The Iron Rose: Volume 1

“Hey, Gudomlay!” One of the several studentsGudomlayknew hurried through the halls. He’d picked up the pace once he spotted her and got to her before she walked into her final class. She paused when he and a few others hurried up behind him. He swallowed to wet his throat and took a couple breaths to steady himself. She blinked, wondering how far he’d run to be like that and waited for him to speak. “Is it true you were taken out of fencing and H.T.H. because of Britta?” He asked. He and the others watched her, all waiting expectantly.

She stared, taken aback. “What?” She wondered at him. What could Britta possibly have to do with her being removed from her physical classes?

“There’s a rumor going around that she went after you. That your dad was so offended he took you out of classes to have you private taught,” he said. The look on his face. He seemed so upset on her behalf.

“That’s stupid,” she said, not thinking carefully about her words. He and the others blinked at her causing her to swallow. She was expected to be better behaved than that. “I mean. No. It’s not true.” Sometimes, not stating her thoughts bluntly was furiously difficult.

“It’s all right,Gudomlay,” one of the others said earnestly. “We’re all on your side. I was there and saw the whole thing. She had no right to go after you like that!”

“What are you talking about?” She asked, her brow lowering at his passionate declaration. “Britta didn’t do anything to me.”

“But you ran off,” he said, tilting his head strangely at her.

“Not...because of her...” She said, now getting worried.

The first boy shook his head, dismissing her explanation. “It doesn’t matter. Britta acted foolishly and now she knows,” he said. “See you.”

“Wait!”Gudomlayglanced at the three of them as they stopped, now definitely nervous. “What do you mean?” She started, feeling her hands get hot. “What do you mean she knows?”

“The girls took care of it,” he said, looking back at her with a shrug. “Anyway. Class starts soon...” He turned away then and his friends followed him down the hall to their class.

Gudomlaystood there, gawking. What did they mean?They wereon her side? What did they think Britta did? Sure she yelled at her, but Britta had always been a loud mouth. Was it because she’d actually forced her to fight instead of yielding to her pathetic attempts at running away?

She thought a moment, quickly running Britta’s schedule through her mind. She had to talk to her. She had to find out what was going on. Not even Tapp had said anything to her about it. Was it because she didn’t know?

When was the last time she’d talked to Britta? There hadn’t been much time to socialize. Not since she’d been taken out of her physical classes and made to train privately with Albert. Kunagi was there to watch too so she couldn’t slack off.

She hastened through the hall and down some stairs, hurrying to Britta’s final class. But when she peeked in through the window she wasn’t there. For the first half of that day’s last hour of classes,Gudomlayhurried through the school. She searched for her or someone that might know where she was. And then she came to the girl’s locker room near the fencing gym and found that the floor was wet. She paused there and glanced down at her flats, wondering why there was water coming from the girl’s bathroom.

A ping of warning zapped through her chest with an uncomfortable feeling of anxiety. Fearing what that meant, she slowly opened the door to go in. When she did, she found Tapp and Britta wading through cold water. They were trying to collect all of Britta’s many items now floating through the locker room.

Gudomlaygawked, not able to believe her eyes. And then she heard a quiet sniffle and saw Britta--bent over, her sleeves rolled up--wiping her face as she picked up a piece of homework to lay somewhere to dry.

“Britta?”Gudomlaycalled, her voice shaking with nervousness and guilt.

Britta gasped and straightened to look at her. Tapp twisted from where she was airing out some of Britta’s change of clothes and swallowed.

“What happened?”Gudomlayasked, wading further into the locker room. The water sloshed around her ankles. How had it gotten so deep? Where was the drain? Why wasn’t it working?

Britta sniffed again and wiped her arm under her nose. “Nothing,” she whimpered.

Gudomlaystared, her chest tightening to see her friend crying. “So, you’re not going to tell me? You’re not going to tell me why your stuff is floating in the bathroom and why you’re crying? You’re not going to tell me who did it!” She shouted, her fists now shaking and her sight getting fuzzy, not with tears but anger.

“Gudomlay,” Tapp called. Gudomaly glanced at her, now breathing heavy. Tapp shook her head. “Let it go,” she said with a worried glance at Britta. Despite all her strength, she was quite tender hearted.

“Let what go?”Gudomlayasked through her teeth. She glanced back at Britta who was staring at her, still crying. She was the most athletic of them but also the most delicate. “Let go the fact that one of my best friends is being bullied over something that didn’t happen?” She shouted. “Who was it?” She screamed, spittle flying from her mouth.

Tapp gasped. The change in her eyes. She saw it. The same thing she had seen on Kunagi’s screen. She approached her carefully, now a little afraid. “Gudomlay,” she said in a quiet calm voice.

“Who was it?”Gudomlayscreamed, her voice deeper. She twisted her torso then and threw her fist down through one of the sinks. It slammed off the wall and the pipe burst so water flew up into the air and rained down onto the already soaked floor.

Britta screamed and covered her ears, looking childlike in her panic.

“They had no right!”Gudomlayroared, now kicking her leg up to destroya secondsink.

“Gudomlay!” Tapp shouted, holding her arms outather. She swallowed, trying to think and then lifted her arm where her band was. She typed in some numbers and then lifted it to her mouth. “Albert!” She cried frantically. “Albert help!” She screamed.

There was a flash of blue and silver light and suddenly Albert was standing in the middle of the room. He glanced at Tapp, his face set as if he were ready to fight an ugly battle. She swallowed and pointed, and he turned to see what she was looking at. He gasped. Not only wasGudomlaydestroying the bathroom but a crowd had gathered just outside it.

“They had no right!”Gudomlayshouted, now starting toward the spectators.

“Gudomlay, no!” Albert went after her. He grabbed her from under her arms and pulled her away from them as theystaredwondering at her, oblivious to her rage.

“Who hurt Britta!” She screamed, her eyes wild. “Who’s picking on her?”

“Bats flutter forward and leaves fall from the crashing sound of thunder. Water rushes under rocks and light shines from the sun.Littleflower of this lady’s song. Bring me no more hunger and light me no more fire.” He started singing breathily. As he did,Gudomlayslowly started to relax, her eyes losing their darkness and her arms going limp. “Trust my voice you icy dame. Put down thy sword and join the child’s game...” When she’d gone limp he lifted her into his arms and glanced back at Tapp. “I’ll take her to Kunagi,” he said, his brow twisted.

“I’m coming too!” She called, hurrying a few steps so the water sloshed noisily around her.

He shook his head, giving a careful glance at the other students. “Take care of Britta. Whatever’s happened to her has upsetGudomlayenough. Kunagi will be able to take care of her. Trust me, all right?” He said, a pleading light in his eyes.

Tapp swallowed but nodded. “I trust you,” she said.

Albert stared at her a moment. Something about the way she said it put a pain in his chest. He tilted his head forward and then turned to hurryGudomlayout the bathroom. But he was stopped by some of the male stars before he could make it out.

“Hey! Where are you going withGudomlay?” They shouted. “What is a stripe doing holding her like that?” They called, clearly agitated and angry by him being there.

“Enough!” They went quiet as one of them stepped forward. Albert paused and stared at him. Zhi adjusted his glasses on the slope of his nose while looking at him. “Follow me,” he said with a concerned glance atGudomlay. Albert nodded and Zhi pushed through the other stars so that they could get past.

They walked in silence for a while, the tension between them hanging in the air though clearly not as painful as it had been with the crowd. Albert dug his fingers intoGudomlayto release his agitation and set his jaw to keep himself focused.

Zhi glanced at him. “Who are you?” He asked, his footsteps a steady pace though they made little sound.

Albertwinced,his brow in pain for the tension there. “A friend,” he said and then sighed. “At least. As much of a friend as a stripe can bewitha star.” He shifted his jaw then and his brow grew even tighter. “Actually. I’m just one of her foster dad’s students.”

“You keep lowering yourself down. Is that the habit of a stripe student or just you?” Zhi asked, walking briskly beside him and pushing through another crowd of nosey stars.

Albert tightened his jaw, not answering.

“If you’re her friend then your friend. There’s nothing wrong with that. I asked who you are, not what you were toGudomlay. I could already tell you were friends,” he went on.

Albert glanced at him, taken aback. He scoffed then. “I wish you stars would stop it,” he said. Zhi glanced at him as they turned a corner and into stripe territory. As they did, a shift in the wind threw some loose dirt at their feet and made the trees sway. The noise of their leaves brushing together was quiet and seemed to turn the air colder. “I can’t stand you wild cards being so nice. I don’t know how to act around you one’s that are,” he mumbled with a cold faced snarl.

Zhi laughed. “Sorry. I’ll try to be an ass from now on,” he said.

Albert scoffed, and they went to the one tower attached to the school. There, Zhi stopped. When Albert noticed he paused, his face turning pensive. Stars knew they weren’t allowed in the tower and so there Zhi glanced at Albert and nodded.

“Take care of her. I don’t know what’s going on, but it seems you do.”

“Only a little,” Albert admitted. He moved to go down but then stopped. With a tight lip, he looked back at Zhi and nodded. “Thanks. For helping me get through.”

Zhi grinned. “No problem.” He blinked then, seeming to remember he was supposed to be a jerk and then laughed. “I don’t think I know how to be mean,” he said with an awkward scratch of his cheek.

Albert smirked. “For someone who hangs out with a bunch of them, that is pretty strange.”

Zhi shrugged and Albert went into the tower to hurry down into Kunagi’s humid and musky smelling lab.

“Kunagi!” He called, looking around for him while still holding ontoGudomlay. “Kunagi!” He shouted, getting a little impatient. She wasn’t exactly heavy, but the longer he held her the less light she became.

“M’lay!” It was the first time Albert had seen Kunagi get out of his chair and run. The sound of it jumping out from under him was loud with a hum of the wheels and clatter of the legs jumbling off balance. His hair was all but black as he pulled her from Albert’s arms. His glasses were low on his nose too so, for the first time, Albert could see his eyes clearly. And they shonebrightwith panic. “What happened?” He demanded, carrying her back to another room.

“I sang that song you taught me just in case it was necessary. It seems she blacked out like you said berserkers do. She destroyed two sinks in the girl’s locker room and was going nuts. It looked like someone had flooded the bathroom just to get one of her friend’s things wet. I never knew such a quiet and nice girl could...” He trailed off, not exactly knowing how to explain the change he saw in her as he stared at her from behind his frantic professor.

He followed him into what looked like a doctor’s patient room and watched as Kunagi laid her down on the bed there. “You sang the song?” Kunagi asked while checking her pulse and her other vitals.

Albert nodded. “It worked just like you said it would. How is that?”

Kunagi was quiet a moment, listening toGudomlay’sheart but also looking contemplative. “I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you,” he said. And then, when he knew everything was all right with her, he pushed his hand up to his face so his fingers moved under his glasses. They tilted on top of them as he took a breath. And then he held her hand and rested his forehead on her abdomen. “This is really not fair, Odessa,” he whispered miserably.

Albert blinked, wondering at his strange prayer and then glanced atGudomlay. As far as he could see, she was all right.

“Go back to class, Albert. And if you get the chance, tell Tapp and Britta,Gudomlaywill be all right. She just needs to sleep.” He rubbed his face, looking tired. “It seems we have some work to do,” he said.

Albert, frowning, backed out of the room and shut the door behind him. He knew definitely now. He had suspected before but wasn’t certain until seeing all of that.Gudomlaywasn’t just some girl Kunagi was taking care of. He loved her. A lot. But he didn’t know what kind of love it was.