Days turned into weeks but not once had I touched my books. Before the entrances, I stayed up late night reading a novel, only to leave the house with groggy eyes the next morning. My neighbours shot me sympathetic glances. I returned it with an equally pitiful smile.

Flunking the exam wasn’t even a cinch, it was way easier. The National Entrance Examination was held every year in the last week of August. It was a common route to get promoted to high school and relied on objective-based questions with multiple options as answers. All I had to do was find the right option and deliberately mark the other ones. And I did, begrudgingly, marking sixty wrong answers out of a hundred and ten ones, securing enough placement to marginally pass and get into a decent local school.

When I walked out of the exam hall, I didn’t even know whether I was guilty or thrilled. I had just sabotaged my career. Done something I never would have done before. Deliberately. I felt like an angry teenager entering a full-fledged rebellion. A grin spread across my lips in spite of it all. Ah, this is so wrong.

The results came out on the fourth of September. As I skimmed through the list of students, my gaze travelled lower and lower until it had hit rock bottom. Alexandra Williams, a first place holder and a subject of mother’s non-stop bragging for seven years straight had nearly flunked her N.E.E. Wonderful, my parents will kill me.

༻❁༺

Currently, I laid in my bedroom, contemplating my potentially hazardous choices. Mother hadn't recovered from her shock, father was still furious, and I conflicted. I should have been happy but after their scoldings, I grew upset and downright worried. Not to mention angry. Ugh, I knew those darn answers!

At one point, I was so frustrated that I nearly spilt everything to them. If it wasn't for the strong headache that showed up whenever I would open my mouth, I'd have been done for.

Come to think of it, these headaches were rather strange. "What’s causing them, Selene?"

"There are laws that govern the realm above the mortal plane," Selene said. "You cannot reveal what you learn in different time zones."

I grunted in response. She was laying—well, hovering next to me—both of us staring at the ceiling. I never understood how she could sit or lay down when her body could jut through an object.

"Oh, it’s habitual," she responded, making me freeze. I looked at her anxiously. "Can you read everything I’m thinking?"

"Not unless you don’t want me to listen. Just block me out unless you want to talk telepathically."

"How?"

"Just pretend I’m not listening."

I shot her a deadpan look. "No, no, I mean that’s how you block," she said, "You consciously do not give me two hoots."

Her words made me scoff, making her frown and look at me seriously. She was about to convince me further when we were interrupted by hurried footsteps dashing up the stairs. All of a sudden, my door burst open and Lisa barged in, panic-stricken. "They want us to pack. We’re leaving in three days!"

Her words caught me off guard. I shook my head vigorously and sat up straight. "Wait, wait, what?"

"Mother asked me to tell you. I don’t know what’s happening all of a sudden!"

Anger washed over me. I strode past the door, shoving Lisa away. What kind of a sick joke was this? I embarrassed myself twice for this and now they decide to leave?! "Mumma!"

Mother didn’t respond. It unnerved me but I had faced enough rubbish to stay put. Quickly and surely, my footfalls thundered down the staircase to our dining hall. Mother had her back turned towards me, a spatula in her hand as she silently watched the vegetables simmer in boiling water. "Mumma, what’s this about moving out?"

"We are leaving for the capital soon," she responded, cold and crisp. "Pack your necessities. We’ll buy the rest there."

"Why can’t we stay here??"

"No questions, Sandra. Do as you are told."

"But I won’t get to study anywhere else!"

"Oh, so you were that serious about education," she quipped sarcastically, making my heart lurch with guilt. I watched her sombrely as she stirred the gravy with her spatula. "With your grades, we can get you enrolled in any mediocre school, be it here or elsewhere. We are moving and that’s that."

My jaws clenched. "Why?" I murmured, my voice barely audible. Mother apparently couldn’t stand it. She whipped her head towards me with a stern glare. "Sandra! Go and pack now!"

"WHY?!" I screamed and swept my arm over the counter, shoving every single culinary to the floor. The glasses broke with a crash, bowls and spoons hit the floor with a loud twang, the raw vegetables that she had prepared were sprawled everywhere. Mother watched me in stunned silence. But I didn’t stop there. I couldn’t stop. Suddenly, their corpses were vivid in my mind and hot tears came streaming down. "I WON’T GO! WHY SHOULD I GO?!" I protested as my fingers curled around another glass and hurled it towards the floor. One by one, I kept lifting everything around me and threw it wherever I could, my anger beginning to boil to a fever pitch. Mother rushed over and grabbed me by my shoulders as I began to lift a stool. "Sandra!" she exclaimed, her voice cracking into a whisper. That crack suddenly snapped me to my senses.

I looked over my shoulder. Her face was red, eyebrows furrowed in fear. Her eyes were bloodshot and moist. She was so shocked that I instantly grew ashamed. "Sandra," she repeated, gripping my arms tightly, "we don’t want to leave too, but we have to. It’s…" She wavered and looked up at Lisa watching the commotion from the corridor above. After a moment’s hesitation, she swallowed and murmured softly, "It’s not safe here, honey."

I froze. "What?"

"Your father has been receiving death threats for a while now. We didn’t want to disclose it to you but it was all for your safety. We need to leave."

I could only stare at her in shock. The third reason…

༻❁༺

Note: Dialogue in italics means the conversation is through telepathy. Selene’s voice isn't heard by the rest of the humans, so whether she converses telepathically or not makes little difference. You will often find her switching from telepathy to normal conversation.