Bonus points for anyone who can read it 😁 ^

"Late?" Mikyla struggled to force the words out as she was dragged down the stairs, each flight skipped causing her voice's frequency to dance in an erratic and most unpleasant way. "What do you mean we're going to be late?"

Sam didn't answer straight away but he tightened his grip on Mikyla's wrist to show that he heard. Instead, he took a deep breath before panting out a string of incoherent garble which Mikyla hoped she didn't just sound like.

"*pant*whaddyameanwhy*pant*werelate*pant*issovius*pant*cuzyou*wokeuplate*pant*"

Mikyla opened her mouth to try and make coherent sense but decided to wait a little while longer. She was glad she did because jumping the final flight of stairs caused her jaw to smash upwards, gnashing her teeth together, and if she had been talking she probably wouldn't be able to ever again.

Mikyla didn't have much time to linger on that thought as soon as the impact slithered through her body, Mikyla was being dragged again, this time through the hallway and towards the massive double doors. At the speed they were going, Mikyla was sure she would be having pancakes for breakfast and she nearly died of a heart attack when Sam picked up speed a breadth away from the carved mahogany. She shut her eyes in terror, awaiting the splat she would become but the whoops emitted by Sam reminded her of the doors nature. They were automatic.

Suddenly, Sam stopped to a halt causing Mikyla's eyes to almost pop out from the whiplash. Although Mikyla was relatively fit in her previous life, her Noble body was yet to catch up and as she could feel the buildup of lactic acid strangling her calf's, she hunched over onto her knees mimicking Sam's actions. Each breath felt like pure luxury and Mikyla wondered if all Nobles were so out of shape. If she was going to exercise her authority as a Noble for social justice, she would first have to exercise her body. It made sense as all the Nobles did was lounge about all day but what didn't make sense was the crazed grin plastered on Sam's face.

"W-what a-are you s-smiling about-t?" Mikyla refused to pant. She refused to allow her body to restrict her.

"*Pant* The look *pant* on your *pant* face!"

Mikyla rolled her eyes. Of course - a typical Sade answer. Sade was always a thrill seeker but due to their restrictions as Drows, she couldn't ever fully implement her whacko ideas. A flash of fear darkened Mikyla's eyes. Now that Sade was a Noble, she didn't have those restrictions. Sade could do almost whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, but on that note, so could Mikyla.

"So what are we late for anyway?"

"School, duh." Sam pressing his hands against the small of his back causing it to crick. "So you gonna get your bike or what?"

"My bike?"

"Yeah. Mine got wrecked yesterday and the new one won't arrive from the Capital until this afternoon."

"Okay, so where is my bike?"

Sam shoots Mikyla the same quizzical look from the day before and Mikyla averts her gaze trying to look as natural as possible. Stupid question. Who doesn't know where their own bike is?

"Mika, you sure you're okay? You were pretty phased out yesterday and you don't seem too right upstairs today either."

"I'm fine. It's just-" Mikyla winces as she forces the words out. "I normally just call for our slaves and they get the bike ready for me. You know, pump up the tires, add a bit of polish, all that kind of stuff."

"Woah, you really have changed, haven't you?" Sam wears and impressed smirk and Mikyla feels her stomach drop. "What happened to the dreglover I knew? Well, I suppose today is the initiation but I never thought I'd see the day where you wouldn't call the dregs 'Drow servants' or whatever posh name you come up with."

"Yeah, well..." Mikyla shrugs as she grits her teeth. "As you said, today's the initiation so I thought I better step up a little bit - but don't get too used to it, I'm the same person you know - the same Mikael you've always known."

Suddenly, Sam's face goes stoic and Mikyla gulps in worry. Did she force being Mikael too much? What would happen if she was caught out now?

"I've always known-" Sam starts slowly before he shakes his head with a smile. "I've always know once you're a dreglover you'll always be a dreglover. I really don't understand why but I know you'll see reason one day, or at least work on your acting. I mean, come on, pretending that you're not the real Mikael by saying you're the real Mikael is like the oldest trick in the book. Let's just find your bike and get to school before the Drows finish cleaning. We can only beg for mercy if we miss the initiation - after all, nobody wants to be unlucky enough to get the Drow that nobody else wants."

§§§§§§§§§§

The feeling of deja vu is almost overwhelming as the exhaustion as Mikyla climbs the last few stairs to the Spire but this time there isn't any time to rest.

"So... freaking... exhausted!" Sam groans as he lurches himself up the final steps.

Mikyla nods in agreement but is too tired to say anything back.

"Heh..." Sam shakes his head with a small grin causing Mikyla to doubt his sanity, but then again, Sade always was a strange one. "This was where you got punched by that Dregblood yesterday huh? It seems like such a long time ago now doesn't it, but you can thank me for getting your parents off the case for the bruise."

"Yeah..." Mikyla mutters slowly as she brings her hand to her face. Her parents didn't even notice but her grandmother did. The Drow whom her parents fired.

"You okay?" Sam asks after a while of silence, the concern almost plausible.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

Mikyla purses her lips but brightens up to a convincing smile. Her old parents would have probably scolded her for getting bruised so at least she didn't get that as a Noble. It would have been nice though - some concern at least - but Mikyla has to remember. The Nobles are the enemy. They don't show sympathy. They don't show empathy. They don't show compassion.

"Then let's get going then! It's not like Lavender's going to show up and punch your face again and the atmosphere up here gives me the creeps!"

"How so?"

"I don't really know. I guess it's linked to how boring the 'special classes' are. I mean, we only come up here every so often unless you're getting dragged here hours before school starts to 'help clean' but you already know that. Honestly, they're only special because the Dregs don't get them but I'd rather have it the other way around. I bet the Dregs just come to school to play all day whilst we're stuck learning boring stuff like astronomy and ancient languages from whatever bygone era. In my opinion, the Dregs should just stay home and do whatever lame work they usually do - it's not like they actually need to know anything besides following orders."

Mikyla could feel her eye twitch at the snide remarks. As a drow, she only got given outdated textbooks and her lessons were less than knowledgeable. Memorising facts for pop quizzes wasn't what she imagined 'education' to be like and the way Sam discards the Noble lessons really makes her blood boil. She has to remember to stay in character. She has to remember this is an inside job. She can't ruin her cover but what she can do is absorb everything taught and then teach the Drows at a later date.

"-But," Sam continues, oblivious to Mikyla's hostility. "I heard today we're actually going to learn something useful. We're going to learn how to make contracts for the initiation."

"Contracts?"

"Well yeah, we've got to otherwise we don't have any slaves."

It was true. It was the puzzle piece that finally joined with the rest. The reason the Drows got the Verdant Mark and the reason why everyone was fired. It was the young replacing the old but you were sixteen when you received the mark - too young even for a Drow to start work.

"Then again," Sam starts as if answering Mikyla's question. "We make the contracts today but they don't take effect until the Dregs turn 18. The cool part is that they do have to obey us though so I'll be definitely listening in class today when they teach us how to make the contracts."

"Right." Mikyla agrees sarcastically, "And there are unicorns in the forest outside the city."

"Hey! I do listen sometimes... I just hope that the rumour that it's all in that ancient language is false."

Mikyla gulps as it dawns on her what Sam said about the special lessons. She didn't know the ancient language nor did she know anything the Nobles were taught for that matter. "Me too. I hope the rumours are false too."

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Word Count for Chapter 12: 1530
Total Word Count: 17562

Author's Note:

Hope you liked the UNEDITED chapter 12! Don't forget to press on those magical stars to light up Mikyla's future path and leave a comment telling me what you like so far or what you don't like. Thanks for reading so far.

Happy reading
~ Dracollavenore