books that were scattered across her bed. “I’m assuming you have known,” I add, and she glances at me with a broader smile.

“I'm a blood witch.”

My eyes widen so much I feel the strain.

Attempting to remain unfazed by how she says it so casually is impossible, but she doesn’t mock my shock.

“A blood witch with a lot of red dye?” I clarify with a hint of amusement, and she winks at me.

“What does that entail?” I ask, unsure if I actually want to know the answer.

And it seems as though she's as surprised by my question as I am when she cocks her brow at me.

“Is that where you want to start?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, tilting my head at her.

She shrugs. “If you triggered your magic, that means you endured The Sanctum,” she says, and I nod. “So, is the first thing you want to know about me, or do you wanna start with something else? Something a little less… foreign, maybe?”

Well, that feels weighted, but it somehow eases some of the tension buzzing through my body. It’s as if someone might actually understand how I’m feeling. “I don't know where to begin,” I admit, and she purses her lips for a moment as she nods, deep in thought.

“Do you want me to take you over to The Vale while we talk about whatever questions you can think of?” she offers, and I frown.

So Institute Thirteen and The Vale aren’t the same thing? Noted.

“You would do that?”

She shrugs. “Why not?”

I gape at her for a moment before spluttering over my words. “I don't know.”

She shakes her head at me. “Are we going or not?” She steps around me, ducking into the walk-in closet for a beat before she returns with a pair of white sneakers held out toward me.

Relief floods my veins as I stand taller. I roll my shoulders back as I nod.

“We're going.”

“Why do you keep looking over your shoulder like that?” Ocean asks, and I snap my gaze forward again, pretending like I wasn't doing exactly what she called me out for.

“No reason,” I mutter as we take a winding path uphill in the opposite direction of where I was heading earlier. The sun can’t be seen, leaving a spread of pink, orange, and lavender hues across the horizon.

Peering at Ocean from the corner of my eye, I find her staring at me with a pointed look, still waiting for me to clarify.

Busted.

I keep glancing over my shoulder like I'm living my life on the run. Sighing, I relent. “My guardian.”

She laughs, throwing her head back. “Ohhh, you must have been bad if you were assigned a guardian. Who is the lucky person?” she asks, and I grimace.

“Kael Forrester.”

She splutters. “Are you insane?”

I lift my hands in surrender. “I didn’t get to decide.

Besides, is it that bad?” I clarify, hating how my gut twists, leaving me torn, one half aware of the danger I’m in being connected to a man like him, a vampire, while also feeling protective of him.

Not that I’m worthy of protecting anyone, but the feeling is there nonetheless.

So yeah, I guess I’m insane.

Ocean doesn't stop her stride as she shakes her head at me. “What would be bad is if he were more than your guardian. Don't let his dick anywhere near your—” She gapes at me, her jaw falling slack with every shake of her head. “You fucked him already, didn’t you?”

My cheeks heat. “In my defense, I thought I was going to die.”

She shakes her head again, but she at least carries on walking, only to stop at the small summit. Hurrying to catch up, I stumble to a halt at her side as I blink at the world before me.

I don’t know where to look first. My mind is instantly overstimulated by the sheer contrast before me.

“Kael Forrester, Elodie, he—”

“Please,” I breathe. “Never mind him. I'm glad for the break and the freedom.

Tell me all about The Sanctum and all about what the hell I'm looking at.

But start with The Sanctum while I'm standing in this exact spot because somehow they managed to sentence me here without even telling me their freaking names,” I blurt.

My heart thunders in my chest as she scoffs.

“They never offer anyone the pleasure of an introduction. They think they’re above it.

” Well, at least it’s not just me. “You have the two women, the white-haired bitch and the redhead. The latter is Anya, and the bitch is Cordelia. At their side are three men. The blond guy is Rikard, the dark-haired man is Toman, and the old asshole is Saken.”

“They all sound delightful,” I mutter, disappointed by the fact that knowing their names does nothing to ease the ball of stress tightening in my stomach.

Staring at the view before me, I take a deep breath.

“They're going to make my life a living hell, aren't they?” I murmur, and she hums in agreement.

No words are needed, cementing my reality.

“Okay, tell me about all of this then,” I probe, pointing to the scene before me.

“Okay, that I can do,” she confirms, a little more upbeat, and I try to soak it in.

“This is The Vale, the literal center of our world. It’s our village, and anything you can think of wanting or needing will be here.

But the winding path we’re on that leads us to the central point isn't the only one with that same destination. There are thirteen institutes, thirteen paths leading away from The Vale.”

My gaze drifts around the perimeter, spotting each of the pathways she’s referring to. It’s more than a village, it’s a whole world.

“The Vale is where all our communal areas come together.

Each institute is known for different things, and each comes with its own hierarchy, while also ranking among the others.

However, each institute stands taller than the last. I don't think it takes much to assume that number thirteen is at the bottom of the pecking order, putting number one on the top.”

I gulp, turning my attention to the left as I slowly look beyond the central point again, paying better attention to what sits at the end of each path.

None are as dark and dreary as Institute Thirteen, and it’s clear the one to our left is where the hierarchy begins.

Although, there’s a huge, looming wrought iron fence cutting right across the walkway, for as long as the eye can see, separating Institute Thirteen from the luxuries of Institute One.

It's fresh, modern, and screams luxury, even from here. As I work my way around the circle created around the perimeter of The Vale, the standards lower until you come to the one behind me.

“The Vale is the collective town that sits at the center of each Institute, mainly the home base of academics for the supernaturals. In the center, you’ll find all of your classes, all of your food options, shops, any downtime activity you can think of, any hobbies, any sports you want; it's all going to be in the center. What you have access to tends to differ depending on your Institute, but it’s there nonetheless.

Besides, I’m a blood witch. I get what I want. When I choose to fight for it, anyway.”

As I look into her eyes, I note the lack of amusement, as if she would still rather be anywhere else but here; a feeling that resonates deep in my bones.

Clearing her throat, she nods at The Vale. “Ready for me to take you into the madness?” she asks, and I nod.

Silently, we walk down the path, and I try to catalog everything I can see.

The pathway from Institute Thirteen is framed by upturned soil that’s dried out as if aged for an eternity, while the field surrounding the pathway for Institute One is filled with luscious green grass, pretty little flowers, and looks as though it’s thriving.

As with everything else, the standard drops as you look clockwise around The Vale, reconfirming how low we fall in the hierarchy.

“You'll get a real glimpse of it all tomorrow,” she states as we reach the end of the path, standing at the foot of The Vale.

Everything feels bigger, taller, grander, but weirdly, I feel even more out of my comfort zone here than I do back at the Gothic towers of Institute Thirteen, despite how haunting they are.

“It’s all great, but I really want to go home,” I admit, and she snickers.

“Oh, well, you can't do that.”

“That's what Kael keeps saying, but that feels like admitting defeat, and I’m not giving up when I've only just got here,” I grumble, and she shrugs.

“Sure, but there's no way out. Do you want to go get something to eat?” she asks, taking two steps before she pauses, realizing that I'm not falling immediately beside her.

“What if there is? A way out, I mean. Where would it be?”

She nips at her lip, deep in thought, as she glances at me. “I’ve never really thought about it before, but if I did, it would probably be one of the institutes that aren't in use,” she states

“Aren't in use?” I repeat, my attention piqued, and she nods.

“Yeah, twelve, nine, seven, and three are all derelict as long as I've been here. Anyway—”

“Twelve,” I interrupt, glancing toward the land off to my right, spying the worn-down brown brick building in the distance. The windows are boarded up and the pathway looks untrodden.

“You're going to go now, aren't you?” she murmurs, and I tuck a loose curl behind my ear again.

“Would that be insane?”

She shrugs when I look at her. “I wield a knife covered in red dye, remember?”

I snicker. “Yeah, you’re just as insane.”

She moves the few steps it takes to stand shoulder to shoulder with me, nodding toward Institute Twelve with confidence.

“Listen, if it doesn't work out, you get me as your roommate. If it does, then, well, you got your life, I guess,” she states, and I hide the smile from my face.

The adrenaline coursing through my veins suddenly makes me feel invincible.

“I guess,” I repeat as she squeezes my shoulder giddily, chuckling in my ear.

“Go make me proud.”