New Wings

Chapter 4

"Crescent? Are you in there?" Her mother's shrill voice pounded the door, along with her fist. Cress grimaced and closed her book, setting it on the table with shaking fingers. For some reason, seeing her body's immediate reaction to her mother's voice only made her more nervous. Dread filled her.

"Yes Mother." She said, hoping her response would be considered 'loud and clear' enough to pass without punishment.

"How many times must I remind you? Call me Mrs. LeCourtier. That's the proper thing to do. Next time I won't be so gracious." She said, closing the door behind her with a resounding click. Cress kept her eyes to the floor, watching the bottom of her dress swish with each menacing step she took.

"I apologize, Mo-Mrs. LeCourtier." Her mother frowned at that.

"Yes, well. Speaking of which. Your tutor is late, so we will go back to the board for now." Cress's eyes widened.

"Please, no. N-"

"Now now, shut that tiny, ungrateful mouth of yours and put this on." She said, taking the board out from under the bed and shoving it at her.

Cress caught it, her hands trembling so much that she had to sit on the bed. She closed her eyes as she slipped the ropes over her head, securing them with the belt buckle and feeling the board stiffen against her back. Once again, her body stiffened, and her posture became elegant and poised.

"That's as close to adequate as we will get." Her mother said with a sigh, shaking her head as if it was a tragedy.

The second her mother turned to grab the French textbook, Cress scowled as hard as she could. Turns out her mother could spin faster on her feet than she'd anticipated. The scowl was frozen on her face when Mrs. LeCourtier screamed for Richard in a rage at her. Throwing the textbook at her daughter, nearly slamming it into her face, she turned on a wobbly heel and raced for the entryway.

"Richard, bring the switch! She's rebelling again."

The sound of the door slamming once again caused the tears to burst from Cress. She couldn't take it anymore. She began to struggle out of the ropes, gasping through the hot tears. Any second her father would come up and berate her, and she'd never once shown him her tears. It was the one act of defiance she could use. But this was too many times and too many punishments for her to bear. She would never be what they wanted; only what they despised. And for that she cried.

She sobbed until the tears fell into her mouth, choking her. Her arms were red and raw from the ropes, but she didn't care anymore. She was done. She had to escape. Hopefully the fall from the window wouldn't hurt too much. After that, the train station was only--

At that moment, her bedroom was filled with light once more, and a strangled scream fell from her chattering teeth. But it wasn't Richard.

It was Thorne. He strode in with his usual confident walk, dressed in a dark suit with a lily in his pocket. How did he know those were her favorite? She gaped at his blinding smile, then returned it with renewed energy.

"Thorne! Oh you have no idea how glad I am to see you!! Quick, help me out of this so we can leave. You won't believe what set them off this ti--"

"Silly. Naive. Stupid. Blind."

"E-excuse me?" Her trusting eyes went wide at his insults. Is that really what they were?

His beautiful smile turned into a sneer. She shrunk away, falling back onto the bed as he walked closer. A sliver from the board beneath her head cut through the skin in the back of the neck, a pain she was all too familiar with. This would be about the fiftieth sliver she'd have to try and pull out herself. Cress blinked away the thoughts and the bleeding as he moved next to her, hovering like a vulture.