On Monday morning, the school was louder than usual –
but not because of math tests or homework.
It was Lina.
"There she is," someone whispered as soon as she entered the assembly hall.
"The one with the fighter."
"Mermaid saves the knight," Jana muttered mockingly.
Mia giggled shrilly, so piercingly that everyone must have heard it.
Lina felt the stares, the whispering mouths.
It was as if the night still clung to her skin – the smell of metal, the pulsing of the crowd, Alaric's blood on her fingers.
Every step was too loud, every word around her too clear.
She pulled her hood lower, sat in the last row of the assembly hall.
"Look, she's looking down again," whispered a voice behind her.
"Of course, she doesn't want to see us – now that she's got a boxing champion."
Laughter that sounded like pinpricks.
She wished she could disappear.
---
In class, the words rushed past her.
