Vallen: The Marking (Vallen series #1)

Chapter 24

I found Alaric sitting in the cafeteria as always. He had his head buried in our human studies textbook, trying to cram more information in his head. He stopped once he saw me though.

"So that thing I wanted to talk to you about the other day." He immediately said after I sat down. I had definitely noticed some changes in him since he found his gift. When we were hanging out together he was just normal. The way he was when I met him that first, stressful day. However when his brothers joined he became more distant.

"What's up?" I asked him. He looked like he was struggling to tell me this. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked like he hadn't had a proper night's rest in days.

"My gift is higher than my brothers." I already knew this. Eldon's gift was Intangibility, he was able to walk through walls. Darius had the gift of astral projection. He could make a second, invisible, version of himself and make things float. Both were level four gifts, while Alaric's pain extraction was level five. "Once our parents die I will be the head of the family. I need them to respect me or they'll never listen and our house will fall apart."

I just assumed the head of the family would be the oldest sibling. It makes sense that they would pick the one with the strongest gift. The Vallens are always so focused on strength. Still, Alaric is not cruel nor does he demand a lot of respect from people. Coming to think of it, most of our classmates probably know about his family status, and therefore respect him automatically.

"It shouldn't all fall on your shoulders," I said. "Maybe if you focus more on building good friendships with them you can all lead the house together?"

"It doesn't work like that." He said a bit harshly. "They know it too. If I don't look strong enough one of them will take over. Especially now that we are up for being an old family, we can't have anyone being weak."

"It's not being weak, it's being a family." I answered.

"What would you know about family?" He countered. I could tell he regretted saying it. He looked almost as shocked as I was. But it didn't matter. I didn't know anything about Vallen families. I was never a part of one. Even though it felt like his brothers were my own. Even though they all treated me like their sister. I was on my own in this Vallen world.

I got up and nearly ran out of the cafeteria, knocking into Eldon on my way. He greeted me happily, but I ignored him and brushed passed him. It wasn't until I reached the girls sleeping chambers that I slowed down my step. 

There weren't any guys allowed up into the tower. Only on the first floor where there were study places. But even then, the only people you'd see here were couples. I ran up the stairs, all the way up to my room.

The pressure of it all was starting to get to me. Keep my grades up, find a gift, figure out a future, figure out who my parents are and now prove to Alaric that I am not totally oblivious to the Vallens. I had made light years of progress since I arrived here in October.

What would I know about family? I haven't seen mine in seven months. Sure I could talk to them over the phone but nothing beats one of my mother's hugs. Or a stupid dad joke or even being forced into hanging out with Maddie's friends. I would kill to have any of them here.

In a hopeless effort to not be confronted by Alaric, I had skipped dinner and went to bed hungry. I woke up several times that night, wishing that the kitchens were still open, but I knew that that hope was in vain. We weren't allowed to leave our chambers during the night.

I thought I woke up from the hunger again, my alarm clock read 5:45, it was a Saturday and I was definitely planning to sleep in for as long as I could. I could hear some commotion going on downstairs. Technically we are allowed to leave our rooms starting from five o'clock in the morning, but realistically: What teenager would willingly do that?

I heard some yelling and decided to check what was going on. Most girls on my floor had their door closed, they were probably still asleep. I looked down the staircase and saw girls running around. Each of them had a panicked look on their face.

"Oh my god." I heard a girl say behind me. We were the only ones with our doors open. She pointed at the single large window at the opposite end of the room.

The school was on fire.