My Eros (Modern Cupid and Psyche Dirty)

The heavy wooden doors of 44 Rosemary Square make me think of castle entrances, and the interior that welcomes me is just as impressive. A giant candle-bearing chandelier hangs suspended from the dome-like ceiling, and there's a spiral staircase at the end of the hallway that makes me think Game! Of! Thrones!

Our footsteps fall noiselessly on the antique-looking carpet rolled over the wooden floor, and it's thick enough to silence even the wheels of my luggage. Everything here is so hush-hush, I feel like anything above a whisper would be considered outright disrespect.

The walls are bare of any paintings, but in lieu of it is a series of medieval suits of armor, and each one of them is propped opposite a stained-glass door. Of these doors, the third one from the entrance belongs to Ms. Roo, and she invites me to take a seat as we go through my paperwork.

"You'll have to repeat the entire fourth year, I'm afraid," the registrar reminds me with a note of sympathy, "and I believe Agatha has also told you we have Grade 13 here?"

I nod and smile, telling her that I'm okay with all of those things even as my heart sinks. I'll be almost twenty by the time I graduate...while kids in my former school would be halfway to finishing college.

When I'm done scrawling my signature on several dotted lines, Ms. Roo asks if we can talk a little, and of course I say yes. When you've got a past like mine, it's always just easier to say yes.

Ms. Roo starts by telling me that Agatha has forwarded my case file to my school. It's only been shared with key personnel, she hastens to clarify, and I just as quickly tell her that I already expected that.

She then tells me she's sorry for what I've been through, and that she hopes I'm able to embrace the opportunity to start fresh with Rosethorne. I tell her that's exactly what I hope to do even though it's a blatant lie. As the new Halyna, I only plan to be nice to people who are nice to me, and anyone who gives me shit better be ready to have shit thrown back at them...in tenfold. That's the plan, but of course I don't tell Ms. Roo that.

This little talk we're having is just us going through the motions because it's expected of us, and the meeting eventually comes to an end without either of us saying what we really wanted to say. Because if I were in her shoes, what I'd really love to ask is if it's true.

Did you really kill all of those people?

I'm pretty sure she's dying to ask that, just as I'm equally dying to ask how far and deep Rosethorne's ties to the divine go.

But since we can't say any of those things, we have to make do with shaking hands and Ms. Roo seeing me to the door.

Once outside, I see the sun has started to set, but it's still bright enough that I have to shield my gaze. Back home, or back in what used to be home, the weather at this time of the year would've been a lot more humid and warmer. But here, it's almost chilly, and it's only the wheels of my luggage rumbling behind me that breaks the disconcerting silence.

To get from here to what would be my second home for the next two years, I take out my phone and click on the school's official app. It's got a built-in map, and mm, lemme see...

I guess I'll need to take either the street on my left or right - or maybe I can just try my luck with the labyrinth?

So far, the only mazes I've gotten to try are those pop-up ones during Halloween, but even when counting those, the labyrinth I spy up ahead is still the biggest I've seen.

I walk farther down the road until I'm just a few steps away from its entrance. The labyrinth looks even more daunting up close, with walls soaring ten feet high and covered by vines and what looks like roses of the Erotes.

The flowers are native to the Old World, and if I remember correctly, these eerily beautiful blooms can only grow with a blessing from the divine. In the day, its wine-red petals fold close in slumber, but come night, these nocturnal flowers would slowly unfurl to life, and it's their distinct fragrance that's now teasing my nostrils. Think...Poison by Christian Dior, but with a tinge of roses, and as its scent plays around me, I almost feel like I'm being seduced to do something bad, like...

Okay, fine, I'm going to the labyrinth.

Yes, I know, it's not bad bad, but you need to remember how I used to be a good girl who actually liked being a good girl.