Surviving Year One (Grim Reaper Academy 1)

CHAPTER TEN

I realized that if I got last in the dining hall, when everyone was already there, I’d have to find a seat at the VDC table, then pray no one sat next to me. Or pray Lorna dined with her own Cabal. That was not a healthy option. But I couldn’t go to bed without eating, either. So, I did my absolute best to run there before everyone else, sneaking out of the classroom while all the others were still closing their books and gathering their things. I ran like hell, and only stopped before the tall, open doors of the dining hall.

A few professors were there, and also some students from the Merciful Death Cabal, who had finished their classes early. Thanks to them, the servants had already started bringing the food and drinks, so I ran to the VDC table, grabbed a large plate, and piled roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, and bread on it. I grabbed a fruit, too, and I didn’t need anything to drink, since I had water in the mini fridge in my room. As I ran out again, quickly, before the students started pouring in, I almost bumped straight into a young servant girl.

“Sorry! I’m sorry!”

She looked at me, startled for a moment, then her brown eyes softened, and she smiled.

“You’re the human,” she said.

“Y-yes.” I tried to look over her shoulder. I bit the inside of my cheek, impatience making adrenaline rush through my veins. I was usually a friendly person, and I didn’t want her to think that I wanted to run the fuck away because she was a servant and not worthy of my attention, but my escape was time sensitive. Soon, my tormentors would come in through those doors, and the horrors would begin.

“Come, I know another way,” she said, and in that moment, I genuinely believed she was an angel sent from the heavens. An angel like the ones I used to read about in romance books, not like the angels in real life. “It’s through the kitchens, and it’s far from a shortcut, but at least it’s safe.” She winked at me, and I gave her the biggest, most grateful smile I could muster.

“Thank you! You’re a godsent!”

“I’m Patricia, by the way.”

I shoved the fruit under my armpit so I could shake her hand. “Mila.”

“I know. Everyone talks about you.”

“You’re human, too?”

“No. I’m a hybrid. My mom is a succubus, and my father is a mortal. I’ve never met him.”

“Oh. I’m sorry…”

“That’s okay. It’s always been just me and my mom, and I don’t mind. He wouldn’t have been accepted in the supernatural society, anyway.”

“It’s not fair,” I said as she led me through a small, almost invisible door behind the RDC table, then down a large corridor used by the servants to bring in the food and take out the dirty dishes. “It’s your right to meet him, and they’re depriving you of it because of… I don’t know… because of their preconceptions.”

She laughed, and her laugh sounded like glass chimes in the wind. She was taller than me, with full curves and long legs, and even though she was dressed in a white robe and a huge apron, and her hair was tucked under a white cap, she was as beautiful and bright as a summer day. I couldn’t believe how such an incredible being could work as a servant. Apparently, the supernatural society wasn’t much different from the human one. They had their ordinary jobs, too, and someone had to do them, even though the employees were not ordinary at all.

“Who’s they?” she asked.

“I don’t know… They. The generic they. The ones in power. The Supernatural Council?”

She thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I guess. Thank you.”

I stared at her like she was the eighth wonder of the world. Which she might, just as well, have been.

“For what?”

“For saying that. That I have the right to meet my dad. I won’t go looking for him because I’m not allowed to, but it means a lot to me.”

I was speechless. We walked in silence, she opened another door, we crossed one of the many kitchens of the Academy, then she led me through a door at the back. The other servants, cooks, and cook assistants looked at me curiously, but no one stopped us or asked us anything. When we reached a hall that I actually recognized, she stopped.

“You can use this secret way from now on. No one working in the kitchens will mind.” She wrinkled her nose cutely. “We kind of hate the students and the professors here. They’re all so mighty and entitled, with egos wider than the heavens and deeper than the darkest pits of hell.”

I giggled. She was beautiful and funny! Too bad I wasn’t into girls.

“Thank you. I really, really appreciate it. You have no idea.”

“I do. I saw what they did to you. But you’re going to be fine, you know that, right?”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Do I? I don’t know anything right now.”