Aldric wasn't sure what to expect in the dorm that night. He knew the ravens were upset, but he wasn't sure how that would affect his experience in the dorm. He found himself frozen as he reached for the knob in front of him.
He wondered if he'd get in to trouble if he elected to sleep on the ghost ship with the kitchen crew. Then he remembered how cold it would get and decided against it. His only choice was to go in, but he couldn't bring his arm to move.
It trembled as he extended it toward the handle of the door. He breathed deeply, and reached for it, but before he could reach it, it creaked opened. Jasper had been coming out, his head turned to finish his conversation from inside.
"Yeah yeah, I'll let him know you're all missing him terribly. Who knows when he gets back maybe he'll give ya a kiss," he turned back and was face to face with Aldric. He peered down at him, his eyes holding malice and anger. He upturned his nose and rammed him with his shoulder.
Aldric huffed before pressing through the door. Again, all conversation halted as the remaining ravens glanced up at him. He felt their anger as they watched his every step. He gazed around, avoiding each of the boys' gazes as he searched for his bed.
That's when he realized it had been moved. Before, his bed had been right between Rhys and Jasper's, but now it was just a vacant space between them.
"Where's my bed?" He asked, his voice calm and soft spoken. Suddenly, the boys' gazes were anywhere but on him. He sniffed hard and cleared his throat.
"Where. Is. My. Bed?" He asked again, slowly.
"They tossed it out the window," Harden said, pointing toward the window that bars had seemingly vanished.
"We learned how to change the integrity of things in internalization and manipulation. They thought they'd practice by getting rid of the bars. Your bed just sort of flew out before anyone knew what to do," he added. Aldric looked around and nodded.
"So you'll have me sleep in the ocean then? Eaten by sharks and swept up by the vail?" He asked, his tone stern and hardened. Again he was met with silence.
"And what of my things?" He asked, realizing his nightstand was emptied as well.
"I'm not sure, I didn't see anything else go out the window," Harden said, brushing his curls through his fingers.
"You all believe me to be a traitor. You think less of me because I'm further along? You're jealous, inferior, and less than ,even you believe. If you wanted so badly to be at my level, to be an equal, then you should've been better," Aldric began, coldly but calmly.
"I didn't gain special attention for nothing. I succeeded in areas, to this day, none of you have even come close to accomplishing. Who here has hardened their entire body and evaded a blow?" The room was silent and the ravens' eyes were fixed to the ceiling and the floor.
"Just as I thought, none. Don't be angry at me for surpassing you. Be angry at yourselves for falling behind. And if you've decided to hate me because of what happened in poisons and afflictions, you should reevaluate the situation. Why did Rhys get a broken leg?" The silence in the room was deafening as the boys all met his eyes.
"That's right, he was kicking me, I did what I was trained to and what I learned from the architect, I defended myself from danger. If you have a problem with that, then I suppose you aren't cut out to be a raven after all," he finished. Before anyone could respond or any uproar could begin, he exited the dorm and passed through a seperate door.
The door he entered was small but thick. It was bright red with golden accents and a northern star crest on the front. He hadn't thought about it then, but Aldric had never seen the door there before. When he entered, the room was small. There were a few cleaning supplies and some wash cloths in a bucket on the floor.
It smelled of mildew and old fruit and the air somehow felt thick in his lungs. He breathed deeply and lowered himself to the floor, curling his knees to his chest, and quietly sobbing into his pants.
He cried for a short time before he felt a burning, this time, on the outside of his chest. A searing pain that snapped him quickly from his sadness. He glanced down and saw his shooting star was glowing bright red and had burned through his tunic.
He quickly pulled along the draw string and flung the pendant from around his neck. The star flew momentarily before being halted like its gravity didn't exist. It floated suspended in the air in front of him like it was rising in water. The star spun in front of him, the dim light through the cracks of the door glinting off of its surface.
Then, it whisped to the shelves bursting through a bottle of bleach and a wooden broom handle before getting stuck in the wall. Aldric stared at the pendant as it began sinking into the wall as if, like a missing puzzle piece, it belonged there all along.
Then, with a securing click, the charm rotated counterclockwise, and then clockwise, and the wall split down the middle with a large crack. The walls shook and the shelves rattled as the wall behind them split apart.
Dust broke from its resting place and infiltrated his nose, blinding his scent of the mildew. The shelves shattered to the floor in front of him and the room expanded nearly ten times its size. When the room settled, Aldric was standing in a large dome of a room.
The walls were like the rest of the tower but lined with tapestries and ancient maps, runes, and symbols. At the far end of the room was a large stained glass window depicting a falling star breaking through the atmosphere.
The floors were cobbled, but almost fully covered by a large blue and silver rug. Along one wall was a small wooden desk where all of his books had landed somehow. In the middle of the room was a crooked, adolescent oak tree. I
Braziers lit the room well and revealed the large bed at the back of the room. Beside it, his belongings and a new end table. A note was secured to one of his journals.
Congratulations on advancing enjoy your new den. -A
Aldric fell back on his bed in disbelief. How was it that he had earned his own room. The flocks weren't set to receive rooms until they turned ten. Was he truly that advanced? Or did the Architect simply feel bad for the exiled raven.
Before he could ponder any of his own questions, or even be truly grateful, he was asleep. The world moved around him as he faded into a dream and began to snore. The dome was silent, and the world disappeared.