Chapter 2

Though we’d just gone through two and a half hours of straight lecture from Dr. Oshun and thirty pages of reading assigned already, I dreaded what was to come after the lunch break. 

“So I’ll drop by your house around nine?” Noel asked as we walked toward the lunch

gardens. 

“Sure.”
He nudged my shoulder. “You sound excited.”

“Sorry—it’s just—I’m still thinking about the Elemental Practicum. And I have to train with Doc tomorrow morning. He’s been harder on me than usual. I don’t even wanna think about what he’ll say if I totally fail today’s first class.”
Noel winced in sympathy. “Ah, yeah, well. I know how that can be. Sorry about that.” 

“Actually, I should be more sorry. He’s your dad.” 

He chuckled. “Right. I still think he’s tougher on you though.” Noel’s phone buzzed in his

pocket; when he glanced at the screen, he stopped. “Hey I’ll meet you at the usual spot—I gotta take this.”  

“Alright.” So I walked into the lunch gardens alone, which really was a grassy amphitheater surrounded by our country’s signature plants: roses and Amor fruit trees. Some people ate on the benches, some on the amphitheater steps. I grabbed one of the floating, clear plates full of cucumbers, chicken, tomatoes, garnished with fresh lemon, then an Amor from the tree at the end of the line. Amor was the fruit of our country—it only grew on Amorta and it looked like golden red apple, but it tasted like a peach and strawberry in one. 

Just as I was going to take a bite of the fruit, I bumped into a shoulder and the fruit rolled onto the grass. 

“Oh! I’m sorry!” I said. 

“No, I’m sorry,” a high, airy voice snapped. When I saw who it was, I wasn’t surprised. “Pardon my manners. I should’ve been more considerate when walking around an Outcast.” Evora. Her silver-blonde hair curled around her sharp jaw and would have softened the icicles in her irises had she ever been capable of ever showing warmth. Instead, she was so cold it made my blood seeth. 

“At least I’m not––”

A hand on my shoulder stopped me from spitting out a wind of insults. “Sorry to interrupt, but I need you for something, ‘Rella. You mind?” Rezin flashed his crooked smile at Evora, raising his scarred, left eyebrow, as if daring her to say more.
She smirked. “Not at all, Rez. This mutt is all yours.” 

“Oh Evora I’m flattered you’d offer yourself up to me, but mutts aren’t really not my type.” I stifled a laugh as Evora’s jaw dropped. Rezin swung me around, and I burst out laughing as we walked the opposite way.

“Thanks. But how many times do I have to tell you not to call me ‘Rella?”
He shrugged. “Enough times that I wonder why you haven’t beat me up yet. You must like it to some extent, right?” he teased. 

“No, it just means I don’t feel like punching it out of you today.” I enjoyed our little bickers from time to time––my hopeless attempt at flirting. I wondered if he ever thought of it as flirting, or if he even noticed. He hadn’t noticed all these years of knowing each other since we were kids, I doubted that he’d notice now. He had girls all over him all of the time without him having to figure out whether they were flirting or not––it was completely obvious by the way they drooled around his arms. I admit. I got jealous. They got his attention in a way that I couldn’t ever hope for him to direct toward me. He didn’t think of me as more than a friend. 

 With his smile and flirtatious personality, he made it real damn hard for me to think of him as just a friend. “So, what’re you doing bugging the Nobles?” he asked. 

“She started it! Besides, you’re one of them, too.” The Nobles were the lords of our different lands on Amorta. There’s Cinder, the land of the fire Amortals; Atlantia, the land of the water Amortals; Airress, the land of the air Amortals; Terra, the land of the earth Amortals; and, of course, the Kingdom City, the capital of our country, where Castle remained, the Human-Amortal relation buildings resided, and where the schools were. Evora was an Airress lord. Rezin and his younger siblings, Keahi and Enki, were Cinder lords, but Rezin was now in his mentor year. After the last year at the University and an element is claimed, you graduate into your mentor year to help train the younger students and find your Amortal calling. 

A lot of pressure around here.
Keahi kept to herself most of the time, and Enki was friends with Evora’s brother Samuel, so they all tended to cluster together. They usually didn’t cause any problems—it was mostly Evora, because she was supposedly betrothed to Prince Ramiel she seemed to think she was above everyone else. Though the others weren’t as outrightly prejudice as Evora, they also didn’t stand up to her. So I didn’t bother speaking to any of them unless I absolutely had to. 

“Yeah, well you know I’m the black sheep of the family.” He put an arm around me and my heart dropped.
“Right. And I’m the black sheep of the entire school.” I plopped down at my usual table next to the black rose trees. No one really liked the black roses because, if you touched the black roses, they’d bring back your darkest memories and nightmares. I didn’t mind being near them, though. Sometimes it was the closest I felt to my dead parents. 

“You don’t know if you’re actually an Outcast. You could be a Celestial.” I scoffed. What wishful thinking. Celestials were Amortals who claimed power over multiple elements, but never more than two. I sighed. 

Rezin sat across from me and grinned. “Oh c’mon. You’re special.”

I looked up at him, his eyes flickered with red as he peered into me. I’d never seen eyes quite like his before, and perhaps that was another reason why everyone seemed so drawn to him. That, and the fact that he kept everyone at a distance. People were drawn to the unknown. Especially when that unknown was a dark, mysterious Cinder lord. 

“Maybe. Anyway, were you just saving me from Evora or were you actually looking for me?” I asked.  

“There’s a race going on tonight. I thought you might want to join?” He cocked up his scarred eyebrow. But he never had to try much to convince me. I wanted an excuse to spend time with him.
But I’d already committed to going to the party with Noel. 

“Uhg, I would but I already promised Noel I’d go to the party tonight.” 

“That’s alright. It’s not until late anyway. Pick you up around midnight?” 

I smiled. “Okay.”

“Alright. See you soon, ‘Rella.” He brushed his hand against my arm, sending a shiver down my spine. 

Just as Rezin left, Noel walked over with his plate of food. “Rezin,” he said, not smiling. 

Rezin flashed a crooked grin. “Human.” He walked away coolly while Noel eyed Rezin until

he was out of earshot. 

“What did he want?”

“Oh c’mon Noel. He’s my friend, too. Anyway, you guys practically grew up together. Why

can’t you get along?” 

“He’s an ass. He may help my dad and I, but that doesn’t mean I trust him. He’s taking you to a race, isn’t he?” He accused, pointing his finger at me. 

“Maybe. But it’s fun! Anyway, it’s not that much better than a bunch of teenagers getting drunk on that Rose Ambrosia stuff. And it’s not as dangerous for us as it is for humans.” I pointed my finger right back at him. 

He slumped and crossed his arms. “Will you stay party for a little bit, at the very least?”
“Race isn’t until midnight. So yes.” 

“Alright. And I know it’s not as dangerous for you guys, but Amortals still can get seriously hurt. You’re not invisible, especially if any Immortals decide to show up.” 

The Immortals were once human beings or Amortals turned dark because they had killed another Amortal. Most of them have killed enough that they have almost no soul left––they suck the life force out of anyone they can not just because it’s the only way they can survive. And when I say life force, I mean our blood and hearts. Humans call them vampires, but they were much worse than that. And even more dangerous. They enjoy death. They don’t just feed off of the blood, but they feed off of the death itself. They feed off of human blood to survive, but it’s really an Amortal’s heart they’re after. Because when they rip out the heart of an Amortal, that Amortal’s power becomes theirs. 

Noel was one of the few humans on Amortal. His father, Dr. Henry Heart, was part of the founding families that kept the peace between Amortals and humans. The human families that lived on Amortal were raised as protectors, researchers, and advocates for humanity. They also helped keep the secret of Amorta. If any human knew of its existence, we risked more humans killing us, and thus more Immortals being created. So there’s one thing all of us are trying our hardest to find: a cure for the Immortals. 

It was an Immortal who killed my parents. And this fact was the reason I couldn’t be an Outcast. I couldn’t be weak. That Immortal is out there, and they could kill me. And that Immortal just happens to be the most powerful one of all, the leader, the Shadow—the one we all feared. 

He called himself Mortem. 

But so far, no luck. 

“We haven’t seen any Immortals around in months.” Except that wasn’t true, but I wasn’t going to tell Noel my little secret regarding that. “Anyway, there’s more of us than them. And the King’s old protection barrier is still strong.”

Noel pursed his lips. “Yeah. I guess.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do you know something?” He took a bite of his Amor and avoided eye contact. “Noel.” 

His phone pinged from his back pocket and he quickly stood up. “I’ll see you at your place, later, alright? I gotta go.” 

Noel had never been a good liar. He knew something. 

And I was going to find out what.