Page 14 of Lost and Bound

“You didn’t have to wait to escort me to my room, you know.”

“No offense, Maya, but I kind of have to.”

“How do you know my name?”

“Same way you know we’re going to be friends.”

“I seriously don’t have the capacity to deal with too much right now. I’m not being rude, but I can’t do this.”

Something in what I say hits. It wasn’t like he was being a dick or anything, but his mannerisms shift and he takes one of the bags from my hands, then walks ahead of me slowly.

“Master Maddern called ahead and let me know you were on your way.”

He doesn’t say another word as we make our way down the hallway to the very end. I’ve never been inside a dormitory before, but I’ve watched enough movies to know the hallway we’re walking down should be full of students and noise.

“And here you are,” he says unnecessarily when we come to a stop outside the room marked twenty-one.

I hold up the plastic card, wondering where to use it, and my tour guide grimaces. “About that.”

I slide the keycard back into my pocket and use the handle instead. It opens without trouble, and my room comes into view. “Jesus.” The word falls from my mouth before I can catch myself. “Sorry. I am grateful for having somewhere to live.”

It’s not a lie. I’d take this shitbox of a room any day of the week compared to the option of being hunted down in the human world. But at the same time, this room does not compare to the rest of the luxury I have seen so far at Thales.

“No, I totally get it. I’ll help. We can check the other rooms and see what we can find.”

I smile at him before eyeing the decrepit desk in the corner, which is the only piece of furniture in the room. A mattress rests on its side, and it looks decent, but the rest of the floor is scattered with trash, like someone had a party in here and forgot to clean up.

I force a path through the trash, moving from the door to the window. Like the door downstairs, it’s busted, and the floor near it shows how much weather gets in. Spinning around, I notice a small, attached bathroom. As I get closer, the rank smell becomes impossible to ignore. It’s in a similar state to the rest of the room, but it’s fixable.

I’d like to lie down and sleep for a week, but there’s no way I’m putting my face so close to the floor the way it is—I’d wake up with pink eye for sure. I raise my foot and sweep the desk free before I put my bags and academy blazer down. “Is there a supply closet here?”

He shakes his head, and I realize we haven’t properly met.

“Hey, sorry, I’m Maya. I know you know my name, but you didn’t… we skipped the introductions,” I say, holding out my hand.

He eyes my hand like it has spiders on it. “I’m Orion, and you already know we’re going to be friends. And as your friend, I’m telling you this—never offer your hand to anyone except someone you trust. Touch is a funny thing, and not in a ha-ha way. Some supes can pull your energy, and they will drain you dry. Others will read that you offering your hand to them as permission for them to do whatever they want. But touch is also a sign of interest. It’s a warning to others that you and the other person share something and they should back off, unless they want to cross lines that maybe they shouldn’t.”

It’s my turn to grimace.

“Unless you really trust them, and then you can touch them whenever you want. But be careful, Maya. You have to remember our world is really different from yours.”

Since he left me hanging while he explained the whole touch thing, I wiggle the fingers of my outstretched hand now that he’s finished. I’m running with my own instincts that Orion and I are going to be friends. Plus, the vision thing helps.

A small smile forms on his lips as he shakes his head and my hand. “I knew you had a vision of something before, by the way. We can talk about that after we’ve cleaned up this shithole. In case you’re wondering, this”—he waves his free hand around—“isn’t uncommon. We’re Noms, babe, and that means we’re at the bottom of the awesome scale.”

Where our palms touch, I feel a soft warmth. It’s like the feeling you get walking into the sun on a cold morning. It reinforces what we both already know—we’re going to be friends for a long time, maybe even forever.

We stop grinning like freaks at each other, and Orion throws his jacket on top of mine.

“Are the rooms on this floor empty, or was I just being paranoid?”

“Empty.”

I’m not getting into why the dorm would be empty; it’s really not my business.

“If all the rooms on this floor are empty, I’m going to see if I can use anything to clean this up.”

We split up, Orion checking one side of the hallway, while I do the other. Like my room, the ones I look into have all seen better days, but along the way, I find a few things that will help.