Chapter 9
June 2004
The girl hurried down the hall, her slippers sliding on the floor as she turned the corner.
She was late, and when children were late for morning inspection and their daily prayer services, they would have to deal with the punishment of their elders.
Though she wasn’t a child anymore. Now, at sixteen, she was nearly a woman.
Opening the door, she skidded to a stop, all eyes on her as she walked into the room as if she weren’t late at all.
“I told you she wouldn’t make it on time,” a girl her age muttered to a friend, flipping her dark hair over her shoulder.
The other one snickered in response, giving her a cruel sneer. “Why does she think she’s special? She’s no different than the rest of us.”
She didn’t understand why the other girls hated her so much. She’d t
