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Authors: Valerie Noble
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promised. There were extra blankets and pillows for my bed, a few spare energy suits, all of my underclothes and pajamas, and toiletries for the bathroom. My suits were hung neatly in the closet and the other things stacked orderly in the drawers. She ' d brought my extra shoes, for both running and tennis, and many other personal belongings, including photographs, and my medals from tennis.
I knew her intention was to make me feel more at home, but being surrounded by familiar things in an unfamiliar place had the opposite effect. Alone and homesick, I couldn ' t even pick up my mailbox to reach her. The solitude settled around me and the silent room felt eerie with only the sounds of my movements and the rhythmic breathing of my slumbering roommate.
I crawled into bed and hugged the blankets around me, settling in for what I knew would be a restless night. Sleep was too often a stranger and I rarely slept well. My dreams were peppered with images flashing rapidly through my brain, like someone else's memories I couldn ' t keep from seeing. Always, always, there was the white haired lady, a reclusive figure I could never quite catch up to. She ' d been in my dreams as long as I could remember, dreams as vivid as nightmares, but much less ominous and I was never sure if the white figure was benevolent or not. She held my dreams captive and made my nights restless with an urgency to find her, but she slipped away, never allowing the gap between us to close.
The deserted campus below my windows held my attention until my head fell back onto my pillow, and my eyes closed in a fitful sleep.
Chapter Five
Tory
"Kaiaâ¦Kaia!" Someone was gently shaking me awake. I sat up quickly, pulling myself out of an uneasy slumber. My surroundings were utterly unfamiliar and I was disoriented. Where was I?
"Are you okay?"
I focused on the girl hovering over me. Though her hair was long and blonde, she was not my roommate, Alize.
"You were dreaming," the girl continued in a frightened whisper. In a rush, all of the events of the past day came flooding back. I was not at the Tennis Academy in the Delphinus Grid, I was home, or at least I was back in the Orion Grid, at the University. The girl before me was my new roommate, Tory Keevah.
"Did I wake you?" I asked. My tongue felt thick as my dreams lingered in my memory. Outside my window the light had just begun to change. The sun would be creeping over the horizon soon, pushing the dull gray dawn into a brilliant blue morning. Now, however, the grayish light of the pre-dawn hour hovered bleakly over the campus.
"You were tossing and turning," Tory continued, "talking in your sleep." Her gaze was intense, and I could feel her studying my face.
"I ' m sorry," was my weary reply. "I ' m a bit of a restless sleeper." Her face relaxed but she continued to study my face, drawing a hand toward it as if to touch me.
"Your eyesâ¦they ' re beautiful," she whispered. My own hand flew to my face. No solar glasses. Had I left them in the food lab? I remembered Professor Baal asked me to remove them, but I couldn ' t recall grabbing them when I left the lab with Ajax. It didn ' t matter. Without looking, I knew I had several pairs stacked neatly in one of my drawers. My mother would not have forgotten to bring my supply, but Coach Renier couldn ' t expect me to sleep with them, and I wasn ' t going to hide from my own roommate. It would have been much simpler if I had gotten back to the room in time to warn Tory about my sleepless nights and odd color eyes.
"Thank you," I answered, gesturing for her to take a seat on my bed. I scooted over a bit so she had room to sit cross-legged in front of me. "Do you want to talk or can you fall back asleep?"
"Talk," she answered with a firm shake of her head. She pulled a pillow toward her and settled it across her lap then continued to stare at me silently. Her eyes were full of intelligence and curiosity, and I could sense no feeling of unease in
I knew her intention was to make me feel more at home, but being surrounded by familiar things in an unfamiliar place had the opposite effect. Alone and homesick, I couldn ' t even pick up my mailbox to reach her. The solitude settled around me and the silent room felt eerie with only the sounds of my movements and the rhythmic breathing of my slumbering roommate.
I crawled into bed and hugged the blankets around me, settling in for what I knew would be a restless night. Sleep was too often a stranger and I rarely slept well. My dreams were peppered with images flashing rapidly through my brain, like someone else's memories I couldn ' t keep from seeing. Always, always, there was the white haired lady, a reclusive figure I could never quite catch up to. She ' d been in my dreams as long as I could remember, dreams as vivid as nightmares, but much less ominous and I was never sure if the white figure was benevolent or not. She held my dreams captive and made my nights restless with an urgency to find her, but she slipped away, never allowing the gap between us to close.
The deserted campus below my windows held my attention until my head fell back onto my pillow, and my eyes closed in a fitful sleep.
Chapter Five
Tory
"Kaiaâ¦Kaia!" Someone was gently shaking me awake. I sat up quickly, pulling myself out of an uneasy slumber. My surroundings were utterly unfamiliar and I was disoriented. Where was I?
"Are you okay?"
I focused on the girl hovering over me. Though her hair was long and blonde, she was not my roommate, Alize.
"You were dreaming," the girl continued in a frightened whisper. In a rush, all of the events of the past day came flooding back. I was not at the Tennis Academy in the Delphinus Grid, I was home, or at least I was back in the Orion Grid, at the University. The girl before me was my new roommate, Tory Keevah.
"Did I wake you?" I asked. My tongue felt thick as my dreams lingered in my memory. Outside my window the light had just begun to change. The sun would be creeping over the horizon soon, pushing the dull gray dawn into a brilliant blue morning. Now, however, the grayish light of the pre-dawn hour hovered bleakly over the campus.
"You were tossing and turning," Tory continued, "talking in your sleep." Her gaze was intense, and I could feel her studying my face.
"I ' m sorry," was my weary reply. "I ' m a bit of a restless sleeper." Her face relaxed but she continued to study my face, drawing a hand toward it as if to touch me.
"Your eyesâ¦they ' re beautiful," she whispered. My own hand flew to my face. No solar glasses. Had I left them in the food lab? I remembered Professor Baal asked me to remove them, but I couldn ' t recall grabbing them when I left the lab with Ajax. It didn ' t matter. Without looking, I knew I had several pairs stacked neatly in one of my drawers. My mother would not have forgotten to bring my supply, but Coach Renier couldn ' t expect me to sleep with them, and I wasn ' t going to hide from my own roommate. It would have been much simpler if I had gotten back to the room in time to warn Tory about my sleepless nights and odd color eyes.
"Thank you," I answered, gesturing for her to take a seat on my bed. I scooted over a bit so she had room to sit cross-legged in front of me. "Do you want to talk or can you fall back asleep?"
"Talk," she answered with a firm shake of her head. She pulled a pillow toward her and settled it across her lap then continued to stare at me silently. Her eyes were full of intelligence and curiosity, and I could sense no feeling of unease in
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