SERAPHINA
The Next Day:
The late morning sun filtered through the high academy windows, gilding the halls with light. My arms ache slightly under the weight of the box I held against my chest, but I didn’t care.
I was free.
After so many days that actually felt like forever, I wasn’t under suspicion, wasn’t locked away in that prison-like suffocating room. Though it had an attached bathroom and even a window, it felt more like a gilded cage than any sort of living space.
But now…now I was allowed back into my room.
My dorm room.
I pushed the door open with my shoulder and stepped inside, the familiar scent of clean linen and pine-scented soap instantly grounding me. My bed was exactly the way I’d left it—neatly made, the dark comforter folded at the foot.
I inhaled deeply and smile
