Throne of Claw and Moon

Chapter 5

Selene

The click of the pen was a tiny, personal assault.

Click. Click. Click.

Seriously? Was that necessary? The girl next to me in Physics was trying to solve the universe's mysteries with the end of a Bic, and all she was solving was how to drive me completely insane. Mr. Davison was droning on, but his voice was just background static to the main event drilling into my skull.

Click. Cli—

Oh, for god's sake, STOP, I thought, the frustration a hot, sharp spike behind my eyes.

The pen didn't just fall. It flew from her fingers as if yanked by an invisible string, zipping across the aisle to smack against the leg of a chair.

"What the h…” she yelped, staring at her empty hand.

A few people looked over. I didn't even blink.

"Wow, slippery fingers," I said, my voice flat. "You should get that checked out."

I turned back to my textbook, my heart doing a weird, frantic tap dance against my ribs. Okay. So that was new. And kind of... deliberate. A slow, dangerous smile threatened to touch my lips. Maybe this whole freak-show thing had its perks.

The last two days had been a special kind of torture. Since the "I want to move out" bomb I'd dropped on Mum by the pool on Wednesday, the Blackwood estate had officially become the world's most luxurious silent retreat. Dave was giving me his best "disappointed statue" impression, and Brenda was a whirlwind of nervous energy, tiptoeing around me like I was a bomb that might go off.

It was exhausting. I was so over it.

The only buzz around Athelstan that was cutting through my own personal chaos was the bonfire tonight. It was all anyone could talk about. The air in the hallways was thick with the kind of desperate, end-of-week excitement that makes people do stupid things. Chloe had texted me no less than ten times about her killer outfit. It was pathetic, but at least it was a distraction.

The final bell was a blessing. I headed straight for the swim complex. Brenda had told me last night that Dave had finally ungrounded me, so I was allowed to go to practice. I already knew this was her way of trying to make it up to me after our fight. She thinks a little chlorine and lap time can fix everything.

Whatever. I wasn't complaining.

I headed to my locker to dump my books before practice. I contemplated cleaning my eyeliner in the reflection of my phone, but remembered it was waterproof. Good enough.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, expecting Chloe's usual drama. Instead, it was a DM from some random girl from King’s College London.

I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt. The desperation was practically leaking through the screen. I swiped the notification away without even opening it. Some people would do anything for a bit of clout.

Stepping outside, the scene I was greeted with made me pause. Leaning against a pillar was Adrian, surrounded by Jennifer Humphrey and two of her minions.

Adrian was a med student, and the med students always used our lab on Fridays since their own got trashed by the football team in some idiotic freshman ritual a few weeks back.

But since when did Adrian entertain Jennifer Humphrey? The girl whose hands probably permanently smelled of d**k? There wasn't a guy in our year she hadn't blown.

Adrian caught my eye and smirked.

The f**k?

Who the hell did he think he was?

Jennifer noticed his attention had wandered. Her face darkened when she saw it was me he was smirking at, and in a move that made me want to gag, she grabbed his jaw and dragged his face down to hers.

Disgusting.

I ignored them and continued to the swim complex. It's just by the left and doesn't take me two minutes to reach.

The sharp smell of chlorine hit my nose before I even entered.

The swim team filled the pool, their arms cutting through the water in perfect rhythm. You could hear their sharp breaths and the splash of every stroke. On the other side, the divers were practicing jumps off the high board, their coach watching their every move.

Coach Evans spotted me as I made my way further in.

"Selene! About time you showed up," he said, already pulling out his stopwatch. "Just let me time you for one lap. One lap! I need to see if you've gotten even faster."

"I'm just here to clear my head, Coach," I said with a small smirk. "Not to be your star athlete."

He threw his hands up. "It's criminal! You swim like a damn Olympian for fun.” He said with a chuckle.

I gave him a shrug and headed to wash up. As I walked towards the locker Pom, I felt the familiar daggers in my back. The other girls on the swim team were glaring at me from the pool. I could feel their hatred like a physical force.

These girls just hate me because swimming is leisure to me, it helps me escape reality. I'm not a swimmer, I don't compete in competitions, but I'm so good at it that Coach has been trying to convince me to compete since I entered college last year. So I guess that's why they all hate me - I have the talent they want so badly but don't use it.

The girls' locker room was quiet, the air thick with the smell of shampoo and sweat. Bright fluorescent lights hummed overhead, reflecting off the white tile floors. Colorful gym bags were scattered on the long wooden benches, some unzipped with clothes spilling out. A few stray hair ties and bobby pins littered the counter by the sinks.

I walked to my locker, the squeak of my shoes echoing in the empty space. It felt peaceful for once—no whispers, no staring, just the distant sound of water from the pool and the faint shout of a coach. For a moment, I could almost pretend I was just another student.

Almost.

Someone had scribbled "witch" in the corner of my locker. Classic. Whoever did this, didn't even have the audacity to write it boldly.

I typed in my combination, grabbed my swimsuit from my gym bag, and got ready in one of the twelve private bathrooms—a major perk of Athelstan.

After a quick shower, I changed into my swimsuit and headed back to the lockers to drop my clothes.

Sarah, the swim team captain, and a few of her minions who had been glaring at me from the pool earlier were there, drying off.

"Fancy seeing you here," Sarah said with a smirk.

Gosh, I was not in the mood for this.

"Missed me?" I asked, bored, and opened my locker.

"No, not really. Just heard you were grounded after Jake’s party," she said with a chuckle. The other girls joined in.

I clenched my fist involuntarily.

Shocker.

It had take Chloe just two days to inform the whole school.

What a loyal friend.

It was actually pathetic. Sarah was in her fourth year but concerned herself with sophomore-level gossip. The fact that this girl was two years older than me and still behaving like we were in some cliche high school drama was just sad.

I turned to her with a sweet smile. "You know, Sarah, it's cute that you're still so invested in my social life. I'd have thought by your fourth year you'd be more focused on, I don't know, job applications? Or maybe just growing up?"

I didn't wait for a response. I shut my locker and walked out to the pool, the door swinging shut behind me. The vast room was empty now, the water still and dark. The team was gone, the divers had packed up. The only sound was the faint hum of the filtration system.

I walked to the edge and dove in.

I did a few lazy laps, not pushing for speed, just letting the water smooth out the sharp edges of my mood. The tension in my shoulders melted away, and for the first time all day, my head was clear. I finally hauled myself out and sat on the cool tile edge, letting the water drip from my hair and run in rivulets down my back, just breathing.

The locker room doors swung open and Sarah walked out, dressed in her street clothes, gym bag slung over her shoulder. She paused when she saw me.

"Hey, Barbie," she said, a mocking smirk on her face, the nickname a pointed reference to my hair.

I didn't even grant her an eye-roll, just stared at the shimmering surface of the pool.

"Hope I see you at the bonfire tonight," she added, her tone implying the exact opposite.

You know, there are a lot of things I hate. I hate my foster dad's god complex. I hate fake friends. But nothing—nothing—gets under my skin like someone who thinks I'll back down from a challenge.

I finally turned to her, a slow smile spreading across my face as I met her eyes. "Oh, I'll be there," I said, my voice calm.

I stood up, grabbed my towel, blew her a kiss and headed to the locker room.

The bonfire was now officially on my agenda.