Project Fall (snippet 2)

Rhi bolted up in bed, her heart wildly pounding against her chest. There had been a white hot burning in her soul, unlike anything she had ever felt. It faded as soon as she woke up, but it was enough to cause adrenaline to course through her veins. Rhi was wide awake, whether she liked it or not.

The nerves in her limbs danced inside her, causing her limbs to twitch with nervous energy. With a sigh, she rose from her bed, careful to keep quiet and not wake Venus, who had the luxury of being dead asleep. 

She grabbed a robe from her trunk and slipped out of the room, pulling the robe over her sleeping dress as she took to pacing the halls. The school was eerily quiet, aside from the occasional snores coming from their dorms. Rhi padded through the halls in a comfortable stride, one hand absentmindedly rubbing at her collarbone as she tried to figure out what had woken her.

“The unclean spirit doesn’t usually feel so… hot,” Rhi thought, entering the main foyer. “And it’s not time for the spirit to return.”

A dark thought came to mind. “What if the spirit is changing its pattern? What if it’s going to start attacking twice?”

She shook her head, heading for the dining hall. “No. It can’t be that. Ianoda wouldn’t allow it.”

Rhi had learned a lot about their creator over the last month. From the words of the seers and the notes of former leaders, she deciphered that Ianoda was protective and jealous, just and kind, loving yet firm. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of him.

Rhi came to a stop at the end of the hall. She’d been walking without much thought and inadvertently ended up at the dining hall. With a great amount of care, she eased open the door to the dining hall and froze. She wasn’t alone. A dark figure sat at one of the tables, staring out the window at the gardens. Rhi approached the figure, recognizing the posture it bore.

“Cyrus?” she asked, quietly, as not to startle him.

He looked up at her, his eyes alight with surprise. “Rhi? What are you doing awake?”

She shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep. You?”

He turned back to the window. “The same, I guess.”

She sat beside him, taking in the view he’d been studying. The garden was cast in moonlight, giving the plants an eerie, glowing effect. The white roses almost seemed to shine with a light of their own. Cyrus gave a twist of his wrist, and a new blossom appeared on the bush before them.

“It’s beautiful,” Rhi said quietly. “You have a way with flowers.”

He nodded, his face clouded. She was worried she’d accidentally struck a fragile cord until he forced a smile.

“Uh, thanks,” he mumbled.

“No problem,” she replied.

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, neither one looking at the other, instead keeping their gaze firmly set on the garden before them.

“I felt something,” Cyrus confided after a moment of silence.

“You felt something?” She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Like…” He paused, taking a breath, releasing it all at once as he spoke again. “A dark spirit.”

A cold chill went through her. “He felt it too. Does that mean he sensed the unclean spirit in me? Or is something else happening?”

Cyrus sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. Maybe it was nothing.” He nodded, almost like he believed the lie. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing,” she whispered. He turned his head to look at her. “There’s no way both of us felt it if it’s nothing.”

Cyrus’s eyes flooded with relief. “You felt it too?”

“Yeah,” she shrugged, her eyes trained on the roses. “I don’t know what it is, but it isn’t good.”

He nodded solemnly. “Let’s hope it amounts to nothing.”

“Right.” Out of habit, she rubbed her collarbone again, stopping when she saw Cyrus watching out of the corner of her eye. She remembered how close he’d gotten to her secret when he found her by the lake and half expected him to ask her about it again.

He didn’t. Instead, he gave a tired sigh and rose from the table. 

“I’m going to try and get more sleep,” he announced. “I’ll see you at breakfast.”

“Okay.” She was confused by his sudden departure, but didn’t question him. Perhaps he was genuinely tired. Maybe he wasn’t interested in her secret.

“Or maybe he just doesn’t want to sit here with you,” she thought.

The dining hall was eerily quiet without him. Rhi only stayed a few more minutes before heading back to her dorm, wondering if trouble would make itself known in the morning.