and you need a balcony. You don’t need one until then, obviously, newbie,” she explains with a sarcastic laugh.
“Not unless they plan to push us off a cliff again,” Vesnia groans, walking to the door marked Room Seventeen. “See you in the bathroom, Katy. Bye, Jessica.”
“See ya,” I reply with a smile just for her. I walk to the door that is number nineteen, and it’s ironic this is my room number when I’m never going to be nineteen. I died before I got a chance.
“Wait,” Jessica whispers, stepping closer to me. With a smile like a cat about to eat a mouse, she leans close, careful not to touch me, her black wings stretching out ever so softly. Now that I finally see why she has dark wings, the darkness in her eyes is easy to see. “The king always belongs to the queen, got it?”
“You might want to tell the king that,” I chuckle as I turn the handle to my room and head inside.
Chapter 6
The smell of dust, cleaning products and cotton flitter through my senses as I step into my dark room and feel the wall by the door for a light switch. After a few seconds in the dark, I find the switch and flick it on. Bright light floods my eyes, making me blink a few times before I can focus on the room which is now my new home. It’s a studio apartment with a white wooden framed double bed taking up most the room, along with the blue fabric sofa pushed up against the end of it. The bed has white sheets in a pile on the end with two pillows next to it. There is a large window on the other side of the room with another door on the right wall, which I’m guessing goes to the shared bathroom. A wardrobe on the other side takes up another big chunk of the room.
I look to my right, and I’m surprised to see two suitcases that look like my own suitcases from home, next to an empty white desk. I feel frozen as I stare at them before I shake myself out of it and rush to my suitcases. I push them onto the floor and open the red one first, finding all my clothes inside. I almost bury my head into them, just because it’s great to have a touch of home here. I unlock the second suitcase and find the handstitched blanket that my mum made for me for my twelfth birthday. I clutch the woven blue and black material and lift it up and wrap it around my shoulders like mum always used to do. I chuckle when I see a box of Parma Violets sweets in the suitcase next to a pile of my romance books and my Kindle. I get a packet of the sweets that I adore to the point of obsession as someone knocks once.
“Bathroom roomie, can I come in?” Vesnia’s voice comes through the other door.
“Sure!” I shout back and make my way to sit down on the sofa, curling my feet under me as Vesnia comes in, wearing pyjama shorts with pizzas on them and a top that says, “Pizza is life” on it.
“Okay, I thought all this was weird, for the record, but the suitcases full of our things?” Vesnia shakes her head. “My dad never would have let anyone in my room to take my stuff. Especially not if he thought...”
“Same here. My mum and dad wouldn’t have given this stuff up,” I mutter, rubbing my head. I open the sweets and chew on one, offering Vesnia a sweet, but she screws her nose up.
“Ew, no. I hate those sweets,” she says in disgust.
“Good, it means we can be friends. I don’t like sharing anything,” I reply before I eat another sweet, and we both laugh for a moment.
“Call me Ves. My friends used to...” she drifts off before clearing her throat. “Well, my old friends, I guess.”
“Okay, Ves,” I answer with a sad smile. I get it.
“I’m going to get some sleep. I’m exhausted, but I wanted to check on you,” Ves says, heading for the door. “We are in this together, right? We should keep an eye on each other as I have a feeling this place is pretty on the outside but dark everywhere else.”
“Right. I have your back, Ves,” I tell her honestly, and I slightly agree with her.
“I have yours too,” she replies with a