REVOLUTION: A Rebel Among Monsters ✔

Seventeen••You're Too Curious

Shoving down her doubts, Valnia returned to the recruit dorms and, after a moment of hesitation, she knocked on Melaynia's door.

To her surprise, Melaynia opened almost instantly. "So? What did she say?" She had released her hair from its braid, and it tumbled down her shoulders in messy, wavy heaps of chestnut and taupe.

"She's speaking with the Monsters, seeking approval. But..." Valnia tipped forward. "They won't allow anything if you don't drink the blood, now." Melaynia made a dissatisfied face, but Valnia wouldn't let it affect her. "I'm sorry, but without it flowing in your veins, they can't consider you a full recruit, meaning your demands won't even make it to the voting stage."

With a dramatic sigh and a toss of her mane, Melaynia rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll drink the stuff... but then I won't do anything until I receive a definite answer." Shoving past Valnia, she marched out into the corridor.

In silence, Valnia led her to the Infirmary, where the recruit nurse awaited them, her table prepped with a glass of sparkling, translucent liquid, and a cup of water beside it.

Melaynia sat, sneered, gagged, ready to throw a tantrum—but to avoid embarrassing herself, she gulped down the substance, wincing as she completed her transition. The blood had no taste, Valnia remembered, yet Melaynia again gagged at the end, grabbing the water goblet to chug down its contents in record time.

"Blah, that was nasty!"

The nurse scoffed, and Valnia motioned towards the door. "Oh, stop exaggerating. It's over, and you're official. So go back to your room, and someone will be in touch soon about... your requests."

Waddling out as if someone had plunged a dagger to her belly, Melaynia departed, and again the nurse scoffed. "What an attitude," she said, eyeing Valnia as she cleared the space and set the cups in the sink. "But... it must run in the family, eh?"

Valnia ignored her jape and left, scrunching her brows as she passed the threshold—where she was stopped by Lexa.

She grasped Valnia's arm and slammed a palm over her mouth, "don't say or do anything." Cheeks flushed, gray eyes vivid and fearful, she dragged Valnia from the Infirmary. "The Eldians want to speak with you. Hurry," she whispered, tugging her into the hall leading to the Eldian HQ, through the Dining Hall, the Main Hall, and stuffing her into the first Eldian room—the place where she'd seen Melaynia again after twelve years.

The long and hollow, cave-like location was dark and muggy, with a scent of fresh soil and a hint of mint.

"What do they want?" she whispered back, though Lexa tightened her grip as if to tell her to be quiet as they marched into the space.

The atmosphere thickened the farther they got—a stale, nose-clogging stench reverberated into her nostrils, and acid slid up her throat.

I hate this room. Too many bad memories...

She'd been there three times, yet couldn't get used to it.

With an abrupt halt, Lexa thrust her forward. "Here she is," she said, in the Eldian tongue. Valnia comprehended the basics of the language, but it was usually unethical for Ceruleans to speak it.

"Valnia." The tone was masculine, firm, and in Cerulean, escaping the shadows as if coming from the wall itself. A pair of dazzling jade eyes formed, and a giant figure barreled out of the facade, forming one of the sluggish, enormous Monsters. "We hear your classes are going well? We applaud you." Five other beings morphed into existence, taking shape beside him, near identical though their pupils had varying hues of sapphire, emerald, tourmaline. Slippery, sticky sounds erupted as they crept closer, until they towered over her, forcing her to her knees. "State your opinion in the case of Melaynia Roya and her special request."