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PS: the beautiful Topaz at top

"What was that all about?" This time, the snarky response didn't surprise me. I kept walking, and the clicks of Roxy's little heels echoed inside the suddenly empty corridor.

"Thanks for waiting for me," I said just to annoy her.

She made a huffing sound through her nose, and an unexpected laugh escaped my lips. It was so sudden that I had to clap a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing at the strange noise again.

She was clearly talking through her teeth when she said, "What did he want?"

It sounded more like she suspected us to have done something inappropriate, that I was involved with him. Clearly, he'd been marked as her territory.

"He just offered to help me out with school," I said in a clipped tone. Seriously, why did this girl even bother walking with me? I suspected that she'd only waited for me to satisfy her jealous curiosity.

"Oh," was all she said, but by her face, I knew she wasn't convinced. Yep, Scott wasn't going to be fresh meat for long. If he was single, anyway.

We walked in silence, not completely uncomfortable, but like two strangers who didn't bother making small talk.

"Why are you so different?" Roxy asked suddenly, and her tone suggested only curiosity. She was surely fishing for more details to fuel her gossip.

I decided I didn't care, but she was the first person to ask me that, and right now, I didn't really know the answer myself. I shouldn't be so surprised. Someone was bound to ask me sometime, why I wasn't like the usual Hybrid, and it was no surprise that it was Roxy.

"I don't know," was all I said.

Clearly, Roxy wasn't satisfied with my answer and pushed forward. "How can you be a part of us when you don't even have our signature Jewels?" She flipped her hair. "It's impossible."

Anger gathered in my chest. "What would you know? Shelly said it's possible, that I'm just one of the unlucky ones who doesn't have them," I snapped.

"Unlucky?" Roxy gave a nasty laugh. "Everyone is talking about you. Every damn teacher is curious about you. You're, like, popular in a weird, pathetic way."

I gritted my teeth and talked through them. "Yeah, so? Everyone thinks I'm a freak like I'm some sort of zoo animal. Which leads to the question of why you even bother being with me right now."

I stumbled when Roxy grabbed my arm and stopped dead in her tracks. She released me like her fingers had just touched something disgusting.

"You think I'm with you right now because I hunt for attention, for popularity?" she growled, the sound almost animalistic. "You think I envy you and want to be in your shoes? I know exactly how it feels to have everyone vying for your attention. Heck, I'd been in the middle of it, at the top. Everyone admired me, wanted to be my friend, but screw them. Screw them!"

Jeesh, I'd just hit a nerve. "What happened?"

She narrowed her eyes, her nose turning up in disgust. "They kicked me out ass first. She clawed my eyes out and left me to rot on my own."

I blinked. Were those tears in her eyes?

Roxy continued her ramble. "That's when Shelly found me. Sweet, annoying Shelina. She became my friend, and at that time, that's all I wanted. And you know what I want now? Scott freaking Hot, so back off!"

I ignored that last part, not wanting to provoke her any further. "So who are 'they,' the ones that kicked you out?"

She smiled sarcastically. "Why, it can only be the infamous, the pretty, and the slut Mia. Who else?"

I would have never guessed. "Of course, who else," I murmured as we continued walking, and the steam seemed to leave Roxy. She now sounded calm, although still, well... bitchy. "But she didn't look that bad." I remembered how the notorious Aiden, who I hadn't even officially met, had carried Mia to do who knew what. On afterthought, I silently took back my words.

"Hah! That's because she hasn't found the chance to get her claws in you. For some reason, whenever you're with Shelly, she stays away."

Silence again.

We finally reached the front door, which was empty except for the students still waiting outside. Shelly was waiting by the gate, anxiously hopping from one foot to the other.

Roxy used a leery forefinger on my shoulder to turn me to face her, her face suddenly serious. "Take my advice, Alex. Never walk alone when you're still fresh in the fridge. And that is why I'm here with you. You're a part of Shelly now, and I know what it feels like to be dumped and alone. Not that I'm doing any of this for a lousy Hybrid like you. Remember that!"

With that said, she made an elegant swing on her heel and sashayed out of the gate, flipping me off without even a backwards glance. For a moment, I wondered if the girl had forgotten her horse, or if she had a car accompanied by a chauffeur to take her home.

"Can we take it slower this time?" I asked as Shelly gave me a boost onto the huge horse. We were in the Academy's stables, where all the students housed their horses in duly clean stables.

"If we take it any slower, you aren't going to be moving at all! We'd gone through a trot, for goodness sake!" Shelly grunted as she wiped her hands on her jeans. "Looks like you'll have to get proper lessons if you wish to stay on your horse, because racing is going to be pointless if you fall and spread your brains over the ground."

Yeah, right. As if trotting with a horse was any easier. All you did was hop around in your saddle and gnash your teeth together to keep from biting off your tongue. Seriously, this morning when we'd ridden to school, I'd thought I wouldn't make it here alive. I had to grip the saddle as if I were clinging to the edge of a cliff, which somehow made things worse since it felt like I was going to slide off to my death anyway. I'd never thought of myself as the type to shriek so girlishly, but apparently, I was girl enough to nearly cry at the prospect of falling off a horse. It had felt like an eternity going to school on horseback, and I dreaded this ride home. What was wrong with a car or even a bicycle?

"I already have extra lessons with Scott," I said, though she already knew since I'd told her the minute I met her at the Academy's iron gate. "And what are you talking about? Racing?"

Shelly rolled her eyes. "Scott, as chocolate-melting as he is, is only going to teach you on academic levels. Really, once you get a hang of the movement of the horse..." She shrugged, and with suspicious ease, she flung herself up onto her blue roan horse. "It just wouldn't feel like lessons anymore. It would become fun and... It's hard to explain. The Athlan race loves the horse species. We take every opportunity we have to ride recreationally. No one knows why, but everyone I know always says they feel a certain bond with a horse. Any horse, really. But some horses have a better connection to their owners than others."

"Is that what you mean by racing?" I gulped. "As in, race with them?" I pointed at the brown horse beneath me. As much as I wished it, I didn't feel a bond to the horse I was currently sitting on. I didn't feel anything, really, except that my back was killing me and sitting with my legs spread on each side of the animal felt weird. To be honest, I considered horses to be the most beautiful creatures to run the earth, with their natural grace and straining muscles. I would have loved to learn horse riding if I wasn't so scared of falling off again or breaking my leg in the process.

"What else?" Shelly clucked her tongue, and her horse started a brisk walk, ears pricking forward in anticipation. My horse immediately followed, catching me off guard. I fumbled for the horse's mane for support—somehow, I just couldn't remember its name, though I knew Shelly's horse was called Star. It irritated me, not having command over my horse to take it where I wanted to go, but I guess that was the dangerous charm of horse riding.

Shelly continued. "Racing is sort of our sport. It's fun and exhilarating." She wagged her brows mischievously. "Wanna try?"

"No!" I said too quickly. "Just... Can we just walk home, please?"

She grinned but nodded and relaxed into her saddle. I still held fast onto mine, though, just in case. That grin called into question whether Shelly was taking this seriously or whether it confirmed her mischievous nature.

This was going to be a long ride home.

Minutes... and a thousand bounces later, Shelly was already starting her "proper lessons" and showing me how to unsaddle Topaz—finally, I remembered her name! We were standing in the barn attached to the Brooke house, with Shelly giving me strict instructions while she showed me the steps of untacking on her own horse.

The saddle was heavy when I slipped it off the horse's slick back, so heavy that I would've tipped over if Shelly hadn't helped me. She laughed at me, and I frowned before I joined her in the tack room. After we'd given our tummies a good laugh-workout, she showed me how to feed them.

The small stable resonated with whinnies when the horses peeked over their stable doors and realised it was dinner-time. I laughed when a grey gelding sniffed my hair before nearly knocking the bucket out of my hands.

It was a relaxing chore, quite funny too. I was starting to develop an understanding of Shelly's earlier claims the more time I spent with the scent of horse sweat and straw. I saw what she'd meant, that maybe horses were better than engine technology—if only I could ride the damn animal.

When we were done, we picked up our saddles. The barn was a huge stone structure with four stables on each side of the large corridor. The stable doors were made of a deep burgundy wood, allowing the horses to look over it and see what was going on. Vents located in the high roof allowed fresh air to permeate the barn but were unable to remove the sweet scent of hay and the slight odour of horse dung. There were two doors on the south side of the stable, one on each side, and Shelly led me to the right one. This was the tack room, whereas the other door led to a storage room where the feed was kept and mixed.

The tack room was packed, but everything was neat and organised. Eight thick poles anchored against the walls were burdened with the heavy saddles, and two were empty. I settled my saddle on the pole that had Topaz's name plaque on the wall above it, hanging the bridle on the hook that protruded from the wall next to it. I sagged in relief.

"Come on." Shelly nudged me. "I'll race you!"

"Are you crazy?" I exclaimed, but she was already running out of the barn. I had no choice but to force my legs into a slow jog. Who knew someone could be so stiff after riding when the horse did all the work? Okay, so all that bouncing in the saddle really gave my legs a killer workout, but Shelly ran as if it didn't affect her at all. Maybe it didn't. Maybe if you rode a horse your whole life, you got used to it.

When I rounded the corner of the barn, movement caught my eye.

My legs burned when I slowed to a stop, my eyes scanning the landscape behind the house. The medium-sized house was almost at the very edge of the city, surrounded by countryside. Trees peppered the area, and a thick border of forest surrounded the small clearing. Except for the trees, the house and barn were the only things to break the boredom of the grassy space.

Behind a copse of birch trees, something moved in its shadows. I spun around and peered at it, hand over eyes to block the glaring sun. At this distance, the only thing I could make out was that it was white and big. As if it could sense my stare—strange since I was positive it had been watching me—it froze.

Its coat was sleek, and its muscles bunched as if it was anticipating an attack and it was getting ready to charge. Its eyes were as black as coal, its ears perked high and forward in a curious gesture. It moved, lifting its pearly white, silky tail... and ran.

A sorrowful whinny pierced the sunny clearing, the sound of it vibrating down my spine as an inexplicable sadness constricted my throat. Sadness as I watched the vibrant white stallion gallop towards the edge of the trees. He stopped when he reached it, gave me a long look, and then he was gone.

I inhaled loudly, a sound of fear and melancholy intermingled. His call had held that same grief, but it had been tainted with something else.

I didn't know a lot about horses, but I thought that anyone would have recognised the harsh fury in the stallion's call.

And it was directed at me.

I shook my head furiously, my head clearing as if broken by a spell. My throat eased and my chest slowed its frantic heaving, and breathing became easy again. This was ridiculous. Why would a horse that I'd never seen in my life be angry with me, would want to have any interest in me? It was just some wild horse that had probably never seen a human before.

I shook my head again and turned back to the house. But even if I kept assuring myself that it was normal to find wild horses on an ancient island like Atlantis, I couldn't shake the uneasiness that made me want to literally walk on my toes.

Who doesn't love the mysterious presence of horses? I do, if it wasn't already obvious. Horses are so beautiful, aren't they?

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