Daughter of Nox

Chapter Thirty-Three

When she and Hela parted ways, Freya jerked out her datapad and shot an angry message to her father for giving Hela permission to spend the break at their estate. Didn't he know what a little monster she was?

Freya stopped walking. She squeezed her eyes shut as her head lolled back.

Of course he doesn't, she thought. Because she never told him.

Freya felt like slapping herself. For all he knew he was being a good dad, trying to give her some free time with the one relative her own age.

Freya grimaced, not only at the thought of explaining the message, but with the memory that she'd balked at telling him.

No use stewing on it now, she thought. That was Future Freya's problem, and she'd deal with it when the time came. Present Freya had other things to think about.

The exhaustion from the day dragged at her, so much so that she could mark the passing hours by the ache in her back from hunching over her desk. She longed for the term break. It wouldn't be a ton of time, but enough to flush the weariness of this gray place from her system.

But now even the refuge of home was gone. In a real way, it was like Academy would be following her home.

Freya crossed the threshold into Raymond Hall and ascended the stairs up to her room as fatigue and Hela-induced rage weighed on her.
Seething and stewing, she decided to channel her angry energy into knocking out the rest of her homework. No way was she going to let stupid Hela take up space in her brain.

By the time she finished the last of her work, the sun had drifted below the horizon and it was almost time to meet Alexander. She stood up from the desk, feeling butterflies trace their fluttering paths from her stomach to her chest as the dorm door swished shut behind her.

The bay's lights came into view as she rounded the last corner of the path, and their glow sent a fluttering feeling up her spine as she thought of Alexander waiting for her. She fought the urge to sprint the rest of the way. Sweaty and excited was not the image she wanted to convey, especially considering how intimidated she felt just being in Alexander's presence. He was much older after all. And kind. And gorgeous. And an amazing pilot.

No pressure, she thought. All she needed to do was not think first year thoughts and she'd be okay.

Freya sucked in a deep breath and shouldered through the door. She forced a shaky smile onto her face as she crossed into the bay, her eyelids fluttering at the bright lights. All was quiet save for the hum of dozens of sim pods on stasis mode.

"Hello?" she called out. "Anyone here?"

"Back here," a voice called from behind the rows of pods.

Freya stood on the tips of her toes, trying to see over the tops of the sims, but she just wasn't tall enough for it to make any difference. She walked between the rows, looking left and right as she passed by the inactive sims.

Approaching the back of the room Freya heard the soft tones of a datapad. She angled toward the sound and found Alexander squatted down beside a closed door in the back of the bay.

"Heyya, Freya," he said without looking up from the datapad. "It is Freya, right? Checked the log after I left. Apparently, you were the last person I shot down."

"I figured you would," she said. "That's what I did."

He looked up from the datapad and gave her a wink. "So you know my name too?"

She tried to throw on a cool look. "Alexander. Or do you like Alex?"

He shrugged. "Either is fine."