Dream Weavers

Chapter Four

For two straight weeks, Aline had been locked up in her room studying away. The only time she'd left was for mandatory meetings and their training in the daunting hours of the morning where the moon still was over the horizon.

Even her roommate, Hallee, had expressed her slight concern over her non-stop days of staring into a black and white book for hours on end. Hallee was certain that Aline might be a robot, being able to stare at words that long without complaining.

"Aline, do you think like, maybe you're trying too hard? You're pretty much guaranteed to be a Traveler if you come here," Hallee remarked, pushing away her notebook and pencil for talking.

Aline had found out that this was Hallee's first time being here unlike Aline. She didn't know that it was possible not to be an apprentice. Aline didn't want to tell her either to give her more to worry about. Not that it seemed she worried about much, anyway.

Aline just shook her head instead. "Never. I need to be the female valedictorian of this, Hallee. You wouldn't understand." Not one fae would understand her determination to be valedictorian.

Hallee just shook her head in that sad way and went back to writing something. "Well, it just seems like you just bury yourself in your studies. If you keep this up, you'll be that fae that's gonna be a hermit in the end," she joked.

Aline looked up from her book and rubbed her eyes. "What?" she whispered. She had been tuning her out.

Hallee frowned and looked over at her. "I just said that you would end up a hermit if you kept up on like that. You've had no social interaction with, like, anyone at all--"

"Don't say that," Aline whispered, shutting the book. She stared at it like it was a dangerous creature ready to poison her. "Don't...don't say that," she repeated, looking up at Hallee with wide eyes.

"Yo, Aline, listen, I didn't mean to get under your skin. It was just a joke. You won't end up friendless or a hermit," Hallee explained, trying to backtrack.

Aline shook her head. "I...I'll take a break," she whispered, opening her door. She could feel Hallee looking at her back and she shut the door, staring at the empty hallway.

You'll end up a hermit, the voice whispered, creeping along up her spine and whispering it in her ear.

It seemed like everyone here had someone to be friends with--even Ula. Aline stuffed her courage and knocked on Ula's door, earning no reply. "Ula?" Nothing. She knocked again, this time louder, and heard someone groan in annoyance.

Eventually, the door flung open to reveal Ula and another girl laughing. "What the--oh, Aline! Hey," Ula said, going red. She glanced at the girl nearby her and squirmed.

"Is this her?" the girl asked, looking up and down Aline. She seemed to back away from her, scorning her every breath. "This is her, right? I think I've seen her before," she said, acting like Aline wasn't standing right there.

It dawned on Aline that this was the same girl that she had run into two weeks before when she was speaking to Ula and Quill. The navy hair was what reminded her of the incident, and her scornful eyes did not help Aline's confidence against the intimidating girl.

"Um...why don't you go back into the room, Valda?" Ula whispered, her tail drooping. Her wings fluttered nervously behind her as Valda rolled her eyes and stepped back into the room.

"Fine, whatever. Come back soon because Sable and Odessa don't like waiting," Valda warned, her blue eyes staring directly at Aline. She seemed to challenge her to keep Ula longer than necessary before spinning and left the two girls in the hallway.