REVOLUTION: A Rebel Among Monsters ✔

Twenty-One••I Really Don't Like This

After eighteen years of uninterrupted sunlight, the Underground Monster Lair's darkness was... strenuous. Melaynia never knew when it was morning, when it was lunchtime, when she was allowed to take breaks. She felt like she was in an afterlife realm where light didn't exist.

Only a few days into her new life, and she hated it.

She woke the day of her scheduled departure, thankful that such an opportunity tumbled into her lap. She was anxious to be outside again, basking in the glowing rays of sun, breathing in the air she'd missed so much. Away from the pressure of other recruits and their blind devotion. Away from the supervisors and their pompous classes, the Attendants and their secrets. And especially... away from the Monsters.

She stretched, suppressing a shiver at the image of the six clumpy creatures cramping inside her brain.

With a yawn, she stood up and glanced about her bare room. Valnia had seemed concerned that she hadn't decorated it, but with this mission, she no longer had to pretend like that mattered.

Decorating makes it official, like I plan on staying.

She didn't want to stay. She didn't belong there, so she'd escape... or die trying. Topton—one of her dream destinations, and that was where she'd head that day.

Shrugging on her uniform, she recalled Valnia's orders—no tourist attractions, no sketching, no leisure. She was there to work for the Monsters. But she'd find a way to relax—she always did. After slipping on her boots, she fussed with her hair, glimpsing herself in the mirror... and thinking of her sister.

Valnia.

The name burned inside her scalp. Never had she expected to be reunited with her sibling; nor did she think she'd be so hostile. Wincing—her body sore from training—she tore away from her reflection as an acidic taste lingered on her tongue.

Yes, she should have spent more time with Valnia, tried to understand her instead of judging, instead of throwing her in with the lot of brainwashed recruits. She'd showed herself as a jerk who never cared, who only sought answers about the mysteries of her planet.

But it was too late for regrets. Melaynia trained relentlessly for several days and never bumped into Valnia. Not in hallways, not at the dining hall.

Is she that busy? Or is she... avoiding me? Mad at me?

Today would change that; Valnia was the one in charge of taking her to Topton.

She finally settled on a ponytail and ignored her blank expression as she spun on her heels and grabbed at her maps and drawings.

Why was Valnia so upset? Melaynia was entitled to such feelings, not her. Meant to feel like a spoiled brat for requesting to skip school and get straight to work; made to look horrible, heartless, immature. The Monsters sided with Melaynia, didn't they?

So what's her problem?

Yes... she'd lied, she'd pushed, she'd asked for exceptions; but wasn't she Valnia's sister? Wasn't she happy to see her?

Breaths turning harsh, she tightened her fists and closed her eyes. She couldn't let anger consume her—Wylan taught her to calm her soul and relax her mind, to clear herself of rage and negativity. "You will be a better recruit for it, trust me," he had said, his tone soothing, his words like silk compared to the hard leather the other recruits spoke.

He was the fighting arts and meditation supervisor—which she pointed out as contradictory, and that drove him to laugh. Despite him being an accomplice to the whole Sacrificial ruse, he had been the most friendly of all people she encountered in the Lair. And he'd been so diligent in preparing her for the outside world, she couldn't hold much against him.