GLASS || The Catalysts, #1 [REWRITE]

XIII

Silence.

Lena tenses from the curious gazes of the students, fearing she might have gone too far. But he's that one solution she's got—that one person she obviously knows, ascertained also by the whole city by now thanks to this morning's events. There will be no doubt associating him to her, vice versa.

That's why she's chosen him. Alongside the fact that he's obviously powerful.

Besides, Caelus owes her answers. One way or another, she'll make sure their paths cross.

He will be her aid, her way out.

"Preposterous," Azalea eventually mutters, stopping in her tracks and turning around. She meets Lena's gaze in bewilderment. "But you're new. You wouldn't know—"

Lena merely crosses her arms.

Azalea stumbles on her words; Lena watches as the fact settles in for her. She must be recalling the very article she'd projected for everyone—the one that very much told the world they are at the very least each other's acquaintances. Azalea stares aghast at Lena, and for a moment, the world only spins around the two of them.

Bewilderment, disbelief, and something else—is that fear?—settle in Azalea's blue eyes. A blink later, it's gone as she schools her features into the same strict one she arrived in. "You have no idea what you're doing."

"I may not," Lena admits, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to just let you step all over me or take advantage of my ignorance."

Azalea glares at her, and Lena tries her best not to flinch. "Foolish."

And without warning, a dagger sails right past Lena, her barely dodging as it grazes her cheek. Lena's fingers gingerly reaches up to the raw mark now trickling blood, her mind scattered. It was a blow meant directly to hit; if Lena hadn't moved on instinct, she might have gotten a fatal wound.

But she's agreed, she can't have called Lena out on the bluff—

"Azalea, that was dangerous!" Neesha interrupts, coming in between the two girls, Roen following too. "That wasn't a duel; didn't you already agree—"

Azalea waves her hand in dismissal. "She's fine, isn't she? Students here do this all the time, by the way—attacking each other even before the duel itself. Besides, I knew she'd dodge."

The girl circles around, gesturing to Lena behind Roen and Neesha. A sly smirk creeps up her face, as she comments, "Not a single student enrolled here is unworthy, and she's just proven that despite her odd enrolment. Sloppy fight stance and a little lag in her battle instincts, but not bad at all for a newcomer."

Lena lets out a long breath. She hasn't realized that her body had already switched on fight mode without her needing any effort; she must have known how to at least defend herself. She'll need to work on it however; if she'd dodged a split second later...

"... Don't do that," Azalea snaps, pulling Lena out of her thoughts.

Before her, Azalea is tense; her hands are also itching to reach her sheathed katana. Wasn't she already done here?

Lena steps forward. She isn't going to let Neesha or Roen take her fight for her.

But it appears that they aren't fighting. Azalea's shoulders relaxes moments after, and she remarks, "You're powerful, Roen, not to mention you're part of a renowned family. And yet you insist on sticking around with these losers."

Roen tenses, and gritting his teeth he nearly loses his composure as he snaps, "Don't."

Azalea narrows her eyes, but that one word seems enough for her to back away. She even takes a step back, probably realizing she's stepped too far. Lena files that away: the fact that Roen, who's always smiling and joking around, seems offended at the mention of how he's hanging out with said losers—how and why?—or perhaps... at the talk about his family.