Errant

Enemies

I am clearly not made for a hammock. The other girls in the dormitory sleep without complaint, but every time I am on the verge of sleep, I almost pitch from the hammock onto the floor below. Everything is uncomfortable here. From the vast amounts of water to the hammocks, I am forever uneasy. Pinned underneath my body, my arm goes numb, and I glare into the darkness as turn over again.

Too fast.

My foot becomes entangled in the fabric and I dump my entire body on the ground. I untangle my foot and yank my blankets from the hammock, giving up entirely on the idea of sleep within its folds. I cocoon myself on the floor and drift off, no longer caring what my roommates think of the crazy girl on the floor.

Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds of peace. I begin to fall away from the floor, into the first respite since coming here. It doesn't last for long.

The door slams open not twenty seconds later, and Arlette storms in, lighting our stones with a torch. She is gentle but forceful with her approach to waking up the entire dormitory, shaking some girls awake and refusing to take no for an answer. Her feet stop right in front of my nose and we lock gazes, my body still wrapped tightly in blankets. She raises one eyebrow and moves on to Claire's hammock without comment.

I follow the footsteps of the other trainees upstairs to a balcony overlooking the Resistance. The underground lake yawns beneath us, and my stomach drops viciously. All traces of exhaustion leave my system as adrenaline rushes through my body and sheer panic takes over. I force myself to take mechanical steps away from the railing, to pin myself against the rock wall as the rest of the trainees file in behind me. As long as I am pinned to the wall, no one can force me to the front. I'm small enough that maybe their bodies will block my view of the water below, and I can pretend that there is nothing there— that the cavern turns into an abyss rather than a lake.

The blonde girl from earlier— Claire— plants herself against the wall beside me and sags, her honey colored eyes decorated with dark circles. She is at least half a foot taller than me, and I feel even more like a child standing next to her. I will sink into the background with this rock wall and no one will notice me.

Claire lets out a half-sigh, half-moan as the other trainees swarm around us, their eyes on a haggard man at the very edge of the balcony. His eyes are cold.His eyes skim over me, lighting on the bigger trainees, or the ones chattering in small groups.

"This is crazy," Claire says from beside me. "We didn't even get an hour of sleep."

"We got about four hours," I say, watching Quinn argue with a boy nearby.

"How do you know?" she asks.

"Because we went to bed at 11 and it's 3 now."

A hush falls around the room as I finish my words. Several heads nearby turn to stare at me, and I'm left wondering what in the world I did. I clamp my mouth shut and try to sink into the wall, but it's too late. The man's steel gaze snaps to my face, and now all eyes are on me.

My words are taboo here, that much is clear. I can see it in the fear that pales the faces around me— in the furtive glances that are directed at the man, waiting for his reaction.