From the journal of Madeline Le Torneau: “Despite my general aversion to physical touch from near strangers, looking back I think something deep inside me needed that hug.”

  “Madeline?” Talia practically squealed. Madeline whipped her head around.

  Clad in an identical black and red trimmed robe Talia looked like she’d been through a war. Somehow, ash looked like it caked her face or maybe the smearing of her makeup made those soot lines. Her once wavy black hair was now strewn about without pattern, looking like it might take a heavy duty brush to put right and possibly not even then.

  Still, Madeline accepted and returned the hug Talia offered with equal fervor.

  “You look terrible,” Talia said softly into Madeline’s ear, her head nuzzled on Madeline’s shoulder.

  “So do you,” Madeline said, and after a tense second they both started giggling like schoolgirls.

  Madeline winced, remembering Talia’s chosen affinity. “Oh, Talia. I thought you were gunning to be a Storm Sorceress.”

  “Let’s sit,” Talia said, and the two of them sat on Madeline’s bed, touching legs while using the other girl for support. “I thought I was going to be Mads, but then that stupid device that talks to you told me I had no natural talent in that affinity. I pleaded with it but it just told me to shut up. It was very rude.”

  “Yeah, I hated that fucking thing,” Madeline mumbled under her breath.

  Talia continued. “Then I got through to the next room and I had every offer except the Storm affinity. I considered joining the Death Dealers because I knew you would be there,” Talia gently stroked the black part of Madeline’s hair to emphasize her point. “But this affinity fit me better so I picked it. And here I am.”

  Despite her exhaustion, Madeline recalled her promise to Professor Herbert that she’d eat until she felt pain. “Come on,” she told Talia. “We need to get food.”

  But before they could struggle to their feet and find their way to the food somehow, their dorm door swung open. Their roommates.

  The first girl introduced herself as Willow, her auburn hair contrasting vividly against her caramel skin. She smiled so wide she nearly dislodged her glasses, friendly and immediately accepting of the other two girls. In contrast, Willow had to prod the pale second girl, shortest and thinnest of the four. After Willow’s encouragement, she slowly introduced herself as Hayden.

  Madeline, Talia, Willow and Hayden.

  “Is that…,” Talia asked, noticing the brown bags Willow and Hayden carried.

  “Oh! Duh,” Willow would have slapped her palm to her forehead had she not been carrying a bag. “Here, we brought you food. We passed the tests about an hour ago and thought the new girls would meet us down in the mess hall. But when you didn’t show, well, we figured you’d appreciate the delivery.”

  Talia stretched out a hand. “Gimme!”

  “And thank you,” Madeline added, hastily.

  “Yes, thank you,” Talia agreed, ravenous hunger getting the most of her in the moment.

  Willow only laughed and handed over the bags of food alongside the smirking Hayden.

  The two girls hoarded a little bit of everything for Madeline and Talia. Madeline tore into the bag, forgetting all propriety. Fuck it. She was in her room and she was starving. She pulled a spicy pasta dish with slightly blackened chicken from the bag and set it on her side of the bed, dark haired Talia still next to her. Madeline inhaled deeply.

  “That smells good enough to cover your stench, Tals,” Madeline said, grinning.

  “Shut up, too hungry,” Talia took a bite of a dripping roast beef sandwich so large that she nearly had to dislodge her jaw to accommodate. As it happened, beef juice dripped down her chin and landed between her breasts, missing the robe entirely. Hayden handed her a napkin.

  Madeline had a sandwich in her bag, too, along with a thick soup and garlic bread and several desserts including a slice of both chocolate and vanilla cake with a side of fresh strawberries.

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  She ate it all. For Madeline, this represented nearly a week's worth of food and she downed every last bite in one go, wiping the bread on the soup container to ensure nothing went to waste. An immediate wave of guilt washed through her. She felt sick.

  Talia chattered with the girls in between slow bites. She, too, ate everything she’d been given.

  “Mads? You okay? You look sick,” Talia asked, noticing the colour that drained from her new friend's face.

  Madeline shook her head.

  Talia rubbed her back. “Use the bag if you have to throw up, okay? Was it the food?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did it spoil? I was sure we picked good food, I’m sorry,” Willow frowned.

  Madeline inhaled deeply. “No, it was just about the best meal I’ve ever had. I just…”

  “Gluttonous,” Hayden whispered.

  “Something like that,” Madeline mumbled.

  Talia held Madeline’s hand. “The magic takes its toll. There was a reason the Professor told us to eat before doing anything else, we were pushed to the limit. Don’t feel bad.”

  “Why don’t we change the subject? Talia, where are you from?” Willow asked.

  That’s how Madeline found out that none of the girls were from very far away at all, Talia even hailed from the southern part of Saberwyn City. If she wished to go home, she only had to travel a few hundred kilometers.

  Hayden came from a border town at the northern tip of Road’s End which explained her generally reserved nature. She told a story about having to constantly be on guard for smugglers, trespassers and nogoodniks. She developed a talent for observing. For fading into backgrounds. Hayden confessed a desire to one day return to the border and protect her province from the challenges it faced. Rotdens rarely showed up in Road’s End but when they did the resulting consequences were devastating. Hayden had seen cities obliterated by Rotspawn.

  As fate would have it, Willow grew up a stone's throw from Hayden in a nearby Mapelore Province town across the border. The micro climate in Mapelore was responsible for the vast majority of the Saberwyn Empire’s maple syrup production and distribution. Willow’s family owned a small syrup farm that teetered on the verge of profitability, one sub-par rainy season ran the risk of breaking their finances. Her parents initially fought her plans to come to the Academy - her leaving meant one fewer set of hands on the farm - but they relented. She still didn’t know how her acceptance would go over.

  When it came time for Madeline to share personal details about her life, she fell into her carefully practiced story. She hailed from a particularly poor part of Grinnrock, haunted by the premature deaths of her parents. Her presence in the Academy was due to pride, nothing else.

  Indeed, the best lies were those that edged nearest truth.

  Madeline told her roommates that she’d expected to be in the Death affinity due to her heritage. Everyone already knew, of course, that Grinnrock produced Death Dealers at a near exclusive rate.

  Hayden shared that she’d expected to be in the Sensory affinity, Willow in the Life affinity and of course Talia expected to be a Storm Sorceress.

  Madeline found it odd that none of them would have chosen the affinity they landed in.

  When the discussion turned to the entrance exams, Madeline downplayed hers. While the others acknowledged their strength, Madeline kept the information Celeste told her a closely guarded secret. By what was said, Madeline’s raw flame generation landed several levels higher than the other girls.

  Once Talia and Madeline polished off everything but the utensils, they tiredly dragged themselves to their feet and into the hygiene rooms. Not for the first time, Madeline had to shake awe from her voice while doing something banal at the Academy. The shower stall took up as much space as her childhood bedroom, that bedroom twice as large as the half dozen other rooms she’d occupied since being orphaned.

  Madeline removed her robe and entered the stall, eyes flickering toward the large selection of soaps indented on the wall. There was every scent she’d heard of and some she didn’t. Strawberry, vanilla, rose, honey, orange, something called grapefruit, and more. There were unfamiliar items to exfoliate her skin, items to stem dandruff, items to efficiently remove her makeup, antiseptic items for cuts, bars of soap specifically for her face, scented creams specifically for feminine areas. It had no end.

  If Madeline felt more confident in their budding friendship, she would have asked Talia what the hell conditioner was used for and did she need to take any precautions before applying. Maybe tomorrow.

  And then there was the water. Lord, the water.

  She inched the gleaming tap to the right, and the temperature increased. Then she inched it again. Again, the temperature increased. Despite her exhaustion, despite her regret over consuming so much food and despite her anguish over failing her first goal, she nearly squealed with glee. In her life, anyone who claimed to have a warm showers were envied. Anyone claiming a hot shower was branded a fucking liar.

  She turned the handle as far to the right as it would go. Then cursing, realizing the water could get too hot, she found a happy medium.

  Regrettably, only at the end of the shower did she notice the steam rocks tucked away at each corner of her stall. She directed the flow of the water at the rocks and stepped back, nearly tripping over her own feet when the steam rose from them.

  Talia toweled off at the sink, waiting for Madeline with a smile. “Not bad, right?”

  Madeline just shook her head in disbelief, grabbing a clean toothbrush and some powder.

  Talia waited as Madeline finished, pointing out the differences between her home and this room. They walked together through the stone hall, past the raucous boys dorm and back to theirs.

  Despite wanting to stay up a while longer and review the day past and visualize the next day, Madeline drifted into a deep sleep the minute her head hit the pillow.

  Tomorrow, she’d begin.