Lilly's POV
I followed Zeal out into the corridor, and she immediately started chattering away like we'd been friends for years instead of five minutes.
"That's the science wing," she said, pointing to a building that looked like it belonged in a Gothic horror film. "Arts building over there and see that massive complex? Olympic-sized pool, tennis courts, a gym that's bigger than most people's houses. Oh, and that building with the tower? That's the library."
"Let me guess," I said. "Five floors, rare books, very impressive?"
She grinned. "Try incredible. There's even a restricted section on the top floor. It requires special permission to access."
"Restricted section?" I raised an eyebrow. "What, like forbidden books?"
"Something like that." She lowered her voice, leaning in conspiratorially. "Mostly really old, rare texts, they say it's too valuable to let students paw through them unsupervised. Though between you and me, I've heard there are some books up there that are restricted for other reasons. Weird stuff."
Before I could ask what kind of weird stuff warranted a restricted section in a boarding school library, we rounded a corner and nearly collided with Beauty and her minions.
They were lounging against the wall like they owned it. Which, for all I knew, they might.
"Well, well," Beauty purred, that razor-sharp smile back in place. "Look who's getting the royal treatment. Zeal, I see you're playing tour guide for the charity case."
Zeal's friendly expression shuttered so fast I almost got whiplash watching it. Fear flickered across her face—real fear, not just social anxiety.
"Beauty, we're just—"
"Save it." Beauty cut her off with a wave of her manicured hand. "I was just telling Ethereal and Allure about our newest student. The one who thinks she can talk back to her betters on her very first day."
She stepped closer, and I caught the scent of her perfume—expensive and cloying. "That takes either courage or stupidity, and I'm betting on stupidity."
Something hot flashed through my chest. I'd dealt with mean girls before. Hell, I'd grown up surrounded by people who looked down on me for being poor, for living in the bad part of town, for wearing secondhand clothes.
I'd learned early that you either stood up for yourself or got trampled and i wasn't anyone's fucking footmat.
"At least I have the courage to say what I think to people's faces," I shot back, "instead of cackling behind their backs like some kind of discount Mean Girls cosplay."
The corridor went dead silent like someone had hit a mute button on the entire world.
Ethereal and Allure gasped in unison, their mouths forming perfect O's of shock. Zeal made a strangled noise beside me that sounded like she was trying to swallow a scream. And Beauty's face went absolutely volcanic—red creeping up her neck, her eyes narrowing to slits.
"You have no idea who you're dealing with," she hissed, stepping forward into my space. Close enough that I could see the fury in her eyes, could feel the heat radiating off her. "Do you know who my family is? Do you know what we could do to you?"
"Don't know, don't care." My heart was hammering against my ribs, but I kept my voice steady. "All I know is that you're a bully picking on people who can't fight back and I'm not going to stand here and watch it."
For a moment—just a split second—I thought she might actually hit me.
Her hand twitched. There was something in her eyes that went beyond normal teenage mean girl territory into something darker. Something dangerous.
But then she smiled that razor-sharp smile and stepped back.
"You're going to regret this," she said sweetly. "Before the week is out, you're going to wish you'd never set foot in this school. Come on, girls."
They swept away in a cloud of expensive perfume and barely contained rage, leaving me standing there with adrenaline coursing through my veins and the sudden realization that I might have just made a terrible mistake.
The moment they were out of sight, Zeal grabbed my arm hard enough to bruise.
"Are you insane?" she whispered urgently. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"
"Stood up to a bully?" I suggested, though my voice came out shakier than I'd intended.
"You just made an enemy of one of the most powerful families in this school!" Zeal's eyes were wide, her grip on my arm tightening. "Beauty's father sits on the board of trustees. Her mother is a major donor. They can make your life hell here, Lilly. Literal hell."
"Then I guess my life is going to be hell," I said, suddenly exhausted. The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving me hollow and shaky. "Look, I appreciate the warning. But I'm not going to roll over and show my belly just because someone's parents have money. If that's how this place works, maybe I shouldn't be here anyway."
Zeal studied me for a long moment, her expression cycling through several emotions I couldn't quite read.
"You know what? Good for you." She grinned. "Most people are too scared of Beauty to call her out on her crap. It's refreshing. Stupid, but refreshing." She paused. "Just don't say I didn't warn you when things get ugly."
"Warned and noted," I said. "Now, can we continue the tour before I antagonize anyone else?"
We walked on, and Zeal filled me in on more of the school's unofficial rules. Which bathrooms to avoid because certain cliques claimed them as territory. Which professors were tough but fair versus just sadistic. Where the best places to study were if you actually wanted to get work done versus be seen.
"And those three?" she said eventually, gesturing toward a separate building that looked more like a Gothic mansion than a dormitory. "You want to avoid them at all costs."
"Let me guess," I said. "More rich kids with too much power?"
"The Elite Council." Zeal's voice dropped, taking on a tone I'd heard before—reverence mixed with fear. "They basically run the social hierarchy here. What they say goes. Cross them, and you're done."
"Worse than Beauty?"
"Beauty wishes she was on their level." Zeal laughed, but there was no humor in it. "She's trying to sleep her way onto the council through Ashton Ravencross—he's one of the three. But Zayn Blackthorne, Nix Stormweaver, and Ashton? They're untouchable. Old money, old families, old power."
The names sent a chill down my spine for reasons I couldn't quite explain.
"What makes them so special?" I asked.
"Their families basically built this place." Zeal ticked them off on her fingers. "Zayn's family owns half the East Coast—hotels, real estate, shipping companies. Nix's family controls all the water rights in three states. And Ashton? The Ravencross family founded Ravencrest Academy two hundred years ago. They're not just rich—they're dynasty rich. The kind of money and influence that shapes the world."
Lilly's Pov
We'd reached another building now, this one more modern than the Gothic monstrosities that dominated campus. Zeal pushed through the doors into a bright, airy space that smelled like fresh paint and expensive carpet.
"And this is the residential wing," she said. "Let me show you to your room."
We climbed stairs becsuse there was no elevator, of course, because apparently even rich schools believed in the character-building properties of physical exertion—to the third floor. The corridor was quiet, most doors closed, with name plaques beside each entrance done in elegant script.
Zeal stopped at one labeled "Monroe/Moonwhisper" and produced a key.
"You'll be sharing with Sage Moonwhisper," she explained, unlocking the door. "Another scholarship student. You'll like her, she's sweet. A little intense about astrology and crystals and stuff, but sweet."
She pushed the door open, and I stepped into what was apparently my new home.
It was beautiful.
I'd expected an institutional dorm room generic with cinder block walls and harsh fluorescent lights. The kind of place that looked like it had been designed by someone who fundamentally didn't believe students deserved comfort.
Instead, I found hardwood floors polished to a shine. Large windows with actual curtains—real fabric, not cheap plastic blinds. Two beds with actual frames and matching furniture that looked like it came from a catalog instead of a prison surplus sale.
There was a desk for each of us, a shared bookshelf already half-filled with books, and through another door I could see a bathroom that looked cleaner than any bathroom I'd ever encountered in my life.
"This is..." I couldn't finish the sentence.
I'd been living in a studio apartment with two roommates, sleeping on a mattress on the floor, sharing a bathroom with questionable plumbing and roaches that had learned to dodge the spray of cheap insecticide. This was a palace by comparison.
"Your side is the one on the left," Zeal said, pointing. "They've already delivered your uniforms and school supplies. Laptop's on the desk—brand new, don't worry. Everything you need should be there."
I walked slowly to my desk, almost afraid to touch anything. Like if I made contact, the illusion would shatter and I'd wake up back in that apartment with Roger's footsteps outside my door.
A brand new laptop sat waiting, still in its box. On the bed, three uniforms were laid out—blazers, skirts, shirts, all in Ravencrest's colors of deep blue and silver. Everything looked expensive and new and like it was meant for someone else.
Someone who belonged here.