THE OMEN GIRL | Wattys 2020 Winner

𝟏𝟐

News has spread in the night that I've returned with Naqi, and that I've claimed the star of Gaia, and people whisper that maybe it wasn't even my fault in the first place that Roaz caught the stain.

Surely a star like Gaia would not have accepted someone who did such a thing.

Brother Marat believes the stain appeared on Roaz because of the line I drew, and he is right. Naqi believes the stain appeared on me because of what happened, and he is partly right.

Both think the stains are gone for good, now, and that is true – for Roaz.

In the morning, in the dorm, I wait for Pea the way I always do. When she wakes she looks at me, then ticks her eyes away, then comes down her ladder quietly, quietly.

She must have questions about what happened.

"Pea?"

She startles.

"Oh, stars. Sorry. You don't have to wait for me all the time, Lumi."

I shake my head; I don't mind.

She's still looking away. She runs her hand over and over the back of her head, the scruff of it, and then she says, "Is, so is everything, alright now?"

I nod.

I say, "Thank you," and the words are an odd shape in my mouth, "for not telling anyone."

She ducks her head. She fidgets. "—Naqi didn't tell?"

I shake my head.

Pea fidgets some more. But when she looks back up at me, she has pulled on a smile. "Okay. You're welcome. And you don't have to worry. I won't tell anyone. I mean," her eyes tick to my shoulder, "it's gone now, right? Like Roaz's?"

"Yes," I say, and the shape of this word, this lie, is nothing like odd in my mouth.

#

I am washing fruits in the sink at the back of the kitchens when Naqi finally wakes beside me. He yawns, and says good morning, and then Roaz pushes through to the kitchens and snarls, "You. Veil."

It's far too early for this. And Naqi groans and says, "It's way too early for this."

"How is any of this right?" Roaz bulldozes on. "You cursed someone with the stain, and you're still allowed in the race? In the temple? How are you even still allowed to live?"

"Roaz," Naqi cuts in. "That's enough."

"Enough what? She wrote the omen onto my skin. You saw it. You all saw it."

"She didn't mean to. And the stains are gone now."

"She didn't mean to," Roaz mocks. "So let's acquit the poor pure Veil of all blame because she didn't mean to. Poor Veil. Poor thing. She's pure, alright. Pure evil."

"Stop," Naqi clips. His brows and mouth have set into hard lines. "You've done nothing but pick fights with her the moment you laid eyes on her. Stop."

"Yeah. I'll stop. I'll stop once the holy Veil gets hers. And you can bet that I'll make sure she does."

Roaz twists to leave. He stops at the exit, and glares over his shoulder. He spits at me and says, "Should've been you that was stained. Scum."

He leaves.

I turn back to the sink.

My hands are shaking, so I dip them underneath the water to hide the shaking.