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is your
second form anyway?” she asked, curious.
    “ I’m...”
I stopped short. Natalia had told me not to tell anyone, and I wanted
Roselle to be my friend without knowing who I truly was, since so
many people were seemed shocked when I told them. “I’m
not supposed to tell anyone yet.”
    Roselle
smiled. “I suppose that's a good idea. I wish people had given
me that advice when I first came here. It would have helped things a
lot, put me at an advantage over the others.”
    We
were quiet as we walked behind the other students. Maybe she would
know where my dorm room was. “Do you know where Natalia’s
dorm is?” I asked.
    She
grinned. “Is that because you are in her dorm?”
    “ Yes,”
I replied.
    “ That
means that you’re in my dorm, too. You can just follow me.”
    It
made me feel better to know that I would have a friend in my dorm.
Perhaps two if Natalia turned out to be a good person. The way she
left me after I’d told her who I was made me feel unsure.
    We
followed some other girls into the building and up the stairs. Some
of them stopped at other doors and went in while others kept on going
after Roselle and I stopped at one that had the letter L on it. “This
is us,” said Roselle.
    She
opened the door, and I was met by the sight of a small room, just big
enough to hold three bunk beds. They all had the same bedding with
trunks at the end. “Which one is mine?” I asked.
    She
pointed to the one closest to us. “That one, I’m afraid.
No one likes to sleep closest to the door, so it goes to you because
you’re new.”
    “ What’s
wrong with sleeping closest to the door?” I asked.
    “ You
get the full blast in the morning when they come to wake us up with
the trumpets, and if there is someone in one of the other dorms who
wants to hurt you, it’s the easiest bunk for them to get to.”
    “ Don't
the doors have locks?” I asked.
    “ Yes,
but locks don't really work against those with magic abilities.”
    I
smiled weakly. “Great.”
    She
gave me a half-smile. “We’ve all had it at some point.
The good thing is that if you think you can win, you can challenge
one of the people in our dorm to a duel in order to get their bunk.
Rules say that you can challenge someone for anything that belongs to
them. That’s how I got my bunk,” she said as she climbed
the ladder on the bunk next to mine. “It declares me the third
best warrior in this room.”
    “ Who
is the first?” I questioned.
    “ January.
She’s a witch.”
    I
laughed at her joke, but Rose ll e’s
face was serious.
    “ No,
really,” she said. “She’s a witch. Her second form
is a pixie, but her father was a wizard and trained her in the art.
That’s the only reason why she’s first.”
    “ Is
she mean?” I asked, although by Roselle's tone of voice, I
already knew the answer.
    “ Exceedingly.
It keeps us all on our toes, that’s for sure. If we do one
thing she doesn’t like, we won’t appreciate the outcome.”
    “ Have
you ever gotten on her bad side?” I asked.
    She
smiled. “Unfortunately, yes. Many times. I’m afraid I’m
not very smart for doing it either, because I’m not a Level
Nine, like her.”
    “ Level
Nine?” I wondered aloud.
    “ There
are levels given to us in the time that we spend here. I’ve
only been given a Level Five so far. We stay here until we reach a
Level Ten or for three years if we never do. Those who graduate the
soonest get sent to do the harder tasks for the kingdom, so I don’t
want to get too high anyway.”
    At
that point, the door opened again and Natalia walked in with another
girl who had dark brown hair and eyes almost as black as the creature
I'd faced in the trial arena.
    “ January!”
Roselle said, resting her chin in her hand as she sat cross-legged on
her bunk. “We were just talking about you!”
    I
really wished she hadn't said that. I tried not to look intimidated.
    January
looked at me as if I were bait, and then back up at Roselle.