Welcome to the Hollow

Thrown mercilessly into the dirt outside their dark temple by Kavros and Zavros, I slam hard against the unforgiving ground. The heavy wooden doors shut with a booming finality behind me, sealing my fate. I push myself off the ground, my body thoroughly exhausted and physically bruised by the bizarre, violent reality of this new school. My muscles scream in protest as I brush the gritty dirt from my scraped knees. I adjust the ugly, drab grey vest the brothers just forced over my head and begin the long, punishing trudge across the sprawling campus. Students cast me weird, pitying glances, but I ignore them, marching straight toward my officially assigned dorm, Elara Hall. I just want to find my room, lock the door, and collapse.

When I finally reach the beautiful, pristine building, I step inside the lobby and swipe my key card at the entrance turnstile. Instead of a welcoming click, the machine emits a harsh, repetitive beep of absolute denial. A bright red light flashes mockingly. I try it again, swiping the card faster. And again. The sour buzzing noise drills into my skull.

"It’s not going to change," a lazy voice calls out.

I snap my head to the right. A disheveled, heavily overweight guard smirks at me from his nearby desk. His legs are casually crossed at the ankle, his scuffed boots propped up on the polished wood.

"What?" I demand, my patience completely shredded.

He taps a thick finger against his desk, clearly enjoying my frustration. "You’re Vespera Vance, right?" he asks, his lips curling into a cruel sneer. "Your name just hit the newest Nulls list. You’re officially banned from the premises."

"Oh, for fuck’s sake," I hiss under my breath, sucking in a sharp lungful of air. "Look, all my personal belongings are already upstairs in the room I was assigned. If you aren't going to let me up, can you at least go retrieve my shit?"

Before the guard can even formulate a lazy response, a loud, chaotic clattering echoes from outside. A sudden shower of fabric and random items rains down from the sky directly outside the lobby window. I watch in absolute horror as my suitcase plummets from the upper floors. It hits the hard dirt with a heavy, sickening thud, the frame cracking and bursting open on impact.

"That yours?" the guard asks, lazily pointing a finger at the window.

I rush frantically outside and fall to my knees in the wreckage. Everything I own in the world is utterly destroyed. My clothes, my personal items, and even the brand new, incredibly expensive Chanel suit Alaric had proudly bought me—it is all completely saturated and ruined. A blotchy, permanent grey ink stains every single thread, completely obliterating any trace of color. I grab the shredded, soaked fabric of the Chanel suit, my fingers shaking violently. A heavy, suffocating despair creeps into my mind like a parasite as I kneel helplessly amidst the ruined remnants of my life. I am entirely alone, stripped of my dignity, and systematically erased.

My profound misery is suddenly interrupted by a timid squeak directly behind me. I whirl around, instantly dropping into a defensive stance, expecting another brutal attack.

"Excuse me?" a small voice squeaks.

I blink, slowly lowering my fists. It’s a young girl wearing ridiculously large glasses. She looks very much like a frightened mouse, her shoulders hunched and her eyes wide with apprehension.

"Yes?" I reply, my tone sharp but cautious.

"I’m supposed to guide you to your new room," she stammers, offering a weak nod.

Dragging my busted, ink-stained suitcase behind me, I follow her far away from the beautiful, luxurious dorms that line the main campus. We walk in silence until we reach the side of an imposing building. She opens a heavy cellar door, and we descend deep into a dimly lit, freezing basement.

The space feels exactly like a miserable prisoner-of-war camp. It is a massive dirt shell, the freezing air biting at my exposed skin. Scattered across the filthy floor are rows of flimsy, uncomfortable cots. Depressed students sit hunched over them, all clad entirely in the identical, drab grey uniforms I now wear. It’s a sickening, entirely depressing sight that makes my stomach churn.

The mousy girl stops and pushes her oversized glasses up her nose. "Welcome to the Hollow," she announces formally, though her voice lacks any real warmth.

"Are you all..." I trail off, staring at the defeated faces surrounding us.

"Nulls, yes," she confirms quietly, motioning for me to sit on an empty cot. She introduces herself as Bovira. "It’s short for Bovine," she reveals in a soft, resigned voice. "My bullies forced the name on me because they cruelly deemed me as fat as a cow."

"Bovira?" I gasp, completely appalled. "That’s what you let them call you?"

She gives a pathetic shrug. "It is what it is down here. The Valkar brothers mark absolutely anyone who crosses them as a Null. They systematically destroy our belongings and enforce total social isolation. We are forced to live like rats in the shadows." She sighs, looking at my ink-ruined luggage. "Technically, the school still allows us to attend classes and eventually graduate, but the professors and other students completely ignore us."

I breathe out a harsh curse. "That’s completely insane. The entire system is entirely inhumane!"

"It really isn't too bad once you get used to it," another girl chimes in casually from a nearby cot. She is broad-shouldered, sporting a long, thick braid down her back.

Bovira points to her. "That’s Peacey. Short for Pretentious Cunt."

Peacey offers me a wry, unapologetic smile. "I earned my banishment merely by telling Nyktos his artistic recreation of Starry Night was absolute shite on the second day of classes."

I look around at the circle of nodding, defeated faces, a fresh wave of horror washing over me. "Are you kidding me? So you all just accept this? The entire school—staff and administration included—willingly bows to Alpha Valkar to maintain their own safety and status, and you are all just entirely complacent with this systemic abuse?!" I demand frantically.

Peacey calmly shakes her head, her broad shoulders shifting. "We have formed our own family down here. One that actually takes care of their own. We make sure anyone facing the Valkar wrath isn't alone. You’re welcome in our underground fold, Vespera."

Deeply drained by the endless, exhausting political nonsense and the brutal physical violence of the day, I can't even muster the energy to argue anymore. I just slump onto the empty, hard cot, letting my ruined suitcase fall to the dirt floor. Bovira steps up behind me and gently rubs my tense, aching shoulders.

"It’ll be alright," Bovira cheerfully assures me. "Despite the squalor, you will still get your high-class education. You'll eventually graduate and become a functioning lady of elite society."

I offer her a sad, tight smile, keeping my true, burning thoughts securely locked away. I don't want to be a polished lady of elite society. I desperately want to be a lethal warrior. I want to tear this entire corrupt hierarchy to the absolute ground.

Twenty minutes later, the basement lights abruptly shut off, plunging us into total, suffocating darkness. I lie flat on my stiff mattress, staring up at the invisible ceiling. My mind churns violently with the exhausting, traumatic events of the day. The violent physical assault, the absolute humiliation, the utter destruction of my property. It takes agonizing hours for the freezing dampness of the cellar to seep into my bones, numbing my raging thoughts enough for sleep to finally drag me under.

Just as my heavy eyelids flutter shut and I begin to drift into a troubled unconsciousness, I feel something strange. Something strangely warm and incredibly soft is actively nestling between my arms.

Half-asleep and entirely disoriented, I try to brush the sensation away, assuming it’s just a stray, bunched-up blanket that someone tossed onto my cot. But then, a bright, giggly coo completely shatters the dead silence of the freezing basement.

My breath catches in my throat. My eyes fly violently open in the dark, my heart hammering against my ribs. I freeze, staring directly down into the bright, unmistakable blue eyes of a living, breathing baby.